Chapter 440: Limits
"Preparing the strongest A rank warriors in the Federation."
Icarus corrected, with emphasis on the rank, then he took one step forward.
"When Ezra Thorne recommended you, I told the recruitment division that I didn’t want a B+ rank academy student entering this program."
Another step.
"I don’t care how talented you are compared to your peers. I don’t care if you killed one demon-enhanced A rank in a specific set of circumstances and I don’t care who your parents are."
Another step, closing the distance to two meters.
"It takes about four to five A rank humans working together to match one Giant in combat. The strength gap between our races at equivalent ranks is significant... This training center exists to forge warriors capable of matching giant geniuses in single combat."
His cold eyes bored into Damian.
"The enemies you would face don’t care about your potential. They won’t give you time to grow into your strength. They’ll crush you the moment you step into their portal, and your death will accomplish nothing except wasting a talented awakener who could have become something great if he’d just waited a few more years."
The old woman shifted slightly, her mouth opening.
Icarus’s eyes flicked toward her for a fraction of a second.
She closed her mouth without speaking.
He looked back at Damian.
"I’m going to give you one chance to leave with your pride intact." Icarus’s voice turned softer. "Turn around, go back to your academy, and train properly. Live to reach your potential instead of dying in a portal before you turn eighteen."
Damian’s jaw tightened, but he remained silent.
"Or..." Icarus continued, his tone shifting. "I’ll have to send you back myself."
His eyes found Damian’s face.
"What will it be?"
Damian said nothing.
His body remained perfectly still despite the question hanging in the air.
Icarus stared at him for a long moment, then his expression hardened.
He didn’t speak again as the pressure simply came.
CRACK
Damian’s knees hit the snow, the sound of impact echoing across the field.
Blood erupted from his nose immediately, streaming down to his lips.
The pressure doubled.
His hands slammed into the ground, fingers digging into frozen earth as his spine bent forward under impossible weight as blood started leaking from his ears.
The pressure tripled.
Blood began streaming from his eyes, crimson tears painting his face.
His head bowed lower, hair falling forward to cover his expression.
Icarus’s voice cut through the crushing weight.
"An awakener who doesn’t know his limits gets killed the fastest."
Damian’s shoulders shook, then his voice came out, strained but clear.
"You talk about knowing limits like I haven’t already tested mine."
Blood dripped from his face, melting holes in the snow.
"You read my combat records from Tranquil City, didn’t you? But did you read about my first portal incident?"
His voice grew louder and rougher, fighting through the pressure crushing down on him.
"Did your reports mention what happened in there? Did they tell you how many giants were waiting for us? How they had an entire battalion prepared for us?"
His hands pressed harder, knuckles going white.
Blood continued streaming down his face.
"You want to talk about knowing my limits? I learned my limits in that portal! I found them when I was wounded and hunted by warriors three times my size!"
His head began rising, inch by agonizing inch.
"And you know what I discovered about my limits?"
Crimson Aura started flickering around his frame, unstable and wild.
"THEY DON’T EXIST!"
The words tore out of him like something feral.
"I killed giants until my arms couldn’t lift my weapons anymore! Then I used my teeth! Tore their throats out and crushed their skulls with my bare hands!"
His spine began straightening, pushing back against pressure that should have kept him pinned.
"And when I needed to get stronger? I devoured them! Consumed their flesh and turned their power into mine! Twenty of them! Fifty! A hundred! Every single corpse became fuel for my advancement!"
The pressure crushing down on him met something pushing back.
"They were stronger than me! Bigger than me! Better trained than me! And every single one of them died screaming while I kept moving forward and growing stronger from their deaths!"
Then something shifted inside his chest.
His Aura core, which had been pressed at the B+ threshold for weeks, suddenly began moving.
Boom
A dull sound resonated through his body, coming from the core itself as invisible barriers shattered.
"And you want to send me back to the academy? You want me to train peacefully and reach my potential safely?"
Energy flooded his pathways immediately, rushing through channels with overwhelming force.
And his rank broke through to A-.
Aura surged through his body, more than his core had ever contained before, expanding and refining every pathway it touched.
"I REACHED MY POTENTIAL BY DEVOURING THEIRS!"
Crimson Aura exploded outward from his frame, blazing against the white snow like fresh blood painting the world.
The chaotic energy from the breakthrough tore through his body with devastating effect.
Muscle fibers strained, bones creaked under pressure, blood vessels expanded to carry the increased flow.
His self-healing skill activated automatically, Aura fighting to stabilize what the breakthrough was transforming, keeping him conscious.
His boots found purchase in the ground.
His spine straightened completely, pushing through the S rank pressure like it no longer mattered.
His head rose, hair falling back from his blood-covered face as the transformation completed itself.
The Aura settled, the breakthrough finished, and A- rank locked into place with weight that made his entire body stronger and different.
"I know exactly what my limits are, Senior General! My limit is death! And I’m still standing here, so I haven’t reached it yet!"
Damian stood at his full height, Aura still blazing around his frame, his smile sharp and savage.
The field had gone completely silent.
Among the assembled candidates, two men stood side by side near the back of the formation.
One had black hair and black eyes, his face sharp and his military bearing marking him as experienced despite appearing to be in his early twenties.
The other had striking pink hair and pink eyes, his features softer but his posture just as disciplined.
The black-haired man’s lips curved upward slightly.
"So... our younger cousins weren’t exaggerating. Damian Valcor really is extraordinary."
The pink-haired man remained silent, his eyes fixed on Damian with an intensity that made his companion glance over.
"What is it?"
The pink-haired man’s voice came out slow.
"Damian Valcor just became the youngest person in the history of the Federation to reach A rank."
The words carried clearly despite being spoken quietly.
Around them, other candidates who’d been whispering among themselves went silent, then whispers started again.
"The youngest?"
"Wait, how old is he?"
"Seventeen... He’s only seventeen..."
"Elizabeth Murdock was eighteen when she reached A rank..."
The black-haired man’s eyes swept across the field, then settled on a figure standing apart from the main formation.
An old man, his face weathered with age, a blindfold wrapped around his eyes.
He held a katana in his hands, the sword’s scabbard worn but clearly well-maintained.
"The youngest and the oldest A ranks are both here..."
The pink-haired man’s expression became solemn, his eyes tracking to the blindfolded old man.
"Sword Demon..."
Several candidates nearby shifted uncomfortably at the name, recognition and unease spreading through those who knew the reputation behind that title.
****
Icarus stared at Damian for a long moment, then his hand rose, and the pressure that had been holding back since the breakthrough completely vanished from the entire field.
Every candidate felt the relief simultaneously, shoulders dropping as tension released.
"Your talent makes me even more reluctant. But since you’ve already broken through to A rank..." His eyes met Damian’s directly. "You are eligible for the survival assessment."