Ex-Rank Awakening: My Attacks Make Me Stronger

Leon had expected a quick meeting, maybe a simple briefing, but the governor’s tone shifted. There was something else, something he’d been holding back.

"What I need your help with... is concerning Eleanor."

Leon blinked, the words catching him off guard. Eleanor? Of all people? His brow furrowed in confusion. "What help could I possibly give you about her?"

The governor leaned forward, voice lowering as if the walls themselves were listening. "During my interrogation of the demon bound to Eleanor, I encountered... a block."

"A block?" Leon echoed.

"Yes," the governor said with a slow nod. "And when I tried to break through it, I almost put the lives of everyone in this base at risk. Fortunately, I used Lost Time before the situation escalated."

Leon’s frown deepened, but he gave a slight nod of understanding. "So... how exactly am I supposed to help with a block that even you can’t handle?"

"I don’t know." The answer came without hesitation.

Leon stared at him, dumbfounded. "You... don’t know?"

"That’s how divination works," the governor explained, his voice carrying the patience of someone used to guiding the skeptical. "Sometimes the vision is clear. Other times, it’s vague. This is one of the vague ones."

Leon leaned back slightly, trying to piece it together. "Alright... so in this vague vision, how did you decide it had anything to do with me?"

The governor’s eyes sharpened, an old glint of wisdom flashing in them. "I saw a white devil with blue eyes and blades for arms. The resemblance was too uncanny for it not to be you."

Leon’s expression twisted in disbelief. This old man is at it again...

The conversation shifted, drifting toward other matters, preparations for his departure to the Trial World, strategies, and other things. Eventually, Leon was about to leave.

As he reached the door, the governor called out, "Tell Nikko to come in. I want to speak with her as well."

Leon gave a small nod and stepped out into the corridor, the weight of the exchange still lingering in the back of his mind.

****

A few minutes after Leon left the command center, the doors parted again.

This time, the air felt different.

When Leon was here, the conversation had been light, almost like an old man chatting with a neighbor’s son. But the moment Nikko Yakomoto stepped in, the temperature shifted. The space felt sharper, weightier. The way she moved carried no trace of casualness, only discipline honed over years of service.

The click of her boots echoed once before she went down on one knee.

"Father," she said, her voice steady and reverent.

Akira Yakomoto’s gaze lingered on her for a moment before he answered.

"You may rise."

He didn’t soften when speaking to her. He never did. It wasn’t intentional; at least, not in the way most thought. This stiffness was a shield, a self-defense mechanism he had built over years, a way to keep distance from his children instead of outright running from them.

"You are to protect Leon on his expedition to the trial world," Akira said.

Nikko froze mid-step, her composure faltering. She hadn’t even known Leon was heading there. The surprise was one thing, what followed was confusion.

"Father... it is not that I do not wish to obey. Even without your orders, I would have wanted to follow Leo to the trial world... but there is no way I can."

The corner of Akira’s brow twitched, a faint vein forming on his forehead. Leo?

The casual familiarity in her tone made something tight coil in his chest.

’I should really teach that brat a lesson.’

Absentee father or not, Akira had his protective instincts. He disliked the idea of his daughter being romantically involved with anyone, most especially his chosen successor. Sakura’s case had been different... and she had paid for it.

"I will give you a false crystal," he said.

Nikko’s eyes widened, and all her military composure shattered.

"What?!"

The word tore from her throat louder than she intended, decorum forgotten.

Her shock had reason. When one first received their trial resonance, the rules of the trial world were absolute. The moment you stepped inside for the first time, you were forced into your First Trial. Survive, and the main trial world opened to you. That world was vast beyond measure, so vast that even those at the very ’peak’ of power had never glimpsed its edge.

But it was not ungoverned. The trial world was divided into three immutable zones:

Mortal Zone – for F to D rank. Ascendant Zone – for C to A rank. and Transcendent Zone – for S to SSS rank.

Nikko, being S-rank, could only enter the Transcendent Zone. Leon, still in the Mortal Zone, was beyond her reach... unless she possessed a false crystal.

****

False crystals were the kind of thing most trial takers only ever heard about in whispered legends; resources so rare that, in all the Federation’s recorded history, only three had ever been found.

And Nikko Yakomoto was staring at one right now.

The crystal itself looked harmless, small enough to rest in the governor’s palm, its heart glowing faintly with an unnatural light, but she knew the truth. To understand its value, one had to understand what it could do.

A false crystal could create a fabricated presence for a trial taker. With it, they could enter a lower-ranked zone in the trial world without losing their own power. It was, essentially, a loophole in the very fabric of trial law. For powerful families, this meant one thing: they could send a high-ranked guardian to watch over their kin during later trials. It couldn’t be used for a first trial, but for the second and beyond... it could turn the impossible into a guaranteed victory.

It wasn’t just rare, it was the kind of treasure wars could be started over.

Nikko’s lips parted slightly, her sharp eyes fixed on the crystal in her father’s hand. The weight of the moment pressed on her chest. Then her mind made the leap.

’He would use this for Leon?’

Her thoughts stalled, then shifted into something far stranger. A creeping suspicion slithered into her mind, her pulse jumping. ’Wait... no. It couldn’t be... is it possible Father swings that way?’

She slowly narrowed her eyes, fixing her father with a piercing, almost accusing stare.

The governor, Supreme Warden of the Federation, conqueror of demon lords, man whose words could shake entire bases, froze mid-motion. Her gaze was sharp enough to cut steel.

"...What’s wrong with her?" he thought, a faint crease forming between his brows.