Adrian's voice cracked through the silence. "A single demon?"
The Sentinel's gaze hardened. "Yes. His name was Malakor. An SSS-rank demon."
Shock rippled across the chamber.
"SSS-rank?" Elara whispered.
The Sentinel nodded grimly. "S-rank is when one liquefies mana. But SSS… that is when the essence seed blooms. When one wields not affinity, but essence. Malakor was such a being."
Adrian swallowed hard. That means he is also SSS-rank now.
The Sentinel continued, his voice low and grave. "Malakor did not find Earth, and his target was not us. His prey was a research vessel of one of the six empires, the Aethelian Empire."
The star map shifted, showing a vast dominion at the galaxy's edge. A single, glowing star system pulsed faintly around Earth's position.
"Though we are far from the galactic heart, Earth lies within Aethelian territory. The Six Empires are ever desperate for warriors. Their fleets searched uncharted stars, seeking species with potential."
"And that is how Earth was found."
The stars spun again. A sleek fleet of advanced ships appeared near Earth's orbit, their hulls alive with mana-circuits that pulsed like veins.
"The vessel was commanded by High Researcher Morgana Valaris, a royal scientist of the Aethelian empire. She and her fleet built a cloaked base here, on Earth."
The vision zoomed closer. Ancient Earth appeared, green and pristine, unmarked by the scars Adrian knew today.
"At that time, our world was ruled by fifteen kingdoms, but still it was at peace."
Elara's lips parted. "Fifteen kingdoms… all in peace?"
The Sentinel's expression softened briefly. "Yes. A rare age. Morgana contacted all the kings on our planet. When she showed them her power, her technology, they thought she was a goddess."
Thomas leaned forward. "What did she want from us?"
"She offered an alliance with the kings. In exchange for our cooperation and the offering of our most promising youths, she gave us knowledge."
Images unfolded of towering pyramids rising from desert sands, obsidian monuments carved with alien runes, runic circles buried deep in mountain hearts.
"She taught us the truths of the galaxy. The eternal war. The nature of affinities. The path of cultivation."
Adrian watched the vision unfold. Those monuments… they still existed. Hidden beneath centuries of earth and legend.
"But the Earth itself had no mana then. Only in their cloaked base, flooded with artificial mana, could we train."
The Sentinel's eyes grew distant. "From all the kingdoms, only a handful of youths were chosen. Among them, we twelve surpassed all others."
The vision sharpened. Twelve youths trained beneath alien instructors, sparring with weapons of light, bleeding, breaking bones to rise again stronger.
"We trained for decades under Morgana's watch, learning battle, strategy, and the ways of power."
Adrian's heart pounded. This was it. The beginning of everything.
"We had so many dreams." The Sentinel's voice cracked. "But everything broke when Malakor came."
The starlight convulsed, darkening to crimson. The chamber itself seemed to recoil from the memory.
"Malakor had hunted Morgana for years. He finally tracked her energy trail to our star system."
Kael's face went ashen. "He found Earth."
"He arrived with a demon war fleet and made a surprise attack on the orbiting space ships."
The vision erupted in fire. Sleek vessels shattered like glass, their fragments spinning through space in burning spirals.
"The orbital battle was the first stage of Earth's war. Morgana's research fleet was never meant to fight warships."
Debris rained from the heavens like falling stars. Seas boiled where metal struck water, mountains cracked under the impact of alien hulls.
"Those ships torn from the sky plummeted into our world. The impact reshaped continents."
The map zoomed closer. A massive swath of Earth burned, seas swallowed entire coastlines, ash clouds rose into the sky like black pillars.
Adrian stared at the devastation. Entire kingdoms vanished in moments, their people never knowing what killed them.
"And then Malakor descended." Sentinel's voice was ice. "With him came hundreds of demons. He could have ended us with orbital fire. But Malakor was cruel. He wanted to slaughter us with his own hands."
Adrian's fists clenched. His mind echoed with the sea wall, the Abyss, the helplessness he had seen in defenders. That same storm had once swallowed the whole Earth.
"The ground war began," Sentinel said. "Morgana sent a distress call, but reinforcements were light-years away. For months, we bled. We twelve humans fought beside the surviving Aethelians. But it was hopeless."
Thomas's face had gone pale. "How many survived?"
"Barely a tenth of humanity lived through those first weeks." Sentinel's eyes grew distant. "Our numbers fell. Kingdoms burned. Humanity was on the edge of extinction."
The vision showed cities in flames, their walls crumbling under demonic assault. Humans fled through burning streets.
"Through this battle, we twelve were forged in that fire. We ascended to S-Rank through battle, our rage and desperation sharpening our skills until we were finally qualified to use the natural treasures Morgana had in her possession."
Adrian's eyes widened. "Just like me…"
"Morgana had brought them. In our desperation, she gave them to us."
"With essence, we turned the tide, we cut down Malakor's warband, but it was devastating."
"Every strike we made tore the world itself. Every clash with Malakor shattered mountains, boiled seas, and drowned cities. We were not just fighting for Earth, we were destroying it in the process."
"And on the final day, with Morgana's aid, we slew Malakor himself."
The vision froze. A titanic battle unfolded, Sentinel, eleven warriors, and surviving Aethelians striking as one, their essences colliding with the demon's in a storm that cracked the heavens. Lightning split the sky, mountains crumbled, and the very air burned with power.
Kael's breath caught. "To kill an SSS-rank demon, this many essence users were needed?"
"Yes, we twelve used shortcuts and did not comprehend true galactic concepts, the others were also weak, and the demon we faced was someone at the peak of SSS-rank."
"The victory cost us everything. The planet was ravaged. Humanity was almost annihilated. Fifteen kingdoms fell to ash. The Earth you know today rose from that ruin."
Adrian stared at the devastation shown in the vision. Entire continents lay scarred, oceans boiled away, and ash clouds blotted out the sun for years.
Sentinel's gaze lowered. "When the Aethelian reinforcements finally came, it was already over. They looked upon us and saw no use left. Our species was broken, and since they had no use with us, they planned to depart and leave us to our fate."
The Sentinel's tone grew bitter. "They had wanted soldiers, not orphans, not ashes."
Ironwood's jaw tightened. "They abandoned us?"
"Yes, to them, humanity was not a civilization. We were an experiment, and when we broke, they discarded us. We were no use to them anymore."
Silence fell heavy. Adrian felt the weight of that betrayal, the loneliness of a species cast aside by those who had promised salvation.
"It was then we learned the hardest lesson, we could never again depend on others for our survival."
"These empires seemed to be allies on the surface, but if we don't have the strength, they would not even care about us."
"We wanted to protect our planet, but we did not know how. The demons could find our planet at any moment, and we were helpless against it."
Thomas's voice was barely a whisper. "So what did you do?"
"When the reinforcements abandoned us, Morgana offered us some help. She revealed that SSS-rank was not the end. If we want to protect our planet, we must surpass SSS-rank."
"Only then, we would have the power to stand against demons like Malakor."
"Morgana offered to take us to the galaxy, if we trained there and surpassed SSS-rank, then we could protect our planet."
"It was one of the hardest decisions to make. We were just betrayed by the reinforcements, and now it looked like we did not have any other choice but to depend on these aliens again."
"Our planet was still young, it would take many millennia to awaken. So the only way was to depart for the galaxy with Morgana."
Elara's eyes widened. "So that is why the celestial eleven left Earth!"
"Yes." Sentinel's voice cracked. "I remained to guard our world, since even a wandering demon fleet could destroy the entire planet."
The vision faded, and the chamber walls returned. Adrian felt the crushing loneliness that had defined Sentinel's existence, millennia of solitary watch, waiting for his comrades' return.