Wealth, Power, and Fame!
Three things that every human would die for. Three things that every being would go for.
In the world of Azerim, every warlock dreamed of achieving the status of an Emperor.
The status that came with Wealth, Power, and Fame was only rivaled by those of fellow Emperors.
It was tough competition. Out of thirty billion creatures, only ten had ever been crowned Emperors.
There was no one above them but those ten Emperors suddenly disappeared.
No news, no clues, nothing.
People found nothing about the Emperors, and thus, it soon became an unattainable title for every warlock.
A title that existed but couldn't be achieved
City of Zuko;
An ancient city that was built nearly fifty thousand years ago.
It had been one of the oldest cities in the world and had been governed by three core families and one administrative authority called 'City Lord'.
The city spreads over a hundred thousand square kilometers, housing millions of residents.
This place was surrounded by fifty-meter-tall walls, spreading around the entire city.
This was why this city never fell. Despite the dangers of this world, it had remained stable for such a long time.
The city remained stable from outside invasions, but it had never faced a problem from inside.
Because there was a certain balance to the force in the city.
City Lord was the strongest person in the city, followed by the family leaders of the three core families.
But if these three family leaders combined their forces, they could easily take down the City Lord.
Only, they wouldn't do something like that. Because their forces were equal in power.
That was until two weeks ago, when the son of a small family connected to the core family awakened an ability beyond S-rank.
Not to mention S-Rank, there were only three A-Rank ability awakener in each family beforehand.
Thus, it started a race of assassinations.
Grant Family, the place where the first beyond S-Rank awakener was born, faced an assassination attempt from the Astrid Family and the Summers family.
The Grant Family put all of their efforts into protecting the boy, but it was easier said than done.
Only the rank of the boy's ability was found. His true ability was still unknown to the masses.
Including the boy himself.
[Thought Creation]
So, with the ability that he couldn't use, didn't have the spell or skills for, the boy faced the true horror of having wealth but not the strength to protect it.
39 assassination attempts!
Four sub-ranks improvement in two weeks!
A spiritual shock that put him in a coma!
Things happened one after another. He couldn't even get a proper sleep for these two weeks.
And when he did get the sleep, it was a permanent sleep.
The Grant Family was stunned. They had put so much effort into keeping the boy safe, but he couldn't bear the pressure, and his spirit collapsed.
It wasn't abnormal. It was quite normal, but when it happened to the greatest talent ever born in this city, the family didn't know what to do next.
He was only in a coma, which meant he was alive.
If they didn't protect him, he would die.
But what if he never woke up? What's the point of protecting someone who couldn't do anything for their family?
And, it wasn't like the boy's family was helping them.
They were too weak to do anything except cry and beg for help.
Finally, the Head of the Grant Family decided to protect him for a week and use everything they had to wake him up.
If he couldn't wake up, they would abandon him.
That decision was approved by everyone. After all, the boy did improve his sub-rank four times within just two weeks of his awakening.
It was unheard of.
Six days passed, but the boy didn't wake up. On the seventh day, everyone seemed to have lost hope.
Except for his parents, everyone else had left the room where the boy was kept.
Inside the room, a shadowy figure emerged from the ground.
His body was covered with dark clothes and a purple hue. Holding a black dagger in his hand, he instantly appeared above the bed.
A sixteen-year-old boy was sleeping on the bed.
"It's a pity to kill such a talented boy. But your bounty is too high."
"Ken!"
But just when he was about to stab the boy, a blue circular disk appeared, followed by a strange weapon that emerged above the boy's chest.
The man didn't recognize the weapon at all. He was confused until it started working.
A machine gun with six barrels arranged in a circular housing. Unlike electric-powered, this was powered using gas or pressure fired by the cartridges.
Da! Da! Da! Da! Da!
The man instinctively coated his body with purple energy, like a shield.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Crack! Crack! Crack!
But the bullets fired at such a close distance couldn't be blocked by the energy shield.
Despite his inhumane reaction speed, the bullets still managed to pierce his shield and riddle his body with bullets.
Splash! Splash! Splash!
The bullet splattered on his face. The boy had closed his eyes so it wouldn't fall on them, but now, his entire body was covered with blood.
Bang!
Just when he was waiting for a collision, a middle-aged man jumped, hugged the assassin, and fell on the other side of the bed.
"Haa! Haaa! Haaa! Haaa!"
After he was clear of danger, Ken started panting heavily, trying not to breathe blood but air.
He felt as if his entire body was hollowed out for some reason.
His muscles twitched, his soul hurt, and even his eyes just wanted to be closed.
"Oh my god! Ken!"
[Water Magic: Rainfall]
A female voice startled him.
A large blue circle, full of strange symbols, appeared under the ceiling, and a large amount of blue energy flowed into the circle.
Ken recognized this voice, but before he could open his eyes, a large amount of water fell on his body, washing away all of the blood.
Feeling coolness in his body, Ken opened his eyes and saw his mother embracing his head.
"Thank god! Thank god! Thank god! You woke up. You finally woke up."
His mother kept muttering while tightly holding her son's head.
"Mom, I'm fine."
Ken softly spoke, but his mother didn't let go.
"She fell asleep. After all, she hadn't slept for ten days."
A hoarse voice came from the other side. When Ken turned to his right, he saw his father walking towards him.
His eyes were red, his clothes were covered in blood, but a huge smile hung on his lips. Despite that, his face was haggard.
Seeing his father's expressions, Ken felt strange. A part of him wanted to cry while the other part looked touched.
"You made us worried."
His father spoke as he walked closer and touched his head.
Ken controlled his emotions. He called back his tears and said.
"You look like you need some sleep, old man."
"Yeah, sleep!"
The man murmured. His eyes were getting heavier. The burden on his shoulders seemed to have been lifted.
His legs went weak as he wobbled while standing.
At this moment, Ken rose from his bed. He pulled his mother up onto the bed and pushed his father down.
"Go to sleep! Don't forget I am only one rank lower than you now."
"Yeah? You needed the help from your old man."
His father teased but didn't reject his son. He lay down on the bed and he almost fell asleep.
But he forced himself to open his eyes, nothing but for his son.
It'd been three weeks, and now that his son was awake, he would face even more assassinations.
How could he have the urge to sleep?
But Ken didn't give him a chance. He put his hand on his father's eyes and the other hand on his head while massaging his hair.
"Dad, I can handle it."
There was a strange confidence in his tone.
He didn't know why his son was so confident, but this confidence was contagious.
With his eyes forcefully closed, he finally fell asleep.
Ken removed his hand.
Looking at the sleeping faces of his parents, Ken felt weird.
They weren't his parents, but they were also his parents.
When Ken was in a coma, his spirit died. And, Ken from another world also died at the same time.
But unlike this Ken, he died from a truck accident.
It took him five days to digest the memories of this boy, one more day for his soul to recover, and a few more hours to plan for the future.
So, it was quite a coincidence that he woke up the moment the assassin appeared in the room.
If that assassin hadn't opened his big mouth, he wouldn't even know. Although he had received the memories, he hadn't felt everything by himself.
So, when he heard the assassin, he instantly realized that he was being assassinated.
In a hurry, he created something that he knew about. It was an instant creation, but he knew the model and the ingredients for it.
A Machine Gun!
Although he hadn't touched in his previous life, he knew how it worked.
With the Thought Creation Ability, he simply created this gun and used it to defend himself.
Looking at his parents, he took a deep breath, clenched his fist as he thought.
'Ken, don't worry! I will protect your parents and take this revenge.'