Date: 16 November 2025
Location: Sector 4, Central Mumbai (Abandoned Rooftop)
Target: A-Rank Hell Anomaly
Standing on the street below, the leader of Garud Vajra suddenly raised his head. He looked straight toward the roof of the 20-story building where Rudra was hiding in the dark. The distance between them was roughly 200 meters, but the focus in Adiraj's piercing blue eyes was so sharp it felt as if he was cutting through the darkness to look directly into Rudra's soul.
Rudra's cold mind instantly went on high alert. With a sudden jerk, he ducked down behind the parapet. His breath caught in his throat for a split second.
Internal Logic: Due to his 255 Million MP aura, Adiraj's detection range is far more sensitive than any advanced radar. To him, a distance of 200 meters is practically point-blank range.
"That was too close..." Rudra calculated rapidly in his mind. "I did not know an S-Ranker's instincts were sharp enough to sense someone hiding in the dark from this far away."
"Well, now you know, don't you?" A calm, heavy, and authoritative voice came from directly behind him.
Rudra's entire body froze like solid ice. His mind short-circuited. He was still processing the sound of that voice when, in the very next micro-second, a deafening sonic crack echoed through the air. The strong, burning scent of ozone—electrified air—hit his nose.
This was the absolute, terrifying physics of sheer speed. Adiraj had moved from the street below to the rooftop at a velocity of 200 meters per second. His speed was so close to the speed of sound that the noise of his arrival only reached Rudra's ears after he was already standing there.
The Encounter with the Lightning God
Rudra slowly turned around to look. Adiraj stood right behind him. The cyan highlights in his short, messy black-blue hair glowed faintly. His customized S-Rank lightning-pendant earrings swayed slightly from the static in the air.
Over his tailored black jacket, his 255 Million MP blue lightning energy crackled like coiled snakes. He rested his left hand on his chin, the silver rings on his fingers gleaming under the moonlight.
"Your mana pool feels like that of a B-Ranker," Adiraj's piercing blue eyes scanned Rudra from head to toe. Then, his gaze stopped directly on Rudra's shadow. "But the energy hiding inside your shadow... it is incredibly dense and dark."
Adiraj took a step forward. "What are you doing here near this A-Rank Hell Gate? Do you not know this area has been evacuated?"
Rudra stood quietly, but internally, he was in deep shock. An S-Ranker's radar was so terrifyingly sharp that he had instantly sensed the dark energy of Gabbar (1.8 Lakh MP) hiding within him.
"Listen carefully, boy," Ruin Soul's ice-cold voice echoed in Rudra's mind. "Speak exactly as I instruct you now. This S-Ranker is an orphan. He needs to hear the exact words that will trigger the hero inside him. Tell him that monsters killed your parents eight months ago."
The Truth in the Lie
Rudra mentally grounded himself. Looking into Adiraj's intense, lightning-blue eyes, he began in a calm, manipulative voice, "I was just... looking at this Hell Gate."
Adiraj's expression hardened slightly. "Where are your parents?"
Following the script Ruin Soul provided, Rudra opened his mouth to fake his anger: "They killed them... they killed my parents..."
But the moment those words left his lips, Rudra's mind completely derailed from the manipulative script. That specific day eight months ago, that dark night, and that horrific car accident—all those visuals began playing before his eyes like a vivid movie.
The sound of twisting metal, the shattering of glass, and watching his parents taking their last breaths in front of him, soaked in blood. That feeling of absolute helplessness where he could do nothing. Rudra's soul was still trapped amidst the broken glass of that car.
A very real, suffocating pain rose in his chest. He clenched both his hands tightly into fists so no one would see them trembling. Even while attempting to tell a lie, genuine, pure tears welled up in his eyes.
"Those monsters... they killed my parents eight months ago..." Rudra's voice grew heavy with sorrow and a terrifying, cold fury. Even though the context of his words was a lie, the grief behind them was 100% genuine.
He stared at the massive 50-foot A-Rank gate, knowing that the monsters emerging from it had taken innocent lives just as that tragic accident had taken his parents.
"I have no one left in this world..." Tears streamed down Rudra's cheeks. "I will not leave a single one of them alive. I will destroy all these monsters, even if I have to walk through that giant door of death and die trying!"
The Sovereign's Empathy
A heavy silence fell over the rooftop. The only sounds remaining were the raindrops falling from the sky and the crackling of Adiraj's aura.
Adiraj stood quietly, watching him. His S-Rank instincts, which could instantly catch any lie or deception, were completely silent right now. Because Rudra's tears, his trembling voice, and the pain in his heartbeat were absolutely real. When a person speaks while drowning in their own genuine pain, the line between fact and emotion disappears.
Suddenly, the terrifying blue lightning energy radiating from Adiraj's body calmed down completely. That fearsome 'Sovereign' aura that had been scorching the air simply vanished.
Adiraj lowered his hand from his chin. The strict, combat-ready expression and the piercing gaze of the leader had completely changed. There was no suspicion or threat in his blue eyes anymore; there was only a deep, humble, and kind empathy.
Being an orphan himself, no one in this world understood the terrifying loneliness and fear of losing loved ones better than Adiraj. He just stood there, looking at Rudra with soft, understanding eyes, as if he had seen a small, broken piece of his own past in the crying boy.
Chapter Summary
Speed Physics: Adiraj reaches the rooftop at 200 meters per second, showcasing the absolute physical gap between a B-Ranker and an S-Ranker.
Instincts: Adiraj easily senses Gabbar's dark energy, even through Rudra's deep mana suppression.
The Emotional Anchor: Rudra uses his real trauma (the car accident) to mask his lie (monsters killing his parents). This makes his performance completely undetectable, even to a living lie-detector like an S-Ranker.
The Connection: Adiraj lowers his guard and his lightning aura, relating deeply to Rudra's orphaned status and shared pain.