A Man Like None Other (Jared Chance) novel Chapter 5392

"Mr. Chance! Abbot Infinides! Are you okay?" King Aurelius shouted, voice ringing across the broken courtyard.

The bell peeled open, and Jared staggered out, one arm bracing the weakened Infinides, his own robes torn and singed, but his eyes still fiercely clear.

"We're fine, King Aurelius," he rasped. "But alas, the church's seal has shattered. A legion of one hundred thousand demonic souls is already racing toward Celestia."

Aurelius felt his heart drop, heavy as iron. He opened his mouth to demand news of the city, but frantic footsteps cut the question short.

Lorraine burst from the treeline, gown in rags, hair matted with soot and blood. Behind her pounded several Intelligence Agency cultivators, their blades bare, their faces drawn.

"Father!" she sobbed, the single word tearing loose as she threw herself forward.

Lorraine collapsed into the king's arms and cried without restraint. Her trembling shoulders spoke of cities burning and sacrifices already paid, while above them the night howled on.

Aurelius hugged his daughter tight against him, the tremor in his arms betraying equal parts terror and rage as he felt the sticky blood on her torn robes. "Lorri, how did you end up here? What happened to Celestia City?"

"Father, Celestia City is gone!" Lorraine cried out, voice splintering like glass. "Ieuan opened our gates to the horde of demonic souls. Soldiers, townsfolk—everyone resisted to the last, but the demons were too strong. They slaughtered everyone. In the end, Ieuan freed me and blew himself apart as penance..."

The princess tried to stand straight, yet every syllable dragged fresh images—corpses piled like ruined walls, flames chewing through mansions, black wraiths rippling above streets where brave men and women died shouting Celestia's name.

Aurelius' throat burned. "Ieuan Chapman! Demonic souls!"

His rage erupted. He ripped his sword free, the blade flashing toward the distant city. "I will personally lead the army back to Celestia City and avenge every last citizen! Rylan, relay my order. All troops are to assemble and follow me to war!"

With that, he seized brush and ink himself, drafting a call to arms that spared no detail—the capital's ruin, the threat of extinction, the need to bury every old feud beneath one banner.

When the last stroke dried, he pressed the Dragon Royal Seal into crimson wax and handed the scroll to an Intelligence Agency cultivator. "Go. Spread this throughout level six. Make sure every force receives the message."

The cultivator saluted, became a smudge of shadows, and vanished into four different horizons.

Across level six, the various forces and races were already feeling uneasy upon learning of the demonic souls' escape.

As such, when Aurelius' call to action reached them, the gravity of the situation finally hit them. It was not only a crisis for Celestia, but a crisis for the entire level six...