Chapter 520: Two Figures. Entering Second Sanctuary.
Two figures stood on a rooftop across the street from the portal facility.
Both were cloaked in dark, fitted garments. Their faces were partially hidden beneath hoods, with only the lower halves of their features visible. The taller of the two wore a slim mask across the bridge of his nose, leaving only his eyes and mouth exposed. The shorter carried twin daggers strapped along the small of his back, their hilts wrapped in black leather.
Their auras were completely suppressed.
To anyone glancing at the rooftop, they would have been invisible. Two shadows pressed against shadows. Two silences within a silent night.
Both of them were peak Surpassers. Top rankers in the kingdom’s Surpasser rankings. The Awakener’s Association didn’t deploy assassins of their caliber for ordinary work. The fact that they were here, watching a single Evolver enter a portal, spoke volumes about how seriously the Association was treating Moon’s protection.
They watched in silence as Moon stepped through the gate and vanished.
The shorter one exhaled slowly, "Are you sure about this? We should’ve stopped him from entering."
The taller one didn’t move. His eyes stayed fixed on the spot where Moon had disappeared.
"I know. It was a difficult call to let him go." His voice was low. "We don’t exactly know whether he’ll actually return on his own or whether he’s bluffing. There’s no guarantee he comes back before the tournament starts."
"Do you think he knew we were watching him?"
The taller turned his head slowly, his hidden expression that of amusement.
"Come on, David. The kid is a genius, but he’s still wet behind the ears. He can’t possibly have known we were here. We’re both top-notch assassins. We know how to suppress ourselves. Even other Surpassers struggle to spot us when we don’t want to be seen. An Evolver picking us out from this distance would be impossible."
David nodded, but the tension in his shoulders didn’t fully release.
"I’m just paranoid. We’ve been promised additional support for breaking through to Ascender if we complete this mission perfectly. If anything goes wrong, that opportunity slips away. I don’t want to lose this chance over a single bad call."
The taller one nodded slowly.
"We’ll wait for him to return. That’s all we can do. If we’d intervened openly, whoever is coming after him would’ve been immediately alerted. The best thing we could do was watch. Confirm his exit. Be ready when he returns."
He turned and began walking toward the edge of the rooftop, his footsteps soundless against the stone.
"Inform Ascender Klein about the progression of events. He needs to know Moon left under his own power and that we couldn’t stop him without exposing ourselves. The decision is his now."
David nodded once, then activated a small communication device hidden beneath his collar. He spoke quietly into it as the two of them began moving across the rooftops, disappearing into the city’s skyline.
The portal facility behind them returned to its quiet, normal operation. Liam and Dean sat back down at their station, both visibly shaken, neither saying a word to each other about what had just happened.
♢♢♢♢
Moon emerged from the portal and found himself standing in a place he barely recognized.
The damp underground hideout he had left behind was gone. Soft light bulbs hung from the ceiling illuminating the space.
The walls had been smoothed and cleaned, the cracks sealed.
The size of the area had been expanded too. Walls that had once been narrow had been pushed outward, creating more usable space.
Side rooms had been carved into the stone, each one repurposed for different functions.
The entire place felt much more alive.
"Not bad." Moon muttered, a small smile crossing his face. "They’ve been working hard."
The change was not small, the freed Evolvers had transformed their former prison into something that felt like a home.
The hollow, depressing atmosphere that had accompanied the underground when he first arrived was gone.
The place no longer felt like a tomb. It felt like a base.
Moon began walking the path upward toward the main chamber. The corridor had been renovated as well.
He emerged into what had once been Layla’s throne room.
The transformation here was the most dramatic.
The shattered throne had been removed. The blood and scorch marks from the battle had been cleaned away. The floor had been resurfaced, and the walls repaired.
The space had been converted into a common area. Tables and chairs were arranged neatly.
A long bar ran along one wall, stocked with simple food and drinks.
And most importantly, the Evolvers were no longer the hollow shells they had been.
They sat at tables in small groups.
The first few who noticed Moon froze immediately.
A man at the closest table dropped his fork. His eyes went wide.
"Boss?"
Conversations stopped as heads turned. Every Evolver in the room turned to look at the figure who had just walked in.
For a single beat, nobody moved.
Then the room erupted.
"Boss!"
"He’s back!"
"It’s the boss!"
Evolvers rose from their seats. A few of the newer faces, freed Evolvers who had been cleansed during the final fights against Layla’s forces and only knew Moon from stories and the very little time they spent, stared with wide-eyed reverence.
Rowan emerged from a side corridor, drawn by the commotion. The archer’s face broke into a wide grin the moment he saw Moon.
"It seems like you’ve done an amazing job leading them. I can’t complain."
Rowan gently nodded, the praise visibly improving his mood.
"This is our job. It’s only natural that we make it a better place. We also wanted to surprise you." He gestured around the renovated chamber. "We heard from a few friends back on Earth that you’d be participating in the Spirit Art Tournament. We figured you wouldn’t be coming back to the Sanctuary anytime soon, so we threw ourselves into making the place worthy of your return."
Moon’s smile softened.
"You’re not wrong. I came back to put in some extra practice before the next stage. I won’t be here for long." He looked around at the chamber again. "But the surprise worked. You really did surprise me. Good job. All of you."
