Chapter 401: The Chronos Incident Begins...


    ?


    Academy, Rio''s Room.


    [Is there really any purpose in staring at the sun like that?]


    ''It makes you feel ''cool'' though... I just do it for the sake of it sometimes...''


    Standing near his room''s window, Rio was sipping tea in a leisurely manner while watching the sun rise with the same expressionless look on his face.


    [I don''t get you... You sometimes behave like an old man; how about going to some clubs and partying and stuff?]


    ''Going to clubs won''t change anything; I will still look as dead as I was looking before... I might even ruin the fun for others...''


    [But I heard that going to clubs increases your chances of a girl flirting with you!]


    Rio sighed at those words and shook his head.


    ''Do I even need any other girl to flirt with me... I already have one that has a lot of interesting reactions when you tease her... Oh, but you aren''t allowed to tease her though...''n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    [Yeah, yeah, I know, You and your Ms. Golden Tsundere... It''s like she''s the sole star shining in the pitch ck and empty night sky that is you...]


    While Rio was arguing with Shadow in his mind, he noticed a strange sensation in the air all of a sudden.


    ''Hmm... The sky in the distance... seems kind of more redder than before?...''


    Before Rio could react, the entire sky went dark red, and a rain of blood started to pour from the sky.


    Even Rio was shocked after seeing such a scene.


    ''Tears of the world!? What the!? Why is this phenomenon happening now!?''


    ''Tears of the World'' is a phenomenon in which the world itself rains blood from through the space-time fabric to show that it''s deeply saddened or hurt by something.


    In the novel, this phenomenon only appeared once, and that was when Link was killed off by Fade.


    As Link is the chosen of the world, his death made the world itself quite sad, and the world bled in the form of the rain of blood.


    This kind of rain doesn''t have much effect even if you touch it and ispletely harmless to even ordinary people, but its main effect is the impact it leaves on the mind of those who see


    it.


    Rio quickly put away the tea, grabbed his coat and space ring from the couch, and quickly put them on.


    ''Something''s not right; this isn''t supposed to be happening at all!''


    Link ispletely fine now, and there''s nothing that should have triggered this phenomenon, as Rio already interfered with a lot of things and many things have changed.


    At that moment, Rio could feel that the rain of blood bore no good for him, it definitely will bring some harm.


    His intuitions immediately started to warn him that something''s definitely not right; thus, Rio immediately gotbat ready as he took his equipment.


    [Ding! Strings of destiny have been tempered!]


    [Ding! The Spire of Ascension has gazed upon your existence and has tried to draw you inside!]


    [Ding! True Immunity triggered! ERROR.... ERROR!!]


    [Warning! ''A??m???'' has taken effect! Your skill ''True Immunity'' has been forcefully suppressed!]


    [The Gaze of the Spire of Ascension has taken effect!]


    Before Rio had the time to even react, a massive dark red portal appeared below his feet, and he felt inside the portal.


    Even when he tried to use his skills to jump out of the portal and stop himself from falling, Rio was still forcefully dragged into it as the space-time fabric itself was pushing him into it.


    This is the first time he has ever seen his ''True Immunity'' not work; at that moment, Rio had realized that he had gotten himself in some big trouble this time.


    Capital City Astra, In the sky above.


    "It forcefully teleported us away!?"


    A look of shock appeared on Raji''s face.


    Just now, all the SS-rankers from all over the world had gathered in the same ce at once, as they had all noticed a massive source of disturbance in the space-time fabric.


    All SS-rankers do this kind of thing when they sense that someone powerful is trying to mess with the and they deal with such threats together.


    Right now, there''s only this one that''s so suitable to live on, and most people live on this, and if someone does something to it, it will take a lot of efforts to terraform a new from scratch.


    The SS-rankers will have to work like crazy to solve such a crisis, and as of yet they haven''t yet seeded in venturing into outer space and finding new habitables, so it''s important to protect this.


    All of them gathered in one ce today to stop Alverto, but to their shock, all of them were forcefully teleported away by that tower-like thing after that strange eye appeared on it.


    Just when Ashtel was about to open a portal to go there once again, suddenly a massive dark red portal appeared below his and Jin''s feet.


    The two of them couldn''t even react on time, and they were dragged inside the portals without having any chance to resist!


    And just like it happened with Rio, the portal closed once the two of them were teleported


    away by force.


    Only Raji was left standing in the sky with a bewildered look on her face.


    "Uh, W-what''s happening today!?"


    She had no idea what just happened and why she was left behind and not teleported. ''T-those portals were so powerful that they dragged even Ashtel into them!? This is insane...'' Today, Raji has been shocked too much, and she''s going numb by it all over.


    Not only that shocking mysterious tower appeared out of nowhere, but now for the first time something in the world has appeared that rendered even Ashtel Rex helpless.


    Even he was not able to resist its power!


    Just when Raji was feeling more and more confused, she noticed that some of the familiar presences had suddenly disappeared from the academy.


    Rio, Lia, and the rest of the team, Astra, all disappeared, and their presence vanished all of a


    sudden.


    ''Did the portals swallow them too!? But why only them!?''


    Raji had no idea why only a few selected individuals were teleported; she scanned the entire capital city with her mana detection, and there was not a single other person who had


    disappeared out of nowhere.


    Only the members of Team Astra had disappeared.


    ''Wait! There one more... this presence, Riko!?''


    Riko''s presence has also disappeared; up until a few moments ago, Raji could detect her, but


    now she''s gone all of a sudden.


    ''I must figure out something; Riya has also disappeared...''


    She''s not worried about the safety of others as much, but Riya is the only one who''s the weakest out of them all, and if she encounters some trouble, she will not be able to survive.


    Thus, Raji was worried about her safety a lot.


    Just when Raji was trying to think what to do about this situation, her phone started to ring


    like crazy.


    She hurriedly brought it out to see who it was, and it turned out it was a call from a military


    general.


    "Ms. Raji! The other SS-rankers are not picking up their phone; thankfully you picked it up!"


    "I have grave news to tell you! A massive demon army has attacked the southern coastline of the nation! There are hundreds of S-rankers among them!"


    "We require immediate assistance!"


    Raji''s eyes widened in shock when she heard those words,


    "What!? Where did so many demons suddenlye from!? Why didn''t the alliance warn us that so many demons were heading in our direction!?"


    It is nearly impossible to reach their nation''s border in in sight so easily; their high-tech detection equipment can even keep eyes on S-rankers in case they suddenly appear nearby. There''s simply no way so many demons entered the border of the human empire without noticing, and all this happened at such a convenient time, just when Ashtel and Jin had


    disappeared.


    It''s too much of a coincidence that it seems like a well-nned conspiracy!


    Raji immediately contacted the World Alliance, and what she found out was even more


    shocking.


    It turned out once the SS-rankers were teleported away by that mysterious building, all of their nations were attacked by demons all at once!


    Now, they are all upied withbating the demon attacks and have no time to worry


    about others.


    "What are the demons trying to do!? This is but aplete all-out war! They are literally attacking the entire world at once!"


    Nobody had any idea why the demon armies suddenlyunched such massive-scale wars and


    attacked every nation that they could!


    Moreover, people only noticed the demons when they had already entered their nation''s


    borders! Which is simply too bizarre!


    ''Don''t tell me that the force that forcefully teleported us sent these demons to keep us busy


    so that we won''t be able to interfere with it!?''


    Raji gritted her teeth and opened a portal to go to the southern coastline of the nation.


    Now that Ashtel and Jin are not present, the responsibility to keep the nation safe has fallen


    on her shoulders; she can''t dodge this responsibility.


    Thus, she had no choice but to go and help out in defending the borders and keeping the


    demons at bay.


    If they make it to the cities, thousands of innocent people will die, and Raji will be responsible for their deaths.


    When Ashteles back, he will me her for negligence, so she dared not dy. ''Link, I will leave the safety of my sister to you once again; please keep her safe...''