Martial Emperor Sevrant. He was a top-tier Superhuman who had once dominated the world alongside the Sword Emperor. His innate talent was unparalleled, but the driving force that made him shine brighter than anyone else was the unique trait he possessed.

Among his traits, there was one called ‘Blessing of the Martial God.’ That trait allowed a link to the transcendental being of the highest rank known as the ‘Martial God.’

One born with the highest level of aptitude receiving direct tutelage from a supreme god-like being—calling his growth a storm was still an understatement.

Uncle Martial Emperor really was a one-man army.

The Martial Emperor did not use any specific weaponry. His entire body was a weapon in itself.

The awe-inspiring feat of standing alone against the army of the third Night of Trial’s master was still unforgettable. He was the one who demonstrated that true martial prowess stemmed from the body itself.

As they entered the massive mansion, a middle-aged man greeted the group. He was none other than the Martial Emperor.

A head taller than Sungshik. The Martial Emperor’s height appeared to be easily around 190 centimeters. His faded brown hair was so light that at a glance, it could be mistaken for black. Traces of age lingered on his face, but he still had a youthful appearance that could pass for his early 30s.

However, his impression looked slightly fierce. Still, Sungshik, more than anyone, knew the boldness behind that fierce expression was thoroughly manly.

“Sevrant!”

“It’s been a while, Jenny.”

Jenny ran over and hugged Sevrant tightly. In Sevrant’s eyes as he looked at the Jenny in his arms, there was the affection of an uncle gazing at his niece.

Uncle Martial Emperor should be in his early 40s around this time… and Jenny is 22, so I guess they are about niece and uncle in age.

“Have you been well?”

“Of course. Have you been well, Jenny?”

“Of course! You saw how I did in China recently, right?”

“Obviously. Whose achievement was it? I watched it as soon as the footage went public. You’ve gotten stronger again.”

“Hehe, it’s all thanks to you, Sevrant. That advice you gave me helped me handle mana much more smoothly.”

Jenny and the Martial Emperor caught up with each other after a long time, exchanging greetings warmly.

“Martial Emperor! To your eyes, it’s like only Jenny noona exists, huh?”

“Oh, you little brat came too? You’re so small I almost didn’t notice.”

The Martial Emperor slyly curled his right hand, placing it above his eyes as if searching, looking around in exaggerated motion.

“Tch, just you wait. When I’m fully grown, I’ll be even taller than the Martial Emperor!”

“Keh keh. Sure, try growing up to here then.”

Watching Fletcher being teased for his height, Sungshik couldn’t help but feel pity.

If I recall correctly, even fully grown, he didn’t reach 180 centimeters…

Sadly, Fletcher’s wish likely would never come true.

After teasing Fletcher, the Martial Emperor turned to look at Sungshik.

“So, this is Heo Sungshik, huh? They say you’re called the Heavenly Sovereign nowadays?”

As the Martial Emperor looked at Sungshik, a curious glint entered his eyes.

“I used to think that title might be too much, but I was wrong. Have you achieved something recently? Either way, it’s good to meet you. I’m Sevrant.”

A small exclamation slipped out. It seemed the Martial Emperor had sensed that Sungshik had recently surpassed the wall into 7-star+. He wouldn’t be the Martial Emperor otherwise.

“It’s an honor to meet you. I’m Heo Sungshik.”

Sungshik grasped the hand that the Martial Emperor extended. As their hands touched, the power the Martial Emperor held became even more vivid to the touch.

I thought I had almost caught up… but this is…

A dry laugh slipped from Sungshik’s mouth.

―Oh ho, at this level he’s at the very brink of 7-star+, maybe even aiming beyond toward 8-star.

Heaven-Splitter, sensing the Martial Emperor’s strength through Sungshik, let out a sound of admiration.

After surpassing the 7-star+ wall, Sungshik thought he had finally caught up to the levels of the Martial Emperor and Sword Emperor. But now that he was experiencing it directly, he realized his assessment was mistaken. The Martial Emperor was already looking beyond the next level.

―At this level, he’ll probably surpass the 8-star wall within a few years at most.

If that’s the case, then the Sword Emperor… he must have been holding back more strength than I realized during our last encounter.

Indeed, when he saw the Sword Emperor from the perspective of 7-star, Sungshik had thought, “I can handle this.” But seeing the Martial Emperor now, he realized that thought had been completely off the mark.

I didn’t see the Sword Emperor’s true strength.

That realization stirred a ripple in Sungshik’s heart. It made him aware that at some point, he had begun to look down on the world from above.

With the [EX Rank] trait ‘Consumption,’ he had gained the potential to reach the peak of the world. But that was only a possibility. He had not yet reached the summit.

Despite that, he had used the Heaven-Splitter Eyes to judge the Sword Emperor, and had even entertained the arrogant thought that he had nearly caught up to him. A pride that had unknowingly sprouted.

That arrogance—he was able to realize it today and cut it off at the root. Through this small realization, the possibility of reaching a greater realm today grew even more.

Martial Emperor Sevrant gave Sungshik a grand welcome. Despite not having seen each other in a long time, Sevrant was still bold and hearty, and rekindling their friendship was a joyful thing.

―By the way, how did you end up becoming close with that guy before the regression?

Suddenly, Heaven-Splitter asked how Sungshik had become acquainted with Sevrant before the regression.

‘That’s a long story…’

He recalled the first time he had met Martial Emperor.

The first Night of Trial began near Baekdu Mountain. It was something he found out later, but due to “Noah’s Ark,” the ruler of the first night showed up late.

But that delay didn’t apply to the ruler’s Authorities. Those Authorities swept across unprepared humanity.

‘The places hit hardest were China, Korea, and Russia.’

The army split into three directions: China, Korea, and Russia, and invaded humanity.

China, with the Sword Emperor at the front, managed to stop the Night Army led by the Authority of the first night. But not Korea. As a minor superhuman nation, Korea was ravaged by the Night Army. Russia had already collapsed entirely and lost all structure due to the Gate Break, and was similarly annihilated.

At the critical moment when the army that had been heading to Russia diverted to Korea for reinforcements, Martial Emperor and several other high-ranking Superhumans arrived to support.

Travel wasn’t easy after the Gate Break, due to airborne and sea monsters. But despite that danger, they crossed all the way to Korea.

That was the beginning of Sungshik’s first connection with Martial Emperor. It was also thanks to his Insight that Sevrant had seen through the potential of Sungshik’s trait. Thanks to Sevrant, Sungshik had come to recognize his own value belatedly.

After that, he began following Sevrant around, calling him uncle. That’s how they became connected.

―Hooh, so that guy who seemed to have a good eye actually had extraordinary Insight.

That was true. If one were to name Martial Emperor’s greatest talent, it might very well have been his Insight. That remained true even now.

“Now then, what we need right now is a party.”

“A party?”

“Yeah, a party! It’s just about the perfect time to start getting bored, right? This is the perfect time to throw a party.”

It was the third day since Sungshik had received Sevrant’s invitation and started staying at his mansion. It hadn’t been with any grand objective in mind that Sevrant invited him.

He had simply invited him to get to know the new giant born in a small Asian country and to hear more about the Gate Rampage phenomenon Sungshik had mentioned on the community board.

Since Sungshik was friendlier than expected, they had grown close quickly. He had also gained in-depth knowledge about the Gate Rampage issue.

And just as things were starting to get a bit dull, Martial Emperor had decided to prepare a party.

The preparations went quickly. Sevrant’s network was impressive. Even though it was an impromptu event, many people came to visit Sevrant’s mansion that evening.

The mansion’s backyard lawn was so vast that even nearly a hundred people gathered didn’t make it feel crowded.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Jacob Webster from the Webster family.”

“Welcome to America, Mr. Sungshik. I’m Kate Nash.”

Many guests approached Sungshik to introduce themselves.

“That transformation into thunder and lightning—was it a trait? A skill? Really, I got goosebumps watching your fight with Boris when you turned into lightning…”

“Congratulations on reaching world rank 16 this time. People are talking about it as an unprecedented growth speed. At this rate, aren’t you going to catch up to the great Martial Emperor over there?”

Although it was a party held at Martial Emperor’s mansion, the center of attention was Sungshik. That was also Sevrant’s intention. He had arranged for the spotlight to shine on Sungshik, who had come from far away to visit.

“Haha, thank you all so much.”

In the past, such focused attention had felt burdensome, but now he had reached the stage where he was starting to enjoy it.

“Mr. Sungshik, I heard you don’t have a Guild yet… If you ever become interested, please consider the Kuteng Guild. We’re one of the top ten Guilds in the U.S., and…”

“We’d also appreciate your consideration. We may be ranked around the 30s in size, but we’re solid enough to rival the top Guilds, and we can fully focus on supporting you…”

Among the guests were also representatives from Guilds. Many of them handed over business cards, hoping to recruit Sungshik.

“Wow, my big bro’s a real celebrity now, huh?”

Fletcher puffed up with pride, as if Sungshik’s popularity were his own achievement. Sungshik chuckled softly and tousled Fletcher’s hair.

“You’re not doing too bad yourself.”

“Shhh. Quiet, bro. Someone might hear you.”

Startled by Sungshik’s words, Fletcher lowered his voice and looked around nervously. He hadn’t even mentioned the Lord of Thunder and Lightning, yet Fletcher was acting like this, clearly immersed in the fun of playing the secret hero.

The party was enjoyable. Everyone welcomed and treated Heo Sungshik warmly. He had wondered if there might be any racists, but no such people appeared to be present.

―Are there still those who discriminate based on race?

‘Yeah. Racists never really disappear.’

After the era of the Great Cataclysm began, racists had drastically decreased, but a minority still persisted. They remained even during the Nights of Trial.

And even if they weren’t outright racists, there were quite a few who unconsciously looked down on Asians. Just like right now.

“Hmm… Sungshik, can we talk for a bit?”

The Martial Emperor, who had quickly grown familiar and begun speaking casually with Sungshik, called out to him during the party.

“What’s the matter?”

“Could you possibly take on some of the rapidly increasing gates in the U.S.? Only the A-rank and above ones.”

“Sure. If it’s something like that, I’d be glad to.”

With Sungshik’s acceptance, the Martial Emperor led him into the inner part of the mansion. Inside, a middle-aged man with a splendid mustache was seated.

“This is the man. The star of today’s party and the new giant from Asia.”

“Ah, pleased to meet you. I’m Clinton Davies, a senator in the Illinois State Congress. You must be the Heav… Heav… hmm.”

“It’s a bit embarrassing, but I’ve been called the Heavenly Sovereign. Pleased to meet you. My name is Heo Sungshik.”

“Oh, right. That was your title. The Heavenly Sovereign Heo Sungshik. I remember now. Things have been so hectic lately that I’ve been forgetting everything.”

“That’s fine. It’s just an empty title anyway.”

The man before him was a U.S. senator. Sungshik had wondered why a politician was being introduced to him—this was the reason.

Recently, the frequency of gate appearances had begun to rise worldwide. However, the speed at which they were being dealt with wasn’t keeping up.

In a small country like Korea, even if gates appeared, there were many Superhumans to handle them. Due to the small landmass and high population density, there were many Superhumans relative to the number of gates.

As such, managing gates in Korea was easy. The government and guilds took charge of regions, and gate management was sufficiently handled.

Perhaps Korea’s classification as a weak Superhuman nation was due to this reason. Since all gates were controlled by the government and a few guilds, Superhumans needed permission to attack gates.

However, in countries like the U.S., with vast land and low population density, there were more gates than Superhumans. Except for some regions, even if Superhumans freely hunted gates, there were still many left unattended.

In the midst of that, as gates began increasing like mushrooms after the rain, the number of unprocessed gates grew. And when Sungshik recently mentioned that unattended gates had a high chance of going into Overdrive, Americans’ anxiety spiked.

Clinton, who was in charge of gate-related issues, had been living under pressure from the public lately. He was already busy, but now he barely had a moment to breathe.

“But… I wonder if he can really handle it alone……”

Sungshik’s battle videos included only the fight at the Baeksang Plains in China and his fierce battle with Boris. Both had only recently been made public, so there were those who hadn’t seen them yet.

Clinton Davies, standing before him, was one of them. He had only heard that a new world ranker had emerged from Asia. Moreover, he subconsciously tended to underestimate Asians.

So when the Martial Emperor suggested that Sungshik could assist in clearing gates, and brought him along, Clinton couldn’t hide his reluctance. His distrust of Sungshik was clearly visible on his face.

Normally, as an excellent politician, Clinton would have maintained his expression well. But the accumulated fatigue of recent days prevented him from managing his expression, and his emotions showed clearly.

“This young man may look inexperienced, but he’s a Superhuman capable of crossing fists with me.”

“Is that so?”

Clinton asked back, startled. As far as he knew, only a handful of Superhumans were capable of clashing with the Martial Emperor.

“Since we’re on the topic, how about we have a quick sparring match?”

The Martial Emperor’s eyes were filled with the desire to cross fists with Sungshik. Perhaps he had been waiting for this moment ever since their first meeting. Given his nature, he couldn’t overlook the strong.

For the past few days, since he was the one who invited Sungshik, he couldn’t just suddenly ask for a match—so he had remained silent.

“Sounds good.”

Sungshik gladly accepted the Martial Emperor’s suggestion. He too wanted to know exactly how far he had come in catching up to the Martial Emperor. And he also wanted to demonstrate his strength to Clinton, who looked at him with distrustful eyes.

And so, a sudden sparring match between the Martial Emperor and Sungshik was arranged.