“Now then, how about we all stop here?”

Jenny stepped forward.

The shockwaves spreading from the clash between the two. And the energy pressure they were exuding was shaking the safety barrier uneasily.

This was supposed to be a friendly match. The stage wasn’t fit for them to fight seriously.

Due to the quivering barrier, uneasiness began to show on the faces of the spectators watching. That was how massive the flow of energy their clash was generating.

“It’s been a while, and I got a little too excited.”

The Martial Emperor was the first to gather his energy and speak. It seemed their bout would end here.

‘What a shame.’

Heavenly Sovereign - Heo Sungshik, a battle maniac, already had his body fired up. The desire to clash head-on with the Martial Emperor was boiling over. But now wasn’t the right time—it felt like it was best to hold back.

With a look of regret, Sungshik spoke.

“I’d like to have a proper match with you sometime.”

“Hahaha, that’s something I hope for as well.”

The Martial Emperor shared the same sentiment. He laughed heartily and promised a next time.

‘But it was clear—the gap between the Martial Emperor and me. If the fight had continued…’

—Chances are, you would’ve lost.

Heaven-Splitter interjected in Sungshik’s thoughts. And it was true.

For a moment, Sungshik had caught a glimpse of the Martial Emperor’s power when he had shown his true intent. In that moment, he was able to tell what level the Martial Emperor currently stood at.

Sungshik had once tread a similar path in the world of fiction, so he knew better than anyone what kind of power someone who had reached that level could display.

In truth, although Sungshik had once climbed up to the 9-Star realm, only faint remnants of that remained, meaning it didn’t contribute much to his current combat power. His strength and martial arts were appropriate for his current level. However, the memory of having once reached 9-Star remained vividly in his mind. Thanks to that, he could discern what stage the Martial Emperor had currently attained.

‘The final edge of 7-Star+. The stage of knocking on the door of 8-Star.’

The process of ascending to 8-Star was even more difficult than reaching 7-Star. It wasn’t a level that one could reach in a single leap.

Numerous types of limits existed to reaching 8-Star. Only by breaking through all those walls from the end of 7-Star+ could one step into the realm of 8-Star. The Martial Emperor had already reached the stage where he was beginning to confront those limits.

‘Certainly, even for a once-in-a-generation genius, it’s around this point they must face the wall of 8-Star if they wish to reach it during the Nights of Trial.’

In terms of timing, they needed to face that wall before the Nights of Trial began, if they were to reach 8-Star during the trials. Normally, reaching the 8-Star (Harmony Realm), which marked the beginning of the realm of transcendence, would take an inordinate amount of time.

It could take several times longer than the time it took to reach 7-Star from 1-Star, or in some cases, one might never cross that wall at all.

However, the Superhumans of humanity were facing the Nights of Trial under the protection of the system. This blessing was what allowed them to ascend to 8-Star within just a few years.

‘Now that I think about it, even in the world of fiction, it took me decades to reach the 8-Star realm.’

—That’s natural, even for a once-in-a-generation genius. Reaching the Harmony Realm, the threshold of transcendence, in just a few years is something that defies causality.

‘But then how is that even possible?’

—That… only the one who created this system would know.

‘And who created the system?’

—That… even I don’t know for sure. At the very least, I suspect it’s either the Creator God or a supreme divine being capable of handling the power of such a god.

Even Heaven-Splitter looked uncertain when it came to this part.

‘Hmm… well, even just thinking about how I returned to the past…’

If not for Chronos, a supreme godly being, it would’ve been impossible. That meant that whoever created the system capable of expressing such power had to be an even higher divine existence. It was a question Sungshik couldn’t find an answer to, no matter how much he pondered.

‘Whatever. Someday, I’ll find out.’

Wrapping up his thoughts, Sungshik swept his gaze across the clearing where he had just faced the Martial Emperor. He already knew that had the duel continued, he would likely have lost.

But the spectators didn’t think so.

“Whoa, did the Heavenly Sovereign just take the upper hand against the Martial Emperor?”

“This is insane. I never imagined the Heavenly Sovereign was this strong!”

“See? I told you. The Heavenly Sovereign can totally go toe-to-toe with the Martial Emperor.”

“Shouldn’t we start including the Heavenly Sovereign in discussions about who’s ranked number one now?”

The reactions of the onlookers were intense. To their eyes, it looked like Sungshik had continuously gained the upper hand against the Martial Emperor, seizing the momentum. Because of that, people were even starting to say he should be considered when discussing the top of the rankings.

“But didn’t the Martial Emperor not even go all out? He barely used any of the martial arts we’ve seen from him before.”

“That too, but… you know that technique the Heavenly Sovereign uses, the one where his whole body turns into thunder and lightning like a spirit of thunder? If he used that technique, couldn’t he have won against the Martial Emperor?”

“Hmm… that might be true, but…”

On top of that, there was a scene deeply imprinted in their minds from the footage of Seongsik and Boris’s duel.

Seongsik’s Natural Body skill. They thought that if he used that skill, Seongsik might be able to defeat the Martial Emperor. That’s how strong and striking Seongsik’s performance was when using that ‘Natural Body,’ though brief.

Hearing the voices around him, Seongsik gave a bitter smile.

‘I wonder if I could’ve beaten the Martial Emperor just by using the Natural Body skill.’

It was true that the Natural Body skill gave Seongsik physical immunity and boosted his elemental power. His combat strength surged accordingly.

However, Seongsik, who knew the true power of the Martial Emperor’s Limitless Divine Art, doubted how effective it would’ve really been. To face the Martial Emperor, elemental power alone wasn’t enough. At present, he had to use both elemental power and the Heaven-Splitting Martial Arts to stand a chance.

Otherwise, reclaiming the lost realm and overwhelming the Martial Emperor with a more refined Heaven-Splitting Martial Arts seemed to be the best method. Or acquiring additional elemental attributes and enhancing the strength of his elemental power to the point where he could overwhelm the Martial Emperor using that alone.

But for now, it was indeed difficult to deal with the Martial Emperor. However, the spectators were unaware of this fact.

“Well, well, this Super Rookie born in the East is really strong. It was just a light spar, but I was clearly outmatched, haha.”

And with that, the Martial Emperor poured oil on the fire. With his casual remark, Seongsik was suddenly elevated to the level of the Martial Emperor and the Sword Emperor, becoming a top-tier Superhuman.

Even if he wanted to deny it, there was no right moment to speak up. Besides, it was laughable to act like he knew the Martial Emperor’s full strength or martial arts when this was the first time seeing him in this life.

“Wow… I knew it, big bro! You actually went toe-to-toe with that monster geezer, the Martial Emperor!!”

Unaware of Seongsik’s complicated feelings, Fletcher was all excited beside him. In Fletcher’s eyes at this moment, Seongsik looked like the coolest person in the world.

‘I don’t even know anymore.’

Seongsik decided to think of it positively. After all, he did gain something from that brief spar, didn’t he?

He was confident that he would soon catch up with the Martial Emperor and the Sword Emperor. Whether through improvement of the Heaven-Splitting Martial Arts or enhancement of his elemental power. He chose to think about it optimistically.

“All the gates in this area?”

“That’s right. It’s shameless of me, but I’d like to ask a favor from you, Seongsik.”

Clinton looked at Seongsik with earnest eyes. Just a moment ago, he had looked at him with doubt, but after the duel with the Martial Emperor, Clinton couldn’t stop staring with admiration.

“Hmm.”

So that gaze earlier was because he didn’t fully trust me.

Recalling Clinton’s earlier look, Seongsik soon heard his anxious voice.

“If my earlier words upset you in any way, please allow me to apologize sincerely.”

Clinton thought Seongsik might have been offended by his earlier comments. So he didn’t hesitate to bow his head in apology.

Seeing that, the Martial Emperor wore a rather surprised expression.

Senator Clinton Davies of the Illinois State Assembly. A senator held a position so high he could topple even flying birds.

With such status came immense pride. Though born a politician and capable of discarding that pride when necessary, bowing his head to a young man — an Asian, no less — was quite an unusual occurrence. That showed how desperately Clinton needed Seongsik’s strength.

“I wasn’t offended. Honestly, I don’t even remember exactly what you said. I didn’t take it to heart, so there’s no need to go that far.”

Seongsik politely cleared Clinton’s misunderstanding. Clinton raised his head and looked at Seongsik.

“Still, a discourtesy is a discourtesy. With such great power, your pride must be substantial, and I was worried I might’ve scratched it.”

Seeing Clinton’s honest apology, Seongsik chuckled. It had been a while since he met a decent politician.

— His innate energy feels upright as well.

‘You can sense innate energy too?’

— It is possible to distinguish the innate energy of ordinary people with little mana. It’s easy if one has the eyes to see the flow of the Heaven-Splitting Martial Arts.

Seongsik found Heaven-Splitter’s words intriguing. If he could wield such skill, he would have clearer standards when judging people. He decided to learn the method from Heaven-Splitter when he had time later.

“It’s fine. I didn’t take it seriously. As for the gate request you mentioned, I’ll give it a try.”

When Seongsik agreed to the request, Clinton couldn’t hide his joy and repeatedly expressed his gratitude.

And so, Seongsik accepted Clinton’s request and took on the task of conquering the gates.

The region Clinton had requested help with was none other than Alaska. A northern region wedged between mainland America and Canada.

However, compared to its vast land, the population was extremely low. Though several times larger than the Korean Peninsula, it had less than a million residents.

The percentage of Superhumans was even worse. Because of that, the region had experienced frequent gate outbursts. Many monsters had built up in the wild. The defense line was barely maintained around Anchorage, the largest city.

But gate detection devices had recently found signs of increasing gates in the area. Not just the usual low-rank ones either — several A-rank gates were appearing. If left alone, the region would soon become an uncontrollable monster zone.

“Because I revealed the cause of the gate outbursts… the number of people leaving Anchorage is increasing even more?”

“Yes. Since the announcement, the outflow rate has increased by about 30%.”

“Hmm.”

As he received the report from Clinton’s secretary, Seongsik began to think.

‘So my actions contributed to the increased emigration?’

— That may be part of it, but it’s likely not the sole reason.

Heaven-Splitter’s words were correct.

Residents of Anchorage certainly felt more anxious due to Seongsik’s revelation. But even without him, they had planned to migrate to the mainland. His words simply expedited the process.

More important than them were the American Superhumans stationed there.

“We’re not only defending against the monsters in Anchorage. We're also attempting to reclaim Alaskan land by clearing gates... but progress has been excruciatingly slow. If a massive gate outbreak like the one in China happens, every Superhuman stationed in Alaska could be isolated.”

One effective method would be to deploy a large number of Superhumans all at once to pacify Alaska and then manage the area with a set number of them.

However, there were too few Superhumans. The mainland was already struggling to handle its own increasing gate numbers — Alaska was an additional burden they couldn’t afford.

“That’s why we initially approached the Martial Emperor.”

They sought to use individuals like the Martial Emperor and Jenny — warriors who were practically one-man armies — to reclaim Alaska. But the Martial Emperor handed the task off to Seongsik.

The resulting team consisted of Seongsik, Jenny, and Fletcher — just three people. Since Clinton, as a senator, knew Fletcher was the Lord of Lightning, he welcomed Fletcher’s involvement with open arms.

And when Jenny joined as well, Clinton felt like he had surpassed his original goal.

After all, America wasn’t a communist regime like China; it was a liberal democracy. They couldn’t force Superhumans to act. Getting them to move required enormous effort — typically through material rewards and support.

“…Accordingly, as compensation for your efforts, we plan to pay 5 million dollars in cash and 5 million coins as an initial reward.”

Just for accepting the request, they were offering 10 billion won. It showed how desperate America truly was.

And that was only the tip of the iceberg. If they cleared a set number of targeted gates, they would receive cash and coins worth up to 100 billion won.

What was even more shocking was something else entirely.

“Additionally, all byproducts obtained from gate conquests or wild monster subjugations will be exempt from any commission fees.”

This was a bold decision by the U.S. government. If they cleared that many gates, byproducts worth tens of trillions would be generated. That they’d allow all of it to be kept without fees proved how seriously America was preparing.

Normally, the base commission was 10%, and under the foreigner special clause, it went up to 50%. Nearly 60% in total.

Just the fact that he could keep all of that sparked Seongsik’s motivation to conquer gates. With that money, he could earn a vast number of coins. Maybe even purchase a [Legendary] item.

Yet, what caught Seongsik’s eye in the middle of all that was none other than the distribution of Irregular Gates.

“This is…”

At a glance, the gates were completely blackened. It seemed the opportunity to collect quite a few ‘Fragments of the Black Moon’ had arrived.