Void Evolution System

August's return wasn't unexpected.

Everyone who could turn their attention to him already had their attention on him when he opened his eyes. After all, his success in the trial was a broadcasted phenomenon.

His whole body suddenly shined with light, illuminating the entire damp, dark cavern. He was like a shard of glass refracting sun rays in every direction. The light originated from both his body and the crown on his head as the two merged into a single entity.

It naturally disappeared into August's body, signifying that he'd been acknowledged as the true successor of Arulion.

Unfortunately, he wasn't in an environment where he could be celebrated.

The cavern was filled with blood, not flowers. And, as he found out in his first few seconds of consciousness, everything had gone wrong.

August didn't know how to feel at first. The sheer devastation overwhelmed him and made his mind go blank.

As he saw more and more, something inside of him broke.

His actions had led all of his friends close to death.

No, even from a single look, he could tell that Melania wouldn't live for more than a few more minutes.

He couldn't believe it.

What had gone wrong?

Right, as he didn't know about the crown's hidden realm, he thought that he could finish everything before Wilhelm returned. A single wrong assumption ended up giving his enemy a chance to end him, and as his friends protected him, they found themselves in this kind of situation.

No, it was two wrong assumptions.

Lucas…

August didn't even think about it. His mind was already blank, and as he saw the people up there standing around and doing nothing, he couldn't hold it back anymore.

If even one of those geniuses stood up to help, then they would have been able to leave the cavern without a scratch.

August obviously knew that they had no obligation to help him. In the first place, they were not his friends, but people chasing the same benefits that he was.

Still, his mind wasn't prepared to register that yet.

The only thing August felt was rage.

And he knew exactly who to take it out on.

August slammed his arm sideways.

Water gushed into the cavern in quantities it had never seen before.

It rushed towards the two geniuses in front of Valerie before they could react. They, of course, instinctually put up shields. In their eyes, once they registered the attack, it would be enough for them to survive and attack back with only minor injuries.

That assumption was based on the foreknowledge they had of August's strength. He may have been powerful in the heir wars, but not enough to fight them. They were over a hundred years old and had trained to another degree, achieving power that August couldn't imagine yet.

BOOOOOOOOM!

…or so they thought.

The instant that wave hit them, their shields shattered. Their bodies were thrown back and rag-dolled by the flow.

In the end…

SPLAT!

They went into the nearest cavern wall and turned into patches of blood.

Dead in an instant.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

There wasn't even a moment of silence for people to process what had happened. The singular genius in front of Juno was the strongest of Wilhelm's deployed reinforcements. If it weren't for his power, which was nearing the nine revolutions already, then Juno wouldn't have been put into such a terrible position.

He frowned when he saw August flatten those two, but he didn't panic. He had time to put up his own defenses. Unlike them, he could properly block it.

…or so he thought, right?

Flattened. Without an ounce of resistance, he was thrown into the wall and slaughtered like a pig. His life held no meaning in August's eyes, and his attacks conveyed that message clearly.

August was focused on Wilhelm. He didn't even look at the other geniuses as he killed them.

Wilhem's teeth were gritted to the point where blood was leaking from his lips.

Seeing August's expression, seeing that he was back, the other three backed off. Their job was over, so they were back to being observers.

It was unfortunate for Wilhelm. Their presence served as a sort of protection for him. Now that they were gone, he was left to face every ounce of that murderous intent on his own.

"You…there is no way that you were acknowledged…"

Those were Wilhelm's first words.

And that was August's first step forward.

His aura grew even further. Wilhelm's eyes shook slightly as he was forced to take a step back.

'I…stepped back?'

He was confounded by his instinctive decisions.

He felt fear from that boy?

He felt danger?

When they fought previously, Wilhelm allowed August to dominate so that he could gain a false sense of security. He didn't feel danger from anything the young genius did. The only problem he saw was the difference in their bloodlines, but that was not something that could be changed.

In any case, Wilhelm was stronger, so he didn't have to actually worry about August. He could toy with the young genius as much as he wanted before killing him.

"Don't kid me! Even if you have been acknowledged by the crown, it does not mean anything. In the end, you will be nothing more than a puppet for us to control as we–"

BOOOOOOM!

He was only talking to himself in the first place, but his words were still cut off by an explosion.

Eris and the rest were forced to jump away as the entire upper half of the cavern was destroyed.

Rock crumbled down as the ceiling collapsed. Luckily, the cavern wasn't flooded, but it wouldn't be able to take much more damage before the entire thing collapsed.

August's friends were left behind a wall of debris in the healing water that he surrounded them with. He didn't have to summon anything new. He just repurposed the water that had already flooded the cavern while Wilhelm was blabbering.

The fight would take place on this side, ensuring that they would not be harmed. This way, August could do whatever he wanted without worrying.

Wilhelm was floored by his power. His words ended not because he got hit, but because he barely had time to both dodge and put up a shield to block the pressure waves of August's punch.

'Fast.'

He could no longer try to justify it with excuses. Somehow, August had gotten incredibly stronger.

Even though the Holy Clans knew that there was a secret realm inside the crown, they didn't know exactly what happened within. The First Dragon Emperor always forced his successors into a pact that forbade them from spreading his existence into the world. This was primarily so that incoming successor candidates wouldn't try to kiss up to him or manipulate the trial somehow.

August didn't realize how special he was to be given the former emperor's trust, but that was beside the point.

The point was that Wilhelm didn't have any way of knowing that August had been away training for the past five years.

For geniuses and dragons with their level of talent, five years was a monstrous amount of time. It was more than enough to surpass anyone and everyone at the same level, and as August showcased upon his return, he had done exactly that.

He had only attacked Wilhelm once so far, and with a punch at that, but he made the Liqua Clan genius' hairs stand on their ends.

Panic and fear were emotions that Wilhelm had never felt before in his life.

Not until this moment.

And how did he respond…?