Mercenary System: I can increase innate potential !

His heart pounded in his chest as he struggled to sit up. He couldn't accept this reality. Emmanuel couldn't be dead. Not like this. Not before his eyes.

Through the black smoke, a flash of light suddenly drew his gaze to the center of the crater.

Gradually, a silhouette stood upright, flickering but present.

The soldiers of the Eighth Regiment, who could see the scene, all held their breath. They all had great respect for their captain, so they all hoped their captain had survived.

When the dust cleared completely, Orvari was finally able to see what he had both feared and hoped for.

Emmanuel was standing there, his arms still outstretched and his hands still firmly gripping his two daggers.

His green uniform, covered in dark leaf patterns, was torn, his glasses were broken, his skin bore the marks of severe burns, and blood flowed profusely from several wounds.

Yet he was alive and well.

Around him, luminous fragments floated in the air, remnants of an energy barrier he had manifested at the last moment.

"Manu!" shouted Orvari, rushing towards him.

Emmanuel staggered and collapsed on one knee, gasping for breath. His gaze met Orvari's, and a weak but determined smile spread across his face.

"I... held on..." he struggled to articulate.

Orvari appeared at his side with a smile.

"How did you do it, you bastard?"

Ernest smiled slightly.

"My two daggers...They were made by magicians from the world of Eternity...And they had inscribed a level 0 spell on each of the two daggers."

"Once...activated together...it produces a level 1 spell..."

Orvari was surprised.

Spells in the world of Eternity were extremely rare, and only truly powerful players could hope to make contact with magic.

Emmanuel had been very lucky to acquire such treasures.

But that no longer mattered.

"Don't ever say I look after your children again, you bastard."

Emmanuel laughed with some difficulty.

"I had no choice...until now I'd never activated those spells..."

Meanwhile, Vatar watched them sitting on top of a hill, arms crossed, his expression marked by mild amusement.

"Impressive. You survived." he declared in a detached tone.

"I wonder if you could survive a second explosion?

At the same time, a ball of energy even larger than the previous one appeared.

Orvari instinctively stepped in front of Emmanuel, drawing his sword despite the certainty that he would be no match for such a monster.

He didn't have a spell.

But he was no coward who would abandon his comrades.

Vatar watched the scene with malicious pleasure.

As before, he made a gesture similar to the one before, and threw the energy ball at the two regimental captains, as if he were throwing away common garbage.

Just then, a rumbling sound was heard in the distance.

A shadow split the sky at lightning speed. A flash of light crossed the battlefield, and in an instant, a silhouette appeared between them and Vatar.

Kavasta had just arrived.

And as soon as he arrived, he sliced Vatar's energy ball in two with his sword, before sheathing it.

The energy ball exploded immediately, but Kavasta escaped unharmed.

Silence fell over the battlefield as all eyes turned to the newcomer.

The Dravaks themselves recoiled at the human's actions.

"You've done enough, Vatar."

Kavasta wore a very serious face, and flashes of lightning burst around him.

This time, Vatar no longer wore the same expression of amusement.

"Kavasta...so you're the human commander on this battlefield."

Commanders of each race were not that numerous, and those who were exceptional were well known.

Kavasta didn't reply to Vatar.

Without showing any particular emotion, he announced:

"Since you have flouted the rule of the Gods, I will sanction you in the name of the Gods of the Omega universe."

Vatar squinted, sensing that something was wrong. And indeed, before he could react, Kavasta disappeared.

Like a bolt of lightning, Kavasta's silhouette split the battlefield.

A titanic shock shook the air as Kavasta reappeared right in front of Vatar, his lightning-encircled fist crashing violently into Vatar's torso.

The resulting shockwave pulverized the ground beneath them, sending many Dravak soldiers flying nearby like leaves in a storm.

Vatar, meanwhile, was sent hurtling across the battlefield.

His body ripped through the ground for several hundred meters before crashing into a rocky mountain in the distance, shaking the earth.

There was total silence.

The Dravaks stared at the scene, transfixed.

Kavasta, still standing, calmly looked up at the enemy army.

His voice, filled with absolute authority, echoed across the battlefield:

"Lay down your arms."

At first, the Dravaks didn't react. They couldn't believe that their commander, previously so majestic, could be so easily defeated.

"Your commander is defeated. Lay down your arms, I won't say it a third time."

The Dravaks, deprived of their commander and faced with a monster far beyond their comprehension, finally understood that all resistance was futile.

The first ones dropped their weapons. Then, little by little, the entire Dravak army surrendered.

Kavasta glanced at Vatar, who was still embedded in the mountain without showing the slightest movement.

Then he ignored him.

The fight was over.

Maxime was still stunned by the scene.

"The war ended just like that?"

...

The next day arrived quickly.

Maxime, in a spacious room that had been allocated to him, was slowly waking up.

He was shirtless, wearing only shorts under the covers.

"I still can't believe what happened yesterday."

He thought back to Kavasta's silhouette surrounded by lightning, defeating Vatar with a single punch.

"That guy, is he really dead?"

Maxime didn't know, no one knew except the Dravaks remaining in their fortress and Kavasta himself.

But Maxime knew there weren't many left.

The first Dravak regiment was captured by Commander Kavasta himself, the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and ninth regiments all decided to surrender, while the eighth Dravak regiment had been almost totally eradicated.

"So the war is over."

Come to think of it, in just two days he'd already nearly died several times. And even having survived, he emerged with burns all over his body and a wound in his soul.

He began to have a deep respect for these soldiers who had managed to survive for years on this kind of battlefield.

Of course, he didn't know that the vast majority of the time, battlefields weren't that violent at all.

It was just the occasional skirmish.

It was practically only the Dravaks who were so keen on war and victory on such battlefields, for it was only in such circumstances that members of their species could foster the appearance of Dravaks with awakened bloodlines.

Maxime touched his chest.

The same place where only the day before, it had burned him to the point where he felt like banging his head against the floor.

Now, there was just a very slight discomfort, but only when he was paying attention.

"Fortunately, the soul injury simply prevents me from using [Nox Limit] again, if I'd lost some of my physical strength..."

"I'd rather not even think about it..."

Especially when thinking about something in particular.

Maxime did a little mental calculation, and knew that the university competition was only 4 months away.

"I wonder if in my current state, I'm already the strongest high school student, or if there are other extremely strong high school students?"

While thinking about this, he began to stretch slowly in bed, his aching muscles reminding him of the previous day's fights.

He sat up with difficulty, his whole body aching from the previous day's fighting.

Particularly his upper body, where Ytan had left him a long, beautiful scar.

Of course it was ironic, this scar was beyond frightening and would take a long time to heal.

He didn't know if Viviana's talent could make burns and scars disappear, but for the moment it didn't seem to be the case.

But by now Maxime was used to wounds, so he didn't pay any more attention than that.

It was just that when he returned to class, his classmates might be startled to see the burn on his face.

Straightening up, he glanced towards the wide window of his bedroom. Outside, the morning sun bathed the human camp in a peaceful light, contrasting with the hell that had been the battlefield.

He heaved a sigh as he thought back over the events.

Kavasta, surrounded by lightning, sweeping Vatar away with a single punch... followed by the Dravaks' sudden surrender... It was all over so quickly he could hardly believe it.

Suddenly, a discreet knock on the door drew him from his thoughts.

"Maxime, are you awake?"

He looked quickly in the direction of the door, having a little doubt as to who the person was.

"Captain Orvari?"

The voice behind echoed again.

"It's me, can I come in?"

Maxime didn't care that he'd only just woken up. He was literally living with his men in Eternity, so he didn't have much modesty left.

"Yes, you can come in."

Explore stories on My Virtual Library Empire@@novelbin@@

The man entered the room, arms crossed, his gaze scanning Maxime as if to make sure he was still standing.

"Sleep well?" he asked with a very slight, barely perceptible smile.

Maxime rolled his eyes.

"Complicated with my injuries, but a few hours is enough."

Orvari nodded, as if he understood perfectly.

"The commander wants to see you as soon as possible."

Maxime raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"What's this about?"

"I don't know."

Maxime rose with a grimace, grabbed a clean uniform and quickly donned his gear.

His body was screaming at him to stay at rest, but his instincts told him that Kavasta wasn't calling for a mere formality.

On his way out of the room, he spotted Emmanuel, leaning against a wall with a bandage around his head and one arm in a sling. Despite his condition, he was smiling happily.

Maxime took one look at him and easily recognized him. It was hard not to remember after seeing the scene where he took a gigantic ball of energy head-on.

"You're the captain of the eighth regiment, aren't you?"

Emmanuel nodded.

"You can call me, Emmanuel."

At the same time, he continued taking a more serious look.

"If Kavasta summons you, it's never to talk about rain or shine," he said, half seriously and half jokingly.

Maxime didn't reply, although he had become more curious.

He followed Orvari and Emmanuel to the command room.

When they entered, Kavasta was already there, standing in front of a holographic map projecting a map of the fortress's surroundings. He didn't even look up when he heard them enter.

"Close the door", he ordered simply.

Maxime obeyed immediately, without saying a word.

He was no longer as frivolous as the first time he'd entered this room.

He now knew the power of the man who was standing there observing the holographic map, so naturally he wouldn't play the fool in front of him.

So Maxime and the two regimental captains stood in front of the door, no one daring to say anything.