Re-Awakened :I Ascend as an SSS-Ranked Dragon Summoner - Chapter 458

Chapter 458: Grey’s Honour

A transport ship *Grey’s Honor* cut through the void between Earth and Raiju Prime, its autopilot systems maintaining course while its passengers sat in heavy silence. The main cabin should have felt spacious with only five people aboard, but the weight of their recent failures made the air thick and suffocating.

Noah sat by the viewport, watching stars streak past in the familiar blur of hyperspace travel. His armor had been cleaned and repaired by the ship’s maintenance systems, but he still felt dirty, still felt the phantom weight of every mistake that had led them to this point. Excaliburn rested across his knees, its void energy dormant but ready.

Sophie occupied the seat across from him, her normal composure replaced by a hollow stare that spoke of exhaustion beyond anything physical. Diana had claimed a corner of the cabin, her tactical mind probably running through scenarios and contingencies, trying to find patterns in their failure that might prevent future disasters.

Lucy sat alone near the back of the cabin, her knees drawn up to her chest as she stared out another viewport. She hadn’t spoken since they’d boarded the ship, hadn’t responded to attempts at conversation or comfort. The loss of Lucas had hit her harder than anyone, and the knowledge that he was trapped somewhere they couldn’t reach had broken something inside her.

Kelvin stood near the ship’s central console, his cybernetic hands moving over holographic displays as he reviewed their collected data on Arthur. Intelligence reports, combat recordings, tactical analyses—anything that might give them insight into their enemy’s true nature and capabilities.

The silence stretched on for nearly an hour before Kelvin finally spoke.

“Alright,” he said, turning away from the console to face the others. “We need to talk about what we know.”

Nobody responded immediately. Sophie shifted in her seat but didn’t look up. Diana glanced over from her corner but remained silent. Lucy didn’t react at all.

Noah continued staring out the viewport. “What’s the point?”

“The point is that we’re not done,” Kelvin replied firmly. “Arthur beat us, yeah. He took Lucas and King Aurelius and probably the other family heads. But we’re still alive, we’re still free, and we still have abilities he hasn’t accounted for.”

“Do we?” Diana’s voice carried a bitter edge. “Because from where I’m sitting, it looks like we got played from start to finish.”

Kelvin activated the cabin’s main display, showing Arthur’s image alongside tactical data they’d gathered during the confrontation. “Let’s look at what we actually know. Arthur calls himself the Eighth, which means he’s connected to the original families somehow. He has access to abilities from at least seven different bloodlines—shadows, blood manipulation, metallurgy, lightning, fire, beast taming, and probably more we didn’t see.”

Sophie finally looked up. “The copies. How many do you think he can create?”

“Thousands,” Kelvin replied. “Maybe tens of thousands. The fortress had what, more than two thousand shadow soldiers? And they all turned out to be duplicates of him. If he can maintain that many copies simultaneously…”

“Then we’re looking at an army,” Diana finished. “An army where every soldier has the combat capabilities of someone who’s been alive for centuries.”

Noah turned away from the viewport. “It’s not just the numbers. It’s the power source.”

“What do you mean?” Sophie asked.

“I hit him with everything I had. Null Strike should have unmade him at the molecular level, but he absorbed the damage like it was nothing. His shadow blade drank void energy like it was feeding on it.” Noah’s hands tightened reflexively like he was holding onto Excaliburn’s hilt. “That’s not normal. Nobody should be able to do what he did.”

Kelvin nodded. “Which means his power comes from somewhere else. Some external source that lets him stack abilities and create perfect copies of himself.”

“The question is where,” Diana said. “And why does he need the family heads?”

Lucy’s voice cut through their discussion like a blade. “Does it matter?”

Everyone turned to look at her. She was still staring out the viewport, but tears were streaming down her face.

“Does any of this theorizing matter?” she continued, her voice cracking. “Lucas is gone. King Aurelius is gone. For all we know, all the family heads are gone. And we’re sitting here playing detective like it’s going to bring them back.”

Sophie stood up and moved toward Lucy. “We’ll find them. We’ll find a way—”

“How?” Lucy spun around, her eyes blazing with grief and fury. “Arthur can create an army of himself! He can absorb attacks that should kill him! He can trap people in dimensions that don’t exist anymore! What exactly are we supposed to do against that?”

“We figure out his weakness,” Kelvin said. “Everyone has one.”

“Really? Because it seems to me like his only weakness was a time limit on his abilities, and that was just for the copies.” Lucy’s voice rose. “The real Arthur is still out there somewhere, probably laughing at how easily he fooled us.”

Diana stood up from her corner, her expression hard. “You want to know what his real weakness was? Us. Our inability to work as a team.”

The cabin fell silent except for the hum of the ship’s engines.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Kelvin asked.

“It means this whole disaster is on Noah and you,” Diana replied, her voice cold and precise. “Your main character syndrome, your need to handle everything yourselves, your complete inability to include the rest of us in your plans.”

Noah felt something cold settle in his stomach. “Diana—”

“No, I’m not done.” Diana stepped forward, her momentum manipulation ability making her movements seem too fluid, too controlled. “You two decided to charge off and confront Arthur alone. You didn’t wait for backup, you didn’t coordinate with the rest of us, you didn’t even bother to tell us what you were planning.”

Kelvin’s cybernetic hands clenched into fists. “We didn’t have time—”

“Bullshit. You had time to make a plan that included everyone. But you didn’t, because you two think you’re special. You think you’re the heroes of this story, and the rest of us are just supporting characters.”

“That’s not—” Noah started to protest.

“And now King Aurelius is gone because of your arrogance,” Diana continued, ignoring him. “Lucy’s brother is trapped in some shadow dimension because you two couldn’t be bothered to work with your team.”

Kelvin’s control finally snapped.

His cybernetic fist slammed into the ship’s central console with a sound like a gunshot. Metal bent and sparks flew as his enhanced strength crumpled the reinforced housing. Warning lights flashed as secondary systems tried to compensate for the damage.

“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” Kelvin’s voice was raw with fury. “You think this is our fault? You think I and Noah wanted any of this to happen?”

Diana took a step back, clearly not expecting the violence of his reaction.

“I got kidnapped by Arthur’s shadows goons,” Kelvin continued, his voice rising. “I got taken by the Eighth specifically to draw Noah into a trap. That’s the only reason we were able to track him down at all. So don’t you dare stand there and act like we were playing hero.”

He slammed his other fist into the wall, leaving a dent in the reinforced hull plating. “And Noah? Noah fought Arthur alone because he had to. Because Arthur would have killed all of us if someone hadn’t stepped up to face him.”

Sophie tried to intervene. “Kelvin, calm down—”

“No, I won’t calm down!” Kelvin spun to face Diana, his cybernetic implants glowing with emotional stress. “You want to talk about blame? Let’s talk about how everyone in this room is perfectly happy to let Noah carry the weight of every decision, every failure, every consequence.”

His voice dropped to something dangerous. “Where were your brilliant tactical suggestions when Arthur was tearing through our every plan? Where was your momentum manipulation when the king was getting dragged into a shadow portal? You want to blame someone for what happened? Look in a fucking mirror.”

Diana’s face had gone pale. “Kelvin, I didn’t mean—”

“Yes, you did. You meant every word.” Kelvin’s voice was cold now, controlled in a way that was somehow worse than his shouting. “This is really about your confession, isn’t it? About how I haven’t given you an answer yet?”

The silence that followed was deafening.

“You’re taking your personal feelings out on team business,” Kelvin continued, his words cutting deep. “And that’s the kind of shit that gets people killed in combat.”

Diana’s composure finally cracked. “Go to hell, Kelvin.”

“Already there,” he replied. “We all are.”

Kelvin stormed out of the main cabin, the door sliding shut behind him with a soft hiss. The sound of his footsteps echoed through the ship’s corridors, followed by the distant slam of another door.

Lucy stood up without a word and walked to the back of the cabin, settling into a seat as far from the others as possible. Her message was clear: she didn’t want to talk to anyone.

Diana returned to her corner, her face was contorted in controlled fury and humiliation. Sophie remained standing in the middle of the cabin, looking lost and uncertain.

Noah sighed and leaned back in his chair, staring up at the ceiling panels. The weight of everything Kelvin had said pressed down on him like a physical force. The truth was, everyone did blame him. Deep down, even his friends held him responsible for their failures.

And maybe they were right.

As the ship continued through hyperspace toward Raiju Prime, Noah let his mind wander over everything they’d learned about Arthur. An original with the power to access multiple bloodlines, create perfect copies of himself, and trap people in pocket dimensions. Someone with resources that spanned multiple worlds and the intelligence to stay hidden for centuries.

What did someone like that actually want? What goal required kidnapping the heads of the original families? What plan needed that specific combination of people and abilities?

Noah still couldn’t figure it out. Arthur’s motivations remained as mysterious as his true location.

The hours passed in uncomfortable silence, broken only by the occasional status update from the ship’s navigation systems. Eventually, the familiar blue-white sphere of Raiju Prime appeared in the viewport, its surface crackling with the electrical storms that powered the Grey family’s advanced civilization.

The landing at the royal spaceport was routine, handled entirely by automated systems that guided their ship to a designated platform. As they disembarked, palace guards in their distinctive lightning-blue uniforms approached to escort them through the security checkpoints.

Lucy walked ahead of the group, her shoulders set in a way that discouraged conversation. Kelvin had emerged from wherever he’d been hiding on the ship, but he avoided eye contact with Diana and stayed close to Noah. Sophie and Diana maintained their own careful distance from each other.

The guard who met them at the palace entrance was a middle-aged man with the weathered look of someone who’d spent years in military service. His uniform was impeccable, and the lightning patterns worked into his armor marked him as senior staff.

“Lady Grey,” he said, bowing slightly to Lucy. “We weren’t expecting your return so soon.”

“There have been complications,” Lucy replied, her voice flat and formal. “I need to speak with my advicers immediately.”

“Of course. Though I should mention, we’ve had some unusual visitors today.”

Lucy paused. “What kind of visitors?”

“Off-worlders. They claimed to be educational researchers, but…” The guard activated a small holographic display on his wrist communicator. “Security protocols required us to record their visit.”

The display showed a group of people in civilian clothes standing at the palace gates. The image quality was excellent, clearly showing their faces and general appearance.

Lucy studied the recording with mild interest. “I don’t recognize any of them.”

Kelvin had been hanging back, but something about the guard’s tone made him step forward to get a better look at the display. The moment he saw the lead figure—a tall woman with black hair and glasses—his blood went cold.

“Oh shit,” he breathed.

Lucy looked at him sharply. “What?”

Kelvin’s face had gone completely white. “That’s Miss Brooks. She was our homeroom instructor at Academy 12.”

The implications hit everyone simultaneously. If Brooks was on Raiju Prime with what looked like a team of military personnel, it meant the EDF was now acting on their absence. It meant their unauthorized mission had now gone from being noticed to now being reviewed.

It meant they were in serious trouble.

“When did they arrive?” Noah asked, moving closer to examine the recording.

“This morning,” the guard replied. “They requested an audience with the king and queen, but were turned away due to security concerns.”

Sophie stepped forward. “Are they still on the planet?”

“As far as we know, yes. They took lodging in the merchant district.”

Lucy looked around at her teammates, seeing her own concerns reflected in their faces. Their mission to stop Arthur had already cost them Lucas and King Aurelius. Now it might cost them their freedom as well.

“I’ll need to talk to my advicers and probably the new heads of the seven,” Lucy said finally. “There are things they need to know about what’s happening.”

As they followed the guard deeper into the palace, Noah couldn’t shake the feeling that their problems were about to get much more complicated. Arthur was still out there somewhere with his army of copies and his trapped victims. The EDF had apparently sent a retrieval team to bring them home. And somewhere in the middle of all this, the real war was just beginning.

The fractures in their team ran deeper than he’d realized, and Noah wasn’t sure they could be repaired in time to face what was coming next.

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