After a long moment of silence, the ten shadowed beings in the sky continued staring at Sam.
But something had changed. Their figures trembled ever so slightly.
Their aura, once cold and composed, began to distort. In their eyes, something shifted.
[Of course. We should’ve known.]
All of them reacted differently upon seeing Sam. But the one thing they all shared was that they were trembling.
Maybe even... slightly scared?
"What the hell’s going on?"
"Are they going to attack us?!"
All seven worlds were thrown into confusion, especially the other six.
From their view, the sky had opened and those ten beings had appeared, giants cloaked in shadow and power.
But then they started shaking as if they’d seen something terrifying.
No one could tell what was happening, because the projection was the same in every world.
They were omnipotent, meaning able to see everything.
But at that very moment, those beings weren’t looking at all seven worlds.
They were staring at Earth. They were staring directly at Sam.
Sam didn’t understand why. He could feel how powerful they were, so far beyond him it was laughable.
Yet for some reason, they seemed... cautious of him?
Then, the silence shattered.
One of the two figures in the center clapped his hands.
A shockwave burst through the air, rumbling across the skies.
[We see now,] he said, voice calm but thunderous. His hand raised, pointing straight at Sam. [It seems the final Primordial has arrived.]
That single word, Primordial, landed like a bomb.
Most humans blinked in confusion. They didn’t know what a "Primordial" was. They’d never heard of it.
But the other races? They went into a frenzy.
The other races had feared that name.
For decades, if not more, they believed the Primordials had long since disappeared or maybe never even existed beside that "prophecy".
But now, one of the ancient beings from beyond had confirmed it. The last Primordial was real.
"Get the leaders. We need to call an emergency meeting."
"No way... don’t tell me... is the Primordial one of us?"
Panic and speculation spread quickly.
None of the races knew which one the Primordial had come from.
All they knew was that he was said to be the most powerful and dangerous being in the entire realm.
[Amazing,] said the other central figure with a low chuckle. [He really is here. Well then, it was nice meeting you, Primordial.]
Then, as one, the ten beings bowed. Not out of respect, but mockery.
Their power surged one final time, and then, without warning, they dissolved into particles and vanished through a swirling vortex in the sky.
Moments later, the skies cleared. Everything returned to normal.
Sam stood in place, his eyes still staring upward. Then, slowly, he looked down.
His expression hadn’t changed much on the surface. But deep within, something stirred.
Something cold and ancient. Hatred.
He didn’t understand why, but his very soul had reacted violently to those beings, as if it recognized them. And hated them.
Without thinking, he checked his status.
He hadn’t done anything. He hadn’t fought or killed. But the bar rose higher than it ever had before.
This wasn’t imagined. This was real.
They had pointed at him. Spoken his name. Recognized him.
Which meant the other worlds now knew too.
’They’ll come after me,’ Sam thought, narrowing his eyes. ’I need to be even more careful now.’
The majority of humans were still staring at the sky, stunned from the sudden appearance of these unknown figures, and the even more terrifying countdown now burning across the heavens.
The giant timer that had appeared was still present after all, ticking down slowly.
It was reminding everyone that if the six layers of the [Forsaken] realm weren’t completed before it hit zero... their world would end.
Naturally, the [Awakener Association] would scramble to write official statements, and all the major guilds would be forced to cooperate.
But Sam? Sam wasn’t interested in discussions.
He didn’t care about politics or public announcements.
Because if he could clear the [Forsaken] Realm by himself, it wouldn’t matter.
He wasn’t sure he’d be able to complete the fifth layer, even less the fifth sub-layer.
And the sixth layer? Impossible right now. A single creature there could easily kill him.
But that was only temporary.
He would grow. He would get stronger.
The only question was... would he be strong enough in six months?
As these thoughts swirled in his mind, a panel flashed.
[Hell-Mode Analysis: They noticed you. But it doesn’t matter. This is just the beginning.]
He tightened his grip, turned around, and walked toward the nearest train station.
Next stop: the fifth layer.
Meanwhile, in Sylvarae, the Elven World. 1
Inside a large, ancient hall made of living wood and glowing leaves, ten powerful elves sat around a massive round table.
They were the leaders of the strongest guilds in Sylvarae, and their faces were tense.
"Let’s begin this unexpected meeting," said Duskaar, the elven lord of one of the top guilds.
His fingers were clenched together, elbows resting on the table.
He was a level 7 of the [Forsaken] rank, one of the few in Sylvarae to reach that power.
"I think we all understand the gravity of what just happened. We used to treat the prophecy like a half-truth. But not anymore."
Everyone nodded, silent but serious.
Because now they knew. The Primordial was real. And he had arrived.
The only other person present in the room was Seraphine, Duskaar’s daughter, the Saintess of the Elves and one of [Forsakened]’s heroines.
She stood behind her father, hands clenched. Her expression was calm, but her heart wasn’t.
She remembered that moment in the Battle Realm.
She remembered him. The human.
His presence had been strange, unnatural even. She had been thinking about him for a long time, wondering this was about... but now?
’Could he be...? But there’s no way...’
A soft glow appeared in the center of the table as a holographic panel showing all six layers shimmered into existence.
"We don’t know what the others are doing," Duskaar said, "but we can assume they’re hosting their own meetings, meaning that we are all on the same page concerning that [Primordial]."
"We’re focused on stopping him."
Another guild leader, Malina, frowned. "Do we even know what race he’s from? Could he be... one of us?"
"Possibly," Duskaar said, voice sharp. "Let’s hope not. Let’s hope he dies before that matters."
The room fell into uneasy silence again. They all understood what was at stake.
Because if the Primordial survived, if he thrived, then none of them would be safe.
They spoke for another twenty minutes, planning, preparing, theorizing.
But through it all, Seraphine said nothing.
She kept thinking back to that moment in the Battle Realm.
The way that man had looked at her. His eyes, and the way they burned.
He didn’t belong to this world. She could feel it.
She tried to remember more. Anything that would make sense.
She was known for her incredible intuition. And right now, it was screaming.
But finally, after a while... she couldn’t hold it back anymore.
"Is..." She opened her mouth, and everyone turned, "...Is the Primordial really that bad?"