Reborn: Apocalypse Ready. War Goddess by My Side novel Chapter 50

Chapter 50 Some Difference

B–rank, just as expected

But that gold light he felt at his chest, the one only he could sense, was a different matter entirely.

Steven’s mind went very still on the inside.

Finished

Did I actually become the first person in recorded history to awaken two Divine Sigils at once? And is that beast sigil really an SSS–rank?

Steven couldn’t bring himself to confirm it, because the idea was simply beyond anything the world had

ever seen.

It belonged more to legend than to reality.

But the truth was right there in his chest. He could draw on the beast sigil’s power. He’d done it before.

What does any of this even mean?

A thousand unanswered questions pressed against the inside of his skull at once.

“Step down. You’re a B–rank.”

The teacher’s voice cut through his thoughts and pulled him back to the present.

The strange color flicker didn’t seem to have stirred any serious concern among the observers.

Most likely, everyone assumed it was just an anomaly. Everyone knew the rank colors were fixed and finite, so whatever else they thought they saw, they’d probably explain it away on their own.

Nelson grabbed Steven’s arm the moment he stepped away from the pillar, practically vibrating. “Steven, B–rank is solid! I’m hoping I pull that off too!”

Steven smiled at him. “You will.”

Feassuring

Steven glanced over at Bianca across the field and caught her eye, sending her a quiet, reassuring look.

Then he turned toward the registration table.

On the way there, his gaze crossed Lilliana’s naturally, without either of them meaning for it to happen. Lilliana’s expression had gone cool and composed in a way that had a very definite finality to it.

Steven understood exactly what that look meant, because he understood her. In her mind, she’d just drawn a clean, permanent line between them.

And true enough, that was precisely what she was thinking.

Steven, you’re reasonably good–looking, and these last few days weren’t unimpressive.

But the facts are the facts.

11:25 am

Chapter 50-20me Difference

You’re B–rank. I’m S–rank.

My future is going to blaze and yours is going to stay ordinary.

I’ve always believed my standards were right, and this only confirms it.

We live in different worlds.

I don’t need you hovering around me anymore.

Thank you for caring, but we don’t have anything left to settle between us.

You’ve got Bianca.

That’s where you belong.

Finished

Steven didn’t feel much of anything looking back at that cold expression.

He knew Lilliana.

He’d known her for a long time across two lifetimes, and this was exactly who she was.

Some people looked down on others with less, the same way certain wealthy individuals looked at the poor as though poverty were a personal failing. Lilliana was like that at her core, and he’d never had any illusions about it..

Still, even knowing all of that, Steven thought privately that she didn’t have to carry herself quite like this.

Awakening S–rank was real, and it meant something. But it didn’t have to mean she stood on a different plane of existence than every person below her.

That wasn’t how people should treat each other.

The world had a way of turning, and nobody stayed at the top or bottom of it forever.

If she wanted to be strangers, that was fine. Steven wasn’t going to lose sleep over losing someone like that.

He had his Ember Eternal right here.

Steven turned his attention back to the registration table.

And then, in the same round that Nelson was participating in, one of the Awakening Guidance Pillars in the distance erupted.

Crimson light blazed from it, savage and vivid, the color of fresh blood catching morning sun.

The entire field went dead silent for one suspended moment.

It was that rare.

r

There were years, sometimes two or three in a row, where no SS–rank appeared at all across the entire region.

Seeing one emerge today was a genuinely extraordinary gift.

Everyone on the platform quietly hoped the other Awakened high schools across the city were having

3/4

11:26 am

Chapter 50–Some Difference

equally remarkable mornings.

Out on the field, the students looked like they were going to eat themselves alive with envy.

Why couldn’t it be one of us?

“That’s Elliot Fraser!”

“No way! The boy from the Fraser family?!”

“Who else would it be?”

Finished

“That is beyond unfair! His family already has more money and influence than anyone can count, and now he gets SS–rank on top of all of it? How much is one person allowed to have?”

The jealousy radiating off the crowd was practically visible.

Steven’s gaze sharpened slightly.

Elliot.

He was the heir to Rowenville’s most powerful family.

The Frasers had people sitting at senior positions in the military, and their wealth was the kind that didn’t need to be announced because everyone already knew. They were genuinely powerful in every sense of the word.

Steven remembered something from his previous life After Elliot awakened SS–rank, he came looking for Bianca.

He was handsome and completely aware of it, and he decided Bianca was someone worth pursuing. In his mind, only someone carrying an SS–rank was truly worthy of standing beside her.

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