Chapter 273: Glimpse Of True Power

Cecilia trembled. Fauna stopped chewing mid-bite. And even Mika’s usual playful expression faded into seriousness.

A World-Breaking Rift.

He knew what that meant.

These weren’t categorized under the standard F to SSS ranking.

They were beyond that.

Phenomena so catastrophic that even the higher organisations didn’t publicly acknowledge their existence.

A single one could shatter a entire country if left unchecked and whatever was inside comes outside. And there was no way in hell any normal blessed could challenge them, even if they were SS-class legends or if hundreds of them gathered to form a party

No...only battle angels could face them.

Only beings like Fauna and Nadia, forged in war and baptized in mana, were equipped to walk into those realms and come back alive.

The public also didn’t know they existed.

But it was good they didn’t.

If the average person knew that there were rifts out there that, if left unchecked for even a few hours, could end civilization—what would that do to global stability? Would there be riots? Mass exodus? Government collapses?

Likely all of the above.

So the truth was buried. Only the highest-ranking branches of global defense forces and a small selection of people knew these phenomena even existed.

But as bad as it was, unlike normal portals, which unleashed their monsters immediately, World-Breaking Rifts waited.

They opened, leaked a few powerful entities into the surroundings, and then paused.

A lull...as if waiting for something.

That ’pause’ was what gave the world a fighting chance.

As long as a battle angel could arrive during that lull, they could cross into the portal and extinguish the threat at its core before it ever spread.

That was the logic. That was the system. It had worked so far.

But what no one knew—except Mika—was that these portals weren’t natural.

They weren’t remnants of the Eternal Queen’s magic, as many suspected.

They weren’t unstable byproducts of ancient cursed technology.

They weren’t broken fragments of old realms, merging with the current world.

They were simply invitations from the Will of the World that were meant for him.

Each portal was a carefully crafted snare, woven not by chaos, but by design. A design that came from the Will of the World itself.

It was luring him.

The Will wanted Mika to go. To enter. To accept its plan.

And at first...he did. Again and again.

But as time passed, he realized something: his presence was making it worse.

Every time he stepped through, something shifted—realms grew more unstable, more corrupt. As if his very essence was feeding the imbalance.

So he began to hold back.

Instead of responding himself, he let the others take care of it. Battle angels like Nadia.

Or more importantly...her.

There was one battle angel, unlike the rest. One who knew the truth.

She didn’t just suspect the Will of the World, she understood it. She had seen what it truly was, and she made her own choice to help Mika. Silently. Secretly.

She never asked questions. Never demanded he explain himself.

She simply watched, studied...and when these portals appeared and when the others weren’t available, she’d always intervene in place of Mika.

She was the one Nadia had vaguely mentioned earlier—elusive, always avoiding the limelight, never quite there in the public eye.

To the world, she was a myth.

But to Mika—

She was simply a mother protecting her son from the shadows.

But just as his mind wandered, wondering which realm she was in now, which nightmare dimension was currently swallowing her presence whole—

"Okay!" Fauna suddenly burst out cheerfully, crumbs of chocolate still on her lips. "Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go already! Come on—let’s go smash this portal!"

Her brightness cut through the heavy atmosphere like a sunbeam through storm clouds and seeing how she was reacting, Cecilia nearly choked on her own breath.

"L-Lady Fauna?!" She squeaked, eyes wide. "H-How are you talking about something so...so world-ending like it’s a picnic invitation?!"

"Hmm?" Fauna blinked innocently. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, we’re talking about a World-Breaking portal hear?!"

She threw up her hands in disbelief.

"Do you even realize how dangerous those things are?! According to every recorded analysis, even the energy that leaks from these kinds of rifts can cause dimensional corrosion or collapse entire biomes!"

"If even a fraction of whatever’s inside that thing escapes, the the world is doomed. S-So, how can you be so carefree about this?"

But before Fauna could answer, Mika’s soft laugh came through. He then reached out and placed a reassuring hand on Cecilia’s shoulder.

"Oh, Cecilia, Cecilia." He said lightly. "You don’t have to worry that much. It’s not that big of a deal."

She turned to him, baffled. "W-What do you mean, don’t worry?!"

He gave a knowing smile before going on to say like he had it all figured out,

"You see, that portal up there is extremely dangerous. I won’t lie—whatever’s on the other side could easily flatten this entire mountain range and hundreds of miles around it."

He said it as calmly as if he were describing the weather, and the nonchalance almost made her dizzy.

But then Mika gestured casually toward Fauna, then toward Nadia.

"But you see...we’ve got our own cataclysmic threats right here."

"E-Excuse me??"

Mika chuckled, clearly amused by her confusion.

"What I’m trying to say is that to the rest of the world, the monsters inside that rift are nightmares—unstoppable forces. But to them..." He said, nodding toward the two Battle Angels. "...they’re nothing more than pests. A bad day at the office, maybe."

"You see that cheerful little ball of energy there?" He tilted his head toward Fauna. "That’s the same woman who once took down an entire corrupted battalion of Abyssmal Dragons in under thirty seconds. And a battalion in dragon ranks means atleast over five thousand of them, so you can understand how powerful her poison is."

"And her?" Then he nodded to Nadia. "Well, she could rewrite the weather patterns of an entire continent if she wanted to. Basically, these two..." He said, his grin widening. "...aren’t like normal Blessed."

"They’re on a level far beyond what people can imagine. Even a so-called ’world-ending threat’ doesn’t stand a chance when they’re around."

Cecilia could only stare at him, struggling to process what she was hearing.

"I...I know they’re powerful." She finally stammered. "They’re Battle Angels, after all. But to say that even a portal like this is nothing to them...that can’t be right."

Mika only smiled, eyes gleaming with quiet confidence before confirming,

"It absolutely is. It might sound absurd, but it’s true. They’re not just powerful, Cecilia. They’re beyond what most humans or blessed can even comprehend."

"They’re the reason we’ve had peace for the last few decades. Without them, this world would’ve burned a hundred times over."

As he spoke, Fauna puffed out her chest proudly, her face glowing with delight.

Normally, she brushed off compliments from strangers. But hearing Mika talk about her so earnestly, so proudly, made her cheeks flush pink.

She looked like she might actually bounce on her heels from excitement.

Nadia, for her part, didn’t react outwardly. But the faintest flare of warmth crossed her eyes, an invisible acknowledgment of his faith in her.

"And..." Mika continued. "Just in case it wasn’t enough, you have two Battle Angels here. At the same time. Working together."

"Exactly!" Fauna, bursting with energy, pumped a fist into the air. "Let’s go beat up those bad guys!! After hearing your words Mika, I feel like I can take on the whole world!"

As Fauna stretched her arms and cracked her neck like she was about to take a morning jog instead of confront a world-ending catastrophe, Cecilia could only stand there in stunned silence.

Mika glanced at her and immediately understood the confusion painted across her face.

To the world, Battle Angels were legends—untouchable beings wrapped in stories, spoken about with reverence. Their names were written in history, their feats glorified.

But the truth was, despite all the praise, the public had never actually seen what a Battle Angel could truly do.

The few clips and combat records released to the public were carefully controlled, showing nothing more than a fraction of their power, mere glimpses.

The most they’d ever displayed in public was 0.5% of their strength, just enough to maintain peace through presence, not destruction. No one had ever witnessed what it looked like when a Battle Angel went all out—when they didn’t hold back.

So it was only natural that Cecilia was confused.

She, like the rest of the world, had no frame of reference.

But Mika wanted to change that.

He wanted to change how she saw the world.

How she viewed power.

He wanted her to understand what it meant to stand at the very top.

So, he turned to her with a gentle, knowing smile.

"If you’re really so curious..." He began, his voice soft but laced with challenge. "...just like you always are about everything..."

Cecilia blinked and turned toward him slowly, his words catching her attention like a magnet.

"...Then why don’t you come with us?"

He said casually like he was calling her to eat some icecream.

"Come into the portal. Witness for yourself what true power looks like."

Hearing this crazy invitation, Cecilia gasped, her heart skipping a beat.

Surely this was some sort of joke.

There was no way they’d let a normal human, even a medic prodigy, anywhere near a cataclysmic-class portal.

She half-expected both Fauna and Nadia to immediately scold Mika for even suggesting it.

But to her horror—and disbelief—Fauna’s face lit up.

"That’s an amazing idea!" Fauna beamed, wings twitching in excitement. "Let’s do that! If my cute little disciple here wants to see what I can do, then I’ll show her! She can brag to all her doctor friends later about how awesome her mentor is!"

Cecilia nearly choked on air.

"L-Lady Fauna, this isn’t a field trip! That portal can erase half a continent!"

"Exactly!" Fauna puffed her chest out proudly, completely ignoring her panic. "That’s why it’s the perfect demonstration!"

Mika tried and failed to hide his grin.

Then, to make things even more surreal, Nadia nodded as well.

"I don’t mind." She said simply. "As a researcher, seeing the abnormal state of another world firsthand could be beneficial."

"...Consider it a learning opportunity."

"L-Lady Nadia, you too?!" Cecilia gasped.

Nadia gave a faint tilt of her head before saying,

"Observation and experience are the purest forms of data after all."

Cecilia’s brain was spinning.

Were they all insane?

She was surrounded by two living cataclysms and one man who treated them like mischievous children and now she was being invited into a realm that could theoretically end the world.

But before she could object again, Mika clapped his hands once.

"Then it’s settled." He said with that maddening, confident smile. "We’re going to end this World-Ending Rift together."

And before Cecilia could even form a sentence, Fauna floated into the air with a burst of pink-gold light, followed by Nadia, cloaked in cool blue mist.

Mika offered Cecilia a hand and a wink.

"No turning back now, Doctor."

And just like that, the sky above them shimmered, the four of them—two gods in mortal form, one smiling support-class, and one utterly horrified researcher—rising swiftly toward the glowing portal.

It was only then as she felt the weightlessness under her feet and saw the massive rift looming closer, swirling with energy strong enough to vaporize a city...

...that she realized what she had just agreed to.

She was heading into a portal capable of destroying a nation and she was going with the two women who laughed in its face.

She didn’t know what she was about to witness...

But something deep in her gut told her—

She was about to see a miracle.

The miracle called True Power.