The aftermath of Leonâs retaliation still lingered in the air.
The large cloud of icy mist, mixed with fragments of red, along with the booming, thunderous sound, attracted the attention of all. It did scare them; even if the distance was far away, the violent sound still penetrated their ears.
Some flinched instinctively, shielding their children. Others froze mid-bite, eyes locked on the sky. The air had turned colder, sharp enough to bite their skin. The echo of the explosion still
RUMBLE
rattled through the ruined stone walls.
They were looking at him naturally.
Leon just waved his hand and reassured them, told them to continue filling their bellies. It was just a small pest who had been keeping an eye on all of them.
He didnât hide it from them.
While most didnât understand what it was in the sky or how it had been watching them, knowing that the divine being had done something for their protection, they simply accepted it.
The warmth of the soup still lingered in their hands, its steam curling up into the chill air. The scent of roasted herbs clung to their clothes. They bowed, acknowledging that he had acted to protect them.
Kindness was not something they were used to receiving.
After they finished eating, all of them looked happy. There were still a few who had caution in their eyes, but most of themâalmost 90 percentâwere now looking at him with reverence in their eyes, much different from the reaction he had anticipated.
But he didnât choose to correct them or explain anything to them.
One of them, an old man with broken teeth and a ragged appearance, rose slowly to his feet and shuffled closer to Leon, each step labored yet determined. When he finally reached him, he lowered himself to his knees with reverence, the motion stiff and shaky but filled with intent.
"Great Divine Being, there areâ"
Leon stopped him midway, as he knew what the old man was going to ask. Instead, he answered him with an assured smile on his face.
"Do not worry. I know there are more people underground. I will take care of everyone."
A strange ripple of understanding passed through the old manâs eyes as he quickly bowed his head to the ground.
His lips trembled as he spoke, and wet streaks carved paths through the dirt on his cheeks. Even his kneeling bones creaked from the strain, but he didnât seem to noticeâit was as if his faith had wiped away his pain.
"I should not have doubted you, Great Divine Being. Forgive this old beggar."
Leon lifted the old man up using his manaâ
WHOOSH
âso he now stood in front of him. He even noticed the streak of wet on his cheek, but he ignored it.
But one thing was clear: the faith old beggar had in him was much stronger than he had imagined.
He did feel strange about being called a Great Divine Being and being treated like thisâas if he werenât human to themâbut he chose to remain silent. He just wanted their loyalty and respect so they would work hard and give their all. That was all he needed. How it was achieved didnât matter to him.
"You are not a beggar anymore. I already told you that feeding you all was only the beginningâthereâs more that awaits all of you." A slight pause, as he looked at every single one of them.
"You will live in a new world owned by me, where cruelty of nobles doesnât exist."
"This is nothing but the beginning."
"All of you will be part of shaping my world."
"No one will ever have to be hungry again."
A mother clutched her child tighter, whispering promises she never thought sheâd say again. A grizzled man dropped his bowl, eyes wide in disbelief, as though the weight of those words shattered something hardened inside him.
Never hungry again.
The words of Leon hit them like thunder. They couldnât quite comprehend what he was telling them, but knowing they would never have to be hungry again, they would follow him till the end.
Only a few remained cautious, but even they couldnât refuse the offer. Trusting others was hard for them; it could be a trap, but the fact remainedâif he hadnât come to save them this week, all of them would have died.
Hunger would have turned them inhumane. A pact had been made: no one would eat another after death, not due to hunger, but because one man had gone crazy and killed another trying to eat him.
Willpower and that incident were keeping them saneâbut even that had its limits.
"Do you all want to be part of my world?"
A chorus of voices rose in answerâsome trembling, some loud, but all firm. "Yes!" they shouted. "We will!" Others began to kneel, their hands on their hearts or raised toward him. Cries of devotion spilled from their lips.
"Youâre not just a man... youâre a divine being!" someone sobbed, as not ever worrying about hunger was too good to be true.
And they knew these words were not emptyâthey had seen the miracle with their own eyes.
"Let us serve you! Let us build that world with you!" They agreed, even without knowing what he really meant by all this.
Dozensâthen hundredsâof starving men, women, and children pledged themselves in that moment, drawn by hope, gratitude, and the overwhelming presence of a man who had given them what no one else would: life, and a future.
Leon felt it was the right moment to let them be part of the Time Dimension, but Kaela and the other three knights were still present here.
He glanced at Seraphine. His eyes told her what her cautious disciple was thinking. She gave him a nod.
Because she was confident in her peopleânone of them would ever go against her.
Seeing her nod, he decided to put his trust in Seraphine, as he knew she would never do something that could harm him.
Mana surged inside his bodyâ
HUMMMM
âand with a wave of his hand, the entire hollow walls now had a roof made out of ice.
People marveled at the sight of what the divine being had just done, but still didnât understand what he was trying to achieve. They gave up trying to make sense of itâwhatever he was doing must be outside their mortal comprehension.
In the next moment, an hourglass appeared in his handâ
SHING
âwhich looked quite ordinary from afar.
He started pouring down his mana. In a second, a portal was createdâFWOOOSH. The influx of manaâVMMMâsent a shiver down the spine of the three knights and Kaela.
Even they wondered if their young master was truly a divine being, as no human could possess such a large amount of manaâthey had never seen anything like this.
But Kaela knew about the existence of the middle domain. There might be people there who could have that much mana. That was just her assumptionâhowever, even that didnât explain this sight.
All of them knew where they had picked up Young Master Leon fromâhe was just an unawakened kid three years ago.
And it had been only 10 days since he had gone through his class awakening. If not a divine beingâwhat else could he be?
Most unbelievable was the fact that he had created food out of thin air. While everything else was also unthinkable to them, that was a divine miracle.
The people from the slums werenât the only ones affected by Leonâs strangenessâthe four knights felt the same, including Kaela.
A shimmering silver-white portal opened right next to Leonâ
WHIRRR
âas he calmly ordered them.
"Go through this portal. Your new world awaits you insideâthe one you will help build, the one where you will never ever feel hunger."
The portal did intimidate some, making them pause.
But a small kid was the first one to enterâThe boyâs bare feet slapped against the cold stone floorâ
slap slap slap
âbefore he disappeared into the portal with a laugh. A breeze flowed from the other side, strangely warm and fragrant, like springtime after a long winter. That was all it took. One by one, the rest followed.
Now only the old man remained.
Leon closed the portalâ
ZAP
âbefore he could enter and said to him.
"Old man, you have to stay here so others wonât react like how you guys did at first."
The old man nodded. Despite his battered appearance, he had a smile on his faceâas he felt honored that the divine being had chosen him to do this job.
"I am honored to be of any use to you, Divine Being."
-----
Far below the slums, in the damp filth of the sewer tunnels, a boy with a bruised and battered body sat hunched beside the cold wall. His face was smeared with grime, his skin marred with old wounds, but there was no fresh blood left to lose.
With trembling hands, he tore at a half-dead rat, biting into its raw flesh with feral desperation. His eyes, sharp and focused, gleamed with pure, unfiltered hatredânot from hunger, but from something deeper and far more dangerous.
Around him, several others lay unconscious, their bodies bruised and battered like his. He hadnât killed themâbut he had made sure they stayed down.
The rat was his meal, the one that would keep him alive.
In this darkness, hatred was all he had left to live for.
[Author here: Tell me in the comment how the story is going so far, and whether the writing quality has some improvements or not.]