Cronus' system: Against the gods

The rumble of explosions in the city echoed through the academy grounds, reverberating with a grim intensity that sent Jefferson's heart racing. He stood amid the scattered ruins of his battle with Lucius, his silver eyes narrowing as he scanned the city's horizon.

Pillars of smoke rose in thick, dark clouds against the sky, marking multiple areas under attack. The earlier battle had drained him more than he cared to admit, but this was no time for rest.

"Lucius.... Just what have you done?" he muttered, frustration clouding his usually controlled expression. Lucius's last words echoed in his mind: "Mission complete." It wasn't just the academy they were after. Whatever the Shadow Guild had set in motion was escalating beyond anything Jefferson had anticipated.

Jefferson looked up, his heart racing. His instincts kept on warning him that whatever was attacking the city was something that even he could not handle. He turned on his communication interface, a small round blue device like a wristwatch as he spoke "Arris! How's the situation?"

Arris' lively voice came from the other side "The situation's good! It seems we've run out of assassins! If you want, I can order more of em...How's the one on your side tho, taken care of already?"

"Yes, I'm done with him but it seems it was all a distraction.....their objective was neither the academy nor the leviathan-ranked beast's crystal...."

"Really? Then what could be their objective?" Arris' perplexed and tiresome voice asked.

"I don't know yet but right now, the City is under attack! I'd like you to send your scouting team to survey and bring back reports! We can't be too careful if we don't know what we're up against"

"Okay, I'd do that right away!" Arris said, his voice determined. "Darn, you!" He shouted at a particular someone who had been troubling him ever since.

"Who's that? And how's the situation with the students?" Jefferson asked again, his mind flashing to Rex, Seraphina, Magnus, and Brenda. Within those barriers, he was sure they were safe especially since Arris was with them but he just still had to ask.

"They're..... Arris hesitated as he let out a sharp, frustrated groan "They're fine! Except for one troublesome kid! If I remember correctly, he's the one named Rex!! He's been going on and on about how he wants to kick your ass so bad!"

"Hmm!" Jefferson let out a chuckle, a small smile spreading on his lips. "Once you've sent those scouts out, reinforce the barrier once more and send that Rex to me, If he wants to fight so bad then I have no reason to stop him."

"Uh? You can't be serious right? Even if he performed brilliantly by taking out those assassins, he's still a student! We can't afford to risk his life!"

"Risk his life? Pfft! I'm sure that kid can take care of himself! He has the courage of a Roach!" Jefferson smirked as he turned his eyes to the black smoke still in the clouds..."Hurry up! We're running out of time!"

"A Roach? What courage? Jefferson...."

"Just trust me on this, Arris! Send the boy over..... besides...I'm not sure I can do this alone.... I'd have opted for another if there was a good fighter amongst the staffs but no there isn't and....the General is nowhere to be found. Also send your men to investigate that"

BOOOOOOM!!!

The explosion resounded again, this time even greater than the last one. It was as though, a nuclear bomb was shot at a large building as the smell of burnt debris filled the air. Screams could be heard from outside of the academy. If Jefferson were to guess, the source of these disturbances wasn't too far away.

Chaos erupted in the city as news spread like wildfire: a monstrous nine-headed beast was laying waste to anything in its path.

The creature rampaged through the streets, its nine heads thrashing around, each one spewing fireballs indiscriminately, hitting food stalls, parked cars, and unfortunately for one poor soul, a small ice cream truck that had been minding its own business in the middle of an intersection.

The truck exploded in a plume of smoke and melted dairy, sending rainbow sprinkles raining down like confetti on the panicked crowds.

People screamed as they fled in every direction, bumping into each other in the chaos. One man in a suit tried valiantly to save his morning coffee as he sprinted away, only to trip over a discarded shoe. He rolled across the pavement in an undignified heap, clutching the cup like it was his lifeline, somehow spilling only half in the process.

"Look out! It's aiming at the hospital!" someone shouted, prompting a wave of people to turn in the exact wrong direction, leading to a bottleneck of panicked pedestrians. Meanwhile, a street vendor, clutching his basket of overripe tomatoes, shook a fist at the beast from a safe distance, yelling, "These were imported, you scaly freak!"

From a rooftop, a group of amateur reporters was livestreaming the chaos, eagerly narrating every new explosion with a mix of horror and excitement. One of them, his voice shaking with adrenaline, pointed the camera toward the beast, shouting, "And here we have the nine-headed beast, folks! Nine heads, nine chances to ruin your day! Tune in for exclusive footage… provided we don't get barbecued!"

Back at the academy's underground barrier, Captain Arris ended the call as he turned around to Rex who had been pacing to and fro aimlessly. "Hey Kid! Get your green-haired ass over here!"

Rex stopped pacing as he walked towards Captain Arris. Seraphina also walked behind him, her steps light and her expression curious to know what was going on.

"Did Jefferson tell you to fetch me personally, or were you just excited to see me?" Explore more adventures at empire

Arris rolled his eyes, barely masking his irritation. "Excited to see you? Ha! More like babysitting duty." He crossed his arms, smirking. "And I heard you've been mouthing off about wanting to 'kick my ass.' Try saying that once you've met Jefferson, he's already itching to teach you a lesson."

Rex shrugged, unbothered. "Well, after what I heard him say about roaches, I figured I should see what all the fuss is about. Besides, last I checked, I'm the one who's been saving your butt in here. Maybe you should be learning from me."

Seraphina couldn't help but chuckle at Rex's words. She couldn't understand how he could be so care-free even when such an intense thing was going on. It was like he didn't care about the assassins or anything going on.

Arris brought out a crystal-like object from his pockets similar to the one he had used to appear there. He tapped a button and scanned Rex with it. If he crushed it, Rex would teleport away. That was how the teleportation devices worked and they could only be used once.

"Be fast about it! Old dude!"

With an exasperated sigh, Arris initiated the transfer, muttering to himself as Rex's form shimmered in a burst of blue light, "Yeah, yeah, just keep talking, kid."

The blue light faded, and Rex found himself blinking in a smoky, wrecked clearing with Jefferson standing in the middle, his silver eyes glinting in the chaos.

"Rex," Jefferson greeted him, his voice steady but laced with irritation, "I hear you're ready to take on a real fight."

Rex gave him a lopsided grin. "Oh, I'm more than ready.

Jefferson raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?" he replied, dryly.

Name: Rex Xander

Level: 22

XP to next level: 110,000/190,000

Race: Human

Class: Cerberus Slayer (Effect: gains 2x more XP from killing wolf-like creatures)n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Strength: 112

Agility: 120

Endurance: 102

Intelligence: 82

Aether: 65/65

Available ability points: 0

Active Skills

Temporal rift (Level 1) XP to next level: 0/100

Time rewind(Level 2) XP to next level: 0/100

Passive Skills

Fate's eyes

Titan's will: Cooldown time left(30 hours)

He was able to meditate for a while in the safehouse and filled up his Aether reserves. He was about flexing his hands when two men appeared in their view, their auras imposing.

Rex almost tried lunging at them, thinking they were assassins but his fists was stopped mid-air by Jefferson who gave him a cold stare.

"Report!" Jefferson spoke to the two men. Only then did Rex recognize their military uniforms

"The monster we're facing should be at the rank of a Tier two Archdemon!" One of the men spoke, his expression gloomy "Report says it just appeared out of thin air, and unlike any other beast, luckily for us, it didn't come with any comrade of its"

"Comrade?" Rex arched a brow but the Soldier just ignored him. It was common knowledge that a high beast of such rank should have many subordinates with it.

Jefferson's eyes shone for a while as a grim expression appeared on his face. He walked forward and brought out a small phone from his pocket, placing it in his ear "Organize all the tier three advanced and expert ability users in your department.....while you're at it, I think I'll call an old friend of mine!"