Bastards Ascension: A Playground of Gods

All the Captains turned to Kieran, giving him a quizzical look.

His words were unsettling.

And the Captains didn't know how to react to it.

Some marked Kieran's face, waiting to know if it was their recruits that were harmed by the boy, while the others just had puzzled expressions on their faces.

Confused as to what was even going on.

How was an elf with a recruit?

Who was the lady by his side, and most importantly, where were all the others?

These were the questions in their minds.

"Why did you harm them?" Kim's question quickly dragged their attention.

And they were all curious about what Kieran's reply would be.

"They attacked me first… so it was simply self-defense," Kieran replied. This time his voice didn't carry the chilling sensation from before.

When he mentioned injuring a few students, they could all sense the malicious intent in his words.

Just the way he said it made them flinch.

But his second reply actually felt more genuine.

However, the Nelkon Captain, whom he had directed his first answer to, still had an unsettling feeling in his chest.

Not only because of the way Kieran had spoken to him, but because of the lady who was by his side.

"It seems after so many years the gates have been opened," Castan said, looking up at the sky.

He could feel the spatial energy in the air crack.

A smile cut across his face.

He turned to Kieran. "I should thank you for everything. Maybe your coming here was a blessing… I've realized my wrong."

"I've told you before that you shouldn't thank me for anything," Kieran replied politely.

He didn't want it to seem as though Castan still owed him any favor.

He had already given up his divinity all for this.

So he didn't want to keep leveraging their battle to take more and more favors.

Castan turned to Kim.

"I suppose you're the leader here?" he asked politely.

Kim looked at the beast elf cautiously.

They were all still confused by what was going on in front of them.

Why was an elf thanking one of the recruits?

And what gate was the elf speaking of?

"I humbly apologize for any damage I must've caused. I'll have my people aid in any way we can. And you can stay here to recover your strength. I'm sorry for letting my beast cause trouble for you," he said, staring at Galand and Mavira.

Kim looked at Castan with an uncertain gaze. He had absolutely no idea what had happened here.

But he knew fighting wouldn't be the best choice.

The person by Kieran's side carried an unsettling aura that made everyone shiver.

He couldn't gauge her strength.

And while the others couldn't tell, he had just faced a divine beast himself.

He could sense the similarities between the figure by Kieran's side and that of the fox.

He shifted his gaze to the tense Captains behind him.

At the end, everyone was still waiting for an order from him.

"Everything seems to be good. Let's gather our members and know how things went," he ordered with a stern voice.

None of the Captains opposed his words, but their cautious gazes remained as they nodded their heads slightly.

---

Jacob stood in front of the remaining members of the Blue Fang faction.

And by his side, Anita's presence remained ever present.

With a calm look, she quickly scanned through the crowd.

She made a few taps on her tablet.

"From the looks of things, all our members are fine. None of them were harmed and no one is missing."

Kieran, Nasha, Henry, and Stan stood in front of the group of Blue Fang recruits.

But there was a clear separation in the group.

They had all seen the power Kieran had displayed while fighting Castan.

An earth-shattering power.

None of them dared to come any closer to him.

Their gazes held a mix of respect and fear.

'How did he get strong so quickly?' They all had that thought on their minds.

But Henry, Nasha, and Stan, having been with Kieran the longest, weren't really bothered by his presence.

While he was a hardcore introvert and never really seemed to open up to anyone, at heart they could tell he was a good person.

Although that still didn't answer the question of how he was so strong.

'Is this the difference between an SSS-ranked and an S-ranked?' Nasha couldn't help but ask herself.

She clenched her fist tightly.

She had initially thought that with her S-ranked talent, she would easily become the best in the Blue Fang faction and ultimately get a really high rank within the faction.

That was the only way to bring back the name of her clan.

But just seeing how strong Kieran was, her dreams were instantly shattered.

That seemed like a pipe dream. How was she going to achieve that?

Going toe to toe with that monster was almost impossible.

Similarly, Henry had the same thoughts in his mind.

But his own seemed to hold more weight.

'I just need to stay with him long enough… and slowly I'll become just as strong,' Henry's resolute gaze stuck on Kieran's back.

Jacob didn't fail to notice the shift in the group.

For some reason, most of the kids were distancing themselves from Kieran.

Kieran, who had no idea he was currently the center of attention among the entire group, was picking his nose nonchalantly as he stared at the notification from the system.

{You have absorbed the divinity of another being}

{The universe has acknowledged you}

{You have been added to the second selection}

{The second gates have been opened}

{Please input a name for the second world}

{----}

The flurry of notifications left Kieran confused.

He had absolutely no idea what the system was going on about.

But thankfully—

'I'll just have to ask Castan later.' Kieran could tell that the elf had more knowledge than he did about the system.

"Kieran Marcoth, come."

Kieran snapped back to reality, his gaze resting on Jacob, who had called him.

He walked closer to the captain.

Jacob's blue eyes rested on the young lad in front of him.

He still had an unsettling feeling in his chest, especially after what Kieran had said earlier.

"I know you have an enmity with the Nelkon family, but you do know that your actions can also affect the Blue Fang faction as a whole. Hope you didn't cause any trouble for us?" Jacob asked, the unsettling feeling in his chest increasing.

Kieran smiled wryly at the question, but just as he was about to reply, from the side a loud angry shout exploded.

"Where is the young master Frank and his two friends! What do you mean that they aren't here? What happened to them?"

For a moment, a smirk climbed up the side of Kieran's face.

That smirk didn't go unnoticed by Jacob.

And for a moment, he could feel his heart pounding against his chest.

That look clearly showed that Kieran had a hand in what happened.

'Just what did he do this time? I just hope he didn't cause me trouble.'