Grand Ascension-Chapter 70: Follow Me!

Zorak was familiar with the pressure and the voice. He knew not to find trouble with this man, as they had clashed before.

When Jorg had arrived in Naija City, following the information they had on the city, he knew Zorak was the strongest warrior they had. He had searched for him and fought against him to establish a clear hierarchy between both of them.

Ever since that fight, he had laid low, doing what he wanted to do in the first place: chill.

Zorak had known since then that Jorg was not someone he could mess with. He had decided to only mess with Jorg once he crossed the threshold from Adept to Elite.

Which was one of his main motivations, and one reason he saw Zuri as someone precious.

He had decided to act in order to achieve that goal.

So he firstly operated quietly, scared of attracting Jorg’s attention, as he knew that would not end well. However, at some point he realized that Jorg was ignoring him. Zorak became more brazen.

He started exerting even more pressure on the mystics of Naija City, taking control of every resource available with the goal of advancing rapidly.

At the end, he even forgot about Jorg.

That was until today. Jorg had been at the Stone Bar when he sensed the eruption of chaotic Ashe caused by Makun, and he knew something had happened.

That was how he stood up and rushed here as fast as he could, only to arrive in front of a scene that would leave most speechless.

Makun was slumped and in front of him was the guy he had been looking for this whole night.

Jorg closed his eyes to feel the spiritual residue in the surrounding and from that he could tell a fight had happened before Zorak’s appearance.

He looked at Zack, Elias, then at Zuri and deduced a few things.

He had an idea, but could not put everything together right now. It seems Makun was going to tell him once he woke up.

As for Zorak, Jorg did not bother. He did not consider him a threat.

He had beaten him into submission years ago. Doing it now would not be a problem.

If every practitioner who had been at the HQ knew of Jorg’s thoughts right now, they would have been dumbfounded. How could there be such a difference between two third-grade Adept Warriors?

Jorg’s Ashe flooded outward, condensing the air, warping gravity in a localized field that pressed down on Zorak like the weight of a collapsing star.

"Do you dare?" Jorg repeated, his voice low and calm, but carrying the edge of something far more dangerous.

Zorak froze, his raised fist trembling. He was in a state not far from fear. The weight pressing on him was huge, so huge it felt like it could crush him whenever it wanted. He remembered that day, and his face paled.

Zuri, still on her knees, clutched Elias’s unconscious form, her face pale, her hands shaking. She had never seen Zorak in such a state.

She didn’t know the story between both of them as that was something Zorak never mentioned, but she could tell things had gone wrong. She knew they made a mistake, a terrible mistake.

Jorg stepped forward, each footstep deliberate and heavy, his pressure intensifying with every step.

"I asked you a question, Zorak," Jorg said quietly. "Do you dare kill under my jurisdiction?"

Zorak’s jaw clenched. His remaining strength focused on keeping himself upright. He wanted to respond. He wanted to argue or say something. But the pressure under which he was was too much. His Route Core was being crushed under the gravitational field Jorg had imposed.

Finally, he reluctantly lowered his fist, his head bowing down.

"No," Zorak rasped. "I don’t."

Jorg stopped a few feet away, his single eye locked on Zorak.

"Good," Jorg said. "Then step away from the boy."

Zorak hesitated. Then, with visible effort, he took a step back, then another. The pressure eased slightly, just enough for him to breathe.

Jorg turned his gaze to Zuri.

"You," he said.

Zuri flinched. She had no idea if he had heard her call for Makun’s murder. And she was scared. If even Zorak feared this man as a third-grade Adept Pactbound Warrior, who was she to stand against him?

However, what he said took her by surprise.

"It was your apartment that got destroyed. What happened?"

He could sense a Seer’s aura emanating from Zuri, and she felt similar to what he had felt at apartment 3b on 47 Osapa Street.

He had been looking for Zorak to get to know what happened at that place, but did not expect to fall on the owner of the building.

This was going to make things easier for him.

"I... I..." she stammered.

She had no idea what was going on, or how he got that info. She did not even know he was the head of the VEB of Naija City.

"Stop." Jorg stopped her in the middle of her sentence.

Zuri was bewildered as she watched him walk towards Zack’s dead body.

He crouched beside Zack’s body, studying it.

An Adept of the third-grade. Strong enough to harden his entire body, and yet he had been destroyed by a five-day-old Initiate who should have been dead three times over.

Jorg’s jaw tightened.

What are you, kid?

He stood, turning his gaze to Makun’s broken form slumped against the building. Then he threw a glance at Elias.

His Route Core pulsed, extending his spiritual energy outward.

It was full of his will and directed itself towards Makun, Elias, and Zack.

The atoms in the pavement directly below them grew denser and heavier, their vibrational frequency slowing to match Jorg’s intent. The surrounding gravity increased, not everywhere, just there. A localized field, precise and controlled enough that it wrapped around them like an invisible hand.

Their bodies were lifted off the ground.

He took a step. Their bodies followed.

He did not pull them toward himself. No, he reshaped the gravity around them, creating a new center of mass, a localized gravitational anchor that moved with him. The atoms beneath Elias, Makun, and Zack were told that "down" was no longer the earth. "Down" was Jorg.

Zorak looked at this gobsmacked. He could tell Jorg’s control over gravity had improved and it was only a matter of time before he became an Elite Warrior.

"Follow me!" Jorg said.

Zorak and Zuri quietly followed after him.

They left for the VEB HQ in Naija City, leaving behind a street in ruins. Cracked floors, fractured buildings, and pools of blood everywhere, the aftermath stretching in silence once they were gone.