I Have 10,000 SSS Rank Villains In My System Space-Chapter 372: Back to Empire

Back to empire

Suddenly a small shadow cast in the middle of the room expanded... slowly at first, like ink spreading across parchment... before widening into a large, circular abyss beneath nothing but empty air. The wooden floor beneath it did not crack, burn or warp it just simply gave way to darkness, as if the world itself had forgotten what stood there a second ago. And before air or room itself could properly understand what was happening... seven figures were expelled from that circle of shadow at once, as if the darkness itself had breathed them out.

They landed on solid wooden flooring.

The wetness of water around them disappearing as if out of waters?

And went confused by sudden change of surroundings.

Obiously some seconds ago, they had been standing in the middle of ocean nothing but endless water in all around them and then.. They saw razeal’s shadow beneath his feet had expanded, stretched unnaturally, swallowed them whole, and their vision had drowned in pitch-black darkness for some fraction of second where had been no falling sensation, movement or anything Just an all-consuming void.

And now?

Land?

Wood beneath their boots.

Walls around them.

Air dry and still.

Every single one of them stood frozen shocked, confused and disoriented?

Obiously except Razeal.

He simply looked around casually, as if this was the most natural thing in the world.

Merisa’s eyes sharpened first.

Her senses were always extended far beyond ordinary limits. Even now, her perception spread outward instinctively, sweeping through streets, buildings, distant presences... and she recognized it instantly.

"We are in the empire?" she said.

Her tone was plain and Calm.

But the slight tightening at the corner of her eyes betrayed her surprise. This was not movement. This was not fast travel. This was not speed. This was instantaneous displacement across thousands of kilometers. She had lived long enough, seen enough, studied enough knowledge and enough experience to know one thing clearly there was no known magic that allowed one to simply cross such distance in a fraction of a second.

None.. Atleast as farr as she knows

And yet her son had just done it.

Maria blinked rapidly in utter confusion and surprise?

"Whattt? We are back to empire?" she repeated, almost flabbergasted.

She turned sharply, scanning the room. No water. No wetnesw. No cores and through the nearby window she saw a familiar street shops and buildings and that confirmed it completely.

Her mind struggled to process the time gap. She had mentally prepared herself for another long journey maybe more weeks at sea.

But it had ended in less than a heartbeat.

Everyone present was surprised actually as looking around.

While on side Merisa’s gaze had not left Razeal.

"Does he have... that legendary space affinity?"

Merisa narrowed her eyes as she looked at Razeal, the thought forming quietly in her mind. Long ago, there had existed a clan said to possess space affinity a power lost thousands of years ago when the clan itself vanished for reasons no one clearly understood. With their disappearance, the affinity had supposedly been lost as well.

As for how did she know of it? Because she had once witnessed the Empress use it.. only once, but that single moment had been enough to leave a lasting impression. Afterward, curiosity had driven her to research everything she could find about it, piecing together fragments of old records and texts? From which she learned what space affinity was capable of... at least in theory.

And now, watching Razeal, she wondered.

Maybe.. somehow.. he possessed it too? Like teleportation is definitely something to do with space affinity?

Though she could not be certain.

She had only seen him use his.. shadow.. as took them in it.. the way he controlled shadows... the things he could make them do... it was strange, unfamiliar and mysterious. She silently lowered her gaze to his shadow. There had been too many instances she saw it... He could manipulate, shape and command it as if it were an extension of himself.

A shadow affinity? She named it.. as Obiously what it seemed to her.. Thought still not fully sure if that it is.

As she had never heard of such a thing before. Perhaps she needed to research further. The thought lingered in the back of her mind.

More importantly, however, she felt a quiet sense of happiness one she hadn’t expected. Razeal was back on land. He no longer seemed intent on remaining in the ocean, and perhaps... somehow... he might stay within the Empire?

Nothing relieved her more than that.

She exhaled slowly, releasing a soft sigh of relief.

Then suddenly, her thoughts halted. As sudden her senses expanded on their own. And a sudden faint frown appeared on her face as she sensed it.. something wrong.. Something very wrong going on?

"It’s my shop..." Levy said quietly, looking around as recognition settled in his eyes.

And hearing his words Aurora who was just standing besides him brightened up instantly.

"So this is where you used to live?" she asked as a excited smile forming.

Levy nodded, still somewhat dazed and just as he did Aurora began looking around with open curiosity. This was the first time she had stepped into her husband’s home which he had talked and described to her about. Excitement filled her as she explored the room with bright interest

Yograj heard Levy’s words, and then Aurora’s, and the truth settled into him like something heavy and inevitable. His gaze drifted across the room, slow and measuring, as if the surroundings themselves might contradict what he already knew. They did not. Nothing here did. The furniture was modest, the walls plain, the air lacking the quiet excess that wealth always carried without trying.

The boy who had stolen his daughter’s heart was poor.

He had known it long before this moment. Known it from the way the boy spoke, from the absence of entitlement in his posture, from the quiet restraint and all that only came from growing without abundance. Seeing it with his own eyes, however, pressed disappointment deeper into his chest. Not anger.. he had exhausted that already but a tired resignation.

He just sighed. Like what could he even do now? The choice had already been made, not by him.

Aurora, however, did not look disappointed at all.

She was smiling.

And if there was one person whose excitement completely drowned out the tension in the room, it was Sofia.

She was practically bouncing in place as looking around with shining eyes as she took in the completely new world around her. And it truly was new for her. She had been born in Atlantis and had always lived there. Being on land now felt strangely different

"This feels so light!" she exclaimed suddenly, jumping again the wooden floor creaking under her weight. As not feeling heavy, cold or feeling anthing pressing around her as if water..

She lifted her arms dramatically, spinning once, her long hair scattering droplets of water in sparkling arcs across the room. A few drops hit Maria’s cheek. Another landed on Yograj’s face as earning strange looks from everyone nearby. She had always wanted to see what the world above water looked like, but her father and the others had always stopped her. And now that she finally could, she was simply happy.

"Wooow... it feels so light and different here!" she exclaimed, jumping on the wooden floor, clearly not feeling the usual cold, wet heaviness of water clinging to her skin. "Ahaaa, so this is land above water? It feels weird, but in a good way!"

She shook her head quickly, droplets of water from her hair scattering and sparkling around, earning strange looks from everyone nearby. She had always wanted to see what the world above water looked like, but her father and the others had always stopped her. And now that she finally could, she was simply happy.

"Ahhh, what is this? It makes sound when jumping on it... wait, is this wood you told me about? It really is different... stiff, warm, and dry," Sofia asked as she crouched down and touched the wooden floor, then looked toward Maria. They had talked about such things many times underwater, since Sofia had always been curious.

She asked as shot a look over her shoulder at Maria, eyes shining with unrestrained delight.

There was no trace of princessly composure. No regal restraint.

Just pure wonder.

Maria blinked at her.

For a moment she forgot to answer.

Then she straightened, brushing water droplets off her face with wird expressions. "U-Um... yes. It’s wood," she said, trying to keep her voice steady despite the weird curiousity filled stare of sofia on her. "But mayhe don’t rub your face against it because... maybe it’s dirty. I mean... it’s the floor." 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Her eyes darted toward Yograj the everyone briefly before returning to Sofia.

"And it definitely isn’t very clean."

Sofia paused mid-lean, then slowly lifted her face from its dangerously close proximity to the boards.

"Oh," she said softly, blinking.

Then, almost immediately, she forgot about it and resumed looking around with restless energy. Everything fascinated her.. the dryness of the air, the stiffness of furniture, the lack of water pressure against her body. She flexed her fingers repeatedly, clearly still adjusting to the strange lightness of gravity unassisted by ocean currents.

Maria just watched her with a mix of mild embarrassment and reluctant amusement.

She really is acting like a child.

But she understood.

Sofia had lived her entire life beneath the ocean. Atlantis had been her sky, her ground, her horizon. This... this was another world entirely.

Still maria sighed under her breath.

A princess she was a princess.. She sneered in her head.

While everyone else was distracted by either surprise or amusement, Razeal just stood there in one place silent.

His senses had already expanded outward.

At first it was just habit a casual sweep of awareness across nearby place. But then his brows drew together.

Something was wrong.

Not subtle or small.

But very wrong on a scale that made his instincts sharpen instantly.

And sensing what he was sensing.. He directly turned his head toward Merisa.

"What’s going on here?"

He was obviously expecting an answer from her, since he was aware that her senses were far clearer and extended much farther than his. Not to mention, she knew far more about the empire’s activities than he did.

"I don’t know." Merisa though just shook her head. "But there seem to be serious problems in the empire. I sensed tens of thousands of outgoing rifts forming in the middle of the imperial capital. Monsters are continuously pouring out from these unstable rifts. From what I can sense, many of them are high-rank rifts... and there are even ten of 7th-rank rifts."

She paused slightly, tilting her head as if confirming what she felt.

"Monsters are continuously coming out and attacking. There are even Saint and Saint-King ranked monsters among those attacking different areas of the empire right now all at the same time, in multiple locations."

"What? How? Is that even possible?" Razeal frowned, clearly confused by her words.

He knew exactly what a rift was.. and that was precisely why this situation made no sense to him.

A rift was a tear, a spontaneous rip in the fabric of space, time, or reality. Unlike portals or gates, rifts gave no warning. No countdown. No structure. They simply happened, appearing suddenly out of nowhere like ticking bombs, with monsters spilling into whatever place they emerged.

There was also no way to predict a rift either. Because of their unstable nature, no one could enter the other side without risking collapse. A rift could close without any warning, and regardless of strength, anyone trapped on the other side could neither return nor properly fight it. Unlike gates or portals, which could be explored with certain safety measures, rifts were mostly one-way disasters.

They were extremely dangerous phenomena.

And that was exactly why this situation felt wrong in a way that pressed against the back of the mind like a splinter that refused to come out. Ten or twenty rifts appearing across the empire at the same time would already be badluck. But tens of thousands? And not just minor tears that spat out low-grade beasts, but high-level ones.. even seventh-rank rifts? Saint-ranked monsters, even Saint King presences leaking into the capital itself? That was not misfortune. That was orchestration.

Razeal’s brows drew together slowly, the crease deepening as the implications settled. Rifts were dangerous, yes. Frequent in the grand scale of the world, yes. But frequent did not mean constant. They appeared here and there, unpredictable but scattered. They did not bloom like plague across everywhere .. Atleast not at the heart of the strongest empire in existence? Something was very wrong. The thought did not come as panic.. Like he didn’t care about this empire whatsoever.. But it came as cold calculation because he did not like variables he had not accounted for.

"I don’t know," Merisa said after a long pause, her voice lower than usual, stripped of its usual calm superiority. "I have never seen or heard of anything like this." Her eyes lifted slightly, unfocused, as her senses stretched outward again, sweeping over the capital like invisible threads. "There is emergency mobilization everywhere. I can sense strong auras from all directions royal guards, hidden elders, dukes, noble houses... all of them are fighting, trying to stabilize the situation."

Her frown deepened as if the more she sensed, the less she liked what she found. "It is serious. Very serious. All empires forces are active. But..." She hesitated, tilting her head faintly as if listening to something distant. "Some forces are definitely missing from their usual positions. Entire divisions are not where they should be. Which means..." She inhaled softly. "It might not be limited to the capital. It could be happening across the entire empire. Even the borders maybe.."

Maria hearing this from side.. felt her stomach tighten at those words. As from one of the Ten Pillar Families her family would not stand idle during such chaos. They would be deployed, fighting somewhere in that storm of monsters. Her fingers curled slightly at her sides.. Stress and worry coming to her suddenly.

Razeal’s frown darkened further hearing Merisa’s word’s. This wasn’t in the plot. He had read every major crisis of the novel and he definitely knew the timeline. Nothing like this had happened or ever was even supposed to happen.. He had been gone for two months. And in that time, the strongest empire in the world had been thrown into what looked like coordinated spatial catastrophe? That was definitely not a coincidence. It smelled wrong even felt deliberate.

Merisa’s expression sharpened with the same conclusion forming in her mind. "From what I can sense," she continued slowly, "the damage... is controlled." That word hung heavily. "Yes, there are casualties and destruction. But the rifts are placed in a way that forces are stretched thin rather than annihilated outright." Her eyes narrowed. "It feels like... as if it all is for distraction?"

The room grew quiet.

A rift could not be closed manually. That was the most terrifying thing about them. Once a tear appeared in space, it remained until it exhausted itself. You could fight what came out of it, you could contain the perimeter, but you could not seal it. Not even the Empress or herself can do anything about it... That was a rift afterall.. which just happens naturally. they have no control over it whatsoever. Because if did world half of the problems be solved.

And that was the thing because what Merisa was sensing did not feel natural.

"It is as if," she murmured, "someone calculated exactly how many rifts would be needed to occupy the empire’s full attention. Just enough to keep everyone busy. Just enough to prevent movement elsewhere."

Her confusion was genuine now. "But that makes no sense. Rifts are not controlled phenomena. No one has ever controlled them. Not now. Not in history. They appear on their own. They disappear on their own."

That was the problem. What she was sensing did not feel like "on their own."

She suddenly turned her head toward Razeal, the movement abrupt enough to draw everyone’s eyes. "Do you know anyone," she asked carefully, watching his expression closely, "who can.. by any means make rifts appear?"

She did not know why she asked him specifically. Perhaps it was instinct. Perhaps it was because every time she thought she understood the limits of his ability, he broke them casually. Teleportation. Shadow manipulation? Absorbing monster cores?Vampire? Able to control her? Ritual or whatever that literally seems to have done something big even though she doesnt know what for now...But she’s sure its definitely something big.. He was a walking anomaly.

And Razeal suddenly paused at her questions.

Not outwardly in any dramatic way. But something in him definitely paused.

As a face suddenly surfaced in his mind without permission. Calm. White eyes white hair with a forever friendly smile on his face..

Riven.

In the original storyline, Riven had once created a controlled portal for Areon’s training a carefully stabilized dimensional gate designed to accelerate growth. It had not been called a rift. It had not behaved like one. But it had proven one thing.

He could interfere with portals and rifts.

Razeal blinked once, slowly.

His mind spun rapidly now, connecting threads. For some reasons.. He have feeling this was definitely that bastard now. And with that questions came

Why? And why the empire? Why now?

In the original plot, none of this had occurred. Which meant this was reaction. Not progression. Something had forced the story off its intended track.

Razeal’s jaw tightened faintly.

If Riven was behind this, then it was not random chaos. It was a move. A piece placed on the board.

But what was the objective?

What is he getting by distracting the empire?

What us he planning?

To train Areon?

Or to send some message? Or after someone else? Like what the fuck could lead him to fuck up the whole empire? What exactly is he after?

Razeal eyes grew colder alarms going crazy in his head

The realization settled heavily.

If this was Riven’s doing... Which it is

Then the game had already escalated or he’s planning something big.

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