In that moment, a massive gust of cold wind blew against their faces as a white-scaled dragon, with horns that looked like blue crystals, descended from the clouds. It was seventy-five feet long from head to tail, with a wingspan of over a hundred feet wide!

The wind generated from its wings alone caused a huge gale. When it landed, the dragon could be measured to be seventeen feet tall from the shoulder down. Including the neck and head would make it almost twenty-five feet tall!

On its back was Isolde. "I highly doubt that," she said, as Grace roared aggressively at all the summons of the seniors.

From the other side, Percival manifested out of water, looking at the seniors as he walked toward Godfrey. "This looks like a group of seniors against our king. Shadow Club has a right to defend him… as a group too."

'So you've been there the whole time!' Rick frowned, still in a dilemma as he remained caught in the trap of the Golden Order Knights. The moment he let go of his ability, grievous injuries awaited.

"Well then," Vin clenched his fists. His Malevolent Dragon Lion took two steps forward before Damien spoke up.

"Don't."

Vin snapped his head toward him. "Are we going to let that sophomore take first place?!"

"Leave it," Tyla replied. Her summon turned back at her command. Godfrey's summons retracted, and Rick also left, though with a few wounds from arrows his summon couldn't dodge.

On their way, Damien faced the gloomy Vin. "The Pendragon will take first position, so it won't be a troublesome sophomore."

Damien continued as Vin glared at him. "At least if it's her, we won't lose much of our prestige. But Godfrey… that's his name, right?"

"It is," Rick replied.

"...If there's one thing I've discovered about him, it's that he has always proved others wrong. We'll try to bring him to the club."

"He's already declared himself king. You think someone like that will listen to you?" Vin mocked.

"Then it will be a hassle… but it's not everyone he can prove wrong." Damien's eyes gleamed dangerously.

"Imagine using him for our underground fights. He'll rake in a lot. Tyla, you've worked on most of the stubborn ones, how about this one?" Rick said.

Tyla rolled her hair and spat out, her teeth clenched slightly. "He's a tough one. He might not budge."

While the seniors conversed about their next plan, since Godfrey's strength had piqued their interest, Godfrey stared at Percival and Isolde.

"You're crazy. Has anyone ever told you that?" Percival scoffed.

On the other hand, Isolde descended from Grace, flipping her hair as she smiled radiantly at Godfrey.

In that moment, Godfrey felt a familiar warmth he had not felt in his heart for a long time, prompting him to smile in return.

"Grace is now a dragon," Godfrey said, as the white dragon stared calmly at him, her head lifted high. She growled softly in acknowledgment.

Isolde chuckled as she ascended the stairs to meet Godfrey but froze as Tempest descended, hovering menacingly behind him.

"What an impressive-looking knight. I haven't really seen this one in action, but it looks imposing," Percival said in slight awe. But he and Godfrey both glanced at each other when they saw Isolde staring at Tempest in a frozen state.

Isolde's breath quickened. That bright sun symbol in between Tempest's eyes made her remember the painting she drew years ago, a painting of Tempest flying toward a skinny giant with metal chains joined to thick metal balls around its wrists.

There was blood everywhere. That dream was one of her first nightmares, and she clearly remembered the Golden Halo and, more specifically, that bright sun symbol.

At first, it was a nightmare, but after having the dream several times, everything came into place, the Great Vanishing!

An event where tons of white gates appeared and took people, all of which happened before Godfrey's fourth summon.

'Has it already happened while we were in here?' Her heart drummed.

"Isolde. Are you alright?"

As Godfrey approached her, he suddenly found himself in the student hall, seated with all the other students.

In less than three minutes, every student in the dungeon was in their seats. Everyone was puzzled.

What was going on? There were still a few days left!

All the teachers were already assembled, and Sebastian mounted the podium. Godfrey frowned when Isolde entwined her fingers with his own and held them tight.

"We have disturbing news to share," Sebastian began before Godfrey could ask Isolde what was wrong. "A few hours ago, King/Queen tiers around the world suddenly began to vanish. About forty minutes ago, the Pendragon King/Queen tier and the rest of the King/Queen tiers all over Manhattan and beyond were gone."

Godfrey's eyes widened. "Isolde…"

"We are not certain that they are dead," Sebastian continued, "but apparently, they are being taken by white gates. No lesser tier has been taken, but the security of the globe has been thrown into disarray. We advise everyone to remain within the boundaries of the school until further notice."

***

Isaac slammed the door to the Shadow Club open and stormed in. "Have you heard what's going on?!"

"We have," Godfrey said. Lucy and Percival looked at him, all with the same concern for Isolde, who had left quite speedily after they were dismissed.

"Where's Isolde?" Isaac asked. "The entire school's in panic. I heard Tyla's crying because of her mother, and Damien's—"

Wind blew Isaac's hair from behind. He stopped and turned, sighing in relief when he saw Isolde with a book.

"Whatever's happening will last for seventy-two hours, and all of them will return. At least, those who survive," Isolde said firmly.

"What do you mean?" Lucy asked.

Isolde opened her book for all of them to see the huge painting of a tree that reached the clouds. "I can see the future… It's irregular. However, this tree is called the Mana Tree, and those large golden fruits are Original Fruits. What's happening is evolution. Our world's tiers are increasing. Once the King/Queen tiers return as greater tiers, depending on how many fruits they eat, we'll face greater dungeons."

"B-But Mr. Edwin said it would happen in a hundred years!"

"Well, it won't! But that isn't the main problem. The main problem, and the reason the school brought us back, is because without the King/Queen tiers, Cain Fanatics will start running wild."

***

Arthur Pendragon sat on the saddle of his silver dragon, whose scales glistened like sharpened blades. Its sheer size made Isolde's dragon look like a child.

He looked at the vast tree whose green branches reached the clouds at its tip and whose roots stretched farther than his eyes could see.

Hundreds of other summoners with their summons were gathered there. Some had mighty eagles whose wings spanned several hundred feet; some had small beasts; others had massive, gigantic ones like his dragon, or even bigger.

His eyes locked on a group of humanoid summoners moving as one. Leading them was a man with an Oni Ronin by his side.

Vagabonds!

Retrieving his dragon, Arthur manifested vast wings and shot toward the base of the tree, where the others were gathered.

There was writing carved into the tree:

It is I, Adam.

I have no idea how long it has been, but in my journey, I have discovered Earth will soon be granted this opportunity before the next phase of Earth's evolution.

We humans are cherished, and so we gained the ultimate power of summoning. I know some of you have guessed—and you are right. The peak isn't King Tier.

There is the Throne Tier (13.0–15.5), Saint Tier (15.6–17.8), Divine Tier (17.9–20.5), and finally the Origin Tier (20.6–24.9).

Unfortunately, after evolving to the Great Sage Equals the Heavens, I still couldn't step into the Origin Tier.

Eat the fruits of this tree. Eat as much as you can, because dungeons with existences of the tiers I listed above will soon invade Earth.

As for me, my adventures will never stop.

'It sounds like he's still alive! After a hundred years!' Arthur's irises shrank.

In the next moment, claws came for his neck. This was an opportunity, those who ate the most would rule the world, and those who fell behind would regret it.

But before that… they would take out the opposition before it had the chance to grow.

And chaos erupted.

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