Chapter 95: Freedom Over Responsibility

Adam watched in silence as the high-ranking Acolytes and the sector manager traded strategies across the table.

They were careful, painfully so. Every proposal was weighed against projected casualties and every countermeasure adjusted to shave off losses rather than secure a clean victory. Defensive rotations. Resource rationing. Controlled retreats. On paper, each plan was sound.

Yet every one of them came up short.

The problem wasn’t the walls.

It wasn’t manpower.

It wasn’t even the sirens alone.

It was the monster tide that was about to happen.

So this is it, Adam thought. My first monster tide.

A monster tide was often compared to a rift disaster, but that comparison was misleading.

Rift disasters were violent, sudden, and catastrophic. Monster tides were worse, they were slower, heavier and relentless.

And all of it stemmed from the very system the alliance had built to establish and control territory.

A standard sector was encased in massive walls. Inside those walls lay order, infrastructure and tightly regulated rifts.

Outside was the wild zone. A lawless expanse filled with wild rifts and spreading incursions.

The rifts closest to a sector were usually managed and cleared on a schedule, but beyond that buffer, control thinned rapidly.

Inside a sector, rifts were managed to the letter. Their number was capped. Their saturation monitored. Breaches prevented before they could happen.

Outside the walls, none of that certainty existed.

Rifts were allowed to proliferate if they showed value. Resource-rich rifts were left active and farmed continuously.

Some were pushed to saturation on purpose.

When a rift hit one hundred percent and breached, turning into an incursion, it was still considered manageable after all it was outside the sector, plus pulse containers kept those incursions contained, regulating monster output and ensuring the system remained stable.

But that was the flaw.

The entire structure relied on everything functioning perfectly.

A malfunction in a pulse container.

A sudden shift in a rift’s environment.

An external trigger, like the explosion.

Any one of those was enough to shatter the balance.

And when that happened, it wasn’t just one incursion failing.

It was all of them.

Every incursion clustered near the sector’s perimeter would rupture in sequence, dumping their stored monsters in a single direction. Creatures didn’t need strategy. They didn’t need coordination.

They only needed proximity.

They would surge toward the closest sector like water through a broken dam.

Adam exhaled slowly, his fingers tightening at his side.

The meeting finally came to an end.

One by one, the high-ranking Acolytes gathered their materials and filed out of the control room, their footsteps fading into the corridor beyond. The massive displays dimmed, projections shutting down until only the ambient glow of the room remained.

Soon, only two people were left.

Adam remained seated for a moment, then looked toward the manager.

“It’s good that you finally got yourself together.”

Vanessa paused, then nodded.

“I can’t beat myself up when the situation hasn’t been resolved yet.” She let out a tired sigh, rubbing her temple. Fatigue clung to her in a way no uniform could hide.

The day had made it feel like the world itself had turned against her. One problem stacked onto another, each more complicated than the last.

Ever since she took the position of manager, crises had happened, but never like this. Never this layered. Never this relentless. It was almost as if fate had decided to test her all at once, dropping an impossible burden into her hands and watching to see if she would break.

Adam watched her quietly.

Is this how someone with responsibilities lives? he wondered. If anything goes wrong, they take the blame… then use those same responsibilities to force themselves to keep moving.

He felt no anger toward her, only a dull sense of sadness.

The truth was, Adam didn’t even know if he carried any real responsibilities himself. He had a goal: to eradicate all monsters. A grand, absurdly impossible goal. And yet, he intended to see it through, no matter the cost. He already knew where it began.

Power.

But power was only a means. A tool to fulfill the promise he had made to himself.

Those weren’t responsibilities. Not like this.

Looking at the manager now, shoulders heavy with obligation and guilt, Adam realized something with unsettling clarity.

Idon’t think I want that.

He wanted freedom, the kind that let him move as he wished, act as he saw fit, with nothing anchoring him down or demanding answers when things went wrong.

I want to be free.

The thought felt childish the moment it formed. Selfish, even. Adam didn’t know if that mindset would change someday or if the future would force responsibility onto him whether he wanted it or not.

But for now, he was fine with it.

Adam rose from his seat. He nodded once toward Vanessa.

She met his gaze and nodded back, understanding passing between them without words.

Turning away, Adam walked out of the control room.

****

Adam walked back toward the hotel alone.

His body was still wounded, as every step sent a dull reminder through his muscles, but his posture remained steady and controlled.

When a group of Acolytes had offered him a ride, he’d refused without hesitation. He needed the walk. He needed the space.

This time was his.

The sector was quiet due to the state of emergency protocol, leaving the wide highway ahead of him empty.

Streetlights cast long, pale reflections across the road as Adam walked straight down the center, his footsteps the only sound.

It was there, in that silence, that a crazy thought crossed his mind.

Isn’t this tide… the perfect opportunity to accumulate [Existence]?

Adam blinked, then let out a quiet breath of disbelief.

He was surprised he hadn’t thought of it sooner. But it made sense. The atmosphere of the meeting had been suffocating, grim projections, casualty estimates, failure piled on top of failure.

It had forced his mind into seeing only the downside.

Not the opportunity.

I’ll have to use this well, he thought, as his pace unconsciously quickened.

The monsters that would appear in the tide… that number was more than enough.

More than enough to accumulate [Existence].

More than enough to manifest his profound spirit.

The danger hadn’t changed. If anything, it had grown heavier. But to Adam, danger and opportunity had always been two sides of the same coin.

By the time the hotel came into view, his goal had already solidified.

For now, there was something else to take care of.

Adam stepped through the entrance, his expression calm, his thoughts sharp.

I have to give the nepo babies the good news.

****

A/N: Hey guy, just wanted to let you know if we reach top 60 of the golden ticket ranking or get up to 800 power stones there will be a mass release.

Thank you for the support so far it is really encouraging.

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