Chapter 3 — The Summit
Morning sunlight spilled across the marble floors of the mansion, warm and golden. The curtains were still half-drawn when the quiet knock came on Vaibhav's door.
"Vaibhy," Prabhat's voice called softly. "Wake up."
Vaibhav groaned, dragging the blanket over his head.
A second voice chimed in through the door—bright, gentle.
"Vaibhav… today's special," Alicia said.
Vaibhav blinked.
"…Special?"
The door opened, and Prabhat stepped inside with an unusually calm smile.
"Happy birthday, Vaibhy."
Before Vaibhav could react, Alicia peeked behind Prabhat and added softly,
"And… happy birthday to me too."
Vaibhav shot upright.
"Oh— right! It's our— I didn't— I totally forgot—"
A soft laugh came from the hallway.
"I knew you'd forget," Anika said, leaning on the doorframe with her arms crossed.
A moment later, more footsteps.
Yan'er approached with a warm smile.
Arjun nodded from behind her.
Theo gave a lazy salute.
Daichi burst into the room holding a plate piled with pancakes, shouting:
"HAPPY BIRTHDAAAY—"
Theo immediately whacked him on the head with a pillow.
"NOT WITH FOOD IN YOUR HAND!!"
Daichi pouted dramatically while stuffing a pancake into his mouth anyway.
Vivan followed next, offering a gentle nod.
A warm chorus echoed from everyone:
"Happy birthday."
Vaibhav rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed.
"Uh… thanks."
Alicia smiled shyly. "Thank you, everyone…"
Then—
Footsteps heavier than the rest descended the stairs.
A familiar presence washed through the mansion like a silent wave.
Cold. Calm. Overwhelming.
Lin Xuan appeared.
Freshly washed, hair tied loosely behind him, aura perfectly controlled yet unmistakably vast. He stopped in front of the two birthday kids.
"Today," Lin Xuan said, voice serene but firm,
"the both of you become adults."
Vaibhav straightened instinctively.
Alicia clasped her hands nervously.
Lin Xuan continued,
"We're going out."
Behind him, Daichi gasped, crumbs flying everywhere.
"SPACE TRIP!! RIGHT!?"
Theo kicked him.
"DON'T SPRAY YOUR BREAKFAST ALL OVER THE FLOOR!!"
Daichi caught the falling crumbs midair with inhuman reflex.
"That was instinct."
Theo facepalmed.
"I hate this you."
Lin Xuan ignored them, already turning toward the garage.
"Everyone. Let's go."
The group followed, and the garage door slid open to reveal a colossal, sleek structure gleaming under soft blue lights—
A starship.
Black, polished, lined with nebula-blue accents and thruster rings that hummed faintly like a heartbeat.
Alicia gasped softly.
"It's… beautiful."
Vaibhav blinked.
"I thought we were going in a normal spaceship… this looks like a military battleship."
Theo smirked.
"It's Big Brother's old ship."
Vaibhav froze.
"…Old?"
Anika whispered to Alicia,
"He has five more."
Alicia almost choked on air.
Lin Xuan walked in without a word, and everyone followed.
The ship hummed to life the moment he sat in the front seat.
Panels lit up.
Holograms flickered on.
Gravity stabilizers engaged with a smooth pulse.
Within seconds—
The ship lifted.
Then—
FWOOOOSH!
They shot through the atmosphere, leaving streaks of blue light behind them.
Alicia pressed her face against the window.
Vaibhav stared wide-eyed at the stars.
Daichi munched snacks as if space travel was normal.
Theo fought Daichi for the snack bag.
Vivan read a book.
Arjun meditated.
Yan'er leaned back peacefully.
And Lin Xuan stared out the front viewport in perfect silence, gaze unreadable.
It took only minutes before an island came into view—
Floating in space.
Lit by rings of pale-blue lights.
Shaped like a crescent.
Covered with buildings, neon signs, water tubes, amusement parks, sky-rails, gravity-free zones, floating gardens.
A chunk of Mercury itself—
turned into a luxurious entertainment district.
"Whoa…" Vaibhav whispered.
"It really looks like a piece of a planet."
Alicia's eyes sparkled.
"It's so pretty…"
Prabhat smiled.
"Welcome to Mercury Haven. Entry fee: 100 UC."
Vaibhav nearly fell out of his seat.
"500 UC!? That's 50000 Bitcoins!! EACH!?"[1]
Theo smirked.
"Relax. Big Brother bought whole Island for this day."
The ship docked smoothly.
A small, peaceful moment passed.
But far away from this warmth—
on United Earth itself—
Chaos had already begun.
The world didn't take long to hear the news.
Screens flickered in every major city.
News drones hovered.
Social feeds exploded.
Security networks went on alert.
Everywhere—
The same headline appeared:
"NETHYRA CLAN ANNIHILATED— NO SURVIVORS."
The footage was blurry, corrupted by aura.
The courtyard was a smear of red dust.
The stone gate was reduced to particles.
The mansion stood half-collapsed.
But one figure was unmistakable—
A silhouette walking through the blood-mist.
Black coat.
Dark aura.
White pupils glowing like cold stars.
People whispered.
"Is that… him?"
"After eight years… Lin Xuan moved?"
"What triggered him…?"
"Why now?"
"Did someone provoke the Obsidian Onyx Guild…?"
"Is he planning something bigger?"
No one had answers.
But everyone knew one thing—
If he moved…
Nothing good would follow.
Not for enemies.
Not for threats.
Not for anyone foolish enough to stand in his way.
And so—
Panic spread like wildfire.
In the heart of United Earth, buried beneath the colossal Towers of Unity, a sealed chamber awakened for the first time in eight years.
Anti-aura barriers hummed to life.
Gene-locks rotated.
The temperature dropped as twelve layers of security unfolded one by one.
Why?
Because there was only one reason the world's strongest powers would gather:
Lin Xuan had moved.
And the moment his name resurfaced—
The 10 Great Organisations of Earth
the pillars that ruled the planet's economy, military, sciences, cultures, and politics
were forced to answer.
One by one, their leaders arrived.
Each powerful enough to shake continents.
Each commanding empires.
Together, they formed—
The Decem Sovereigns.
The Ten Great Clans of United Earth.
And they gathered today for survival.
1. Dragonfang Consortium
Leader: Zhao Kenjiro
'The strongest of the Ten.'
Chinese-Japanese lineage.
Tall, sharp-eyed, his presence colder than steel.
He controlled half of the planet's technological innovation, cybernetics, weapon blueprints, and gene-research labs.
A man whose mind never stopped calculating.
And yet—even he feared Lin Xuan.
2. Yamato-Khalsa Clan
Leader: Arun Nakamura
'The strongest of the Ten.'
Half Japanese, half Indian.
A warrior with hurricane blood.
Carried himself with unbroken soldier pride.
The clan was known for producing humanity's ultimate combat units—unbreakable soldiers forged through brutal discipline.
If Dragonfang Consortium was best in intelligence and control…
Yamato-Khalsa Clan was best in brute military power.
3. Valhalla Syndicate
Leader: Astrid Gunnarson
Blonde. Towering. Eyes like winter storms.
A leader born from the Nordic warrior bloodline.
Her clan commanded the globe's most elite mercenary armies—private armies stronger than nation's.
They lived by war.
They prospered in chaos.
And Astrid was the queen of that battlefield.
4. Stormborn Union
Leader: Erik Johnson
Thunderous voice. Massive build.
Known for both his temper and his laugh.
His clan dominated the weather-manipulation tech, storm reactors, and aerial battleships.
Whenever Erik moved, it felt like thunder followed.
5. Aegis Dominion
Leader: Marcus Diodoros
Bronze-skinned, muscular, eyes burning with fury.
His defensive abilities were unmatched, and his clan produced the most powerful shields, barriers, and fortress-cities.
But Marcus was notorious for having one weakness:
He hated Lin Xuan.
And he wasn't subtle about it.
6. Kusanagi–Rajput House
Leader: Takeda Pratap
A hybrid lineage of Japanese sword saints and Indian warrior kings.
Every member of his clan was a duelist—honor-bound, sharp, and deadly.
Takeda himself was a walking blade—refined, disciplined, but with a pride that made him stubborn to the core.
7. Suleiman Order
Leader: Farid Albrecht
A calm-eyed scholar-warrior.
Half Middle-Eastern, half European.
Known for combining faith and science—creating techniques that merged quantum tech with spiritual doctrines.
His clan was balanced, steady, and frighteningly efficient.
8. Seraphim Circle
Leader: Lucien De Silva
Beautiful. Charismatic. Dangerous.
His clan dabbled in gene arts, psychic modulation, forbidden body-alteration rituals, and mysterious "angelic augmentations."
No one fully trusted him.
No one fully understood him.
But his influence ran deep.
9. Azura-Kai Clan
Leader: Hiro Kalani
Tanned skin, ocean-blue eyes, always smiling like a carefree surfer—
Until battle began.
Then he transformed into a monster—a hurricane of fluid, unpredictable violence.
His clan ruled over the island dominions and deep-sea resources.
Friendly on the surface.
Terrifying underneath.
10. Han-Seong Guild
Leader: Kim Wei-Lang
Smooth, polite, smiling, always carrying a fan.
A businessman. A manipulator. A spy.
His guild dominated global economy, trade routes, assassination networks, information webs.
He was the man who knew everything.
Even secrets no one should.
These ten leaders—
ten forces that ruled humanity—
ten beings who stood above nations—
met around a round table forged from Lunarglass.
Outside, the world trembled.
Inside, their faces hardened.
Because even united…
Even together…
None of them truly knew—
What Lin Xuan would do next.
The chamber trembled with the overlapping voices of the world's strongest leaders.
A hologram of the destroyed Nethyra estate hovered above the table—
red mist, broken pillars, cracked marble, and a single silhouette walking through blooded dust.
Lin Xuan.
The very name sent a ripple through all ten powerhouses.
Marcus Diodoros, the hot-blooded leader of the Aegis Dominion, slammed his hand on the table.
"He massacred an entire clan! His power is growing too fast. We need to stop him before—"
Zhao Kenjiro didn't even let him finish.
"Oh? You think you can stop Lin Xuan?"
Kenjiro leaned forward, his cold eyes locking onto Marcus with disdain.
"Even I— the strongest person here—can't defeat him."
Then he smirked.
"And you think you can? Hm?"
A vein popped in Marcus' forehead.
Before he could roar back—
Arun Nakamura slammed his palm on the table.
"Wait—what did you just say!?"
Arun glared at Kenjiro.
"You are the 'strongest'!? You piece of sh*t! I'm the strongest!"
Kenjiro didn't blink.
"You motherf*cker.
I'm.
The.
Strongest."
Hiro Kalani sipped tea.
Kim Wei-Lang covered his face.
Farid Albrecht sighed into his hands.
Lucien De Silva sat like he was watching a comedy show.
Takeda Pratap muttered, "Here they go again…"
It was obvious—they were all used to this.
Before either of them could escalate further—
THUD.
A loud slap echoed through the chamber.
Everyone turned.
Astrid Gunnarson of the Valhalla Syndicate had slammed her hand on the table — face calm, eyes cold as ice.
Kenjiro blinked.
"Astrid? You want to say something?"
Astrid nodded once.
Arun frowned.
"What the hell does that nod even mean?"
Kenjiro didn't hesitate.
"She's saying we should stop arguing. We were discussing something important. And neither of us are the strongest. It's Lin Xuan."
Arun and Kenjiro both froze.
Then in perfect sync:
"…Well… that's true."
Arun glared again.
"But still! How the hell do you understand her nodding?!"
Kenjiro shrugged with a proud scoff.
"Because I do."
Astrid nodded again, approving.
The tension eased, and Arun finally exhaled.
Then he spoke, voice calmer.
"It's been eight years since Lin Xuan did something like this. and Ken and I owe him our lives."
The room went quiet.
Even Marcus's rage softened.
Arun continued,
"So we're not going against him."
Kenjiro leaned back, arms folded.
"Yeah. And the Nethyra Clan was far from innocent."
Hiro nodded.
Farid hummed in agreement.
Lucien chuckled, twirling his ring.
But the moment felt short-lived.
Erik Johnson slammed both palms on the table, thunder crackling around his body.
"We have to do something! He doesn't care about humanity, and if he turns against us—"
A loud crackle shook the room as lightning formed around his arms.
"—we must kill him before he kills us!"
The entire chamber froze.
Every clan leader turned toward him.
And before anyone could respond—
A voice cut through the air.
Cold. Calm. Lethal.
The chamber door opened without sound.
A young man stepped inside.
Tall.
Elegant.
Black hair tied loosely.
Eyes sharp, beautiful, but terrifyingly empty.
The temperature dropped instantly.
Dion.
He walked in as if the room belonged to him.
"Oh?" he said softly, his voice carrying across the hall like a blade sliding free of its sheath.
"You think you can kill my master?"
Lightning vanished from Erik's hands instantly.
Every clan leader stiffened.
Farid inhaled sharply.
Lucien De Silva's smile vanished.
Erik froze mid-breath.
And then—
Kim Wei-Lang, leader of the Han-Seong Guild, stood up in shock.
"Manager Park…?"
Dion smiled pleasantly.
"It's been a while, Lord Wei-Lang."
His eyes shifted, cold and calm—
"And no… none of you will lay a hand on my master."
The room fell completely silent.
He took one step forward.
Every leader instinctively braced.
And the room's lights flickered.
Because the monster who served Lin Xuan—
had arrived.
[1] 1UC=50 Bitcoin(B.C)