Chapter 97: City In A Uproar

Emily stood in front of the mirror in the hotel room, adjusting the position of Aeon at her side.

The legendary sword looked completely different from the weapon she had once carried, but the feeling it gave her was strangely familiar.

She had spent years with Aeon at her side, and seeing it restored after everything that had happened still felt almost unreal.

She studied her reflection for a moment before looking away. Eternal Dawn was a name she had not properly thought about in years.

It existed somewhere in the back of her memories alongside old tournaments, sponsorships, advertisements, interviews, and the years before her Gnosis shattered.

Back then, Eternal Dawn had believed in Emily Ashcroft, or at least they had believed in what Emily Ashcroft could accomplish.

They had sponsored her because she was talented, young, and already becoming one of the most promising Awakeners of her generation. When everything was taken from her, however, that interest disappeared with it.

Emily didn’t feel angry about it anymore.

She had spent too much time rebuilding herself to remain trapped in what had happened before.

Reinhard was sitting nearby, casually looking through some information on his phone when he noticed that she had finished preparing. He looked up and smiled. "Ready?"

"Yeah." Emily adjusted Aeon’s position once more before turning toward him. "I just want to see something for myself."

Reinhard understood immediately, but he didn’t ask her to explain. He simply put his phone away and stood. "Then let’s go."

Emily smiled softly before walking toward the door with him.

...

Eternal Dawn’s Elyndor headquarters was considerably larger than Emily remembered.

The building occupied an entire section of the commercial district, with the company’s emblem displayed across the front and hundreds of Awakeners entering and leaving throughout the day. There were training facilities, recruitment centers, research departments, equipment stores, and administrative offices spread throughout the complex.

Emily had once walked through these halls as one of Eternal Dawn’s most valuable young talents.

Today, people recognized her before she even reached the entrance.

Whispers followed her through the lobby, though most people were careful not to approach. The news from the previous day had spread quickly, and almost everyone in Elyndor knew what had happened at the Central Combat Arena.

Emily Ashcroft had returned.

She was officially D-Rank.

She had defeated four C-Rank professionals.

She had broken historical records.

And nobody knew how far she could eventually go.

A receptionist stood as soon as Emily approached the desk. "Ms. Ashcroft, the director is expecting you."

Emily nodded politely. "Thank you."

The receptionist hesitated for a moment before adding, "It’s good to see you again."

Emily looked at her and gave a small smile. "It’s good to be back."

She followed the employee through the headquarters until they reached a large conference room where several senior members of Eternal Dawn were already waiting.

The room became noticeably quieter when Emily entered.

The people sitting around the table remembered her.

They remembered the young girl who had once been one of their greatest investments, the tournaments she had won, the advertisements she had appeared in, and the expectations surrounding her future.

They also remembered what happened afterward.

The director stood and smiled politely. "Emily Ashcroft. It’s good to see you again."

Emily looked at him for a moment before returning the smile. "It’s been a long time."

There was no anger in her voice.

That seemed to make the room more uncomfortable than anger would have.

The director gestured toward the empty chair. "Please, sit."

Emily took her seat while the others followed.

For a few seconds, nobody spoke.

Finally, the director sighed. "I won’t pretend we handled your disappearance perfectly."

Emily looked at him calmly. "You don’t have to."

"We made decisions based on the circumstances at the time. Sponsorship is a business, and when your Gnosis shattered, we believed your career was over."

"I understand."

The director seemed surprised by how easily she accepted the explanation.

Emily rested her hands on the table. "I’m not here because you stopped sponsoring me."

The room became quiet again.

The director looked at her carefully. "Then why are you here?"

Emily met his eyes.

"You made a promise."

Several executives exchanged glances.

The director’s expression changed slightly as he realized what she meant. "The new-Awakener program."

Emily nodded. "I want to know if you kept it."

The director leaned back slightly before giving a small smile. "Then I suppose we should show you."

...

Eternal Dawn had kept the promise.

Emily spent the next several hours walking through the different sections of the organization while the director and several senior employees explained how the program had developed.

They had scholarships for young Awakeners who couldn’t afford proper education or training. They provided equipment to promising candidates who lacked wealthy families to support them, and experienced Awakeners volunteered their time as mentors. Eternal Dawn had also created training facilities where young Awakeners could practice without immediately having to risk their lives in dangerous environments.

The organization had even expanded its recruitment efforts into poorer districts, searching for talented Awakeners who would otherwise never have the opportunity to enter the professional world.The director gestured toward a display showing several profiles.

"Several of our current B-Rank Awakeners actually came through the program."

Emily looked at the screen.

"B-Rank?"

"One of them entered as an E-Rank Awakener," the director explained. "Her family couldn’t afford proper training, and her Gnosis wasn’t considered particularly impressive at first. She received a scholarship, found a mentor, and eventually developed into one of our strongest young Awakeners."

Emily studied the profile for a moment.

"So the program works."

"We believe it does."

Emily nodded slightly. "Then it’s worth protecting. How many scholarships do you offer each year?"

The director answered immediately. "Three hundred and twenty at the moment, though we’re planning to increase that number next year."

"And how are candidates selected?"

"We evaluate their Gnosis potential, Mana control, physical condition, and current combat ability."

Emily’s eyes narrowed slightly. "Current combat ability?"

The director nodded. "It’s one of several factors."

"How much weight does it carry?"

The director paused.

Emily noticed.

"Too much?"

He sighed. "Probably."

Emily continued walking.

They eventually reached one of the training halls, where several young Awakeners were practicing under the supervision of professional instructors.

Most were D-Rank.

Some were still E-Rank.

A few struggled with basic Mana control.

Emily watched them quietly before her attention settled on a young girl practicing with a strange Gnosis that produced several small floating threads of light.

The girl struggled to control them.

One thread flickered and disappeared before she tried again.

Emily watched for another few seconds before asking, "What’s her name?"

The director glanced toward the girl. "Mira."

"How did she get here?"

"Scholarship. She came from one of the poorer districts and initially failed our combat assessment, but one of our evaluators noticed that her Gnosis had unusual control potential."

Emily looked back at the girl.

"She’s good."

The director smiled. "We think so too."

Emily watched Mira try again, this time managing to control all of the threads for several seconds before they scattered.

"Then make sure she gets the opportunity."

The director looked at Emily.

"We intend to."

Emily nodded before turning her attention back to the training hall.

For a moment, she saw herself.

Not the Emily Ashcroft who had stood in the Central Combat Arena yesterday.

Not the Young Devil King.

Not the woman whose name was appearing across every screen in Elyndor.

Just a young Awakener trying to understand what she could become.

She remembered how much it had meant to have people believe in her when she was starting out.

Then she remembered what it felt like when everyone stopped believing.

Emily’s expression softened."You’re still measuring potential too early."

The director’s smile disappeared.

Emily turned toward him. "You’re doing a good job supporting young Awakeners, but you’re still placing too much emphasis on what someone can accomplish right now."

The executives listened carefully.

"Some Awakeners don’t look impressive at D-Rank," Emily continued. "Some abilities need time to develop, and some people simply haven’t figured out how to use their Gnosis yet. If you decide whether someone is worth investing in based only on what they can do today, you’ll miss the people who could become exceptional tomorrow."

Nobody interrupted her.

Emily looked toward the young Awakeners training in the hall.

"I know because I was one of them."

The words carried more weight than she intended.

The director looked at her for several seconds before slowly nodding.

"You’re suggesting a separate development track."

"Something like that." Emily turned back toward him. "Don’t evaluate them only once. Give them time to grow, then evaluate them again based on how far they’ve progressed."

The director considered her words."How long?"

"Six months."

Emily glanced toward Mira and the other young Awakeners. "Give them six months to train, experiment, fail, and figure out what their Gnosis can actually become. Then evaluate them again."

The director nodded slowly. "That would require considerable resources."

"Then expand the program."

The director stared at her.

Emily’s expression remained calm. She wasn’t demanding anything for herself. She wasn’t asking for sponsorship. She wasn’t even asking Eternal Dawn to restore the position she once held.

She was simply telling them that they could do better.

The director finally smiled. "You came here to see whether we kept our promise."

Emily nodded. "And?"

He looked toward the training hall. "I think you already know the answer."

Emily followed his gaze. "I do."

The director studied her for a moment before asking, "But I don’t think that’s why you came."

Emily was silent for a few seconds. "No," she admitted. "I wanted to see whether it was worth continuing."

The director’s expression became more serious.

Emily looked at the young Awakeners again. "If you’re going to keep giving people a chance, then I’ll support you."

The director raised an eyebrow. "How?"

"I can train some of them."

Several executives looked surprised.

Emily continued before they could respond. "Not every day, and I won’t replace your instructors, but I can occasionally work with promising Awakeners who have unusual Gnosis or need help understanding combat applications."

The director stared at her. "You’d do that?"

Emily smiled slightly. "Someone once gave me an opportunity when I was young. I don’t see a reason not to give someone else one now."

The room fell silent.

The director slowly nodded. "Then we’d be honored."

Emily looked toward the training hall one final time. The young Awakeners were still practicing, completely unaware of the conversation happening behind them.

She had once been the person receiving the opportunity. Now she was in a position to create one. That realization felt different from winning a fight.

There was no applause. No record. No cheering crowd.

Yet Emily felt strangely satisfied.

...

By the time she reached the entrance, several employees had already noticed her leaving.

A few young Awakeners gathered nearby, whispering among themselves until one of them finally gathered enough courage to approach.

"Ms. Ashcroft?"

Emily stopped.

The young Awakener looked nervous. "Is it true that you really came back after your Gnosis shattered?"

Emily smiled.

"Yes."

"How?"

Emily thought about the question for a moment.

There had been no single answer.

There had been Reinhard, her family, the pain, the treatment, the System, her new Gnosis, and countless moments that had slowly brought her back to this point.

But she didn’t need to explain all of that. "I kept moving."

The young Awakener stared at her before nodding. Emily gave her a small smile and continued toward the exit. Behind her, the director watched from the hallway.

One of the executives standing beside him finally spoke. "Should we try to recruit her again?"

The director shook his head.

"Why not?"

He looked toward the door Emily had just walked through.

"Because Emily Ashcroft doesn’t need Eternal Dawn anymore."

The executive frowned.

The director smiled faintly. "She didn’t come back asking us to give her a second chance." He paused. "She came back to make sure we were still giving them to everyone else."

The room became quiet.

The director looked toward the training hall where the young Awakeners were still practicing. "But Eternal Dawn may still need people like her."

...

Reinhard was waiting outside when Emily emerged.

He had not gone inside.

He had not asked what happened.

He had simply waited.

When Emily reached him, he looked at her for a moment before asking, "Feel better?"

Emily smiled.

"Much."

"Good."

They started walking together.

After a few steps, Reinhard glanced at her. "Did they keep the promise?"

Emily looked back at the Eternal Dawn building.

"They did."

Reinhard smiled. "Then that’s good."

Emily walked beside him for several moments without speaking.

Then she looked ahead.

"I think I’m glad."

Reinhard glanced at her. "Why?"

Emily was quiet for a moment before answering. "I used to think the worst thing that happened to me was losing everything." She looked down at Aeon for a moment before continuing. "Now I think maybe it gave me a chance to understand what other people can lose."

Reinhard’s expression softened but he didn’t try to give her an answer. He simply reached over and took her hand.

Emily smiled and held it.