TORTURED ME, TO AWAKEN AS AN SSS DRAGON
“They should cut your hands off before the next ceremony. Why let trash touch the Awakening Stone?”
Dante Moretti is the disgrace of Saint Lucian Academy.
In a world where power decides status, wealth, and survival, Dante is worse than weak—he is nothing. The Awakening Stone doesn’t glow for him. The examiners laugh behind his back. Students spit insults every time he walks through the halls.
“Even stray dogs have instincts,” Renzo Cavalli sneers. “But you? You were born useless.”
Every day, Dante endures the humiliation in silence. Being shoved into lockers. Having food dumped over his head. Listening as students compare him to worms beneath their shoes.
Because if he quits the academy, his little sister Lucia loses her chance at a future.
Then the sky splits open.
Monsters descend upon the city, slaughtering everything in sight. Lucia fights to protect innocent people, but a D-rank Blightbearer tears through her defenses and lunges for her heart.
Without thinking, Dante steps in front of her.
The claw punches through his chest.
Blood spills across the road.
And the world changes.
His blood rises into the air.
A forbidden voice echoes inside his skull—
[Mother System activated.]
When Dante opens his eyes again, they burn gold.
The monsters freeze.
The air trembles.
And the boy everyone called worthless smiles for the first time in years.
“You spent your whole lives looking down on me,” he whispers. “Now learn what it feels like to kneel.”
Three D-rank monsters disappear from existence in a storm of crimson light.
Now the same academy that mocked him fears him.
The same elites who treated him like dirt suddenly want his loyalty.
But Dante hasn’t forgotten the laughter.
And this time…
the weakest boy in the world is no longer asking for acceptance.
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Chapter: chapter 214: part-2"I believe the fragments' power can be directed," the Prophet said. "That the destructive potential can be channeled toward creation instead of annihilation. But Celestina disagrees fundamentally, and she's been working quietly to locate the fragments before anyone else can, with the intention of destroying them permanently.""So Abramo wants to seize them for power," Davide said. "You want to gather them for transformation. And Celestina wants to erase them entirely.""Three factions," the Prophet said. "Three agendas. And you, sitting in the middle of all of them, holding one fragment already."Davide thought about that for a moment. Three people, each powerful enough to reshape the world, pulling in three different directions. And him, carrying a fragment in his pocket that made him a target for all three."What do you actually want to do with the fragments," Davide asked. "Once all six are gathered. Specifically."The Prophet looked at him directly. No evasion. No careful framing.
Last Updated: 2026-09-18
Chapter: Chapter 214: The Third Player part-1On the third day, Davide walked back into the chamber that existed outside normal space, sat across from the Prophet, and said two words."I accept."The Prophet's expression didn't change. But something behind his eyes settled, the way tension left a rope when the knot finally held."Good," the Prophet said. "Then let's begin.""Abramo will move soon," the Prophet said. "He's spent decades building toward a confrontation. The sermon attack was his first large-scale test. It failed, which means he'll adjust and try something bigger.""What kind of bigger," Davide asked."He'll likely attempt to seize control of a major religious site," the Prophet said. "Somewhere with symbolic and strategic value. A place that the faithful would interpret as a declaration of authority.""Which site," Davide asked."The Reliquary of Eternity in the eastern district is the most probable target," the Prophet said. "It houses sacred texts and historical artifacts. Controlling it would give Abramo religiou
Last Updated: 2026-09-18
Chapter: chapter 213: part-2"Side with the Prophet," Ginevra said. Without hesitation. Without qualification. "He's the most powerful being in this world. Having him as an ally makes you nearly invulnerable. Having him as an enemy makes you dead.""That's a pragmatic answer," Davide said."I'm a pragmatic person," she said. "You've already demonstrated you can handle the players Abramo sends. With the Prophet's support on top of that, nobody in this world could touch you.""Nobody except the Prophet himself," Davide said."Yes," Ginevra said. "Except him. But that risk exists whether you accept his deal or not. At least inside the alliance, you have access to his resources.""I'll think about it," Davide said. "I have three days."He spent those three days doing more than thinking.On the first night, he activated [Fallen Step] and moved through the city like a ghost. His Fallen warriors spread through the shadows ahead of him, scouting, watching, mapping the movements of Abramo's people.What he found confirmed
Last Updated: 2026-09-18
Chapter: Chapter 213: Abramo's Fragment part-1Ginevra was standing outside the chamber when Davide emerged, her composure holding by a thread."What happened," she said. "What did he say to you.""Not here," Davide said."Davide.""Not here," he repeated. "Too many ears. Too many walls that listen."Her jaw tightened, but she followed without another word.They reached the inn twenty minutes later. Davide checked the room for surveillance, sealed the windows with a layer of death energy that would muffle sound, and sat on the edge of the bed."Talk," Ginevra said. She stood with her arms crossed, her back against the door, watching him the way she watched everything dangerous."The Prophet knows about the fragments," Davide said. "All of them. He's been trying to gather them for centuries.""He told you that," Ginevra said."Directly," Davide said. "No evasion. No subtext. He laid it out like a map and asked me to look at it.""What else.""He built the Church to control access to the fragments," Davide said. "The Paragons, the s
Last Updated: 2026-09-18
Chapter: chapter 212: part-2"That's a religion built on a lie," Davide said."That's a religion built on a necessity," the Prophet said. "The fragments grant power that could reshape reality itself. If I'd left them unguarded, someone would have used them centuries ago and this world would no longer exist.""So you became a god to protect everyone from god-level power," Davide said."I became a Prophet," the Prophet corrected. "There's a difference. Gods don't need followers. Prophets need systems."Davide leaned forward slightly."Did you send the three players who attacked the sermon," he asked.The Prophet's expression didn't change. But something behind his eyes hardened."No," he said. "That was Abramo.""Paragon Abramo," Davide said."Abramo has been undermining the Church's structure for decades," the Prophet said. "He wants control of the fragment locations. He believes he can use them to seize power from me and reshape the faith according to his own vision.""And the attack on the sermon," Davide said.
Last Updated: 2026-09-17
Chapter: Chapter 212: The Deal part-1The chamber existed partially outside normal space.Davide felt it the moment he crossed the threshold. The air was thicker here, charged with something that pressed against his skin like warm water. The walls shimmered with divine light so intense that looking directly at them sent needles of pain through his eyes.The Prophet sat on a simple white cushion in the center of the room. No throne. No elevation. Just a man sitting on fabric, radiating enough power to flatten a city.He gestured to a cushion across from him."Sit," the Prophet said.Davide sat.The Prophet studied him for three seconds. Then he spoke, and his first words cut through every layer of pretense Davide had been carrying."You are not human," the Prophet said.Davide's body went still."Something divine flows through your veins," the Prophet continued. "I felt it during the sermon. When my consciousness touched yours, what pushed back wasn't mortal energy. It was something older. Something that shouldn't exist ins
Last Updated: 2026-09-17
The Prisoner Son Returns as the Medical Saint
“Sign it, Edward.”
Edward Cole stared at the divorce papers in his wife's trembling hand.
Three years ago, he took the fall for her brother's crime. Three years ago, he walked into Hell Prison so her family could stay free. Three years ago, he sacrificed everything—his freedom, his reputation, and his future—for the woman he loved.
Now she looked at him with disgust.
“You're an ex-convict,” she said coldly. “You don't deserve to stand beside me anymore.”
Her words shattered what remained of his heart.
While he suffered in prison, she became a business queen. What she never knew was that every contract, every opportunity, and every miracle that built her empire came from him. From the shadows, he protected her, loved her, and gave her everything.
Yet when he finally returned, all he received was betrayal.
Her family mocked him.
Society despised him.
Everyone believed Edward Cole was nothing but worthless trash.
Until one phone call changed everything.
“Lord Zeus, shall we reveal your identity?”
The world's most powerful billionaires bowed their heads.
Kings waited for his orders.
Entire nations trembled at his name.
The man they abandoned was Zeus—the hidden ruler of Apex of the Stars.
And now, those who broke his heart would learn the price of betrayal.
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Chapter: chapter 180:part -2"Victor called this morning. He wants to discuss restructuring Blackwood Capital under the new transparency standards.""He is serious.""He opened his books to the oversight board voluntarily." Vivien set the tablet down. "Whatever else Victor is, he is a man who recognizes when the current has changed direction. He is rebuilding. Legitimately.""Good.""Damien also called.""How is he.""Recovering. Slowly. He asked whether your security division has an opening for someone with, and I am quoting directly, thirty years of experience making terrible decisions for powerful people."Edward almost smiled. "Tell him yes.""I already did.""Arthur.""Announced his retirement from active family leadership this morning." Vivien's voice softened slightly. "He told the board he has spent enough years making decisions for other people. He wants to spend whatever time he has left making amends for the ones he got wrong.""Did anyone object.""No. The family understood." She paused. "I think they
Last Updated: 2026-10-03
Chapter: Chapter 180: The Final Move part-1The ceremony was not Edward's idea.Priya organized it. David approved the logistics. Vivien quietly ensured that every major media outlet received an invitation without Edward's knowledge.Three thousand people filled the Graystone auditorium on a Thursday morning. Employees from every Apex partner company. Business owners who had joined the network when it was nothing more than a promise and a handshake. Representatives from independent banks, legal firms, and oversight organizations that had been built from scratch over the past several months.Edward stood at the front and watched the room fill."You look uncomfortable," David said beside him."I am uncomfortable.""You dismantled a century old secret organization and faced down assassins and you are uncomfortable in front of your own employees.""Those were simpler situations."The announcement was brief."Beginning today, every full time employee within the Apex network becomes a shareholder," Edward said. "Ownership is earned t
Last Updated: 2026-10-03
Chapter: chapter 179: part-3"Your circumstances were never what interested me.""I know that now." His voice softened. "When you proposed to me, I thought it was politics. When you supported me publicly, I told myself it was strategy. When you followed me to Geneva, I pretended it was professional loyalty.""And now.""Now I understand that you have been standing beside me for months, not because of what I built or what I inherited or what the court said about me yesterday." Edward paused. "But because you saw something in me before any of those things existed."Vivien's composure shifted. Not cracked. Shifted. The way ice shifts on a lake when the water underneath it decides to move."I stopped caring about your status a long time ago," she said. Her voice was quiet and precise and carried none of the coldness she showed the rest of the world. "The day you walked into my grandfather's hospital room with a bag of materials and no credentials, I saw a man who would do the right thing even when nobody was watching
Last Updated: 2026-10-03
Chapter: chapter 179: part-2"Have you sent it to Priya's team.""I did. They said it was promising.""Then trust their assessment." Edward looked at her. "You do not need my personal approval, Grace. You need a good product and a solid plan. If Priya's team says it is promising, work on making it excellent.""Thank you." She smiled, quick and genuine, and walked away.Vivien was waiting for him on the terrace.She stood near the railing with a cup of tea that had gone cold in her hand, watching the gardens stretch out below them."Chen told me you refused the patriarch position," she said."You do not sound surprised.""I told him you would refuse before he walked into the library." She set the cup down. "I also told him he should ask anyway, because the answer would be more instructive than any governance report.""What did you expect me to say.""Exactly what you said." She turned to face him. "Though I am curious about the reason."Edward leaned against the railing beside her."I did not survive everything th
Last Updated: 2026-10-03
Chapter: Chapter 179: Beside Them part-1The Holden estate looked different in the morning light.Not the building itself. The stone walls were the same. The iron gate still swung open on hinges that had been oiled by George's steady hands. The gardens still stretched behind the house in rows that someone had planted decades ago with the patience of a person who believed beautiful things were worth maintaining even when nobody was watching.What had changed was the way it felt to walk through the front door.Edward stepped inside and the guard at the entrance straightened. Not the stiff, uncertain straightening of a man who did not know who Edward was. The natural adjustment of someone who recognized authority and respected it."Good morning, sir.""Good morning."He moved through the first floor corridor. Staff members he had passed dozens of times over the past months nodded or smiled or stepped aside with a ease that had not existed before the trial.He had once walked these halls carrying the invisible weight of suspicio
Last Updated: 2026-10-03
Chapter: chapter 178: part-3"How do you feel," Vivien asked."Clean.""That is all.""That is everything."They sat together while the courtroom emptied around them.David came to the row and crouched beside them. "Every outlet in the city is running the story. The Herald has already posted the full ruling. Three networks are requesting interviews.""Not today," Edward said."Edward, this is the moment you have been working toward. The public wants to hear from you.""The public has the court's ruling. That says more than anything I could add."David looked at Vivien."Give him the day," she said.David nodded and left.They walked out of the courthouse together. The steps outside were crowded with cameras and microphones and the faces of people who wanted something from the man who had just been publicly declared innocent.Edward did not stop.They reached the car and closed the doors and sat in the back seat while the driver pulled away from the crowd."For years," Edward said, "my identity was connected to pr
Last Updated: 2026-10-02
Chapter: Chapter 34 Part 3"Seven days ago, someone walked into Torres's office and handed him one hundred five star crystal cores. Not as payment for a fight. Not as a betting stake. As a bounty. A contract to locate you, track your movements, and deliver your exact position at the city center market today."The room went completely still. Riley stood up from her chair. Bianca's arms uncrossed. Hailey turned from the counter with flour on her fingers."Someone paid him to find me?" Kyle's voice came out steady but thin. "Who?""That's what I'm asking you." Vivian stepped closer, her wet hair dripping onto Kyle's clean shirt. "One hundred five star crystal cores is a fortune. Only someone with access to serious wealth could afford a contract like that. Torres's memory showed the payment arriving through an anonymous terminal transfer, but the transfer code matched a signature pattern used exclusively by registered husbands in the east side settlement.""You think I paid someone to kidnap myself?" Kyle stared at
Last Updated: 2026-10-03
Chapter: Chapter 34 Part 2Riley stared at both of them for three more seconds, then looked at Scarlett. Scarlett sipped her coffee and said nothing, which was her way of saying everything.The front door opened again. Vivian walked in soaking wet, rain dripping from her hair, her clothes dark with water, and her hands completely empty. No saplings. No bags. No shopping cart. She left a trail of wet footprints across the entrance and into the hallway.Riley shot up from her chair. "Vivian! I just mopped that floor!""Then mop it again." Vivian walked past her without slowing, water pooling in her bootprints on the clean tiles."You are going to mop it." Riley grabbed a mop from the corner and shoved it toward Vivian's chest. "You walked in here dripping like a drowned rat across a floor I spent twenty minutes cleaning. You clean it up. Now.""I have better things to do." Vivian pushed the mop aside with one hand."You have nothing to do!" Riley's voice went up an octave. "You came back empty handed! Where are t
Last Updated: 2026-10-03
Chapter: Chapter 34 Part 1Kyle stood in the bathroom with his hand on the lock, hesitating. Two days ago he would have bolted it shut without thinking, barricaded the door, and stuffed cotton in his ears. That man felt like a stranger now.He turned the lock halfway, then stopped. Left it unlocked. If something came for him tonight, a locked door would not save him. His pistol would. His wives would. A bolt on a bathroom door was a comfort for the man he used to be, and that man did not live here anymore.He stepped into the hot water and let it hit his shoulders, watching the day run off his skin in thin rivers of gray and pink. Blood. Dust. Concrete. The smell of Scarface's basement leaving his body one layer at a time.Something had shifted inside him during those twenty seconds holding the trigger. Not courage. Not bravery. Something colder, harder, like a bone that had broken and healed back thicker. The world outside this house ran on violence, and the men who survived it were the ones who pulled the tri
Last Updated: 2026-10-03
Chapter: Chapter 33 Part 4"She's not unguarded." The bald man shook his head slowly. "She's five star. She's dangerous. And she's angry. A woman like that is never unguarded, even when she's alone. Especially when she's alone."He closed the terminal and stood up, his massive frame filling the space behind the desk like a wall with arms."Vivian is lucky to still be breathing after what she cost me. Scarface wanted her dead, but dead serpents don't generate revenue." The bald man walked toward the door, his heavy boots striking the floor with measured, deliberate rhythm. "She's part of something larger now. A husband with a ten star weapon, a household pulling twelve star personal spaces, and five wives who burn through my men like paper in a fire. That's not a target. That's an investment.""So we leave her alone?" The thin man looked confused."For now." The bald man opened the door. "Let her buy her saplings. Let her plant her trees. Let her think she's free. Patience makes better traps than speed."He clim
Last Updated: 2026-10-03
Chapter: Chapter 33 Part 3"Leaving where?" Bianca turned with her blade still resting on her shoulder."Aisle fourteen." Vivian adjusted the cuffs of her jacket with precise, unhurried fingers. "Sixteen thousand tree saplings are not going to buy themselves. And unlike the rest of you, I have actual work to do that doesn't involve letting our husband get kidnapped in a grocery store.""He was ambushed by a black market broker," Riley snapped from the stairwell entrance. "It wasn't a grocery store mishap.""A black market broker." Vivian tilted her head, her thin smile carrying a cruelty so casual it felt like breathing. "In a public market. During daylight hours. While surrounded by five beastwomen who collectively possess enough power to level the building. And he still got taken." She looked at Kyle with those cold amber eyes. "You are a magnet for trouble, Kyle Cole. Fog corpses chase you. Brokers kidnap you. Rooftop monsters wear your healer's face. At some point, the common factor in all of your problems
Last Updated: 2026-10-03
Chapter: Chapter 33 Part 2Scarlett lifted him off the ground before his knees could buckle. She pulled him against her chest with one arm and carried him toward the door, his face pressed into her shoulder, the pistol dangling from his limp fingers.The corridor outside was a mess.Four men lay on the floor in various states of unconscious and dead, scattered across the narrow hallway like debris from an explosion. Bianca stood at the far end with her blade across her shoulder, dark blood streaking the edge, her breathing steady and her dark eyes flat with the professional calm of someone who had just finished a job. Hailey knelt beside one of the fallen men, checking his pulse with glowing fingers, her brown eyes tight with concentration. Riley stood guard at the corridor entrance, her white hair pushed back, her pale blue eyes locked on the stairwell."He's alive," Scarlett announced, carrying Kyle out of the room. "Bruised, drugged, and shaken. No major injuries."Riley turned. The moment her eyes landed on
Last Updated: 2026-10-03
