Chapter 582: Darius Bloodworth

The boy’s whisper emerged rough and confused.

“Chosen ones? What are those?”

The Sage turned fully toward him, his masked face tracking across the small frame shaking with cold and grief.

“The strongest and most powerful geniuses of each race are bestowed with a title from the universe called the Chosen One.”

His voice took on an almost lecturing quality.

“The elves have their prodigies blessed by the World Tree, nurtured in sacred groves where ancient aura still flows pure and untainted.”

One hand rose, fingers spreading to count off points.

“The demons have their princes bathed in ancient blood, transformed by rituals passed down since before our kind was even born.”

Another finger.

“The dragons have their hatchlings born with power already burning in their veins, inheriting strength that takes others lifetimes to achieve.”

His hand lowered, settling against his side.

“Every race across the universe has these chosen ones, geniuses selected by fate itself to stand above all others of their kind.”

The boy’s voice cut through the explanation, sharp and demanding.

“What about humanity?”

The question hung in the rain-soaked air between them.

The Sage’s entire posture shifted, his shoulders lowering fractionally, his masked face turning away toward the storm.

His whisper emerged as barely audible, rough with emotion he rarely showed.

“Humanity…”

A pause, heavy with implication.

“Has no one.”

Silence fell between them, absolute and terrible, stretching until it became unbearable.

Then the boy’s whisper emerged, small and broken.

“Godfather… I don’t want to attend more funerals.”

His hands found the railing again, gripping with renewed desperation.

“I don’t want to lose more of my family. I can’t… I can’t keep watching them die.”

The Sage’s masked face turned back toward him, something approaching pain bleeding through his controlled posture.

“I’m sorry, little Darius.”

His voice came out rougher than before, carrying weight that went beyond simple apology.

“If only my own powers were greater, I could’ve seen this coming, could’ve prevented–”

“So if humanity really has no one…”

The boy’s interruption crashed through the Sage’s words like lightning splitting stone.

His head lifted, rain running down his face, his crimson eyes blazing with intensity.

“Then I will become… the only one.”

BOOM

Thunder exploded directly overhead, shaking the entire estate.

The boy’s small frame straightened, his hands releasing the railing.

Rain hammered harder, wind pulling at his crimson hair.

His voice rose above the storm, young but carrying power that made the Sage take an involuntary step backward.

“I will become so strong that no seer’s game can touch my family!”

CRACK

Lightning struck the mountains beyond, the impact visible across kilometers.

“So powerful that every race across the universe will learn to fear humanity’s name!”

His hands clenched into fists, an intent beginning to bleed from his small frame in wisps that defied the rain.

“So unstoppable that chosen ones from every world will know there is someone they can never surpass!”

BOOM BOOM BOOM

Thunder rolled continuously now, the storm responding to the declaration as if nature itself bore witness.

The boy’s crimson eyes blazed brighter, his voice becoming something beyond his years, carrying weight that pressed down on reality itself.

“I will stand where no human has ever stood before!”

Rain evaporated around him, steam rising from his body.

“And when I reach that peak, when I look down at the universe spread beneath my feet…”

His fists rose, small hands trembling with conviction rather than cold.

“Every race will understand that humanity is not weak!”

CRACK CRACK CRACK

Lightning painted the sky in branching patterns, each strike closer than the last.

“That we are not prey to be hunted by their chosen ones!”

His voice reached a crescendo, young but carrying certainty that made the Sage’s breath catch.

“That there is ONE human who will never bow, never break, never fall!”

The storm reached its peak, wind and rain and lightning combining into something approaching apocalyptic.

And through it all, a nine-year-old boy stood with his fists raised toward the heavens, declaring war against fate itself.

****

Damian’s heart slammed against his ribs, each beat sending shockwaves through his chest.

Thump thump thump

His breathing had become audible, his hands trembling fractionally around the cigar.

He turned toward where Darius stood beside him, finding his father’s profile painted in sunset’s dying light.

His voice came out rough, carrying question he already knew the answer to.

“What happened afterwards?”

A pause, his next words emerging quieter.

“Did the child become a chosen one?”

Darius’s lips curved into something between a smile and a smirk, his crimson eyes tracking the horizon.

He took a long draw from his cigar, savoring it before exhaling slowly.

Then his head shook once, the movement small but absolute.

“No.”

The single word landed with finality.

“Huh?”

The sound escaped Damian before his mind caught up, confusion bleeding through the syllable.

“Why not?”

His head tilted slightly, processing the impossibility of what he’d just heard.

He already knew that his father was one of the greatest geniuses this entire universe had ever produced.

So how could he have not been a chosen one?

‘This doesn’t make sense at all.’

Darius turned toward him fully, his casual posture transforming into something that carried weight.

His voice emerged quiet but absolute.

“Because…”

He paused, letting the tension build.

“On the day his mind reached full potential and he passed the tribulation test…”

Another pause, heavier than the first.

“Under the scrutiny of every seer across the universe, under the watch of beings who had seen civilizations rise and fall…”

His crimson eyes blazed brighter, catching the sunset’s light.

“Just when the universe was about to declare him a chosen one of this era…”

Silence fell for one heartbeat.

“The boy rejected it.”

Damian’s breathing stopped completely, his entire body going rigid.

‘He… rejected the universe itself?’

The thought crashed through his mind like thunder.

Darius’s entire presence changed, power beginning to radiate from his frame in waves that made the air itself feel heavy.

His posture straightened, his hands moving behind his back with movements that spoke of absolute confidence.

The casual warmth vanished completely, replaced by something that approached divine arrogance.

His voice emerged carrying force that made reality feel thin, echoing across the terrace despite not being raised.

“‘A’ chosen one of this era?”

The question came out laden with contempt so absolute it felt physical.

His crimson eyes blazed brighter, reflecting the dying sun until they seemed to burn with their own light.

“You give this title to many across the universe.”

He paused, letting that statement settle with crushing weight.

“Distribute it like charity to geniuses who think themselves special, bestow it upon prodigies who believe their blessing makes them worthy…”

His presence expanded further, pressure building until weaker beings would have collapsed under its weight.

“But none of them have ever stood where I’m standing.”

Another pause, absolute and terrible.

“And none of them ever will!”

BOOM

Thunder crashed across the sky out of nowhere, responding to the conviction in his words.

Darius’s voice became harder, carrying conviction that made the universe itself seem to pause and listen.

“In this entire universe, under all heavens, across every world that has ever existed or ever will exist…”

His presence blazed brighter, becoming something that transcended simple power.

“There is only one man who will stand at the peak.”

Silence fell for three heartbeats, the world holding its breath.

Then his declaration tore across existence itself, carrying certainty that shook mountains.

“Darius Bloodworth!”

BOOM BOOM BOOM

Lightning painted the sky in branching patterns, reality itself responding to the declaration.

His crimson eyes found the setting sun, blazing with absolute certainty.

“And this era shall not be named for chosen ones who were handed their power!”

His voice gained something approaching prophecy, speaking truth that reality itself couldn’t deny.

“It shall not be remembered for seers and their games, for races and their pride, for ancient bloodlines and borrowed strength!”

Power built around him like a storm preparing to break, pressure becoming almost unbearable.

“This era shall be known across all of history, carved into the foundation of existence itself, remembered until the universe dies and beyond…”

He paused, letting the moment stretch impossibly long.

“As the Bloodworth Era!”

The final words crashed across reality like waves breaking against stone, unstoppable and absolute and carrying weight that would echo through eternity.

And on that terrace, watching his father stand with a presence that made legends seem small…

Watching the man who’d rejected the universe’s title because it wasn’t enough.

Damian understood finally and completely why the entire universe had trembled when Darius Bloodworth walked among them.