SSS Cultivation: I Can Conquer Earth's Rank System
Chapter 69: Awakened?

Chapter 69: Awakened?

Leo was mid-air.

For a long, weightless second, it felt like the world below him had paused. The ceiling stretched far above, and the stone floor dropped away like a trapdoor had opened beneath him. His body twisted awkwardly in the air, arms flailing, blood trailing like ribbons from his shoulder. He wasn’t screaming. He wasn’t breathing. He was just falling.

Then...

Bang!

A deep, echoing sound pulsed through his skull, not from the outside, but from within. Something sharp tingled in his head, like a static charge building behind his eyes. His whole body clenched, expecting something, anything to happen. This had to be it, right? His quirk... was it waking up?

Another faint sound followed—the distant blur of voices. Were they calling his name? Screaming? He couldn’t tell. His eyes stayed shut. His body was still tumbling. He felt the air press against him like thick liquid. Then something shifted.

He sensed it.

The lizard. It was below, waiting. Waiting to slam him into the wall the moment gravity returned him to its range. It had already launched its attack, claws out, tail coiled for momentum. It had timed the strike perfectly, expecting him to be at the exact spot by now.

But Leo wasn’t.

The fall slowed.

Leo’s stomach lurched as the momentum bled away from his body like someone had snatched him from midair with invisible strings. One second he was plummeting, the next he was... floating?

The lizard’s claw swept beneath him with a rush of wind—whoosh—followed by a loud crack as it collided with stone, missing him by mere inches. The sound of its failed strike thundered through the hall like a cannon blast.

Then another bang erupted nearby.

Leo opened one eye just slightly, expecting to see the face of death or the searing light of a new awakening. But what he saw instead was fire.

Flames. Everywhere. An entire wall was lit up like a furnace had exploded inside it.

"Heavenly bodies, Jade..." he muttered under his breath, barely able to move his lips. "Who the hell ordered you to do that?"

Through the haze of smoke and glowing embers, he caught sight of a figure below, his body swaying in the air like a marionette held by invisible threads.

That’s when he realized.

He hadn’t stopped falling on his own. He hadn’t awakened anything.

Rosa. It was all Rosa.

Her hands were raised, brows furrowed, teeth clenched. Her eyes were glowing a faint violet, the signature look she had when using her telekinetic quirk. She was holding him in place, gently but firmly, guiding his descent like a child letting go of a balloon without fully releasing it.

And Jade?

Jade was down there, already moving. His arm was cocked back, fire swirling around his fists like miniature suns. He was stomping toward the lizard, launching another violent arc of flame that exploded on impact, sending the beast staggering backward.

Jade’s whole expression was twisted in irritation. He looked like someone who’d been woken up in the middle of a good dream and was now taking it out on whatever unfortunate soul was in his way. Though it was obvious to Leo even from the distance, that Jade was going easy on the lizard. He didn’t think Amanda would survive it if Jade went all out. But who would die? Amanda? The lizard? Both?

Leo felt his stomach burn—not from the wounds, not from the fall, but from fury. A quiet, bitter rage curled inside him like smoke. He clenched his jaw, his body trembling as Rosa slowly lowered him to the ground.

It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. They should have left him to his fate here.

The moment... the moment he had waited for, it was right there. Right there. And they stole it from him.

Amanda had already transformed back. Her lizard form was gone, replaced by her human shape, lying dazed against a charred section of the hall. Her clothes were tattered from the transformation or probably from the flames, her silver hair frizzed from the heat. She looked completely spent.

The flames flickered in the corners, already beginning to die down. Rosa, still focused, gently guided Leo’s landing until his feet touched the ground and his knees buckled. The second he was stable, she rushed forward.

"Leo!" she called, her voice breaking with worry as she crouched beside him. "Are you okay? Say something!"

He didn’t answer.

He couldn’t.

Not because of pain. Not because he was too injured to speak. But because he was trying desperately not to scream in frustration.

His hands curled into fists at his sides, his fingernails digging into his palms.

Jade remained behind, standing tall and silent. His eyes scanned the room, making sure Amanda was no longer a threat. His face was locked in a glare, but that wasn’t new. Jade always looked like he was angry at the world, but right now, he looked especially annoyed. His shoulders were tense. His jaw, tight. He didn’t come rushing to Leo’s side. He never did.

Leo bit the inside of his cheek, breathing hard.

Why did they save him?

He was so close. So close to unlocking it. He could feel it in his spine, in his breath, in that damn sound that had rung in his head. That was it. That was the moment. And now... it was gone.

Maybe if they had waited just a second longer—just one second more—he would have seen something. Unleashed something. Something stronger than anything Jade could torch up.

"Why?" he muttered to himself, barely audible.

Rosa placed her hand on his shoulder. He flinched.

"Hey. Hey, look at me. You’re okay now. It’s alright. You’re safe—"

"I didn’t ask to be safe!" Leo snapped.

Rosa blinked.

He turned his face away quickly, trying to reel it in. That wasn’t fair. She had saved his life. So had Jade, in his own explosive way. But fairness didn’t stop the anger from boiling.

"You would’ve died!" Rosa shouted back, her voice shaking.

"Maybe I needed to," Leo said under his breath.

"What?"

Before Rosa could press further, Amanda stumbled toward them, wobbling on her legs, her hands raised in a feeble apology.

"I—I’m so sorry," she said, her voice raspy. Her usual confidence was gone. "I didn’t mean for it to get that bad. I lost control—I thought I had it, but..."

Her eyes were glassy. Her lip quivered.

Leo stood up slowly, pushing past Rosa’s hand.

Amanda stopped walking. "Leo, please. I didn’t—"

"It’s fine," he said, flatly. Too flatly.

"No, it’s not. I could’ve seriously hurt you—"

"You did."

Amanda’s eyes dropped. She took a shaky breath, as if expecting another scolding. But Leo didn’t give her one. He didn’t have the energy for it. What he wanted to do was scream—not at Amanda, not at Rosa or Jade, but at the sky. At whatever cosmic force had denied him the one thing he needed.

It had felt so close. That ding. That pressure in his head. He knew it had to mean something.

But now?

Now all he had were bruises, a torn shoulder, and a missed opportunity.

"Training’s over," Jade said coldly, his voice echoing across the hall. "Beast’s out. Kid’s down. Everyone out."

"Funny time for rhymes," thought Leo.

No one argued with Jade. The fire had faded, but the heat in the room still lingered. Rosa helped Leo walk—he let her, barely—and Amanda trailed behind in silence, her arms crossed tightly over her chest.

As they passed Jade, Leo caught a glimpse of him, arms folded, eyes watching like a hawk.

He didn’t say anything. Just nodded once.

Leo didn’t nod back.

Leo had never felt more betrayed by silence. It wasn’t the quiet of peace—it was the kind that screamed in his ears, reminding him of everything that didn’t happen. Of the power that never came. Of the moment that slipped through his fingers like sand in a storm. Even now, standing with the heat of the flames still brushing his skin and the buzz of adrenaline not yet gone, he couldn’t shake the weight in his chest.

He had been ready to die. Not because he wanted to, but because something deep inside him had finally snapped into place. That acceptance, that surrender... it was supposed to lead somewhere. To a breakthrough. To proof that he wasn’t just faking it.

And now? Would he now be seen as a suicidal boy for wanting to die?

Now he was just the guy who got saved.

By the very people he’d tried to keep his distance from. By the siblings who could wield flames and lift bodies like toys. By classmates who didn’t even understand how much they’d just taken from him, even while trying to give him life.

Leo clenched his fists behind his back, out of sight.

He couldn’t show weakness now. Couldn’t let them see how much it ate at him. Not here, not yet.