Rebirth: 100 Days Before Doomsday

"A Rank S. So there's finally someone who made it to there." Madam Elara said with a little smile playing on her lips.

But the very next moment, a chuckle sounded in the meeting room, turning everyone's attention to Senator Olivia.

"You find something funny?" Madam Elara asked, and while there was a smile playing on her red painted lips, there was no humor behind it.

Senator Olivia immediately pulled herself together, not because she was afraid, but because she was ready to answer. "Forgive me, Madam Elara, but I do find this matter funny."

"Oh! Do you think Ms. Blackwood can't be a Rank S?" General Kane asked. He was genuinely trying to make sense of what was going on with the Senator.

And Senator Olivia's response clearly left everyone surprised. "Of course, she can't be Rank S."

There were exchange of glances, no one was sure what to think of the Senator's words. But they didn't have to wonder for too long as the woman continued speaking.

"Let's analyze the entire situation. All five of our safe zones have at least five or more Rank A warriors, right? Now compare our Rank A warriors with the Rank A warriors from Starfall. I'm sure you all will see a clear difference in their strength and performance."

"But that can be because of the difference in their experiences," Madam Elara was quick to point it out, "We all know that Starfall warriors have trained under Ms. Blackwood and King Parker, as well as that man called Rune. Not only that, but they have experienced twice as many hunts as our warriors. The difference can be the resulted from that."

There were a few nods from the other members, but mostly were waiting to hear Senator Olivia's response which came almost immediately.

"That could have been the possibility, but... let's now focus on something else. Rank A warriors from Starfall and the two men standing right next to Ms. Blackwood. Do you think they all are at same Rank?"

"Impossible!"

President Grant was the first one to respond, and General Langley followed next. "There's no way Rune and King are the same ranks with the warriors. Just one look at the duo fighting and you will know that they are far too powerful, experienced, and strong than any other warrior in Starfall-"

"And what does that imply?" Senator Olivia pressed, turning the council meeting room silent as everyone quickly exchanged glances, realization hitting them all.

"Both of them are Rank S," Madam Elara said, her eyes wide with shock, "Doesn't this mean that Ms. Blackwood is possibly at a Rank higher than S. She's obviously stronger than both these men. Is that-"

The silent meeting room suddenly erupted in pure chaos as everyone started discussing the absurd possibility of a human achieving a Rank higher than S.

It had been nearly a year since some of the most capable and trained warriors of the Great Alliance made it to Rank A, but after that, almost each of them stopped making any advancements.

However, the deep study made it clear that this was a mere bottleneck instead of the actual end of ranking. Though might be really hard to achieve, there was still possibility for warriors to make it to Rank S if they trained in the right way, through right methods, and had the right body constitution.

Looking at the situation, achieving Rank S was already deemed next to impossible at the current moment, and yet, there were three people right in front of the council who were definitely Rank S, and then one of them could be a Rank higher than S.

"System 2108, what Rank is Grace Blackwood?" General Kane immediately called the AI system responsible for operating the headquarters of the Great Alliance. It was also the chief system operating all the other five systems operating the five safe zones.

[Scanning...]

All eyes got fixed on the smaller digital screen that appeared right above the screen live broadcasting the hunt mission.

They held their breaths, waiting for 2108 to finally confirm whether their guess was a reality or not. But then-

[Sorry. The data is confidential]

"Why-"

"Of course. She's the one who created these systems, or her AI system did. There's no way we will get her information just because we asked for it." President Grant said before dismissing the second screen and returning his attention back to the live broadcast.

"Doesn't this confirm that she's at a Rank higher than S?" Madam Elara questioned, and the silence that followed next answered her.

"When it comes to her, nothing is impossible anymore."

* * *

Back to Wastelands ~

Grace's eyes narrowed as she scanned the terrain beyond the cliff's edge. The borderlands of Country C were an endless expanse of scorched earth, twisted rock formations, and ruins swallowed by creeping black vines - the kind that grew only where Shadow Rain's corruption had taken root the deepest.

Dust devils were spinning around aimlessly in the distance, and the sky above looked like a permanent twilight, no matter the time of day.

"It's worse than we expected," Rune said quietly as he stepped up beside her after returning from his perimeter scanning. He narrowed his gaze toward the stretch of shadows curling at the foot of the cliff. "And we expected hell."

A warrior from Country A exhaled heavily behind them, shaking his head. "Two Class 9s and one Class 10? We'll be lucky if half of us make it back."

"Don't say that," Maven cut in sharply. "We didn't come here to die. We came here to win. We will win."

Grace nodded at Maven in approval. Even if their victory wasn't confirmed, the last thing she wanted to see was for the warriors to feel demotivated even before the battle began.

She was prepared for this battle, her team was prepared, at least as prepared as they ever could be. But even with all this, she knew the odds weren't in their favor.

2025's voice crackled in the air once again. "Master, I'm detecting movement. The outer perimeter of the infected has shifted. The horde is starting to spread."

That meant one thing... the enemy knew they were here.