Isaac only let go of Celia after she promised she would complete her Class Advancement within three days.
Only after that did he enter the battlefield.
With the current pace of the fight, Isaac’s involvement wasn’t necessary. Emily had already turned the tide. The city walls were stable, the monster waves were thinning, and the awakened fighters were gaining confidence with every passing minute.
Still, Isaac stepped in.
The ground trembled.
Roots burst out from beneath the soil around the walls, thick as pillars and covered in jagged bark. They shot forward like living spears, wrapping around charging monsters before they could react. The roots tightened instantly.
Bones cracked.
Several monsters were crushed mid-stride. Some had their torsos compressed until their insides burst outward. Others had their heads crushed clean off as the roots constricted harder and harder. A few monsters tried to escape, but the roots dragged them back, pulling them into the earth like prey being swallowed alive.
Isaac’s Transcendent rank Mana Manipulation allowed him to expand his Sovereign of Land skill to a very large range with efficient mana cost.
More roots erupted behind the first wave, grabbing stragglers. The roots twisted violently, and bodies exploded in bursts of blood and fragments.
The battlefield quieted in sections wherever Isaac’s power spread.
Watching from inside the city, people fell silent.
This was power.
Today was the first time the entire human city was witnessing a live battle of what true high-level strength looked like. This wasn’t a talented awakener struggling against monsters. This wasn’t a coordinated squad barely holding the line. This was overwhelming force. One person altering the battlefield itself.
Until recently, former Governor Marcus had deliberately hidden information about higher levels of power. He believed that if ordinary citizens understood the gap, panic and instability would follow. He wanted controlled growth, limited knowledge, and gradual exposure.
Isaac was doing the opposite.
He was showing everything.
He wasn’t hiding how strong an awakener could become. He wasn’t pretending the path was unreachable. He was demonstrating it openly, letting everyone see what was possible. If fear existed, he wanted it to turn into motivation instead of helplessness.
He wanted people to chase strength.
But that wasn’t his only goal.
Isaac subtly glanced toward Celia.
She was hovering slightly above the wall, recording everything while live streaming the battle. The broadcast angle followed Isaac perfectly, capturing the roots, the explosions, and the scale of destruction.
Celia noticed his gaze immediately.
She understood what he was asking without him saying a word.
He wanted to know how it was going.
Not the battle.
The image.
Isaac wanted to build his reputation as both a combatant and a farmer. He needed recognition aligned with those identities. Only then could he form Domains related to War and Farming. The public perception of him had been leaning in the wrong direction until now, and if he did not stop that, he could end up with completely different Domains.
Domains of Lust.
Domains of NTR.
That was exactly what he was trying to avoid.
So he was showing off. Not excessively, but deliberately. Every move was calculated to reinforce the image of a powerful leader protecting humanity.
Celia shifted her attention to the livestream chat.
The comments were scrolling so fast they were almost unreadable.
She slowed them down slightly and began reading.
[IronWall_88]: holy shit, he is so strong
[FaithfulFarmer]: we should call him Lord Isaac
[ToxicSlimeLOL]: wow look at this idiot. "Lord Isaac" lol. is he your saviour or what?
[FaithfulFarmer]: yes he is. he gave my family jobs and food crops at low rates
[GutterKing]: just say you are poor gng
[SaltedPenguin]: fuck I hate that bastard. he is showing off
[LaughingGhoul]: lol another crybaby
[ConspiracyMage]: am I wrong though? he only came out after lady emily showed overwhelming strength. he just didn’t want to be outshown. what a bastard
[ShadowSpectator]: yeah he is a bastard
[PeanutObserver]: lol the haters are here
Celia sighed. That was expected. Popularity always came with backlash.
But the next wave of comments took a different turn.
[TruthSeeker777]: haters? you are stupid if you can’t see how dangerous he is. goddess celia and lady emily are his girlfriends. does it make sense that powerful and proud women like them would share their partner?
[Watcher_09]: yeah celia was single until now. suddenly she has a boyfriend? suspicious
[GoldMarketEye]: saintess alice too. isn’t she rumored heir of calloway conglomerate? why would she share her partner?
[FanboyCrusher]: wow you guys are stupid. he’s rich handsome and strong. of course he has multiple partners
[BlackRumor]: i bet he has dirt on them. he’s forcing them
[CuriousGoblin]: wait i heard he has another girlfriend. look at this [pic]
An image popped up.
Celia blinked.
It was Professor Catherine.
[FlamingCrow]: holy fuck who is that smoking hot babe.
[DropoutMage]: she was a professor in my academy. she was good, but strict at the same time, even with isaac.
[AngryScholar]: what the fuck. he didn’t even leave his professor
[ExposeEverything]: lord isaac my foot. he’s clearly chasing beautiful women. He is just a lustful bastard with good PR.
[SaltRain]: +1
[FireSpam]: +1
[BitterToast]: +1
[EchoEcho]: +1
[MobMind]: +1
[MobMind2]: +1
The chat exploded.
Celia immediately started banning users who made rude comments about Catherine, herself, Alice, or Emily. But insults directed at Isaac were overwhelming. There were too many. She banned one, and three more appeared.
Ruby, the city’s AI, automatically filtered extreme profanity and deleted the worst messages. Even then, the chat remained chaotic.
People were already jealous because of Isaac’s relationship with Celia. Emily’s overwhelming battle had made things worse. Instead of praising Isaac, many viewers now claimed he was clinging to powerful women, manipulating them, or forcing them to stay with him.
Celia glanced at Isaac again.
He was still fighting, but his eyes occasionally flicked toward her with quiet expectation. He clearly believed people were praising his combat strength.
Then she looked back at the chat.
The comments had somehow become even more aggressive, calling him shameless, lustful, and manipulative.
Celia pressed her lips together.
Her shoulders trembled.
She almost burst into laughter.
He was definitely getting a Lust Domain.
Maybe even NTR.
Isaac noticed her expression and frowned slightly. He didn’t understand why she was smiling like that, but he didn’t dwell on it. Instead, he focused back on the battlefield.
Once the monster numbers dropped enough, he withdrew.
He deliberately stepped back and allowed the younger awakeners to take over. They needed real combat experience, and now the pressure was manageable. Isaac watched from above, observing how they fought.
At the same time, he evaluated his own forces.
His summons moved across the battlefield, engaging monsters with different abilities. Some were individually powerful but fought independently. Others, especially the soldier-type summons, moved in tight formations.
Isaac narrowed his eyes.
As expected, the stronger summons lacked coordination. Their abilities were diverse, and they were dangerous individually, but they didn’t function as a cohesive unit.
The soldier summons were the opposite.
Individually, they weren’t particularly strong. But their coordination was precise. They covered each other, rotated positions, and exploited openings. In large-scale battles, their combined strength surpassed many stronger individual summons.