SSS Awakening: Rebirth of the Strongest Vampire God Chapter 725 The Golden Throne has summoned you

"My liege, rise immediately!" Blood Reign's voice echoed urgently in his mind. The usual composure had vanished, replaced by sheer terror and alarm. "My liege! Rise at once, or eternal doom awaits us!"

Damon's eyes flew open in an instant. Driven by sheer reflex, he hurled himself aside just as the fabric of space ripped open right where he'd stood moments before. A massive, jagged tear in reality gaped wide across the ground, its borders flickering with warped illumination, devouring all nearby matter in eerie silence.

A mere half-second delay would have obliterated him or hurled him into some unknown realm.

Damon tumbled over the rough terrain and struggled to rise onto one knee, breaths ragged. His heart hammered wildly, threatening to explode from his ribcage. Icy sweat soaked through his clothes.

"What in the world… was that? Hold on. Where exactly are we?"

Damon scanned his surroundings. The trial had evidently concluded, yet he hadn't returned to the game realm. What was going on? A blinking message caught his peripheral vision, prompting him to check the system prompt right away.

[Ding! The Golden Throne has summoned you. Traverse the madness, or face erasure from the path of glory. Ascension must be seized, not granted.]

Though sparse on details, the alert spurred Blood Reign to cry out hastily. "My liege, we've entered another realm entirely. An extraordinarily peculiar one. Mana eludes my senses completely here. If my guess holds, this must be among the ancient worlds, those from before the system's era."

Damon gulped and surveyed the area more carefully this time.

Beneath his boots lay fractured black rock, irregular and vast, extending boundlessly in all directions. Overhead, the heavens glowed with a golden hue—or more precisely, the sun's fierce radiance bathed the entire sky in molten gold.

Damon glanced toward the sun but swiftly averted his gaze from the searing orb. Even a brief look threatened to incinerate his very being.

"What kind of place is this… why send us here…" Damon pondered the system event's purpose in depositing him here, then sensed a nearby presence. Should it belong to someone from the hidden families, they likely possessed far greater knowledge than he did.

Damon rushed ahead to intercept them before they could slip away, only to halt abruptly. The figures ahead were nothing like what he'd anticipated. Strictly speaking, they weren't even human.

Damon stared in disbelief at the trio of treant-like beings approaching. The instant he spotted them, they detected him too. All three pivoted toward him. Damon braced for combat, but one lifted a limb resembling a branch in a gesture of peace.

"We intend no hostility. Like you, the throne has chosen us as well."

Their words flowed in an alien tongue Damon had never encountered, yet he comprehended them perfectly. The system's translation ability evidently extended beyond the game world. This allowed him to grasp the treants' speech as naturally as his native language.

"Do you know anything about this world or the reason for our summoning?" Damon inquired of the trio.

They exchanged glances before shaking their heads mutely.

Damon gave a nod. He couldn't fault them for it. He'd anticipated little else. "If it's no trouble, could you share which world you hail from?" He'd heard tales of these foreign realms and the sprawling multiverse beyond Earth, but this marked his first encounter with outsiders.

The treant that had spoken first stirred. Its bark-covered visage split faintly as luminous green veins throbbed underneath, resembling radiant sap. "We hail from Gosleria, the verdant jewel of the Xadvis Empire," it intoned deliberately. "A realm of roots and cycles. Of growth… and decay."

"Xadvis Empire, huh." Damon nodded knowingly, though truthfully, the name meant nothing to him. Was it renowned? Should he recognize its position? How did anyone even map worlds or planets anyway? What system classified their positions?

Questions flooded Damon's mind, but he realized this wasn't the moment for them. He couldn't reveal his ignorance to these unknowns, no matter their apparent friendliness. Appearances could deceive profoundly.

He considered another question for the treants when a fresh spatial fissure tore open directly before them.

Damon leaped back several steps to evade the chaos, but astonishingly, the treants held their ground. They summoned shimmering green shields and boldly plunged into the rift.

"Farewell, bloodsucker. We wish you fortune upon the path of Ascension."

Their voices lingered as they vanished fully into the rift. The protective green fields blazed briefly before the distortion consumed them. The rift sealed shut like a healing scar, leaving only the fissured black stone behind.

Damon lingered a moment, gazing at the vacant spot. "Hmm… those spatial rifts aren't merely rifts, then?"

The treants had entered without fear, yet their connection to the event remained ambiguous. Did they serve as portals or gateways? Or did the treants possess a unique motive for entering?

Damon mulled it over briefly, but lacked sufficient clues to unravel the mystery. Shaking it off, he dashed across the infinite dark plains. Time to locate more trial participants and discover their plans.

Fortune favored him soon enough. Minutes later, he encountered another band—beast kin clad in leather armor, their hides covered in yellow fur striped with deeper markings, faces merging human and feral traits. Slit eyes shone under thick brows, pointed ears flicking as if attuned to distant whispers beyond Damon's perception.

Four in total. They stiffened upon spotting him. Claws partially extended from gloves. Sinews coiled tight. A deep rumble emanated from one, resonating through the broken rock underfoot.

Damon eased to a halt, lifting his hands with palms out. Unlike the treants, however, these beast kin craved no truce. All four surged at him instantly, enveloped in blazing crimson auras.

Damon sensed their power surging dramatically. Impressively so. With enhancements, their strength nearly matched his own. Yet… numbers were merely figures.

As the lead beastman closed in, claws slashing wildly, Damon realized the anomaly. Despite the potent red aura cloaking him, his movements felt leaden and delayed.