BUILDING MY OWN EMPIRE - My Journey from Nothing to Overwhelming Power-Chapter 65 – The Invasion

The sounds of birds hinted at the beginning of a new morning.

My steps cut through the forest floor, and it almost felt as though the wind itself was the one moving.

I narrowed my eyes in focus. My heartbeat quickened.

My gaze lifted upward.

Black sparks began tearing through the sky, ripping open some kind of gate.

"How did this happen?" I shouted, unable to grasp the situation.

Just minutes ago, I had been sleeping peacefully, recovering my accumulation inside the training dimension.

The Deception Beast woke me.

"The space is under invasion."

He spoke quickly. No explanation—only that powerful auras were approaching.

Before I could properly look at the others, the system sent the invasion alert. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

{ The space is under attack }

{ The barrier wall is being breached from six directions }

Then the breach locations appeared.

Six red markers lit up suddenly on the system screen.

They were equal in size—except one.

One was larger than the rest.

And I was heading toward it alone.

The others moved toward the remaining markers.

Three years inside the training dimension.

I hadn’t seen any of my leaders for that entire time.

We were supposed to finish the hundred stages and leave together.

But—

I stopped.

Dozens of meters above me, a black thread split the sky.

My eyes shifted to other locations.

From those points, more black threads emerged and began expanding.

All the other breaches were above areas that had not yet been opened.

The strange part of this invasion began at that moment.

When the system notification appeared:

{ All spaces have been temporarily opened }

I thought I had begun to understand how things were unfolding.

But this situation felt far too strange.

The sparks finally stopped.

A powerful aura began to leak through.

Even from hundreds of meters away, I could feel it clearly.

Three shadows emerged one after another from the black tear suspended in the sky.

One stepped forward. Two followed behind him, like guards, dressed entirely in golden robes.

My eyes took in the three visitors.

"Three Lords?"

I whispered uneasily.

They remained in the air without moving.

Their eyes scanned downward... to the sides... everywhere.

They saw me from the very first moment—yet continued surveying the other areas.

The Lord standing at the front wore white robes, his hands clasped behind his back. His blond hair reached the middle of his back.

In the other locations, more shadows began emerging from the gates.

"More Lords?! Damn it..." I muttered in anger.

When they had all appeared, the blond Lord looked at me.

"Greetings."

His voice was extremely loud—everyone heard it.

Yet it didn’t hurt the ears at all.

"Where is your Lord?"

His voice felt very close.

I steadied myself. Calmed my breathing.

I began to feel it—the power of the Lord before me.

He had concealed his system interface, but not his rank.

He let his aura leak freely, like a declaration of absolute dominance.

"A Fourth-Rank Lord..." I narrowed my eyes as sparks of unease crept inside me.

I looked at the others. Two Second-Rank Lords.

"Are they a faction... some kind of organization?" I wondered silently.

The energy leaking from the blond Lord was the highest in the entire space.

Which meant—

All the other Lords were lower rank than him.

I doubted a Third Rank was present. And if there was, he would surely stand beside the Fourth.

"I am the Lord here," I said calmly.

My voice shouldn’t have carried ten meters.

But I was certain my enemies could hear it.

"No. You are not the Lord here."

The Fourth Rank’s response was firm. He frowned.

"Where is your cowardly master, hiding while leaving his followers in front?"

Suddenly—

I began to hear the tremors from the other areas.

The battle had already started there.

Here, it was only a matter of time.

A Fourth Rank... could I defeat him?

I wasn’t foolish. I knew the gap between ranks was enormous.

If the gap between First and Second was double...

Then between Second and Third it was twice that again.

The Fourth would exist on an entirely different level from the Third.

Could I, as a Third Rank, defeat a Fourth?

It was a difficult question.

And facing another Lord—someone like me—made it even harder.

Everything I had experienced... he may have experienced as well.

Everything I had obtained... he might possess something greater.

But none of that mattered compared to something more urgent.

Three years.

Three years inside the training dimension.

Time there did not flow like it did outside.

But it was enough to turn combat into habit.

I killed many.

Monsters of countless forms—

claws, fangs, horns, shadows, tongues of flame, faceless bodies.

They all attacked.

They all sought to tear me apart.

There was no hesitation. No question.

Either me... or them.

I never looked into a monster’s eyes and wondered if it had a family.

I never heard a plea for mercy.

I never felt the weight of a decision.

Monsters do not speak.

They do not negotiate.

They do not look at you the way one human looks at another.

Killing was necessity.

Part of training.

A means of survival.

But now—

The one standing before me was not a creature driven by instinct.

He understands.

He thinks.

He chooses.

And he chose to kill.

A tightness gripped my chest.

And I—

Do I understand what it means to kill someone like me?

The pressure deepened.

If I attack him... it won’t merely be defense.

It will be a conscious decision to take a life that mirrors my own.

Will I hesitate?

And if I do... how many in the village will die?

I inhaled slowly.

I hadn’t made a decision yet.

The battle hadn’t begun.

But the question had.

"Can I kill a human like myself?"

Suddenly my heart clenched, as if squeezed by an invisible hand.

The mere thought made nausea rise in my throat.

"Can I kill a human like myself?" I whispered again, unsettled.

"Mm... what do you want?" I asked. The confusion was clear on my face.

He didn’t answer.

In the other five directions, five towering blue pillars suddenly shot upward, splitting the sky.

The blond Lord raised his right hand. A glowing blue cube rose from between his fingers.

It ascended and transformed into a pillar of blue light.

Suddenly—

Threads of blue light began extending from the pillars, weaving an enormous network.

It expanded gradually until it connected and surrounded the entire space like a vast cloud.

Then—

The blond Lord turned his head slightly. He did not lower his voice.

"Kill all the villagers."

He turned to the other side.

"And kill him as well."

Before I could process it, the Second-Rank subordinate charged toward me. His speed was immense.

My eyes shifted to the other subordinate.

He was already heading toward the village—over a thousand meters away.

...

Flocks of white geese began releasing shrill, mixed cries.

"How annoying..."

The Lord wore golden attire, with short black hair and a towering height exceeding two meters.

Minutes earlier, he had descended into a space formed of several shallow swamps.

Small green shrubs covered much of the wet ground.

Within the area, numerous beautiful white geese rested.

Amid a cluster of geese lying over their nests, the Second-Rank Lord raised his hand and waved.

A shockwave burst from within his sleeve.

BOOOOOOM.

Twenty meters ahead—

The area was erased.

Water, grass, nests, and geese—

All vanished.

"Much better," he whispered, a smile spreading across his lips.

He took out a blue cube and launched it upward.

It transformed into a pillar of light, threads weaving outward into a luminous net.

The Second-Rank Lord stood in the swamp, glancing right and left.

No one.

Everything seemed normal.

"It seems he hasn’t explored this region yet," he muttered. "I’ll amuse myself with these geese."

He leapt toward another swamp with even more nests.

"Do you enjoy hunting geese?" a voice whispered near him.

He barely had time to turn—

Before he fell.

BOOOOOOM.

A massive right hook sent him flying fifty meters across the swamp’s driest stretch.

The attacker wore tight black leather.

Her short black hair glinted beneath the morning sun, amid the panicked cries of geese.

The Second-Rank Lord rose to his feet.

Had his opponent not turned—revealing feminine features and a pronounced chest beneath the fitted attire—

He would have thought that blow came from a fighter the size of an elephant.

"Do you think invading another’s land is a picnic?" the girl whispered, a wild, beautiful smile curving her lips.

The Lord narrowed his eyes. Yellow light surrounded them as he focused on her.

"If we didn’t know the Lord here is a man, I would’ve thought you were him."

He raised his palm.

"By the way... impressive concealment of your energy."

"Thank you." Her lips parted slightly.

"Since battle is inevitable, as you know... let’s introduce ourselves first. Courtesy."

"Should I introduce myself to someone weaker? Hahaha—"

Louise’s voice rang out.

"Earn the right to know my name."

She raised both hands, pointing her fingers at him—inviting him to attack.

The Lord’s smile widened.

"Childish games," he said.

"So... your abilities rely on your opponent’s attacks. Perhaps."

He tilted his head slightly.

"You possess absorption properties. Defensive, offensive... or both."

"Damn..." Louise whispered.