Damon's Ascension-Chapter 132: The Great Reshuffle Of Humanity 2

In Beijing, the Zhongnanhai compound was still, the kind of stillness cultivated by centuries of power.

Inside the Red Hall, where the Politburo Standing Committee met under the highest level of state secrecy, a man dressed in a dark mandarin-collar suit sat alone beneath a gold-framed calligraphy scroll that read: Endure, Adapt, Ascend.

He was President Liang Xuejun, a soft-spoken academic who had once been considered a compromise between reformists and traditionalists. His features were round, his glasses thick, his voice gentle even at its firmest.

And yet, in the last three months, this quiet professor had become a wartime strategist.

He had just finished hearing Damon Arnan’s mental transmission.

The mental resonance still echoed faintly in his mind, like a bell that refused to go away.

President Liang did not speak at first.

He simply stood and walked toward the tall, arched window behind his desk, hands folded behind his back.

Outside, the twilight cast long shadows across the famous Forbidden City.

"Do you know that less than a century ago, we were called the sick man of Asia?" He said softly.

Though he was physically alone in the room, his voice was transferred directly to every minister in the CCP’s Central Committee via their secure ’Azure Dragon’ channel.

He let the statement hang for a few seconds to buttress his next words.

"We were humiliated by foreigners, starved by invaders then divided by ideology, culture, and desperation. We killed each other by the millions during revolutions, then we starved by the tens of millions to achieve sovereignty." His words were heavy as metal to listeners.

"And yet, it was eventually through steel and silence that we climbed."

He turned slowly, his gaze calm but piercing.

"China rose, not because we had fate on our side, or gods in our sky. We rose because we remembered everything we ever experienced. We endured loss of catastrophic proportions many times and still, we built anew."

Liang Xuejun turned away. "While others danced in comfort, we sacrificed our culture, our old ways, even our children’s futures, all because we wanted tomorrow."

No one interrupted in anyway. Even over the comms, every high-ranking minister remained silent, their breathing hitched.

"After the second world war, we clawed our way from the bottom to challenge the West. We became second in GDP, then we became first. We expanded into Africa, into the South Pacific, into cyberspace and quantum AI. We bled quietly, outpacing every arrogant empire that once called us a footnote."

Then President Liang chuckled.

It wasn’t bitter, but rather tiredly amused.

"And now, it’s all gone... because of him." President Liang casually glanced at an image of Damon that was projected in the room.

The room shifted with tension, though no one moved.

"One African boy, from a continent the world mocked, a weak continent left behind by colonial extraction and modern neglect. And yet, this Damon Arnan... he did not ask permission nor did he negotiate from a position of weakness. Rather, he stood up and rewrote the situation of the world with a smirk on his face."

The president raised one hand and pressed two fingers to his temple to calm himself down.

"You all felt it, didn’t you? His voice that sounds like heavenly thunder in the mind?’

"Its clear that the IUAS only listens to him regarding humanity. Due to his popularity for his actions, the general galaxy also idolizes him."

President Liang sighed deeply. "And now, so must we."

He stepped back toward his desk and sat again, the scroll behind him casting a long shadow across the table.

"Tell me, comrades, when was the last time the protagonist of world destiny came from Africa?" He continued.

There was no answer.

"Never. It has never happened in fiction nor in film and definitely not in any of our geopolitical simulations. It was always the West... Japan... perhaps ourselves, but never them."

He allowed the meaning behind of that to linger.

Then he nodded once, as if setting a course in stone.

"We underestimated the flow of destiny and fate, but that ends today."

His tone sharpened, but not with malice, but rather tactical strategy.

"First, we accept the invitation for information as it is imperative that we understand his methods, his allies, his values. Second, begin preparations for Red Sky Protocol... mobilize our awakened citizens, begin drafting cultivation institutes in all major provinces, and link all Essence AR facilities to a centralized network."

There were exclamations of shock over the call.

"Sir... that would put us on a wartime development track!" one minister finally said what they all wanted to say.

President Liang simply nodded. "But we are already at war, one of narratives, political systems, and human civilization. The boy Damon fights for biology and the entire race. I fight for continuity of the Yanhuang people and our glorious nation."

His hands returned to his lap, eyes now half-lidded.

"We will not rush to defy him as that would be foolish. Instead... we will study him, then publicly embrace him. Eventually, the time will come when we match him in power, competing for the top spot, just like we did the west."

The lights dimmed gently as the meeting ended.

............

In Brussels, the headquarters of the European Alliance Summit was thrown into a polite sort of chaos.

Officially, the leaders of the European continent were gathered in a private session under the pretext of "Galactic Integration Roundtable: Phase 3."

Unofficially though, it was an emergency summit triggered five minutes after Damon Arnan’s mental broadcast shattered whatever illusion of global order they’d been clinging to.

The grand glass-paneled conference room sat beneath a massive rotating hologram of Earth, still marked with soon to be outdated geopolitical boundaries.

Below it, nearly two dozen heads of state, ministers, and economic commissioners filled the U-shaped table. Digital nameplates stood before each one, a silent reminder that the European Union had, since the IUAS emergence, merged its governing bloc with several post-Brexit and Balkan powers to form the European Earth Compact, a coalition more practical than unified.

And it showed.

"...he threatened our sovereignty! He openly declared a single-point authority over all planetary matters! That is unacceptable!!" President Eloise Therrien of France screeched, her tone irate and seeking to provoke.

From across the table, Chancellor Reiner Holtz of Germany tilted his head, expression unreadable. "He invited us, Eloise. Calm yourself!"

"Invited?" Therrien scoffed.

She sneered derisively. "You think that mental ultimatum was a polite invitation? He bypassed the General Assembly, the Accorded States, and every diplomatic channel we established for off-world engagement!"

"It was efficient. Refreshing, actually." Prime Minister Lily Greaves of the UK murmured, sipping tea with an eerie calm.

Therrien shot her a glare. "Of course you’d say that! The UK’s been trying to bypass collective consensus since the dawn of—"

"Enough, we’re not here to perform our usual squabbles while Earth’s seat of power just moved to Ghana." President Miroslav Dvořák of Czechia growled, his gravelly voice cutting across the room.

A heavy silence settled, broken only by the subtle chime of translation headsets syncing.

"Ghana, a mere Ghanaian boy now holds the keys to our interstellar future. Are we really going to debate nationalism right now?" He repeated with incredulity.

"Let’s not act surprised, Africa was always underestimated. They skipped past outdated infrastructure and colonial debt cycles and digitized faster than most of us. You all just didn’t notice." The smooth voice of Italy’s Representative Cinzia Falco sounded, flipping through a digital dossier casually.

"Because they weren’t leading in anything but being poor, Cinzia," Therrien barked.

She waved a hand flippantly. "This Damon Arnan didn’t rise through diplomacy or union-building. He hijacked the world using IUAS protocols through force and flair, charisma wrapped in power. That’s not governance, that’s theatrical populism!"

"Which is exactly why he’s dangerous. People listen to symbols now, not systems especially with the growth in individual power. On top of that, the young man is a very strong symbol." Spain’s Minister of Internal Security muttered thoughtfully.

"He’s twenty-one, that’s the part that makes all of you nervous." Prime Minister Greaves said simply, tapping her spoon.

Dvořák snorted. "He’s twenty-one and holding Earth’s galactic seat. What’s terrifying isn’t his age, it’s how fast everything’s moving."

From the far end of the room, a woman in a dark plum suit leaned forward. She was Anna Vasquez, the EU’s Commissioner of Strategic Affairs.

She was not a national leader, but she had more control over Europe’s data infrastructure than most presidents had over their cabinets.

She tapped the air, projecting a layered visual over the table that included population sentiment heatmaps, Worldly Essence demand curves, integration metrics per region.

"Damon Arnan’s approval rating across the EEC is currently 67%. Among Essence AR users, it’s 82%. The youth sector—ages 16 to 30—is at 91%. Let me be clear, if this were a democratic election, he would win every European state but Hungary."

Silence, then Lily Greaves whistled, Therrien’s expression soured and Holtz frowned but nodded.

"So what do we do? Do we resist this new structure, or join it?" Portugal’s President da Silva asked, his voice uncertain.

"We adapt, this is no longer a question of if we participate, only how. We either influence the outcome from inside... or get swept aside like a dying parliament." Anna Vasquez answered, coldness in her tone.

Chancellor Holtz folded his hands, looking weary but firm. "Germany will attend the summit, but we will demand structural protocols. There must be an intercontinental council, a voting parity and transparency on how he appoints ministers."

"And if he refuses?" Therrien asked coldly.

Chancellor Holtz glanced at her placidly. "Then we build our own planetary embassy. Paris has land, right?"

"I dare you to try it. Try to fracture humanity’s first unified recognition in the galactic order and see how fast the Essence Coin economy turns on you." Vasquez said softly, but there was no warmth in her voice.

She glanced at them, especially Therrien, wanting this truth to sink in. "The galaxy doesn’t care about The Treaty of Versailles. It cares about throughput, data currency, and power growth. Damon understands that intimately, so they adore him. Do any of you?"

Therrien clenched her fists beneath the table.

Lily Greaves raised her cup, clearly having a great time. "To unity, then. Or at least, to survival in its clothes."

Holtz exhaled weakly while Dvořák sighed in defeat.

Vasquez simply tapped send on a file labeled ’Contingency Plans – Post-Summit Reorganization’ to all of their secretaries of state.

Europe, for all its assumed ’enlightenment’, had never been united in heart, even from the medieval era.

But in the face of obsolescence... even the famous old nobles learned to kneel.