Chapter 78

"Major news came in just now. There was an assassination attempt on the life of the president of the United States just minutes ago by a Russian terrorist, Dmitri ’Detonator’ Sokolov, a well-known B-tier awakened terrorist who self-detonated while lunging at the president. The resulting blast took out more than ten Secret Service members who used their bodies to take the brunt of the resulting explosion. The president is alive but in critical condition. Whether it was the act of a rogue individual or that of a whole country is yet to be known. Tensions have been high ever since the apocalypse arrived. As a result, there are reasonable fears of a direct confrontation erupting for the first time between major global powers since the end of World War II."

"Holy hell..." Kaiden murmured with disbelief.

"The timing is sus AF!" Luna squinted her eyes. She was bewildered.

"Yeah..." They were all in agreement.

Naturally, their story was covered by some news channels already, as the fight happened 24 hours ago. However, Global Awakened News was the news channel that emerged as the clear-cut most-viewed channel in the country after the arrival of the mana apocalypse. Global Awakened News was owned by the government and had a heavy presence both on the awakened platform, on the internet, and in the cable television scene as well.

In the conference room of a major corporation.

"Sir! We’re ready to make the announcement!"

"Do it," A man who was seated at the executive seat grunted. He was the CEO of ChronosX, a company specializing in the R&D of artifacts, specifically aimed at the adult sector of the media platform. Thus far, the scene had been underwhelming, to say the least. It was just a bunch of F-tier nobodies making amateur videos because they were too weak or cowardly to enter dungeons, where true wealth and fame awaited.

However, porn was a major industry, and everyone with a functioning brain understood that there was a lot of untapped potential in the awakened platform’s adult scene. The issue had always been the mana cameras being heavily behind a professional studio’s output. The footage captured by normal cameras couldn’t be uploaded to the awakened media platform. As a result, they had to resort to using the mana cameras, which were perfect for capturing high-octane combat situations but not sensual bed play.

ChronosX, therefore, invested an insane amount of money into R&D. They hired dozens of high-tier crafters from all over the world, giving them free rein to create better mana cameras by hand, as the mana cameras they had beforehand came exclusively from dungeon loot.

Although the products were a bit rough around the edges, they had to move now. Why?

Because of a pesky newbie whose videos felt very threatening to their potential profits. The higher-ups of ChronosX couldn’t grasp how an amateur group called Valhalla’s Sinners managed to get their hands on such a rare artifact... It’s a first-person recording, and at a super high clarity at that. It was completely unheard of; thus, the shareholders were terrified. Should they allow the group to keep uploading without competition, they would becomethe’awakened porn channel’ that monopolized the entire awakened platform’s adult scene to themselves.

Therefore, they rushed their announcement out to the public only a day after they got wind of Kaiden’s videos.

However, ChronosX had much bigger dreams than simply becoming a mana camera production company. They could practically smell the money in the awakened porn industry, therefore they made moves to produce their own movies as well. They hired numerous porn actors, both commoners and awakened, and were already done shooting dozens of films that would be released alongside the announcement.

Maximilian, the CEO of ChronosX, had a gleeful grin on his face. In his hand, he held the picture of the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, the one who made him feel things he’d never felt before.

Yet the voluptuous pink-haired divine entity cruelly refused his embrace when he offered it, amicably at first, then forcefully.

The bitch dared to choose to go into crippling debt over becoming his woman! What stung even worse was that she rushed into the arms of a young kid, only to film humiliating roleplaying porn with him!

He couldn’t delete the image of the steadfast and graceful woman he remembered doing that submissive Valkyrie roleplay with the faggot Caylen or whatever his name was. When she spoke with Maximilian, Nyx Cosmos would always have a poker face akin to Vespera Ashborn’s; she only ever spoke to him out of business.

But only a few weeks after running away from him, Nyx was on the awakened platform, kneeling in front of another man and calling him ’my one and only master’!! Maximilian couldn’t help but grit his teeth with so much strength they almost cracked.

That should’ve been him! He had money! Power! Influence! Yet she still chose someone else...

Maximilian had no other choice but to declare war on Valhalla’s Sinners and run them into the ground with the aid of his immense resources. The ad campaign he was about to run all across the globe cost him over a billion dollars, and such an amount was just the tip of the iceberg compared to what he and the other shareholders spent on the R&D of the mana cameras.

It was time ChronosX grabbed hold of the mantle of the awakened porn industry once and for all.

Kaiden and his girls were none the wiser about the imminent competition they would be facing from a cutthroat multinational corporation.

*Knock knock knock!*

"Come in," Kaiden said, but before he could check who it was, Aria bolted from the sofa and started speaking in hushed tones with the person who knocked.

When she came back, the Moon Valkyrie was holding something in her hands, but she was hiding it behind her back. Aria turned toward the two women and, with a sly smile, declared, "Girls, it’s time for me to partake in our content creation journey. I refuse to be a burden, a sheltered princess who can’t do her part. Could you please give me and Kai the room?"