The sound of Shin'ya's blade drawing first blood against an S-rank anomaly didn't just break the silence—it shattered the vanguard's collective sanity.
"He... he actually cut it!" a vanguard captain roared, his morale instantly skyrocketing from zero to a hundred. "The Shadow Master has opened a breach! Don't let his tactical opening go to waste! Engage! ENGAGE!"
The battlefield completely erupted into apocalyptic chaos. Shin'ya quickly glanced away from his opponent, his deadpan eyes scanning the wider valley. It wasn't just their fracture anymore; the sky was actively tearing open in six other locations across the horizon. The remaining six Calamity Gateways were shifting, vomiting out waves of the same eerie, pristine white species alongside colossal, multi-limbed horrors that immediately crashed into the main lines of the Imperial vanguard.
Oh, great, the entire map is a war zone now! Shin'ya's inner voice panicked, his eyes darting back to the towering Sovereign-class Hollow Cherubim[Someone shouted the name earlier between the seconds of Chapter 39 to 40] in front of him. No one is coming to save me! I have to finish my own boss fight!
The white mannequin-like beast vibrated with pure, silent rage. The golden ring on its forehead flashed a violent, blinding crimson as it ignored the golden fluid leaking from its shoulder, launching itself back at Shin'ya like a homing missile.
CRAP! It's in phase two! Shin'ya dissolved into the dirt using Shadow Slip just as a sonic-boom-inducing punch obliterated the ground where he had been standing. He materialized ten yards away, his heart hammering violently against his ribs. He couldn't get close enough for another regular melee strike without risking getting turned into a red smudge.
Distance! I need to keep my distance and spam projectiles! Shin'ya gripped the hilt of the Ketsugai with both hands, channeling his inner anime protagonist, and swung the blade with everything he had.
"Shadow Slash!" he forced out, his voice sounding entirely cold and commanding to the surrounding soldiers.
VROOOOM!
A crescent wave of jet-black, condensed physical shadow erupted from the blade, slicing cleanly through the air and slamming directly into the creature's torso, leaving a deep, smoking gash.
It worked! Again! Shin'ya's inner voice cheered. But he knew one wouldn't be enough. He began swinging the blade like a madman, unleashing a relentless, excessive barrage of dark projectiles.
SHWREED! SHWREED! SHWREED!
Then Black crescents erupted one after another, each swing launching another Shadow Slash until the valley resembled a storm of living darkness.
Black crescent blades rained down on the Pale Cherubim, tearing chunks of porcelain skin from its arms and legs, staining its pristine white coat in a horrific mess of golden fluid. The watching battle-mages were utterly spellbound, watching a fourteen-year-old boy single-handedly suppress a high S-rank calamity beast with an endless storm of physical darkness.
But there was a massive catch.
Unlike magic, which used a mana pool, actually is there a need to explain that? Everyone knows that stuff ahem anyway. Shin'ya's physical skills directly drained his organic energy. By the tenth consecutive Shadow Slash, his vision blurred. His lungs felt like they were on fire, his muscles screamed in agonizing fatigue, and his arms felt as heavy as solid iron. In his mind, his internal, imaginary stamina bar—the one his gamer brain created just to track his physical limits—was flashing a critical, dangerous red.
I'm cooked, his inner voice wailed, his knees trembling beneath his tapered trousers. Spamming projectiles is a terrible strategy! My imaginary stamina bar is completely empty! I can't even lift the knife I-i mean the sword anymore! See how exhausted I'm right now, wait who am I talking too?
The Pale Cherubim, despite being heavily mutilated and covered in black cuts, lunged forward for a final, desperate kill-strike, its massive porcelain hand reaching out to crush Shin'ya's throat. Shin'ya tried to move, but his physical body refused to respond to his brain.
NO NO NO NO! STOP! In that split second of absolute desperation, Shin'ya felt something foreign, dark, and powerful violently move deep inside him. It wasn't mana—it was the raw, parasitic essence of the Ketsugai reacting to his sheer survival instinct. Guided by this sudden internal surge, his subconscious took over.
His left hand raised completely on its own, fingers splayed toward the oncoming monster.
"Bind," Shin'ya whispered.
CRA-CRA-CRA-CRACK!
The shadow on the ground beneath the beast instantly mutated. Thick, sharp, vine-like tendrils of absolute darkness burst violently outward from the earth. Like a nest of coiled vipers, the shadow vines wrapped around the creature's legs, torso, and raised arms, tightening with brutal physical force.
The Sovereign-class beast froze mid-air, completely immobilized. Its massive porcelain fist stopped a mere three inches from Shin'ya's deadpan face, held back by the sharp, restrictive shadow vines rooting it to the stone floor.
The surrounding vanguard veterans gasped, their eyes nearly popping out of their heads.
"A... a spatial shadow sealing spell?!" an archmage stammered, falling to his knees in sheer reverence. "He didn't just defeat it... he completely enclosed its very existence! To bind an S-rank sovereign with raw shadow density... his power is boundless!"
Shin'ya stood perfectly still, his face an emotionless mask of supreme, chilling dominance as he stared into the eyeless face of the locked monster.
Internally, however, he was practically weeping tears of joy while gasping for air.
OH MY GOD, IT ACTUALLY STOPPED! his inner voice wheezed, his heart rate hitting Mach 2. Idon't know what those vine things were, but it's a literal lifesaver! It's completely stuck! Now... please, for the love of everything holy, can one of you highly paid A-rank captains come over here and KS this boss?! Because if I have to swing this sword one more time, my arms are going to detach from my body!