SSS-Ranked Awakening: I Can Only Summon Mythical Beasts - Chapter 449 449: Breaching The City
The first thing Damien felt was pain. It throbbed through every nerve, a deep, hollow ache that spread from his chest to the tips of his fingers.
The ground was cold against his cheek, the forest soil damp with his blood. Somewhere close to him, the once-silent Gate pulsed faintly and he could feel it. The heartbeat of something that shouldn’t exist.
He could barely lift his head, but through the haze, he saw the figure standing over him — General Ivaan. Only… it wasn’t him anymore.
The man’s armor hung in tatters, his veins glowing faintly with dark essence that crawled like tendrils beneath his skin. His eyes, once sharp and commanding, had turned pitch-black, reflecting no light, no humanity.
“You always were too perceptive for your own good,” Ivaan said — or whatever was speaking through him. His voice echoed strangely, layered with another, deeper timbre that reverberated through the air. “But still too sentimental to act on it.”
Damien coughed, spitting blood. “You killed Veyne…” he rasped.
“Like I said dozens of times already, I used Veyne,” Ivaan corrected, almost amused. “He was convenient. Loyal to the end. His essence will serve a greater purpose than his life ever did.”
Damien tried to move, to summon one of his creatures, but his essence refused to flow. His reserves had been crushed by Ivaan’s earlier strike — a single blow that had torn through his defensive barriers like parchment.
His ribs screamed in protest as he shifted, and the dark laughter of the possessed general echoed around the clearing.
“Your essence might be potent,” Ivaan continued, crouching slightly, his hand resting on the broken soil where his runes glowed faintly red. “But not enough. The Gate… it requires more.”
He extended his arm toward Damien, and the ground trembled as his runes shifted, closing around Damien’s prone body like a cage.
“Your power might hasten the opening. But alone, it won’t be enough to awaken them.”
Damien struggled against the pressure, gritting his teeth. “Then what—what are you going to do?”
The creature wearing Ivaan’s skin smiled. “Feed.”
And then, just like that, he stopped. His head tilted slightly, eyes narrowing as though hearing something distant. He straightened, his wings — wings made of pure, shadow-wrapped mana — burst violently from his back, sending gusts of corrupted energy tearing through the clearing.
“On second thought,” he murmured, glancing toward Delwig’s distant lights. “The city will suffice.”
He left Damien there, broken and bleeding, as he took to the sky. The force of his departure shook the trees, leaving a burning crater in the soil.
Damien barely shielded his face as debris flew, and when he finally dared to look up, Ivaan was already gone — a dark comet streaking toward Delwig.
Within Delwig, Captain Apnoch stood at the western wall’s battlements, squinting toward the horizon. Dawn had barely begun to rise, the first light touching Delwig’s towers, when he saw it — a line of black tearing across the sky like a storm given form.
His instincts screamed before his mind caught up.
“ALERT THE BARRIERS! NOW!”
The shout rippled through the garrison. Bells began ringing. Mages scrambled into formation, lines of light connecting the runic pylons embedded into Delwig’s walls. The air shimmered with energy as the dome barrier flared to life, runes cascading upward like fireflies drawn to the heavens.
Apnoch’s heart pounded. Whatever that was—it moved too fast.
“What is that thing?” one of the soldiers asked.
He didn’t answer. He could already feel the pressure from it—like the atmosphere itself was bowing.
The dark shape came closer, closer—then slowed, wings unfurling wide enough to blot the sun.
Apnoch’s eyes widened. “No… it can’t be.”
The shadow crashed against the barrier. The entire dome shuddered, the ground beneath Delwig trembling as cracks of light spread through the protective runes. Mages screamed as feedback burned through their conduits, the scent of ozone and blood mixing in the air.
“REINFORCE IT!” Apnoch barked, his voice cutting through the chaos. “FULL OUTPUT—NOW!”
The barrier flared brighter, momentarily stabilizing.
Then, the thing on the other side grinned.
A deep, layered rumble that reverberated through every stone and heart within the city.
The barrier ruptured.
It didn’t shatter—it ripped, like paper torn by claws of light.
A blinding surge exploded downward as the possessed Ivaan tore through the dome, descending like a meteor wreathed in black and red flames.
Booooom!!
The impact that followed sent shockwaves across Delwig. Entire sections of the market collapsed, walls caved, and the world drowned in sound and dust.
For several seconds, there was silence.
Then—screams.
The smoke parted slowly, revealing a crater large enough to swallow a mansion. At its center stood Ivaan—or rather, what had been Ivaan. His body was warped now, surrounded by writhing tendrils of essence that pulsed like veins.
Soldiers and townsfolk who’d dared approach froze as he straightened.
And then, everything died.
A wave of pure mana surged outward. The weaker soldiers collapsed instantly, blood pouring from their eyes and ears. The air burned. The cobblestones beneath his feet melted into slag as his essence corrupted everything it touched.
The surviving guards hesitated only a moment before rushing forward with desperate bravery, weapons glowing with reinforced enchantments.
Their blades never reached him.
With a flick of his wrist, tendrils of shadow ripped through them—disintegrating flesh and steel alike.
“Essence,” the creature crooned, inhaling deeply as wisps of light were drawn from the corpses, absorbed into his own dark aura. “Such sweet, untapped essence.”
He turned his gaze toward the nearest tower—toward the barrier control spire still glowing faintly with mana.
Apnoch stood there, rallying the mages, trying to reform the shield. “Keep it steady! Hold the line!”
Ivaan raised a hand.
The spire exploded.
The shockwave hurled Apnoch and half his team from the tower. He hit the ground hard, armor cracking. His vision swam, and as he blinked the blood from his eyes, he saw the general—no, the monster—looking directly at him.
For a heartbeat, he thought it was over.
Then—something moved in the sky.
A blur of gold and black tore through the smoke.
Aquila.
And on its back—Damien.
His body was battered, his armor half-broken, but his eyes were burning with fury and disbelief.
“IVAAN!” he roared, his voice echoing across the chaos.
