Chapter 19: The Million-Point Barrier! A Wall of Despair!!

Chapter 19: Chapter 19: The Million-Point Barrier! A Wall of Despair!!

[Barrier Integrity: 720,000/1,000,000]

[Barrier Integrity: 370,000/1,000,000]

The two attacks had consumed a combined total of 630,000 points of the barrier’s defensive capacity.

Yet the barrier remained intact.

A full one million points of defense.

Even the deadly finishing strike of a Level 100-plus assassin had failed to penetrate the absolute defense provided by the Ring of the Eternal Shade.

For the slender assassin, it was a nightmare he couldn’t comprehend.

One second later, the pale barrier finally began to fade.

Its surface shimmered, then shattered into countless particles of dim light that vanished into the surrounding darkness.

Nathaniel Beaumont lowered his hand.

He stood exactly where he had been before the attack.

Not a scratch on his body.

Not even a single strand of his hair had been disturbed.

His cold gaze settled on the slender assassin hovering above him.

The assassin’s eyes were wide open, his mouth hanging slightly agape. His hands still maintained the posture from which he had unleashed his strongest attack.

He looked as though he had seen a ghost.

The entire gymnasium fell silent.

If Nathaniel’s million-point Shadow Execution had shocked everyone, then his ability to withstand a Level 100-plus powerhouse’s finishing attack without suffering a single injury had shattered their understanding of what a newly awakened Professional could accomplish.

"N-No way..."

The assassin’s voice trembled.

"You’re not dead?"

His strongest attack was powerful enough to kill fragile Professionals of comparable levels almost instantly.

Yet Nathaniel hadn’t even been injured.

The assassin stared at the young man as though he were some impossible creature that had escaped from the depths of the Abyss.

What the hell is he?

Nathaniel gave a cold snort.

He had no intention of allowing the assassin to spend the next few moments questioning reality.

He understood the situation perfectly.

The enemy had just unleashed his strongest attack. His confidence had collapsed, and the shock of seeing Nathaniel emerge unharmed had left him vulnerable.

This was the perfect moment to strike back.

"Principal! Vice Principal!"

Nathaniel raised his voice.

"Don’t hold back! Keep those two occupied!"

His eyes narrowed.

"I’ll finish them!"

The principal and vice principal finally snapped out of their shock.

Nathaniel was alive.

Not only was he alive, but he hadn’t suffered so much as a scratch.

The principal felt a surge of relief so powerful that it nearly overwhelmed his exhaustion.

"Good!"

He laughed hoarsely.

"Old Li! Don’t let those bastards escape!"

The vice principal wiped the blood from his mouth and tightened his grip on his battleaxe.

"Don’t worry! They’re not going anywhere!"

Despite their severe injuries, the two old men forced themselves back into action.

They knew that Nathaniel had already demonstrated enough power to kill the bald leader. If they could prevent the remaining enemies from interfering, he might be able to end this battle once and for all.

The assassin and the Cursed Witch immediately tried to retreat.

But the principal and vice principal weren’t about to let them go.

The principal raised his staff, releasing the last remnants of his holy energy to restrict the assassin’s movements.

The vice principal charged the Cursed Witch, his battleaxe cutting through the air with a furious roar.

Their injuries made every movement painful, but their determination had only grown stronger.

The battle entered its final stage.

And this time, the Lion Syndicate was the side facing despair.

Nathaniel lifted his right hand.

The darkness beneath his feet surged upward.

"Shadow Execution!"

A colossal blade of condensed darkness materialized above the battlefield.

The slender assassin’s expression changed instantly.

He had just witnessed this terrifying skill kill the bald leader.

He knew exactly what would happen if it struck him directly.

"Get out of the way!"

He twisted his body, trying to escape the blade’s path.

But the principal’s holy chains caught his limbs for a fraction of a second.

That fraction was enough.

Nathaniel’s eyes remained cold.

"Too late."

The shadow blade descended.

BOOM!

The assassin’s protective energy shattered beneath the attack.

[-1,500,000 True Damage!]

His body was swallowed by the overwhelming force of Shadow Execution.

A brief scream escaped his throat before his figure disintegrated into fading particles.

The slender assassin, who had spent years hunting powerful enemies, had fallen to a single strike.

The Cursed Witch stared at the place where he had disappeared.

For the first time in her life, she understood what true helplessness felt like.

The bald leader was dead.

The assassin was dead.

And the young man standing below had killed both of them with attacks she had no way to withstand.

Her face twisted with terror.

"No... Stay away!"

She frantically raised both hands, summoning layers of gray protective energy around herself.

Curses spread through the air, and a dense magical barrier formed around her body.

She poured every remaining ounce of energy into her defense.

It was useless.

Nathaniel pointed toward her.

"Shadow Execution."

The darkness gathered once again.

The Cursed Witch screamed and released every defensive skill she possessed.

The resulting barrier shone with gray light, layers of protective magic overlapping one another.

Then the shadow blade struck.

BOOM!

Her defensive barrier collapsed like thin glass.

[-1,500,000 True Damage!]

The Cursed Witch’s scream was cut short.

Her body vanished beneath the force of the attack, leaving only a few fading particles drifting through the air.

In less than a minute, the three leaders of the Lion Syndicate had all been eliminated.

The sudden attack that had nearly destroyed Westmere No. 1 Academy was finally over.

The gymnasium fell quiet.

The Dark Night Canopy still covered the sky, but the terrifying auras that had filled the building were gone.

The remaining members of the Lion Syndicate stood frozen.

Their leaders were dead.

Their formation had collapsed.

And the black-armored Shadow Soldiers were still standing among them, waiting for their master’s next command.

The criminals who had arrived expecting an easy massacre now faced an enemy they couldn’t understand, let alone defeat.

The battle was over.

Nathaniel slowly lowered his hand.

His expression remained calm, as though he had merely finished an ordinary task.

Around him stood thousands of teachers and students, many injured, many trembling, all struggling to process what they had witnessed.

Their eyes followed Nathaniel wherever he moved.

Shock.

Fear.

Gratitude.

Awe.

They had seen him save their lives, but the scale of his power was almost impossible to comprehend.

He had killed three terrifying powerhouses.

He had survived an attack that should have killed him.

And he had done it all on the day of his awakening.

To everyone watching, Nathaniel Beaumont no longer seemed like an ordinary student.

He seemed like someone who had stepped outside the rules governing the rest of the world.

The smoke gradually began to clear.

"Hoo... Hoo..."

The principal leaned heavily on his staff, using it to support his exhausted body.

His once-pristine magical robes were stained dark red. The wound left by the assassin’s dagger still bled from his shoulder, and every breath sent pain through his chest.

Yet he barely noticed his injuries.

He pushed away the vice principal, who had approached to support him, and staggered toward Nathaniel.

His steps were heavy and unsteady.

When he finally reached the young man, he stopped and studied him for a long moment.

Nathaniel was completely unharmed.

The principal’s expression grew complicated.

There was gratitude in his eyes, but also shock and a deep sense of shame.

"Nathaniel..."

His voice was hoarse.

He lowered his head.

"I’m sorry."

The surrounding teachers and students froze.

The principal continued, his voice trembling slightly.

"As the principal of this academy, protecting the students is my responsibility. Yet when danger came, I couldn’t even defeat our enemies."

He tightened his grip on his staff.

"Instead, I had to rely on one of my students to save everyone’s lives."

His head lowered further.

"This is a failure on my part. A humiliation I will never forget."

The surrounding teachers stared in disbelief.

The principal had always been a stern and dignified figure. Even the most troublesome students rarely dared to meet his gaze for long.

Yet now, he was apologizing to a student in front of the entire academy.

Nathaniel’s expression softened slightly.

He remembered how the principal and vice principal had risked their lives to restrain the bald leader. They had willingly abandoned their defenses, knowing the enemy’s counterattack could kill them.

They had done it to give him an opportunity.

Nathaniel reached out and firmly supported the principal’s arm, preventing him from bowing any further.

"Principal, you don’t need to apologize."

He shook his head.

"You’re being too hard on yourself."

Nathaniel glanced toward the injured teachers and frightened students scattered throughout the gymnasium.

His expression grew more serious.

"Those people came here looking for Caleb Rowan and me from the beginning. Their grudge against our families is what brought this disaster to the academy."

His voice remained steady.

"The school and its students were dragged into something that had nothing to do with them."

He looked back at the principal.

"I fought because I wanted to survive, but also because I couldn’t stand by and watch everyone die because of me."

Nathaniel paused briefly.

"Protecting them was the right thing to do. It wasn’t your failure."

His words were neither arrogant nor overly humble. He simply stated what he believed to be true.

The principal slowly raised his head.

He looked into Nathaniel’s clear, composed eyes, and some of the shame weighing on his heart began to fade.

This young man possessed extraordinary talent and terrifying strength.

But what impressed the principal even more was his composure.

Nathaniel hadn’t allowed his power to turn him arrogant, nor had he used his achievement to belittle the people who had tried to protect him.

The principal let out a long breath.

"Regardless..."

He placed a hand on Nathaniel’s shoulder.

"Thank you."

Those two words carried all the gratitude he couldn’t properly express.

Beside them, Caleb Rowan stood silently.

He had listened to their entire conversation without saying a word.

His gaze drifted toward Nathaniel, who was speaking with the principal as an equal. Then he looked down at the weapon in his own hand.

His Thunder Sword.

He had once taken great pride in it.

He had believed that with enough effort, he could become one of the strongest Professionals of his generation.

He had thought Nathaniel’s SSS-Rank achievement was astonishing, but not necessarily something that placed him forever beyond reach.

There had still been room for competition.

Room to catch up.

Room to surpass him one day.

But what Caleb had witnessed today had destroyed those assumptions.

The massive shadow blades.

The million-point true damage.

The absolute defensive barrier that had withstood the assassin’s strongest attack.

And the effortless manner in which Nathaniel had eliminated three enemies who had made the entire academy tremble.

These weren’t small differences that could be overcome with a little more training.

They were mountains.

Enormous mountains separating two people who had once stood in the same classroom.

Caleb’s fingers tightened around his sword.

Then slowly loosened.

The gap is too big...

A bitter smile appeared on his face.

He had once been proud of dealing thousands of points of damage.

Nathaniel could unleash attacks dealing millions.

He had been worried about improving his own defensive skills.

Nathaniel had survived an attack from a powerhouse more than a hundred levels above him without suffering a scratch.

They weren’t competing on the same path anymore.

They were operating on entirely different levels of existence.

What am I even supposed to compare with him?

Caleb lowered his head.

For the first time, the arrogance in his eyes disappeared completely.

He no longer felt the urge to challenge Nathaniel simply to prove himself superior.

Instead, he felt something unfamiliar.

A profound sense of powerlessness.

And beneath it, an undeniable recognition of the distance between them.

Nathaniel Beaumont had become someone Caleb could no longer measure himself against.

At least, not now.