Chapter 55: Death slash

The white light finally began to fade, revealing a massive wall of black bones standing where Karl had been.

Most of it had already been blasted apart. Broken skeletons covered the ground around a deep trench carved through the forest, while the remaining layers still smoked from the force of the attack.

Then Karl stepped out from behind them.

The white-and-crimson bone suit still covered his body and the Death Stick remained transformed into its long black scythe.

Across Ardent City, people who had assumed the attack had finally overwhelmed him immediately focused back on the feed.

Karl had spent nearly the entire examination sitting beneath a tree while his Death Legion fought for him.

Now he was standing directly in front of a King-rank beast, and for the first time he actually looked ready to fight it himself.

Karl ignored everything outside and glanced toward the temporary panel that had appeared after integrating with the spine.

[Aura Master Abilities]

[Aura Coat]

[Aura Reinforcement]

[Aura Release]

The abilities were straightforward, Aura Coat wrapped condensed energy around a weapon, Aura Reinforcement strengthened that coating, while Aura Release allowed it to be expelled outward.

Karl understood the basic principle quickly enough.

The Golden King Tiger gave him no time to study further, it’s massive body shot forward and an enormous paw crashed toward him.

Karl moved aside at the last moment as the strike tore apart the ground behind him and sent broken stone flying through the clearing.

Several stronger undead immediately rushed in from both sides.

Karl had already replaced most of the weaker ones lost earlier and the Death Legion moved around the tiger without waiting for detailed commands, forcing it to divide its attention while Karl shifted closer.

Seraphine remained farther back with her staff raised.

Frost spread beneath the Golden King Tiger’s paws, slowing one of its movements just enough for several golden threads to wrap around its hind leg.

The tiger pulled once and most of the threads snapped instantly.

The Golden King Tiger twisted and smashed through two undead before turning back toward Karl.

This time Karl activated Aura Coat and mna spread through the scythe blade Karl swung with all his strength and the scythe cut across one of the tigers forelegs.

The wound was shallow, but noticeably deeper than before.

But the tiger retaliated instantly as it’s tail came from the side.

Karl ducked beneath it, moved closer and activated Aura Reinforcement as he brought the scythe across its shoulder.

The reinforced blade cut through several layers of golden fur before Karl pulled away from the returning claws.

Outside the dungeon, the spectators had begun reacting differently.

"Why is he fighting it himself?"

"Isn’t he a Necromancer?"

"How can he move like that?"

Inside the control room, William’s earlier smile gradually faded as he watched Karl shift around another strike before moving into the opening left behind.

Arthur was staring just as intently.

William glanced toward him.

"When did he learn to fight like that?"

Arthur did not look away from the screen.

"I was about to ask you."

"He’s your grandson."

William frowned but kept watching.

Seraphine had the closest view of all.

She watched Karl move around the Golden King Tiger’s attacks by margins small enough that one mistake should have killed him, yet he rarely seemed surprised by anything the beast did.

More than once, Karl started moving before the tiger’s attack had properly begun.

Her eyes narrowed slightly, this isn’t just reaction speed or training it felt more like years of battlefield experience.

The Golden King Tiger roared.

Golden light rippled through the Metal Domain, and hundreds of metallic points appeared high above the forest before stretching into long hardened rods.

As the rods fell Karl moved through the gaps as one rod dropped directly toward his chest, he knocked it aside with the scythe.

Another followed and Karl cut through that one.

But as he was busy dodging and deflecting them the tiger king snatched it’s chance and attacked him.

The massive tiger appeared behind him ts paw swept toward Karl’s chest.

But Karl turned just enough for the claws to scrape across the white bone armor rather than strike cleanly, then brought the scythe upward beneath the beast’s foreleg.

The tiger pulled back but a thin line of blood appeared.

HP: 73.47%]

Karl looked briefly at the mana surrounding the blade and a wierd thought ran in his mind

Why am I using normal mana?

He was a Necromancer afterall and should use the death energy.

Karl changed the energy flowing through Aura Coat slightly.

The normal mana disappeared as black Death Energy spread along the scythe instead.

The technique immediately became unstable.

Dark energy flickered around the blade and leaked outward in uneven streams while Karl moved away from another strike.

He frowned and adjusted the flow and after dodging several strike and trying tension of times he succeeded at last.

The black coating drew closer to the weapon.

The Golden King Tiger attacked again, but Karl shifted around its front leg and reinforced the coating as he moved.

This time it held properly and left a gash on the tigerseg.

A new notification appeared immediately.

[Compatible combat principles detected.]

Karl looked at it in confusion as he swung the scythe across the tiger’s flank.

The blade cut noticeably deeper and blood ran through the golden fur.

The Golden King Tiger roared and tore through another group of undead, sending shattered black bones across the clearing while the Metal Domain continued pressing down around the battlefield.

Karl sent several stronger undead forward to keep it occupied, but his own attention had shifted toward the scythe in his hands.

The Death Energy covering its blade was stable now, and Aura Reinforcement allowed him to carry far more power through each strike. Yet after several exchanges, Karl could still feel something missing.

This isn’t it.

He avoided another paw strike and slashed across the tiger’s foreleg before retreating behind two undead that immediately moved in to cover him.

The attack was stronger than before, but it was still just Death Energy wrapped around a weapon, there was no real intent behind it.

Karl’s eyes narrowed as another notification appeared.

[Host is approaching the formation of a new Skill.]

[Compatible combat principles detected.]

Karl stared at the words for barely a second.

His old Sword Saint experience, the Aura Master abilities granted by the spine and the Death Energy of a Necromancer were all being forced together.

The question was what they were supposed to become.

The Golden King Tiger rushed him again.

Karl moved around its first strike, but instead of immediately counterattacking, he watched the scythe in his hands and felt the Death Energy flowing across the edge.

Sword Saint... Aura Master... Death Energy.

Something was close, very close.

"Seraphine."

She struck the tiger’s flank with a wave of frost before looking toward him.

"What?"

"Hold it for a moment."

Seraphine stared at him.

"What the fuck do you mean, hold it?"

Karl had already stepped backward.

"Just buy me some time."

Before she could answer, Karl sat cross-legged on the ruined ground and placed the scythe across his legs.

Seraphine looked between him and the Golden King Tiger as though deciding which one she wanted to kill first.

Then the tiger roared.

"You’re actually insane."

She raised her staff while the remaining Death Legion rushed forward.

Across Ardent City, confusion spread through the public viewing areas almost immediately.

Karl Reed had just sat down in the middle of a fight against a Level 99 King-rank beast.

"Did he give up?"

"What is he doing?"

"Why hasn’t the Association stopped the fight?"

Most spectators assumed Karl had finally reached his limit, but the reaction inside the control room was completely different.

William leaned toward the screen, his expression slowly changing.

Arthur noticed immediately.

"What?"

William continued watching the faint fluctuations of Death Energy around Karl.

"He’s comprehending something."

Arthur’s eyes widened.

"Right now?"

William gave a quiet laugh.

Creating a Skill from one’s own understanding was difficult even for experienced professionals, yet Karl had chosen the middle of a King-rank battle to attempt it while being a nearly level 99..

William’s laugh gradually grew louder.

"Arthur."

Arthur looked toward him.

"Your grandson really is a monster."

The battlefield disappeared from Karl’s senses.

When he opened his eyes again, he stood on the peak of an enormous mountain beneath an endless grey sky.

A figure stood ahead of him holding a sword.

Karl could not see the person’s face, but the weapon moved and a single slash crossed the mountain.

Stone split apart for kilometres as an enormous sword scar appeared across the landscape.

Karl watched silently but then the scene changed.

Above him, the sky seemed to tear open as an enormous scythe appeared beyond the clouds, it descended once.

A dark slash crossed the heavens, cleaving through stars and leaving a terrifying wound through space itself.

Karl stared upward.

Sword.

Scythe.

Aura.

Death.

The weapon did not matter, the form did not matter either.

What mattered was the intent carried through the strike.

Something inside Karl suddenly clicked.

---

Outside, Seraphine was barely holding the battlefield together.

Most of the remaining undead had already been destroyed, and the Golden King Tiger continued forcing its way toward Karl despite everything she threw at it.

She slammed her staff down and frost exploded outward and rapidly climbed across the tiger’s legs.

Layer after layer of ice formed around its entire body until the King-rank beast disappeared inside a massive frozen prison.

[Ice Prison.]

Seraphine nearly emptied the rest of her mana into maintaining it and the battlefield finally became still.

Across the public viewing areas, people stared at the frozen beast.

"Did she stop it?"

"That summon did that?"

Inside the control room, even William looked more carefully at Seraphine.

"That undead isn’t ordinary."

William’s eyes narrowed.

"Hero rank?"

Arthur stared at him and said "have you gone mad finally."

Even saying it sounded absurd, a Tier 1 Necromancer possessing a Hero-rank summon should have been impossible enough on its own.

Then the ice cracked suddenly cracked and eraphine’s expression immediately darkened.

Another fracture spread across the prison, followed by dozens more.

The entire structure exploded outward and the Golden King Tiger burst free with a furious roar as the Metal Domain surged around it.

Several metallic rods formed instantly.

Seraphine barely avoided the first, but the second struck her staff and ripped it from her hands.

Another rod shot past her shoulder and pinned part of her robe directly into a tree.

"Damn it!"

The Golden King Tiger ignored her and fixed his eyes on Karl.

He was still sitting but then Karl opened his eyes, they had gone completely black.

Death Energy spread around him as he slowly stood, and the scythe rose from the ground with him.

Notifications began appearing one after another.

[Skill comprehension completed.]

[Aura Master principles integrated.]

[Sword Saint combat principles integrated.]

[Death Energy successfully incorporated.]

[New Skill acquired.]

Karl tightened his grip on the scythe.

[Death Slash.]

The Golden King Tiger charged and karl moved toward it.

For everyone watching, the next moment was almost impossible to follow.

The tiger’s claws came down but Karl stepped past them as if he had tore through space itself.

A massive black cut erupted across the battlefield.

It did not stop at the Golden King Tiger.

The slash tore straight through the Metal Domain itself, leaving an enormous dark scar across the golden space as though the Domain had been physically cut open.

For a moment, everything froze and then a thin line appeared across the tiger’s neck. ℯ

Its enormous head slid from its body and struck the ground and the Metal Domain shattered around it.

Across Ardent City a pin drop silence settled for a moment before the whole city totally burst into chat and madness but fo karl only one notification mattered.

[King-Rank Beast slain.]