"Do it."
Hearing Distr's order, Tony obeyed without hesitation. He had no choice. No matter how kindly Distr acted toward him, Tony knew his true status — a slave bound by the seal. That was why he longed for a powerful skill, something strong enough to break free from this chain. He refused to remain like this forever.
Closing his eyes, Tony activated his Unique Skill — Snatch.
At once, his vision shifted into darkness lit by countless drifting orbs of light, each one sparking like stars across an endless void. He already knew what they represented. Skills. His first time using Snatch, he had absorbed one by accident, and after that, careful trials had taught him how the ability functioned.
Most of the orbs were faint, barely glowing — weak skills, not worth his attention. He ignored them, narrowing his focus on the brightest.
The nearest source of brilliance pulsed close by, inside Distr himself. One of his master's skills. Tony's fingers twitched, temptation gnawing at him, but he held back. Stealing from Distr now would be suicide.
Instead, he pushed his sight further, deeper — toward the cave.
And there, he found it.
Orbs unlike any he had seen before, clustered together, each one blazing as bright as Distr's… some even brighter.
But among them, one stood apart. Its radiance dwarfed the rest, so intense it seemed to pierce the void itself. For a moment, Tony could do nothing but stare, breath caught in his throat.
He had never seen anything like it.
And he could swear on his life — no skill had ever shone this brightly before.
His throat went dry, a hard gulp forcing its way down.
This was it.
This was the moment.
The opening he had dreamed of.
Tony locked onto the blazing presence and unleashed Snatch. Unlike ordinary thieves, he didn't need to lay a hand on his target. His skill reached out like invisible chains, tearing what he desired straight from its source.
A heartbeat later, agony crashed through him. His chest tightened, his lungs seized, and his body buckled. He hit the ground hard, knees scraping against stone as if the very act of taking the skill had ripped away part of his soul.
"Tony!" Distr's sharp cry broke the silence. For once, his ever-confident expression faltered. To him, the boy had always been a disposable piece — a chained pawn at best — yet now he looked at Tony with something close to awe.
"You… you took it, didn't you?" Distr's eyes gleamed, his voice quivering with greed. "Tell me! Did you succeed?"
Tony forced himself to lift his head, gasping as he steadied the storm raging within him. "Yes…" His voice was hoarse, but the conviction in it was unmistakable. He could already sense the contours of the new power knitting itself into his being.
Distr's lips stretched into a grin. "Excellent. Excellent! You've outdone yourself. With this, even the king will be forced to recognise your worth. I'll make sure you're rewarded, Tony — better food, better clothes, a chamber of your own. You'll rise above the other slaves."
But those words only deepened the cold twist in Tony's smile.
A cage with golden bars was still a cage.
And now, within his grasp, lay the power to break it.
With this skill, he would no longer have to crawl.
With this skill, he would carve his own freedom.
Distr's voice cut through his racing thoughts. "Well? Tell me its function." His staff tapped against the ground impatiently. "What does the Calamity's legacy give you?"
Tony's lips parted, he don't want to share it but the seal force it out
"It… raises my power. Everything. My skills, my physical strength, my magical output…" His hands trembled slightly as he clenched them into fists. "But… in exchange, it shaves away my sanity. "
For a heartbeat, silence filled the cave mouth.
Then Distr's expression twisted into delight. "Perfect. Absolutely perfect!" He leaned forward, eyes wide with fanatic joy. "A skill that turns you into a berserker weapon — limitless growth, limited only by your mind's endurance. Hah! Do you realise, Tony? You've just become the kingdom's greatest treasure!"
He all but trembled with excitement, his fingers tightening around the staff. Of course he was happy. It wasn't his mind on the line. Besides, he didn't for a second believe the function was truly that simple. Distr had seen similar abilities before, but none stolen from a being like this — a fragment of the Storm Dragon's lineage, a calamity given form.
Tony kept his head bowed, masking the flicker of contempt in his eyes. Treasure? No. You mean your tool.
Inside, though, he couldn't help but feel a grim smile tugging at his lips. Sanity was a chain — but chains could be broken. And if this skill could strip away his hesitation, his fear, his obedience…
While each of them schemed in silence, neither Tony nor Distr realised the true consequence of what had just happened.
The moment Snatch tore that radiant skill from its source, something shifted deep within the cave.
For the first time in what felt like centuries, the storm in Charybdis's mind began to clear.
That skill — the one Tony had stolen — was the very curse that had kept it chained to madness. A frenzy it had never chosen, triggered instinctively with every breath, every movement, every heartbeat. The hunger, the rage, the endless instinct to kill… it had all been the effect of that power devouring its reason.
But now?
The chain was gone.
And with it, the beast could think again.
"Now then…" Distr's voice broke the silence, his fingers tightening around the staff as his smile returned. "Let us move on to the next matter."
Tony lifted his head slightly. "…The seal?"
"Exactly." Distr's eyes gleamed with ambition. "Acquiring a skill from Charybdis was only the first step. The true mission is to release it."
Tony frowned, uncertain. "Release… it? Why?"
Distr chuckled, low and sharp, as though the boy had asked something naïve. "Think, Tony. Once Charybdis is free, it will rampage again. No single kingdom could hope to face it alone. Which means…" He spread his hands, as though unveiling a grand design. "…the other powers will have no choice but to intervene. Especially the Holy Empire of Lubelius. They pride themselves as humanity's shield, brimming with holy knights and saints. They'll come running."
His smile hardened into something cold. "And when they do, they'll bring their strongest."
"Possibly skills "
Tony understood then. Distr wasn't simply trying to strengthen their own kingdom. He was forcing the world to reveal its cards — to parade its champions and unique skills into the open.
Distr looked back toward the cave, eyes alight with greedy anticipation. "So let's unseal the beast. Let it roar, let it rage. And in the chaos it creates, we'll reap the harvest."
Distr raised his staff, chanting under his breath. Arcs of mana coiled around the tip before bursting outward in a concentrated blast.
BOOM!
The impact echoed like thunder, and deep within the cavern, something stirred. The ancient seal that bound Charybdis groaned and splintered, cracks spreading across its surface.
A thin smile tugged at Distr's lips. Without hesitation, he warped himself and Tony far away, abandoning the soldiers he had brought along. They were nothing more than bait. Their task had been simple, place the corpse of a lesser dragon near the seal to fuel the beast's instinctive hunger.
And sure enough, the air soon trembled.
From the depths of the sky emerged a colossal form. A shark-like dragon, its length stretching beyond fifty meters, wings cutting through the clouds, horns gleaming, its single ominous eye burning like a curse upon the world. Scales as tough as steel shimmered in the light, while a vast dorsal fin and lashing tail gave it the visage of a nightmare born from sea and storm alike.
The very release of its aura was death. Soldiers collapsed instantly, their bodies rupturing under the sheer pressure. Distr didn't even blink. That was their role. They had always been disposable.
But then, something unexpected happened.
Instead of rampaging, instead of tearing apart its surroundings as it had always done before, Charybdis simply hovered. Its wings stretched wide, but its body remained still, suspended in silence as though deep in thought.
"What…?" Distr muttered, brows furrowing. "Why isn't it moving?"
Pain lanced through him before he could even react.
SHRRK!
A hand burst through his chest, tearing out from behind. His breath caught, his eyelids twitching as he turned just enough to glimpse the impossible.
Tony.
The boy's face was twisted into a mocking grin. "Finally let your guard down, didn't you?"
Distr's eyes widened, disbelief flashing across them. He had never considered it. Never thought the pawn would dare strike the master.
But Tony had waited. He had waited for this one heartbeat, this single lapse in attention.
Before Distr could form a spell, green mist erupted from Tony's mouth. Poison Breath, stolen from a Tempest Serpent. The toxic haze engulfed his master's face, burning through flesh and bone. Distr's body convulsed once, then collapsed, lifeless, into the dirt.
Tony didn't linger. He activated another ability, Acid Release, dissolving the corpse until not even ash remained. His expression was calm, but his heart thundered with exhilaration. Finally. Finally, he had broken one chain.
But just as he prepared to depart, something made him freeze.
Above, in the vast body of the beast, the single eye shifted. For a fleeting instant, it locked onto him.
Tony's grin faltered. The weight of that gaze pressed against his soul, yet nothing happened.
He forced himself to breathe, shaking his head. "Illusion," he muttered, convincing himself. "Just nerves."
Without another glance, Tony vanished into the forest's shadows.
But far above, Charybdis remained still. Its eye had indeed followed him.
Yet it did not move.
For now, the calamity had no interest in prey.
Its only interest was in itself.
************
Subordinate suggestions from Omniverse