The Shadow Slave looked toward us.
For a moment, something strange struck my mind.
Everyone fears losing something.
We fear losing emotions…
Fear of losing joy.
Fear of losing sorrow.
Fear of losing fear itself.
Every existence is born with three feelings: joy, sorrow, and fear. And we fear losing them all, because without them we would become hollow—prisoners of life, simply waiting for the bait of death.
But now, looking at the Shadow Slave…
I felt something different.
I felt fear of having emotions.
The emotion to kill someone while smiling.
The sorrow of standing alone at the top.
The terrifying calm of someone who no longer feared death.
For a brief moment, it felt as if the battlefield itself was quietly watching him.
I shook my head.
Focus.
If we won this battle, we would gain player rank and a system pass—a reward with many benefits. Access to restricted areas, advancement toward S-rank, and artifacts and resources that normal fighters could never obtain.
"Lysandria, focus," I muttered.
Shadow Slave calmly removed the crown from his head and handed it to one of the elves.
"Formation."
His voice carried a mocking smile.
The elves immediately divided into two groups.
Three formed a shield barrier while the others began casting the spells assigned to them. At the center of their formation stood the Shadow Slave himself, smiling in quiet chaos.
For some reason that smile felt far more unsettling than a blank expression.
Smiling in chaos was far more terrifying than standing emotionless.
He looked at us.
"Shall we begin?"
Eron stepped forward.
"Bring it on."
The next moment, Shadow Slave dashed toward the weakest member of our team.
Exactly as predicted.
We did not panic.
This was part of the plan.
As he approached the target's neck, I slammed my hand into the ground.
"Plant bind!"
Vines burst from the earth, growing rapidly to trap his legs.
The moment he was restrained, Aeldir would burn him with shadow fire.
That was the strategy.
But before the plants could fully rise—
His body blurred.
For a split second it was as if he had turned into mist.
Then he was gone.
A heartbeat later he appeared behind Aeldir.
Shadow fire erupted.
His blade cut through Aeldir's armor, the strike reaching deep toward his back.
Aeldir collapsed instantly.
The spirit knight beside him fell unconscious as well.
The entire exchange had taken less than thirty seconds.
Panic spread through our ranks.
Yet the Shadow Slave only laughed.
The sound echoed across the battlefield.
Eron charged forward in rage.
I tried to trap him again with my plants, but he avoided every vine effortlessly.
Mira launched ice spikes.
Wind blades cut through the air.
Blazing magic from the second spirit knight exploded around him.
After nearly a minute of relentless attacks, something finally clicked in my mind.
It wasn't just his reflexes.
It was their formation.
The elves had divided themselves into two distinct teams.
The first group consisted of three elves—two constantly casting counter spells to intercept our magic, while the third maintained a strong barrier to protect them.
The second group also had three elves—two focused on body and enhancement spells that strengthened Shadow Slave's speed, reflexes, and physical power, while the last one maintained a defensive shield around their position.
They were supporting him from two separate layers of defense and reinforcement.
And every time my plants tried to bind him, his natural reflexes allowed him to evade them.
We had been fighting not just him—
But his entire battlefield network.
Still, we had one final card.
We were supposed to be seven.
But only six of us were present.
Aeldir, Eron, Mira, Lysandria, two spirit knights…
Elara was missing.
Suddenly her voice echoed through telepathy.
"I'm attacking their formation now."
Her spirit blade rose high into the air, gathering mana like a tower touching the sky.
And then I realized something else.
Elara's hidden attack…
was targeting the counter-spell team.
But Shadow Slave suddenly turned his head.
Something in the battlefield had changed.
Mana fluctuations from the spirit attack.
That tiny disturbance had exposed the plan.
Eron used that instant.
His blade flashed toward Shadow Slave's neck.
But Shadow Slave countered with a dagger thrown upward.
Then his voice rang out across the battlefield.
Laughing.
"Suppression… release."
The pressure in the air exploded.
The system indicator flashed.
Mana Suppression: 100 → 60
A terrifying aura burst from his body.
For a moment our movements froze—not from fear, but from the overwhelming surge of mana filling the battlefield.
He used that single opening.
In an instant he reached Elara's spirit blade.
His katana—now fully infused with mana—collided with the towering weapon.
Dark corruption particles gathered around him.
Blue flames ignited along the edge of his sword.
With a single roar—
The massive spirit blade was cut in half.
We were too far away to help.
Eron roared in rage and dashed forward.
But Shadow Slave was already moving again.
He appeared beside Elara.
His attack struck her armor with terrifying force—so powerful it produced a sharp crack in the air, as if the sound barrier had been broken.
Yet something felt strange.
He had struck with the handle of the sword.
Not the blade.
Elara collapsed unconscious.
Eron's fury only grew.
But rage blinded him.
The moment he stepped forward—
A hidden trap activated.
Gravity surged downward.
A tornado of blue flames erupted.
Eron was thrown to the ground.
Now only Mira and I remained standing.
Mira opened her domain.
Space twisted as the gate of another world tried to unfold.
But Shadow Slave opened his own domain at the same moment.
For a second reality fractured.
Two spaces attempted to replace the battlefield.
Then the stronger one won.
The clash lasted barely a second.
Mira collapsed instantly.
The system had shown his precision earlier…
But seeing it in reality was something completely different.
Now only two people remained.
Mira and I.
Then Mira fell.
Leaving only me.
My entire team lay unconscious across the battlefield.
Yet something strange crossed my mind.
Why wasn't he killing us?
He had countless chances.
Instead he simply knocked everyone unconscious.
What was he trying to do?
Was he searching for something?
Or someone?
Before I could think further—
He dashed toward me.
I blocked the first strike.
Then the second.
Then the third.
All the while he continued laughing in that same mocking tone, trying to provoke anger.
My footing slipped.
I fell.
Just like Elara before me, his strike landed with the handle of the sword.
Darkness slowly filled my vision.
But before everything faded, I saw something strange.
The Shadow Slave standing above us.
Not as a tyrant.
Not as someone treating defeated enemies like slaves.
But as a warrior acknowledging other fighters.
His laughter had only been a trap.
A way to break our focus.
And then—
Darkness consumed my sight.
{New ch at 14-3-2026, 00:00}