The Box: Fate
Chapter 66 — The Shattered Limit
The luxury of the system was gone. There were no flashing warning symbols to predict the serpentine General's movements, no cooldown timers to measure their breath, and no automatic aim-assist to guide their steel.
When Akira tried to execute his standard crescent slash, his weight shifted incorrectly on the ancient, moss-covered stone. The physical gravity of this newly born reality dragged at his boots, and his katana went wide, striking a marble pillar in a shower of sparks. The violent vibration traveled up his arms, numbing his fingers, and he barely rolled away as the serpentine General's obsidian claws ripped through the space where his throat had been.
"My mana... it's not flowing!" Murasaki gasped, her catalyst staff shaking. She tried to summon a dark meteor, but without the system to channel the raw energy for her, the volatile darkness backfired, scorching her own palms and sending a sharp, agonizing pain up her arms. She stumbled back, panicking as she realized she had to physically mold the atmospheric pressure with her mind.
They were uncoordinated, clumsy, and terrifyingly human. The sudden loss of the interface left the Sovereign Vanguards exposed, their sixteen-to-eighteen-year-old bodies struggling to cope with the brutal weight of true physics.
"Don't look for the prompt!" Kataki roared, his voice hoarse as he blocked a heavy tail-swipe from the serpentine General. The sheer kinetic impact fractured the bone in Kataki's left wrist. He didn't see a health bar drop; he just felt the sickening, hot sensation of his own blood pooling beneath his leather gauntlet. "Force it out! Use your life force!"
Realizing that hesitation meant absolute deletion, the Vanguards stopped trying to trigger skills. They reached into the very limits of their souls, burning their internal energy like fuel.
Monk Fish was the first to break through the panic. Roaring with a ferocity that shook the dust from the ceiling, he slammed his palms together. He didn't call a skill name. He simply projected his entire spiritual willpower outward. **"Sovereign Jade: Iron Pagoda!"** A literal, physical wall of dense, jade-colored spiritual energy materialized around the front line.
The serpentine General slammed into the jade wall, his obsidian claws cracking the surface. But before he could shatter it, Hina stepped from behind the shield. Her red hair flared into actual, blinding fire that consumed the oxygen in the room. She threw her hands forward, unleashing a raw, unrefined torrent of white-hot solar heat that engulfed the monster's lower torso, melting his obsidian scales into slag.
"Now, Zanaki!" Axel yelled, his golden aura flaring as he used his bare, bleeding hands to pin the thrashing General's tail to the stone floor.
Zanaki didn't look at a mana bar. He felt Azureus roaring inside his lungs. With a guttural scream, Zanaki lunged forward, his right fist transforming into a massive, flesh-and-blood draconic claw covered in howling, sapphire lightning. He drove the claw straight through the serpentine General's chest, ripping out his dark core.
The monster let out a final, wet gurgle and dissolved into ash, leaving the Vanguards collapsing into the dirt.
But there was no time to celebrate. The entire team was broken, bleeding, and utterly exhausted. Axel was coughing up blood; Murasaki' hands were severely burned, and Zanaki' dragon claw was trembling violently as it shifted back into a human hand.
And standing at the end of the hall, completely untouched, was **Malakor: The Void General**.
Beside him, the second demon general—a towering colossus with armor made of jagged volcanic rock and eyes leaking pure, destructive magma—stepped forward. The pressure radiating from this second general was immense, suffocating the injured teenagers before they could even stand up.
"An admirable struggle, insects," Malakor whispered, his violet eyes flashing with a cold, absolute malice. "You killed a shard of my shadow. But your flesh is weak, and your souls are spent. Crush them, Ignis."
The volcanic colossus raised a massive, magma-infused fist, preparing to grind the helpless Vanguards into the stone. Kataki tried to lift his daggers, but his fractured wrist collapsed under the weight. Sharky Bee's vision was blurring from exhaustion. They were seconds away from a total massacre.
*SHIIIIING!*
A blinding streak of silver light cut through the dark throne room, moving faster than the eye could track.
*BOOM!*
The volcanic colossus's massive fist was violently deflected upward as a lone figure materialized between the Vanguards and the demon. The shockwave of the parry blew the dark mist out of the room completely.
Standing there, his crimson dragon-scale armor steaming and his massive jagged greatsword resting casually on his shoulder, was **Gideon the Ash-Bringer**. One of the five powerful Apex Kings of the native world had finally arrived at the capital.
"You brats really know how to make a mess," Gideon growled, his amber eyes burning with a wild, terrifying battle-lust as he stared down the volcanic general. "You split the world in half, and you expect me to sit back in Liya? I told you... I am the master of my own path."
Gideon didn't look back at them, but his presence alone acted as a massive, rejuvenating shield.
"Get up, Void Reaper," Gideon barked, his white-hot aura expanding and forcing Malakor's dark pressure back. "And you, dragon-boy. This isn't a game anymore. If we don't take this monster's head together, **Crash** is going to wake up before the sun rises."
Kataki forced himself to his feet, his silver eyes igniting with a desperate, savage fire as he gripped his daggers. Beside him, Zanaki, Axel, Sharky Bee, Murasaki, and Kuro dragged themselves into formation, locking their eyes on the volcanic colossus. The true alliance between the Outworlders and the Apex Kings had begun, and the stone floor of Aethelgard was about to run red.