Chapter 1035: The Gauntlet’s Breaking Point

Samira charged forward.

This time, she had no intention of conserving energy.

The draconic power surrounding her body surged through her arms and flooded into her sword. The blade vibrated, and the air around it began to distort under the pressure.

The nearest creatures reacted immediately.

Nearly forty wolves scattered in a coordinated movement. Some charged directly at her while others circled around the sides. Above them, six Wyverns dove at the same time.

Strax noticed the change.

He hadn’t given that order.

The gauntlet was learning.

Or, at the very least, it was using the creatures’ instincts more and more efficiently.

Samira didn’t seem impressed.

"Come."

The first Wyvern opened its mouth.

A massive wind blade descended upon her.

Samira swung her sword.

The attack vanished.

It wasn’t deflected.

The pressure from her slash simply tore through the wind blade and continued upward, striking the Wyvern in the chest.

The creature split apart.

Samira disappeared.

When she reappeared, she was in the middle of the pack.

Her sword cut through one wolf’s neck, continued its motion, and struck three more.

Shadows exploded.

Strax felt each one return.

Weakened.

Fragmented.

The excess energy was ripped from their structures and absorbed by the gauntlet.

The small condensed sphere inside the weapon grew.

Very little.

But it grew.

Strax narrowed his eyes.

"Continue."

The army responded.

The battle continued for several minutes.

Lithara and Albedo quickly realized that Strax didn’t simply want the creatures destroyed.

He wanted them destroyed repeatedly.

Whenever a shadow was eliminated and returned to the gauntlet, Strax waited a few seconds, felt its condition, and tried to summon it again.

The wolves were the first to respond.

One of them had been destroyed by Samira just over a minute earlier.

Strax extended his hand.

"Return."

The shadow beneath his feet stirred.

The wolf emerged.

But something was wrong.

Its body was smaller.

Parts of its legs were translucent, and one of its violet eyes flickered irregularly.

Albedo noticed.

"It’s incomplete."

"Yes."

Strax ordered it to attack.

The wolf obeyed.

Samira saw the creature returning.

"You’re bringing them back?!"

"That’s the test!"

"Then I’ll destroy them again!"

Her sword tore through the animal.

This time, the result was different.

The shadow didn’t explode.

It simply collapsed.

Its body lost its shape and transformed into a black mass that was pulled back into the gauntlet.

Strax felt its presence.

Much weaker.

Almost extinguished.

He tried to summon it again.

Nothing.

"First limit," he murmured.

Lithara landed beside him.

"What?"

"A destroyed shadow can’t be reused immediately."

"We already knew that."

"Now we know what happens if I force it."

Strax looked at the gauntlet.

"The second destruction practically dismantled its structure. The essence is still here, but it can’t take form."

Lithara frowned.

"Can you lose it permanently?"

"That’s what we’re going to find out."

He tried again.

Nothing happened.

Strax then directed a small amount of the gauntlet’s free energy toward that presence.

The reaction was immediate.

The fragment began absorbing it.

Strax raised his eyebrows.

"Ah."

Lithara looked at him.

"You said you weren’t going to say ’interesting.’"

"Samira was the one who said that."

"She can hear you."

In the distance, Samira cut a demonic beast in half.

"I CAN!"

Strax laughed.

Then he returned his attention to the wolf.

The free energy continued filling the destroyed structure.

Little by little, the presence stabilized.

He opened his hand.

The shadow appeared again.

Complete.

The wolf was back.

Lithara immediately understood.

"So it can rebuild them."

"Yes. But it costs energy."

"How much?"

Strax observed the animal.

"More than I expected."

That changed everything.

The shadows were regenerative.

Not immortal for free.

Every reconstruction consumed the gauntlet’s own reserves.

And the more damaged the shadow was, the greater the cost.

Strax looked toward the Wyverns.

He needed to test something larger.

"Albedo!"

She destroyed two wolves with an explosion before looking at him.

"What?"

Strax pointed toward one of the largest Wyverns.

"Destroy that one completely."

Albedo followed his finger.

"Completely?"

"Leave nothing behind."

She smiled.

"Finally, a reasonable order."

Albedo disappeared.

The Wyvern didn’t even have time to react.

She appeared directly above its head and concentrated demonic energy between her hands.

The explosion swallowed the creature.

For several seconds, an enormous sphere of black energy remained suspended in the sky.

Then it disappeared.

Absolutely nothing remained of the Wyvern.

Strax felt its presence return.

Dormant.

He tried to summon it.

The shadow beneath him began to expand.

A head emerged.

Then the neck.

One wing.

Then everything collapsed.

Strax stopped the attempt.

"More difficult."

Lithara watched.

"Because it’s stronger?"

"And larger."

He began feeding the presence with free energy.

The gauntlet’s reserves visibly dropped.

The violet lines lost some of their glow.

Strax continued.

Little by little, the Wyvern was rebuilt.

When he finally managed to summon it, the creature emerged from the shadow with a roar.

But Strax didn’t smile.

Lithara noticed.

"How much?"

"A lot."

"How many times could you do that?"

Strax looked toward the remaining Wyverns.

"We’re going to find out."

And they did.

The plain became a field of extermination.

Samira advanced through the center, destroying everything she encountered.

Lithara dominated the skies.

Albedo eliminated the larger creatures.

And Strax kept bringing the shadows back.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

The gauntlet’s behavior began to change.

During the first hour, Strax had barely felt any strain.

The weapon had sustained hundreds of creatures simultaneously without consuming his own energy.

Now, however, the violet lines flickered irregularly.

The chains had lost some of their density.

Some looked almost like smoke at the ends.

Strax opened his hand.

"One more time."

Fifteen wolves emerged.

Two immediately collapsed.

Thirteen remained.

Strax frowned.

He tried again with the other two.

Nothing.

The reserve was running low.

He directed free energy toward them.

For the first time, the gauntlet resisted.

It didn’t refuse the order.

It simply took longer to respond.

Strax felt a kind of internal pressure, as though he were trying to draw water from a nearly empty container.

"It’s getting there."

Lithara landed beside him, breathing a little faster.

"The limit?"

"Yes."

She looked across the plain.

A little over a hundred manifested creatures remained.

"Want to stop?"

"No."

Strax clenched his fist.

"I want to find the bottom."

Lithara smiled.

"Naturally."

He raised his hand.

"Samira!"

She was covered in dust, holding her sword over her shoulder.

"What?"

"Destroy everything."

Samira froze.

Then a smile appeared on her face.

"Finally."

Strax realized too late that he might have chosen the wrong words.

Samira gripped her sword with both hands.

All of her draconic energy erupted.

The sky seemed to darken.

Lithara looked at her.

"Maybe we should..."

"Yes."

She and Albedo immediately flew behind Strax.

He looked at them.

"Cowards."

Albedo pointed toward Samira.

"Look."

Strax looked.

"Ah."

Samira raised her sword.

The energy concentrated within the blade became so intense that tiny cracks began appearing in the metal.

Strax’s eyes widened.

"Samira! The sword!"

"I’LL BUY ANOTHER ONE!"

She attacked.

The world turned white.

For a single instant, Strax couldn’t distinguish anything.

Then came the sound.

BOOOOOOM!

A gigantic wave of energy tore across the plain.

The ground split open.

Hills disappeared.

Rocks were pulverized.

The shadows never had a chance.

Wolves vanished.

Demonic beasts were disintegrated.

Wyverns were ripped from the sky.

In less than three seconds, more than a hundred creatures were destroyed.

They all returned simultaneously.

Strax felt the gauntlet go berserk.

The chains stretched taut.

The violet lines blazed intensely.

The condensed sphere inside the weapon grew abruptly as hundreds of destroyed structures demanded energy to rebuild themselves at the same time.

"Shit."

Lithara looked at him.

"What?"

"The entire load came back at once."

The gauntlet began to vibrate.

Strax tried to stop the automatic regeneration.

He couldn’t.

The weapon was trying to rebuild everything.

Wolves.

Wyverns.

Demonic beasts.

Every shadow drew energy from the same reserve.

The condensed sphere began to shrink.

The violet lines went dark one after another.

Strax clenched his fist.

"Stop."

Nothing.

"I said stop."

The chains thrashed.

Strax forced his will against the gauntlet.

Finally, the process slowed.

But it was too late.

Almost all the free energy had been consumed.

Strax looked at the weapon.

The plates remained intact.

But they were completely black.

No violet lines.

No glow.

No pulse.

Lithara approached.

"Did it die?"

"No."

Strax tried to manifest a chain.

The chain emerged only a few centimeters before falling limp.

He raised an eyebrow.

Albedo landed beside him.

"That looks pretty dead."

"It’s exhausted."

Strax closed his eyes.

The presences were still there.

Hundreds of them.

But almost all were dormant.

Some of the weaker shadows had already been partially rebuilt. Others were so badly damaged that he could barely sense them.

The Wyverns would require much more energy.

So would the demonic beasts.

Strax opened his eyes.

"I found it."

Lithara immediately understood.

"The limit."

Strax nodded.

"It isn’t quantity."

Albedo frowned.

"What?"

"I was looking for a maximum number of shadows."

He looked at the gauntlet.

"There isn’t a simple limit like that. At least, I haven’t found one yet."

Strax raised his arm.

"I can store hundreds of essences without any problem. The real limit is usable energy."

Lithara looked at the dormant weapon.

"So each stored creature doesn’t just take up space."

"It creates an obligation."

Strax pointed toward the devastated plain.

"While they’re intact, the cost of keeping them manifested is small. But when they’re destroyed, the gauntlet has to rebuild them."

Albedo began to understand.

"And if too many are destroyed at once..."

"They drain the reserve."

Strax smiled.

"Exactly."

Samira finally emerged from the dust, walking toward them.

Her sword was covered in cracks.

She looked at the dormant gauntlet.

Then at Strax.

"Did I kill it?"

"Exhausted it."

Samira immediately smiled.

"Good."

Strax looked at her.

"Why do you look so pleased?"

"Because that damn thing finally lost."

"It didn’t lose."

Samira pointed toward the gauntlet.

"It can’t even move its chains."

Strax tried.

A chain emerged a few centimeters.

Then fell again.

Samira started laughing.

"Pathetic."

Strax stared at the weapon.

Then he had an idea.

"Wait."

He tried to access the small amount of condensed energy still remaining inside the gauntlet.

There was almost nothing.

But some still remained.

Strax directed all of it toward a single presence.

Not a Wyvern.

Not a demonic beast.

A wolf.

The energy disappeared.

The shadow beneath him moved.

Slowly, a Black-Fanged Wolf emerged.

One paw.

Then another.

Its head.

Its entire body.

The creature remained standing for three seconds.

Then collapsed.

Samira crossed her arms.

"Impressive."

Strax ignored her.

That had confirmed something important.

"The condensed energy is an emergency reserve."

Lithara approached.

"But a small one."

"Because we spent almost all of it rebuilding the others."

Strax closed his eyes again.

Now he understood the structure better.

The energy absorbed from deaths fed the gauntlet.

Part of it was used to create the initial shadow.

Part remained as a reserve.

When a shadow was destroyed, its essence returned, but it needed energy to rebuild its manifestable body.

If it was destroyed repeatedly without time to recover, the cost increased.

If hundreds were destroyed simultaneously...

The gauntlet simply entered a state of exhaustion.

Strax opened his eyes.

"So this is the current limit."

Lithara nodded.

"Amount of energy."

"More specifically, recovery capacity."

Strax looked across the devastated field.

"I can have an enormous army. But I can’t treat it as infinite."

Albedo crossed her arms.

"That sounds obvious when you put it that way."

"It does now."

Strax observed the gauntlet.

"If I lose twenty creatures, it recovers easily. Fifty is still manageable. But if someone destroys hundreds in a short period of time..."

He looked at Samira.

She smiled.

"...this happens."

Samira pointed at herself.

"So I’m the limit of your gauntlet?"

"Don’t get cocky."

"I destroyed your entire army."

"You were supposed to destroy it."

"Details."

Strax laughed.

Then he turned his attention back to the weapon.

Even completely exhausted, something had changed.

The sensation of emptiness wasn’t the same as the one that had existed before he started feeding it.

The structure felt larger.

Like a container that had been emptied but hadn’t returned to its original size.

Strax narrowed his eyes.

Lithara noticed.

"What now?"

"When we started, it was almost full."

"Yes."

"Now it’s empty."

"Yes."

Strax smiled.

"But it feels bigger."

Samira immediately stopped smiling.

"No."

Strax opened and closed his hand.

"Yes."

"No."

"Samira..."

"I just spent hours destroying this damn thing!"

Lithara started laughing.

Strax continued examining the weapon.

"Maybe reaching exhaustion increases its capacity."

Samira stared at him in absolute disgust.

Albedo sighed.

"So this entire test only served to make the gauntlet even stronger."

Strax smiled.

"Probably."

Samira raised her cracked sword.

"I’m going to break that thing."

Strax raised the completely dormant gauntlet.

"Now would be a great opportunity."

She narrowed her eyes.

Strax started laughing.

But while the three of them argued, he continued feeling that new depth within the weapon.

For the first time, he knew its limit.

Not a number of creatures.

Not a specific number of souls.

It was a reserve.

A finite capacity to sustain, rebuild, and strengthen the army it carried.

And now that Strax knew exactly how to exhaust it...

he also knew what he needed to do to increase it.