Chapter 58: Shattered Steel

The world slowed to a crawl. The heavy steel broadsword fell toward my skull, cutting through the morning air with a deep whistle.

The blue runes carved into the arena floor pulsed with heavy gravity. Cedric thought the four-fold weight had locked my joints.

He thought I was trapped.

He thought the duel was already over.

He was wrong.

My right toe pressed against the cracked stone floor. Black void mana hissed from the leather of my boot, spreading across the dust in thin dark threads.

The four-fold gravity did not touch me.

The void had no weight, and the void had no drag.

I stepped forward directly into the path of the falling blade.

My body blurred into a dark streak.

Cedric’s broadsword sliced through empty air. The heavy steel edge slammed into the arena stone where I had stood a fraction of a second before.

Boom!

Stone shattered under the kinetic impact. A thick cloud of white chalk dust kicked into the morning air.

Cedric’s thick arms jolted from the kinetic shock. His eyes widened in raw disbelief.

"Where did you go?" he choked out.

"Behind you," I said softly.

I stood in his left blind spot. My left hand remained tucked inside my coat pocket.

My right arm was drawn back.

The Abyssal Core spun steadily in the center of my chest. It gathered the blue gravity energy swallowed from the floor runes.

It compressed that energy into a tight black spark around my right knuckles.

I did not aim for his ribs. I did not aim for his throat.

I aimed directly for the thick spine of his heavy broadsword.

I drove my fist forward in a straight line.

The strike was clean. There was zero wasted motion.

Crack!

The sound tore through the open arena like a lightning strike. The massive broadsword did not bend or bounce.

Snap!

It shattered.

Dozens of jagged steel shards exploded into the air. The heavy crossguard snapped in Cedric’s grip.

The kinetic shockwave blasted through his gauntlets. It tore the leather and broke both of his thumbs.

Cedric screamed in agony.

He stumbled backward, clutching his bloody hands. Steel shards rained down on the arena floor with sharp metallic clatters.

One piece sliced across his cheek, drawing a line of red blood.

---

[Cedric Vale POV]

My sword broke. My family heirloom broke.

The heavy steel blade that could cut through castle gates was gone.

My hands burned with white-hot pain. The blue runes under my boots flickered and died.

Dead.

’How? He is an Iron badge.’

’He is a commoner waste.’

A red window flashed right in front of my eyes. The letters pulsed with violent dark red light.

`[THE HEAVY KNIGHT SYSTEM: CRITICAL FAILURE]`

`[Emergency Quest: Slay Cassian Voss on Ring Three - FAILED]`

`[Target Status: Unharmed]`

`[Host Weapon: Destroyed]`

`[Penalty Countdown Initiated: Soul Deletion in 60 Seconds!]`

My chest seized as cold terror flooded my blood.

"No," I whispered. "Give me more power!"

The red prompt did not answer. It only counted down.

59.

58.

---

The entire Sector 4 Arena fell into dead silence. The noble cadets in the upper tiers stopped shouting.

Their silver wine cups froze in mid-air.

Nobody laughed, and nobody cheered.

The noble scions of House Vale leaned over the stone railings with open mouths.

"His sword broke," someone whispered from the high seats.

"A bare fist broke a Vale heavy blade?" another noble muttered in shock.

The instructors along the perimeter wall stood frozen in place. None of them moved to intervene.

Down low on the plain wood benches by the south wall, commoner cadets rose to their feet. They did not make a sound or cheer yet.

They simply stood in quiet, fierce solidarity.

Rook stood at the very front of the bench. His jaw was set like dark stone.

He raised his right arm.

Up.

He struck his heavy fist against his iron breastplate.

Down.

Thump.

The dull sound echoed off the high stone walls. It was the silent salute of unwritten commoners.

Down by the tunnel arch, Seraphina stood tall with royal poise. Her golden hair caught the morning sunlight.

Her lips curved into a proud smile. She had known the outcome before I stepped onto the ring.

Behind her, Isolde stood with her arms crossed over her dark uniform. Two dark throwing daggers twirled silently between her black-gloved fingers.

Her pale purple eyes tracked every noble guard along the perimeter wall. If any corrupt warden tried to interfere, those daggers would fly.

Cedric fell to his knees in the dust. Blood dripped from his torn fingers onto the cold stone.

He looked up at me with wide, trembling eyes.

"What kind of monster are you?" Cedric gasped.

I walked up to him with slow, steady steps. My boots crunched over the broken pieces of his broadsword.

Three seconds.

I stopped right in front of him.

"Just an Iron cadet," I said.

I raised my right boot. I pressed the sole firmly against his breastplate, slamming his back flat against the arena floor.

Cedric cried out as the breath left his lungs.

The black mark on my chest burned with intense heat. The Abyssal Core woke up with a deep, hungry rumble.

It reached out through the sole of my boot. Dark mana coils sank through Cedric’s armor and straight into his soul core.

Ding!

`[Enemy Core Detected: The Heavy Knight System (Puppet System #09)]`

`[Core Status: Severely Destabilized / Soul Deletion Imminent]`

`[Abyssal Devour Protocol: Locked On]`

`[Extraction Target: Heavy Gravity Immunity & Kinetic Inertia Core]`

`[Siphon Commencing: 15%... 45%... 85%...]`

`[Combat Dominance Bonus: +250 SP]`

`[Current SP Balance: 5,500 SP]`

Cedric let out a strangled wail. Dark threads tore the false system from his soul.

The red prompt in his eyes flickered, glitched, and shattered into digital dust.

I leaned down slightly so only he could hear my voice.

"Your system belongs to me now," I whispered.

The arena referee finally blew his silver whistle.

"Match Three concluded! Victor: Cassian Voss!"

I turned my back on Cedric. I walked toward the tunnel gate where Seraphina and Isolde waited.

My core hummed with the extracted gravity power.

Under the arena stands, I would give that power to Seraphina. Her right leg would never ache again.