Blackout Ascension: Return of Primordial Heir-Chapter 42: Evolution

The damp air inside the Whispering Hollows dungeon turned to freezing ice. The dead corpse of the SSR beast spasmed on the muddy floor. It wasn’t a normal lingering muscle twitch. It looked like an invisible hand was shaking the corpse from the inside out.

Thick, suffocating black mist poured out of the beast’s shattered chest cavity. The dark mist hissed, crawling away on the wet stone floor like a concentrated, bubbling acid.

"Kairos?" Ignis asked weakly from the ground, his red eyes wide. "What exactly is happening? I thought you broke its core!"

"I did!" Kairos yelled back, frantically gripping the silver hilt of Asteria. He desperately backed away from the spasming corpse. "This is going crazy! Get up! Both of you, get up right now!"

[CRITICAL WARNING: MANA IS CURRENTLY MUTATING. THE SSR CORPSE IS FUNCTIONING AS A FLESH INCUBATOR. A DEMON-TIER CALAMITY IS NOW ACTIVELY MANIFESTING.]

Terravarous forced himself to stand, his pummelled chest heaving. He stepped protectively in front of his younger cousin, Ignis. As proud members of the royal Solaris family, running away was against their nature.

"Form up!" Terravarous roared aggressively, ignoring his severe injuries. "We are Royal Generals! We do not run from dead bugs!"

But this absolutely wasn’t a dead bug anymore.

CRUNCH!! SCREEEEEECHHHH!!

The hard purple armor plates of the dead SSR beast cracked wide open. The shell completely peeled back like a rotting fruit. The black mist swirled together, instantly condensing into a new terrifying physical form.

It was no longer a giant, mindless insect. Standing entirely in the center of the ruined cavern was a tall, slender, humanoid creature. It was pitch-black, made entirely of solid darkness. It had no face, no mouth, and no eyes. It only had a blank white mask with a single, jagged red line bleeding down from the center of the mask. Its long, unnatural arms transmuted, forming into blades.

It was a new, berserk Demon-Tier aberration. The second it fully stood up, the air in the cave turned highly toxic and lethal. Ignis dropped to his bare knees, coughing up a mouthful of bright red blood. The natural, roaring fire that lived inside his body died out. The terrifying, crushing presence of the Demon-Tier beast snuffed out his royal magic completely.

"My... my fire..." Ignis choked, clutching his chest in pure agony. "I can’t... breathe..."

"Ignis!" Terravarous shouted in sheer panic, lunging forward, desperately trying to shield his helpless cousin. He activated his strongest defensive magic.

"Earth Fortification: Absolute Aegis!" Terravarous roared loudly.

A massive wall of solid, compressed diamond detonated from the muddy floor, covering the two royal cousins. It was a legendary shield that could easily block the impact of falling meteor.

The blank-faced Demon-Tier beast didn’t even move its arms. It simply tilted its white mask slightly to the right.

CRACK!!

Without any touch, the massive, unbreakable diamond wall shattered into tiny pieces instantly. The sheer impact struck Terravarous in the chest. The giant was staggered, slammed backward like a broken ragdoll thrown by a child. He crashed into Ignis, and both of them smashed through the solid rock wall of the cavern.

They collapsed into a pile of broken debris, unconscious and bleeding.

"No!" Kairos screamed in panic.

He was completely alone now. The terrifying Demon-Tier beast slowly turned its gaze directly toward Kairos. The suffocating gravity in the dark cave pinned onto him. Kairos clenched his teeth. He frantically transduced his remaining mana into his tired legs again. "Wind Step!"

He burst forward, moving fast, leaving a silver blur behind him. He inexorably swung Asteria with everything he had, aiming for the beast’s head. The beast didn’t dodge. It simply raised its thin, shadowy finger.

CLANG!!!

The silver blade of Asteria clashed, struck the finger and stopped defunct. The impact of the collision sent an invisible shockwave, wavering through the Kairos’ hands. His wrists loudly cracked. His boots rigidly dug into the muddy floor, stopping his momentum instantly.

He couldn’t push the blade even a millimeter forward. The blank-faced monster flicked its thin finger.

WHAPPPP!!

Kairos was catapulted backward. He trajected across the cave, smashing his back into a sharp stalagmite, shattering behind him. He collapsed to the mud, coughing, unable to breathe.

His vision was obscured by the agony in his head. His entire body screamed in consummate agony.

[SYSTEM OBSERVATION: HOST HAS FAILED MISERABLY. THE DEMON-TIER ANOMALY IS VASTLY SUPERIOR IN EVERY SINGLE STATISTIC.]

I know that, you annoying piece of junk! Kairos coughed, screaming inside his own mind, trying to force his ruptured body to stand back up. Tell me exactly how to kill it!

The Demon-Tier beast began walking toward him. Its footsteps made no sound on the wet rocks. It raised its shadow blade, preparing to sever Kairos’s head from his shoulders in a single devastating slash.

[TACTICAL SUGGESTION: YOU POSSESS A HIGHLY UNIQUE, MYTHICAL TITLE. YOU ARE THE CONQUEROR OF TIME. I SUGGEST YOU TO USE IT BEFORE YOU ARE PERMANENTLY DELETED FROM EXISTENCE.]

Kairos’s dark eyes widened. The brutal fight with Algreth bellicosely flashed through his tired mind. He had successfully manipulated the laws of the universe once before. But that was a subconscious, desperate reaction. He didn’t know how to actively trigger it on command.

How?! Kairos demanded, staring with shock, at the approaching monster. How do I use it?!

[ACTIVATING BASIC SKILL. CONQUEROR OF TIME: LEVEL 1. OVERRIDING LIMITERS. WARNING: HOST’S MANA CAPACITY CAN ONLY SUSTAIN THIS SUPREME DOMINION FOR TEN SECONDS. USE YOUR TIME WISELY, PEASANT.]

Ten seconds. Tsk!! I can move in frozen time freely, but I can’t cast that? Okay! Kairos groaned with sheer pain.

The shadow blade descended with immense pressure toward Kairos’s unprotected neck.

"Halt!" Kairos roared loudly, raising his bloody hand forward.

CRACKZZZZ!!

The entire world stopped. The splashing mud froze in mid-air. The suffocating, toxic black mist hung motionless, the roaring, chaotic sound of the cave died, replaced by a terrifying, dead grey silence.

The terrifying Demon-Tier beast was frozen. Its sharp shadow blade was halted one single inch away from Kairos’s pale throat.

Kairos slowly took a shaking breath. The surrounding air felt thick and heavy, like breathing in a room full of ash.

[DOMINION ESTABLISHED. TIME HALT ACTIVATED. YOU HAVE TEN SECONDS REMAINING. COUNTDOWN INITIATED.]

Ten seconds!, Kairos thought. That is more than enough.

Kairos ignored his screaming muscles, gripping the hilt of Asteria with both hands. The silver blade actively shimmered with a holy light in the halted world. He didn’t rush forward, which may have been a waste of time.

[SYSTEM ALERT: SPATIAL CONTROL UNLOCKED FOR TEN SECONDS. HOST CAN TELEPORT TO ANY VISIBLE LOCATION WITHIN THE DOMINION.]

"Nine seconds," Kairos whispered into the silence. He imagined the space behind the frozen beast’s back.

ZAP!!

He vanished from the ground and reappeared behind the monster. He swung his silver sword roaring, striking into the beast’s dark, shadowy spine.

SLASH!!

The blade cleanly cut the shadows, leaving a shimmering silver wound that poised, frozen in the grey air. The damage was completely stacked, waiting patiently for time to resume.

"Eight seconds," Kairos said coldly.

ZAP!!

He teleported again to the beast’s left blind spot. He thrusted Asteria through the monster’s thick ribcage, tearing a gaping hole through its shadow body.

SLASH!!

"Seven seconds."

ZAP!!

He reappeared on the right side. He vehemently swung the heavy sword upward, severing the beast’s right arm. The shadow blade detached, hanging motionless in the frozen grey air.

SLASH!!

"Six seconds."

ZAP!!

He teleported above the monster’s head, hovering upside down in the frozen air. He stabbed downward, entirely lunging the glowing silver blade through the beast’s left shoulder.

SLASH!!

"Five seconds."

He was breathing heavily, his mana core was screaming in agonizing pain. Manipulating time and space at a time was tearing his body apart from the inside out. The fresh blood started dripping from his nose and ears, but it froze into tiny, red rubies as it hit the grey air. But, he could not afford to stop. If this terrifying beast survived, it would instantly slaughter Seyana’s cousins. It would slaughter the outer district.

"Four seconds."

ZAP!! SLASH!!

He brutally severed the beast’s left leg.

"Three seconds."

ZAP!! SLASH!!

He sliced across the beast’s abdomen, carving a massive ’X’ slash into its chest.

"Two seconds."

He teleported to the front of the frozen monster, standing face-to-face with the terrifying, blank white mask.

The beast was covered in dozens of glowing, silver wounds. It was surrounded by a clinging, frozen impact.

"One second," Kairos whispered, his dark eyes cold and totally empty of fear.

He pulled Asteria back, concentrating every single ounce of his remaining life force into the silver blade. It glittered like a miniature holy sun.

"Fall," Kairos commanded.

He thrust the shimmering silver sword forward. The sharp blade shattered the blank white mask, thrusting instantly through the center of the beast’s dark head.

[COUNTDOWN COMPLETE. DOMINION COLLAPSING. TIME RESUMING.]

SNAP!!

The deafening sound crashed back into the dark cavern. All the chaotic colors instantly returned, and all the rumbling of frozen damage hit the Demon-Tier beast at the same second.

It was not a simple fight. Kairos performed a brutal execution.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

The terrifying Demon-Tier beast burst out. Dozens of lethal sword strikes ripped its body apart from every single direction simultaneously. The solid shadow body shredded into a million useless, dark fragments. The toxic black mist disintegrated under the shimmering silver light.

The resulting shockwave rumbled across the cavern. The remaining wet stalagmites shattered into dust. When the light fully faded away... the monster was gone. Just a pile of dark flesh like ash was there

Kairos dropped Asteria, the silver sword clattering loudly against the stone.

He fell onto his bare knees. His lungs were screaming, burned like he was inhaling fire. He coughed, spitting out a thick mouthful of blood into the mud. His vision was obscured with dark spots.

[SYSTEM ALERT: DEMON-TIER ANOMALY ELIMINATED. CRITICAL THREAT RESTRAINED. HOST SURVIVAL CONFIRMED. OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE, YOU CRAZY BASTARD.]

Kairos let out a weak, tired laugh. He ignored the sarcastic system. He slowly rose up taking the Asteria in hands and with that support, walked towards the corner wall.

Ignis and Terravarous were lying motionless in the debris.

Kairos grabbed Ignis by his black shirt and gently shook him. "Hey... Ignis. Wake up. The ugly bug is dead now."

Ignis groaned loudly, painfully fluttering his eyes open. He rubbed his bruised head.

"Did... did Terravarous accidentally drop a mountain on my head?" Ignis slurred weakly, coughing loudly.

Next to him, the giant slowly moved. Terravarous pushed a large boulder off his bruised chest and slowly sat up. He looked around the ruined cave.

"Where is the monster?" Terravarous rumbled, looking confused. "That bastard Demon-Tier... where is it?"

Kairos slowly sat back in the wet mud, thrusting his Asteria into the ground, placing his left hand on the pommel, and lifted a finger pointing towards the pile of fleshy ash.

"It slipped and fell," Kairos lied with a tired smile grazing his pale lips. "I just got lucky again."

Ignis stared at the tiny pile of ash. Then he stared closely at Kairos’s battered, bleeding body.

"You are a terrible liar, village boy," Ignis mumbled, slowly leaning his head back on the wall. "But... I am entirely too tired to yell at you right now. Remind me to yell at you tomorrow."

"Will do," Kairos whispered, leaning his head back, closing his tired eyes. The brutal dungeon raid was finally over. They had survived a nightmare of ’Calamity Beast’. But deep inside his exhausted mind, Kairos knew the truth.

The mysterious System was unlocking dangerous, god-like powers inside his body, and if random, minor dungeons on the outskirts of the kingdom were already spawning Demon-Tier beasts... then the blooming Great War was going to be much more worse than any of them in this world could have ever possibly imagined.