SSS Rank Sword Mage: Awakening Starts with Weakest Mana Affinity-Chapter 119: A Game Of Truths.

The situation had turned into a one-sided slaughter. The god-like being, once a symbol of terror, was now being completely washed.

"What’s the matter? I thought you were strong," Taz mocked, his voice cutting through the roar of the wind.

Bang! Another punch connected, the sound of bone hitting obsidian echoing like a mallet on an anvil. Even now, Taz hadn’t so much as touched the blade of his sword.

Bagu, refusing to accept his fate, unleashed a desperate barrage of sonic blasts from his maw. The concussive waves rippled through the air, trying to shatter Taz’s concentration and break the tether of the attraction. Taz began weaving past the blasts with predatory grace; some waves drifted harmlessly away while others were sucked toward him. It became clear that the magnetic-like pull of his sword was being selective—calculatedly warding off threats while dragging in anything it could use as a weapon.

Bagu had proven his intelligence, timing the blasts so the attraction would pull the destructive energy directly toward Taz. It seemed to work for a heartbeat, but Taz simply lunged through the distortion. He snatched the Dragon’s phantom half mid-air and began a brutal, rhythmic assault, ramming his fist into its gut until the spectral entity began to crack like frosted glass. He was moving to end this quickly; Bagu was starting to decode the mechanics of the pull, and Taz wasn’t one to give his prey a second chance.

In a display of absolute disrespect, Taz seized the phantom by the leg and swung it like a massive baseball bat, slamming the spectral double directly into the real Bagu.

Tobias just smirked at us, his expression a silent boast: I told you he was the best. As I stared at Taz’s brilliance, a hunger grew in my chest. I wanted that strength. But then, the memory of that translucent screen flickered back into my mind. I had hoped I wouldn’t come across such a thing in this world, but there was no mistaking it. It was a System.

My mind snapped back to reality as Father, too, stood frozen, unable to believe his eyes. We were all witnesses to absolute power. The impact of the battle was sickening; inside the barrier, Greyjoy’s jaw hung open, his arrogance completely evaporated. To see a monster that had terrorized them for hours be handled with such casual, calculated violence was impossible to process.

This was the true, terrifying peak of a Sword Mage.

"ENOUGH!!!!"

Bagu’s roar tore the sky asunder. He pulsed with a massive, omnidirectional blast of mana, finally generating enough explosive momentum to rip himself out of the sword’s gravitational well. For a moment, the dragon and his phantom stood at a distance, chests heaving, their many eyes wide with a mixture of predatory fear and frantic calculation.

But distance was an illusion. Even at the edge of the clearing, the phantom half began to vibrate as the attraction took hold once more.

Escaping a cosmic debt wasn’t that simple. The invisible force began to tug at the spectral double, dragging it back toward Taz, who stood waiting with his fist cocked and a bored expression on his face.

"Looks like my sword really likes you two, huh?" Taz taunted. "Come on, don’t fight it. Just accept the connection."

"I think I have figured it out," Bagu rasped, a horrific, jagged grin splitting his snout. "It took me a while, but I understand it now..."

In a moment of pure, sickening desperation, Bagu did the unthinkable. With a guttural snarl, he plunged his claws into the back of his own phantom half. He didn’t merge with it; he began to devour it. The sound of spectral bone and raw mana being crushed between his jaws was nauseating—a wet, crunching noise that echoed through the unnatural silence of the woods.

As he swallowed the final fragment of his half or phantom, the gravitational pull went dead.

"What just happened. did he just?" Greyjoy yelled, his voice cracking.

Lord Zedd stood frozen, his eyes narrowed as he felt the sudden shift in the atmosphere. "From the looks of it, I can’t even begin to guess... he devoured himself...or what really was that thing."

"He’s stopped being pulled" Tobias whispered, his ledger flickering wildly.

Taz let out a dry chuckle and began to clap—slow, condescending thuds of his bandaged palms. "Wow, you figured it out that fast? You’re pretty smart for a dragon. I thought you lizards were all instinct and no brain or what path animal did you evolve from. He wondered.

Truly impressive." He tilted his head, his eyes glinting with malice. "You realize now that I’m a completely bad matchup for you, don’t you? As long as that phantom existed, you were just a fish on my hook."

Bagu’s body began to thicken, his scales turning and looking a heavy, leaden grey as the 4th-dimensional mass settled in his gut. He grinned, his teeth dripping with his own essence as white bits of smoke or steam left his mouth.

"Perhaps," the dragon hissed, his voice now sounding like grinding stones. "But then again, I will decide that for myself. I alone will decide my fate—and I choose to be the one that crushes you."

Author’s Note As the saying goes, "The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence." To understand why Taz is so feared, one must understand the terrifying metaphysics behind his weapon: Vhaegon, the Absolute Blade of Noumena.

Vhaegon is one of the strongest of the 5 legendary blades during the sword mages’ peak relevance in society. One of Vhaegon’s known and true abilities is the ability to erase all things it touches, but to do that, Taz must meet certain requirements as a Game of Truths must be played.

By declaring he is "dead" if he crosses the line, Taz creates a high-stakes truth. If the opponent fails to break Taz’s established truths, or if Taz proves his own "truth" is superior through combat, the blade gains the right to erase the opponent from reality entirely. And so, the Game of Truths begins...

"Hey, lizard," Taz said, his voice terrifyingly calm. "Have you ever played the game of Truths?"

Bagu tilted his head, his many eyes narrowing. "Excuse me? What did you just say?"

"I asked if you’ve ever played the game of Truths," Taz repeated, speaking with an open, casual air that felt entirely wrong for a battlefield.

Bagu watched him warily, sensing the undercurrent of a trap. "And why should that be any concern of mine? There you go again, prattling on..." Despite his words, Bagu didn’t move. He looked like a man watching a fuse burn, unsure of what the explosion would look like.

Even I was baffled. A game? Why would he bring up a game in the middle of a battle?

Taz smirked, his thumb tracing the hilt of his blade. "Well, according to the rules, it’s a necessary requirement that I inform the other players. If I didn’t, you wouldn’t have a fighting chance—and that would be boring. Besides, whether you like it or not, you’re already a participant."

"A game?" Tobi whispered from the sidelines, his brow furrowing. "I’ve never heard him mention a ’game’ in a combat situation before."

Greyjoy let out a sharp, cynical breath, his expression suggesting this only confirmed his belief that Taz was mentally unstable. Lord Zedd remained silent, as did the rest of us. None of these seasoned warriors had ever experienced a battle governed by the rules of a playground.

"Is that why you drew that line?" Bagu asked, his voice low. "Some kind of activation ritual for your stupid game?"

"Honestly? Yes," Taz replied. "The game begins when I state my ’Truth.’ I already told you: if I, Taz Deontay, cross that line, I am as good as dead. I meant that with every fiber of my being. That was the First Truth, and since I’m still standing here, you haven’t disproved it yet." He offered a sharp, jagged smirk.

Bagu’s posture shifted. "So that’s why the attraction took hold of me? I see now... this ’game’ of yours." His tone carried a hum of genuine curiosity, as if he were weighing whether to treat this as a serious threat or the delusions of a madman.

Setting rules, truths, and conditions before a blade was even swung—I wondered if this was a secret art unique to the highest order of Sword Mages, or if Taz was simply playing with the fabric of reality itself.

"The goal is simple," Taz continued, his voice taking on a chillingly playful edge. "Three Truths are presented. If the Refuter is unable to disprove the Proclaimer—that’s me—well, quite honestly, they simply stop existing. But there’s a catch: the game only holds if the Proclaimer can prove his three Truths through his own strength."

He gave a small, airy laugh that didn’t reach his eyes. "It’s a favorite game among children in the days of old. Crazy, right? Who would have thought kids could be so creative with the concept of non-existence? But children lack the weight to achieve the game’s full potential. Now, however, I have that power. I can turn their playground make-believe into a fundamental law."

Taz stepped toward forward and with every inch he moved, the grass beneath his boots didn’t just bend—it turned to grey ash, as if the "life" of the plant had been revoked.

"My first truth: I wouldn’t cross that line, and if I did, I would die instantly. Unfortunately for you, you failed to disprove my truth. Because of that, I was granted authority over you. But now you’re free. Congratulations on figuring out how to escape."

Bagu roared, his leaden scales vibrating. "You mock me, you filthy trash! Your arrogance is boundless! I have my own truth: I cannot be killed." Bagu chuckled darkly. "Let’s see how you break my truth!"

Taz simply sighed, looking almost bored. "I see. Unfortunately, I’m the only one who makes the truths; you only get to disprove them. Unfair, I know, but those are the rules of the game."

"Screw you and your game!" Bagu screamed, his massive form blurring as he launched his most devastating assault yet.

Taz simply chuckled, his shoulders shaking with genuine mirth. "Whoever was in charge of your evolution did a hell of a job. Really."

The shift was instantaneous. The air didn’t just grow cold; it grew thin, as if the atmosphere itself were being sucked into the obsidian edge of the blade. As Taz wrenched Vhaegon from the earth, the weapon finally revealed its true form. It didn’t just glow; it radiated a crystalline, violet light that felt like a masterpiece of divinity—a prize that no mortal hand should ever have been allowed to touch.

"My second Truth," Taz whispered. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Before Bagu could even blink, the space between them collapsed. Taz appeared like a haunting specter right at the Dragon’s ear. His voice wasn’t a shout; it was a cold, intimate breeze against the creature’s leaden scales.

"You aren’t a Dragon anymore," Taz murmured, the edge of Vhaegon beginning to scream as it touched the air. "You’re just a collection of runaway meat trying to play God. And meat..."

He leaned in, his single eye burning with a terrifying clarity. "...meat is meant to be carved up."

With a flick of his wrist, the blade hummed. Bagu’s massive left arm fell to the forest floor, sliced through like warm butter. There was no resistance, no spray of blood—just a clean, conceptual severance.

Bagu let out a roar of pure defiance. Because he had devoured his phantom, his physical vitality was now at a peak; the arm erupted from the stump, regenerating instantly in a flurry of gore and leaden scales. But Taz was already gone.

The Blitz began.

What followed was a terrifying display of "Truth" meeting "Matter." They moved at speeds the human eye couldn’t track. All we saw were the flashes:

The First Pass: A wing-tip falls, spinning through the air before hitting the dirt.

The Second Pass: A massive chunk of Bagu’s shoulder is carved away, hitting the ground with a heavy thud.

The Third Pass: Three of the Dragon’s eyes are sliced in a single, horizontal line.

Taz wasn’t aiming for the heart yet. He was proving a point. He was treating a Calamity-rank monster like a butcher treats a carcass on a hook. Every time Bagu regenerated, Taz was there to take another piece. It was a rhythmic, agonizing deconstruction of the Dragon’s pride.

"He’s... he’s actually doing it," Greyjoy stammered, his face drained of color. "Complete and utter domination. He’s breaking Bagu limb by limb, delicately."

Father placed his hands on my head, his voice a breathy whisper of shock. "Unbelievable."

For the first time, everyone felt safe. Perhaps that was another truth Taz had established: when he was around, there was no need for worry. This was the kind of power that could set me free from the shadow of the dragon. If I could be trained by Taz, I was sure of it now. I would be free.

"Look at the ground," Lord Zedd said, his eyes widening. "The pieces aren’t disappearing. They are staying there."

Greyjoy looked down. "They usually decompose immediately once severed. Could it be..."

"It could mean Taz has already started to prove his truth," I wondered.

Authors note : Inside the barrier, the air grew cold.

In the Game of Truths, once a part of you is proven false or inferior, it permanently loses the right to return or complete its process. The severed limbs were not going to rot—

they were being rejected by Bagu’s own existence.

Perhaps, in the end, he truly was nothing more than meat.