SSS Ranked Talent: I Can Upgrade My Skills Infinitely-Chapter 154: System Override

He released a pulse of kinetic force from his bracers. The frozen, compressed sphere of Lady Shui exploded. She didn’t die—elementals were hard to kill—but she was scattered into a billion snowflakes of ice, her consciousness fragmented and broken.

[Target Neutralized: Lady Shui.]

The Tide-Shapers, seeing their mistress shattered, faltered. Their collective spell broke. The pressure normalized.

"The assassins!" Valeria shouted, charging out of the dissipating golden light. "They’re flanking!"

The remaining Syndicate agents had abandoned the bomb tactics. They drew void-blades and rushed the center.

Alvian landed on the dais. He stood back-to-back with Valeria.

"Left side, three targets," Alvian said.

"Got them," Valeria replied.

She swung her claymore. "[Titan’s Cleave]!" A wave of golden force cut through the water, knocking the three assassins back.

Alvian took the right. An assassin lunged from the shadows, aiming for his kidney. Alvian didn’t even turn. He spun the lance behind his back, catching the blade on the shaft, then twisted.

"[Thundergod Discharge]."

Blue lightning traveled down the lance, frying the assassin.

It was a dance of perfect violence. Valeria was the anvil, immovable and radiant. Alvian was the hammer, precise and devastating. Seraphina was the needle, weaving through the fight, picking off stragglers and disrupting enemy formations.

"They’re retreating!" Seraphina called out. "They’re heading for the maintenance tunnels!"

"They’re going to blow the supports," Alvian realized. "They want to bring the ceiling down."

He looked at the fleeing assassins. He looked at his mana bar. Full.

"No," Alvian said.

He raised his hand. He channeled mana into the [Draconic Storm Bracers] and the [Lance].

"System. [Chain Lightning]. Target: All hostile signatures."

He slammed the butt of the lance into the wet stone of the pavilion.

"ZZZZZ-CRACK!"

A web of blue lightning exploded from him. It traveled through the water, seeking out the void signatures of the Syndicate armor. It jumped from assassin to assassin, arcing through the Grotto.

"AAAAHHH!"

Twelve assassins seized up mid-run, their bodies convulsing as thousands of volts cooked them in their suits. They floated to the surface, dead.

Silence fell over the Grotto.

Alvian stood up straight. He looked at the shattered remains of Lady Shui’s guard. He looked at the dead Syndicate agents.

"Valeria," Alvian said, his voice calm. "Secure the district. Find the air scrubber controls and lock them down."

"On it," Valeria said, breathing hard but smiling.

"Seraphina," Alvian tapped his comms. "Did you find the leader? The handler?"

"He wasn’t here," Seraphina replied, materializing on the dais. She picked up a communication device from one of the dead assassins. "But he left a message."

She played the audio log.

"Impressive, Godslayer," a distorted voice—not Voice One, but someone new—spoke. "You took the pawn. But the board is large. And the Dragon King... he is getting impatient."

"Megalos," Alvian muttered. "He’s making his move."

"He’s calling for the Tournament," Seraphina said. "It’s official. The invites just went out on the global channel."

Alvian looked at the dead assassins. He looked at the city he had just conquered, district by district.

"Then we accept," Alvian said. "Let’s go win a tournament."

The ambush in the conference room had dissolved into a scene of absolute carnage. The Syndicate assassins, elite killers who moved like shadows in the water, lay broken on the coral floor. Seraphina stood over the last one, her daggers dripping with black ichor, her chest heaving slightly.

"Clear," she reported, flicking her wrist to clean her blades.

Alvian didn’t look at the bodies. They were variables that had been removed from the equation. His violet eyes were locked on the far end of the room, where Governor Shui hovered.

The ruler of the Deep District wasn’t fleeing. She wasn’t begging. She was smiling.

Surrounding her was a sphere of pulsating blue light. It wasn’t a standard mana shield. It was a dense, rotating current of pressurized water, connected via thick mana cables to the very foundation of the room. She had tapped into the district’s primary hydro-regulation node.

"You are strong, Godslayer," Shui’s voice echoed from within the bubble, distorted by the rushing water. "But you cannot touch me. This barrier is fed by the ocean currents themselves. It has infinite regeneration. It has infinite density. As long as the sea exists, I am safe."

She raised a hand. The water outside the barrier began to boil with mana. "And while I sit here, safe and sound, the pressure in this room will rise until you and your little shadow are crushed into paste."

Alvian analyzed the structure.

[Target: [Aegis of the Deep] (Unique Ward)]

[Durability: Infinite (Regenerating)]

[Properties: Hydro-Kinetic Dispersion, Mana Syphon.]

She was right. Attacking it with the [Lance of the Void Winter] would be inefficient. The barrier would disperse the kinetic force into the ocean, and the mana drain would be negligible against the city’s grid.

"Infinite regeneration," Alvian muttered. "A formidable defense."

"It is absolute!" Shui laughed. "You cannot break it!"

"I don’t need to break it," Alvian said, holstering his lance. He walked forward, stepping through the corpses of the assassins. The water pressure in the room was rising, pressing against his [Vestments of the Void Monarch], but he ignored it.

He stopped inches from the swirling blue barrier. He placed his hand on the surface. The water rushed past his palm at Mach speed, but his [Terra-Form] passive kept his hand steady.

"Inefficient design," Alvian stated. "You prioritized external defense over internal stability. You connected it to an infinite power source without installing a regulator."

Shui frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"System," Alvian commanded, his voice cold. "I have a target for [Super Upgrade]."

[Target Identified: [Aegis of the Deep] (External Construct).]

[Warning: Target is hostile.]

[Override Authority: SSS-Rank.]

"Upgrade."

[Ding!]

[Consuming One (1) Daily Charge...]

The blue light of the barrier flickered. Then, it turned a blinding, violent white.

Shui’s smile vanished. "What... what are you doing? The mana flow... it’s increasing!"

"You wanted infinite power," Alvian said, stepping back. "I’m giving it to you."

[Upgrade Successful!]

[Skill Evolved: [Aegis of the Deep] -> [Gravitational Hydro-Prison] (Legendary).]

[New Effect: [Implosion]. The barrier no longer disperses force outward. It concentrates force inward to maintain structural integrity.]

The swirling water stopped moving. It solidified into a hard, crystalline shell. But the mana didn’t stop flowing. The city’s grid continued to pump energy into the ward, obeying the command of the upgrade.

The barrier began to shrink.

"Wait," Shui gasped, backing away from the walls of her own shield. "It’s... it’s getting smaller!"

"Density increases as volume decreases," Alvian lectured calmly. "Physics Lesson Number Eighteen."

The sphere contracted. It went from twenty feet in diameter to fifteen. Then ten.

"Stop it!" Shui shrieked, hammering her fists against the inside of the wall. "Turn it off! I surrender! I yield!"

"The upgrade is permanent," Alvian said. "And the process is automated. I cannot stop it."

"NO! ALVIAN! PLEASE!"

The sphere shrank to five feet. Shui was forced into a crouch, her aquatic form compressing. The water inside the sphere was becoming denser than steel.

"You betrayed the city," Alvian said, watching the process with the detached interest of a scientist observing a lab reaction. "You tried to sell us to the Syndicate. You are a liability."

The sphere shrank to three feet.

"SCREEEE—"

The scream was cut short by a sickening, wet crunch. The barrier collapsed in on itself, compressing everything inside—flesh, bone, armor, and water—into a single, super-dense sphere of matter no larger than a marble.

The connection to the city grid snapped. The sphere dropped to the floor with a heavy thud, cracking the stone tiles.

[Target Neutralized: Governor Shui.]

[Experience Gained: 1,500,000!]

[Level Up!]

[Level 57.]

Alvian walked over and picked up the sphere. It was heavy, weighing tons, but his stats made it manageable.

"Loot secured," Alvian said. He tossed the sphere into his inventory.

Seraphina stared at the spot where the Governor had been. She lowered her daggers, her face pale.

"You..." Seraphina swallowed hard. "You turned her into a marble."

"She turned herself into a prison," Alvian corrected, turning toward the exit. "I just locked the door."

He tapped his comms crystal. "Valeria. The Deep District is headless. Move the Vanguard in. Secure the filtration plants. If anyone resists, tell them what happened to Shui."

"Copy that," Valeria’s voice came back, sounding relieved but weary. "What about you?"

"I’m going to the palace," Alvian said. "It’s time to formalize the new management."

The Great Hall of the Royal Palace had been cleared of the debris from the battle with General Lin. The shattered balcony where Lord Oceanus had sacrificed himself was cordoned off, a silent memorial to the old era.

But the room was not empty.

Alvian stood on the dais, in front of the empty throne. He didn’t sit in it. He stood before it, looking down at the gathered remnants of the city’s leadership.

The Hammerhead King, Sarkos, stood with his arms crossed, looking sullen but subdued. The Crab Lord was nervously polishing his shell. Representatives from the merchant guilds, the mage towers, and the civilian sectors filled the hall. They looked at Alvian with a mixture of terror and desperation.