The defensive line was holding, barely. Thanks to Shin'ya playing the backseat support meta—flicking his fingers from within his crossed arms to drop Shadow Binds on any beast that got too close—the vanguard was managing to slice through the S-rank flood.
Since he was safely tucked behind a wall of heavy tower-shield knights, Shin'ya casually dropped his gaze to the dirt by his boots, completely exhausted. His imaginary stamina bar was recovering at a snail's pace.
Then, his eyes locked onto something.
Nestled in the gray, chaotic dirt of the battlefield was a stone. It wasn't jagged, sharp, or covered in static mana like the rest of the terrain. It was perfectly round, completely flat, and immaculately smooth. It looked like the ultimate skipping stone, a masterpiece of natural erosion.
Mesmerized by its sheer, unbothered geometry in the middle of a literal apocalypse, Shin'ya slowly crouched down.
"Sir Arata?" Seraphina popped up beside him, her notebook tightly clutched to her chest as she blinked in confusion. "What... what are you doing? Are you reading the ley-lines of the earth to predict the next spatial rupture?"
Shin'ya didn't even have the energy to stand up. Keeping his knees bent, he literally dragged his butt through the dirt, swiveling his entire body around to face her. He picked up the stone, holding it between his thumb and forefinger with the gravity of a man holding a core of a dead star.
"Sera," Shin'ya whispered, his deadpan voice dripping with profound weight. "Look. I have found something truly amazing."
Sera leaned in closer, her eyes wide with immense tactical anticipation. She stared at his hand. She looked left. She looked right. All she saw was a gray, flat, completely standard pebble.
"Sir Arata..." Sera blinked, her voice hesitating. "That's... just an ordinary rock."
"No, Sera. You do not understand this rock," Shin'ya corrected her instantly, bringing the stone a mere two inches from his eyes, turning it around to examine its flawless, smooth texture. He carefully placed it back on the ground like a sacred artifact. "This rock... is just extraordinary."
It is literally the perfect rock his inner anime nerd cheered. Sunny from Shadow Slave would be weeping tears of joy right now. If I survive this war, I am keeping this legendary item as my official desk paperweight.
"Ah! I see!" Sera's eyes suddenly sparked with manic realization as she whipped out her quill. [Log: Amidst the roaring chaos of the S-Rank breach, Lord Arata discovered an ancient, geometrically perfect catalytic stone. He dubbed it 'Extraordinary,' signaling a hidden variable in the terrain...]
GROOOAAAAAARRRRR!
A horrific, flesh-tearing shriek cut right through Sera's writing.
Shin'ya's comedic inner monologue vanished in a fraction of a second. Just thirty yards away, the defensive wall of tower-shields buckled. A massive obsidian Dread Stalker had bypassed a Shadow Bind, its serrated, scythe-like leg coming down with the speed of a guillotine.
CRUNCH.
The blade-like leg drove straight through the steel chest plate of a veteran vanguard captain—the very same captain who had proudly smiled at Shin'ya in the carriage just an hour ago.
"Captain!" a soldier screamed.
The Dread Stalker violently ripped its leg back, tossing the captain's body onto the stone. A thick, spraying torrent of dark crimson, iron-scented human blood splattered violently across the gray dirt, some of it landing mere inches from Shin'ya's boots.
Shin'ya froze. His breath hitched in his throat.
He had seen blood before. On Earth, he had watched thousands of horror movies, cleared hundreds of gory video games, and read countless descriptions of brutal battles in light novels. But the screen had always been there to protect him. The text had always been just black ink on a page.
This wasn't a game.
The sharp, metallic smell of copper filled his nose. The agonizing, wet gasp of a dying human being echoed in his ears. The blood soaking into the dirt was warm, real, and horrific. A wave of pure, unadulterated dread and trauma slammed into his chest, making his stomach turn violently.
The imaginary game interface in his mind cracked and shattered into dust.
This is real his inner voice whispered, trembling in sudden, gripping terror. They aren't NPCs. If I keep sitting here playing around... everyone is going to die. I am going to die.
The sheer, paralyzing shock threatened to swallow him whole, but the dark, parasitic weight of the Ketsugai at his hip suddenly thrummed, forcing a cold surge of survival adrenaline straight into his veins. His trembling hands stopped shaking. His eyes, usually locked in a lazy deadpan, suddenly turned incredibly sharp, dark, and dangerous.
Without a word, Shin'ya swiftly snatched his Extraordinary Rock, tossing it directly into his shadow storage. He gripped the hilt of his dark sword, his knuckles turning white.
VOOM!
Bypassing his exhaustion through pure, adrenaline-fueled willpower, Shin'ya used Shadow Slip, dissolving into the earth.
He materialized twenty feet in the air, directly above the obsidian Dread Stalker that had just slaughtered the captain. Falling with gravity, Shin'ya raised his dark blade with both hands and drove it down with absolute, merciless force.
SPRECH-CRACK!
The dark blade pierced cleanly through the monster's heavy obsidian head armor, burying itself up to the hilt. The Dread Stalker let out a bubbling, agonizing shriek before its massive fifty-foot frame collapsed into the dirt, dead.
Shin'ya landed heavily on the beast's carcass. He violently dragged his sword out of the creature's skull, executing a sharp, aggressive downward flick to cleanse the dark, monstrous ichor from his steel. His face was no longer just deadpan—it was terrifyingly serious, his breathing heavy, his teeth gritted.
Movement caught his eye. Two more massive Dread Stalkers were rushing down the valley, their scythe-legs clicking against the stone as they targeted the broken defensive line.
Shin'ya didn't hesitate. He swung his blade horizontally, pouring the absolute last reserves of his physical energy into the strike.
A colossal, terrifyingly wide crescent wave of pitch-black physical shadow tore through the valley air. The projectile slammed into the first Dread Stalker, cleanly slicing the fifty-foot beast entirely in half in a horrific explosion of dark fluid. The lingering shockwave caught the second monster, heavily mangling its legs and sending it crashing into the dirt, crippled.
Shin'ya stood atop the dead monster, his chest heaving, his voice exploding across the battlefield in a desperate, furious scream that startled every single soldier in the valley.
"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! ATTACK!" Shin'ya yelled, his voice echoing with raw, unbridled intensity. "ENGAGE! OR AM I SUPPOSED TO SOLO ALL OF THEM, YOU IDIOTS?!"
The vanguard veterans, who had been frozen in grief and fear, stared up at the young Shadow Master. They didn't see a lazy teen anymore. They saw a furious, god-like commander who had just obliterated two S-rank sovereigns in a flash, demanding they stand up and fight.
"He's right!" a lieutenant roared, drawing his sword. "Don't let Lord Arata fight alone! Push them back! Charge!"
With a unified, thunderous roar, the Imperial vanguard threw themselves back into the fray, their morale burning hotter than ever before.