E-Rank or SSS-Rank: I Awakened a Skill That Shouldn’t Exist

Elsewhere on the battlefield, Shae, Bron, and Shin regrouped. Their breaths came heavy, their bodies worn, but their spirits remained steady.

They had carved their way through the remnants of the beast horde, determined to clear the field of every last monster before the true nightmare descended.

Because they all knew the truth: this war wouldn't end with the beasts.

The real trial—the Dark Emissaries—was still ahead.

Silver Wing's voice broke the silence, his tone edged with grim certainty.

"…It seems we don't get to prepare. One of them is already heading this way."

The words froze the trio in place.

Unlike Elexa's group, who had never directly clashed with a Dark Emissary, Shae, Bron, and Shin knew exactly what those names meant. They had faced death beneath their hands before.

The scars still lingered—the ambush on Serenya, the cruel games of Freak Eye, the brutal strength of Metallo. Back then, they had barely crawled away with their lives.

The memory left a cold weight in their chests.

But they weren't the same as before.

Each of them now bore weapons and power leagues beyond what they once possessed. Shae's azure blade pulsed with power, its runes humming softly.

Shin's bow gleamed with sharp enchantments, its arrows shimmering like falling stars. Bron clenched his gauntleted fist, the white metal screeching as it tightened, brimming with condensed might.

And Silver Wing himself—the growth of his mastery over flight and combat, along with the strange bracelet gifted by Nathan, had made him more dangerous than ever before.

If the versions of themselves from just a few days ago stood before them now, they wouldn't last seconds. That was how far they had come.

Silver Wing descended, his glowing wings folding neatly into his back. His sharp gaze turned forward, composed but wary.

Then—he appeared.

From the haze of battle, a figure emerged: a tall man with long black hair cascading down his shoulders, a faint, arrogant smirk tugging at his lips. His steps were unhurried, but every stride carried the suffocating presence of power.

"Well, well," the man drawled, his voice laced with mocking amusement. "Finally… some elites to destroy."

Shae's grip tightened on her sword, her expression darkening. Shin's fingers flexed against his bowstring, and Bron's gauntlet screeched as he clenched his fist with crushing force.

The man—Garvin—looked them over with detached curiosity, his smirk deepening.

"Oh, you all look so tense. Relax." He lifted a hand casually, almost dismissively.

"To keep this from looking like I'm bullying you… I'll give you a chance. Attack me with everything you've got. Don't hold back. I won't even stop it."

His tone lowered, arrogant and venomous.

"Come. Show me what you think power really is."

The air thickened with his challenge.

Garvin smirked, his black hair swaying slightly in the breeze, his expression dripping with arrogance. Silver Wing's gaze hardened into steel.

He already knew the Dark Emissaries were powerful—monsters in human form—but this one's arrogance went beyond measure. Pride radiated from him as though he truly believed himself untouchable.

"If the four of us attack together," Silver Wing thought, his wings flickering with restrained energy, "his death will be certain. Effortless."

Garvin's smirk widened, as though he could hear their very thoughts.

"What's the matter?" he taunted, voice smooth and venomous. "Didn't I just give you a chance? Unleash your best shot.

If you fail to kill me—" his grin twisted into something wicked, predatory "—then it'll be my turn. And I don't miss."

Silver Wing's patience snapped.

"Bron!" he barked.

"On it!" Bron roared back, already surging forward. His massive frame tore across the battlefield like a white meteor.

Garvin tilted his head lazily, lips curling in mild amusement.

"A frontal charge? How quaint. Does he have a death wish?"

Bron's gauntlet shimmered as he launched his fists forward with earth-shaking force. The ground cracked beneath the shockwave.

Yet Garvin raised his hands casually, catching both fists with open palms. The air shuddered from the impact, but Garvin stood unmoved, almost bored.

"Is this all?" he said flatly, eyes half-lidded. "I'm… disappointed."

But instead of frustration, Bron's lips curved into a smile.

"Sorry," he said, voice low and firm. "That wasn't the real attack."

Garvin's eyes flickered—just a fraction of surprise—before two massive white fists of pure energy materialized in the air above him. They slammed down with the weight of mountains.

BOOM!

The impact blasted Garvin backward, his body hurled like a ragdoll. He skidded across the battlefield, rolling through shattered earth before springing back onto his feet with effortless grace.

With a single kick of his toe, he steadied himself, landing lightly, his armor unmarred.

Dust swirled around him as he straightened. Calm. Composed. His expression barely shifted.

"…I see. That was clever."

The truth was clear: the blow had only moved him because he'd been caught off guard. There wasn't even a scratch on his body.

His smirk returned, sharper this time. "That can't possibly have been your plan."

Then he noticed it.

In the distance—Silver Wing hovered high, dozens of silver blades orbiting around him in a deadly halo. Each sword thrummed with condensed energy, all pointed directly at Garvin.

Shae stood grounded, her short black hair whipping violently as she raised her glowing azure blade overhead.

The sword's brilliance had intensified, humming with an overwhelming surge of destructive power.

And Shin—his face twisted in strain—pulled back his bow with trembling arms. Two arrows of deep violet light, unstable and dripping with raw energy, formed on his string.

His hands bled from the force of holding them, yet he refused to release until the perfect moment.

Garvin's smirk flickered into something else—interest.

"Oh… so this was the plan after all. You've prepared something… big."

The battlefield went silent for a heartbeat. Then—

"Now!" Silver Wing shouted.

All at once, the three unleashed their power.

Silver Wing's orbiting blades shot forward like a storm of spears, merging into a tidal wave of silver light. Shae's azure sword came crashing down with a blinding arc, splitting the very air.

Shin's violet arrows tore through the sky, whistling with enough force to rattle bones, their destructive energy tearing space as they flew.

The attacks merged—three streams of power twisting into a singular storm of annihilation, a swirling chaos of destruction that bore down on Garvin with unstoppable force.

The ground shook. The heavens screamed. Reality itself seemed to warp as the combined attack rushed at him.

And Garvin… didn't move.

He didn't flinch. He didn't dodge. He didn't raise a hand to defend. Instead, his smirk only grew, eyes gleaming with dangerous delight.

BOOOOOOOM!

The explosion ripped through the battlefield. Energy waves blasted outward, flattening everything in their path. The ground split. The sky cracked. Dust and smoke swallowed everything.

For a moment—just a brief, shining moment—the heroes felt it.

Relief.

Happiness.

"We did it…" Shae whispered, her blade trembling in her grasp.

As the dust settled, Silver Wing's sharp gaze narrowed. Something wasn't right. He could still feel traces of human energy inside the blast, faint but undeniably there.

That shouldn't have been possible—not after the combined strike they had just unleashed.

"Wait…" Bron muttered, his brows furrowing. "Is it just me, or is the energy… dwindling?"

At first, the others looked at him as though he had lost his mind. Of course energy would fade after an attack—it was natural.

But then they noticed it too. The explosion wasn't dispersing outward like normal. Instead, it was condensing… pulling back toward its center.

The longer they watched, the more unnatural it became. It wasn't compression—it was consumption. Something inside the explosion was devouring the energy.

Their faces paled almost in unison. And then they saw him.

Garvin stood tall at the very heart of the destruction, utterly unscathed. His arms were raised casually, his hands open, palms glowing with a dreadful black radiance.

The swirling chaos of power that should have annihilated him was being dragged into those palms—sucked in like water vanishing into a bottomless drain.

The earth trembled, the air cracked, and within moments, the devastating attack that had cost the trio nearly everything to execute… was gone. All of it. Not dispersed, not neutralized—devoured.

Shae's sword arm trembled violently. Her lips quivered as the only words she could muster escaped in a broken whisper.

"He… he ate it… He consumed all of it… like it was nothing. Like candy."

Silver Wing's chest tightened. Shin's bowstring wavered under the strain of his trembling hand.

Even Bron's fists, so confident just moments ago, loosened ever so slightly. The terror pressing down on them wasn't simply from Garvin's strength—it was from the sheer impossibility of what he had just done.

Garvin straightened his back, rolling his shoulders as though he had just stretched after a nap. The smirk on his lips grew wider, more arrogant.

"Well," he said smoothly, voice laced with amusement, "you've done your best. I'll admit—it was entertaining."

His eyes sharpened, cold and merciless, as his grin twisted into something monstrous.

"But since you failed to kill me… I suppose it's time for me to return the favor. It's my turn now."

He cracked his neck with a sickening sound. The air darkened around him, the ground splitting at his feet as his killing intent surged like a tidal wave, drowning the battlefield.

The heroes froze, their breaths caught in their throats. The gap between them and this Dark Emissary was worse than they had ever imagined.

And yet, there was no escaping it.

The executioner had chosen his prey.

TO BE CONTINUED…...

AUTHOR'S NOTE

That's the chapter, everyone!

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– Ultra