Forbidden: Max level warrior

The air hung thick with tension as Ann stood unmoved in the center of the throne chamber, eyes steady. Lilly stood beside him—calm but uncertain—until Ann's voice broke the silence.

"You in the shadow," he said, casually. "Come out. I can feel you. If you don't… I'll pull you out myself."

Lilly flinched. "Wh-what?"

Ann's gaze didn't leave the space beneath her. "There's an assassin in your shadow."

Lilly's eyes widened in horror. She took a careful step back, staring down—but the shadow looked normal. Unbroken.

Nothing moved.

The assassin remained silent, still embedded in the dimensional veil.

Ann sighed. "So be it."

He raised a finger and casually drew a thin cut into the air—a line of light tearing through the chamber like silk. Reality split. A rift into dark, dimensional space blinked into existence.

He reached inside.

With a flick of his wrist, Ann dragged a figure out by the collar and flung him effortlessly across the room. The man smashed into the base of Warden Malric's throne and collapsed in a heap, groaning.

Gasps rang out.

The figure rose slowly. Cloaked in black, masked head to toe, eyes burning with red light. A predator cloaked in void.

The assassin coughed and looked at Ann with disbelief. "How did you reach me… in my shadow dimension? That was a dimensional veil. You shouldn't have even sensed me."

Ann chuckled. "Dimension? All you did was crawl into a bubble of folded shadow wrapped inside real space. Cute. But it's still part of my world. Pulling you out was easier than peeling an orange."

Malric leaned forward with a smirk. "Even if you pulled him out, it doesn't mean you can kill him. That assassin—he's legendary. He's eliminated kings, queens, emperors. Beings who were said to be unkillable."

He stood, eyes gleaming. "You? You're just next on the list."

Ann grinned lazily. "You talk as if this assassin came for you. But you were just the delivery boy. He was sent by someone else entirely. You were a pawn. Nothing more."

The assassin's head tilted. "What are you talking about?"

"My awareness," Ann said softly, "is on a cosmic scale. I know what exists. Even if I choose to ignore most of it. There's a faction… a hidden court that experiments with demonic essence. They mutate humans. Try to forge the perfect demon vessel. They heard someone called the Demon Lord had returned… and sent you to see if it was true."

Silence followed.

The assassin stared. "So it was real..."

Then a twisted smile crept onto his lips.

"That means I don't have to hold back. I'm not like you. I've been fused with pure demonic essence. I'm stronger than a Level 120 warrior. One scratch—just one—and my poison ends you."

Ann recoiled dramatically. "W-what? Level 120?!"

Malric's eyes lit up. Alrick smirked. "So the Demon Lord fears something after all."

But then Ann's voice dropped—mocking.

"Level 120? That's it? I thought you said something scary."

The assassin growled. "You think poison won't hurt you? These claws slice through dimensional walls. Your flesh is nothing."

"Try me," Ann said.

In a blink, the assassin vanished—appearing behind Ann in a flash of light, claws swinging.

CLINK.

The claws snapped on contact with Ann's neck. No scratch. Not even a twitch.

The assassin leapt back in horror, putting great distance between them—but before the assassin's feet touched the ground... Ann was already there.

A hand pierced the assassin's chest.

Blood dripped.

"Surprised?" Ann whispered. "You said your claws cut dimensions. But not me. Want a lesson in real dimensions?"

He snapped his fingers.

The room shifted—same structure, but aged, crumbling, dark. Flames flickered black. The sky beyond the high windows bled shadows. Only Ann and the assassin were present.

"This is a real shadow dimension," Ann said. "I created it to show you what a dimension really looks like. True dimensions are layers of reality. Not hiding spots. And your body is already breaking down."

The assassin groaned. His skin cracked, corroded, as the air was corrupted with shadow energy.

Ann nodded. "I'd love to leave you here. But let's make it more fun."

They returned to the real world.

Gasps again. Everyone had seen nothing—but felt time distort.

"He needed a field trip," Ann said simply.

He turned to Malric. "You've already lost. What's your next move? Should I end you now?"

He flicked the assassin's bleeding body aside.

Malric's face paled. Alrick turned to flee—

Snap.

The gravity around him surged. He collapsed to the floor, unable to move.

But before anything else could happen, the assassin's body began to twist and rupture.

A deep hum resonated from within his chest. Black veins pulsed with corrupted energy. His muscles tore themselves apart and reformed into something unholy.

Dark mist poured out of his mouth as the demonic essence inside him awoke.

Bones snapped. Skin tore.

And before their eyes, the assassin's body transformed into a towering ten-foot horror. Jagged horns curled from his skull. Obsidian blades erupted from his forearms. His eyes became molten rubies, glowing with cruel intelligence.

The chamber buckled under the pressure.

The assassin roared. "This… this is the culmination of our demonic fusion experiments… I've reached the threshold. I stand alone at the top. Level 150"

Alrick whispered, terrified, "He's a walking apocalypse."

The newly born demon grinned—a mouth full of jagged teeth.

"Now, we begin."

Ann narrowed his eyes, unimpressed. "No. We relocate."

Snap.

They both vanished into the previous shadow dimension Ann had created.

The corrupted sky howled. The demon's regeneration was strong—strong enough to resist the corrosive air of the realm.

He laughed. "You brought me here to kill you in secret? Foolish."

Ann shook his head. "Even ten times stronger, you'd still kneel."

The demon punched the ground. Spikes of darkness exploded upward at light speed—Ann danced between them, fluid and unbothered.

"Even if I stood still, your attacks wouldn't hurt. But I like to keep it entertaining."

The demon roared and leapt.

Ann moved with a whisper.

One gentle push.

The demon flew—through the sky—into one of the three moons orbiting the realm.

It shattered in a silent, cosmic quake.

Ann stood atop the drifting debris in the black void of space.

"Hope you can breathe out here."

The demon clawed at his throat, choking, floating helplessly.

Ann summoned a small, ember-like flame.

It floated.

Touched the demon.

BOOM.

A chain reaction of explosions tore through the void. Two moons evaporated in fire, even knocking the planet out of orbit. The void trembled.

Ann exhaled slowly.

"Level 150 you say? Still boring. At least I got to test my speed."

"I wonder what it'll feel like to exist outside a dimension!" Ann said destroying the dimension like it was nothing, standing in nothingness.

He returned to the real world, where Malric and Alrick flinched in terror.

Ann looked down at them.

"Relax. I'm not going to kill you."

He grinned.

"Let's play a game instead."