The chasm floor was a vast, circular arena constructed from perfectly smooth, reflective black stone. In the very center, hovering above a nexus of violently swirling violet energy, was the Imposter Lord.
The Imposter Lord was a towering figure, perhaps fifteen feet tall, clad in armor made of solidified shadows. It wasn't merely Level 50; it radiated an intelligence and malignant authority that surpassed the brute force of the Arcane Construct.
[Threat: Imposter Lord (Level 50). Abilities: Shadow Weaving, Shield Rotation, Fear Aura (Massive).]
[Warning: All Level F and E Rank attacks below the level of the target will be highly inefficient.]
The Imposter Lord turned its massive, helmeted head toward the four figures descending rapidly into the arena.
"A mortal with the System," the Lord's voice boomed, resonating with a metallic echo. "And four Core Zero rats. You have defied the Shadow's governance and destroyed my Sentinels. For this, I shall harvest your pathetic consciousness and feed it to the Nexus."
As the Lord spoke, a crippling wave of mental anguish—the Fear Aura—slammed into Archelius and his team.
Raji, Theodore, and Lisa immediately collapsed, clutching their heads, screaming silently as the Lord's power magnified their deepest failures and fears.
Archelius, thanks to his maximized Rank E++ Iron Skin and the resilience gained from the War God's Vestment, merely staggered. The mental assault was powerful, but the System's cold, logical core rejected the illusion of fear.
"Bethany! Status!" Archelius commanded, fighting through the mental static.
Bethany, supported by her own strange focus on energy flow, was on her knees but lucid. Her eyes were wide with pain, yet still tracking the Lord's defense.
"Shields! Three rotating shields! They move every four seconds!" Bethany gasped, her voice raw. "They nullify all physical damage unless you hit the gap!"
The Unwavering Strike
Archelius activated the War God's Edge to its maximum, the pure silver light of the Rank E+ weapon momentarily pushing back the oppressive shadows. He knew he had four seconds between each shield rotation to land a hit. And only the War God's Fist had the explosive power to breach the Lord's core defense.
"Raji! Theodore! Focus! You are my distraction!" Archelius roared, hoping to penetrate the Lord's psychic attack with sheer, physical sound.
The two students, spurred by the urgency in their leader's voice, forced themselves to rise, shaking violently but preparing their small, useless daggers.
Archelius charged the Imposter Lord, utilizing Sprint Burst to cover the distance.
The Lord raised its hands, and a massive, black-shadow shield snapped into place, blocking the path.
"Pathetic," the Lord sneered, unleashing a volley of razor-sharp shadow spikes.
Archelius relied entirely on his armor, charging straight into the spikes. The War God's Vestment absorbed the damage, shrugging off the Level 50 attack.
[Health: 90/100 (Stable).]
He reached the shield. "Now, Bethany!"
"Moving! Two seconds!" Bethany screamed. "It's a small gap! To your right!"
Archelius channeled all his remaining power into the War God's Fist. The Rank E+ punch, with its 5x multiplier, was ready. He exploded past the shield edge just as the gap opened.
BOOM!
The punch slammed into the Lord's armored shoulder. The sound was deafening, but the Lord's armor held. Only a large dent appeared.
[Physical Damage Dealt: 10%. Imposter Lord (Level 50) Health: 90%.]
"You hit hard, little toy," the Lord mocked, recovering instantly. "But you cannot maintain that power. I will grind you down."
The Lord's shield rotated again, trapping Archelius inside the defensive perimeter. The Lord raised its mace-like shadow arm for a crushing blow.
The Students' Gambit
Archelius couldn't move or retaliate. He was locked into the Lord's defense.
Suddenly, a small, dark blur darted across the floor, completely unexpected by the Level 50 Imposter Lord.
Raji, using the last surge of her Sprint Burst, had raced across the arena. She threw her Rank F dagger with all her might, aiming for the massive joint in the Lord's knee.
The dagger bounced off harmlessly, but the unexpected, low-level physical distraction caused the Lord to pause for a microsecond.
"Distraction is achieved!" Raji yelled, collapsing from exhaustion.
Theodore and Lisa immediately sprinted to the large, fractured stone pillar near the arena entrance.
"The core is in the center of the shield rotation!" Bethany yelled, ignoring the agony. "It's hidden behind the magical flow! You have to hit through the shield!"
Archelius realized the truth: his Rank E+ power wasn't strong enough to find the natural gap. He had to create the gap.
He roared, grabbing the Lord's armored leg with one hand. He channeled his remaining War God's Strike power into his War God's Edge and used the sword not to slash, but to pry.
The silver-lighted Rank E+ sword ground against the Lord's armor.
"Theodore! Now!" Archelius yelled.
Theodore and Lisa pushed the enormous, fractured pillar with all their combined strength. The pillar, destabilized by the earlier Arcane Construct fight, groaned and toppled inward, crashing into the outer edge of the arena.
The seismic impact, while harmless to the Lord, caused a momentary instability in the nexus below, disrupting the magical defense field.
[Shield Rotation Stability: CRITICAL. Gap Detected!]
Victory and Ascension
The brief disruption was all Archelius needed. He abandoned the War God's Strike and channeled everything he had left—every scrap of Core Power—into a final, desperate War God's Fist.
He pivoted, driving the 5x multiplier punch not at the Lord's armor, but at the exact point where Bethany's vision and the seismic disruption had created a momentary fault line in the defense field.
CATASTROPHIC BOOM!
The punch ripped through the Level 50 shield, hitting the Imposter Lord's vulnerable, shadow-woven body mass beneath the armor.
The energy explosion was devastating. The Imposter Lord didn't crumble; it screamed, an ear-splitting psychic howl, and disintegrated into a whirlwind of black smoke and glittering, crystalline shards.
[Imposter Lord (Level 50) Defeated. Dominance Kill Achieved!]
[XP Gained: 5000. Total XP: 15915/12800. Level Up: User Level 15!]
[Level Up: User Level 16!]
Archelius collapsed, his Core Power entirely depleted, utterly spent. The silence in the arena was absolute, broken only by the ragged breathing of his squad. He had won the ultimate Dominance Kill.
[User: Archelius]
[Level: 16 (XP: 3115/25600)]
[Core Power Restored: 100/100.]
[Available Skill Points: 2.]
The Nexus and the New Path
The defeat of the Imposter Lord caused the violet nexus energy in the chasm to surge wildly, then stabilize into a calm, blue-white light. The oppressive shadow and fear vanished instantly.
"The source is neutralized," Bethany whispered, her sensory pain gone. "The Citadel is safe."
Archelius slowly pushed himself up. His subordinates rushed to his side, helping him to stand.
"We did it, War God," Theodore murmured, a tear streaking the grime on his face. "We actually did it."
Archelius looked at the team—Raji, Theodore, Lisa, and Bethany—all battered, but standing tall. They were Level 2 and 3, yet they had helped defeat a Level 50 entity.
"We did," Archelius agreed, allowing a brief, genuine smile. "Now, we get the rewards."
The massive loot from the Imposter Lord shimmered on the ground.
[Imposter Lord Core (Divine Grade) x 1 Acquired.]
[Shadow Weaving Silk (Legendary) x 1 Acquired.]
Archelius invested his two Skill Points immediately into his weapon skills, maximizing them to Rank E++.
He opened the Crafting Menu, now ready for the true synthesis. He focused on the War God's Vestment.
[War God's Vestment (Rank E) Upgrade: Requires 1 Divine Core, 1 Legendary Silk. Success: 80%.]
He confirmed the synthesis. The divine core and the silk dissolved, melding with the armor he was wearing. The Vestment flared into brilliant silver, etched with deep black, stable runes.
[War God's Vestment (Rank E+) Acquired. Defense +50. Reduces Core Power damage taken by 30%. Passive Ability: Fear Immunity (Minor).]
He was now nearly a full Rank E++ warrior, only lacking the appropriate level to fully ascend.
He looked at the peaceful, blue-white nexus light.
"We rest here," Archelius commanded. "The Citadel is ours. We will train, level up, and wait for the next threat to come to us."
He looked at the Map Function. The defeat of the Imposter Lord had caused a massive shift. A new, higher-level nexus had appeared, far to the north, near the mountains of the Demon Race.
"The Lords know I am here," Archelius stated, sheathing the powerful War God's Edge. "The conflict has found me. And now, I have a squad to train for the war."