Solaris stood.
Blood dripped from his body to the soil beneath.
Drop.
Drop.
Drop.
He just stood there.
Not screaming.
Not moving.
No expression on his face.
His clothes were torn, his skin cracked in several places, yet his eyes remained the same—
hungry.
empty.
endless.
The lightning around him flickered weakly,
Then… the sparks of lightning grew bigger—
but this time, they were not violent.
No thunder.
No roar.
Somehow… calm.
The earth began to shake beneath Solaris's feet. Gravity felt lighter. Small rocks and dust slowly lifted from the ground as if pulled by an unseen force.
In the distance, Alistair watched with wide eyes.
"ALREADY?!"
He could feel it clearly—this wasn't a normal surge of mana. The energy around Solaris wasn't chaotic anymore. It was condensing, becoming something far more dangerous.
Solaris stood at the center, veins of yellow light crawling across his skin. A barbaric smile spread across his face.
"Hmhmhmm… I LIKE THIS FEELING…"
"Hmhmhmm… I LIKE THIS PAIN!"
His voice echoed unnaturally, layered with something inhuman.
The Minotaur Lord stared in confusion. That attack should have erased any living being, yet this small human still stood—unbroken.
Instinct screamed at the guardian.
This was not prey.
Then—without warning—
A gigantic pillar of light swallowed the entire area.
Lord Alistair reacted instantly, forming layers of divine shields around himself.
"DIVINE SHIELD!"
The Minotaur Lord raised its dual-bladed axe to defend, dark magic surging from its body. But inside the light, the mana density became unbearable.
Cracks spread across the legendary axe.
The engraved runes began to melt.
---
The pillar of light grew bigger.
And noticeably—
in the sky, an unknown symbol started forming.
Its shape was unclear at first, like a dream half remembered, but every passing second it became sharper—ancient, oppressive, something that did not belong to this world.
On the ground, Solaris stood calm.
Lightning came to his body violently, crawling across his skin like living serpents. His eyes opened a little—slowly, as if he was forcing them apart. The barbaric smile on his face faded, melting into something unreadable.
No expression.
Not anger.
Not joy.
Not madness.
Just emptiness.
Alistair felt it instantly.
"Why… why is every fiber of my body—every sense—screaming at me to RUN?!"
His hand trembled on the hilt of his sword. This was no longer simple bloodlust, no longer the rampage of a corrupted transformation. This presence was different—too deep, too heavy, like standing before an endless abyss wearing his son's face.
The Minotaur Lord could not understand such fear.
It only knew battle.
With a thunderous roar it rushed forward toward Solaris, the ground shattering beneath its hooves. Another black circle formed around its massive fist—dense, swirling with destructive energy.
The air screamed as it charged.
Step after step.
Closer.
Closer.
When it almost reached him—
---
In that moment, in slow motion, Alistair's instincts screamed at him—something was coming.
His body trembled—then reshaped.
Bones stretched with sharp, echoing cracks, muscles twisting into something far beyond human form. Golden fur erupted across his skin, threaded with emerald veins of mana. His face hardened into a beastly visage, fangs gleaming beneath blazing yellow eyes. Clawed hands pressed into the earth, leaving scorched marks upon the soil. His breathing grew deep and thunderous, carrying the presence of an ancient predator.
A massive aura coiled around him like living armor—heavy, suffocating, absolute.
In that moment, Alistair was no longer human.
He had fully awakened as the Legendary Void Beast Incarnation.
---
Then Solaris slowly spoke...
"HIEROGLYPH."
The symbol in the sky ignited.
No sound.
No chant.
No warning.
In an instant—the Minotaur Lord vaporized.
Not burned.
Not shattered.
Simply erased.
Where the towering guardian had stood a heartbeat ago, there was nothing—only trembling air and fragments of distorted light. The radiance did not stop. It expanded outward like a silent tide, swallowing everything in its path.
Trees, rocks, corpses, even the ground itself—vanished as if they had never existed.
Far behind, in the opposite 6th layer of the forest, thousands of Thunder Wolves suddenly lifted their heads together. Their ears flattened. Their instincts screamed. One by one, they began to howl—not in fury, but in terror.
In the 4th layer, armored bears froze mid-hunt. A deer that had been running for its life collapsed to its knees, trembling. By the riverside, monsters stopped tearing into fresh kills. Fish slipped from jaws as predators stared toward the distant pillar of light.
In the 1st layer, even a small horned rabbit stopped chewing grass.
Then—
A flash.
One after another, the creatures were covered by the expanding brilliance.
From the sky's view, it looked like the world was being rewritten.
The wave of destructive mana swelled beyond reason—engulfing the entire 20 kilometers of forest, devouring all 10 layers in a single breath. Mountains dissolved. Rivers evaporated. The land turned into a white, empty canvas.
And still—the light kept going.
It slammed into the City Wall.
Instantly, a massive golden protective barrier erupted around the capital—ancient runes circling like a divine mechanism awakening after centuries. The impact shook the heavens, yet the shield held.
On this side of the wall—
there was only silence.
No monsters.
No insects.
Not even dust.
On the other side—
The world remained peaceful.
Blue sky.
Green grass.
Birds flying lazily.
Flowers swaying in the breeze.
Butterflies dancing between rooftops.
Guards laughed with one another, unaware that just beyond the wall, an entire ecosystem had been erased from existence.
---
Time passed.
The light faded out.
The symbol in the sky dissolved as if it had never existed.
And with it—
everything else was gone.
Only a giant crater remained, a flat, burned wasteland where a living forest had once breathed. The ground was smooth like glass, stripped of color, stripped of life.
At the center of the crater, Void Beast Alistair was on his knees.
His body was smoking.
The divine shield he had created—once radiant and absolute—was now cracked like thin ice, barely holding together.
He slowly lifted his head.
Above him, Solaris was levitating.
Cracks were visible all across the boy's body—thin, glowing fractures spreading over his skin like broken porcelain. From within those cracks, mana and blood leaked out together, twisting like red and blue mist. But the moment a drop escaped—
it vaporized in the air before it could even fall.
On Solaris's chest, the red seal was vibrating violently, as if something inside was pounding to break free. His entire body was wrapped in a storm of yellow aura and silent lightning.
Alistair's throat went dry.
"This… is not a power a body can hold."
Solaris looked at his own hand.
It was shaking.
Veins bulged unnaturally, glowing through his skin. More cracks appeared along his fingers, as if they would shatter at any second. His destroyed shirt fluttered in the dead wind—and somehow, the little copper star-shaped badge was still hanging there, warped and glowing near its melting point.
He touched it absentmindedly.
Then—
A semi-transparent screen popped up in front of him.
But this time, it was different.
The letters were glitching, flickering like a dying system.
---
[ NOTICE ]
You have successfully defeated one A Rank Minotaur Lord.
---
[ NOTICE ]
You have successfully defeated 458,752 Different Rank Monsters.
---
[ STATUS UPDATE ]
» Congratulations! You have advanced to B+ Rank.
System is recalibrating your status to match your rank.
---
[ NOTICE ]
⚠️The host is undergoing a transformation process.
Status upgrade cannot be completed at this moment.
---
Then Solaris did the unthinkable.
He reached out—
and grabbed the status screen itself.
His fingers clenched around the semi-transparent panel like it was solid glass. The glitching letters twisted between his knuckles.
Alistair's breath stopped.
"W–what is he doing…?"
Solaris didn't hesitate.
CRACK.
The screen shattered in his hands, fragments of light scattering like broken stars. And before they could fade—
he brought the pieces to his mouth.
And swallowed them.
In the distance, Void Beast Alistair froze.
He rubbed his eyes with his clawed hand, blinking hard.
His beastly face twisted with disbelief.
"I warned myself… that's why I don't like using this form—too many side effects!"
He looked again.
Solaris was still standing there, chewing glowing fragments like candy.
Alistair muttered with a strained voice,
"Now I'm hallucinating as well!?"
But the oppressive mana in the air was real.
The vibrating red seal was real.
The boy devouring a system screen—was horrifyingly real.
Alistair clenched his fists.
His face serious,
"I didn't want to use this form against you, Solaris… never against my own son."
His eyes hardened.
"But I can't give you any more time."
---
Suddenly, a sword made of pure yellow mana appeared in Alistair's hands.
The air trembled the moment his fingers closed around the hilt. He gripped it with both hands, veins swelling along his arms. Lightning coiled around his body, wild yet controlled—like a storm obeying a single will.
His eyes glowed.
He lowered his stance.
Then—
in the next second, he was already beside Solaris.
No sound.
No warning.
Only motion.
Alistair swung the mana sword—and the blade passed through Solaris like butter.
His voice thundered across the ruined land—
"KING OF SWORD — ULTIMATE!
THE INFINITE BLADE —
INFINITE SLASH!"
The moment those words left his mouth—
the world changed.
From nowhere, swords began to appear.
Small ones.
Giant ones.
Blades the size of mountains.
They filled the sky and the earth, glowing yellow like a second sun had been born. The entire horizon became a forest of divine weapons, each one humming with Alistair's intent.
And just like before—
the swords moved on their own.
As if they were copies of Alistair himself.
One slash—became a thousand.
A thousand—became infinite.
They rushed toward Solaris from every direction.
Front.
Back.
Sky.
Ground.
There was no escape.
No gap.
No mercy.
To normal eyes, the result was obvious.
Solaris was done for.
No living being could survive that storm of blades. The attacks overlapped, stacking on top of each other, slicing space itself. The ground where Solaris stood vanished under layers of yellow light.
Explosions echoed one after another.
The air screamed.
Dust, mana, and shattered earth swallowed everything.
Anyone watching would say—
he must be dead on the spot.
---
But Alistair was not relieved.
Not even for a heartbeat.
While the storm of blades still raged around Solaris, a different thought burned inside his mind. His teeth ground together, claws tightening around the hilt of his mana sword.
"That annoying mana shield of his…!!"
A Little Flashback,
Void Beast Alistair had swung his mana sword with absolute intent.
The blade drew closer.
Closer.
Almost touching Solaris's shoulder.
Then—
the moment the edge met Solaris's aura barrier—
the contact point of the sword vaporized instantly.
Not shattered.
Not deflected.
Just… erased.
So smoothly that, to the naked eye, it looked as if the sword had simply passed through Solaris's body.
The same thing happened to every other blade.
Dozens.
Hundreds.
Thousands of swords struck him at once—
and every single one vanished the instant they touched that overwhelming aura.
It wasn't defense.
It was annihilation.
---
Back in the present, amidst the swirling dust and shattered remnants of the forest, Solaris slowly lifted his head toward Alistair.
The rising dust didn't linger—it slammed down violently, clearing the entire area in an instant. The air felt heavier, charged with untamed mana, and the ground trembled beneath them.
Solaris spoke. His voice was no longer childlike—it was deep, guttural, and dripping with the raw ferocity of a predator. Every word echoed unnaturally across the cratered battlefield.
"YOU DIDN'T DIE!? WHY CAN'T I SENSE ANY KILLING INTENT TOWARD YOU? ALSO… IT FEELS LIKE I'VE SEEN YOU SOMEWHERE!"
He tilted his gaze downward, glancing at his own hands, veins sparking with golden lightning, cracks running across his body.
"BUT… YOU ARE ATTACKING ME! ARE YOU MY ENEMY?"
Void Beast Alistair froze for a heartbeat. Every fiber of his being screamed—he could feel the overwhelming power radiating from Solaris, the unnatural density of his aura, the lightning that could obliterate mountains. He instinctively stepped back, putting distance between them.
Inside, his mind raced.
"Any kind of direct physical attack won't reach him… nothing can touch that aura. But if a strike doesn't require direct contact… then what happens?!"
---
Alistair didn't wait any longer. Beneath his feet a giant yellow magic circle bloomed open, its patterns ancient and complex, spinning like a living mechanism. From within it, jagged threads of yellow lightning began to crawl outward, biting into the air itself. The pressure of mana thickened in an instant—heavy enough to make the ground groan.
Within that narrow distance, Void Beast Alistair moved.
He swung his sword vertically—violently, decisively.
"KING OF SWORD ULTIMATE—
THE OCTAGRAM—
DIMENSIONAL SLASH!"
The moment the words left his mouth, the world seemed to split.
Around Solaris, in eight different directions, eight colossal mana blades manifested out of nothingness. They didn't travel—they simply appeared, ignoring space itself. Before even a heartbeat could pass, all eight slashes struck Solaris's body simultaneously.
Blood sprayed violently into the air.
The levitating figure of Solaris slammed down to the ground like a discarded corpse, the impact sending cracks spiderwebbing through the earth.
For a brief second—silence.
Alistair remained standing, sword still extended, breath heavy, lightning coiling around his beastly form. His glowing eyes stared at the fallen body without a trace of relief.
He spoke, voice low and absolute.
"These moves… ignore the concept of distance and barrier. It is an unavoidable attack."
---
Solaris was on his knees now, blood pouring from his body in thick, crimson streams. His breathing was ragged, uneven—yet his eyes never dimmed. Slowly, painfully, he forced himself to stand.
In the distance, Alistair watched him with absolute focus, every sense sharpened to its limit. He didn't dare blink—
—but he did.
And when his eyes opened again, Solaris was already there.
Close.
Too close.
Face to face.
Instinct screamed before thought could form. Alistair swung his sword in a desperate arc—yet Solaris caught the blade with his bare hand. The mana-forged edge trembled, unable to move an inch.
Then Solaris spoke, his voice low, distorted, echoing like something not entirely human.
"ARE… YOU… MY… ENEMY…?"
Void Beast Alistair swallowed hard. For the first time since taking this form, fear crawled beneath his skin. Still, he answered.
"Enemy is better than an unknown person. If you want to see me as your enemy—then yes… I AM YOUR ENEMY!"
Solaris's expression darkened instantly, the air growing heavier with killing intent.
"AS YOU WISH."
Those three words crushed everything.
Alistair's face went blank. His confidence, his predatory aura, his pride as a Sword King—everything evaporated in a single moment. What stood before him was no opponent.
It was a calamity.
For the first time in his life, Alistair felt like an ant staring at the sky—realizing the sky was about to fall.
---
With an unreal display of strength, the sword clenched in Solaris's grip shattered like fragile glass. Fragments of condensed mana scattered in the air before dissolving into sparks.
Then Solaris slowly raised that same hand.
The yellow radiance coiled around his fingers, violent lightning crawling across his skin like living serpents. The space around his palm distorted, as if the world itself was afraid of what was coming.
Void Beast Alistair understood in an instant.
He couldn't run.
There was no time.
Gritting his fangs, he thrust both hands forward and poured every last drop of power into defense. Thousands—no, tens of thousands—of divine shield layers unfolded in front of him, overlapping like an endless fortress of light. The air trembled under the pressure of his desperate will.
Solaris moved.
Not fast.
Not slow.
Just inevitable.
His glowing fist advanced toward the shields—and the impossible happened. The punch didn't clash with them. It bypassed them, as if the barriers were nothing more than illusions.
Then—
CRACK.
The divine shields exploded into a thousand shards at once.
The fist landed directly on Alistair's stomach.
The impact erased sound.
For a split second the world went silent—then Alistair was launched backward like a broken star. His massive Void Beast body tore through the forest layers—tenth, ninth, eighth—mountains, rivers, and earth splitting apart in his wake.
He didn't stop.
From the deepest layer of the forest he was hurled all the way to the first—before slamming straight into the city wall.
BOOOOOOM—!!
---
On the other side of the wall, the guards were still laughing, unaware of the disaster racing toward them.
Then—
BOOOOM—!!
The massive city wall exploded inward. Rubble and dust erupted like a storm, and from within that chaos a single figure shot out—slamming into the ground like a discarded doll.
It was Alistair.
The guards instantly snapped into formation, spears raised, swords half-drawn. Panic replaced their earlier smiles.
One of the family guards squinted through the dust and his face went pale.
"L–Lord Alistair?! Is that you?!"
Alistair was no longer in his Void Beast form. He lay in his base human body, armor shattered, skin torn, coughing thick blood onto the dirt. With trembling effort he lifted a hand.
"Don't… come near me…"
His voice was hoarse, barely more than a breath.
A city guard stepped forward in confusion.
"Why?! What happened out there?!"
Alistair clenched his teeth, fear flashing across the eyes of a man who had never known fear before.
"Because…"
---
He couldn't even finish his words—
In the blink of an eye, Alistair's worst nightmare stood before him.
Solaris.
No footsteps. No sound. Just presence—an overwhelming, suffocating presence that swallowed the entire street. The horses and carriage beside them didn't break, didn't burn—they simply vanished, erased like smoke in the wind.
Two city guards collapsed instantly, blood pouring from their noses as their consciousness was ripped away.
The VOID household guards reacted on pure instinct. Protective relics flared to life, layers of shimmering barriers wrapping around them.
"Protect the Lord!" one of them shouted.
But the other was already on his knees, eyes, ears, and nose bleeding.
"I… I'm using everything I have…!"
The first guard gritted his teeth, his own ears beginning to drip red.
"Didn't I tell you to train harder?! Problems don't announce themselves before they come!"
At the center of it all, Solaris stood unmoving.
No anger.
No madness.
Only an empty, bottomless gaze.
He looked down at Alistair as if trying to remember a dream long forgotten.
"YOU… REALLY LOOK FAMILIAR…"
His voice echoed without emotion, yet it weighed heavier than any roar.
---
Then he slowly raised his hand for the final blow.
Alistair lay on the shattered ground, yet his thoughts were not of himself. His eyes trembled with sorrow, his voice barely more than a whisper.
"What have I done… all of this is my fault…"
Tears mixed with blood on his face.
"I'm sorry… Solaris… Look at what I made you! Look at what you've become!"
He closed his eyes, accepting the inevitable—accepting death as the price of his sins.
But time passed.
Nothing happened.
Alistair hesitantly opened one eye.
"…I'm still alive?"
He looked up at Solaris.
The boy was still standing, hand raised toward the sky—yet something was wrong. The light in his eyes was gone. Empty. Hollow.
Unconscious.
His body had reached its limit.
The storm of mana that had raged like a living disaster began to fade. The violent lightning softened, the suffocating pressure thinning into something eerily calm—too calm compared to the madness before.
At the center of Solaris's chest, the red seal trembled violently, as if struggling to contain something far greater than flesh could hold.
Alistair let out a shaky breath, half disbelief, half bitter relief.
"Well then…" he muttered, a weak, exhausted smile forming,
"Guess what? — I'm not dying today."
---
⭐Explain
Alistair Void was recognized as an A-Rank Sword King. Yet his talent was never limited to the Sword King path alone. The title of Sword King was not merely for prestige—it was a restriction, a requirement, a ceiling. No matter how gifted he was, as long as he remained within A-Rank, he could never step beyond the boundaries of the Sword King style.
But the Void Bloodline carried a terrifying uniqueness.
Under certain conditions, those who inherited it could awaken a Legendary Beast Form. In that state, Alistair was no longer bound by A-Rank limits—he ascended to the realm of an S-Ranker. And only then could he surpass the Sword King's ordinary techniques and access the next level of the Sword Style system—
Sword King Ultimate, a ultimate Sword Style.