CHAPTER 42: “I WON.”

The Abyss Knight’s massive blade shifted with a low metallic groan, crimson runes flickering along its black steel edge. Lucian rolled his shoulders again, blood dripping from his split lip onto the fractured obsidian floor. The chamber pulsed with silent tension, each heartbeat echoing through the drifting crimson-lit fog.

The Knight lunged forward with surprising speed for its size. Its blade tore the air apart with a thunderous roar, splitting the violet fog as it swung down in a single executioner’s arc. Lucian’s eyes flickered.

Fold Step.

He vanished sideways, reappearing at the Knight’s left flank mid-swing. His hand shot forward, fingertips glowing faint black as compressed spatial force gathered between them.

[Dimensional Claw]

He sliced across the Knight’s side, sparks and shredded black steel bursting outward. But the armor barely cracked. The Knight turned instantly, its elbow crashing into his chest with bone-crushing force before he could retreat.

Lucian gasped as air exploded from his lungs. His body lifted off the ground, slamming into a distant pillar. Cracks spiderwebbed outward as rubble rained down around him. He coughed blood, his ribs screaming with each ragged breath.

The Knight advanced again, each step rumbling across the floor like approaching thunder. Lucian exhaled softly, ignoring the red blur staining his vision. He flicked his trembling fingers lightly.

[Temporal Slow]

The world stretched, sounds warping into deep, underwater echoes. The Knight’s blade crawled through the air in slow motion, crimson arcs trailing behind it. Lucian stepped forward calmly, closing the space between them with silent ease. His half-lidded eyes narrowed to cold focus.

[Temporal Disruption Pulse]

His palm pressed against the Knight’s chestplate, compressed time-energy exploding into its internal circuits. The Knight jerked, its movements stuttering as flickering static sparked across its armor seams.

Fold Step.

Lucian flickered back instantly, reappearing behind its knee. His fingers curved into a spearhand as he stabbed upward into the black armored joint. A faint screech of tearing metal and ruptured mana circuits echoed through the chamber, but before he could withdraw—

The Knight’s free hand reached down, massive black fingers clamping around his torso. Its grip tightened, metal plates digging into his bruised ribs. Lucian felt something crack. Pain exploded across his side as the Knight lifted him effortlessly, slamming him into the stone floor with an impact that fractured the obsidian in a ten-meter radius.

Blood burst from his mouth as his vision flickered white with silent static.

Fold Step.

He flickered out of the crushing grip an instant before the Knight could hammer its blade down onto his chest. He reappeared mid-air behind its head, his bangs drifting across half-lidded eyes as his hand sliced downward.

[Dimensional Claw – Compression Variant]

All five fingers together formed a singular compressed blade of space-tearing force. It ripped down the Knight’s back, slicing through black steel like thin paper. Sparks and ruptured crimson circuits burst outward as its massive body staggered forward under the damage.

But it didn’t fall.

The Knight spun around instantly, its blade sweeping horizontally in a wide arc. Lucian twisted mid-air to avoid a decapitation, but the blade’s edge caught his shoulder, slicing through flesh and muscle. Blood sprayed across the chamber in a long crimson arc as he landed hard on his knees, one hand pressed to the deep wound.

The Knight didn’t slow. Its crimson runes burned brighter along its blade as it raised the weapon high overhead with both hands, preparing a single devastating downward strike.

Lucian inhaled slowly. Each breath sent hot agony stabbing through his chest and shoulder. His half-lidded eyes flickered with faint black light.

Fold Step.

He flickered forward, straight into the Knight’s raised guard. Its blade came down instantly, trying to split him in half before he could act. But Lucian’s hands shot upward, catching the blade mid-descent with both palms.

His knees buckled under the force. The black steel edge pressed down, slicing thin lines into his trembling palms as crimson runes flickered violently against his skin. Blood dripped down his wrists, but he held it. His muscles screamed. His ribs threatened to collapse under the strain.

The Knight leaned forward, pushing with unbreakable might.

Lucian’s bangs drifted across his eyes, shadowing them in quiet darkness.

Fold Step.

He vanished from under the blade, reappearing directly above the Knight’s helmet mid-air. His hands curved downward like hooked claws.

[Dimensional Claw – Compression Variant]

He sliced down in a cross-shaped arc with both hands. The compressed spatial force carved two deep gouges into the Knight’s helmet, rupturing mana seals and exploding compressed crimson light outward in a deafening shockwave.

The Knight’s head snapped forward, steam bursting from ruptured circuits along its neck and shoulders. Its blade fell from its grip, clattering onto the obsidian floor with a massive echo.

Lucian landed lightly behind it, his body trembling. Blood dripped from the open wound along his shoulder and his gashed palms. His breaths came in ragged, shallow bursts.

But his eyes remained calm. Cold. Focused.

The Knight turned slowly, its massive armored frame shuddering under the damage. Black smoke poured from its fractured chestplate as it raised its fist, slamming it forward in a final crushing blow.

Lucian flicked his fingers lightly.

[Temporal Disruption Pulse]

Time-energy exploded into the Knight’s chest, freezing its entire frame mid-punch. He stepped forward, pressing his palm flat against its chestplate.

[Dimensional Claw – Compression Variant]

His fingers sliced inward in a single direct stab, piercing through black steel, rupturing mana cores, and tearing into the Knight’s central node. For half a second, its massive body stood frozen. Then cracks split outward across its armor in glowing crimson fractures.

With a deep, echoing groan, the Abyss Knight collapsed forward onto its knees. Its helmet clattered onto the stone as its body shattered into drifting motes of black and silver light that dissolved into the silent fog.

Lucian remained standing, his chest heaving with ragged breaths. Blood dripped down his side, soaking into his torn uniform coat. He closed his eyes for a moment, feeling the hot pain pulse through every nerve.

[Floor Three – Completed.]

[Advancement Conditions: Passed.]

[Level Up – Rank D Level 3 Achieved.]

[Recovery Interval: One Minute.]

[System Note: ...You’re pushing your body too far, Lucian.]

He exhaled softly, a faint smile flickering across his split lips. The pain washed over him like silent rain, numbing and real all at once.

"I know," he whispered back to the quiet voice curling around his mind.

The system’s warmth flickered faintly in his chest.

[But you won.]

He opened his eyes slowly, half-lidded and calm, the obsidian chamber flickering with drifting violet fog around him. His bangs drifted lightly across his gaze as he raised his trembling hand to look at his blood-stained fingers.

"Yeah," he whispered softly, his voice almost lost to the quiet.

"I won."