Beyond SSS-Rank: My Defective Shadow Devours the World

Chapter 2: The Divine Banquet

"Who the hell are you?"

My voice was a raspy growl. The woman in white didn't answer immediately. She simply stood there, a pillar of blinding radiance in the middle of my growing darkness. Her armor wasn't just metal. It was woven light, pulsing with a frequency that made my teeth ache.

"I am Seraphina of the Silver Order," she said. Her voice wasn't loud, but it carried a weight that seemed to press my shadow back into the floor. "And you, Zorian Nightshade, are playing with a fire that will consume this world."

"Fire?" I laughed, a dry, hollow sound. "My beast just ate a Rank-B guard and swallowed a Dragon’s Breath. I think it’s the one doing the consuming."

The shadow at my feet hissed. It didn't like her. The ten shadow clones I had created began to circle her, their faceless heads tilted in predatory curiosity. They felt her power. It was pure. It was dense. It was the ultimate delicacy.

"Your beast is a void entity," Seraphina said, her eyes narrowing as she raised her silver sword. "It does not belong in the light. Release the Inquisitor, or I will be forced to purify you where you stand."

"Purify me?" I took a step forward. "Where were you when they called me a defect? Where was your Silver Order when my family was stripped of everything? You people only show up when the trash starts to bite back."

"Kill her!" the Inquisitor choked out, still dangling in the shadow's grip. "Kill the boy and his monster!"

Seraphina didn't look at him. Her gaze was locked on mine. "Last warning, Zorian."

Master... can we eat it? The voice in my head was salivating. The light... it smells like honey...

"Go ahead," I whispered. "Have your fill."

The ten shadow clones lunged at once. They moved like ink dropped in water, blurring through the air from every direction. Seraphina didn't flinch. She swung her sword in a perfect circle. A wave of holy energy erupted, a ring of silver fire that should have vaporized anything it touched.

The shadows didn't vaporize.

They collided with the silver ring and began to chew. Literally. I watched as my clones latched onto the light, their jagged teeth tearing away chunks of her holy energy.

"What?" Seraphina’s composure broke for a fraction of a second. "It... it eats sacred mana?"

"It eats everything," I said.

I moved with the shadows. I felt faster, stronger. My mana core, once a source of shame and pain, was now a roaring engine of dark power. I appeared behind her, my own hand coated in a layer of shifting black mist. I swung at her neck.

She parried with the hilt of her sword, the impact sending a shockwave that shattered the remaining windows in the hall. The force pushed us both back.

"You are stronger than a Zero-Rank should be," she muttered, her armor flickering. "But you are untrained. You are letting the void lead you."

"Maybe the void is a better teacher than the Academy," I snapped.

The royal troops outside finally regained their senses. "Fire! All units, fire!"

A hail of mana arrows rained down through the shattered ceiling. Hundreds of glowing projectiles hissed through the air, aimed directly at my back.

I didn't turn around. I didn't need to.

My shadow surged upward, expanding into a massive dome that covered the entire stage. The arrows didn't bounce off. They hit the shadow and sank in, their light extinguished instantly. Each arrow was a tiny snack, a morsel of energy that my beast happily digested.

"My turn," I said.

The shadow dome exploded outward, not in a blast, but in thousands of needle-thin tendrils. They shot toward the troops, moving with such speed that the soldiers didn't even have time to scream. The tendrils pierced through shields, through armor, through flesh.

They didn't kill the men. They took their Beasts.

I watched in awe as the summoned creatures—the wolves, the hawks, the minor drakes—were ripped away from their masters by my shadow. The beasts were dragged screaming into the darkness of my domain.

"Stop this madness!" Seraphina screamed. She lunged at me, her sword glowing with the intensity of a dying star. "Heavenly Pierce!"

The air screamed as her blade moved. It wasn't just a physical attack. It was a conceptual strike meant to erase darkness.

I didn't dodge. I thrust my hand forward, letting the main mass of my shadow concentrate into a single point.

GULP.

The tip of her divine blade entered the shadow. The light dimmed. The silver glow began to spiral into the void at my palm. Seraphina’s eyes widened in horror as she felt her own life force being drained through her weapon.

"This... this is impossible," she gasped, her knees buckling. "Not even a God-Rank Beast can devour a Divine Relic!"

"Then I guess I’m beyond God-Rank," I whispered, leaning in close to her ear.

I could feel her heartbeat. It was fast. Terrified. It felt good. For years, I was the one who trembled. Now, the strongest warrior of the Silver Order was shaking in my grip.

The Inquisitor was finally dropped to the floor, but he wasn't moving. He wasn't dead, but his mana had been completely drained. He was nothing more than an empty shell now. A true defect.

I looked around the hall. The royal troops were unconscious or fleeing. Lucian was nowhere to be seen—he had likely used a portal scroll to escape like the coward he was. Elena was gone too.

Only Seraphina remained, pinned between me and my hunger.

"Kill me," she hissed, her face pale. "If you let me live, the High Heavens will descend upon you. You cannot win against the world, Zorian."

"The world already tried to kill me, Seraphina. It failed."

I pulled her sword completely into the shadow. The divine weapon vanished, consumed by the abyss. My shadow let out a satisfied burp, its form now shimmering with a translucent, metallic silver sheen. It was evolving again.

"I won't kill you," I said, releasing her. She collapsed onto the marble, her light extinguished. "I want you to go back. Tell your Silver Order. Tell the King. Tell everyone who thinks they can judge me by a number."

I walked toward the exit, the massive shadow humanoid looming behind me like a dark god. The sun was setting outside, painting the sky in blood-orange hues.

"Tell them the menu is open," I called back over my shoulder. "And I’m still hungry."

I stepped out of the hall and into the city. The alarms were blaring. The sky was filled with the silhouettes of dragon-riders and airships. They were coming for me. Thousands of them.

My shadow hissed, its many eyes opening all over its body.

More... Master... more...

"Don't worry," I said, looking up at the army descending upon us. "We’re just getting started with the appetizers."

Suddenly, the ground beneath my feet began to rumble. A massive portal, blacker than my own shadow, opened in the middle of the city square. Something was coming through. Something that even my beast seemed to respect.

A tall figure stepped out of the portal. He wore a tattered black cloak and carried a scythe made of bone. He looked at me, then at my shadow.

"So," the stranger said, his voice sounding like grinding stones. "The Void has finally chosen a vessel. I hope you have an appetite, boy. Because the real monsters are about to wake up."