I Died and Received an SSS-Rank Unique Ability-Chapter 100: The Other Side

Ayla and the silver-haired woman became a blur of motion, obsidian dagger flashing with violet light against the woman’s slender sword. Sparks flew across the hallway. With every strike, the air trembled under the weight of their exchange. Ayla’s footwork was sharp and measured, while her opponent’s style was colder and more surgical. Each movement was designed to kill in an instant.

The clash continued evenly, neither gaining ground. Ayla slashed low, but the woman stepped back and countered with a thrust aimed for her throat. Ayla twisted sideways, letting the blade pass inches from her skin before retaliating with a spinning backhand slash. The woman blocked it with ease and countered within the same motion, forcing Ayla back.

Meanwhile, Vale, Dain, and Klein fought off the last of the vines. Dain smashed one vine into the wall with his gauntlet, shattering it into splinters. Klein, now moving freely thanks to Vale, used his sword to damage the vine along its edge.

With one last swing, Vale cut down a thick, coiled root attempting to ensnare his leg. The hall fell silent for a heartbeat. Only the sound of clashing steel between Ayla and her opponent remained.

"She’s good," Dain muttered, wiping blood from his jaw.

Klein coughed and staggered beside them. "I don’t think she’s trying yet."

Vale saw it too. Something about the woman’s movements was odd, as if limited by something.

That’s when the shift happened.

A low rumble echoed through the corridor. The polished marble beneath their feet groaned as cracks spread like veins of decay. Small green shoots began to sprout from the splits in the floor, walls, and ceiling. Then, all at once, they grew.

In the blink of an eye, the hallway was overrun. Vines erupted like a living tide—thick, thorned, and pulsing with mana essence. The walls were consumed by crawling ivy, the ceiling became a net of writhing tendrils, and the floor vanished beneath a carpet of green.

Vale sliced at the growths with Hellfire. Each cut sent a puff of smoke into the air, each flame-seared vine fell limp—but then, more sprouted in its place. For every one he dispelled, five more replaced it. Even his unique ability stood no chance against the sheer volume of the vines.

"Was she holding back the whole time?!"

But he had no time to dwell on that idea.

Without so much as a gesture from her, dozens of vines erupted from every direction. Ten. Twenty. Fifty vines launched into the air.

They struck like coordinated snakes, coiling around each student with unrelenting force.

Dain was the first to go down. Despite his strength, three vines coiled around his torso and limbs, slamming him against the wall and pinning him there like a broken statue. Klein yelped as two vines snatched his legs from beneath him, another wrapping around his chest like a vice. Even Ayla, who had been locked in combat just seconds ago, was suddenly entangled—her limbs jerked backwards and her blade knocked from her hand mid-parry.

Vale fought back with everything he had. He activated Voidstep again, blinking behind the vines just before they wrapped around him. But even the shadows weren’t enough. From beneath the floor, a monstrous vine thicker than his waist erupted and coiled around his waist, lifting him off the ground.

He sliced at it wildly. His blade caught the vine, fire burning along its skin—but it didn’t matter. More vines burst from the walls and caught his arms, yanking them outward. His legs were pulled in the opposite direction. In seconds, he was suspended in the air, limbs spread, barely able to breathe under the immense pressure..

Ayla screamed in fury, her ability activated again and again, but the vines only continued coming, covering every part of her body.

Still holding onto his sword, Klein’s arm swung wildly, trying to cut at anything, but it was to no avail. The vines were fast to coil around his body, immobilising him in an instant.

Dain thrashed, roaring like a beast and breaking a couple of vines off, but it was no use. Only more of them emerged and coiled around him completely.

They were all pinned now.

The silver-haired woman approached slowly.

Her face still held no emotion. Her white hair drifted gently behind her, untouched by the chaos. Instead of her sword, a black dagger appeared in her right hand—simple in design, but unmistakably lethal.

Vale glared at her, sweat dripping from his brow. His mana raged within him, but it was as if the vines only grew stronger with his rage, coiling harder and harder around him.

She first approached Klein, slashing his throat with a single, practised ease before releasing his lifeless body to the ground with a heavy thud.

She continued onward, toward Ayla. The girl’s face was now covered by vines, no part of her remaining visible, only her shape remaining. The vines split open around her abdomen, and with a swift thrust, the dagger plunged into her stomach before the girl’s dead body dropped to the ground.

The silver-haired woman now approached Dain, pausing momentarily before the massive student. Perhaps due to his size, or for a reason unknown to him, she decided to dismiss her dagger and summon her sword, thrusting it deep into his chest.

Finally, she approached Vale. His eyes raged with fury, but his mouth was now covered by vines, unable to utter even a single word.

She lingered longer than before, her cold eyes studying Vale for a couple of moments, before the vines finally parted around his chest area.

She plunged the sword deep into his chest and straight through his heart. His breath hitched, and his body jolted at the impact.

His vision spun, and the world around him became nothing but a blur. But before the darkness could consume him and before he would be welcomed to his third trial, he saw it.

A faint, menacing smile that didn’t quite reach the woman’s eyes.

"I will see you on the other side," the woman said right before the darkness swallowed him whole. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

[ Congratulations! You have died. ]

[ Your Third Trial of Death begins now. ]