Shadow Husband:I Have a Hidden SSS-Class System-Chapter 37: TRIAL BY FIRE

DAY 2 - JAKARTA TRAINING FACILITY - 6:00 AM

The first joint training session between Players and Hunters was a disaster.

Rama stood in the center of a reinforced arena, watching twenty E-Rank Hunters face off against Sari—a Level 34 Player who’d agreed to demonstrate the gap.

It lasted eleven seconds.

Sari moved through them like smoke, disabling each Hunter with precise non-lethal strikes. Twenty trained fighters neutralized before most could even activate their skills.

"This is what we’re facing," Rama told the assembled crowd of over two hundred Hunters. "Not Sari specifically. But this level of capability. The Void Lords will send entities far stronger. If Level 34 looks impossible to you now, imagine Level 60. Level 80. Level 100."

The silence was uncomfortable. Fearful.

"So we train," Rama continued. "We learn. We close the gap. Players will teach advanced techniques. Hunters will share tactical coordination. We combine strengths."

"Easy for you to say," an A-Rank Hunter called out. "You’re Level 50. System Champion. The rest of us are—"

An explosion rocked the building.

Not training. Real. The walls shook, alarms blaring, emergency lights activating.

Sekar’s voice over the intercom: "Gate manifestation. S-Rank. Downtown Jakarta. All available forces mobilize immediately."

S-Rank gate. The kind that could level city blocks if left unchecked.

"So much for gradual training," Budi muttered.

The crowd looked at Rama—waiting for orders, for leadership, for the Champion to tell them what to do.

"Players, A-Ranks, and above—with me to the gate," Rama commanded. "Everyone else, evacuate civilians in a five-kilometer radius. Sekar, I need—"

"Already coordinating with city emergency services," her voice came back. "Gate is at Sudirman Center. Manifestation began three minutes ago. Estimated time until full breach: twelve minutes."

"Then we have twelve minutes to get there and establish containment." Rama looked at Yanto. "Can you teleport key people?"

"Five at a time, maximum. Takes thirty seconds per jump."

"Too slow. We need—"

[SYSTEM SKILL: CHAMPION’S CALL - AVAILABLE]

[SUMMON ALL PLAYERS WITHIN 100KM TO YOUR LOCATION]

[WARNING: CANNOT BE REFUSED. USE SPARINGLY.]

The System offered a solution. But it was his trump card—once per month, and it would expose the full extent of his champion authority.

"Forget teleporting," Rama said. "Everyone, mount up. We’re going conventional. Network Players—I’m using Champion’s Call. Be ready."

He activated the skill.

[CHAMPION’S CALL ACTIVATED]

[SUMMONING: 23 PLAYERS]

[LOCATION: SUDIRMAN CENTER]

[ETA: IMMEDIATE]

Every Player in Jakarta felt the compulsion—an irresistible pull toward downtown. Those already near materialized at the gate instantly. Those farther away felt their bodies moving involuntarily, Systems engaging emergency transportation.

Within ninety seconds, all twenty-three Players stood at Sudirman Center.

Along with five hundred panicking civilians still evacuating.

"Perimeter formation!" Ratna commanded immediately, taking tactical control. "Protect the civilians first, contain the gate second!"

The S-Rank gate pulsed with violent energy. Through the shimmering portal, something massive moved.

[S-RANK GATE: BREACH IMMINENT]

[ENTITY DETECTED: VOID HERALD]

[WARNING: UNPRECEDENTED THREAT TYPE]

[ESTIMATED LEVEL: 73]

Level 73.

Twenty-three levels higher than Rama. Forty levels higher than most Players present.

"That’s not a normal gate boss," Yanto said, his voice tight. "That’s—"

The entity emerged.

It wasn’t a monster. It was wrongness given form—a humanoid figure made of void-black energy, reality distorting around it. Where it stepped, concrete crumbled. Where it breathed, air turned toxic.

[VOID HERALD - LEVEL 73 - ADVANCE SCOUT]

[DIRECTIVE: ASSESS DIMENSIONAL RESISTANCE]

[SECONDARY: ELIMINATE SYSTEM CHAMPIONS]

It spoke—not with voice, but with pressure against their minds.

YOU. CHAMPION. DESIGNATED THREAT.

Then it attacked.

The Void Herald moved with impossible speed.

One moment, fifty meters away. The next, directly in front of Rama, its hand wreathed in reality-distorting energy aimed at his chest.

Rama activated [Void Step]—teleporting backward.

The Herald was already there.

[HP: 182 → 143]

One hit took twenty percent of his health. Through [Guardian’s Resolve]. Through [Steel Body]. Through every defense he had.

"Scatter formation!" Yanto ordered. "Don’t cluster—it’ll kill us all at once!"

The Players dispersed, attacking from multiple angles.

It didn’t matter.

The Herald’s form rippled. Tendrils of void energy lashed out in every direction simultaneously, striking twelve Players at once.

[BUDI: CRITICAL DAMAGE]

[SARI: HEAVY DAMAGE]

[DEWI: CRITICAL DAMAGE]

Three of their strongest fighters disabled in one attack.

"This is wrong," Ratna said, firing phantom blades that dissolved before reaching the target. "It’s not following normal combat parameters. It’s like fighting a concept instead of an entity."

Rama tried [Adaptive Combat]—his skill that made him more effective against repeated opponents.

The System returned an error.

[ERROR: TARGET UNDEFINED]

[ADAPTIVE COMBAT CANNOT PROCESS VOID-TYPE ENTITIES]

[SYSTEM COMPATIBILITY: 23%]

Twenty-three percent compatibility. The System barely recognized what they were fighting.

The Herald moved again. This time targeting civilians still evacuating three blocks away.

"No!" Rama activated [Champion’s Aura]—the leadership buff that enhanced allies.

[ALL ALLIES: +20% COMBAT EFFECTIVENESS]

It helped. Marginally. Gave them enough boost to survive hits that would’ve killed them.

But the Herald was still overwhelming them.

Then Sekar arrived.

She didn’t announce herself. Didn’t waste time talking. Just materialized from a high-speed transport and hit the Herald with everything an S-Rank possessed.

Her sword—wreathed in condensed mana that made reality scream—connected with the Herald’s form.

For the first time, it staggered.

[VOID HERALD HP: ???/??? → ???]

The System couldn’t even read its health properly. But Sekar had damaged it.

"Focus fire on where I hit!" she commanded. "It can be hurt!"

The Players rallied. Concentrated their attacks on the point where Sekar had struck.

[VOID HERALD: DAMAGE ACCUMULATING]

Slowly, impossibly slowly, they were making progress.

But the Herald adapted.

Its form shifted, becoming less solid. Attacks started passing through it without effect.

"It’s phasing!" Yanto warned. "Going intangible!"

"Then we force it solid!" Sekar’s aura flared to maximum. "System Champion—I need your Trusted Companion link. Give me targeting data!"

Through their connection, Rama shared everything his System could read about the Herald. Incomplete, glitchy information, but better than nothing.

Sekar processed it instantly, her S-Rank combat intuition combining with System data.

"There!" She pointed at a specific point in the Herald’s center mass. "That’s its anchor to this dimension. Destroy that, we banish it!"

"I can’t reach it," Rama said. Level 50 versus Level 73. The gap was too much.

"Then I’ll make the opening. You deliver the strike." Sekar looked at him seriously. "Trust me?"

"Always."

She moved.

An S-Rank at full power was beautiful and terrifying. Sekar became a blur of motion, her blade creating dimensional tears with each strike. She wasn’t trying to kill the Herald—she was herding it, forcing it into position.

Three seconds of perfect combat placed the Herald exactly where she wanted it.

"Now!" she screamed.

Rama activated every offensive skill simultaneously. [Molten Strike]. [Phantom Strike]. [Apex Guardian’s Ultimate: Bastion Breaker]—his new legendary-class ability.

The skills fused into one massive attack.

His sword—Guardian’s Oath, the legendary weapon—flared with golden light as it recognized allies being protected.

[GUARDIAN’S OATH: +50% POWER (10 ALLIES PROTECTED)]

The strike connected with the Herald’s dimensional anchor.

[CRITICAL HIT: DIMENSIONAL SEVERANCE]

The Herald shrieked—not sound, but pressure that shattered windows for blocks.

Then it began dissolving, its form destabilizing, collapsing back through the gate it had emerged from.

[VOID HERALD: BANISHED]

[GATE CLOSING]

[THREAT NEUTRALIZED]

The gate sealed with a thunderclap of displaced air.

Silence fell over downtown Jakarta.

Then the casualties became apparent.

Twelve Players critically wounded. Three civilians dead—caught in the initial attack before evacuation completed. Fourteen Hunters injured trying to maintain perimeter.

And Rama, standing in the epicenter, realized something horrifying.

[SYSTEM ANALYSIS COMPLETE]

[VOID HERALD ASSESSMENT: ADVANCE SCOUT - WEAKEST VOID-TYPE ENTITY]

[CLASSIFICATION: EXPENDABLE RECONNAISSANCE UNIT]

[VOID LORD FORCES ESTIMATED: 100,000+ ENTITIES OF EQUIVALENT OR GREATER POWER]

The thing that had nearly killed them all was the weakest unit the Void Lords possessed.

And there were a hundred thousand more.

Sekar reached him, blood streaming from a dozen wounds, exhaustion evident.

"We won," she said.

"No," Rama replied, staring at the System’s analysis. "We survived. There’s a difference."

"What do you—" She saw his interface. Read the numbers. Her face went pale. "A hundred thousand of these?"

"Minimum. And stronger variants." He looked at the devastation around them—a single entity had done this. "Three years to prepare. We’re not even close to ready."

EMERGENCY NETWORK MEETING - 2 HOURS LATER

Every Player in Jakarta sat in Eternal Bond’s medical bay, bandaged and exhausted.

Rama shared the System’s analysis.

The room absorbed it in horrified silence.

"We can’t fight that," Fajar said finally. "We barely survived one. A hundred thousand would exterminate us in hours."

"Then we get stronger," Rama said. "Much stronger. Faster than we thought possible."

"How?" Ratna demanded. "The Trial of Worthiness takes thirty days minimum. We don’t have time to create a thousand champions."

"We accelerate. Find loopholes. Optimize." Rama pulled up his champion interface. "The System gave me authority. I’m going to use it. Yanto, Budi, Sari, Ratna—I’m designating you as Trusted Companions. Limited System access. It’ll help coordination."

He made the designations before they could argue.

[TRUSTED COMPANIONS: 5/5 DESIGNATED]

[YANTO SUKARNO - TRUSTED #2]

[BUDI HARTAWAN - TRUSTED #3]

[SARI KUSUMA - TRUSTED #4]

[RATNA DEWI - TRUSTED #5]

They gasped as new interfaces appeared in their vision.

"This is..." Yanto stared at the System screens. "Incredible. And terrifying."

"Use it. Share what you learn. We need every advantage." Rama stood despite his exhaustion. "Tomorrow, we start trial accelerations. Anyone who wants to attempt the Worthiness Trial, we’re creating optimal conditions. Fast-track training. Resource sharing. Everything."

"And the association?" Ratna asked. "They saw the Herald. They know the threat is real now."

"Then we bring them in fully. No more half-measures. Sekar, can you arrange a meeting with all S-Ranks in Southeast Asia?"

"I’ll have it set up within twenty-four hours."

"Good. Because we need to stop thinking locally. This is global. We need international coordination. Military integration. Government cooperation." Rama looked at each face. "The Herald was a test. The Void Lords were measuring us. And we barely passed. Next time, they’ll send something worse."

His phone buzzed. Unknown number. Against his better judgment, he answered.

A familiar voice. "Impressive work today, Champion."

The Architect. Still alive despite Rama killing him in the duel.

No—not the Architect. The voice was similar but different. Younger. Female.

"Who is this?"

"The Architect’s daughter. He recorded a message before your duel, in case he died. I’m executing his final orders." A pause. "The Ascended are officially disbanded, as agreed. But he left instructions. Coordinates. Resources. Things you’ll need for the war ahead."

"Why?"

"Because he believed you could win. And because he’d rather humanity survive under your leadership than perish under the Void." She sent data. "These are locations of hidden weapons caches. Advanced System research. Three unregistered S-Rank gates that could be used for accelerated training. Consider it his final contribution."

The call ended.

Rama stared at his phone, then at the data—real coordinates, verified by his System.

The Architect’s final gift. Resources that could change everything.

"What was that?" Sekar asked.

"A dead man helping us win his war." Rama forwarded the data to his Trusted Companions. "Check these locations. If they’re legitimate, we just gained months of preparation time."

"And if it’s a trap?"

"Then we spring it carefully. But I don’t think it is. The Architect wanted to see what my quest reward was. Now he knows—I’m supposed to save humanity. He’s helping from beyond death."

Outside, Jakarta began recovering from the Herald’s attack. Emergency services, repairs, casualties being counted.

But in this room, something had shifted.

The Players had faced a true Void entity and survived.

Barely. At terrible cost. But survived.

And now they knew exactly what was coming.