The Unvanquished: Child of Nihility-Chapter 54: Familiar And Yet Unfamiliar...

Across from him, the Bone Devourer reeled slightly. Black ichor dripped from its left hand where Morca’s blade had struck. Its crimson eyes flashed with shock.

And then...

---

The moment the Bone Devourer Skeleton saw Its blood, its supposed red-crimson eyes glinted black as the blood flowed into the third eye on its forehead. In that instant, space stiffened, and the very air inside the trial dungeon seemed to stop moving.

Morca, on the other hand, knew exactly what was about to happen–the Bone Devourer Skeleton was about to go berserk.

The three glittering silver horns atop the monster’s head flashed violently. Its massive body began to shrink until it stood at a mere five feet tall, but the change only intensified its aura, making the pressure around it feel suffocating.

In a blur, the monster appeared behind Morca. Its foot was already raised. Before Morca could react, the kick connected, sending him flying.

The monster didn’t stop there. It reappeared in the direction Morca was being thrown and delivered another brutal kick. This happened multiple times–Morca being beaten through the air like a broken doll.

During the relentless onslaught, Morca came to a realization about his unique skill–Blank.

The principle behind it was excellent and powerful. However, now he understood there was a limit. While blending with the surrounding shadows and dark particles, his body could only absorb a certain threshold of attacks. But the monster’s strikes weren’t normal–it wielded control over space itself, making difficult for him to maintain the shadow state.

Its attacks distorted space and carried devastating force, making them nearly impossible to evade. On top of that, the crimson mist surrounding it could disintegrate flesh and bone.

He noticed something else.

Every time the monster’s horns glowed, space around it twisted and bent unnaturally. That could only mean one thing: the horns were the core–the source of the monster’s spatial manipulation.

Then, a dangerous thought crossed his mind: What if I destroy the horns?

The monster reappeared once again, this time aiming directly at Morca’s head–a clear sign it intended to end the battle.

Every single trial candidate watching held their breath.

Morca had held his ground against a 3-Star Bone Devourer Skeleton. He had proven he was stronger than many of the scions from the ancient families. But now, instead of fighting back, he allowed himself to be captured. He hung motionless in the monster’s grasp.

Yes–Morca had been caught.

The monster’s claw gripped his neck, lifting him into the air, strangling him as though it were trying to snap his neck in one clean motion.

Morca’s crimson eye flared intensely, while his left eye began to swirl faster–fixated on the monster’s third eye, which had begun to emit a crimson beam, ready for attack.

Then–

It was as if time froze.

Space halted. The crimson beam that was about to shoot paused mid-activation. The monster trembled. For the first time, it felt something it couldn’t understand–its entire body refused to move.

With his remaining strength, Morca bit into his right wrist finger. A drop of crimson-black blood floated into the air. Then, his right hand moved in a blur, forming a circular pattern of blood and symbols in front of him. Behind him, a faint illusion of a crimson moon flickered into existence.

Avoc–the black blade–responded on its own, drifting toward the center of the blood circle. Crimson threads began to weave around its hilt like living veins. Blood gushed from Morca’s left eye as he waved both hands in coordination with the pattern.

Though his vision blurred, his will did not falter.

With precision, he completed the seal. Avoc shot forward with a flash of crimson light. It first sliced through one of the monster’s horns, then soared upward, turned midair, and came crashing down on the monster’s skull.

Crack!

The sound was bone-deep.

The monster tried to avert its gaze, sensing that the human’s eye was no ordinary power. But it was futile.

Avoc continued drilling into its skull. Its grip around Morca’s neck loosened.

Then–

BOOM!

The impact created a shockwave that blew Morca away. He was blasted across the dungeon, bouncing against the dust-covered ground like a doll before crashing into a dead tree.

Fresh blood ran down the corner of his lips. His left eye shut tightly, but his crimson right eye remained open, staring at the aftermath.

The once terrifying 3-Star Bone Devourer Skeleton now lay in ruins. Its headless body crumbled, its skeletal form split clean in two. Avoc hovered silently in the air, the faint threads of crimson energy still pulsing along its hilt.

A faint grin curled Morca’s lips.

And then, his crimson eye closed.

Morca had fainted from exhaustion.

He had pushed his left eye to its absolute limit, locking gazes with the monster’s third eye just as it prepared to release its final attack. Had he hesitated even for a second, his entire body would have turned to dust.

In all the battles since awakening on the planet Eden, this was the first time he had truly reached his limit.

The entire dungeon fell into an eerie silence. No one dared breathe–no, they had forgotten how. Every eye was fixed on the figure they once dismissed–the so-called weakling of the Sherman family.

This... was beyond shocking.

But the silence was abruptly broken.

A figure shot forward–a male trial candidate sprinting at full speed toward the unconscious Morca. A blade shimmered in his hand.

It was none other than Thur Sherman, the eldest of the Sherman youths and the son of the First Elder.

He had been waiting for this chance.

When he saw the power Morca displayed, his mind nearly broke. All his hopes had been shattered. But the moment he saw Morca fall unconscious, hope reignited in his chest.

He would have his vengeance, the humiliation he felt from Emmett lee.

Once hailed as a genius equal to Denis and Tyler, Thur had been left behind after the Divine Awakening Ceremony. And from the shadows, someone no one expected–Emmett Lee–emerged and humiliated him and his father in front of all the Sherman’s youths just because of this same Morca’s wrong. From that day on, Thur vowed to return the humiliation tenfold.

He had trained relentlessly, even to the point of becoming gaunt and pale.

When teams were selected to fight the 2-Star+ monsters, no one looked at him. Another wave of humiliation washed over him. And then Morca displayed even more monstrous talent. How could Thur suppress his rage?

He couldn’t.

This was his only chance.

’Hehehe... you never expected this, did you, Morca Sherman?’ he muttered with a wicked grin. He knew no one can stop him now. He raised his blade, intent on ending Morca once and for all.

But just as the blade began to descend–

A cold chill swept across the air.

And then–

"..."

---

Laura stood a distance away from her opponent, glancing in Morca’s direction. "To think someone would stoop so low as to target you in this state." She muttered, with that, she moved agilely toward the Bone Devourer Skeleton, appearing atop its bony shoulder in a blink.

Without wasting a second, two long, slender black daggers appeared in her hands. She drove one into the monster’s throat and the other into the spot where its core was–on its forehead.

Strings of black mist flowed from the daggers into the monster’s wounded form. Visible to the naked eye, the mist spread rapidly, and the monster began decaying, eventually turning into a heap of black dust.

Swoop–Hiss!

Four flying daggers pierced through Thur’s limbs. His legs gave out, and he collapsed, screaming, "NOoo! He must die! Who the hell stopped me?! I’ll end him!"

His bloodthirsty eyes searched for the person who interfered as he crawled toward the unconscious Morca.

Then, the so-called bastard appeared.

"Are you looking for me?" a calm, female voice rang out.

"It was you who stopped me! I’ll kill you... I’ll end both of you!" Thur snarled as he turned toward the figure–and froze. It was Laura.

At first, he trembled in fear, but his rage clouded his judgment.

"How are you going to do that?" Laura bent forward slightly, amusement evident beneath her masked voice.

"I’ll end you!" he repeated, as if saying it enough times would make it happen.

"Oh, so you’re a fool–not even worth talking to. Fine, I’ll spare your pathetic life. I can’t stain my precious hands with your pathetic blood." With that, she kicked the crawling Thur aside and turned to the other trial candidates.

"And let me remind you–none of you present may touch even a strand of his hair. Believe me, if you try..." A thick, dangerous aura surged from her, darkening the very atmosphere around her.

The trial candidates shivered at her words.

She didn’t need to finish her sentence–they knew she was deadly serious.

Everyone present knew that Laura was already a Saint Rank expert.

---

Far across the trial ground, Jack Voidspace smiled as he observed Morca’s power and how effortlessly Laura eliminated her target.

"Ah... two Saint Rank experts, huh? I guess I have no reason to hold back anymore." He paused. "I can’t let the ancient families lose face to those two–especially that girl... She feels both familiar and yet unfamiliar..."