Extra's Path To Main Character-Chapter 57 - 56 - Cathedral Combat

Fighting an S-rank opponent alongside another S-rank was categorically different from solo combat.

Amaron had sparred with Mordain during the Kell program. Had trained alongside Elian countless times. But actual combat—where both parties were deploying full capacity with intent to incapacitate—required a level of coordination and tactical awareness that couldn’t be replicated in training.

Sareth understood this instinctively. She’d been S-rank for eight years and had participated in enough coordinated operations to know how to work alongside another S-rank without creating interference patterns or leaving openings the opposition could exploit.

The guardian was skilled enough to engage both of them simultaneously.

Her technique was exactly as Amaron remembered—formal Guild patterns modified with irregular adaptations that suggested field experience in situations where standard protocols didn’t apply. But she’d also clearly spent the past two weeks analyzing his combat style from their previous engagement and developing specific counters.

The fight settled into a pattern: Sareth applied pressure from mid-range with technique that forced defensive responses. Amaron exploited those responses with close-quarters attacks that the guardian had to counter rather than ignore. And the guardian adapted continuously, finding gaps in their coordination and punishing any momentary lapse in defensive coverage.

Three minutes in, Vren’s voice came through the communication system: "All alternate passages confirmed sealed. Barrier construction is sophisticated—would take hours to breach with A-rank capacity. Kaito and I are returning to your position."

"Negative," Sareth responded while maintaining her attack pattern. "Hold position at the alternate passages. Monitor for defensive constructs or secondary threats. Volg and I will handle the guardian."

The guardian heard this exchange and smiled slightly. "Smart commander. Doesn’t waste A-rank personnel in S-rank combat. But it doesn’t change the outcome. You’re not getting past me. Not both of you. Not at this deployment intensity."

She executed a complex technique that forced both Amaron and Sareth into defensive positions simultaneously. "I can maintain this engagement for hours. Can you? Because every minute you spend fighting me is a minute your other teams are operating without S-rank support. How many of them are encountering their own S-rank guardians right now? How many are winning those engagements?"

— ◆ —

It was a valid tactical question. The five-site assault assumed that opposition would be distributed across multiple locations. But if the Cascading Dawn had seven S-rank personnel and had positioned them strategically, some teams might be encountering exactly what Amaron’s team was facing: prepared S-rank defenders blocking access to critical infrastructure.

Sareth clearly reached the same conclusion. "Volg, can you handle her alone?"

"For a limited time," Amaron said, executing a counter-technique that created momentary separation. "Not hours. But long enough for you to attempt a forced breach on one of the sealed passages."

"Breach time estimate?"

"Thirty minutes minimum with concentrated S-rank force application," Amaron said. "Possibly longer depending on barrier depth."

"Then that’s our approach," Sareth decided. "I breach. You engage. Vren and Kaito provide support on whichever role needs it. We’re not withdrawing until we’ve made a legitimate attempt on the node."

The guardian’s expression shifted slightly—not concern, but recalculation. "You’re willing to split your S-rank assets. Interesting. Also tactically questionable. But if that’s your choice, let’s see how well your junior S-rank handles solo engagement."

She redirected her full combat focus onto Amaron, and the intensity escalated immediately.

— ◆ —

Solo engagement against an S-rank opponent who’d specifically prepared for fighting him was every bit as difficult as Amaron had expected.

The guardian’s technique had evolved since their previous encounter. She’d identified his preferred attack patterns and developed counters. She’d analyzed his defensive positioning and found the gaps. And she was deploying at intensity that suggested she was no longer holding anything back for potential withdrawal.

But Amaron had advantages she couldn’t have predicted.

Nine years of combat experience from his first life. Eight weeks of Kell program training specifically designed to push technique to S-rank refinement. And the absolute certainty that came from having broken himself during the Threshold Trial specifically so he could handle situations like this.

The fight was technical. Precise. Both of them operating at levels where single mistakes could be catastrophic. Neither willing to overcommit to attacks that might create openings for decisive counters. The kind of engagement that could continue for extended duration if both parties had the capacity to maintain it.

Around them, Sareth had begun the forced breach attempt on the western passage seal. Vren and Kaito were providing barrier support to contain any defensive responses the breach might trigger. The chamber had become a space of coordinated tactical execution where every team member was operating at their maximum capacity in pursuit of a single objective.

The guardian noticed this coordination and adjusted her strategy. Instead of trying to incapacitate Amaron quickly—which would require overcommitment she clearly wasn’t willing to risk—she shifted to containment. Keeping him engaged. Preventing him from supporting the breach attempt. Creating a situation where time became the enemy rather than combat capability.

"You’re better than I expected," she said during a momentary separation. "Last time I thought you were talented A-rank with unusual progression. Now I know you’re something else entirely. S-rank at sixteen. Technical refinement that exceeds your age by decades. You’re either the greatest prodigy Valdenmere has ever produced, or you’re something the Guild doesn’t understand yet."

"Does it matter which?" Amaron asked.

"To me? No. You’re still trying to destroy infrastructure I’ve been ordered to defend. But to the Cascading Dawn? Yes. We’re always interested in people who don’t fit the Guild’s expected patterns."

She manifested a technique that forced Amaron into a defensive counter. "When this operation concludes—and it will conclude, one way or another—someone’s going to want to talk to you. About what you are. About what you could become if you weren’t constrained by Guild protocols. About opportunities that don’t exist within the traditional Hunter system."

"I’m not interested in recruitment," Amaron said.

"Not yet," the guardian said. "But this operation is going to change things. For the Guild. For the Cascading Dawn. For people like you who are capable of more than what the system allows. When that change happens, remember this conversation."

— ◆ —

Fifteen minutes into the breach attempt, Sareth’s voice came through: "Western passage seal is deeper than estimated. Barrier construction includes mana-reinforced core layers. Breach time revised to forty-five minutes minimum."

"Can you maintain engagement that long?" she asked Amaron.

He assessed his current state. The guardian was skilled and well-prepared, but she was also fighting conservatively—maintaining containment rather than pushing for decisive victory. He could sustain this intensity for forty-five minutes. Possibly longer if he accepted higher risk tolerance.

"Yes," he confirmed. "Continue the breach."

The guardian heard this exchange and made her own tactical adjustment. Instead of maintaining pure defensive containment, she began applying pressure designed to force Amaron into higher expenditure. Not enough to create openings for her own decisive strikes, but enough to increase his energy consumption beyond sustainable rates.

It was intelligent strategy. If she could force him to exhaust his reserve before the breach completed, Sareth would have to choose between abandoning the breach attempt or continuing without S-rank combat support.

Amaron recognized the strategy and countered by shifting to more efficient defensive patterns. Conserving energy. Accepting that some of the guardian’s attacks would land in exchange for maintaining sustainable deployment rates. Trading minor damage for extended engagement capacity.

The guardian noticed the shift. "You’re fighting like someone who’s done this before. Not training. Actual extended S-rank combat. But you’re sixteen and you’ve been S-rank for two weeks. Where did you learn to fight like you’ve been doing this for years?"

"Practice," Amaron said, which was technically true if you counted nine years of dungeon work in a previous timeline as practice.

"Practice doesn’t create this level of tactical sophistication," the guardian said. "You’re reading my patterns like you’ve fought me dozens of times. Adapting to my adjustments faster than recognition speed should allow. You’re either the most naturally talented combatant I’ve encountered, or you have information about how this fight develops that you shouldn’t possess."

She executed a complex feint that Amaron countered automatically—too automatically, based on the way her expression shifted.

"You knew I was going to do that," she said. "Not predicted. Knew. Like you’d seen it before." Her eyes narrowed. "What are you?"

Amaron didn’t answer. Answering would require explaining temporal displacement, regression, and Memory Index predictions. None of that would help the current situation.

But his silence was apparently answer enough. The guardian’s tactical approach shifted again—this time toward something that looked like genuine interest rather than just combat focus.

"The Cascading Dawn is definitely going to want to talk to you after this," she said. "Whatever you are, it’s significant."

— ◆ —

Thirty minutes into the breach attempt, the western passage seal began showing stress fractures. Sareth had penetrated the outer barrier layers and was working on the mana-reinforced core. Another fifteen minutes and she’d have an opening large enough for team penetration.

The guardian assessed this development and made a choice.

She disengaged from Amaron. Not withdrawal—just tactical repositioning that took her to the chamber’s center point where she had equal access to all sealed passages. And then she did something Amaron hadn’t expected.

She activated a prepared defensive construct. Not a guardian. A trap. Something that had been built into the chamber’s structure specifically for this situation.

The cathedral chamber’s ambient mana spiked to dangerous levels. The sealed passages began resonating with energy that suggested they were designed to do more than just block access. And the guardian’s mana signature shifted from combat deployment to something that looked like control maintenance.

"You’ve got fifteen minutes before this chamber becomes uninhabitable," she said calmly. "The node is connected to infrastructure that can channel excess mana into designed overflow points. This chamber is one of those points. In fifteen minutes, the ambient density will exceed S-rank safe tolerance. In twenty minutes, it’ll be actively hostile to human presence. In thirty minutes, anyone still in here will be dead."

She looked at Sareth. "You can complete your breach and attempt node destruction. But you won’t have time to execute and withdraw safely. Or you can withdraw now and accept that this node survives today. Your choice, Commander."

Sareth stopped the breach attempt. Assessed the chamber’s rising mana density. Calculated the same timing Amaron was calculating—fifteen minutes to safe tolerance exceeded, thirty minutes to lethal conditions, unknown time required for node destruction after breach completion.

The math was terrible. They couldn’t complete the mission and survive.

"Team withdrawal," Sareth ordered. "All personnel return to surface immediately. This site is lost."

The guardian nodded. "Smart choice. Live to fight another day. Your other teams might have better luck."

They withdrew. The cathedral chamber’s mana density continued climbing behind them as they ascended through the rift levels and emerged into western territories daylight.

Site three’s node was intact. The mission had failed. And somewhere in the cathedral chamber, the S-rank guardian was waiting for the overflow to dissipate so she could resume her defensive position.