SSS Talent: From Trash to Tyrant-Chapter 411: The Fall of the Thal’zar [XXV]

The lower tunnels beneath the castle were quieter than the battlefield above, but not calmer.

This was the same chamber where Valttair had stood earlier.

Now—

He stood alone.

Every ally who had descended with him was dead. Their bodies lay scattered across the broken stone, armor split, limbs twisted at unnatural angles. Blood mixed with dark void residue in uneven streaks across the floor, pooling between cracked tiles and shattered fragments of masonry.

The air was heavy with mana distortion.

In front of him stood Icarus di Valtaron.

Beside him, the intelligent Void Creature.

And beyond them, rifts pulsed open and shut in unstable rhythm, releasing hundreds upon hundreds of Void Creatures into the chamber, their shapes overlapping in layered silhouettes of claws and fractured limbs.

Within this room, the rifts were densest around Valttair himself.

It was not coincidence.

The intelligent Void Creature had concentrated them there deliberately. Its focus was singular.

Valttair first.

He stood at the center of the chamber with one sword in his hand, platinum-blond hair falling loosely over his shoulders. His grey eyes were sharp and steady, tracking the smallest shifts in pressure, the slightest tightening of muscle, reading intent before movement could fully form.

Across from him, Icarus remained composed.

Violet hair resting against his shoulders. A maroon coat, still intact despite the violence that had filled the tunnels for hours. Lilac eyes, calm and heavy, carrying an age that did not belong to his years. His apex core radiated steadily beneath the surface, controlled and measured.

Warden of the Plague.

Master of curses.

Born of disease.

Controller of mana-borne infections invisible to the eye.

The intelligent Void Creature watched as well, its presence layered with awareness, gaze fixed entirely on Valttair.

More than a thousand hostile presences pressed toward him. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

He looked at the scene with open disgust.

Then—

He felt it.

A presence in the world shifted.

Extinguished.

Kaedor was gone.

Elenara had finished her side.

Now it was his turn.

The atmosphere in the chamber changed, subtle but undeniable.

Icarus was no longer untouched. The battle here had already stretched long enough to leave strain in the air around him. The Void Creature’s movements were fractionally slower than before, its aura fluctuating under sustained output.

Icarus’ lilac eyes remained steady as Valttair’s gaze settled on him. There was no urgency in Valttair’s posture, no visible tension in his grip. He looked as though the chamber full of rifts and corpses was an inconvenience rather than a threat.

"I suppose I cannot waste time here either," Valttair said calmly. "After this, I will have another family to manage."

Icarus let out a soft laugh, the sound almost misplaced in a room saturated with death. "Is that truly your objective, Valttair? If that were the case, would you have intervened voluntarily when a Great House was falling?" His head tilted slightly, violet hair shifting over his shoulders. "Though I admit... you do not seem pleased that I toppled one of the Eight out of curiosity."

Valttair’s expression did not change. "I have mixed feelings about this situation, Icarus. You vanished for a decade. Then you reappeared and shook the world in a single move." His voice remained even, controlled. "I will not pretend I disliked the possibility of gaining further leverage."

His eyes shifted, settling on the intelligent Void Creature standing at Icarus’ side.

"But seeing that monster beside you irritates me."

The Void Creature responded without raising its voice. Its tone was calm, far too composed for something born of the rifts. "Oh, I apologize if my presence displeases you. But you will have to grow accustomed to it. During my private time with Icarus, I learned much about your kind." A faint curve formed at the edge of its expression. "I am quite glad for the experience."

Valttair looked at it without interest. "Be silent, creature."

The air between them tightened, mana pressing faintly against stone and bone alike.

Then Valttair exhaled.

"I should not prolong this."

The air tightened.

Valttair finally moved.

An item manifested beside him without flare or chant, simply appearing as if reality had made space for it.

A sword.

Its aura alone declared its rank. Legendary.

Then another blade formed opposite it. Different curvature. Different weight in its presence. The same tier.

A third.

A fourth.

Steel accumulated around him in silent sequence, each weapon distinct in structure yet equal in authority. Some were long and narrow, others broader at the spine, one slightly curved like a crescent moon forged into metal. None touched the ground.

Until—

Ten legendary swords hovered in the air around him.

Alongside the one already resting in his right hand.

The mana in the chamber recoiled.

[Absolute Sword Dominion]

The personal, original skill of the one the world had named the Sword God.

The ten blades rotated slowly above and around him, forming a shifting constellation of steel. Their edges hummed faintly, not with sound, but with tension. The aura around Valttair deepened into something heavier, something that did not resemble ordinary killing intent.

It was predatory.

Not rage.

But hunger.

The bloodlust radiating from him altered the chamber itself. The rifts flickered erratically, as if reacting to the presence now standing at their center. Void Creatures shrieked and surged forward in reflex, instinct overriding caution.

They did not manage a single full step.

One of the floating swords moved.

Only one.

There was no named technique. No visible gathering of power. The blade tilted slightly—

Swoosh.

A clean horizontal arc cut through the air.

Then—

Thoom.

The pressure from that single motion chained outward in expanding layers. Mana compressed along the edge of the swing detonated after the initial cut, the force multiplying as it traveled.

More than a thousand Void Creatures collapsed at once, their forms split, torn apart before their claws could rise. The strike carried through them and continued beyond, carving a visible scar through the interior wall of the castle.

Stone split.

A fracture line tore upward across reinforced architecture, running along the chamber like lightning trapped in rock. Dust and debris rained down as the structure groaned under the strain.

One more strike of that scale—

And even the materials chosen to withstand siege would begin to fail.

The remaining swords shifted position.

They no longer hovered passively. Their tips angled forward, subtle alignment forming without command.

Valttair stepped forward.

For the first time since the battle began, Icarus’ expression changed. The calm in his lilac eyes thinned, replaced by sharpened focus.

Beside him, the intelligent Void Creature straightened, its posture tightening as mana coiled around its form.

They understood.

The real battle had begun.