SSS Talent: From Trash to Tyrant

Chapter 429: Chapter 429: The Fall of the Thal’zar [XLIII]

”It would be gratifying to get rid of you as well.”

Trafalgar spoke without raising his voice, the words carrying across the fractured courtyard with the same steady tone he had used moments before. Maledicta remained angled at his side, his posture balanced and controlled despite the crater between them and the void pressure thickening the air. There was no mockery in his response, only certainty.

The intelligent Void creature did not react immediately. Its gaze moved slowly over him, studying the black armor from helm to boots, lingering on the way he stood and the way the void creatures had begun to thin around him. The movement was evaluative.

Around them, the swarm quieted in response to that inspection. Creatures that had been pressing forward moments earlier halted mid-step, their attention shifting toward the exchange at the center of the courtyard. The battlefield did not fall silent, but it tightened, as if the entire mass was holding position in anticipation of what would follow.

”There’s something about you I don’t like,” the creature said at last, its voice low but clear.

Void energy flickered unevenly along its frame as it continued to look at him, the reaction subtle but present. ”My body reacts just by looking at you. It twists in a way I don’t enjoy.”

Its head inclined slightly, not in curiosity, but in recognition. ”You haven’t grown enough yet.”

The tone hardened.

”Better to eliminate you now.”

The swarm surged forward.

Trafalgar did not retreat.

He stepped into them and activated [Morgain’s Requiem], Maledicta moving with fluid precision as the sequence began.

Slash!

The first cut tore outward in a curved black crescent, slicing cleanly through a cluster of lesser void creatures that had rushed him from the front. Their bodies split before momentum could carry them another step, fragments collapsing across the fractured stone.

Slash!

The second arc followed immediately, angled slightly higher, intercepting the next rank before they could capitalize on the first opening. Dark half-moons expanded outward from his blade, curving through the swarm in disciplined trajectories that did not waste movement.

Slash!

The third cut shifted toward the side where the humanoids with visible mouths were advancing. This time the arc was tighter, directed with surgical precision. It cut across necks and upper torsos, severing vital structures with controlled force rather than brute excess.

The curved waves did not explode randomly; they carved. Each one traveled in a circular path around him, overlapping just enough to ensure no void creature within range escaped untouched. Hemorrhage effects layered across those that survived the initial impact, black-edged wounds refusing to close as they staggered.

Slash!

The fourth strike cut lower, intercepting a pack attempting to circle behind him. Limbs separated from bodies mid-motion, and several void forms collapsed before even realizing they had been bisected.

Slash!

The fifth and sixth cuts flowed together in rapid succession, one horizontal, one diagonal, both expanding in sweeping black crescents that tore through the remaining pressure in front of him. The stronger humanoids attempted to brace, but the precision of the arcs found joints and weakened points, driving through with clean, efficient force.

They fell in mass.

In the space of seconds, the ground around Trafalgar cleared in a wide circle, void bodies collapsing in layered lines across the courtyard. For a brief moment, there was open ground around him.

Aubrelle did not waste the opening.

Mounted atop her stag, she advanced across the fractured courtyard, keeping distance while maintaining a clear line of sight on Trafalgar through Pipin’s perspective. The stag moved with controlled aggression, hooves crushing broken stone and void remains as it repositioned along the outer edge of the combat zone.

Pipin forced himself upright from the shattered ground where he had crashed. The blue flames along his wings flickered erratically for a moment, then stabilized. They did not return weaker.

They returned hotter.

The next torrent he released was narrower, more focused. Instead of spreading wide, the flames descended in controlled streams, striking the densest clusters attempting to close in from Trafalgar’s flanks. Void bodies ignited in sustained blue combustion, their advance disrupted as fire clung to them longer than before.

Aubrelle adjusted his angle mid-flight.

”Support him directly,” she commanded, steady despite the pressure around them.

Pipin shifted immediately, diving and rising in controlled arcs to strike wherever the swarm thickened too quickly. Whenever Trafalgar cut forward and forced open space, blue fire scorched the ground behind him, preventing immediate re-formation. Whenever void creatures attempted to converge from multiple angles, descending flames broke their cohesion before they could compress fully.

And yet something else became clear.

The void creatures were not reacting to Aubrelle.

They were not shifting toward the stag.

They were not prioritizing Pipin despite the damage he inflicted.

Every nearby movement angled toward one point.

Trafalgar.

Heads turned in unison beneath featureless faces. Formations curved toward him instinctively. Even those scorched by blue fire attempted to crawl in his direction before dissolving.

The battlefield was no longer chaotic in all directions.

It had narrowed.

Everything was gravitating toward the black-armored figure at its center.

The intelligent Void creature stopped observing.

It moved.

The first attack was not a slash or a claw strike but a condensed explosion of void force released directly toward Trafalgar. The air compressed violently before detonating outward, a shockwave that tore through stone and scattered lesser void creatures caught too close.

Trafalgar raised Maledicta and met it head-on.

The impact slammed into the blade with crushing force. The black steel held, but the pressure drove him backward across fractured ground, boots carving deep grooves as debris burst around him. The force did not break his guard, yet it pushed him several meters before he regained partial control.

He reacted immediately.

With his free hand he summoned Nightpiercer and drove the longsword straight into the stone beneath him. The blade bit deep, anchoring his momentum and halting the forced retreat. The vibration traveled up his arm as the courtyard continued to crack around him, but the backward motion stopped. The moment stability returned, Nightpiercer dissolved into droplets of mana and vanished back into his inventory.

He did not wait.

[Severance Step]

Space curved around him in a blurred displacement, and he reappeared at the intelligent Void creature’s right flank. Maledicta swept horizontally in a clean arc aimed directly at its abdomen, the angle precise and lethal.

The creature reacted faster than most could perceive. Its hands snapped inward and caught the blade between reinforced palms, void pressure locking against the edge and halting the cut inches from its torso.

Trafalgar did not hesitate.

Widow’s Whisper manifested in his opposite hand mid-motion. He released it in a sharp, direct throw at near point-blank range. The dagger struck the creature’s neck before it could fully adjust, embedding into void flesh with a sharp impact. The bleeding effect activated immediately, dark fluid beginning to seep from the wound.

The creature reached up, gripped the dagger, and tore it free without visible strain. It dropped the weapon to the ground.

Trafalgar demanifested it instantly.

Maledicta was still trapped between the creature’s hands. He released the blade deliberately, demanifesting it in that split second of separation before remanifesting it in his grip a fraction of a heartbeat later.

The intelligent Void creature used that brief window to counterattack.

Its claws blurred forward in a rapid sequence aimed at his upper torso and ribs. Trafalgar shifted backward and sideways, minimizing exposure as much as possible. Most of the strikes cut through empty air, though one grazed across his armor and tore a shallow line along his side.