My Taming System Makes Me Overpowered

Fifty yards away from the collapsing rooftop, the sky split open in a blinding eruption of crimson fire.

The shockwave rattled the high windows of the surrounding ironworks, sending a cloud of ash and red dust billowing through the narrow alleyways.

Sara and Kira froze on the roof ledge, their breath hitching in their throats as the light gradually faded into a thick, swirling haze of dark smoke. The air felt uncomfortably warm, carrying the faint, metallic scent of burned mana.

”No...” Kira whispered, her hands trembling as she clutched a half-empty alchemical vial against her chest. ”Brian...”

Sara’s grip tightened on the hilt of her rapier until her knuckles turned white, her lower lip quivering slightly before her jaw snapped shut in a hard, rigid line. To see Gideon cleaved in half was a shock, but to watch Brian detonate his own life core just to buy them time... it felt like a nightmare they couldn’t wake up from.

Beside them, Vesper stood motionless.

His slick, calculating facade was completely gone. His hands were clenched into tight fists at his sides, his fingernails biting so deep into his palms that thin trails of blood dripped onto the stone tiles. Quiet rage and suffocating self-loathing boiled in his gut, turning his chest ice-cold.

He didn’t look at the smoke. He didn’t look back at the crater where two members of his family had just ceased to exist.

Without a word, Vesper turned his back on the explosion and took a step toward the dark alleys of the lower district.

”Where the hell are you headed?!” Sara demanded, her voice snapping through the heavy silence as she pivoted to face him.

Vesper paused in his tracks. He didn’t turn around, his voice dropping into a raspy, strained tone that none of them had ever heard before. ”I miscalculated by involving you guys... I’ll handle it on my own.”

”Funny you think that’s an option right now,” Sara barked, stepping directly into his path, her eyes burning with raw fury and unshed tears.

”We just watched two of our comrades die, and you want to play martyr by handling it yourself?” Kira added, stepping up beside Sara, her breathing ragged as she stared Vesper down. ”We’re way past that point, Vesper.”

Vesper slowly turned his head, looking over his shoulder. The crimson bat tattoo on his forearm pulsed faintly, his red eyes dark with pain. ”I don’t intend to lose the both of you as well.”

”Whether we want to be lost or not is our decision to make,” Kira retorted firmly, wiping a smudge of soot from her cheek. ”It’s pretty obvious that guy is no ordinary human. Whatever he is, we gotta be extra careful and prepared.”

”Even though this is your mess, we never leave a comrade behind,” Sara said softly, her tone hardening into pure steel. ”Dead or alive.”

Vesper stared at the two of them for a long, heavy moment. The silence hung thick between them, loaded with years of shared blood, survival, and grief. The Death Crows hadn’t been built on obedience to a master; they were built on the unbreakable promise that none of them walked alone.

Vesper let out a long, shuddering breath, the tension in his shoulders finally giving way.

”Alright then,” Vesper said, his voice regaining a fragment of its razor-sharp focus. ”We should have done this from the start, but it’s no use pointing fingers right now. Let’s back to Grimspire.”

Kira and Sara listened closely as Vesper continued, his gaze narrowing into the dark mist. ”Our presence will be masked from those outside while inside, and I doubt he would come looking for us there—at least not right away. We need all the time we can get to prepare.”

Sara and Kira nodded in silent agreement. Without another word, Vesper flicked his wrist, casting a shadow shrouding spell over the three of them. In a faint ripple of dark mana, the remaining Death Crows vanished into the night, leaving no trace behind.

Meanwhile, back at the blast site...

The entire upper floor of the tavern had been wiped off the map. Smoldering embers rained down onto the shattered basalt street below, and the air was thick with the scent of ozone and scorched earth.

In the center of the smoking crater, a towering silhouette stood hunched over in the haze.

Curling, obsidian horns slowly receded back into Vince’s skull. A heavy, scaled tail lashed once against the hot ash before shrinking away into his spine, and dark-purple dragon scales dissolved from his arms and torso, leaving only his torn shirt and bare skin.

Vince dropped to one knee, coughing up a small puff of dark smoke as he caught his breath.

Tsk... talk about a crazy brute, Vince thought, wiping his chin.

Brian’s point-blank life-combustion had generated an absurd amount of raw, destructive thermal energy—far too much for his passive kinetic absorbing ability to digest instantaneously without risking internal structural damage. To survive the localized supernova without taking critical harm, Vince had been forced to trigger his Man-Beast hybrid form, using the monstrous amplification of his physical defense and health pool to tank the brunt of the fire.

[HYBRID FORM: Deactivated]

[Kinetic Energy Absorbed: 100% (MAX)]

[Health: 78% | Internal Strain: Mild]

”Not bad,” Vince grumbled, standing up and dusting off his dark trousers. ”You actually made me flex a bit.”

He closed his eyes and expanded his passive perception outward, sweeping through the surrounding streets, alleyways, and rooftops for nearly two hundred yards.

Nothing.

The remaining three signatures—Vesper, Sara, and Kira—had completely erased their presence, leaving zero mana residual traces behind.

They retreated, Vince realized, a faint chuckle slipping from his lips. Smart move. If they stayed, I would’ve cleared the set tonight.

With a flick of his wrist, Vince unsummoned Executioner’s Edge, sending the massive dark sword back into his system inventory. He stretched his arms above his head, popping his shoulder, before sliding his hands casually into his pockets.

The quiet of the night returned to Malgrath, broken only by the crackle of dying embers.

Vince stepped out of the crater, his boots crunching over the scorched cobblestones as he began his quiet walk back toward his inn, a cold, satisfied grin lingering on his face.