The Arena Before the Storm
The chants above had changed.
The crowd didn't just want blood anymore—they wanted a showdown.
Leon stood still in the waiting corridor, arms crossed, mana gun resting against his hip. The walls were shaking faintly from the stomping overhead. His Warrior Zombie was silent beside him, greatsword in hand. His Elite Sorcerer drifted just behind him, its energy low but focused.
This was the third and final round.
And the reward—the Path of the Deathborn—sat in plain view above the arena, chained to the announcer's booth like a prize waiting to be claimed.
He closed his eyes for a moment, letting the noise fade.
He'd fought through a Deathbound chainmaster and a synthetic behemoth built by a bone alchemist.
But now?
Now the arena had sent a wall.
A message.
A killer.
The Abyss Knight Appears
The gate opposite Leon's opened slowly—gears grinding, metal shrieking like the dungeon doors of a forgotten tomb.
The man who stepped through wasn't massive.
He was composed.
Contained.
Every inch of him was covered in jet-black armor veined with violet sigils that pulsed slowly like a heartbeat. A greatsword rested across his back, its edge too thick to be ornamental—but too precise to be brutish.
He wasn't undead.
He wasn't a caster.
He was a knight in service to nothing. Bound to a curse. A weapon given shape.
And as he stepped forward, the torches lining the arena dipped low, as if recoiling from his presence.
"AND NOW—THE FINAL MATCH!THE UNDEFEATED ABYSS KNIGHT, SLAYER OF TWENTY-TWO, DEFENDER OF NONE—FACES THE NEWCOMER!"
The crowd erupted.
Leon didn't move.
He watched the knight lower his head slightly. A gesture of acknowledgment—or warning.
A voice, distorted and layered with abyssal depth, drifted across the arena.
"You command death. But you do not understand it."
Leon's grip tightened on his gun.
"Then educate me."
The First Clash – Abyssal Pressure
The bell rang.
No buildup.
No time to think.
The Abyss Knight moved.
A flash-step—quicker than anyone in full armor should be. He appeared before the Warrior Zombie with a single swipe and slammed his greatsword downward.
The impact sent cracks splintering across the arena floor.
Leon fired three quick shots.One aimed at the shoulder.One at the knee.One at the faceplate.
None made it through.
A rippling black ward extended from the knight's armor—an abyssal warding field. The bullets hit, slowed, and vanished into the void-like surface, as if swallowed by the armor's will.
"Fall back," Leon ordered, his voice calm.
The Warrior Zombie leapt back, dodging the knight's second swing.
The Sorcerer cast—but the Mana Bolt twisted midair and curved off course.
A curse field.
This knight wasn't blocking spells.
He was displacing them.
Resetting Control – Tactical Pressure
Leon holstered his gun for a moment, assessing the battlefield.
Speed. Strength. Rejection of ranged spells. Predictive swordplay. The Abyss Knight wasn't a tank—he was an anti-summoner executioner.
Leon activated Core Bond Mode.
A black rune circle flared beneath his feet.
The Sorcerer and Warrior snapped together—melding into their fused form, Grave Warden—a dual-typed undead knight wrapped in layered bone and dark energy.
The crowd gasped.
The Abyss Knight paused for the first time, his head tilting in a sharp, birdlike twitch.
Leon moved, too.
He didn't stay behind.
He charged.
While his summon surged toward the knight with a two-handed strike, Leon sprinted at a wide angle, gun now glowing with piercing-shot energy.
They attacked in sync.
The Grave Warden's blade clashed with the Abyss Knight's.
Leon fired at his left ankle—the spot just beneath the greave—at point-blank range.
Clink. CRACK.
The bullet dented the armor, and the Knight grunted, shifting to absorb the blow.
He staggered one step—then counterattacked with a vertical cleave.
The Grave Warden blocked.
Leon rolled and repositioned.
The Fear Pulse – Abyss Unleashed
The knight's eyes ignited.
A pulse of black mana shot out from his body, crashing into every soul nearby.
[You are affected by Abyssal Fear – LVL 3]Movement speed temporarily reduced.Casting delay increased.Undead stability shaken.
The Grave Warden faltered.
Even Leon's heart skipped.
But he didn't stop.
"Override," he whispered.
The Warden steadied.
Leon's system pulsed once.
[Manual Control Overload Engaged – Grave Warden Fully Synchronized]
He dashed forward, sliding under a sideways slash, and slammed his gun directly into the knight's side.
BOOM.
The point-blank shot tore a chunk of the warding field.
"Now!"
The Grave Warden's greatsword surged with power, and the strike connected—
Right at the knight's helmet.
The sound cracked like thunder.
The helm split.
The knight recoiled, exposed jaw bloodied, teeth gritted.
The Final Execution
Leon didn't celebrate.
He reloaded, flicked the chamber, and sprinted straight in.
"Split."
The summon separated mid-run, returning to Sorcerer and Warrior.
The Sorcerer cast a wide-field detonation under the knight's feet.
The Warrior moved to flank—greatsword dragging sparks behind him.
The knight raised his weapon for one last strike.
Leon leapt—above the blast radius—and fired one final bullet.
A piercing shot.
Straight into the knight's now-exposed core.
CRACK.
The black armor shattered.
The knight's sword dropped.
He staggered back three steps.
Then collapsed.
Aftermath – Claiming the Path
The arena froze.
Then—
"WINNER: LEON!"
The stands exploded.
Leon didn't raise a hand. Didn't look at the crowd.
His eyes locked on the announcer's booth.
A silent nod came from the merchant.
The chains holding the book snapped with a flick of magic.
The Path of the Deathborn[Legendary Tome – Unlocked]
Leon holstered his gun.
His summons stepped behind him, silent as always.
He'd fought through death.
He'd fought through science.
Now he'd fought through the abyss.
And finally—
It was his.