The chamber was dim, lit only by trembling magic arrays etched into the stone walls.
Every scrying mirror in the room had gone dark. Not shattered. Just… extinguished.
The black-cloaked mages stood frozen, the afterimage of the battle still lingering in their minds. They had watched it all.
The probe squad getting annihilated by the boy.
Their spells, something they had refined over decades, had been turned against them like toys.
What remained most vividly was not the destruction.
It was the certainty.
They had touched something beyond their reach.
One mage whispered, "My Lord… what are we going to do?"
Another spoke urgently, voice tight with panic. "That Starlight heir already traced the spell. He will come."
An older mage stepped forward, trembling but resolute. "This is why we never should have provoked the Starlight family. We must withdraw immediately."
The leader stood at the center.
His cloak was deeper black than the rest, threaded with faint silver sigils.
He did not move.
But he spoke loudly.
"Silence."
The room obeyed.
Inside, his thoughts were colder than his voice.
"We had no choice."
Between Chaos Brigade and the Starlight family…
Either side could erase them.
But he had miscalculated.
The boy was not supposed to be this dangerous.
He asked, "Any word from Chaos Brigade? They promised support."
A subordinate lowered his head.
"…No response, my Lord."
The leader's jaw tightened.
"…Have they abandoned us?"
No one answered.
He drew a slow breath.
"Prepare full evacuation. Activate the—"
BOOM.
The chamber trembled violently.
A second impact.
Cracks raced across the ceiling like lightning.
A scream echoed from the outer corridor.
"My Lord! The outer barrier…!"
A sound like shattering crystal thundered through the complex.
"It's gone!"
Silence fell.
Not confusion.
Not shouting.
Just dread.
Because they all knew what that meant.
Then the chamber trembled.
The leader demanded, "Who is attacking us?!"
A mage monitoring the outer array turned pale.
"…We don't know, my Lord."
Another impact shook the walls. Cracks ran across the protective sigils.
"My Lord, the second barrier has collapsed!"
The leader's voice hardened.
"Is it the Starlight heir?"
Before anyone could answer, the main hall doors burst open, and a mage stumbled inside, slamming them shut behind him. He was shaking. Sweat soaked through his robes.
The leader stepped forward.
"Report. Is it the Starlight heir?"
The mage swallowed.
"No, my Lord… It isn't the Starlight heir."
A third impact thundered through the complex. The entire ceiling groaned.
"The final barrier…!" someone screamed. "It's gone!"
The leader snapped, "Then who is it?!"
The trembling mage hesitated.
His mouth opened. Closed. Opened again.
"It's…"
Silence.
Then he said, "…Darth Vader."
The room froze.
"…What?" the leader asked slowly.
The mage nodded frantically.
"Yes, my Lord. Darth Vader. Black armor. Red blade. He…he even has a lightsaber."
A long, dead silence.
The leader stared at him.
"Have you lost your mind?"
Before anyone could respond.
BOOM.
The reinforced steel doors to the chamber shook violently.
Once.
Twice.
A third time.
Each impact bending the metal inward.
And then, with a deafening boom.
The doors tore free and flew across the room.
They crashed against the far wall.
Silence.
Beyond the doorway.
fog. Thick. Rolling low across the stone floor.
No figure visible.
Then.
A heavy metallic footstep echoed.
Followed by a heavy breathing sound.
Slow.
Mechanical.
Measured.
Then.
Vrrrrrrrmm.
A red blade ignited within the mist.
It cut through the fog like a wound.
Then a silhouette emerged.
Cape dragging.
Familiar black armor gleaming.
A low orchestral theme began to play through the corridor. Slow. Heavy. Deliberate.
The Imperial March echoed throughout the hall.
He stopped at the threshold.
Heavy breathing filled the chamber.
Then Vader finally spoke in his metallic voice.
"You have failed me, Guild Leader."
The leader stared in confusion.
"…Who are you?"
The mechanical voice answered calmly,
"I am not your father."
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Every mage in the room forgot to breathe.
In the throne room of Nexus Castle, both Erika and Selena were sitting on the huge crystal throne, watching the screen.
They were also left speechless.
Erika covered her face.
"…Why?"
Selena, clearly amused, said, "He's been waiting years to say that."
Erika shook her head, trying to force down the rising cringe.
Then she remembered where she was sitting and asked Selena, who was sitting next to her, "Is it really okay for me to sit on this throne?"
Selena smiled.
"Oh, don't worry. It's my brother's spot. You're allowed."
Then she said, "Oh, look, they're making their move."
Just then, the mages started firing their magic at Vader.
Vader raised his hand.
The stone beneath Vader's boots cracked.
Then rose.
Chunks of black marble tore free from the floor and hung suspended in the air around him, launching toward the spells and interrupting them.
The mage leader shouted, "What did you do?!"
Vader replied calmly, "You do not know the power of the dark side."
The leader screamed his orders.
"Kill him!"
All the mages' spells fired at him from every direction.
Fire.
Lightning.
Binding chains.
Gravity seals.
Wind blades.
Vader did not dodge.
He raised one hand, cutting down spells with his lightsaber, and used the other to block and deflect others.
He slowly walked forward.
In the back, some mages had already started using combination magic.
But Vader didn't give them a chance.
He hurled chunks of the floor, furniture, and even other mages inside the room, toward them at high speed, interrupting their formation.
Vader continued walking forward slowly, cutting down one mage after another with his lightsaber.
With telekinesis and blade combined, he seemed unstoppable.
One of the mages near the leader screamed, "How is he cutting down our magic?!"
Another shouted, "He's cutting down the spell structure!"
A third yelled, "Is that even possible?!"
The leader roared, "Don't just stand there! Distract him! Buy me time!"
He began creating a huge layered rotational magic circle.
Multiple magic circles appeared, stacking and spinning, preparing an extremely powerful spell.
The other mages attacked Vader with everything they had to buy time.
But Vader was unstoppable.
In the throne room, Erika asked, "How is he using the Force?"
Selena replied casually, "Oh, it's the armor. Because of the mana circuits built into it. He designed them to imitate telekinesis."
Then she added, "He stayed awake for three days making it."
Erika sighed.
Then she looked at the mage leader, who was about to complete his ultimate spell.
"Why is he not stopping the leader's magic from being completed?"
Selena replied, "Well… he probably just wants to see what it does."
Erika was speechless.
Just then, the mage leader's magic completed.
Multiple magic circles rotated in layered formation.
At their center, a compression core formed, light condensing until the air itself began to warp. The floor cracked beneath the recoil as the leader screamed, "This is my strongest magic! Take this—Abyss Break!"
Then a light beam erupted.
It tore through the hall toward Vader like a divine judgment cannon.
But Vader didn't dodge.
He calmly raised one hand.
The beam slammed into an invisible wall inches from his palm. Stone exploded behind him from the shockwave.
His cape whipped violently.
His mechanical breathing remained steady.
Then.
He pushed forward.
Slowly.
Each step left a crack in the floor.
The beam began bending backward.
The leader started panicking, screaming, "Impossible!"
Vader didn't say anything.
Under the shocked gaze of everyone, he slowly walked forward. The beam started to flicker as he pushed it further and further.
Then, as the beam weakened, Vader closed his fingers slightly.
The leader lifted into the air mid-chant.
The beam destabilized and flickered out.
Vader said coldly, "I find your lack of power… disturbing."
Just then, the remaining mages surrounded him from all sides, ready to fire their magic.
One of them screamed, "Darth Vader, lay down the leader! You are surrounded!"
Vader didn't even look at them.
Instead.
The walls cracked.
Mirrors shattered.
Furniture ripped from the ground.
Dozens of heavy objects levitated around him like a halo of debris.
Then he finally spoke.
"All I am surrounded by…
is fear.
And dead men."
As the mages fired their spells, everything launched outward at once.
The debris shot outward in perfect formation.
Barriers shattered.
Bodies slammed into pillars.
Blood sprayed across fractured stone.
And finally, the only sound in the room was the choking of the leader.
Vader looked at him and walked toward him, then deactivated the choke.
The leader dropped to his knees, gasping.
A crimson arc flashed.
The body fell one way.
The head the other.
Then Vader felt something behind him, and without turning back, he said.
"You are bold… to stand where others have fallen."
From behind him, a girl's voice replied,
"Ara… how terrifying."
Vader looked back.
"You should have fled while you had the chance."
From a distance, a beautiful young woman with a voluptuous figure appeared and stepped through the drifting smoke.
Long black hair.
Cat-like golden eyes.
A black kimono.
She said with a sly smile,
"How could I run? I just saw something really interesting, nya~."