The sharp crack of obsidian knuckles against Liam's forearms echoed through the training yard.
He staggered back, his arms throbbing with a deep, bone-jarring pain.
The Martial Combat skill flowed through him, guiding his parries and footwork with an efficiency his old self could never have managed.
But it was like trying to hold back a tidal wave with a well-made fence.
Kraz was a force of nature.
The earless guard didn't use flair or technique; he used decades of ingrained survival instinct and a demon's raw, brutal strength.
Every block Liam made felt like stopping a runaway train. He was being overwhelmed by sheer relentless power.
He pivoted, deflecting a hammer-blow aimed at his ribs, but the force still sent him stumbling, his breath hitching.
"Enough."
Lilith's voice cut through the sound of combat, cold and clear.
She stood at the edge of the yard, having watched in silence until now. Her gaze was critical, dissecting.
"You fight like a human," she stated, her tone leaving no room for argument. She walked toward them, her eyes fixed on Liam.
"You have a demon's magic core. A demon's skills. Stop thinking like a man trying to survive a brawl. You are a Sovereign. Stop blocking. Consume."
Liam straightened up, wiping a trickle of blood from his lip.
"Consume how?"
"You have hellfire at your command, is it only for show? Stop trying to match his strength. Overwhelm it." She gestured to Kraz, who stood impassively, waiting.
"Again. This time, when he strikes, you will not block. You will meet his force with an inferno."
Liam nodded, turning back to Kraz. The guard lunged forward, same as before, a fist like a battering ram aimed at Liam's chest.
Instinct screamed at Liam to dodge, to parry.
Instead, he focused inward, on the embers of damnation smoldering in his core. He threw his hands forward to unleash.
A shield of roiling, black-and-crimson flame erupted before him.
It was different from the precise whip of fire he'd used before; this was a raw, uncontrolled conflagration.
Kraz's fist slammed into it.
There was no sound of impact, only a violent hiss and the smell of scorched ozone.
Kraz recoiled with a guttural snarl, his armored gauntlet glowing red-hot, tendrils of black smoke curling from the seared metal.
The shield held for a second, then sputtered and died. Liam gasped, his knees buckling as a wave of profound exhaustion hit him.
The single defensive blast had drained a staggering amount of Essence.
[-350 Essence]
It was hideously inefficient. But it had worked.
"A wasteful, clumsy tool," Lilith commented, walking over to examine Kraz's hand. The guard showed no sign of pain, only a deep, respectful wariness as he looked at Liam.
"But it is a demon's tool. You must learn to think in terms of absolute, destructive power. Finesse comes later."
---
Later, on a high balcony overlooking the twilit capital, the air was cool. Liam leaned against the railing, his body a symphony of aches and bruises.
The potion Eri had given him had mended the worst of it, but a deep fatigue remained.
Lilith stood beside him, her white hair stirring in the breeze.
"I heard them," Liam said, his voice quiet. "The council. The list of your failures. The Crying Fens, Dawn's Spire…" He turned his head to look at her. "And if I'm being honest… you're a terrible queen."
Lilith didn't get angry.
Instead, she let out a soft laugh, a sound that was rich and melodic, yet utterly hollow. There was a profound sadness in it that the night air seemed to amplify.
"I know," she said, her gaze lost on the distant skyline. "But would you believe me if I told you I am doing my best?" She finally looked at him, a weary honesty in her golden eyes he'd never seen before.
"It's almost like… no matter what I try, no matter the plan, the tactic, the gamble… it never works out. The world is determined to see me fail."
Liam studied her profile, the elegant line of her jaw, the weight of the crown she bore even when it wasn't physically on her head.
A question formed on his lips, born of a cynical logic.
"Then why keep clinging to the throne?" he asked. "Why continuously try new tactics, deploy new strategies, if you're so certain you're just going to fail again and again?"
And as the words left his mouth, he heard them.
He heard the echo of his own voice, years younger, in a hundred different cramped apartments, talking to his reflection in a cracked mirror.
Why keep going to auditions? Why keep begging for roles? You're just going to fail again.
The irony was so perfect, so cutting, it was almost beautiful.
A slow, wry smile touched his lips. He shook his head. "You know what? Don't answer that question."
A genuine understanding passed between them, silent and deep.
Lilith's voice was barely a whisper, but it carried the weight of her entire being. "This won't end till I win, Liam. I hope you understand that."
He looked out over the city, at the empire she was failing and he was pretending to save.
"I do," he said, his own resolve settling into a cold, hard point in his chest. "More than you know."
---
Alone in his chambers, the phantom pains of the sparring session faded, replaced by the cool clarity of the Cognitor.
He replayed the fight against Kraz as a stream of data.
[Analysis Complete:
Combat Efficiency 34%.
Primary Deficiency: Over-reliance on physical mitigation against superior physio-dominant opponents.]
The system was right.
Trying to out-brawl a demon like Kraz was a losing proposition. His strength wasn't in his fists; it never had been. His strength was in the mind. In the performance. In the fear.
He needed a skill that played to that. A weapon that wasn't of the body, but of the soul.
He focused, pulling up the list of unlockable skills, and the Cognitor highlighted a new, previously unseen option, tailored from the swirling data of his experiences.
[Skill Identified: Echo of the Abyss.]
[Effect: Projects a concentrated burst of psychic terror—the raw, screaming dread of the infernal planes—into a single target's mind. Causes immediate disorientation, sensory overload, and primal fear. Effectiveness scales with target's willpower and host's Infamy.]
[Unlock Cost: 0 EVP (System Necessitated)]
It was perfect.
Just the right mind fuck that could make a paladin forget his prayers or an Arch-Demon question his resolve.
It was psychological warfare, refined into a system skill.
And even better? It was free!
"Echo of the Abyss," Liam murmured. "Unlock."
[0 EVP Spent!]
[Skill Unlocked: Echo of the Abyss (Unevolved).]