Chapter 54

Chapter 54: Chapter 54

Satou’s grip tightened slowly, methodically, giving Vegeta time to feel every bit of pressure increasing.

"Status!" Vegeta choked out desperately. "I can give you noble status! Land! Titles! Anything! Just please, PLEASE don’t kill me!"

The pressure increased. Vegeta felt his windpipe beginning to collapse, felt the vertebrae in his neck starting to compress.

"I’ll be your servant!" The words tumbled out in a desperate rush, any dignity abandoned in the face of death. "Your slave! I’ll do whatever you want! I’ll kill anyone you want me to kill! I’ll serve you for the rest of my life!"

Satou’s face showed no recognition. No acknowledgment that he even heard the words. He was beyond speech now, beyond thought, beyond anything resembling the goblin who’d built a settlement and named his friends.

"Please..." Vegeta’s voice was barely a whisper now, the pressure on his throat making speech almost impossible.

"I don’t... I don’t want to die... I’m only twenty-four... I was supposed to be a hero... I was supposed to save people..."

Tears poured down his face, mixing with the blood and dirt. "My family... they’ll never know what happened to me... they’ll think I abandoned them... please..."

Satou’s grip tightened to the final point.

"No... no, please... I’m begging you..." Vegeta’s voice was almost inaudible now, just a whisper pushed through a collapsed throat. "I don’t want to die... I’m sorry... I’m so sorry... please..."

CRACK!

Vegeta’s neck snapped.

His body went limp instantly, all the tension draining out in a moment. His remaining arm fell to his side. His legs stopped kicking. His eyes, which had been wide with terror, slowly glazed over.

The great Shadow Hero. Slayer of the Demon Duke Margoth. Destroyer of the Crimson Fang bandit clan. Blessed by gods and granted power beyond mortal men.

Dead.

Killed by a goblin barely a month old.

Satou held the corpse for several more seconds, as if his rage-consumed mind needed absolute confirmation that the threat was eliminated. Then he let it drop.

The body hit the ground with a dull thud, the sound somehow anticlimactic after the violence that had preceded it. Blood pooled around it slowly, spreading across the scorched earth, mixing with the blood already coating the ground from dozens of other deaths.

One arm lay several feet away, already beginning to pale as blood ceased flowing through it. The eyes stared sightlessly at the dark sky. The mouth hung open in a final, silent scream.

Satou stood over the corpse, his chest heaving, his body covered in blood both his own and Vegeta’s. For a moment, he simply stared down at what he’d done.

Then his jaw opened wider than should be anatomically possible, the transformation still allowing him capabilities beyond normal biology.

The black void materialized.

Spatial Consumption activated, responding to his will even in this berserk state. The void expanded from a pinpoint to a sphere three feet in diameter, flowing over Vegeta’s corpse like liquid shadow.

The body was consumed in seconds.

Flesh dissolved into the darkness. Bones followed. Blood evaporated. The severed arm, lying several feet away, was pulled into the void by invisible force,disappearing into that impossible space.

Everything. Armor. Clothes. Even the blood that had soaked into the ground. All of it consumed, leaving nothing behind but scorched earth.

DING!

[You have consumed: Vegeta, The Shadow Hero (Level 68)]

[Processing... This will take significantly longer than normal due to target’s unique nature]

[WARNING: Target possessed otherworldly power source. Integration requires extensive processing.]

[WARNING: Target possessed divine blessing. Analyzing compatibility...]

[Analyzing consumed abilities...]

The notifications scrolled across Satou’s vision, but he was too far gone to read them. His mind, what little remained conscious, was focused only on the fact that the target was eliminated.

[Multiple skills acquired:]

[Skill Acquired: Shadow Manipulation (Master)] Effect: Control shadows and darkness with expert precision. Create constructs ranging from simple tools to complex entities. Travel through the Shadow Realm. Manipulate existing shadows within a significant radius. This is not mere magic—this is dominion over darkness itself.

[Skill Acquired: Shadow Step] Effect: Instantly travel between shadows within visual range. Unlike lesser shadow movement skills, this leaves no trace and cannot be detected by normal means. Cooldown: None. Mana Cost: Moderate.

[Skill Acquired: Shadow Clone] Effect: Create perfect duplicates of yourself from shadow material. Each clone possesses a portion of your physical capabilities. Can create up to 50 clones simultaneously. Clones persist until destroyed or dismissed.

[Skill Acquired: Shadow Armor] Effect: Form protective armor from solidified shadows. Provides exceptional defense against physical and magical attacks. Can be maintained indefinitely with minimal mana drain.

[Skill Acquired: Shadow Weapon Manifestation] Effect: Create weapons from solidified shadow. Weapons are as strong as steel and can take any form you can visualize. Multiple weapons can be created simultaneously.

[Skill Acquired: Void Strike] Effect: Imbue attacks with void energy that bypasses conventional defenses. Particularly effective against magical barriers, enchanted armor, and enemies with high physical resistance.

[Skill Acquired: Shadow Dragon] Effect: Create a massive shadow construct in the shape of a dragon. Size and power scale with mana invested. This was Vegeta’s ultimate technique, now yours to command.

[Skill Acquired: Hero’s Blessing (Degraded)] Effect: Minor boost to all physical capabilities (approximately 15% increase). Weak regeneration (10% faster than normal). Enhanced luck in critical moments. Note: This skill is significantly weaker than the original version, as the divine blessing was fundamentally tied to the original hero’s soul and cannot be fully transferred.

[Skill Acquired: Battle Instinct (Advanced)] Effect: Enhanced combat awareness. Ability to predict enemy movements 1-2 seconds before they occur. Instinctively identify weaknesses in opponents’ techniques and defenses.

[Skill Acquired: Shadow Realm Walker] Effect: Ability to enter and traverse the Shadow Realm at will. Within the Shadow Realm, you are virtually undetectable and can observe the physical world without being seen. Time moves differently in the Shadow Realm—one hour there equals approximately five minutes in the physical world.

[Level Up! Level Up! Level Up! Level Up! Level Up! Level Up! Level Up! Level Up!]

[Current Level: 25 → 33]

[All stats significantly increased:]

Strength: 42 → 98

Agility: 44 → 95

Intelligence: 52 → 87

Vitality: 41 → 92

[Mana capacity increased: 18 → 45]

[WARNING: Devourer’s Wrath time limit approaching. Transformation will end in 30 seconds.]

[WARNING: Backlash imminent. Prepare for extreme exhaustion.]

The notifications continued scrolling, but Satou’s vision was already starting to blur.

The rage was fading now, the target eliminated, and with its departure came sudden, overwhelming exhaustion.

His legs trembled. The crimson aura flickered like a dying flame.

[Devourer’s Wrath ending in 10... 9... 8...]

"Big brother!"

Jessica’s voice cut through the fog in his mind. He turned his head slowly, his movements sluggish, and saw her running toward him across the ruined settlement.

Behind her, Kelvin lay on the ground, his wound being frantically tended to by Lyra and several other survivors. But he was moving. Alive.

Alive. Kelvin was alive.

[5... 4... 3...]

Jessica reached him and dropped to her knees, her hands hovering over him as if afraid to touch, afraid he might shatter like glass. "

Please wake up! Please stay awake! Don’t leave us!"

Tears streamed down her face, cutting clean lines through the dirt and blood coating her skin. "You did it! You saved us! He’s dead! The bad man is dead! You won!"

[2... 1...]

Satou tried to respond, tried to tell her he was okay, that everything would be fine now. But his mouth wouldn’t form words. His tongue felt like lead. His jaw refused to move.

[Devourer’s Wrath has ended.]

[Backlash initiating.]

The transformation shattered like glass.

The crimson aura vanished instantly. The supernatural strength fled his muscles, leaving them feeling hollow and weak. His enhanced senses dulled to normal levels.

The pain immunity disappeared, and suddenly every injury he’d sustained, every bone he’d broken, every muscle he’d torn,all of it came crashing down on him at once.

Satou gasped, his body convulsing from the sudden agony. It felt like being set on fire from the inside, like every nerve ending was screaming simultaneously.

His vision started to tunnel. Darkness crept in from the edges, swift and absolute.

"Big brother, please!" Jessica’s voice was getting distant, fading like an echo. "Don’t close your eyes! We need you! I need you!"

He tried to stay conscious. Tried to fight the darkness. But it was like trying to hold back the ocean with his bare hands.

More voices. Lyra, her tone urgent. "Satou! Stay with us! Don’t you dare die after surviving all that!"

All the survivors were calling his name now, begging him to stay conscious, pleading with him not to give up after coming so far.

His last vision before darkness claimed him completely was Jessica’s face, streaked with tears, her mouth moving in words he could no longer hear. Her yellow eyes, so full of hope and fear and love, were the final thing he saw.

Author Note

Hello guys it’s author here ,I am sorry about the long fight scene ,but I felt I needed to write this scene out to show the beserk skills that unlock through rage ,and I felt that Vegeta needed a good beating ,from now on ,my fight scene won’t be more than 3 Chapters ,I will try my best to compressed it to 3 Chapters from now on ,thanks for reading and giving my book a chance thank you