Chapter 34: Devouring Shadow
The referee didn’t hesitate. The moment Gregory’s blade sank into Atlas, the official sprang across the flagstones, barking a swift command to his contract beast — a massive, emerald-scaled python named Rob.
Rob shot forward like an iron whip, wrapping his thick coils tightly around Gregory’s chest and pinning his arms to his sides. The dark, venomous blade clattered loudly onto the stone floor.
Gregory didn’t struggle. He simply stood suspended in the serpent’s iron vice, a serene, chilling smirk plastered across his face.
"It’s already done," Gregory giggled softly, watching the referee scramble toward Atlas’s limp form. "If you don’t sprint him to the medical clinic right now, he’s going to bleed out. You might want to prioritize his life over keeping me in check."
The referee glared at him, teeth gritted, but offered no reply. He scooped Atlas’s bleeding body into his arms, but his mind raced through an impossible dilemma.
Protocol dictated he could not leave the ring while a duel remained active. By rule, Gregory’s unsanctioned physical assault automatically handed the victory to Class 5E, but two berserk beasts were currently tearing the arena apart without their tamers’ control.
’Dammit! What do I do?!’ The referee’s eyes darted frantically toward the stands.
’If these creatures go completely wild, the spectator barrier won’t hold forever. I can’t leave them unmonitored, but this kid dies in minutes if he stays here!’
He made his decision.
"Rob, release him!" the referee ordered, thrusting Atlas higher against his chest. "Intercept those two beasts! Separate those beasts instantly and ensure no student in the lower rows takes any collateral damage!"
Without waiting for a response, the referee turned on his heel and sprinted down the tunnel toward the academy infirmary at full speed.
"You made the smart choice..." Gregory whispered with a dry chuckle as the python’s coils unwound from his body.
Freed from the vice, Gregory calmly brushed off his navy uniform while Rob turned his massive reptilian head toward the center of the ring, slithering rapidly to contain the aftermath.
Across the arena, Skull had crossed a fatal threshold.
The violent disruption in the soul bond — paired with the emotional shockwave of Atlas’s fading consciousness — triggered a forced, temporary evolution.
The System’s emergency protocols surged through the shadow wolf’s veins, drowning out all tactical restraint under a wave of absolute, primal rage.
Without waiting for a command, Skull attacked.
The mutated gray beast braced for a direct frontal charge, but Skull didn’t run.
The shadow wolf warped the space beneath his paws, disappearing into a black rift and reappearing directly beneath the monster’s belly.
He slammed his jaws shut, tearing a massive chunk of flesh from its torso.
The gray beast shrieked in agony, twisting its low frame to snap back with equal brutality. Its serrated teeth sank deep into Skull’s shoulder, dark blood leaking onto the stone.
Rob surged across the arena floor, his massive body kicking up dust as he moved to break up the deadly exchange.
Up in the stands, the crowd went completely feral.
The unexpected brutality and high-stakes chaos had pushed the audience past shock and straight into pure, adrenaline-fueled ecstasy.
"This duel is absolute cinema!" a student screamed from the front row, slamming his fists against the glowing barrier.
Locked in the shadow realm’s spatial grip, Skull summoned thick, ink-black tendrils that erupted from the stone like living iron chains, wrapping tightly around the gray beast’s limbs and dragging it downward.
[Beast Entity Processing: Devour Mode Engaged]
[Assimilation Progress: 8%]
"Black, retreat! Break the link and fall back right now!" Gregory screamed from the boundary, his calm facade shattering as he bit his fingernails until they bled.
’If my father finds out Black was killed in a simple academic duel...’
Driven by its tamer’s panic, the gray beast thrashed with insane willpower, tearing through two shadow tendrils in a desperate bid to drag itself out of the spatial vortex.
Rob reached the perimeter, his glowing yellow eyes locked onto both targets.
Assessing the immediate threat levels, the giant python identified Skull — wreathed in a terrifying, volatile black mist — as the higher danger threat and moved to subdue the shadow wolf first.
Skull didn’t care about the referee’s beast. Taking advantage of the gray monster’s trapped legs, Skull opened his jaws impossibly wide. His shadow affinity expanded his buccal cavity into an abyss-like vortex.
Gluttony triggered at maximum output. The black tendrils multiplied exponentially, dragging the screaming gray beast straight into Skull’s expanding jaws.
With one violent, spatial snap, the entire mutated beast was swallowed whole into Skull’s internal shadow dimension.
[Target Entity Completely Assimilated.]
[Shadow Essence Reserve Maximized.]
A concussive shockwave exploded outward.
Dark, boiling mist erupted from Skull’s fur, his aura skyrocketing to a suffocating level that made the lower spectator rows recoil in pure instinctual terror.
"What the hell?!" a student yelled, his voice cracking. "That wolf just ate the entire monster whole!"
Gregory froze, staring at the empty, blood-stained flagstones where his contract beast had stood moments ago. The soul bond between them had been snapped clean off.
"What the fuck did you do?!" Gregory shrieked, his face twisting into a grotesque mask of rage as he grabbed loose fragments of stone from the ground and hurled them wildly at the wolf. "That was my beast, you goddamn freak! Spit it out! Spit it back out right now!"
Skull turned his single, glowing crimson eye toward Gregory. The shadow wolf lowered his head, preparing to erase the tamer where he stood.
Before Skull could leap, Rob’s massive, emerald body wrapped around him like an iron fortress.
The referee’s python constricted tight, using his immense raw physical mass to pin Skull to the stone.
Skull thrashed violently, attempting to phase into the shadow realm, but Rob’s suppression aura locked the spatial dimensions down completely.
Slowly, the chaotic surge of rage draining Skull’s system receded. His crimson eye faded back into its calm glow, his legs gave out, and the shadow wolf collapsed onto the stone, utterly exhausted.
Gregory stood shivering in fear, staring at the quiet wolf — completely unaware of the heavy footsteps sprinting up from behind him.
A heavy, leather-clad fist slammed straight into Gregory’s jaw, sending him skidding across the stone floor.
Rex stood over him, his face flushed red with unbridled fury, his knuckles dripping with blood.
He reached down, grabbed Gregory by the collar of his navy uniform, and yanked him up until their faces were inches apart.
"You dirty bastard!" Rex roared, landing another brutal right hook across Gregory’s cheekbone.
"What the hell did you put on that blade?! Talk right now, or this is the last duel you ever walk away from!"