"My name is Shadow, he who lurks in the shadows to hunt the shadows."
A man clad in a pitch-black slime suit said as he descended to the ground.
Standing tall among the group of cultists, he raised his hand and declared in a heavy voice.
"Come forth! My loyal servants!!"
A magic light extended from his hand, piercing towards the sky, brightening up the place.
*Crack*Crack*
The windows instantly cracked as several female figures clad in black slime suits entered the place.
They all gracefully landed around Shadow, powerful magic pulsing through their bodies.
And just as they were about to move.....
*Clap*Clap*Clap*
An enthusiastic clapping sound rang out throughout the place, replacing the silence.
Everyone instinctively turned to look at the source of the sound.
And who else could it be but our protagonist Lioro?
He was smiling and clapping his hands in enthusiasm as if enjoying a good performance.
*Clap*Clap*Clap*
Seeing everyone staring at him, including the members of Shadow Garden and Shadow himself, Lioro stopped clapping, gave them a thumbs up, and said in a supportive voice.
"Bravo, good performance!"
"..."
Everyone was left speechless.
Including Shadow himself.
But the reason for him was different from the others.
'The hell? Is that a gun? A Desert Eagle??' Behind his mask, Shadow's eyes glowed with a strange light, seeing the modern weapon in Lioro's hand.
Although he was immune to bullets due to the effects of magic, he couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic.
At the same time, he started assessing Lioro.
'He's wearing modern clothes..... and holding a Desert Eagle....'
'Could it be a modern person?'
Shadow wondered in curiosity.
Unfortunately, he was currently in his roleplay mode and couldn't break character.
Lightly waving his hand, he issued a command: "Deal with them."
Alpha, Beta, Gamma... all of them instantly moved into action.
Guuh
Several painful cries rang out as the cultists all fell at an incredible pace.
Among the chaos, Shadow vanished without any notice.
At the same time, Lioro's figure also silently disappeared from sight.
----
Inside a dimly lit room.
A man in a black robe, wearing a white face mask, was quietly throwing books into a fire.
"Funny getup you've got there."
Hearing the sudden voice, the man quickly turned around to look at its source.
"Vice Principal Ruslan."
"Cid Kagenoh," Vice Principal Ruslan said as he removed his mask and looked at the familiar boy sitting on the chair with a book in his hands.
"You're the one behind this incident, aren't you? Vice Principal?"
Ruslan remained silent.
Cid continued.
"Why would you organize an attack at the academy? You don't strike me as the sort who'd do this for fun."
"Do you want to know? It might take a bit long to explain."
Vice Principal Ruslan said as he sat down on the chair opposite Cid.
"By all means, do explain."
"Well.... by the way, is this gentleman with you, Cid-kun?"
Vice Principal Ruslan said as he looked at Lioro, who had been silently sitting on the side, watching the show.
"Nope, no idea who he is," Cid replied in a plain voice.
Then they both turned to look at Lioro.
Their gazes seemed to be asking.
Why the hell are you here?
"Oh, don't mind me, please continue," Lioro said in an innocent voice as he casually waved his hand.
".....Well, no matter," Vice Principal Ruslan muttered, then looked back at Cid before continuing.
"To put it in short, it's because I long to reach the top....."
Vice Principal Ruslan started explaining the backstory behind his motive, starting from how he reached the top as a magic swordsman, then contracted a disease, blah blah blah. Betrayed Lucrecia, Sherry's mother, for the 'Eye of Avarice,' which would cure his illness.
In short, he did everything to get his hands on the complete 'Eye of Avarice.'
"So all this time you've been using Sherry and her mom?" Cid asked in a plain voice.
"Indeed, does that make you angry?" Vice Principal Ruslan asked with a smile on his face.
"I'm not sure..."
Cid grabbed the book's pages and started tearing them.
"I have a point of making a clear distinction between what's important to me and what's not, so I can achieve my goals without losing sight of them."
"I cut down on unimportant things, no need for this, throw away that."
"And as I go about discarding things, I realize what it is I can't let go of."
Cid threw the book away and stood up from his seat.
"I live my life for the sake of these few things, without caring much for anything else."
"But still... You piss me off."
Cid pointed his sword at Vice Principal Ruslan.
Vice Principal Ruslan looked back at him with calm eyes.
Then, without any warning, a slash cut Cid's body, making blood flow out.
"I see, it's a shame we can't see eye to eye," Vice Principal Ruslan said with a dark expression as he raised his hand towards the dying Cid and fired a flame attack.
The flames instantly enveloped Cid, burning him to ashes.
"Hmph, burned to death without as much as a scream," Vice Principal Ruslan said, then turned his head to look at the other guest in the room.
"Now it's your turn."
Vice Principal Ruslan raised his sword towards Lioro to strike him down.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Lioro said with a smile while pointing at his back.
At the same time.
A pitch-black figure rushed out from the fire.
"W-what?!" Vice Principal Ruslan's eyes contracted as he hurriedly took a step back.
"Who are you?!"
"My name is Shadow, he who lurks in the shadows to hunt the shadows."
"So you're him! The real Shadow!"
Vice Principal Ruslan took a step back to create distance between them.
"....."
"So you won't answer, huh?"
Shadow remained silent.
"Let me guess then, you've come here to take the 'Eye Of Avarice' from me....!"
"But you won't get this....! With it, I will be rebor---"
Vice Principal Ruslan suddenly fell silent as he felt his empty pocket.
Just to be sure he wasn't mistaken, he checked again.
It wasn't there.
The Eye of Avarice, his hope for a comeback, wasn't there.
"W-where did it go?!?!" Vice Principal Ruslan instantly lost his composure.
"Y-you! It must be you who stole it! Shadow!!"
Shadow remained silent, but in his mind, he was thinking.
'What's wrong with this old man? I didn't even steal anything.'
Of course, it wasn't him, as the one who stole the artifact was still casually sitting in the back, enjoying the show.
"Y-you worthless thief!! How dare you!!.... Give it back!!"
Vice Principal Ruslan went mad and rushed at Shadow with his sword.
"Weak!"
Shadow declared as he moved faster than Vice Principal Ruslan could ever hope to achieve; his technique instantly cut Vice Principal Ruslan in multiple places.
"Guh!"
Vice Principal Ruslan let out a mouthful of blood as Cid cleanly pierced his heart, killing him.
At the same time,
"Fa-Father...!" Sherry, who had just arrived at the scene, shouted with tears in her eyes, rushing straight towards Vice Principal Ruslan's dead body.
Shadow looked down at Sherry, then turned his head to look at Lioro.
"Are you next?" he asked in a deep voice.
Seeing the challenge, Lioro narrowed his eyes, then deliberately turned his voice into a heavy one and replied with a serious face.
"Too much blood has already been spilled today."
"....!"
Shadow gave Lioro a deep look, feeling surprised inside, then turned around and quietly disappeared.
Lioro looked at the crying Sherry, then turned to see the notification from his panel.
[Martial Arts: 'Shadow Style-Swordsmanship' has been detected. Would you like to learn it?]
[Magic Technique: 'Purple Mana' has been detected. Would you like to learn it?]
'Magic Technique?'
This was the first time he had seen something like this.
Lioro didn't hesitate and learned them directly.
----
Martial Arts: Shadow Style – Swordsmanship
Cost: Concentration.
Description:
A supreme sword art forged by one who sought strength in a world without magic.
Born from countless scars, sleepless nights, and an unending obsession to reach the realm beyond human limits. It embodies the silence of one who trained in solitude, enduring pain, ridicule, and despair — until his blade could no longer be seen, only felt.
Passive Effects:
"Domain of Silence": Suppresses sound and killing intent within a fixed radius; enemy perception accuracy is greatly reduced.
"Perfect Rhythm": Each sword swing resets stance recovery, allowing seamless chaining without delay.
"Extreme Focus": Incoming attacks appear slowed to the user; reaction speed is dramatically increased.
"The One Who Moves Unseen": When the user achieves complete mental stillness, the next sword strike becomes untrackable — guaranteed critical hit.
----
He just mastered Shadow's swordsmanship and....
----
Magic Technique: Purple Mana.
Cost: MP
Description:
Developed in the shadow of endless failure, this technique was born from a man who sought to reach the impossible - a mortal challenging a nuke!
When all systems, teachers, and worlds failed him, he turned inward. Through relentless practice and endless solitude, he discovered that true mastery lies not in expansion, but in compression.
Passive Effects:
"Mana Conversion": Normal mana is converted to purple mana in a ratio of 10:1.
"Increased Destruction": Every damage-dealing spell cast using purple mana will receive a 5x damage increase.
"Utmost Efficiency": 50% mana reduction when casting spells using purple mana.
"Peak Pressure": A silent, heavy pressure will be emitted by the user when using Purple Mana, causing 'Fear' to build up in weaker enemies.
----
Shadow's mana compression technique.
'A 5x damage multiplier....' Lioro's eyes glowed as he raised his hand.
Between his fingers, a tiny spark of purple magic appeared before disappearing.
He just struck gold.
Just as he was gloating, a group of students and knights rushed into the place.
Their gazes instantly landed on the crying Sherry and the dead Vice Principal Ruslan.
"Vice Principal is dead!"
The entire Academy was stunned.
The terrorist organization, Shadow Garden, has attacked the Academy and killed the Vice Principal!
At first, they suspected Lioro, who was also at the site of the crime, but after Sherry's statement and Knight Glen's guarantee, they quickly dropped their suspicion.
----
That night.
Inside a prison-like chamber, Lioro, in handcuffs, was sitting on a wooden chair opposite to knight Glen.
"This is the first time I have been to an interrogation room, quite the novel experience, I must say," Lioro said in a light tone as he looked down at the magic-suppressing handcuffs covering his hands.
Thanks to his Epic profession, with a single glance, he analyzed its structure, thinking of various applications he could use its technology for.
"I apologize, but these are the necessary procedures," Knight Glen said in a calm tone before picking up a sheet.
"Your name."
"Lioro Ackerman."
"Age."
"...17."
"Gender?"
"Are you serious?"
"Yes."
"Male."
"Are you part of the terrorist organization that attacked the academy?"
"Nope."
"Alright, that's it," Glen said as he put down the sheet.
"That's all?"
Glen shrugged his shoulders and replied.
"You saved our lives during the attack; that is more than enough proof of your innocence."
"Hm, then why the handcuffs?"
"As I said, standard procedures that need to be followed."
"Oh?"
"Here, let me help you take them off."
Glen took out a key from his pocket and unlocked Lioro's magic-suppressing handcuffs.
"Please follow me, there is someone who would like to meet you."
"Sure, lead the way."
"Then come this way....."
Glen opened the metal door of the interrogation room and exited with Lioro.
After passing through several groups of guards and a few hallways, they exited the prison-like place and stepped outside.
Just outside, Lioro saw a long red-haired woman standing beside a carriage.
Her appearance seemed oddly familiar for some reason.
"This is Iris Midgar, the first princess of the Midgar Kingdom, the leader of the Crimson Order, and the strongest swordswoman within the Midgar Kingdom."
'She's the one who gets her ass kicked by Shadow along with Beatrix?'
Lioro looked at her in curiosity.
Compared to the anime, she looked more beautiful in real life.
Then again, there were hardly any ugly-looking main plot characters.
"Hello, Princess Iris," Lioro greeted her in a casual tone, making the knights beside Iris frown and hold their swords ready to pull them out.
Iris waved at them to calm them down; she didn't mind Lioro's casual behavior.
"I heard your name is Lioro? Come with me, I have some things to ask you. Glen, you come too."
Then, under Princess Iris's lead, Lioro and Glen entered the carriage under