Chapter 19: The Eclipse of the Grandmaster
The hallway of the 50th floor didn't just feel cold; it felt empty, as if the very concept of air had been replaced by a vacuum of malice. The elevator doors, now glowing a dull, molten orange, groaned and buckled outward. It wasn't an explosion that opened them, but a slow, deliberate application of pressure.
Through the steam and the stench of scorched metal, a figure stepped out.
Grandmaster Zhao didn't look like a warlord. He was a slender man in his late sixties, dressed in a traditional black Hanfu that seemed to absorb the emergency red lights of the hallway. In his hand, he carried a simple wooden staff topped with a jade skull. But it was his aura that froze the blood in my veins.
[Aura Perception: WARNING!]
[Identity: Grandmaster Zhao (The Shadow King)]
[Threat Level: DEEP CRIMSON (Fatal)]
[Willpower: 99/100 (Immutable)]
His aura was a vast, swirling hurricane of obsidian smoke, so dense it physically cracked the marble floor beneath his feet. My Sovereign Guard, brave men who had faced death without flinching, instinctively stepped back. Their visors flickered with static—their mental links to me were being crushed by Zhao's sheer presence.
"So," Zhao said, his voice a melodic rasp that echoed in every corner of the room. "The 'King' who caused so much noise is but a child playing with a stolen toy. Tell me, boy, does your 'System' know how it feels when a soul is slowly peeled like an orange?"
"System," I thought, my teeth gritted against the pressure. "Analyze his weakness. Give me something!"
[Analyzing... Error. Targets Willpower is too high for direct Injection.]
[Warning: Host's Neural Capacity at 85%. Failure imminent.]
"I'm not here for a lecture, Zhao," I said, my voice sounding hollow in my own ears. I gripped my obsidian blade, the silver rings in my eyes spinning in a desperate attempt to find a gap in his defenses. "I'm here to end your reign."
Zhao smiled, a slow, terrifying expression. He tapped his staff on the floor once.
The world didn't just change; it shattered. I wasn't in the Sterling hallway anymore. I was standing in a void of endless white, a mental landscape he had forced me into. This was his domain—a psychic battlefield where my System's physical upgrades meant nothing.
"Your desires are loud, Fang Li," Zhao whispered, appearing behind me instantly. "You want power. You want the girl. You want to be the architect of a new world. But desire is just a string... and I am the one who cuts them."
He swung his staff. It hit my ribs, and even in this mental realm, the pain was agonizing. I felt my 'Wealthy Family' ego crumble, my 'Sovereign' status feeling like a joke.
[Health: 45%]
[System Warning: Mental Collapse in 60 seconds.]
"Is that all?" Zhao mocked, his form flickering like a shadow in the white void. "Where is your arrogance now?"
I lay on the ground, gasping for air. He was right—direct injection wouldn't work on a man who had spent sixty years killing his own desires. To beat him, I couldn't attack his mind. I had to attack the source of his power.
I focused my eyes, pushing [Sovereign's Eye] to its absolute limit, ignoring the blood that began to trickle from my tear ducts. I looked past the man, past the shadow, and focused on the jade skull on his staff.
[Detection! The Jade Skull is the 'Anchor' for the Blood Moon Ritual!]
"System," I whispered, my vision fading. "Dump all 1,500 DP into a single pulse. Don't target him. Target the Anchor."
[Warning: This may cause permanent neural damage to the Host!]
"DO IT!"
I reached out my hand. "Zhao! You said I'm a child with a toy? Well, this toy has a DELETE button!"
[Skill Overclock: DESIRE OVERLOAD]
I didn't inject a desire into him. I injected every single suppressed, agonizing desire I had absorbed from the bone flute fragment directly into the jade skull. The raw, unfiltered pain and longing of a thousand souls hit the anchor like a nuclear blast.
The white void screamed.
Zhao's eyes went wide. For the first time, his calm face shattered into a mask of pure, unadulterated terror. "NO! THE HARVEST!"
The jade skull cracked, a blinding blue and silver light erupting from within. The 'Blood Moon' aura was sucked back into the skull, creating a vacuum that pulled Zhao's obsidian shadow along with it.
The mental realm shattered.
I was back in the hallway, collapsing to my knees. The Grandmaster was standing ten feet away, his staff broken in two. He looked older now—hundreds of years older. His hair had turned white, and his skin was like parchment.
"You... you didn't just break the anchor," Zhao wheezed, blood pouring from his mouth. "You... you consumed the desires... you stole the city's hunger..."
He reached for me, his hands trembling, but before he could touch me, his body began to dissolve into black ash, carried away by the ventilation system. The 'Blood Moon' outside turned back into a normal, pale gray dawn.
[DING!]
[Grandmaster Zhao Defeated.]
[Calculating Rewards...]
[Hidden Achievement Unlocked: 'The True King' - You have usurped the throne of the Shadows.]
[Reward: 5,000 Desire Points | Rank 3 Authority Unlocked | 'Shadow-Link' Ability Acquired.]
I couldn't even enjoy the notification. My head hit the floor, the darkness of exhaustion finally claiming me.
The last thing I heard was the sound of Elena's heels running toward me, and the system's calm, mechanical voice:
[Bond Level with Elena Sterling: 100/100 (Soul Mate)]
[Bond Level with Isabella Vane: 60/100 (Allied Schemer)]
The King of the Shadows was dead. Long live the King of the System.