Chapter 101: Chapter: 101 Strongest man below swordmaster vs the weakest swordmaster.[7]

The moment Vivian spoke the two words "Xi Realm," strange wiggly shadows that looked alive began to stretch out from his body.

They moved fast, too fast, and were so dark that they reflected no light at all.

The shadows slithered and twisted like living creatures, rushing toward the professor, who was still frozen in midair by Charlotte’s time spell.

Whosh... Whosh...

In the blink of an eye, the shadows grew thicker and longer until they surrounded both Vivian and the professor.

Soon, they formed a giant swirling vortex that spun wildly, pulling in the air around it.

The entire arena trembled from the pressure, and dust lifted into the air.

Charlotte, who had just landed on the ground, gasped for breath.

Her face was pale, sweat dripping down her forehead as she stared at the vortex in shock.

"Vivian..." she whispered, her voice shaking.

The vortex kept spinning faster and faster, its sound like a roaring storm.

Then, slowly, it began to shrink, smaller and smaller, until the swirling mass disappeared completely, leaving behind only silence.

The place where Vivian and the professor had stood was now empty, as if they had both been erased from the world itself.

Meanwhile, the professor finally managed to move again as the effects of the time spell faded away.

But his relief didn’t last long.

He quickly realized he was no longer in the dungeon.

Instead, he stood in a dark, endless space where not even his own shadow could be seen.

There was no sky, no ground, only an eerie emptiness stretching in all directions.

Most people would’ve panicked in such a place, but the professor’s face stayed calm, though his eyes looked empty.

He slowly glanced down at his sword and muttered, "Half..."

He could feel it, his mana was cut down to half of what it used to be outside.

Even worse, he had lost his connection to his doppelgänger, the one watching over the midterm exam.

It was as if every link to the real world had been severed.

As he stood there thinking, a cold voice echoed through the void.

"Professor... How is my Intuition?"

The professor didn’t respond.

His expression stayed still as he quietly analyzed his surroundings, searching for any clue.

But the voice came again, sharper and colder this time.

"It’s no use. Now that you’re here, it’s over for you."

A faint chill ran through the air, and for the first time, a small frown formed on the professor’s face.

Finally, the professor spoke, his tone calm but edged with pride.

"You think you can trap me with this little trick of yours?"

As he said those words, he lifted his great sword and tried to gather ice around its blade.

But nothing happened.

The mana around him refused to move, the air stayed still, and no frost appeared.

His frown deepened.

"It’s no use," the cold voice echoed again, sounding closer this time.

From the endless darkness, a figure began to step forward.

The faint sound of footsteps echoed softly, followed by the metallic clinking of long hair brushing against each other.

A dim light flickered, revealing a face smeared with blood and shadow.

It was Vivian.

His horns gave off a faint, eerie glow, and his torn clothes fluttered slightly as if touched by an unseen wind.

The professor instinctively tightened his grip on the sword, ready to strike, but something in Vivian’s gaze made him hesitate.

Vivian’s lips curled into a cold, confident smile.

"I haven’t figured out all the powers of this intuition yet," he said quietly, his voice echoing across the void, "but it’s more than enough... for you."

The space around them pulsed faintly in response, as if the realm itself recognized its master.

Vivian’s smile deepened as he slowly raised his right hand, turning it as if studying his own palm.

Whosh... Whosh...

Dark shadows from the endless void began to stir, twisting and swirling like smoke drawn toward a flame.

They gathered around his hand in thin fragments until, in an instant, they fused together, forming a pitch-black sword that seemed alive, its surface rippling faintly as if it were breathing.

"Let’s end this," he muttered, his voice calm but heavy with finality.

Before the professor could react, Vivian vanished.

A blur, then silence, and the next moment, he was already standing right in front of the professor.

His movement was so fast it looked as if he had teleported.

The professor’s eyes widened, his instincts barely catching up.

He quickly swung his great sword up to block—

Clang!

A sharp metallic sound echoed through the dark realm as their blades met.

The impact was so strong that the professor’s body was thrown backward like a broken arrow.

He coughed out blood midair, the crimson droplets scattering around him,

but before they could fall, the void itself swallowed them whole, erasing every trace of them as if they had never existed.

Vivian watched the professor being flung through the air, his expression calm and unreadable.

"Though I can’t use mana or elemental power here," he said quietly, his voice echoing through the void,

"you can still use around half of yours. But it doesn’t matter... this entire realm belongs to me."

His eyes followed the professor’s spinning form without emotion.

Whosh.

In the next instant, Vivian vanished again, his body blurring into the darkness.

He reappeared right beside the professor midair, his sword melting away into liquid shadow that wrapped around his arms.

Within moments, the weapon reshaped itself into a pair of black gauntlets that pulsed faintly, like a living thing bound to his will.

"So everything here..." he murmured, flexing his fingers, "is mine to control."

Before the professor could react, Vivian clasped both fists together and drove them forward.

Thuk!

The hit landed squarely in the professor’s stomach.

The impact sent a dull shockwave through the airless void, and the professor’s body bent inward from the force before being slammed downward like a meteor.

Boom!

He hit the unseen ground with a deafening crash, the darkness rippling like water around the impact.

"Guh!"

The professor coughed out blood violently, the crimson liquid vanishing before it could touch the ground.

Pain twisted across his face as he felt his ribs shatter, every bone in his chest cracking like fragile glass.

Vivian floated above him, silent, his shadowed gauntlets still dripping faint threads of darkness.

After a while, as the professor wiped the blood from his mouth and steadied his breath, Vivian’s calm voice broke the silence.

"Will you talk... or?"

"Never." The professor’s answer came sharp and final.

His tone was cold, his eyes empty, and he made no effort to rise from the ground.

Though Vivian didn’t explain what he wanted to know, the professor already understood it clearly, Vivian wanted to know the truth about the Clown.

The secret the professor had been hiding all along.

Vivian didn’t seem surprised.

He smiled faintly.

"Figured as much. I knew you wouldn’t speak, that’s exactly why I pushed myself to awaken my intuition. Because once you leave this place..."

His gaze hardened, the air around him trembling slightly, "...you won’t be able to keep any secrets."

For the first time, the professor’s eyes wavered.

The hollowness in them cracked just a little as unease flickered across his face.

"What do you mean?" he asked quietly.

Vivian didn’t answer.

Instead, he disappeared again, his form melting into the shadows, and reappeared right in front of the professor in less than a heartbeat.

He leaned close, his voice barely above a whisper, but every word carried weight like a curse.

"You’ll be my slave for the rest of your life..."

His tone darkened as his cold blue eyes glowed faintly. "...No—for eternity."

There was no rage in his voice, only a chilling calm, but behind that calm burned something deeper, pure, unfiltered resentment.

The kind that doesn’t fade with time.

The professor’s breath hitched for the first time, a shiver running down his spine as he met those icy eyes.

For a moment, he realized this was no longer the same cripple everyone thought.

He was someone reborn from fury and pain.

Vivian didn’t speak further.

The swirling shadows around him twisted once again, reforming into a dark, jagged sword that pulsed faintly in his grip.

He stepped closer and grabbed the professor by the collar, lifting him with ease.

The professor, already weakened and drained, couldn’t resist, his arms hung loosely at his sides.

"Do you want to know a secret?"

Vivian whispered, his tone calm but cold enough to chill the air around them.

The professor stayed silent.

His eyes, once filled with defiance, returned to that same hollow emptiness.

Vivian continued, his voice steady and low.

"In my last life... my tongue was cut off."

For a heartbeat, there was silence.

Then the professor’s eyes widened in disbelief.

His lips trembled as he stammered, "P-previous life...?"

The shock was clear, his composure shattered for the first time.

Vivian didn’t respond.

His expression stayed blank as he slowly raised his hand and gripped the professor’s throat.

The professor gasped, his mouth forced open, his tongue slipping out as he struggled for air.

A cruel smile touched Vivian’s lips.

"A slave," he said softly, "doesn’t have the right to question."

The black sword flashed once.

Chik.

The sound was sharp and final.

The professor froze as his tongue was sliced cleanly in two.

The pieces vanished into the darkness, devoured by the void, leaving only silence and Vivian’s cold, steady gaze above him.