?Agent X descended slowly, his feet touching the pulverized earth with a soft crunch. A violent, high-pitched sizzling echoed from his right arm—the limb he had used to launch the kinetic bolt. It was cooling rapidly, the vents in his obsidian skin glowing a dull, angry red as they hissed out steam.

  ?He didn't move to hide. Instead, he stood in the center of the scarred earth, his senses expanding. Five distinct, powerful signatures were closing in fast. A faint, unseen ripple of amusement crossed his faceless head. At least some of them aren't cowards, he thought.

  ?The five shadows streaked across the ground, moving with a synchronized fluidity that spoke of centuries of training. Three of them lunged simultaneously from the front, daggers drawn and shimmering with a faint elven glow. Agent X didn’t even bother to brace himself; he simply swiped his hand horizontally. A crescent wave of purple fire erupted from his palm, roaring out to catch the trio in the midsection.

  ?The three guards didn't scream. They didn't burn. They simply shimmered and vanished like mist.

  ?Agent X paused, his head tilting. The five signatures had spread out, forming a perfect perimeter. They began to run in a tight, dizzying circle around him, their speed increasing until they were little more than a blur. As he watched, the figures began to double, then triple. Within seconds, his eyes told him there were fifteen elves circling him, but his instincts—honed by the System—remained stubbornly fixed on only five sources of power.

  ?One by one, the shadows broke formation, lunging at his back with predatory precision. Agent X spun, his movements a blur of obsidian and fire, blasting elf after elf away with bursts of violet heat. Each time he struck, the target dissolved into nothingness.

  ?Illusions, he realized. Strong ones, but empty.

  ?He grew bored of the dance. As a fresh shadow lunged from his blind spot, he didn't bother to turn. He stood still, waiting for the "empty" blade to pass through his sand-compressed body. After all, it would take a master-level illusionist to make an illusion draw blood.

  ?He was wrong.

  ?A sharp, searing pain erupted in his back. Agent X let out a low hiss as a dagger, imbued with concentrated Light Magic, sank deep into his obsidian shoulder. As a creature of the Demonoid classification, the holy radiance of the light didn't just cut; it burned through his very essence like acid.

  ?Exhilaration, cold and sharp, flooded his mind. Pain. It had been an eternity since he had felt a sensation so real.

  ?He whipped around, a roar of purple fire erupting from his body and scorching the entire clearing, forcing the five real guards to leap backward. Agent X didn't follow them. Instead, he dropped to one knee, slamming both hands into the dirt.

  ?"Enough games," he rumbled.

  ?The obsidian sand beneath him responded, rising in a violent, swirling vortex that encased him in a localized sandstorm. The Royal Guard skidded to a halt several yards away, their capes snapping in the wind of the monster’s aura. There was no opening; the storm was a wall of grinding glass and heat.

  ?Kaelith, the leader of the Royal Guard, signaled his team to regroup. He looked at the team’s ranged mage, a slender elf with eyes glowing like stars. "Faelan. You're up."

  ?"Cover me," Faelan replied, his voice strained as he began to move his index fingers in an intricate, rhythmic pattern in the air. Traces of pure white light magic clung to the air where his fingers passed, as if he were painting with liquid divinity.

  ?Inside the storm, Agent X watched. He could have expanded the sand and crushed them, but he was curious. He wanted to see the peak of their "negotiation." He lowered the sandstorm, the swirling black grains settling at his feet in a clear, arrogant invitation.

  ?Faelan didn't hesitate. His mind was a maelstrom of calculations, layering ward upon ward and focusing every drop of his mana into the magic circles hovering before him. Several stacked rings, larger than the elf himself, pulsed with a blinding, holy light.

  ?"Divine Javelin!" Faelan screamed.

  ?A massive, human-sized arrow of pure, concentrated light launched from the circles. It tore through the air, hummed with the sound of a thousand bells, and streaked toward the monster’s heart.

  ?Agent X remained rooted to the spot. He thrust out his left arm, intending to catch the projectile with his bare hand to test its density. But he had fundamentally misjudged the divinity of the strike. The Javelin didn't just hit; it shredded. It tore through his hand and forearm like they were made of wet paper, continuing through the bicep until it severed the limb entirely at the shoulder.

  ?The arm fell to the ground, dissolving back into inert black sand.

  ?The Royal Guard stayed silent, their jaws clenched. They had landed a crippling blow, but the monster hadn't even flinched.

  ?"Get the illusions back up!" Kaelith bellowed, his voice breaking the stun. He glanced at the support mage. "Give me and the frontline buffs!"

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  ?He turned his eyes toward the remaining two warriors, their daggers already dripping with light-infused energy. "You two with me. It’s hurting—if that thing can even feel pain. Let’s finish it while it's weak!"

  ?Kaelith lunged forward, his blade raised, leading the charge into the shadow of the one-armed demon.

  ?Kaelith’s daggers were a blur of silver light as he closed the distance. He wasn't just a warrior; he was a Light-Stalker, capable of folding space over short distances. With a sharp exhale, he blinked, appearing directly above Agent X’s severed shoulder. He drove his light-infused blade downward, aiming to pierce the core through the open wound.

  ?Agent X’s reaction was terrifyingly calm. He didn't grow his arm back—not yet. He wanted to see how they fought a "crippled" abomination. He leaned back at an impossible angle, Kaelith’s blade whistling past his chest. Simultaneously, the vents in Agent X’s remaining arm flared a violent violet. He caught Kaelith by the throat mid-air.

  ?"You move well for an elf," Agent X rumbled.

  ?The two frontline guards slammed into Agent X from either side, their daggers carving glowing white lines into his obsidian ribs. Agent X ignored the pain, his grip tightening on Kaelith. The light magic was eating into his skin, hissing and bubbling, but he simply funneled more mana into his palm. Purple flames licked at Kaelith’s neck, the elven armor beginning to warp and melt.

  ?"Get off him!" one of the guards yelled, unleashing a flurry of stabs.

  ?Agent X finally relented, but not out of mercy. He used Kaelith as a living flail, swinging the commander’s body into the two guards with bone-shattering force. All three were sent tumbling across the scorched earth, but they quickly scrambled back to their feet. The buffs they were receiving were in full bloom, glowing sigils of speed and power pulsing on their limbs.

  ?Agent X focused on the sand beneath him. He channeled it into his body through his feet, the grains weaving through his torso to repair and reinforce his shattered ribs. He intentionally left his arm unrepaired; he didn't want to crush their spirits too quickly. He wanted to see how far their desperation would take them.

  ?Kaelith began teleporting in an erratic, jagged pattern, attempting to escape the monster's predatory gaze. While Agent X watched the lead elf dart around, one of the frontline archers began launching light-infused arrows. They struck with precision, burying themselves into the joints of Agent X's limbs to slow his mobility.

  ?Agent X’s body recoiled with each hit, the shafts finding refuge deep within his obsidian flesh. He let out a low, guttural groan of annoyance. This game of cat and mouse was becoming tedious.

  ?Deciding to end the charade, Agent X began mocking Kaelith's movements. Every time Kaelith blinked through space, he found himself staring directly into the faceless void of the Demonoid. No matter how erratically Kaelith teleported, the demon was there to meet him, as if he were reading the elf's future thoughts.

  ?On the final blink, Agent X didn't just wait; he swung. His obsidian fist connected with Kaelith’s chest. The commander’s body became a projectile, bouncing off the ground at high speed before slamming into the support mage who was maintaining their buffs.

  ?The unfortunate elf, unable to defend herself while channeling for others, took the full brunt of the impact. She was crushed between the magically-buffed weight of Kaelith and a jagged stone spire. Kaelith barely had time to process the sickening crunch of bone before a teammate yelled a warning. He whipped his head around just in time to see a column of dark purple flames engulf his vision. The fire slammed into his neck, pinning him against the rock with suffocating force before dispersing into embers.

  ?Faelan, the mage, was chanting again, his fingers bleeding from the strain of channeling so much celestial energy. "Kaelith! Stay clear!"

  ?The commander remained slouched against the rock, coughing up silver-tinted blood. His neck was charred, but his resolve remained a stubborn spark in his eyes. Faelan let loose a Divine Javelin, but it was a pale shadow of the first—shorter, dimmer, and flickering. Agent X simply sidestepped the attack with a lazy grace, letting the light-spear crash into the wasteland behind him.

  ?Agent X stood in the center of the devastation, his left shoulder beginning to churn like a dark whirlpool. The black sand rose from the ground, weaving itself into a fresh limb. Within seconds, the arm was whole, the obsidian veins pulsing with a fresh, violent violet light.

  ?He flexed his new fingers, the sound like grinding stone. "Is that all your pride buys you? A few scratches and an arm I can replace with a thought?"

  ?Kaelith struggled to his feet, wiping blood from his lip. He looked back toward the golden dome of the kingdom. "We aren't here to kill you, monster. We’re here to hold the door."

  ?Far behind them, atop the highest spire of the palace, King Aver stood beneath the open sky. He held a massive, star-shaped catalyst of pure white quartz.

  ?"By the blood of the first stars!" Aver’s voice boomed, amplified by the magic of the dome. "By the light that existed before the void! I offer the gods of our history! Open the gate of the Heavens!"

  ?A pillar of blinding white light erupted from the palace, piercing the golden dome and shooting into the stratosphere. The clouds above the elven kingdom swirled into a massive celestial vortex. Agent X looked up, his violet vents pulsing rapidly. For the first time, his internal thoughts weren't bored.

  ?A summoning? No, a forced Intervention call.

  ?System prompts began to flicker in the corner of his vision—not a request, but a warning of a shifting reality.

  ?System Warning: High-Rank Celestial Ritual Detected

  Summoner Targeting: Grade-S reinforcement.

  Summoning S-Rank Incarnates. Three, two, one.

  ?Across the torn-up terrain, three massive streaks of light slammed into the ground between the Royal Guard and the kingdom. The impact sent a shockwave that flattened the scorched landscape for miles.

  ?As the dust settled, three figures stood in the craters. They wore high-rank System gear: shimmering plates crafted from the hides of legendary beasts and flowing mana-cloaks that shimmered with enchantments.

  ?Agent X let out a genuine, booming laugh that shook the air. He began to bounce back and forth from one foot to the other in a rhythmic, restless prelude to combat. "So, the King spent his soul to buy some real toys? Good. I was starting to worry I wouldn't have much more fun here."

  ?The lead Hero, a man named Maximus, possessed a large grey beard and wore gold-trimmed heavy armor. He gripped a Rank S claymore in one hand and a massive tower shield in the other. He glanced at the dying elves, then at his system prompt.

  ?"Urgent Situation: Neutralize the Obsidian Calamity," Maximus read aloud, his voice cold and professional. He looked at his two companions. "Buffs up. This one’s a Stage Two Demonoid. Don't hold back. Demons are known for magical defense and instant regeneration. Even if it looks dead, do not stop attacking until the System confirms the clear."

  ?Agent X settled into a low mage’s stance, his purple fire roaring to life from every vent. Come then, Heroes. Let's see if you're any more fun.

  ?The anticipation of a grand fight filled him, the black sand at his feet beginning to rise in a hungry, expectant wave.