In the shadows of the S Ranked Main character
Chapter 61: Boss(2)

Chapter 61: Boss(2)

Kai didn’t know where the Guardian Beast was.

Didn’t know if he was even in the right place.

Didn’t know if his presence had already triggered some countdown to death.

He did know he couldn’t see.

The light was all-consuming not magical in the elegant, directed way he was used to — but primal.

His breathing stayed low and shallow as he dropped his stance. Noise control. Posture control. He could hear again barely a faint resonance to the air, but everything visual was blown out.

This wasn’t going to work.

He couldn’t fight blind.

He couldn’t navigate blind.

So he triggered it.

Ghostly Concealment.

His form vanished not with smoke, not with a shimmer. Just absence.

Sound?

Gone.

Presence?

Nullified.

Mana output?

Flatlined into the ambient layer.

He moved forward again, slower this time. Every step calculated. His blade hovered just beside him in his good hand. His numb arm he kept tucked close, trying to minimize any motion or brush.

The stone underfoot had changed again. Smoother. PolishedCeremonial. The kind of flooring they reserved for rituals or defensive enchantment layouts.

Kai’s foot tapped something solid.

Not a wall. Not a beast.

A shoe.

He froze immediately.

The air shifted before he could backstep.

And then—

CRACK-BOOM.

An explosion of force ripped across the hall, the sound like a thunderbolt detonating directly inside his skull. Lightning magic — wide, aggressive, indiscriminate.

It struck him like a net.

Even cloaked, Kai felt the current slam into his ribs and scatter through his limbs.

He hit the ground hard, body spasming slightly from the sudden mana discharge. His concealment shattered.

"Who’s there?" a voice demanded.

Sharp Female Familiar.

"Show yourself!"

Kai blinked through the light, and finally, finally, the wash of white started to ease. A faint silhouette took form ahead —tall, poised, long hair catching arcs of residual lightning still crackling around her.

"Ugh," he groaned. "Really didn’t need to be tased today, thanks..."

The figure paused.

"...Wait. Kai?"

"Yeah," he coughed, dragging himself half upright

The light finally settled enough for his vision to return — blurry, but functional.

Standing before him, a few meters away, was Rose.

Her arms were still raised, faint threads of static dancing along her fingertips. Her brows were furrowed in confusion.

"...What the hell are you doing here?" she asked.

"I couldn’t tell you anything believable

She didn’t answer right away. Her gaze flicked up — saw the crown. Then flicked down saw his dead looking leg and blood-stained shirt.

"...Are you even alive?"

"Barely," Kai muttered. "But yeah. Good enough to get zapped, apparently."

Rose finally lowered her arms. The tension didn’t leave her posture, but the threat of another lightning storm passed.

She walked forward. Slowly. Still watching him like he might evaporate.

"Seriously, what’s going on?" she said. "Professor Eisen me a cryptic warning, then left. Told me to hold things down Things That’s it. Then the light started going crazy. And you just—" she gestured vaguely at his entire body, "—appeared out of nowhere."

"I’ve had a rough day," Kai muttered.

"I can tell."

"I’ve also been sealed in a magic pocket dimension, lost a leg, got promoted eight levels by accident, and lost my beloved waifu. So if you want a full explanation—"

She waved a hand, stopping him

"No. No Save it." She rubbed her temples. "I can’t even find the others. Eugene, Marlon, June — none of them are to be found The Class A dorms are empty. I did a sweep of half the wing. They’re just... gone."

Kai’s brows drew tight. "Gone?"

"Gone."

"I didn’t even pass by their rooms..." he muttered. "Unless the Prism—"

He stopped.

Rose looked at him sharply. "Unless what?"

"...Nothing." He pushed himself upright again, wobbling slightly as he balanced himself Just a theory."

"You’re bleeding through your shirt."

"I’m aware."

"And you have a glowing crown made of light particles."

"Yes. Also aware."

"And your mana potency is way past what it was last week."

"I’m painfully aware."

Rose exhaled and looked around the empty training hall. The light was still settling, but the oppressive wash from before had dulled to a manageable glow.

She turned back to him slowly. "Alright. You’re a disaster. But you’re here."

"Charming as always."

"So what now?"

Kai flexed his fingers again, staring toward the far end of the room toward where the Guardian Beast’s lair was meant to be.

We find the other class A students then

"We find the next lock," he said. "We open it. We clear it. I’m not leaving her in there alone."

"...Kathlyn?"

...did something happen does it have something to do with the current situation

He didn’t answer directly.

Rose watched him a second longer, then sighed and rubbed her face.

"Okay. Fine. Screw it. I’m in."

As long as you start explaining the situation

Kai raised a brow. "You are?"

"You just appeared out of nowhere, half-dead, with a floating crown and a completely insane mana signature. I’ve seen enough dumb quests to know how this plays out. The protagonist loses the heroine goes on quest to save her

"...Fair."

"I’m just hoping this one ends with more fireworks."

Kai managed a weak grin.

Together, they turned to face the training sector or what used to be the training sector. The air still thrummed with pressure. The kind of pressure that meant something massive was stirring just out of sight.

And it wasn’t going to wait long

---

Kai exhaled slowly, eyes narrowing toward the far end of the corridor. The pressure in the air hadn’t faded — just compressed, coiled like something too heavy to move yet too dangerous to ignore.

Rose stood beside him, arms crossed, lightning still flickering faintly around her shoulders. She eyed the lingering glow above Kai’s head — that drifting, faintly-crowned aura — and then the bloodstained ruin of his shirt.

"So," she said finally, "when you said you weren’t leaving her in there alone..."

Kai’s lips curled into a lazy, tired grin. "Yeah."

She raised a brow. "You and Kathlyn?"

He didn’t answer right away. He adjusted his grip on his blade, shifted his weight to his good leg, and gave her a look that could only be described as deliberately suggestive.

Rose squinted.

Kai sighed, like the world had thrust this burden upon him unfairly. "What can I say?" he muttered. "Things got... intimate."

Rose blinked once.

He leaned a little closer, voice low. "After a whole reality-bending trauma arc, you get a little emotionally vulnerable. You look at the person next to you. She looks back. One thing leads to another..."

"You’re kidding."

He spread his arms. "She literally had her hands on me. I was in her lap, she was whispering things, she kissed me—"

"Wait, what? She kissed you?" Rose’s voice cracked halfway between disbelief and offense.

Kai gave her a look that could only be described as smug. "Right on the cheek," he said. "Soft. Real slow."

Rose narrowed her eyes. "That doesn’t sound like Kathlyn."

He shrugged. "You weren’t there."

"She gave you a lap pillow, didn’t she."

"...Possibly."

"And the kiss?"

Kai hesitated just long enough. "Still counts."

Rose stared at him, deadpan. "So you were delirious, injured, laying in her lap like a broken cat, and she kissed you out of pity."

It wasn’t pity you wench

Kai looked away. "That’s... reductive."

Rose stared a moment longer, then burst out laughing short, incredulous, like it escaped before she could stop it. "You’re impossible."

"And yet." He gave her a sidelong glance. "You’re still here."

"Only because I want to see how bad this delusion gets."

"Delusion is a strong word," Kai muttered. "We shared a moment."

"Shared a moment," Rose repeated flatly. "You mean she wiped the blood off your face and you passed out in her lap like a sad little drama prince."

"She was into it."

"She was into basic human decency."

Kai opened his mouth. Closed it.

Rose tilted her head. "What really happened, Kai?"

He looked ahead again. Voice quieter. "Does it matter?"

She blinked once, caught by the tone shift.

"I made a promise," he said. "That’s what matters."

There was a pause. The air buzzed faintly with pressure again, the sort that made hair stand on end.

Rose crossed her arms again. "You’re a jackass, you know that?"

"Frequently."

"But... alright." She sighed. "Let’s go get her."

Kai nodded. His grin returned, but this time, it was tired. Strained around the edges. "Thanks."

"Just don’t make me watch you dramatically bleed in anyone else’s lap," Rose muttered.

"No promises."

They stepped forward together, into the corridor where the floor had begun to hum, and the walls no longer held their shape quite right.

Somewhere ahead, something waited.

And behind them, the story Kai had twisted into a flirtation, into something more still clung faintly to the air, not quite a lie, not quite the truth.

Just... edited.

Out a bit out of order but the stuff happened

Like everything else in this place.

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