The Dark Extra: Awakening of SSS-Skill Demon Emperor Legacy
Chapter 118: First Knight Saber Trials Completed

Chapter 118: First Knight Saber Trials Completed

Agares focused his eyes upward. A dome of golden-yellow light appeared and wrapped around the city from every direction, trapping Kinsaber City—and Agares inside it—within a golden cage.

’I have to find the trial core, but what is it? Is it something physical, or something more like a realization?’ Agares wondered.

He raised his head and looked straight ahead. Hundreds of longswords were flying toward him—not for training, but to kill.

Agares drew Shadepiercer and gripped the black longsword with both hands. His eyes glowed purple, dark energy radiating intensely from his body. Nova and the others watched the moment Agares unleashed his power.

"Dark energy? I’ve never seen a saber use that before."

"Maybe that’s what helped him get all the way up to the 81st floor," Kevin explained.

"Saber Skill: Shadow Cleave!"

He swung his sword vertically and horizontally, sending a shadowy slash in the shape of a plus sign forward.

The flying longswords got knocked away and shattered on impact. He used the moment to sprint along the city’s main road.

Every now and then, Agares had to raise his sword to block some thrusts and slashes from the swords coming at him.

’First Courage? Is the point of this trial to be brave enough to face all these swords?’ he asked himself.

He coated Shadepiercer with a dark purple aura and started parrying and striking the longswords targeting him.

Success! The sword blocked and even broke them.

Even so, Agares saw many more swords coming, attacking him like the trial wasn’t going to end anytime soon.

Nova and Kevin stayed silent outside the dome, watching Agares from afar with the look of people who believed he’d pull through this trial.

But Aoi was different—worry and anxiety clearly shown on her face. She feared this trial might end up being the cause of Agares’ death.

She didn’t want that to happen.

Agares focused forward again, clearly noticing that the longswords coming at him weren’t going to stop.

Luckily, he was already wearing thick, durable armor strong enough to protect his body from the blades.

But even that armor had limits, and if he didn’t wrap this up soon, it might break, putting his life in danger.

"Saber Skill: Shadow Clone!"

Agares stabbed his sword into the ground, activating Shadepiercer’s protection. The dark energy in his body split apart and formed a clone of himself.

"What’s going on?" the clone asked.

"Draw the swords’ attention. I’ll search for the core of this trial!"

"Got it."

The clone grew black wings on his back and took off, flying away from Shadepiercer’s protection. He noticed that most of the swords started chasing the clone, leaving only a few still targeting Agares.

"Saber Skill: Shadow Cleave!"

Agares pulled his sword back out and channeled dark energy into the blade. With a sideways sweep, he cut down and knocked back many of the swords attacking him.

He broke free and watched his clone still baiting the swords away—massively helping him.

Nova was impressed. She admired how cleverly Agares used the clone to draw most of the longswords away, so he could go deeper into the city and search for the trial core.

As he walked down the main road, Agares suddenly froze. His eyes landed on a girl—around ten years old—standing there with dirty, tattered clothes.

Her hands and feet were injured, and tears streamed down her face as she clutched a blue knit doll in her arms.

In front of the girl, a group of people in armor with swords charged at her, screaming.

Just as Agares reached the city center, the scene instantly changed from a quiet city to complete destruction.

Fires blazed, consuming buildings, townspeople were slaughtered and humiliated, and the ground was soaked in blood.

The girl—the one with the knit doll—was still there, standing between the corpses of her parents, who had died protecting her.

From the front, the crowd of men revealed their true form—they were demons in disguise.

Agares sprouted black wings and flew forward, landing right in front of the girl. She looked up, startled.

"Sir?"

’Damn it! This is a trial, but it feels way too real. The events, the emotions, even the smell and the touch—it’s all real,’Agares realized.

"I’ll protect you!"

He turned his focus to the front, activated his first saber skill, and started attacking the demons that had possessed human bodies.

The battle kicked off. Agares had no problem cutting them down. But because he was so focused, he failed to notice what was happening behind him.

Yep! He’d left the knit doll girl all alone—she was about to be attacked by monsters.

"Damn it!"

Agares flew back, grabbed the girl, and lifted her into the sky to keep her safe. He couldn’t fight them effectively if he had to keep protecting her.

"Saber Skill: Shadow Clone!"

Once again, he split his dark energy in two. Another clone appeared—this one already had wings because Agares had summoned them earlier. He asked the clone to guard the girl while he went down to finish off the monsters.

The clone nodded in response. Once the girl was safe with him, Agares shot down from the sky, pumping his dark energy into Shadepiercer’s blade.

Without using any saber skills—only relying on pure sword technique—Agares plunged into the crowd of hundreds in one spot.

He slashed, stabbed, sliced, and blew them up with his strength. Not a single monster survived his onslaught.

All of them lay dead on the ground.

Once he was sure the city center was secure, Clone Agares flew down and gently set the girl on the ground again. She smiled, her eyes locked onto Agares—the one who had saved her.

"Thank you for saving me."

"Thank you for defeating them all."

The girl stepped closer, right up to Agares, whose face and body were covered in the blood of demon-possessed humans. That’s right—he was the killer.

"This is for you," she said, handing him a clean handkerchief.

He turned and knelt down. Reaching out, he accepted the handkerchief and used it to wipe the blood from his face.

"Thank you."

The girl smiled. Then, her body began to fade, dissolving into tiny magical particles that floated into the sky.

Not just her—the entire scene at the city center transformed from chaos and flames back into the quiet city from before.

Even though she vanished, her handkerchief remained tightly gripped in his hand. The clone disappeared too—its job was done.

[DING! Congratulations, Agares! You’ve completed the Saber Knight Trial]

[First Knight Saber Trial || First Courage]

[+30000exp]

[EXP: 532500/650250] [+30000]

"I didn’t expect that much of an exp boost."

[Reward Item:]

[100x Gold Coins]

[25x Potion HP low]

[25x Potion Mana low]

[1x Knight Token]

[1x Fragment Lumen Astra]

[1x Set Equipment Saber Quality Mid]

Agares smiled, even if he had to admit the reward items weren’t quite what he hoped for. But it’s fine—some of them were valuable if sold, especially the equipment set.

Still, who would even buy saber gear these days, since there were no other sabers in the world but Agares? Who knows.

The city returned to normal. The townspeople—fragments of souls—reappeared and went about their lives in the city center like nothing had ever happened.

Nova and Kevin stepped into the city. Since Agares cleared the 81st floor, the trial would go on cooldown for one day.

Aoi walked ahead of them, following the main road until she reached the city center. There, she clearly saw Agares standing in the middle of the square, holding a white handkerchief.

Yep! The bloodstains were gone—from both Agares and the handkerchief. It seemed like everything related to the trial had disappeared... except for the handkerchief.

"Sir."

Aoi leapt forward and hugged Agares tightly. He smiled and gently stroked her hair. Then he looked up, seeing Nova and Kevin approaching.

"Congrats, you’ve cleared the 81st floor," Nova said.

"Your trial record will be automatically stored in the Knight Token. Now, you’re eligible to take the second trial on the 82nd floor," Kevin added.

"Give me a bit to rest," said Agares.

"Of course. That’s up to you."

"We won’t be joining you anymore. Our job was to guide you up to the 81st floor. From here on out, you’re on your own."

Agares cleared his throat—a sign of farewell. "Yeah, I understand."