Starting With SSS-rank: I Get A New Skill Every Livestream

"Sir?"

"Ah, yes?" Blake shook his head and turned toward his secretary. His vision was blurry, and a faint dizziness lingered in his head.

Lara regarded him with concern. "Sir, are you all right? You’ve dozed off three times today. Are you sure you don’t want to go home and rest for the day?"

Her words brought to mind the meeting earlier, when he had fallen asleep right in the middle of the conference. Lara had been the one to wake him then, too.

Massaging his brows, Blake asked, "What time is it?"

"It’s half past seven, sir. Should I push the meeting to another day?" Lara asked, her finger hovering inches above the send button. The email had already been prepared.

Blake exhaled slowly before nodding. "That would be for the best."

He rose from his seat, but his legs nearly gave way beneath him. Lara quickly caught him by the arm, steadying him before he could stumble.

"I am fine," he assured her in a low voice.

He gently pulled his arm free and made his way past her, his steps slow and unsteady.

....

Sitting inside the car, Blake couldn’t shake the guilt weighing on him. He had been neglecting his responsibilities lately, creating inconvenience for everyone around him. Especially Lara.

He hadn’t been spending much time with his fiancée either. If it had been anyone other than Corella, Blake suspected he might have been on the verge of being dumped by now.

But Corella understood him well enough to give him the space he needed.

And right now, Blake desperately needed time.

’But for what?’

The question surfaced again, unanswered.

He didn’t understand why he had become like this, so detached and listless, as though some invisible weight had settled over him and refused to lift.

He hadn’t been sleeping well for the past two weeks. Something kept him anxious, keeping his thoughts in constant motion as his mind grasped desperately at a memory he couldn’t quite identify. No matter how hard he tried, he could never put his finger on what was missing.

He had never been particularly fond of his family. After his father’s mysterious death, he had become even more detached from the Astortia name and everything it represented.

Yet there was someone he missed.

Someone he felt he had lost.

It was an inexplicable sensation, as though a part of him had been torn away, leaving behind an absence he couldn’t name or remember.

And it was frustrating him more than he cared to admit.

The unease was beginning to seep into every part of his life. He found himself absentminded during work, losing focus at crucial moments and struggling to maintain the composure expected of him. Blake knew he couldn’t allow it to continue. Not for the sake of his company, his employees, the woman he loved, or his family.

’I need to gather my thoughts and figure out what is happening to me-!!’’

Just then his eyes sharpened.

’Huh?!’

A man was standing in the distance.

"Stop the car!" Blake commanded.

The driver, who seemingly hadn’t noticed the figure ahead, immediately slammed on the brakes. The car skidded to a halt.

Blake frowned.

’There isn’t only one...’

As his vision steadied, the darkness before him seemed to shift.

There were four more people.

Five figures stood in the distance, motionless and silent, their bodies swallowed by the darkness. Only their silhouettes were visible.

Blake slowly stepped out of the car, keeping his eyes fixed on the figures in the darkness.

"Who are you?"

One of them moved.

Blake instinctively took a step back.

Thump!

The man’s foot slammed into the car door with enough force to rip it clean from the frame. Metal buckled beneath the impact before the door tore away and crashed onto the pavement.

The window shattered from the force, fragments of glass scattering across the ground.

And beneath the pale glow of the streetlamp, Blake finally saw him clearly.

A human...or not.

His skin was unnaturally pale, almost bloodless, while his eyes were vacant and lifeless. Yet he was moving. Breathing. And very much alive.

Blake couldn’t recognize him, but something about the man unsettled him deeply. There was an eerie wrongness to his presence, something that made every instinct in Blake’s body scream that he was facing something far more dangerous than an ordinary monster.

"What do you want?" Blake asked, his voice controlled despite the tension tightening in his chest.

He tried to understand their motive. Why had they stopped him? Why had they come for him?

He didn’t have an answer.

He barely had time to think.

Genesis had already begun surging through his veins.

His muscles tightened as power coursed through his body, every nerve sharpening as his instincts took over. Blake lowered his stance, readying himself for whatever came next.

If they wanted a fight, he would give them one.

The man moved without warning.

His fist clenched as he drove it toward Blake’s head with frightening speed.

Swish!

Blake slipped past the blow at the last possible moment. As he moved, a blade materialized in his hand, its edge cutting across the ambusher’s chest and leaving a deep gash in his pale flesh.

"...What?"

Blake frowned.

He had expected blood.

There was none.

He knew the blade had cut through the man’s skin. He had felt the resistance of flesh beneath the edge, yet not a single drop of crimson emerged from the wound.

The ambusher slowly turned toward him.

The gash across his chest remained exposed beneath the streetlamp, but it stayed completely dry.

Blake’s expression hardened as an unsettling realization dawned on him.

What he was fighting...

It was a moving corpse

And judging by the man’s vacant expression and complete disregard for the wound, pain was clearly not something he felt.

’This is problematic.’

Clutching the dagger tightly, Blake activated his eyes and settled into a combat stance.

Judgement revealed itself at once.

He saw the ambusher throw another punch, but Blake could already see that the attack was a feint. The man’s true intention lay elsewhere.

The knee.

Blake didn’t bother blocking the incoming punch. Instead, he shifted his weight and raised his leg just as the ambusher drove his knee toward him.

Thunk!

The impact rattled through Blake’s body, but he held his ground.

In the same motion, he drove his dagger straight into the man’s eye.

SQUELCH!

The blade sank deep.

There was no reaction.

The bastard didn’t even flinch.

Blake clicked his tongue and yanked the dagger free, the blade coming loose with a wet sound.

The monster moved again.

It rushed toward him with the same speed and force as before, its expression remaining utterly blank as it charged straight at him.

Blake narrowed his eyes.

The eyes were probably just for show.

Whatever this thing was, it didn’t seem to need them.

Blake’s eyes darted across the monster’s body, searching for the most efficient way to end the fight. Yet despite Judgement’s perception, he couldn’t find a single obvious weakness.

’Nothing.’

He clicked his tongue.

The monster swung a kick toward him. Blake immediately jumped backward, narrowly avoiding the blow before flicking his wrist and hurling his knife straight at the man’s head.

Thunk!

The blade should have pierced his skull.

Instead, the monster raised his arm and intercepted it.

Blake’s eyes narrowed.

There it was.

A reaction.

The creature hadn’t simply ignored the attack this time. It had deliberately protected its head, moving instinctively to stop the knife from reaching it.

For the first time since the fight began, Blake caught a glimpse of something resembling a weakness.

Now he just had to exploit it.

"Gaaaah!"

His eyes widened.

He turned toward the sound and froze.

The other four inhuman creatures had reached the car. His driver, David, was in their grasp, his body being torn apart between them. His limbs had been ripped from his body, blood pouring freely onto the pavement as the creatures discarded him like a broken doll.

"David...ghuk!"

The momentary distraction was all the opening the monster needed.

It lunged.

Blake barely had time to turn before the creature’s fist slammed into his stomach.

Thunk!

The impact folded him over. His abdomen felt as though it had been crushed inward, and the force sent him flying backward.

His body crashed violently against the car.

Thud!

Blake collapsed onto the ground, his vision trembling as he struggled to focus.

The monster began walking toward him.

Blake clutched his stomach, suppressing a groan as agony radiated through his body.

’Fuck...’

His breathing came in ragged bursts.

’Why does this feel...’

His vision blurred for a moment.

’I feel like I’ve experienced this before, too...’

Clutching a jagged piece of glass, Blake steeled himself.

If this was going to be the last exchange, then he would give it everything he had.

The monster took another step toward him.

Then it suddenly stopped.

No.

It hadn’t stopped on its own.

Something had stopped it.

A golden arrow had appeared without warning, piercing straight through the creature’s head.

Thud.

The massive figure swayed for a moment before collapsing onto the pavement.

Dead and gone.

Blake stared in stunned silence, his fingers still wrapped tightly around the shard of glass. His gaze swept across the surroundings, desperately searching for whoever had just intervened.

Then he heard a voice.

"I’m sorry... for being late."

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