Apocalypse with my SSS Harem Beauties-Chapter 115: The Skill

Samantha stirred awake with a sharp gasp. Her vision swam as she lifted her head, the world spinning in broken fragments. For a moment she thought it was over and it had all ended.

Then a distant explosion rolled through the air.

The ground trembled beneath her, followed by another thunderous impact far away. Heat and smoke drifted across the ruined street and the echo of clashing weapons carried through the distance.

"This... is still happening," she realized.

She forced herself upright and looked around in a daze. Rubble littered the ground. And then she saw them.

Nadine lay motionless several meters away, blood pooling beneath her chest. Victor’s body lay not far from her, his stomach torn open, blood also soaking into the debris beneath him. Neither of them moved.

Samantha’s eyes widened.

"No—"

She tried to rush forward but she felt pain through her arm. Her right arm bent and clearly broken.

She bit down hard to keep from screaming and staggered forward anyway.

"I have to— I have to help..." she muttered, even as her legs shook.

Behind her, someone else groaned.

George stirred and pushed himself up with a strained grunt. Clara woke up soon after, coughing as she rolled onto her side.

Daniel and Kade weren’t far behind, they were waking with pained expressions and battered and bloodied bodies.

They all noticed the same thing which was Samantha limping toward Nadine and Victor.

"Sam—!" George called out, forcing himself to stand despite the pain in his body.

They gathered near her one by one. When they reached Nadine and Victor, the sight stopped them cold.

Wide, brutal wounds tore through Nadine’s chest. Victor’s abdomen was soaked red, his breathing shallow and irregular.

Silence fell over them.

"What’s going on...?" George asked hoarsely once they had all gathered.

"I don’t know," Kade replied, his voice tight. "Everything suddenly went black."

Samantha knelt beside Nadine despite her shaking legs. She pressed her fingers against Nadine’s neck, then Victor’s. Her hands trembled as she checked again, slower this time.

Her face was drained of color.

She looked up at them, eyes wide and fearful.

That expression told them that their conditions weren’t good.

"There’s nothing we can do," Daniel said quietly. His jaw clenched as he turned his gaze away.

George swallowed hard. "Where’s Myles?" he asked. "Is he still fighting that thing?"

No one answered right away. They didn’t know that the monster had already been killed because he had turned into dust.

They all turned toward the horizon and saw thick pillars of smoke rose into the sky in the distance, stained with fire and flickering with strange multicolored light. The distant impact sent rumbles through the air, followed by shockwaves that made the ruins around them shudder.

The battle was still raging.

"He’s still out there," Clara whispered.

She looked around suddenly. "Where’s Ryan?"

The others scanned the area with panic creeping into their expressions.

They couldn’t see Ryan anywhere.

Instead, they spotted another body.

"Ethan!" Clara shouted.

She ran to him and dropped to her knees, ignoring the pain, pressing her fingers to his neck.

A tense second passed.

"He’s alive," she said quickly. "His pulse is weak but he’s breathing."

A collective sigh of relief escaped them.

But it didn’t last long.

BOOM!

Another distant explosion shook the area followed by a roar that didn’t sound entirely human.

Samantha clenched her good hand into a fist.

"This isn’t over," she said softly, fear in her voice.

—

Far away, at the heart of the ruined city, the battle only grew more violent.

Myles was just moving and sliding through the smoke like a calamity with red, blue, green, and black Ether churning around his body in thick waves. It no longer resembles mist. It clung to him like a thick ink, dragged along by his movement and erupting everywhere with every step he took.

Ryan was being driven back. His legs skidded across shattered asphalt as he blocked another savage assault.

The crystal spear trembled in his grip as Fangblade and Noctiryx dagger crashed against it from every side. The impacts sent cracks racing through the ground beneath his feet.

CLANG!

Ryan deflected one strike, twisted his spear, and countered—

Only for a fireball to detonate against his shoulder at point-blank range.

Flames swallowed half his body but his face was still calm as if he didn’t feel anything despite all the burn.

He slid backward, carving a trench through the street. His armor was now fully charred and smoking.

Myles didn’t stop. With another rageful snarl he surged forward again with feral and relentless movements.

Multicolored Ether screaming as the Fangblade cut down in a brutal arc. The Noctiryx dagger followed immediately after, stabbing for gaps ruthlessly.

Ryan blocked, retreated, blocked again. But he was clearly losing ground.

Inside him, the entity’s agitation spiked.

"This is wrong. I should not be overwhelmed by this vessel."

Another impact struck Ryan square in the chest and sent him crashing through a collapsed building. Stone and metal rained down as his body tore through the structure and slammed into the street beyond.

He rolled then forced himself upright.

Smoke rose from his body. Burns covered his skin. Regeneration struggled to keep pace.

Then the world changed.

The shadows beneath Ryan’s feet suddenly moved.

They stretched unnaturally, peeling away from rubble and broken walls, flowing like liquid darkness across the ground. In the next instant, they surged upward.

Black tendrils erupted from the shadows and wrapped around Ryan’s legs, arms, and torso. They tightened violently like tentacles and dragged him to a stop.

Ryan’s eyes widened.

"What—?!" he gasped, his body locking in place.

The shadows coiled tighter, pinning his limbs and anchoring him to the ground like chains forged from darkness.

The entity inside him froze.

"This is... Shadow Bind...?!"

Shock rippled through her consciousness.

"Impossible. This skill does not belong to mortals."

Myles stood several meters away, his chest heaving, his eyes drowned in darkness. The multicolored Ether around him surged violently as the shadows responded to his presence.

He hadn’t even thought about using the skill but the skill just answered his instinct.

The entity’s disbelief turned sharp and cold.

"This skill originates from a high-level being. A true being from a higher realm. Not a system-granted imitation."

Her focus snapped back to Myles.

"How does he have it?!"

The shadows constricted again, cracking the ground beneath Ryan’s feet. His muscles screamed as he strained against the bind, veins bulging beneath his skin. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Myles took a step forward as the shadows dragged Ryan lower, forcing him to one knee.

The entity’s pride shuddered.

The Ether around Myles roared louder, reacting to his killing intent.

—