SSS Awakening: I Can Create Skills By Will-Chapter 29: A Sovereign Learns the Weight of Battle

Chapter 29: Chapter 29: A Sovereign Learns the Weight of Battle

The boss roared again and charged.

BOOM!

Its halberd crashed down, releasing a shockwave of corrupted mana, but this time Arthur didn’t stumble. Sovereign’s Domain anchored his intent, steadying him through the pressure.

Intent Step triggered.

And the displacement was clean.

Arthur appeared at the monster’s flank, Execution Intent already flowing. He struck, his blade carving deep into the bone armor.

CRACK!

The sound echoed louder than before.

The armor regenerated slower this time.

The boss staggered.

That alone sent shock through the awakeners.

"It stumbled."

"You saw that, right?"

"It actually stumbled."

Arthur followed through, Manifest Intent firing point blank.

BOOM!

The blast sent the monster skidding backward, bones scattering as it dug its halberd into the floor to stop itself.

Arthur exhaled slowly.

"So you feel it too," he said, eyes steady. "Good."

The boss roared, enraged now, its presence flaring violently as it swung again, faster and heavier than before.

But Arthur met it head on.

Steel clashed with corrupted bone.

KRAAANG!

The impact cracked the ground beneath them. Arthur slid back several steps but didn’t fall. He adjusted instantly, chaining movement and projection, keeping pressure constant.

The awakeners could barely follow the exchange.

"He’s trading blows."

"No, he’s controlling it."

"How is he still doing this?"

Arthur felt it clearly now. The fight had changed.

Not because the boss had weakened drastically.

But because he had expanded.

His intent no longer stopped at his skin. It pressed into the space around him, disrupting the monster’s rhythm, stabilizing his own actions, and pulling the battlefield just a little closer to his side.

He wasn’t invincible.

But he wasn’t alone anymore.

Arthur smirked as he raised his weapon again.

"Alright," he said softly, eyes locked on the skeletal knight. "Let’s finish learning what this can do."

The dungeon trembled.

And for the first time since the battle began, the awakeners believed.

Not hoped.

Believed.

With the shift in power, the fight finally changed its face.

It wasn’t one sided. Not truly. The boss monster was still massive, still dangerous, still wrong in the way abyssal things always were. But now Arthur stood on even ground, and in some ways, just a step higher.

He felt it in the flow.

Execution Intent no longer surged wildly. It moved with purpose, clean and exact, as if the path to killing had been drawn before he even lifted his weapon. Manifest Intent answered faster too, its projection sharper, more obedient, no longer rebounding against him. Even Intent Step felt different. Where before it fought against pressure, now it slid through it, steady and reliable.

Sovereign’s Domain wrapped around all of it.

Arthur moved, and the battlefield moved with him.

The boss swung its halberd in a wide arc, corrupted mana screaming through the air with a heavy WHUMM!, meant to crush and disrupt. Arthur stepped inside the range instead of away from it.

"You’re slow," he said calmly.

Intent Step flickered, not far, just enough.

CRACK!

Execution Intent followed instantly, carving into the monster’s side. The bone armor fractured deeper than before, and when it tried to knit itself back together, it delayed. Just a moment.

And that moment was everything.

Arthur fired Manifest Intent at point blank range.

BOOM!

The impact blew chunks of corrupted bone across the floor. The boss staggered again, its empty sockets burning brighter as it roared in fury.

Arthur smiled.

"Oh, don’t look at me like that," he said, circling. "You’re the one who wanted a real fight."

Each clash taught him something.

When the halberd came down vertically, Arthur learned the timing of the shockwave and stepped just outside it, feeling the pressure scrape past his Domain instead of tearing through him. When the boss tried to disrupt his movement, Arthur leaned harder into Sovereign’s Domain and felt the interference weaken, like static being drowned out by a stronger signal.

He wasn’t rushing anymore.

He was studying.

Every strike from the monster was violent and desperate, but Arthur’s movements were measured. He let attacks pass by inches, punished overextensions, and chipped away at the regeneration layer by layer.

The awakeners noticed it too.

"He’s not panicking anymore."

"He’s... controlling it."

"Is he really fighting an E rank monster like that?"

Nearby, the remaining monsters fell one after another.

Something strange happened among the awakeners as the pressure eased. Their movements grew sharper. Spells flew cleaner. Blades struck with better timing. Maybe it was belief, or maybe it was the Domain brushing past them, steadying their minds just enough.

Whatever it was, it worked.

Laughter broke out between heavy breaths.

"I thought I was done for!"

"Don’t stop now!"

"Kill them all before it gets back up!"

Sweat, blood, and exhaustion mixed with relief as the last of the surrounding monsters were cut down. And with fewer enemies to fight, more eyes turned toward Arthur.

They watched him toy with the boss monster.

He let it charge, then stepped aside and slammed Manifest Intent into its knee. BOOM. He baited a wide swing, slipped under it, and drove Execution Intent into its ribs. CRASH!.

The boss roared louder, angrier.

Arthur chuckled. "You’re running out of ideas."

The skeletal knight’s movements grew heavier. Each attack took more effort, its regeneration slowing as Arthur’s strikes landed deeper and more frequently. Bone cracked, reformed, then cracked again.

Arthur felt it clearly. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

He was winning.

Not by overpowering it outright, but by exhausting it. Bleeding its strength away piece by piece, controlling the pace, deciding when it could breathe and when it couldn’t.

Sovereign’s Domain pulsed softly with every step he took.

"So this is it," Arthur thought. "This is what it means to stand above the field."

The boss seemed to realize it too.

Its roar changed.

It was no longer rage. It was desperation.

The seal behind it began to glow darker, tainted mana pouring out like smoke from a wound. The air turned heavy and sickening, thick with abyssal corruption that crawled across the skin.

Arthur frowned.

"Tch. Of course."