SSS-Rank Extra: I Got a Chaos System-Chapter 42: The Abyssal Binding
He took a first step into the main hall.
Then—the twin energy beams fluctuated violently.
The dark pillar suddenly shot up—a sudden shockwave rippling outward as if the void itself had lashed out. It struck Kazuki in the chest like a battering ram. Air fled his lungs in a gasp as he was flung backward, boots scraping across scorched stone until his back hit a jagged wall.
He gritted his teeth. A second too slow and he would’ve been impaled on one of the broken support spires still jutting from the floor.
The moment he moved to stand—
Another wave.
Black wisps spiraled out from the center of the hall. They wove through the air with purpose, crashing into him like coiled whips
Kazuki braced—arms up, body low—but it didn’t matter.
The moment he crossed the invisible threshold toward the Seal, the air turned solid with resistance. It felt like walking into a storm.
He took a step forward. Then another.
A few steps in, and the resistance doubled. Tripled.
The air pressed on him from every angle, like the atmosphere itself had turned into a wall of crushing force. Kazuki’s boots scraped the stone he was being dragged. The ground beneath him groaned as if protesting his presence. His knees buckled.
It was like trying to walk through a storm made of invisible hands, all of them trying to turn him away.
His muscles screamed. His ribs ached with every breath. And still he pushed forward, breath hitching, veins pulsing against his skin from the sheer pressure.
[Skill: Survivor’s Reflex (Passive)(E) — Active]
A pulse surged through Kazuki’s limbs. The system’s whisper rang like a match struck in darkness—faint.
His awareness sharpened. Muscles adjusted, lungs shortened their intake just enough to reduce strain.
A flicker of instinct kicked in.
Another whip of darkness kicked in.
A flicker of instinct lit up like wildfire through Kazuki’s nerves. He twisted, dropped low, and moved just in time to dodge it. The black tendril screamed past his face, close enough to burn the air.
He staggered a few steps back.
Not enough.
[Skill: Feathered Footwork (D) — Activated]
A surge of mana coursed through Kazuki’s veins, threading through his muscles like lightning made liquid. His feet danced across the scorched stone, lighter, quicker. He pushed forward—another step, then another.
Each inch closer brought the air down on him fourfold, crushing and relentless.
Just as his footing nearly faltered, the twin beams above him flared wildly. The abyssal energy surged—but then the beam of starlight pulsed brighter, brighter still—
And exploded downward.
A torrent of radiance slammed into the dark pillar at the center, pushing the abyssal column back like a divine lance. The clash of forces erupted in a shockwave of light and shadow, sending cracks spiderwebbing through the marble floor. The dark tendrils recoiled, shrieking and unraveling.
Then—the sound.
A horrible, inhuman wail tore through the temple.
The dark beam pulsed again—twisting, convulsing—and for a moment, it pushed.
The radiant starlight faltered, shoved just an inch off course. That inch felt like the tilt of a dying world.
This is it. Kazuki thought.
The equilibrium was breaking.
But so was the pressure. The crushing weight pinning his body down lifted—just slightly, just enough. The abyss was focused now, locked in battle with the starlight, and in that breath between chaos and collapse—
Kazuki moved.
[Skill: Brute Strength! (E) — Activated]
[Skill: Brute Strength! (E) — Activated]
[Skill: Brute Strength! (E) — Activated]
He spammed it. Again. Again. Again.
A volcanic surge of power exploded through his limbs, every fiber of muscle ballooning with raw force. His legs trembled, veins bulging like overdrawn wires. Pain lanced through his thighs, hips, calves—but he didn’t stop.
Couldn’t stop.
This was the moment he might never see again.
He launched forward.
Stone cracked under his boots. The air rippled behind him in his wake. His bones felt like they might splinter from the sheer tension in his frame, but he surged ahead like a cannonball fired straight into the heart of the storm.
Ten meters.
Five. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂
The horrible scream rang out again.
A voice forged from agony, ancient hatred.
It scraped against Kazuki’s mind like a serrated knife dragged across bone. It clawed at his soul, ripping at the very essence of who he was.
His vision blurred.
The world tilted.
A notification flared across his sight, glitching at the edges like a corrupted file:
[Warning: Soul Damage Taken]
[Critical Soul Integrity — Structural Fracture Detected]
Kazuki’s breath hitched.
It wasn’t pain he could grit through. This was colder than pain, sharper than any wound. It hollowed him. He could feel pieces of himself slipping—memories fraying, instincts buckling under the weight of an unseen force gnawing on his very being.
And yet.
He moved forward.
Three steps. Stumbling, half-dragging himself, the world spinning sideways—but forward all the same.
Now only two meters remained between him and the Seal. Two meters of screaming winds, thrashing tendrils, and a cosmic collision unraveling time itself.
A hand reached toward him from the abyss—a malformed claw of bone and writhing black sinew. It tore free from the darkness like a nightmare uncoiled.
Kazuki didn’t flinch.
System flickered—lines of text scrambling across his vision like static-laced screams.
[SEALING CONSTRUCT PROTOCOL: FORCED INITIATION]
[SOUL-LINK UNSTABLE — HOST SIGNATURE ERROR]
[ANCHOR PENDING... PENDING...]
Suddenly—his hand moved.
Shot forward on instinct. His palm slammed against the obsidian block.
A jolt of power surged through his arm—like liquid lightning laced with fire.
Thousands of glyphs ignited in a flash across the block. Runes etched in time itself began to whirl, shifting in dizzying fractal patterns that no mortal eye could comprehend.
The symbols spun faster. Lines of logic threaded themselves into the air, drawing circuits that hovered and burned like starlight suspended on spider silk. Runes coiled in rings, stacking in an ascending spiral around Kazuki’s arm.
It hurt.
The claw lunged—razor-like digits stretched wide, ready to shred him apart.
But before it could strike—
A lance of starlight arced down.
It crashed into the claw mid-swing, slicing across it with celestial fire. The malformed limb recoiled instantly, writhing as the light burned deep.
Kazuki didn’t even have time to process the near-death.
Because in the very next instant—
It felt like a plane crashed into him.
The impact came from within.
His body seized, and the world vanished beneath a flood of raw, pulsing energy. His knees buckled as a weight ten times heavier than before crashed down upon him from the inside, as if the seal had cracked open the dam holding back the essence.
His vision flickered. The system pinged—frantic and cold:
[SEALING CONSTRUCT PHASE 1: COMPLETE]
[SEAL NODE: STABILIZED]
[Mana Consumption: 40% — Core Containment Protocols Engaged]
[Three Containment Nodes Remaining]
[WARNING: Host Mana Reserves Below Safe Threshold]
[Advised Action: Withdraw—]
[—Override: Cannot Withdraw While Seal Incomplete]
The claw plunged down, defiant against the celestial pressure, fighting with every fiber of its malformed existence.
It resisted, grinding against the seal’s force as if trying to tear its way back into the world—into him.
The air around Kazuki bent inward, heatless and cold all at once.
Then—
[System Notification: SECOND CONTAINMENT NODE — PARTIALLY STABILIZED]
[Mana Consumption: 20%]
[Node Status: INCOMPLETE — Additional Input Required]
[Remaining Mana Pools: 0% / 0% / 0%]
Kazuki’s breath caught.
He was dry. Bone dry.
The claw scraped against his skin. Kazuki barely twisted away in time. Not enough.
The jagged gash opened across his side.
Kazuki stumbled, and his breath caught as pain lanced up his ribs. The wound wept freely, but what leaked out wasn’t just his own blood—it was tainted. The claw had torn something deeper than flesh.
A dark ichor oozed from the edges, slick and pulsing, mixing with his crimson. It steamed where it touched the floor—his blood and its blood, fusing into something that didn’t belong to either.
The system glitched again, frame by frame stuttering in his vision.
[Warning: Foreign Essence Detected]
[Blood Contamination Level: 8% ... 12% ... 19%]
[Internal Resistance Activated — Insufficient]
The system flickered again, another frantic notification cascading across his vision.
[Death Scenario Occurrence — Immediate Action Required]
[Blood Contamination Level: 30% ... 40% ...]
[Soul Integrity: 65%]
[Advised Action: Use —> [Core of Malice] Rare]
[Activation Available — Limited Use]\
Kazuki’s hand trembled as the Core of Malice materialized in his palm. It pulsed with a cold, dark energy that made his fingers burn as if he were holding a live wire—writhing, contorting, like a serpent ready to strike.
Mana swirled, but it wasn’t just mana. No, it was darker. The Core of Malice absorbed his energy, fusing with his own inner turmoil, pushing him past the point of no return.
Dark tendrils of energy spiraled around his arm, licking at his skin, coiling through his fingers as though they were alive.
His very soul screamed in protest, but he clenched his jaw, ignoring the distortion building inside him. This was the only way.
The system pinged again.
[Node 2: Completed]
A surge of light erupted from the Seal. The dark claw that had been relentlessly fighting against him recoiled, slamming back into the shadowy depths from which it came, as if forced by an unseen force.
Kazuki’s body, now a vessel of both light and darkness, barely held together under the strain. His ribs creaked. His vision flickered in and out of focus.
[Node 3: Completed]
The Core’s dark energy intensified, pulsing with the rhythm of Kazuki’s desperate heartbeat. The very air in the temple cracked under the pressure.
The Seal shuddered once more, and the dark mirage—like a lingering shadow of something far worse—vanished.
And then, the impossible happened.
The final Seal clicked into place.
[Final Seal Completed]
