Top Ranker's Second Chance: I Am the Lord of Passive Skills

Ace's Shadow shaped the darkness into a bow and fired a plain arrow. As it flew, dark tentacles formed around the shaft and trailed behind until they merged with the arrow. It was seconds from punching through Ace's chest.

Ace raised his hand and caught it. The arrow punched through his palm and stuck there, the tip jutting out the back.

Silence settled. Ace and his Shadow stared at each other.

"You're my Shadow. You were right. I ran from the truth and told myself new passives would change everything. Wrong," Ace said, looking at the arrow through his hand. "This is my punishment."

"You sacrificed your right hand. Sounds genuine," Ace's Shadow said.

Ace nodded. "I lost my dear companions. Now I've lost my main edge. I'll push through, right?"

"Yeah." Ace's Shadow smirked.

The Shadow formed a spear. Ace channeled Ink Armament into his Pack-Hunter Spear and gripped the shaft in his left hand.

Tentacles rose at the Shadow's call. Ace didn't flinch. He wanted a challenge.

Spear low, he charged. The tentacles lashed, but he slipped through and knocked them aside as needed.

You can't use them well in this narrow space. Are you going easy on me?!

Steel met steel. The Shadow wasn't holding back. It parried cleanly, broke his stance, and slashed for his chest.

Ace twisted away and lost ground in the next exchange. He dropped the Pack-Hunter Spear and flipped his Armament into a dagger. Sliding past the spear, he drove for the shoulder and hit.

He pressed the opening and carved two more cuts.

[You have obtained a new passive skill—Ambidexterity (I)]

[Ambidexterity (I): Either hand can lead. Off-hand penalties shrink. Grip, hand, and stance swaps speed up.]

In a blink, his left felt like his right. It felt natural. New angles opened.

The Shadow hadn't seen them yet. Ace slipped the dagger through the shoulder wound, cut in a quick flurry, and buried the blade deep. The right arm went dead.

He formed a new spear and kept the pressure on. The Shadow reeled as Ace drove him back.

Ace widened his crimson eyes and thrust for the head, stopping a hair from the Shadow's brow.

"..."

"You're my Shadow. All you did was help. I don't know the intent behind it, but you've been there to make me face reality. I'm not killing you."

"...Atta boy," the Shadow said after a beat, letting his weapons fall. The darkness bled away.

He slid back to Ace's side and flattened into a true shadow. In his place, a small key appeared. He figured it would be useful in the next room.

[You have defeated and accepted your shadow.]

[You have obtained a key to the Obsidian Heart's Lock.]

[You can now move to the next corridor to reunite with one of your teammates.]

A new system window opened, showing the other corridors. Two pairs were already together: Chaewon with Tyler, Alex with Mercer.

He trusted them. I should team up with Seraphina, then.

He picked Seraphina's corridor, and a new option appeared.

[As a pawn, you can secretly enter Seraphina's Corridor and appear in any location before truly emerging out in front of either of her or her fear.]

Ace accepted. He wasn't the type to leave an edge on the table. First, he drank a potion to heal.

—

He appeared behind Seraphina's fear at a distance and dropped into a corridor of darkness. Ahead stood a woman with two swords, twirling them like batons.

Each sweep threw exploding flames and flaking ash. It wasn't swordsmanship.

Gesta. Why does she sound like the real Gesta? No... only my Shadow spoke; fears only react. Does that mean this is the real Gesta?

Across from Gesta, Seraphina had taken The Immolated Form. Half her body was undead flesh and ashen skin, split by chasms of flame. One horn protruded from her head.

Silent and lethal, she cut through the fire and advanced, but Gesta's blasts still detonated after the cuts and hurled Seraphina back to the start.

Gesta said, "You will never reach me with power that weak. All you have comes from My Lord, and to My Lord, you shall return."

She didn't press to kill. Her approach looked like another plan: wear Seraphina down and take control again. Ace scanned for a way to help.

Then he noticed the dark flames weren't under Gesta's control and didn't seem likely to harm him.

He brushed his hand through them. Cold bled over his skin.

Doable. I can sneak behind Gesta and push her to Seraphina's side. Let's do it.

Ace moved into the dark flames, letting the cold lick his forearms. Spear low, shoulders tight, he shortened his steps.

He matched his footfalls to the noise. When a blast cracked, he advanced; when ash hissed, he held.

The black fire wreathed his legs and drank the scrape of his boots. He skirted the brighter cones, keeping Gesta's back and the glare between them.

Her head never turned. All of her focus stayed on Seraphina and the next detonation.

Step by step, Ace closed the distance. One more angle and he would be at her flank.

Gesta's beauty had turned cruel. Platinum hair fell in a straight sheet over one shoulder; orange eyes burned without warmth. She mirrored Seraphina's voluptuous curves, and the way she stood made them feel like a taunt.

"You're so boring," Gesta said. "I'll spell it out. Anyone who steps into this corridor dies. I'll use you and your vulnerability to kill the ones you hold dear. I'll break you, piece by piece, until you're gone and mine again. My perfect toy."

Ace slipped out of the dark flames at her back. He planted his right foot and drove his heel between her shoulder blades.

Gesta gasped and pitched forward. Her swords flew wide as she hit the floor and rolled.

She skidded, flipped over a shoulder, and tumbled to Seraphina's side.

Seraphina's face was cold, not cruel. Nothing taunted in her eyes; nothing pleaded. She lifted both swords.

Left blade angled low; right blade drew a burning line across Gesta's ribs. Heat seared the cut edges, and ash flaked from her skin.

She shifted her stance and crossed the blades. A rising X opened from hip to shoulder, then a short hook under the collarbone drove her flat.

Gesta tried to raise a sword. Seraphina snapped the weapon aside and set both points on centerline.

Two final slashes, clean and fast, cut through her. Fire took the wounds from within.

Gesta's body buckled. Orange eyes dimmed. She crumbled into ash and bled back into the corridor's darkness.

Her voice lingered. "I'll be back. You can't keep me out. My Lord will take you home." Then even the echo went cold.

Ace stepped to Seraphina and kept his voice low. "You okay?"

"I am," she said, steady. "Cuts only."

He checked the cracks running across the ashen plates and the torn human skin beneath. Heat leaked from the seams. He uncorked an Olivier's vial and ran a thin line across each break.

The mix fizzed, cooled, and sealed the edges. He used a second vial on the deep split at her shoulder. "One more," he said, brushing ash away and checking for fresh seep.

Color returned under the ash. The horned half steadied; the human side stopped bleeding.

"How did you get in here?" Seraphina asked.

"Pawn privilege," Ace said. "I slipped through the dark flames behind her, kept to the noise, then put a heel in her back and sent her to you."

She met his eyes and nodded once. "Good. Still... you could've gone to Chaewon's side instead. Is this okay? I didn't cause you problems?"

Ace smiled, soft and sure. It reached his eyes and held.

Seraphina's shoulders eased; her breath steadied. Heat bled off the cracks, and the tightness around her mouth loosened.

"I believe in Chaewon," Ace said. "She's not alone. Tyler's with her. They'll be fine."

"Mercer's with Alex, too," he added. "Feels like the next part wants duos. I might be wrong since I didn't expect Gesta to be here."

He looked to the spot where Gesta had crumbled. Only ash darkened the floor.

He raised his eyes.

Seraphina's Shadow separated from her heels and climbed her back, then lifted free and took shape behind her. It thickened into her outline and opened its eyes.

It stood close enough to touch her shoulder. Ready to question her.

The Shadow spoke in a plain voice. "Do you deserve to live?"

Seraphina's relief drained. Her eyes leveled. The tightness came back to her jaw.

Ace kept still and let the question sit.

The Shadow didn't raise its voice. "Why you and not them?"

Her fingers tightened on the grips, then eased. Heat flickered once along the horned side and went dim.

"Say it," the Shadow said. "What keeps you here?"

Ace shifted closer, shoulders loose, eyes steady.

He whispered, "Remember that it's your shadow, Seraphina."

He didn't want her to kill it or hate it. He wanted her to see those questions were for her sake.