My Charity System made me too OP-Chapter 323: Climbing the Ranks IV

Across the field stood Vhorrak — a twin-bladed Ant Ascendant with an unnatural stance. His arms flowed like silk, but his presence was jagged. He didn't hold his swords — they hovered around him, orbiting his form like moons bent by gravity.

Roselia's voice echoed from the scrying glyph. "Careful — that one's movements exist in overlapping frames. He attacks between moments. You'll need more than instinct to follow."

Leon exhaled slowly, blood still crusted at his side. "Then good thing I've got more than instinct."

The gong sounded.

Vhorrak disappeared.

The sand where he stood exploded outward. Leon's vision blurred—

CLANG!

One blade hit from the left, the other from behind — but Leon moved. Shell Reverb triggered instantly. His body predicted the moment from faint kinetic traces in the air. He twisted, elbow snapping upward, catching the second blade mid-spin.

[Shell Reverb: Reflection Echo — Executed.]

A short shockwave burst.

Leon's counter missed — Vhorrak's body shimmered again, as if skipping frames. He reappeared five feet away, blades swinging wide.

Leon brought up his arm to block — too late.

Blood flashed across his jaw.

The crowd of Obsidian Ants screeched with praise.

Leon spun, stance now lower, grounded.

Vhorrak raised his hands — and the arena glitched. His image split into three overlays, each performing a different attack in different timelines. They blended into one another — a staggered assault of death.

"Time fracturing…" Leon muttered.

Then stepped into it.

He let one blade stab into his shoulder. He absorbed it.

[Shell Reverb: Absolute Return — Stored 31% kinetic pattern.]

The second blade missed.

The third came in.

Leon moved like a storm compressed into a man. The wound in his shoulder burned — he used it.

BOOM!

He unleashed the stored force as a spinning backfist — the full strength of Vhorrak's own blade returned in reverse. It struck the Ant's mirrored form mid-sequence.

Vhorrak reeled — the split form snapped into one body again, staggering.

But he wasn't finished.

The air froze.

The blades lifted into the air — and began vibrating at such high speed that the edge hummed a tone that hurt to hear.

Vhorrak raised a claw, drawing blood across his chest.

"Collapsing Rhythm: Final Cut."

The two blades combined into one — a compressed, thin wire of cutting force that blinked in and out of visibility.

Leon's pupils narrowed.

"I see…"

Then his body flared.

Destruction Core. Aether Blood. Golden Magic. Shell Reverb.

All fused in a single, ruthless convergence.

The staff appeared in his hand with a flash of spiral light.

"Transcend Strike: Trinity Collapse."

He moved.

Vhorrak's sword unleashed a horizontal death-line — but Leon vanished a split second before it struck.

He reappeared inside Vhorrak's guard.

Staff met chest.

And Shell Reverb: Reclamation Echo triggered.

The last three strikes Leon had failed in previous fights — from Korath, Xa'Roj, even Kragg — reconstructed inside his muscles.

He delivered them all in one perfect chain.

Vhorrak never saw it coming.

The air folded.

A shockwave tore the edge of the arena off.

The Ant collapsed in pieces — not slain, but unconscious, body vibrating uncontrollably from the overload of force returned to him.

[Victory: Challenger Leon]

[Rank 43 Defeated.]

[Shell Reverb Mastery: 76%]

[Aether Blood Resonance: +1. Destruction Core Alignment: +1]

Leon stood over the fallen champion, one arm limp and blood trailing from his mouth. But his eyes burned like gold dipped in memory.

He turned to the gate.

"Next."

Leon exited the battered ring, his steps heavy but controlled. His body was bruised, cuts slow to close despite his Aether-enhanced regeneration. A trail of blood followed him, staining the black obsidian with flickers of gold-tinted crimson.

His team waited just beyond the recovery alcove.

Roselia was the first to rush over, catching his arm. "You idiot. That last clash — your rib nearly pierced your lung."

Leon gave a small grin, teeth streaked red. "Only nearly."

"Stop joking," Roselia snapped, her voice cracking slightly. "You keep walking out of these battles like a ghost."

Milim appeared next, floating upside-down as she inspected him with curious eyes. "That last move—Trinity Collapse—what was that, Leon? You've never done that before."

Leon leaned against the stone, wiping his face. "A gamble. I've been absorbing kinetic patterns from my worst hits… I figured it was time to give them back."

Roman let out a low whistle. "A counter made from trauma. That's cold-blooded."

Naval crossed her arms. "And yet it worked. We're one more rank down. You're cutting through these top fighters faster than any outsider ever recorded."

"But at a cost," Liliana murmured softly, her hands already glowing with gold healing light as she patched his side. "Your core's cracking again. And your mental strain from handling four power systems is rising."

Leon's eyes briefly flickered.

She was right.

Each use of Shell Reverb pushed his nerves toward overstimulation. Aether Blood and Destruction Core weren't meant to coexist—one gave life, the other devoured it. And Gold Magic? It thrummed with divine cadence, resisting control unless his intent remained pure. Only by threading the needle of madness and mastery was he surviving.

And that thread was thinning.

"I'll rest," Leon said at last. "Half a day. Then I'm challenging Rank 42."

"Half a day?" Roselia scoffed. "Try a full one."

"Sixteen hours," Leon bargained, slumping onto the polished black stone and resting his head in Roselia's lap again. "Final offer."

She didn't argue further. She just stroked his hair in silence.

16 Hours Later — Arena Reopens

The runes flared open once more.

A new figure entered the sands opposite Leon.

This one was not tall. Not armored.

But the moment he stepped onto the field… the gravity shifted.

Rank 42: Karnak the Void Stepper

A thin Ant ascendant with a body that shimmered like smoke and metal, eyes blindfolded with a strip of woven light. No weapon. No armor. Just a single mirrored step that left no sound.

Leon stood, posture tight, staff crackling with shelllight and golden veins.

"He has no record of losses," Roman said over the scry. "Even among their own kind, Karnak is a legend. They say his step erases time."

Leon exhaled.

"Good. Then I won't have to hold back."