SSS Rank Sword Mage: Awakening Starts with Weakest Mana Affinity-Chapter 121: THE BRAINS BEHIND THE TERROR.

"It’s... it’s really over," I whispered.

My knees gave out. I collapsed into the dirt as the adrenaline drained from my body so suddenly it felt like my blood had turned to lead.

"It’s over now," Tobias said at last. He released a long, shuddering breath, the weight of the day finally lifting as the final traces of Bagu vanished into Vhaegon. Behind him, Greyjoy and the others looked as though they had aged ten years in a single afternoon.

"Brother!"

Morad burst from cover, forgetting every instruction to stay hidden as he ran toward us. No one stopped him. No one even cared. We were too exhausted to focus on anything else.

Taz lifted Morgana into his arms. His absolute blade, Vhaegon, was finally silent—calm and heavy, no longer thrumming with the predatory need to judge. He looked down at the elf, his stoic expression fracturing for the first time. "Morgana... what did you do, exactly? It’s almost as if you’re going to di—" He stopped himself, the words dying in his throat. He refused to finish the sentence, as if speaking the truth would allow the sword to claim her soul as well.

The so-called god was trapped in a piece of wood with no one left to terrify. This was the moment we could finally close this horrific Chapter.

I stood there, my mind finally beginning to clear of the immediate terror. As the ringing in my ears faded, the pieces of the puzzle began to click into place. My System hadn’t been activating because of the Koi Pendant. I gripped the jade charm tightly; it felt like a lead weight against my chest.

If I remove it, that monstrosity from the other side might wake up. But it had followed me into Derrick’s realm—what were the conditions of its tether to me? If I took the pendant off here, in this world, I would be hunted by that shadow, but the System would finally function. Would the System give me the power I needed to defeat the monster, or was the jade the only thing keeping me from being erased entirely?

As the minutes passed, the heavy silence was replaced by something just as ugly: Meaningless politics. Human nature always defaulted to greed once the threat of death was gone.

The mages of Aetherhall were already clustering behind Lord Zedd, their eyes fixed on the Woodsteel log with a hunger that turned my stomach.

"Don’t you think this is clearly Manyblood’s decision to make?" Tobias stepped in, his voice dropping to a glacial temperature. "You mages of Aetherhall were tasked with killing the beast, not claiming the spoils. The object is far safer in our custody."

Bratan, still receiving treatment but sniffing an opportunity for power, snarled. "Manyblood’s true colors are finally showing! We’re taking that path-animal back to Aetherhall by any means necessary!"

Father held me tightly. I could feel the frantic thrum of his heartbeat; he hated the direction this was heading. Sensing the tension, Tobias looked toward Greyjoy, who had seemed bored until Tobias leaned in with an offer. "If you protect that object, Greyjoy, I will grant you two completed deeds. High-tier. No questions asked."

Greyjoy’s eyes sharpened instantly, and he stepped to Tobias’s side. "A deal’s a deal. The log stays with Manyblood."

"The beast was born of Aetherhall territory," Lord Zedd remarked, his voice low with warning. "It makes no sense for it to remain with you. Why are you so hell-bent on this, Tobias?"

Taz, still cradling the dying Morgana, didn’t even look up. "What about the lives lost? On whose conscience do they rest—Aetherhall or Manyblood? Who pays the debt for the dead?"

Lord Zedd fell silent. It was a question with no easy answer.

"Why don’t we both take it to the Order?" Father interjected, desperate for middle ground. "Then neither side holds power over the other."

"Mr. Vulgarbread," Bratan sneered, "with all due respect, that’s a stupid idea. Aetherhall will never trust the Order with a prize like this."

Suddenly, Greyjoy’s mana-snake hissed violently. It wasn’t looking at the mages; its hood was flared toward the dense foliage of the treeline.

"Who are you? Show yourself!" Greyjoy demanded, his hand hovering over his weapon. We all froze, staring into the thick, unnatural shadows of the woods.

A branch creaked. A small, white goat stepped out into the clearing, looking remarkably bored as it chewed on a clump of ashen grass. Behind it, a figure leaned against a gnarled trunk, cloaked in shadows that felt heavier and darker than the night itself.

"My, my," the voice drifted toward us, smooth and mocking. "Arguing over the cage when you haven’t even noticed that the lock is already breaking."

Whenever I had seen a goat in this world, it was never a good sign; they were harbingers of something ancient and hungry. I hugged Father’s cloak tightly, my chest aching with a dull, thumping rhythm. Not another problem. Please, I just want a mental break.

Taz, his single functioning eye narrowing, looked up at the branch. "So," he rasped, his voice devoid of surprise. "You’re the ’Goatman’?"

He handed Morgana over to Greyjoy, who winced under the sudden, limp weight of the elf. Taz stood slowly, his hand returning to the hilt of Vhaegon, though the blade remained sheathed.

The figure didn’t leave the darkness of the canopy, but two pinpricks of light ignited where his eyes should be, glowing down on us with a predatory curiosity.

"Taz... you look ready for another battle," the stranger said, his tone conversational, almost friendly. "It was a close call, don’t you think? I told that fool Bagu you would be a challenge, but he was just as arrogant as you are. I hope you enjoyed my gift?"

Tobias stepped forward, his informational tome manifesting beside him, pages fluttering in a frantic search for data. "You there! You look like trouble. State your name and affiliation immediately so we don’t have to treat you as an agent of a hostile kingdom!"

Taz didn’t even turn around. He reached out and gently nudged Tobias backward, his voice a low, warning hum. "Tobi... don’t take this the wrong way, but sometimes you behave like a complete idiot."

I looked at Taz’s hand. It was white-knuckled, his grip on Vhaegon’s hilt so tight the bandages were starting to fray. He wasn’t just ready for a fight; he was terrified.

The goat gave another dry, mocking bleat. "Merh..."

"Unfortunately," the Goatman continued, his voice dripping with faux-sincerity, "I was strictly instructed to avoid a confrontation. I didn’t come here to trade blows with the likes of you. I only came to erase the evidence."

In the blink of an eye, Taz moved. He blitzed toward the Woodsteel log, a streak of obsidian light aiming to protect the seal. But the goat—that tiny, unassuming animal—mutated in a heartbeat. It swelled into a hulking, chimeric beast of bone and fur, its jaw unhinging to reveal rows of jagged, serrated teeth. With a sickening metallic clank, the beast clamped its teeth onto Taz’s blade mid-swing, stopping the Sword Mage’s momentum dead.

But even that grotesque mutation wasn’t enough to halt Taz.

As he strained against the beast’s jaws, a pitch-black, circular shadow materialized beneath his boots, anchoring him to the spot like a pool of sentient tar. The sheer output of force Taz exuded was staggering; even with the shadow-bind straining and the massive goat-monster digging its hooves in, Taz continued to drive forward, forcing the beast back inch by agonizing inch. The ground beneath them groaned, unable to support the collision of such immense physical and metaphysical pressures.

The Goatman remained leaning against the tree, his posture infuriatingly relaxed. He watched the titanic struggle between Taz and the beast as if he were observing a minor bureaucratic delay rather than a clash of gods.

"I mean you no harm, seriously," the Goatman repeated, his voice smooth and untroubled. "I just want to get rid of the sword. Can’t I at least get that done? You’ve had your fun, Taz; now step aside and let a professional work." 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

"I won’t let you touch that blade!" Taz roared back.

Every mage in the clearing went on guard, the air growing thick with killing intent once more. Yet, despite the violence, this Goatman exuded a strangely cultured, civilized demeanor—as if he followed some bizarre, ethical standard for mass murder.

"Trust me, Taz," the man replied, his yellow, draconic eyes glinting beneath sharp, curved horns. "If we truly fight, both of us die. Let’s not be dramatic."

In a blur of movement, he was no longer by the tree. He stood beside the Woodsteel log, his hands clapping together with a sharp, echoing crack. He began chanting in a language that sounded like grinding stones and static—sounds no human throat was meant to produce.

Lord Zedd was the quickest to react, lunging forward with his staff to break the incantation. But the mutated goat-beast performed a horrifying feat: it split into two identical monsters. While one kept its jaws locked onto Taz’s blade, the second blocked Zedd with a casual, brutal swipe, knocking the high-mage backward and leaving him out cold.

The Goatman ignored the chaos, looking down at the log containing Bagu’s muffled screams.

"Ah, Bagu... you overconfident fool," he sighed. "Hasn’t Master told you many times? Don’t try to play God. Gods simply... don’t exist. They are just stories for the weak."

He placed a hand on the wood, his palm glowing with a void-like darkness. "We are done with you now. The experiment has failed. Goodbye, trash."

A vacuum snapped open in the air—a swirling, hungry rift that began to suck the surrounding reality into its maw with terrifying force. The Goatman waved a hand dismissively, and in a flicker of displacement, he and his mutated beast vanished into thin air. The vacuum intensified, clawing at the Woodsteel log, but then I felt it—a sensation that defied physics.

Everyone realized it at the same time. The force pulling me toward the rift wasn’t coming from the void itself. It was a push.

"Father!" I yelled, but it was too late. His grip had delayed by a fraction of a second, and in that moment, I was loose.

"Wow, Bagu... you really are petty," the Goatman’s laughter echoed from the fading ripples of his exit. "Master Drogan will definitely have a laugh at this."

It all became clear. The force was coming from Bagu’s phantom half, which was still tied to the sword inside the log. Bagu’s voice exploded from the wood, distorted and manic. "Trash, huh? You made my blood boil, Ghotti!" he shrieked, directed at the vanished Goatman, his voice dripping with petty malice. "If I am going to hell, Mr. Vulgarbread—you breaker of domains—I am taking your prized possession! This shall be your punishment!"

The vacuum gripped me. I was being taken.

"Astraga!" Father screamed, his hand outstretched, catching only the empty air I had occupied a millisecond before.

I clawed at the ground, my nails tearing and bleeding as I was dragged—or pushed—toward the abyss. I didn’t give a damn about the physics of it; I just didn’t want to go. Taz lunged for me, his face a mask of desperation, but the Goatman’s lingering shadow spell manifested one last time, shackling everyone’s movement.

Master Drogan? That same name again. The architect of this nightmare.

The log-sword was swallowed into the vacuum first, and I was yanked in right after it. I plummeted into an abyss of absolute nothingness. I was falling, and falling, and falling. The only sound left was the fading, hysterical laughter of the dragon.

"Blame your master, boy! Don’t you hate me?" Bagu chuckled as we plummeted. "Suffer with me!"

So this is it? I thought as the darkness took me. This is where I die... again?

In a final, desperate act of defiance, I felt the Koi Pendant glowing against my chest. Fuck it. I reached up and yanked the jade fish from my neck, snapping the cord. If the monstrosity came for me, so be it—let me see that goddamn System one last time.

For a heartbeat, nothing happened. I was just a boy falling in the dark. But then, a familiar chime rang inside my skull, and the translucent screen flared to life, burning through the absolute black.

[LOADING...]

Checking for Hindrance... [REMOVED]

Goal: Manual Override? [YES]

Check Complete: SUCCESSFUL.

Process Begins...

[AWAKENING: STARTS WITH THE WEAKEST MANA AFFINITY ACTIVATED]

Requesting Genesis for Instant Transportation... Request GRANTED by Genesis...

Author’s Note: I hope you’re all enjoying the story so far! I want to sincerely apologize for the irregular posting schedule lately; I’ve been navigating some personal issues that have kept me away from my desk.

Please note that there will be a temporary shift in the writing style moving forward. While most of the story has been told in the first person, I will be transitioning to the third person for the upcoming Chapters