He vanished.

One moment he was standing ten feet away. The next, he was directly in front of Satou, a blade of pure shadow materializing in his hand.

The dark weapon slashed toward Satou's throat with lethal precision.

Satou's enhanced senses screamed warnings. He twisted his body, the shadow blade missing his neck by millimeters. He could feel the cold radiating from the weapon as it passed, smell the wrongness of it.

His counterattack was immediate. Stone Spit activated, three shards shooting from his mouth at point-blank range, aimed at Vegeta's eyes and throat.

Shadows wrapped around Vegeta's head like a helmet, the stone shards bouncing off harmlessly.

But they'd served their purpose. The momentary distraction gave Satou enough time to activate Earth Manipulation.

The ground beneath Vegeta's feet turned to quicksand. The hero sank ankle-deep before shadows erupted from his body, solidifying into a platform that lifted him back up.

"Clever," Vegeta acknowledged. "But predictable."

He thrust his hand forward. A dozen shadow tendrils shot toward Satou like spears, each one moving independently, attacking from different angles to eliminate escape routes.

Satou's body moved on pure instinct. His Demon Wolf Enhanced Senses tracked every tendril, his Pack Leader's Instinct predicting their trajectories.

He twisted, ducked, rolled, and weaved through the barrage with movements that seemed impossible for his small goblin frame.

One tendril grazed his shoulder, tearing through his leather vest and drawing blood.

Another caught his leg, wrapping around it. Satou slashed down with his claws, now enhanced by his Enhanced Bite skill, and tore through the shadow construct.

"You're fast," Vegeta said, genuine appreciation in his voice. "Faster than you should be for a goblin. Those skills you've stolen are serving you well."

"Stolen?" Satou growled, launching himself forward. "I earned every one of them."

His fist drove toward Vegeta's chest. The hero blocked with a shadow barrier, but Satou's Orc's Might gave him strength beyond what Vegeta expected. The barrier cracked.

Vegeta's eyes widened slightly. He pushed back, creating distance.

"Interesting," Vegeta said. "You're actually making me work for this."

He raised both hands, and the shadows around them responded. From every dark corner, from beneath rubble, from within the smoke itself, darkness gathered. It coalesced into massive constructs, humanoid shapes made of pure shadow that stood fifteen feet tall.

Five of them. Each one radiating malevolent energy.

"Let's see how you handle this," Vegeta said.

The shadow constructs attacked as one.

Massive fists of darkness came crashing down. Satou rolled aside as one impact cratered the ground where he'd been standing

Another construct swung a club-like appendage at his head. He ducked under it, feeling the displaced air ruffle his hair.

But there were too many angles of attack. A third construct caught him with a backhanded strike that sent him flying across the square. He crashed through what remained of a storage building, wood and earth exploding around him.

Satou forced himself up, spitting blood. His Regeneration skill was already working, but it couldn't keep up with this level of damage.

The constructs advanced, their heavy footfalls shaking the ground.

Satou activated Battle Fury. His health was below thirty percent now, triggering the skill's conditions. Power flooded through him, temporary but intense. His strength doubled. His speed increased. The pain faded to a dull ache.

He burst from the rubble like a cannonball.

His enhanced speed let him reach the first construct before it could react.

His claws, amplified by multiple strength skills, tore into the shadow form. Unlike when the regular goblins had tried to fight shadows with physical attacks, Satou's strikes actually damaged them. His combination of skills let him interact with Vegeta's constructs in ways that shouldn't be possible.

The construct shattered, dissolving back into formless darkness.

But the other four were already on him.

A massive shadow fist caught him in the side, cracking ribs despite his enhanced durability.

Satou gasped, blood spraying from his mouth, but he didn't stop. He grabbed the construct's arm and used Earth Manipulation to anchor it to the ground, then tore the limb off entirely.

The construct roared, a sound like wind through a grave, and dissipated.

Three left.

Satou dodged and weaved between attacks, each movement precise despite his injuries. His Night Hunter skill had activated as the sun set, giving him enhanced capabilities in the growing darkness. His Tremor Sense let him feel the constructs' movements through the ground. His Enhanced Smell tracked Vegeta's position even as the hero moved through shadows.

Every skill Satou possessed was firing in perfect coordination, his body pushed to its absolute limits.

He destroyed the third construct with a combination of Stone Spit to its core and a devastating kick amplified by Orc's Might.

The fourth fell when Satou used his Burrowing skill to tunnel under it, emerging behind to strike at its legs before it could turn.

The fifth construct lunged at him with both massive arms. Satou didn't dodge. Instead, he activated Enhanced Bite and Poison Fang together, leaping into the construct's grasp and biting down on what would be its throat.

Venom pumped into shadow. It shouldn't have worked. Poison couldn't affect darkness.

But Satou's skills were adapting, evolving in real-time. The venom spread through the construct like corruption, and it collapsed into nothingness.

Satou landed in a crouch, breathing hard. Battle Fury was wearing off, the temporary boost fading. But all five constructs were gone.

"Impressive," Vegeta said, and for the first time, there was no mockery in his voice. Just honest assessment. "You actually destroyed them all. Most opponents die after facing two."

He walked forward, shadows swirling around him. "But you're running out of stamina. I can see it. Your breathing is labored. Your movements are getting slower. How much longer can you keep this up?"

Satou didn't answer. He couldn't afford to waste breath on words.

They clashed again.

Shadow blade met goblin claws. Each impact sent shockwaves rippling outward, shattering more buildings, cracking more ground. The settlement that had taken weeks to build was being reduced to ruins in minutes of combat.

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