(Chapter 9) Lord of Shadows

A storm was brewing.

The clouds thickened and churned. Then, with loud thunderous roars flashes of lighting struck out from the heavens and demolished entire sections of rock and earth on the towering plateaus inside the Heavens Dungeon. The elements raged on, the winds blasted through the air and dispersed the mists that surrounded the entire landscape.

On a large steel bridge was a child grimly yet firmly stomping his way to the last plateau in the Heavens Dungeon.

“I can’t fucking believe this….” I muttered under my breath

Hahahahaha! I should have guessed, last battle coming up against the final guardian in this shithole and a fucking storm hits me. Would it have been too much to ask to fight under good conditions, some bright light? Maybe some weather that wasn’t’ fucking freezing. I couldn’t even see a damn thing! Stupid fucking wind was bashing against my face!

Maybe it was the Blood Mist, or maybe it was just me being me, but I felt extremely agitated. As soon as I got to this “Last boss” Asshole, I am going to rip his arms off and force them down his throat.

I don’t even give a fuck about my Blood thirst getting out of control, this stupid storm has really killed my mood.

Ah! I could see the next plateau, wonderful. This time there were no annoying stairs to climb either, the steel bridge directly connected the top of the last plateau and this one.

Now let’s get this over with.

As soon as arrived, I could see shadows swirling into the center of the plateau, great. Looks like I’ve got an idiot who likes grand entrances here. Oh look! How shocking! The shadows were forming into a man! I never woulda guessed!

Can I just go back to fighting animals? Clowns like this guy made me so mad….

“Greetings!”

“Welcome to the final plateau of the Heavens Dungeon mortal, it has been many many centuries since someone managed to get here. I remember the last mortal very well, he was a specialist in light magic and had a great advantage over me! I was defeated after a hard battle but since then I’ve gotten much stronger.”

“My name is Shardock, THE LORD OF SHADOWS! You must be very formidable to have defeated The Shadow Guardians, but I am far stronger them them!”

“How interesting! The one who managed to make it here is but just a child! I can smell the scent of both a warrior and animal in you………..How interesting, although you are so tiny your aura is so formidable, what a gigantic presence you have!”

“Are you done talking” I yelled

“I’ve been wet since I got here then beaten bloody countless times! I’ve been Starved and Frozen! Not to mention I briefly went Insane! Now I’ve had to listen to an idiot go on and on about random bullshit that I don’t care about! Do me a favor and die quietly!”

Suddenly it started raining heavily.

“ARRRRRRGH! THAT’S IT! I AM FUCKING DONE WITH THIS PLACE!!!!”

Instantly I charged at the large shadow man. Out of his hands appeared two shadow axes! This guy was probably a berserker type fighter!

Testing the waters, I started with a fast thrust aiming for his head.

The thrust was blocked by the axe in the Shardock’s right hand and with his left, he struck out with a downwards strike!

I narrowly avoided it with a quick dash back but as I looked at the strike colliding with the ground I felt my spirit plummet.

The ground in the vicinity of the axe was shattered and the axe was deeply embedded within it.

“Not good”

If Shardock’s blows were that strong then…..I needed to avoid them at all costs! I couldn’t take a hit like that with my current level of defense so…..Getting hit meant death!

I needed to dodge all his blows, and parrying was now not an option. My spear would most likely break and I would lose my arm.

But I was a martial artist! I had spent hundreds of hours training evasive techniques in my past life, and those techniques were actually the most compatible with this new body!

Not to mention that I had spent the last 2 years constantly battling, my body was conditioned for the movements I wanted to execute. It had also grown sturdy from the constant abuse and I had a greater chance to dodge with my small and thin frame.

-Smash!-

Shardock was charging at me using extremely reckless attacks, there were many openings in his defense but……..He was a shadow creature! So what if I could strike back? Doing so would only put me in a bad position. Since he was a shadow creature unless I could completely rip parts of his body apart, attacking under these conditions was useless!

Especially since the difference in our strength was so huge.

After constantly retreating for a few minutes, I decided to risk it and see what I could do, I ducked under his swing and jabbed at Shardock's body.

Alas, the result was exactly what I had predicted, Shardock was not even fazed and simply kept up his assault!

Why was he charging like this though? Oh! I understand, he means to tire me out and doesn’t know that thanks to my Blood Mist I could recover from my injuries and replenish my mana pool.

As for running out of stamina, due to a quirk of body strengthening magic as long as I had the mana, I wouldn’t feel physically exhausted.

After a few minutes of constantly retreating I decided to use some of my mana on magic.

I began condensing Death-frost in my hand and then after a few seconds….

“Death-frost!”

A large beam of ice magic shot out of my hand and collided with Shardock, he grunted as his shoulder began to freeze and sharp edges protruded from it.

Then...... he chopped of the frozen section of his body with his axe!

Shadows leapt up from the ground and into his shoulder, and in a quick moment….he had completely healed!

This Lord of Shadows could use some sort of….Shadow magic?

“Shadow Arts 4, Shadow Prison!”

Shadows surrounded mw from all sides and slowly formed into…. a cage!

“Hold still and die child”

This prison was dangerous! I had to get out of it quick, I then started recklessly burning through my mana and blasted Death-Frost at the bars of the cage.

Slowly….they were freezing………

Faster!

Shardock had entered the shadow prison behind me and was now in striking range!

With a roar I slammed my body against the frozen bars and crashed through them.

My hands and arms were bleeding from cuts received by the sharp edges of the Death-Frost, but I had narrowly avoided taking a blow from the Lord of Shadows.

This was not good. This guy knew some sort of odd law magic called Shadow magic, if this was true than I had to end this fight quickly before he used any other Shadow Arts.

I had to use my triumph card, Death magic!

“Death Arts 6, Soul Crackle!”

Although I couldn’t sense my soul energy yet, it emerged from within me and a white glowing aura surrounded my hands.

I dropped my spear and began funneling all my mana into my hands…

Ugh…….Not enough!

I was out of mana! I had used a little too much during the battle!

Then I felt my Blood Mist slowly clear………..At the same time, the Death magic was now complete!

-Kiri kiri kiri kiri kiri kiri-

Two balls of white lighting were now in my hands, their offensive power was…..extreme!

My Blood Mist had disappeared….. Probably due to trying to use more mana than I had, it was gone for a while…..

Well it was still okay! All that meant was that I had to end this battle quickly!

It was all or nothing!

I then was pleasantly surprised as I noticed that I had a bit of mana left still… How? Oh, perhaps it was due to the Blood Mist dispersing?

Well, no time to be conservative, I’ll use this all on Body strengthening magic!

Shardock was charging at me again and was only a few meters away from me. In the few seconds it had taken for me to use Soul Crackle, he had tried to take advantage of it and strike me.

Instead of running away though, I charged right at him!

This action momentarily surprised him as I had been running away the entire time. This was my chance!

I struck out with the ball of lighting in my hand aiming for the Shardock’s chest.

But….somehow, he read my attack and was swinging his attack to block it!

The axe and Soul Crackle collided into each other and then……..

The shadow axe was obliterated and pieces of shadow fragments scattered everywhere!

With my other hand, I thrust towards the Chest of Shardock!

“Uuahhhhh!”

Shardock began screaming as his body was tearing apart from the Soul Crackle's lighting!

He had believed that his defense would have been strong enough but in the end he was just an arrogant idiot! If you see unknown magic being used you should be more careful!

He was fighting so recklessly and arrogantly….

It was true that he was very strong, and could probably kill every other creature in this dungeon using his Shadow Arts but in the end he had under-estimated me.

The Shadows dissipated and the floating essence of a man stood there… and slowly said

“Hmm? I am dying….. But I have died before…….I remember………. Perhaps this is all a bad dream kid, in these mists are the souls of the lost........everything is a haze……….a never-ending nightmare …..”

“Maybe for you Shardock. But for me, this place has been a brutal reality.”

“Listen to me! I will take you out of this nightmare! Give your soul to me and trust me!”

“I will bring you to the world outside this shithole! Submit!”

“Ha……submit? How interesting……….Very well kid………Take me out of my………………….nightmare……….”

I leaned forward and grasped the floating essence……I could………….I could sense it! I could sense Shardock’s soul!

I then immediately began the necromancers’ ritual, I bit my thumb and let blood pour onto the essence. The blood mixed into the floating essence, now was the time!

“I invoke upon my right as the Third Prince of the Devil and seek the path to becoming a supreme practitioner of the Death Arts. In blood and soul, I aspire to Death and in Death I will find strength.”

“Shi Ni Naru Genjitsu!”

The essence of Shardock began glowing and then transformed into a small ball of light and entered my body.

I could feel some sort of force tugging on Shardock’s soul but he was resisting the pull. He had done enough! Now it was my turn, with the ritual invoked my soul was now absorbing the soul of the Lord of Shadows!

After a few minutes, the ritual was complete. I suddenly felt extremely strong. My mana pool……..had quadrupled in size!

I could now also sense my soul and its soul energy. Oh? It had some very interesting changes to it……what is this red aura around………….?

“Ack!”

Suddenly I began coughing out blood!

Oh right, the price of using Death Magic without a reinforced soul was very high….

It would take me four months to recover from the repercussions of using Soul Crackle……..

Firstly, I would feel very weak and would not be able to convert my mana into magic at all during the first few days.

Then slowly, bit by bit I would be able to use magic…….the price to pay for using Death Magic was….

I would miss out on four months of complete cultivation! My mana pool wouldn’t get any bigger as the way to cultivate your spiritual energy and thus increase your mana pool was through the extensive use of magic.

This was only just from using Death Art 6, the price of using a stronger death art would most likely be….death!

With Shardock's soul I was able to use death magic now though. When I recovered from my condition I would most likely have enough spiritual energy to effectively use the first 8 Death Arts, then by increasing my mana pool later on, I would slowly unlock the ability to use stronger Death Arts

I was satisfied with the result of the battle! I had finally managed to clear the Heavens Dungeon and I had also absorbed a very powerful soul.

Gheesh, my mana pool had actually quadrupled…..

Far in the distance, on the other side of the Plateau was an archway very similar to the one Death threw me into.

It began glowing softly and a portal formed, it seems as if that’s my exit.

Then I walked towards the Portal and in a jolly mood I entered it.

After many Battles and experiences the Child had defeated all 100 guardians of the Heavens Dungeon, every single battle had been fought with his life at risk and through extreme tenacity he had managed to do the impossible and gain his right to a second life.

As the child walked through the Portal something very strange happened.

The Shadow of the child seemed to swell and flicker……….before quietly returning to normal.

(Lol….<3) ~--Yuzu