Ranobes » Shadow Slave » Chapter 1612: An Audience with the Lord
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Chapter 1612: An Audience with the Lord
Shadow Slave

The interior of the dark temple was drowning in deep shadows, and the enchanted lanterns of the Fire Keepers seemed even weaker in their cold embrace. The light emanating from the luminous Memories flickered, barely able to illuminate a narrow circle around them. In fact, it was not even the shadows themselves… Neph's eyes narrowed when she felt the subtle presence of the being who was hiding in the depths of the hall wash over her like a tidal wave. Suddenly, the darkness around them seemed infinitely more dark, in turn making the light starker. '...Strong.'

While Nephis was peering into the darkness, their silent guide walked to the side and turned around, resting the tip of her sword on the stone floor of the temple. It was as though the onyx devil assumed the position of an entrance guard.

…There was another strange sculpture on the other side of them. This one was at least five meters tall and resembled a four-armed fiend that had escaped from the depths of a fiery hell, his mighty body forged from polished black silver. The infernal troll had long, sharp spikes protruding from his steel carapace, as if he was made from countless shattered swords.

No, not a sculpture.

As the towering fiend moved slightly, the infernal flames burning in his eyes ignited with hungry malice. The Fire Keepers grew tense under the gaze of the menacing giant.

Nephis remained unperturbed.

A moment later, Cassie whispered into her ear:

[It is… it is a Supreme Devil. His body is incredibly durable and almost immune to fire.]

'...Bothersome.'

Killing a Supreme Devil was not impossible, but this one seemed especially tough. Melting him down would be a chore… Of course, there were ways to deal with such turtle-like enemies. It was just that fighting the towering fiend and the onyx devil at the same time would not be convenient. In fact, Nether's daughter felt more dangerous despite being of a lower Rank. In any case, neither of them showed signs of wanting to attack the guests. They just stood motionlessly, as if inviting them to walk deeper into the temple. Nephis passed between the two powerful monsters and did just that. The Fire Keepers followed, looking oppressed by the inhospitable darkness. When they reached the middle of the great hall, she stopped. In front of them… the shadows grew even deeper, and the light of the lanterns simply drowned in them, disappearing without any effect. It seemed that the Lord of Shadows did not wish to be seen. Nephis sighed and looked up. She could feel something enormous moving in the darkness beyond, staring at her from incredible height. At the same time, a chilling sound resounded in the silence of the ancient temple, surrounding her and her warriors from all sides. Like the rustle of countless scales as they scratched against the ancient marble. It was as though a colossal serpent was slithering in the darkness, uncoiling its gargantuan body to raise its long neck and gaze upon them from the darkness.

Not being able to see the giant creature was a little uncomfortable. Luckily, Cassie was there to help Nephis know what she faced:

[A… a Transcendent Terror.]

Nephis frowned.

'How many powerful servants does the master of this temple have?'

She was… amused. Was the Lord of Shadows really independent? How come he had more powerful summons than she had, then? Wasn't it a bit ridiculous?

Granted, the Great Clan Valor did not treat its adopted daughter with nearly as much sincerity as it did Morgan. But still…

It was not the quantity of these monsters that mattered. It was just that Nephis could sense that each of them was far more ferocious and dangerous than any Echo she had seen.

Suddenly, she felt something very unexpected... A hint of sympathy for the Prince of Nothing.

[What about the Lord of Shadows himself?]

Cassie remained silent for a few moments. [I don't sense anyone else. There is nobody there…]

But just as she said that, a cold voice suddenly resounded from the darkness, enveloping the Fire Keepers like a death knell:

"Nephis of Valor… welcome. I did not expect to be visited by someone as exalted as the last daughter of the Immortal Flame."

***

Sitting on a tall throne cut from black marble, Sunny looked down on Nephis and her warriors. His face, hidden behind the polished black wood of Weaver's mask, was impassive. However, a storm of emotions was raging in his heart. Here in his territory, where the Nameless Temple now stood, he was almost omniscient. That was because the Shadow Realm Fragment enveloped a vast area around the Citadel, allowing Sunny to perceive everything, everywhere, all at once. So, he had been watching Saint guide Nephis and the Fire Keepers to the doors of the temple all along. Sunny had thought that he would be ready to face her.

But he had been wrong. Seeing her face, her lustrous silver hair, her beautiful grey eyes, the familiar stubborn resolve shining in their calm depths…

It felt as if he had been struck by lightning.

His heart was beating faster than when he had been facing that Great Demon. Looking at Nephis from the darkness, Sunny remembered all the reasons he had come up with to spare himself the pain of being close to the members of his former cohort.

At that moment, he understood one simple thing. '...I'm doomed.'

Because the moment he saw Nephis, all reason was obliterated.

What was good about being reasonable, anyway? Hadn't he personally preached the benefits of being unreasonable before?

Sunny took a deep breath, and then leaned back, glancing at the huge head of the Soul Serpent hovering high above his throne.

Then, he lingered for a moment and said, keeping his voice calm and devoid of emotions:

"Nephis of Valor, welcome. I did not expect to be visited by someone as exalted as the last daughter of the Immortal Flame."

She stared into the darkness, then bowed slowly. "Greetings, Lord of Shadows. I hope you don't mind being addressed this way… or would you prefer I call you something else?"

Sunny remained silent for a few moments.

Eventually, he answered evenly:

"I would not. But you can call me Shadow."

Shadow Slave
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Comments 10

  1. Offline
    Patchumz
    Patchumz
    + 0 ⋅ 0 -
    I f#cking hope he's better at weaving lies. It was criminal that he was so masterful at making coherent conversation while never telling a lie but an abysmal cartoon character when he wore the mask, as if he had no idea how to have a conversation while dancing around the truth. Look at Mordret, he lies constantly but sounds like a siren.
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  2. Offline
    Andre Boothe
    Andre Boothe
    + 0 ⋅ 2 -
    God dammit is he gonna simp
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  3. Offline
    Dadadai Shukosha
    Dadadai Shukosha
    + 5 ⋅ 0 -
    Sunny Acting School boast
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  4. Offline
    Gerhman_Sparrow23
    Gerhman_Sparrow23
    + 13 ⋅ 0 -
    Sunny gave his all to theatrics oru2x
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  5. Offline
    Guru
    Guru
    + 0 ⋅ 0 -
    Not related to the chp but what if he feeds shackles of hope to fiend
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  6. Offline
    Lord_of_dreams
    Lord_of_dreams
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    1617 Duel of the Saints


    Sunny held his odachi lightly as he watched Nephis take unhurried steps in his direction. The familiar white flames were dancing in her eyes…

    But what was this?

    As he walked, the same sparks ignited in the eyes of the seven Fire Keepers. A moment later, their bodies shone with a soft white radiance, and the bruises and contusions left on them by his restrained blows disappeared without a trace. Expressions of gratitude and relief appeared on their faces, and at the same time, Neph's own face grew colder.

    'Since when can she heal others from a distance?'

    Before he could consider the implications of that unexpected turn of events, her sword left the enchanted scabbard with a quiet murmur. Its mirror-like blade was as black as the night sky, the light of the magical lanterns reflecting in it like distant stars.

    He knew that sword well… or rather, he had known it once.

    The silver blade was a Transcendent Memory of the Seventh Tier Nephis had received after slaying Soul Stealer. It was a mighty weapon, and had been made mightier still by Sunny himself. He had transplanted a Supreme soul shard as one of its nodes, augmenting the fundamental enchantment of the silver blade..

    But now, it was different.

    Sunny frowned behind the mask when he noticed a familiar symbol branded into the mystical steel just above the crossguard. An anvil pierced through by a sword…

    Had one of the forgemasters of the Clan Valor deemed themselves competent enough to improve on his own work? No, they wouldn't have been able to.

    That left only one person, then.

    The King of Swords himself.

    That bastard. Who gave him the right to taint the gift I gave her with his dirty hands?

    Suddenly, Sunny felt displeased.

    And since he did, the shadows drowning the great hall of the Nameless Temple moved, overcome by the same displeasure.

    The Fire Keepers, who had been retreating to give the two Saints space to fight, suddenly paled.

    Nephis sensed the change in the atmosphere, too.

    What is the matter, Lord Shadow? Do you not wish to fight me?

    'Sunny smiled darkly.'

    ...I am a peaceful man. I hate fighting.

    As he said that, he lunged forward without any warning and thrust his odachi at Neph's throat. His sudden attack was violent and ruthless, aimed at slicing open her arteries and severing her spine.

    Of course, Nephis deflected the black odachi easily, taking a sidestep in the opposite direction at the same time. Her movements flowed like a placid river, and yet Sunny instantly felt that he was in mortal danger.

    The silver sword had pushed the blade of the odachi down just a split second ago, but was already flying forward. It was moving at a speed that could not be perceived by the Fire Keepers, and even Sunny struggled to sense its passing. Unable to pull his own sword back in time, he had no choice but to jump back.

    The tip of the silver sword missed his chest by mere centimeters.

    After that first exchange, Sunny and Nephis circled each other for a few moments.

    The, she suddenly spoke:

    "The battle style you used. Only those trained by Valor are masters of it."

    Tilting his head a little, Sunny responded coldly:

    "My esteemed guests have been sent by the King of Swords. It only seemed polite to greet them by using the battle style of his knights."

    The corner of Neph's mouth twitched subtly.

    "Then what style would you have used if we were sent by Song?"

    Sunny raised his odachi and took a step forward.

    "Something like this."

    A moment later, they were upon each other once more, their swords weaving a complicated web of attacks and deflections in the air. Both were moving with astonishing speed, exchanging dozens of blows in a second. The clangor of steel fused into a continuous wail that echoes in the darkness of the solemn hall, followed by a thunderous sonic boom.

    A shockwave spread from the spot where the Lord of Shadows and the radiant Star of Ruin clashed, sending a cloud of dust rushing outward like an opaque sphere. The Fire Keepers reeled and staggered back.

    'This is it… this is it!'

    Straining his Transcendent body to its limit, Sunny was momentarily overcome by the exhilaration of combat. He had missed having someone to spar with, and dueling the Fire Keepers had not satisfied his thirst.

    …Of course, the clash between him and Nephis was much more furious and destructive than the previous fight. After all… he was a Trasncendent Terror, and she was a Transcendent Titan. Neither was using their Aspect to augment themselves, but their power was still terrible enough to devastate their surroundings.

    Luckily, the Nameless Temple was very hard to destroy. It would not have remained standing from the dawn of the Age of Gods to this day otherwise… granted, Sunny had found it in a rather sorry state, and had to perform plenty of repairs to make this ancient Citadel presentable.

    In any case, he wasn't worried that it would be seriously damaged… not unless either Nephis or him decided to unleash their full power.

    'Now… how do I lose without having Nephis realize that I threw the fight…'

    There were two problems.

    First, Nephis was too good of a swordsman, so weaving any kind of pretense in front of her was not easy.

    And secondly… Sunny was having too much fun.

    He didn't want their fight to end so quickly.

    'Shall… shall we make it more interesting, then?'

    Grinning behind the mask, Sunny suddenly shifted his weight and switched to an entirely new technique. The battle style of Clan Valor was sharp, domineering, and fatal. But this new technique… it was flowing, unpredictable, and supremely adaptable.

    It was the battle style taught to Nephis by her family, and then by Nephis to him.

    'There. Finally!'

    The mask of indifference that she wore finally cracked a little, and he could feel her blade waver for a split second.

    That split second was all that Sunny needed.

    Breaking through Neph's defense, he delivered a swift strike. And yet, no matter how swift his attack was, she still managed to compose herself and evade it by disengaging.

    Nephis took a step back, and the tip of the black odachi hissed angrily past her breastplate, separated from the polished white steel by no more than a centimeter.

    She lingered for a moment.

    "...Who taught you that style?"

    Her voice was even, but Sunny knew Nephis well enough to recognize a somber undertone within it.

    He pulled his odachi back and answered in an even tone:

    "Nobody."

    With that, Sunny lunged forward once again.

    1618 Trancendent Battle Art

    What was a battle style?

    Depending on the practitioner, the answer varied.

    At the lowest level, a battle style was nothing more than a comprehensive collection of movements and steps aimed at giving the practitioner sufficient competence to engage in battle. A set of practices meant to encompass all possible combat situations, and arm the warrior with tools to solve them.

    There were countless battle styles, some taught to groups of people, others formed from the personal habits and quirks of talented combatants. Some styles emphasized strength and strived to overpower the opponent, some emphasized speed and precision, some emphasized solid defense and waiting for a perfect moment to counterattack.

    There were solid battle styles created with deep insight, and poor battle styles that were concocted without a real understanding of the fundamental laws of combat.

    But that was only the most shallow layer of a true battle art. A person could practice a battle style without truly understanding its essence, but they would never be able to master it.

    At a higher lever, a battle style was not only a set of movements, but also a formative philosophy. It concerned not only the body, but also the mind. A person who truly mastered a style had to possess a certain level of insight into the governing laws of combat. Knowing why each of the elements had been created and what its purpose was, they were not beholden to a predetermined repertoire of actions. Instead, they could freely improvise an actionable response to each situation..

    If all movements could be improvised, then what was the difference between the various battle styles? It was their philosophy. The school of thought and the dominant intent, a unifying principle that guided the shape and direction of these improvised moves.

    Therefore, even among those practitioners who had mastered both the body and the mind, there were still those who fought with domineering strength, swift precision, patient caution, or any other type of guiding intent.

    These were the true masters of combat.

    Sunny had become one of them — and one of the absolute best among them — a long time ago.

    But now that he was a Saint, a whole new horizon had opened up before him.

    Because there was a third layer above the body and the mind, available only to a few chosen existences.

    It was soul.

    She has changed…

    While clashing with Nephis in a ferocious dance of steel, Sunny couldn't help but feel amazed. She had always been a true genius of the sword, and since he knew her better than anyone, he had expected this fight to be a tough one.

    After all, just like him, Nephis had four long years to perfect her technique. As the vanguard champion of Valor, she had gone through countless battles. She had also come into her Transcendent power, learning to wield it as naturally as she breathed.

    A Saint was a different kind of beast, and the difference between them and their lessers was not only a question of raw power. Sunny had already glimpsed that chasm when he and Nephis fought Dire Fang, but only now that he was a Transcendent himself did he truly understand the reason it existed.

    The further a human walked on the Path of Ascension, the more intricate their control of soul essence became. Masters were already very proficient in using it to deliberately and efficiently augment their bodies in combat, but Saints were capable of elevating these rudimentary essence techniques to a completely new level.

    Therefore, a comprehensive essence technique was an integral part of a truly transcendent battle art. And since each Transcendent warrior possessed a unique Aspect, each essence technique had to be tailor-made for a single user. The difference that mastering such a technique could make was truly striking, and therefore, that alone made Saints vastly more deadly on the battlefield.

    But that was not the end of it.

    Since each transcendent battle art was unique and tailored to a single user, there was an additional step to be taken. And that was to seamlessly incorporate each Aspect Ability into the combat technique, making it truly complete.

    A transcendent battle art demanded the complete integration of body, mind, and soul into a combat technique.

    ...Losing his True Name made it much harder for Sunny to advance in mastering Shadow Dance, so he had been concentrating on developing such a personal transcendent battle art for himself in the past four years. He had already formulated its principles, and was now tempering these principles in battles against powerful opponents.

    And, in the process of it…

    He thought that he might have glimpsed what the next level of mastery was.

    Saints did not exist in and of themselves, as sovereign beings. Their souls were vaster than their bodies, coming into contact with the world and the underlying laws governing it. Some parts of the world welcomed them, while others repelled them. That was why Transcendent beings were able to absorb the spirit essence of the world, as long as they were in their element.

    For Sunny, that element was shadow. For someone like Saint Tyris, it was the sky, or perhaps storm clouds. For someone like Nephis… he couldn't guess. It might have been light, or flame, or something more esoteric, like inspiring longing in the souls of other beings.

    Therefore… he guessed that what came after the body, the mind, and the souls was the world. Incorporating the world itself into one's battle art would probably make it a supreme battle art. That said, Sunny was not sure if it could even be called a battle art, at that point, let alone how to actually achieve something like that.

    In any case, he was voraciously curious to witness and experience the battle styles of other Transcendent warriors. To learn from them, and maybe even gain more understanding about the path to supremacy.

    Which was why fighting Nephis was a boon to him.

    So… he definitely wasn't prolonging their clash simply because he missed her.

    Why would he cut this duel short if humanity's premier sword savant was graciously allowing him to steal her achievements?

    'I see… I see. No, I don't see…'

    Deflecting a barrage of almost instantaneous attacks, and at the same time desperately preventing these attacks from dictating his next moves to avoid the countless traps Nephis constructed for him on the fly, Sunny carefully observed her movements, the flow of her essence, and the form of her shadow.

    Pretty soon, he had to admit something to himself...

    'What the hell has she been doing for the last four years? It's… damn incomprehensible!'
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    1. Offline
      True_alphawolf_gamer
      True_alphawolf_gamer
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      Thats it youre getting kissed
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  7. Offline
    rekicchi
    rekicchi
    + 2 ⋅ 0 -
    no new chaps? sigh
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    1. Offline
      oliloc
      oliloc
      + 4 ⋅ 0 -
      isn't it too early for new chaps?
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      1. Offline
        rekicchi
        rekicchi
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        there are never enough chaps sigh
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