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Chapter 2120: Godslayer
Shadow Slave

The shadow of Condemnation had not been destroyed, but it was currently vulnerable. And while Sunny and the ruthless slayer of the Shadow Realm were both in quite a sorry state, they were also both positioned perfectly to deal the weakened deity a fatal blow.

Well, Sunny was alive. The mysterious shadow was dead, but... refusing to depart.

In any case, either of them could kill the shadow of Condemnation. The only question was who would strike first.

So, Sunny rushed forward without wasting any time. Or he tried to, at least… sadly, his body was damaged quite severely, so the best he could manage was limping forward with urgent haste.

'Ah, it hurts…'

That was what he would have thought in any other circumstances. But currently, there was only one thought in his mind:

'Kill it, kill it… I must kill it first!'

Smiling darkly, Sunny limped toward the whirlwind of black dust while gripping the splinter of the ivory fang tightly. Far away, the mysterious archer had finally managed to settle their form and rose from the ground, ignoring the harrowing wound on their thigh entirely.

'Crap.'

Sunny could feel the chilling gaze of the archer shift, landing on him first, and then moving on to the shadow of Condemnation.

'Crap!'

Gritting his teeth, Sunny commanded the shadows to manifest into dark wings behind him… however, just then, the will of the murderous archer slammed into the world, forcing the shadows to cower in fear.

"You damn traitors!"

Cursing loudly, Sunny broke into a sprint.

The archer was moving, as well…

But he was faster.

Sunny had come to his senses first, and so, he reached the shadow of Condemnation first.

Leaping into the air, he plunged into the whirlwind of black dust. For a moment, the familiar alien force pulled at his mind, body, and soul, trying to absorb them — but it was much weaker now, so he simply ignored it.

A moment later...

He stabbed his ivory blade into the very heart of the dark whirlwind, where a perfect sphere was slowly forming from the shard of shattered bone.

A mundane blade might not have been able to hurt the intangible force that was Condemnation.

But Sunny was using the fang of a Soul Serpent, and of an unfathomably powerful one, at that. Soul Serpents were conduits of Death, and Sunny was its heir… so, he sharpened his will into infinitely cold killing intent, and channeled that intent into the splinter of the ancient bone, willing it to deliver death and destruction to the shadow of the dead god.

It seemed to have worked.

When the ivory blade pierced the heart of Condemnation…

Sunny sensed an imperceptible ripple spread through the world.

And then, he felt something ancient and indescribably vast break apart.

And then, he felt nothing but hollow emptiness take its place.

The whirlwind of wind was suddenly torn apart, and the black dust settled.

The shards of bone fell to the ground.

Sunny fell, too.

The splinter of the ivory fang had shattered, leaving only a small piece of bone in his fist.

But…

As he fell, his eyes widened, and a nearly inexhaustible torrent of shadow fragments — far greater than anything he had ever experienced before — flooded his soul.

It was both exhilarating and terrifying.

He could feel his shadow cores, which had been damaged somewhat by the Shadow Realm, being replenished and rebuilt to how they were before.

And it did not stop there.

The raging torrent of shadow fragments filled his soul, saturating it…

And deep within its dark depths, the seventh, final core had finally come to fruition, igniting with lightless splendor.

Falling onto the dune of black dust, Sunny rolled down its slope and let out a short, panicking laugh.

'Crap, crap, crap…'

In the next moment, the familiar agony of a new shadow core being formed sundered his mind, making Sunny scream and convulse.

This time, there was no soothing voice of the Spell to accompany him through the process. He had not woven corresponding words into the Handy Bracelet, so the bracelet was silent, as well.

In fact, it had not even announced the slaying of the shadow of Condemnation — probably because it had no idea what to do when Sunny destroyed shadows, which were not technically alive, and therefore couldn't be killed.

'G—g… get a… get a grip, you idiot!'

Sunny struggled through the pain, trying to regain awareness of his surroundings.

Replenishing the spent fragments was a good thing. Finally forming the seventh core and becoming a Titan was simply splendid. That was why he had come to the Realm of Death, after all.

But he had really chosen a terribly unfortunate moment to accomplish this wonderful feat.

Because…

Just as Sunny tried to stand up, a merciless hand gripped his neck and roughly pulled him up.

'Crap!'

The shadow archer was still alive.

…And full of fury, it seemed, glaring at Sunny through the wisps of ghostly smoke with chilling malice.

Half-paralyzed by the dreadful pain of his soul being torn apart by the emerging shadow core, and his very being changing, Sunny shifted his weight and kicked the archer with as much strength as he could muster.

For a moment, he felt like his neck would break, but it slipped from the enemy's iron grip instead. Sunny was pushed away and fell on the black dust, rolling further down the slope of the dune.

The archer pursued.

Crashing into a towering rib of a dead Soul Serpent at the foot of the hill, Sunny groaned weakly and tried to crawl away.

"Aaargh!"

Damn! Why did it hurt so much!

The archer caught him after a few moments. Sunny rolled, avoiding the foot that would have crushed his skull otherwise, and raised his arms to defend himself. A devastating blow descended upon him, almost caving his ribcage in, and a moment later, a harrowing kick sent him flying into the air.

Sunny landed in a heap and rolled a couple of times, coming face to face with the human skull he had noticed earlier.

The skull stared at him with gaping black holes of its empty eye sockets, making Sunny shiver.

Would his own skull be left laying here, forlorn and forgotten, as well?

Rolling onto his back, he rose a little and caught the archer's foot, which had almost reached his head by then.

No… considering how vicious this bastard was, there was no chance in hell that his skull would be left intact.

Sunny had saved his head from being kicked straight off his shoulders, but in the next moment, he was punched in the face instead.

Flying back, Sunny crashed into the spine of a dead Soul Serpent and fell to his knees. His vision was blurred, and he tasted blood on his tongue.

'I'm actually bleeding… wow…'

He was practically drowning in blood.

The pain was subsiding, at least.

Raising his head to look at the blurry figure of the approaching archer, Sunny spat a mouthful of blood...

And smiled.

"Hey, fool…"

The archer did not pay his words any attention, raising their fist to deliver the final strike.

Sunny tensed his muscles, preparing himself.

"...Behind you."

The murderous shadow froze for a split second, then spun around.

But it was already too late.

Because there, behind them, another Sunny was already bringing down his fist with all the dreadful power of a Transcendent Titan.

It was the long-awaited seventh shadow.

Shadow Slave
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Comments 54

  1. Offline
    Patchumz
    Patchumz
    + 1 ⋅ 0 -
    Ah yes, of course the author leaned into the trope of an enemy who usually executes their enemies instead grabbing the hero by the throat rather than crushing their skull, and only afterwards going for the head when it's easy to dodge.
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    1. Offline
      citoxE
      citoxE
      + 0 ⋅ 0 -
      Do you cry this often?
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  2. Offline
    BeanJohnson
    BeanJohnson
    + 13 ⋅ 0 -
    I wonder what personality this one will have middle
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  3. Offline
    EVOLT
    EVOLT
    + 8 ⋅ 0 -
    He’s never had a good time getting a new core oru2x. And that final sequence was definitely rewarding
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  4. Offline
    Jayxie
    Jayxie
    + 3 ⋅ 0 -
    youngest brother
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  5. Offline
    Jeffrey
    Jeffrey
    + 5 ⋅ 0 -
    Finally, he should always try to leave a shadow in the realm of the dead in order to find new shadows.
    Read more
  6. Offline
    Abhi Rajput
    Abhi Rajput
    + 2 ⋅ 0 -
    Hm hm there is new chapter 🙂

    2121 -Titan

    The Seventh Shadow's titanic blow landed on the archer's spine and sent them flying like a tattered doll — or at least it would have, if not for the original body, who lunged forward at the same time to
    deliver a strike of his own.

    The opposite momentum of his blow made the impact utterly devastating, damaging the surroundings and sending a shrapnel of bone fragments flying in all directions.

    'Ah… ouch…'

    His tortured body did not respond well to the violent strain of the battle, though. In fact, it felt like he was on the verge of collapse.

    But that was alright.

    Because there was another, entirely fresh Sunny ready to pick up the slack.

    As soon as the archer landed on the ground, the seventh incarnation was already upon them. The enemy was weakened and dazed, but still dangerous. Even slowed down by the oppressive commands of the Lord of Shadows, they managed to dodge the lethal attack and roll away, standing up a moment later...

    Still burning with the same cold, murderous determination.

    Sunny smiled weakly as he pushed his original body from the ground.

    The mysterious shadow was truly stubborn. Or maybe they simply did not know any better, having spent thousands of years slaying others in order to survive. Did it even remember anything except hunting and killing? Was it even capable of giving up?

    It did not matter, anyway.

    Even if the archer's resolve was infinite, they were already too far gone. Whatever strength they had left was enough to kill one Sunny, perhaps, but not two, especially with the second one bearing no physical wounds.

    Surrounded by the towering remains of the dead serpents, the three of them fought without holding anything back. The ground quaked from the fury of their desperate clash, but it swiftly became apparent that the archer had no hope of emerging whole from that fight.

    Sunny even felt a little dirty, for a brief moment, for ganging up on the murderous shadow.

    But that bizarre and ridiculous notion quickly disappeared, replaced by vindictive glee.

    '...So what?'

    So what if it was two against one?

    That was what the damned maniac deserved!

    Sure, in other circumstances, even seven of his incarnations would not have been enough to kill the vicious slayer of the Shadow Realm, let alone two. After all, he kept calling his enemy "the archer" for a reason — the mysterious shadow was obviously a sublime master of archery and ranged combat, using traps, cunning, and meticulous ambush tactics to hunt down their prey.

    Melee combat was not even their true area of competence, unlike his, yet that was exactly what Sunny had forced upon them.

    Not to mention the fact that all of the archer's careful preparations had been rendered useless when the shadow of Condemnation stomped through their hunting grounds, pursued by the Creatures of Darkness.

    There was no telling how many of those dreadful beings the archer had fought, defeated, and destroyed before Sunny showed up, either — so, from the very start, he had been fighting someone weakened and drained by a long, unforgiving battle.

    But what of it?

    Sunny had been in a dire state from the very start, himself. His powers were severely restricted, and he could not even risk summoning his Shadows.

    So, he sincerely believed…

    That even if the two of them had clashed in their peak states, the end would have been the same.

    The archer would have been killed, and Sunny would have been the killer.

    Just like he was going to kill the damned thing now.

    The archer was still fighting, but their strength was dwindling. The Seventh Shadow calmly dodged their crushing blows, delivering one cruel, inescapable strike after another in return. The original body served to distract and slow down the enemy, allowing for these strikes to land.

    When the murderous shadow tried to switch targets and finish off the original body first, the seventh avatar would ruthlessly punish the moment of distraction, thus making destroying the more battered version of Sunny impossible. He had mastered the strange art of fighting as a group, after all — the two incarnations moved in perfect harmony with each other, weaving an inescapable net of death.

    Sunny evaded a swift and devastating kick with flowing grace, then used his other body to lunge at the archer from behind. The shadow sidestepped his lunge easily, but that took a precious moment — a split second later, Sunny's fist struck the side of their head, sending the enemy reeling.

    And using that opportunity, the original body delivered a vicious kick to the side of the archer's knee, feeling something crack with dark satisfaction.

    …It was a little barbaric, to simply batter the mysterious shadow to death. But what could he do? All his weapons were gone, and even the last splinter of the great ivory fang had shattered when he destroyed the shadow of Condemnation. Now, only a piece of it remained, still clenched in Sunny's fist to add some weight to his punches.

    He inhaled hoarsely.

    "Just give up and die with grace…"

    As the archer regained their balance and raised their arms to block an obliterating blow, the seventh shadow added:

    "Find peace within me. Or whatever…"

    Their enemy looked almost like a ghost now, having lost most of their solidity. Black smoke was flowing from countless wounds on the archer's body, surrounding them like a billowing veil. The contours of the graceful body beneath it had always been nebulous, but now, they were so vague as to almost seem immaterial.

    It was time to end this.

    Sunny might have harbored a grudge against the mysterious archer, but an enemy like that…

    They deserved a clean death, at least.

    Lunging forward with both of his bodies, he sent one of them low, while the other struck high.

    The archer staggered back, avoiding the strike to their head, but they failed to avoid the original body. A moment later, Sunny managed to grab them and wrestle them to the ground.

    This was the end.

    While the seventh avatar grabbed the archer's arms, the original body pressed the enemy into the ground with all the prodigious weight allowed to him by the [Feather of Truth] and raised his fists.

    His face was calm and cold when he struck down, aiming to split the mysterious shadow's skull.

    One blow was not enough, so he struck again, and again, and again…

    Until even the Onyx Shell could not keep up with the devastating power of his blows, and the skin on his knuckles split, drops of crimson blood falling into the ghostly wisps of black smoke.

    The archer was still struggling, but by now, their movements were so weak that it did not matter.

    Taking a deep breath, Sunny allowed for the shard of ivory fang he was still holding in his fist to slide down, and then caught it between his fingers.

    He brought the sharp edge of the bone fragment to the archer's throat.

    However, just as he was about to slice it open...

    A friendly voice resounded from the darkness.

    "My, oh my. I wouldn't do that…"
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    1. Offline
      Abhi Rajput
      Abhi Rajput
      + 1 ⋅ 0 -
      2122 Friendly Advice

      Sunny froze, suddenly feeling cold fear grasp his heart.

      It was a jarring transition to experience, from the cold resolve of ending an enemy's life — and all the confidence that came with it — to utter unease and a piercing sense of alarm.

      But what else was he supposed to feel when hearing a disembodied voice resound from the darkness of the Shadow Realm?

      Added to that was the fact that the voice had not spoken in the familiar language of the waking world. Instead, it had spoken in a dialect of the ancient language that the later civilizations of the Dream Realm used.

      Still holding the sharp shard of bone to the archer's throat, Sunny cautiously looked around. He spread his shadow sense in all directions, too, feverishly trying to find the source of the voice.

      There was no one.

      Feeling his mouth turn dry, Sunny lingered for a bit, and then asked in a hoarse voice:

      "...Who's speaking?"

      His other incarnation was similarly tense, ready to shield the original body from danger if need be.

      There were a few moments of silence, and then the voice answered in a nonchalant, somewhat friendly tone:

      "I am."

      Sunny blinked.

      'What the…'

      This time, he was able to pinpoint the direction from which the voice was coming better. It was very close.

      And low to the ground.

      His gaze explored the graveyard of serpents, until finally falling on something he had seen before, but did not pay a lot of attention to.

      A lone human skull laying amidst the serpent bones, attached to a partially destroyed human skeleton. There was no spark of life in the battered skeleton, and even when Sunny shifted his gaze, there was neither the radiance of soul essence nor the vile darkness of Corruption inside the old bones.

      However, as he watched, he noticed a tiny mote of light drifting into the air from inside the gaping black hole of the skull's empty eye socket.

      Just then, the skeleton spoke:

      "My, oh my! When you look at me like that, boy, I get shy."

      Sunny shuddered.

      The jaws of the ancient skull did not move, but the voice definitely… definitely was coming from inside it.

      He stared at the skeleton with wide eyes for some time, then forced himself to open his mouth.

      "I... know you, don't I?"

      The white skull, obviously, did not show any reaction.

      "Do you? Goodness gracious! How odd. Never have I imagined being known by such esteemed personas… I am nothing but a humble slave, after all."

      Sunny smiled darkly.

      "Well, what would you know… so am I."

      The skeleton laughed.

      "No, no… the likes of me can't even be compared to the exalted beings like you. A genuine divine shadow! Who would have thought that even after Shadow God's death, his shadows would continue to roam the world… my, oh my! How despicable."

      Sunny narrowed his eyes and remained silent for a while.

      Then, he said somberly:

      "You are Eurys of the Nine."

      Now, he was convinced that the talkative skeleton was exactly who he had assumed it to be. It was the mysterious creature Nephis had taken off a mystical tree in the Nightmare Desert to use as a guide.

      But how had he ended up in the Shadow Realm? According to Nephis, she had parted with Eurys in the outer reaches of the Underworld.

      The white skull stared at Sunny expressionlessly for a while, then said evenly:

      "Huh. So you do know me."

      Sunny lingered for a moment, considering what to do next. The skeleton had not harmed Nephis… but that did not mean that he would not or did not have the ability to harm Sunny. After all, not just anyone could endure thousands of years of a strange unlife, being nailed to a tree in a literal hell.

      It was unfathomable how Eurys was able to exist, to begin with.

      But first things first…

      Lowering his gaze, Sunny looked at the weakly struggling archer, then shifted his gaze back to the battered skeleton.

      "You said that you wouldn't have killed this thing? Why?"

      Eurys of the Nine chuckled.

      "Oh, it's just a piece of friendly advice, from one slave to another. Think about it, boy… she has been hunting down shadows for thousands of years here, in the realm of Shadow God, instead of quietly succumbing to death. Such a defiant spirit! What do you think will happen when you kill her, and her shadow enters your Soul Sea instead?"

      Sunny suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

      He… had not considered that.

      There was definitely some truth to the skeleton's words. By all accounts, once a shadow traveled to the Shadow Realm, it was supposed to peacefully succumb to the divine will of its creator and be annihilated, turning into pure soul essence — like the shadows of the Awakened soldiers he had seen.

      Even the shadow of Condemnation, despite having seemingly retained some of its agency, simply followed the law of the Shadow Realm and attempted the pilgrimage to its supposed center, dissolving into essence in the process.

      However, the mysterious archer was different…

      Not only had they… she, apparently… defied the natural way of things by roaming the Shadow Realm as she pleased, but she had also refused to be annihilated, surviving for thousands of years by slaying other shadows instead.

      Sunny had long suspected that his Soul Sea was like a nascent, miniature version of the Shadow Realm. If so, the laws governing it would be much weaker, and much easier to defy, than the ruthless laws governing the Realm of Death.

      So, what would happen if he killed the mysterious archer?

      …Wouldn't he be just inviting a serial killer into his soul?

      He shuddered.

      Noticing his reaction, the battered skeleton let out a laugh.

      "I see you realized the danger. She has become quite feral, hasn't she? Such a shame… my, oh my! The person was so valiant and righteous, yet the shadow is so wicked and vicious."

      Sunny stared at the white skull with a frown.

      "You say it as if you knew her."

      Eurys remained silent for a bit, then laughed.

      "Why, of course! After all, she is one of the Nine."
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  7. Offline
    Darrell Amp
    Darrell Amp
    + 2 ⋅ 1 -
    so as a titan all sunny Sunny has to saturate his 7 cores. complete shadow dance. then evolve to a supreme. simple right.
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  8. Offline
    6pain
    6pain
    + 0 ⋅ 0 -
    At least we getting two chapters
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  9. Offline
    samy dakiche
    samy dakiche
    + 6 ⋅ 0 -
    I have mastered the art of patience!!
    So now I'm not panicking!!
    I'm not!!!!
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  10. Offline
    YoMama
    YoMama
    + 1 ⋅ 0 -
    C’mon
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