The Villain's Story

Chapter 786: The you you hide.

The storm was vicious, merely looking at it from the inside sent shivers down his spine. Alexander would have preferred if he didn’t have to go inside, alas...

[I can’t believe my heir is afraid of a little wind.]

’Shut up.’

Drinking a mana potion, Alexander let his reserves replenish and slowly formed a shield of [Null] mana around himself. One that clung tightly to his body, it was more like fog instead of a shield, but with his mana’s unique attributes, it worked better than any shield.

Provided he had enough mana and aura, he could virtually withstand any attack that existed. All the energy within it would be turned into nothing with Null mana.

Unfortunately, he was neither dragon nor god beast, so such a feat was not viable. However, his current reserves should barely get him inside the eye of the reversed storm.

’I just have to get inside.’

He lowered himself, and planted his right foot deep into the ground behind him. Then, he pushed as hard as he could, propelling him to great speeds as he marched towards the storm.

His figure was like a bolt of gray lightning, the mana of Null clung to him even in the form of a loose fog tightly. Soon enough, Alexander entered the storm.

Each grain of sand was moving as fast as a bullet, and when it hit you it felt like being shot as well. Awakened normally didn’t need to worry about firearms but at this magnitude? It would be an issue for everyone.

However, as soon as they entered the fog, they lost their velocity and simply fell down to the ground, or on Alexander. The only issue being his reserves were being depleted fast.

Very fast.

He sped up, but it wasn’t exactly easy running towards the eye of the storm in this strange scenario. The grains of sand could be blocked, but he wasn’t sure he could do anything about the wind.

’Thankfully, there isn’t any lightn- Oh fuck me...’

He jumped just in time, avoiding a black bolt of lightning, he could have chosen to let his mana consume it, but his reserves were already suffering from the sand, he didn’t want to test himself with a lightning bolt the size of a tree trunk.

More continued to rain down on him, and he barely avoided them, worst, some of them followed him as they forced him to shut his ears down with mana.

Hundreds of lightning bolts rushed down at him, and the storm only got more intense. His defenses were worn down, and Alexander felt the grains of black sand hit him hard.

’...!’

He cursed in his mind, gritting his teeth as he pressed forward. His barrier was faltering, and dodging dozens of lightning bolts wasn’t exactly easy.

This entire experience was reminding him of the battle with the fragment, something he dearly wished to remove from his memory. He had already fought under a rain of constant thunder capable of reducing him to dust with a single strike.

He didn’t want to do it again, certainly not.

[Skill: Dash has been used.]

[Skill: Super Speed has been activated.]

[Skill: Greater Reflexes has been activated.]

He used Dash multiple times just to close the distance and dodge the rain of thunder, he couldn’t do anything about the sand but pray his aura would actually hold on. His reserves of mana were dry.

And he wasn’t blessed in the aura reserves department, either. At most, he had only a minute to reach the center.

Or else, he would die.

[Skill: Dash has been used.]

[Skill: Dash has been used.]

[Skill: Dash has been used.]

’Just focus on dashing!’

Ignore the sand drilling into your ears, threatening to rip your eyelids off and devastate your eyes, ignore it digging into your skin, and just focus on dashing.

[Skill: Dash has been used.]

One final push, and the pain stopped. Alexander felt his face dig into the sand as he fell down, but there was no lightning bolt threatening his life, and not an endless amount of coarse sand digging into his ears.

It was so annoying.

Alexander spat out a mouthful of sand, cursing. It only took him a moment to jump back and brandish his twin swords. Lightning and Wind danced around him as he scoured the entire area.

Only to find nothing waiting for him. There was no foe in the center of the storm, no shadow wielding the same weapons as he.

Nothing existed here. For a moment, Alexander didn’t believe it. He was tense, ready for a strike to come out of anywhere. Would it be something akin to what Alan faced in the tower?

Or would it be something else? He was supposed to fight his own shadow, but he was honestly ready for anything.

He was certain this was the end of the line, the invisible connection led him right here. But there was nothing to face here.

Just an empty, calm space.

Slowly, the surrounding storm started to dissipate. The crackling of thunder and the fierce wind disappeared like they had never existed. The fearsome black bolts of lightning, the harsh wind and the onslaught of sand that felt like bullets against his skin vanished.

Alexander saw it all unfold, and then tensed up once more.

’Ok, so now it appears...’

He thought as he took a striking posture, ready to pounce on anything that appeared, but he was wrong yet again.

Nothing appeared.

Alexander stood still, shaken. He was stuck in thought, restless, as a prompt appeared in front him.

[You have conquered your shadow.]

[You have gained a slight affinity to the shadows.]

[You have gained the skill: True Shadow.]

’... What?’

But he did nothing? All he did was walk through a fearsome storm. He hadn’t fought anything.

[You did it? Did you not?]

’I... didn’t do anything, though?’

[Well, the quest is complete, so you did something.]

"..."

Alexander, stuck in the black desert, pondered. Confused, but strangely enough, calm and happy.