The Villain's Story

Chapter 791: You Or me?

A spear blocked a spear, a fist blocked a fist, and a kick blocked a fist.

It was a beautiful dance, a dance of two masters of the spear, and martial artists. Alan was no pushover, even with his mighty strength and endurance, he was someone who knew how to use them well when it was necessary.

He could fight like a master as well, courtesy of Arken. Even if his master had recommended him to follow his instincts most of the time... Alan was a skilled martial artist.

It was just, most of his opponents were beasts, and things far out of proportions. How would one use a chock on a giant the size of a mountain when they were the size of an ant compared to it?

But even though Alan felt a surge of power from the Shadow he was facing, It wasn’t like the hopeless feeling that emerged from the giant of lightning and storms, Kizmal.

The Shadow of Aranus, was... nothing compared to that absolute calamity. Alan refused to believe it, and thus, he was exercising utmost caution. He wouldn’t believe any version of Aranus himself to be lesser than a mere fragment of Kizmal.

He wouldn’t.

The shadow jumped in the air and swung its spear at him once more, using all of it’s weight to strengthen the strike.

’Does this thing even weigh something?’

It was made of shadows, after all. Alan raised the Ame-No-Sakahoko and blocked the strike. His feet dug into the sand once more, evidence of the sheer power carried by the strike.

But it wouldn’t hinder him much. Alan locked eyes with the shadow and activated [Dragon Eyes], eager to find out a weakness.

Did this shadow have a skeleton? A muscular system? Nerves? Was it actually a living being? Or was it just made of pure energy?

[Skill: Dragon eyes has been used.]

An astral blue glow began to emerge from his eyes, a glow unlike any other. It had been a while since Alan used his eyes seriously, but he couldn’t keep it up for long.

’Show me everything.’

He saw skin, muscles, nerves, and bones underneath the black mass of shadows. All of them were compromised of shadows themselves, but the sheer depth of their creation startled him. It was like it was an actual being, a living, breathing organism.

The Shadow he was fighting was a breathing being, much like him. It wasn’t at all similar to the shadow beast he fought in the tower of trials.

His authority, granted to him by his eyes, granted to every dragon, however, began to crumble as Alan’s blue light confronted a deep, purple light that spread like miasma, slowly corrupting the blue of the stars.

’...!’

Alan tried to move back, but he was unable too, caught in some devious trap, a pull unlike any other. His [Dragon Eyes], were trapped.

Blood leaked out from his eyes, as he desperately tried to shut his skill down, but to no avail. It wasn’t even his own mana that was fueling his own skill.

’What is this?!’

A wave of urgency overtook as Alan saw the cause of it all. The eyes of the Shadow were glowing with the ominous purple light, as Alan realized that there were only few things that could stop [Dragon eyes].

And one of those, was another set of [Dragon Eyes]. Those that were fully realized as well, unlike his own. Alan was only able to use the standard set of abilities that came with every [Dragon Eyes], but the Shadow could utilize more.

The light solidified, spreading like the roots of a tree towards him and grasped his entire body. They restricted his entire body, making him unable to move.

The roots penetrated deep into his eyes, they bound him like a cocoon and threw him to the side.

The Shadow fell to the ground, clutching its face as if in pain, the purple light struggled to escape his grasp, slowly leaking out between the gaps in his fingers.

The entire area was dyed in the purple miasma, but slowly, the Shadow pulled it all back into his eyes, into his own body as one could see its body writhe in pain.

However, even if it tried all it could, it couldn’t really grasp the fearsome light and drag it back, but it had no need too, for the very light it thought it had vanquished rose once again, from the very cocoon it made.

The purple miasma started to become covered in ice, the temperature dropped to dangerous levels as Ice grasped the light in the world and slowly, but surely, consumed it. Frost overtook the entire area as the cocoon lit up with a furious cyan light.

[Skill: Dragon breath has been used.]

A pillar of light as thick as a building rose into the skies, towards the black sun as the cocoon was frozen solid, only to crack into thousands of pieces seconds after. Alan emerged from the cocoon, falling to his knees as he clutched his face, parts of his body covered in ice.

"Ha... ARGH!"

A groan escaped as he clutched his hollow eye sockets, He had managed to escape, although barely, however, the roots had taken his eyes.

It was a significant blow, especially since his regeneration took it’s sweet time with his eyes at times. However, at the very least, the pain was bearable.

He heard a screech in the distance, realizing it was the shadow, he hurriedly activated [Mana Sense].

His mana spread out through the ground, through the air in the form of waves and left a sharp outline of everything. He could see with his mana sense.

’Come!’

It wasn’t a taunt to the shadow, but rather a call to his spear. The Ame-No-Sakahoko lying in the distance.

It heard his call, and began to rise from the ground, Alan didn’t need to use Telekinesis or move his mana to his spear. It was an Ego weapon, after all.

Black lightning began to form around the spear held by the Shadow, as it assumed a throwing stance. Alan felt chills run down his spine as the Ame-No-Sakahoko barreled towards.

’QUICKER!’

He grasped the spear tight, raising it to meet the strike. The Shadow threw the spear towards him, it was as if a bolt of black lightning was making its way towards him.

It tore through the sound barrier, and Alan barely managed to position the Ame-No-Sakahoko to deflect the strike aimed at his heart.

However, Alan could only deflect it so much. In the heat of the moment, as [Mana Sense] informed him of the trajectory of the spear... he did something stupid.

He caught the spear, barely grasped it just before the tip. The jagged metal tore through the skin on his hands and reached his bones as Alan spun around and threw it back.

The spear went back to the Shadow, with the same speed, the same destructive force and a small string of blue mana attached at the end.