The Villain's Story

Chapter 792: You or Me?

A thin thread of blue light cut through the tide of shadows that rose to oppose it. The spear of the Shadow pierced its own heart. A storm brewed up above as a bolt of black lightning as thick as a building fell down on the Shadow.

It was a pillar of black light, with such force it threw Alan away, burying him in the sand. Coughing up a mouthful of black sand, he muttered.

"... Damn."

Would that have happened to him if he hadn’t thrown the spear back? For a moment, he was glad his instincts kicked in, and he hadn’t done the stupid thing. The thought of him being at the center of the black pillar was unsettling.

Alan stood up, as the pillar of black lightning subsidized. His nose picked up strange smells, as if the entire environment was fried and burning with frenzied energy. The tranquil sky was now restless, a storm was coming.

’Does it rain here?’

The thought came to him, and honestly, he wasn’t interested in wanting to know what exactly classified as rain in this world.

"Ugh!"

His ears bled as the Shadow let out a vile scream, Its own spear was still stuck in its body, right where the heart would have been. Alan had to admit, he had good aim.

A chuckle almost escaped, as Alan saw the pitiful sight of the Shadow. It was all silent for a while, as the realization dawned on him.

"I shouldn’t have said that!"

He teleported right in front of the kneeling shadow, and raised his spear, intending to cleave the entire body of the shadow, including the spear, in half.

There was no way Aranus would die simply like that, even if a spear with a shaft the size of his arm was in his chest, piercing his heart.

Alan wouldn’t believe it, not for a damn second, but he would never be able to complete his attack.

’...’

His body froze as the Shadow opened its eyes, and delivered a cold gaze towards him. His blood began to boil, he felt a tightness in his chest, his muscles quivered as Alan’s eyes darted to a far off location.

Instantly, he teleported away from the kneeling Shadow. Alarms were ringing everywhere, his body, his mind, and his soul were quivering.

He couldn’t stand up, and despite all his efforts, his gaze was being pulled down by an authority unlike any other.

[Skill: Mana Sense has been activated.]

He activated Mana Sense once more, but the skill was in disarray, He couldn’t see with it as he normally could.

But he could feel it. He could feel the shadows begin to imitate something his entire being dreaded, yet wanted.

His mind and soul dreaded the power, but his body, it craved for it. It was like a starved child seeing food after a very long time. He couldn’t control his urges.

A tide of shadows consumed the Shadow, and a force unlike any other spread out. It didn’t throw Alan further away, it called out to him.

A lost part of his being, of Aranus’s being, his strongest power.

[You would never believe what he could do with it.]

Lanesha said it.

[It was like his body was made solely for it. He surpassed me in every category.]

Suleras confirmed it.

[You do not know what he is capable of when using it.]

Ariel even dreaded it.

[Skill: Mana sense has been cancelled.]

He wasn’t the one who cancelled his skill, it was just the very nature of the mana that dominated over the entire at this moment. The shadows imitated a nature of mana Alan was familiar with, but not at the same time.

His body was thirsting for it, his affinity to it was reacting intensely.

The sea of shadows imitated the element of [Chaos], the dominant element in the Abyss, and the element solely suited for Aranus, the sole reason he was able to dominate Supreme beings, defeat them.

The element he was suited for, and the element that was suited for him. Now that he came face to face with it, he could understand.

It was like a single iota of mana was equivalent to thousands, tens of thousands. A single grain was like a million.

His own mana reserves, that no one he had met, yet that wasn’t a dragon could compete with... were like a pond in front of the sea of chaos.

Affinities determined the strength of an element used by the user, and even Alan, with a Supreme affinity for the element of frost, having consumed the ichor of the being who reigned over it... couldn’t exert this much power with a single granule of frost mana.

Even the one in his [Winter Heart] paled in comparison to this sheer might.

Alan struggled to gaze at the ball of shadows that held the source of all this might. The black of the realm was losing to the purple miasma, and soon, Alan feared the entire area would be dyed purple.

It was almost funny at how easy the realm of shadows, Kulak’s own domain, was losing to a mere imitation of chaos mana exuded by the Shadow of a young Aranus.

"...Ugh!"

Every second was a struggle, his body was rooted still, in fear.

[Skill: Draconian Transformation (Frost), has been activated.]

His body transformed, the skill had been activated on its own, something his body did by itself as it realized the threat looming over its head. But even in his fearsome Draconian form, Alan struggled to stand up, and only after great effort, was he able to stand straight.

Large swathes of his reserves were busy fighting the excess energy released by the Shadow, as it slowly transformed into something else entirely.

Alan couldn’t stop it even if he wanted to, this wasn’t anything like the descent of the Marquis ranked demon in Aror, this was the descent of the being the Abyssal Conscience sacrificed everything to have control over.

Even if it was but a Shadow, it was still Aranus, the only being in the entire universe that made both Dragon and God beast tremble.