Chapter 87: The Five (2), Scathach, Queen of Land Of Shadow

These few episodes were taken from the previous series. Apologies in advance for bad grammar and spelling mistakes.

"We're done with this." After Leo handed the last orb to Yue in the Prison Realm, he waved his hand and turned to the others. Yue couldn't use her mana since she was inside the Prison Realm cube, so it was too easy to give her the orb.

After all, the Prison Realm was a treasure that could imprison even a man of broken strength like Gojo Satoru. He didn't know what the result was, but even being able to imprison him for a while was a great achievement.

Gojo Satoru was a broken man who could manipulate space. He had no limit, space, six eyes, red, blue, and a lot of broken abilities. No seal could imprison such a person.

In this respect, the Prison Realm showed its power. Also, with a few changes made by the system, it was clear that Yue would not be able to escape from it.

[Prison Realm V2.0: Prison Realm is an object that has transitioned from the Special level to the Mystic level. The object seals the target and traps it in an inevitable pocket size. As long as the target is in it, its mana, cursed energy, Qi, and similar energies are suppressed. The target only needs to stand in front of the cube for a second, and then, without a word, at the command of the owner, they will seal the opponent. While the owner can enter and exit the prison as he wishes, the imprisoned person and persons other than the owner cannot enter or exit the prison, and no one else can be imprisoned unless the insider kills himself or the owner removes him. (Number of imprisoned people: 1/1)]

After checking the system one last time, he was certain that Yue could not escape from it.

"Now let's go somewhere else. You haven't forgotten your promise, have you?" He took a scroll and turned to the others. Just getting the Prison Realm was worth all the currency he could use for his Multi-verse marketplace. He had taken quite a bit of money from the starter pack, but it hurt to think that they all went into one item.

The scroll he was currently holding was one of the two wish cards he had earned from the starter pack. It was fulfilling the wish of the person. However, this had too many limitations and after talking with the system for a while, he decided on what to do now.

''Ok. Let's go and get you the weapon you want." After the six agreed, Leo closed his eyes and made his wish. The quintet's body slowly disintegrated and they disappeared from the Arifureta World

**

There was nothing in the void. Even space and sky had given way to a gray-black color. Earth, sky, space, everything was just a smooth gray-black color.

The sky had no end, the earth had no beginning and no bottom. The whole place was composed of an unknown smooth substance of pure gray-black color.

Even the wind looked like it would slip away once it reached the ground. It was quite easy to understand the smoothness of the floor.

There were two things in this space. One of them was a huge door. Its end stretched into the sky, not enough to cover its width even if hundreds of people held hands. The second was the five men standing in front of this huge door. Compared to the door, they looked like ants.

"Dude… the more I look, the more I don't want to do this." As Edward glanced at the huge door in front of him, he completely lost the little confidence he had in coming here. He was the one who would go head-to-head with the person they were going to meet. The thought made him swallow his saliva loudly.

"Don't be such a coward. We just need to separate her from her weapon for a while, and then we're out of here and we're not coming back. And think of the weapon we'll win." Leo cheered his friend up, while secretly encouraging himself.

"Right, and why are you so scared? All you have to do is hold back his attacks and we'll take care of the rest." Aiden remained calm. With his demeanor, he didn't seem to take seriously the door and the thing behind it. [EN: Yes, he's a chuunibyou]

Simon slapped the back of his friend's head. Anyone else might have thought he was pretty calm, but previous life friends like them knew Aiden was nervous.

After Jay parted the two who were about to fight, he headed for the door. As with Yue, it was her duty to open the door in front of them.

"I can't open the door, but I must at least get her attention." Jay tightened his resolve. The spellbook began to float in front of him. There was a pleasant rustling, the pages began to change and stopped at one page.

[Chaotic Space]

If it was a normal door, the thousands of thieves in his possession could use his magic to open it. However, the door in front of him was not an ordinary door at all. The door was opening to the Shadow Realm, and there was only one person who could open or close it.

So he decided to use the strongest magic he had to make it look like he was trying to "destroy" the door.

With his magic, chaotic blue-black colors burst from his book and surrounded the door.

Dong! Bam! Boom!!

The door started making strange noises as the chaotic blue-black energy enveloped the door. The sound of hammer, explosion, collision, chaotic and irrelevant sounds echoed in the environment. Sometimes there was no sound.

The surrounding space began to warp. The image in front of the quintet was distorted into darkness due to the warping and chaoticization of space, even the darkness was imprecise because of the chaotic space. Some places are cut, some are warped, some are bent, etc.

The setting was "chaotic", justifying its name.

**

Looking inside the door there was a different painting given its name.

The name Realm of Shadows gave one the idea of ​​a completely dark realm, gloomy, full of spirits and similar monsters. And indeed it was, there were various spirits, monsters, spirit creatures, and special creatures called shadows everywhere.

The environment was gloomy, but instead of a dark land, it was a land of various extraordinary situations and difficult conditions that could be called frontiers. For the simplest example, the location of the Shadow Realm gate was a place of harsh conditions with cliffs and hills, and as if that wasn't enough, extremely cold winter was experienced every second of the day.

The Realm of Shadows was and still is such a place.

However, some changes took place over time.

And the person who caused these changes; formerly the gatekeeper, now the "Queen of the Shadow Realm", Scathach.

Scathach was a woman who had entered the shadow realm from an unknown time. She had forcibly closed the door to the Realm of Shadows and settled herself there. There she greets those who enter the realm of shadows, guides the lost, or simply hunts down someone.

Good, bad, neutral, for Scathach the side was not clear. Sometimes she was an angel, sometimes she was a bloody Asura; sometimes she was doing nothing and remaining completely neutral to events.

As time passed, her reputation spread to the Realm of Shadows, eventually becoming the "Unbalanced Bloody Asura" and the "Good-Evil Gatekeeper".

As time passed, the inhabitants of the Shadow Realm accepted her as such and moved on with their lives. After all, the Realm of Shadows was such a harsh realm that they couldn't focus their attention on anything else beyond a certain period.

A few days later, they were again forcibly withdrawn. Unlike before, this time because of a bigger event.

Gatekeeper Scathach's echoed throughout the realm, where she claimed to be the Queen of the Shadow Realm and proclaims her authority.

No one believed her at first. Not because she's a woman or because she's weak or because they belittle her. No, Scathach had come up with many examples that could show them that she was powerful and could be a symbol of authority.

The reason they didn't believe her was because they had several people who could be Kings or Queens, yet none of them declared authority and became a King or Queens.

What they didn't know was that all of these people had almost equal power. Whenever someone emerged to be a King or Queen, the others stepped forward to suppress him. In the end, no King or Queen appeared.

Following the motto of ignorance is bliss, the residents of the Shadow Realm did not believe that Scathach could become Queen.

Their disbelief was broken as time passed, or rather had to be broken. Scathach's every move shocked them deeply, strengthening their belief that she might be Queen.

She went to Stonefall Canyon first. This was a region where various stones fell every day of the year, and there was an endless abyss under it. There was a very narrow area to cross, and this area was destroyed daily by stones, the smallest the size of a hill and the largest of several mountains.

Normally, when this happened, a large road area would have to be cleared from being crushed and destroyed, but no one was happy as the area healed itself the next second.

Ignoring the circumstances, Scathach entered the canyon and killed the Mountain Titan Lord at the very top of the canyon, which was home to the source of the stones. Their war lasted seven days and six nights, and as a result, the entire canyon was almost destroyed.

After a while, she came to the Eternal Fire Well and hunted the Red Fire Serpent. This was a gigantic ocean of fire, flames hotter than the sun had nested there and covered an enormous area like an ocean. Any living beings that survived here were creatures that could make a sound in the Realm of Shadows.

It is said that Scathach managed to kill him by fighting where he could do whatever he wanted like a fish in water in a sea of ​​flames. It was said that she made clothes out of his skin (exaggeration).

After that, she went to the Sky Pillar Trees Field and subdued the Golden Roc who lived there. Scathach had battled Golden Roc in the sky, crushing Golden Roc in power and miscellaneous matters, making her obey her, according to a local who managed to get out alive.

She then went to the World Covering Sea, killed two of its three local lords, subdued the last, the Water Spirit Queen, and took her as her subordinate.

As time passed, Scathach's every move made more noise than before, and she forcibly broke the people's disbelief in her. The end of the lords she faced was either subordinate or death.

At the same time, various rumors began to appear. It was claimed that Scathach was not only good at war, but was also a superior spear and weapon master, able to use runes at will that could unleash better spells than normal and various advanced magic, and possessed a spear of various powers that could never miss.

The most shocking part was that Scathach was said to have slaughtered the gods.

As the rumors spread, certain information was circulated by the locals.

This was because Scathach wanted to build a castle.

Scathach's authority was as strong as the mountains, no one thought or challenged her anymore that she could not be the Queen of the Shadow Realm, even some of the nominees and various lords in the far reaches of the realm had submitted to her authority.

There was no need for her to wander from place to place since no one could oppose her anymore. It was rumored that she was planning to build a castle where she could spend her life.

And thus, in the Shadow Realm, the only majestic Fortress of Shadows housing the queen was born.

**

At the heart of the Realm of Shadows was a castle stretching into the sky. Various towers in the castle, whose area covered more than square kilometers, stretched into the sky in an orderly manner.

Every inch of the castle was meticulously carved and shaped. Every part of the castle was in harmony and order, including every glass, every corner, and the arrangement of the towers. As if the people who built this castle were doing the most brilliant work of their lives, they had shed blood, sweat, and tears for every inch of the castle, showing utmost care and attention.

And it was. Every master who contributed to this castle swore that he would not touch another architectural work until the end of his life. After being featured in a work of art as big as this castle, any work they would do would not satisfy them.

While the outside of the castle looked like a masterpiece, the inside was decorated with gaudy and resplendent items that could cause any noble to shed tears. Luxury wasn't enough to describe this place, the interior decor was on a whole different level than the word luxury.

Such luxury should have bothered someone normally, but since it had a harmony of color and shape, it was pleasing to the eye and caused no one to be disturbed.

On the contrary, it captivated everyone's souls and involuntarily increased their respect for the owner of this castle.

At the heart of the castle was a throne room. Surprisingly, contrary to the pomp of the citadel, this place was not so luxurious. The room contained luxury items, but unlike the rest of the castle, it remained "ordinary" in terms of pomp and luxury.

There was a woman in the room. The woman was a beauty in any world that would dull any groundbreaking beauty. Her two blood-red, bright eyes sparkled like precious stones, while her long purple hair flowed down her waist. She had healthy, soft skin without a single blemish, a curved nose, and a small wine-colored lip.

She had a suit on her body that stuck to her and showed all the pieces. She had a well-trained, lean belly and a slender waist that one could wrap with one arm, while the clinging outfit revealed especially her two well-formed chests, with slender arms and slender legs that were in no way inferior.

Beauty, build, looks, poise, and more, this woman would dull any woman next to her.

This beauty had only one flaw. It was not known whether this could be called a flaw, but she had something that could be considered a flaw.

Her eyes were empty as if she was waiting for the passage of time. There was no will to live in her, no desire, no purpose, or brilliance. Her vacant gaze was staring out of the castle window, into the seemingly endless Realm of Shadows.

"This is over, too.…" She whispered under her breath. Her journey to pass the time had come to an end.

By this time, countless people had come up with a lot of ideas about why this beautiful woman became the Queen. Some speculated that she was a queen because of her power hunger, some because she was a born Queen, and some because she wanted to unite the Shadow Realm.

But none of them came even close to the root cause.

The beautiful woman, known as Scathach, made this trip to pass the time.

She had an eternity of life. For her, a sweet death was impossible, a painful death just as impossible. The world has to wait for death in this pit until it ceases to exist.

In this eternal life, the Shadow Realm Queen was nothing more than an activity she did to pass the time while she awaited her death.

"My agreement with the Holy Grail still stands. However, I still haven't been summoned, either it's avoiding me or it doesn't have a servant strong enough to kill me. *Sigh* Cú Chulainn, I hope you'll be strong enough to kill me soon." Scathach's thin little lips lifted slightly as she thought of her most gifted disciple. A smile appeared on her face that most men would have blood pooling just to see.

"Hm?" Scathach turned her head in a certain direction as she continued to stare at the land in front of her. Her eyes shone with a faint spark of interest.

'Five people. Someone with limited potential, holding a strange treasure; the other is a youth with magic who is not from this world, possibly mastering the magic of another world in the multiverse. It has high potential, not as much as Cú Chulainn, but still there."

"The other is the host of the parasite called the "system"... hm?... I remember that parasite enabled people to reach great powers in a short time, but why does this young man have no power? Could he be too stupid to use something as simple as 'the system'?"

"Oh, another parasitic host, worth cultivating since wields the power of the ''that'' worlds. Maybe if I leave him alone, he can become a powerful enemy." A spark of excitement appeared in her empty eyes as she mentioned the person who might be an enemy. A potential enemy seemed like a source of excitement to her.

"And finally… A thief is not even his strength, and incompetent enough to limit his potential. It's not worth looking at."

Scathach looked at the five in front of the Shadow Realm, assessing their potential. Her eyes darted over Edward, Jay, Leo, Aiden, and Simon in turn, giving different reactions.

"I think I will leave them to my subordinates. After all, as a queen, I don't need to take action myself." As she headed for the door to her room, it was as if she had lost interest in the business.

Step by step he approached the exit. Her sassy hips were bouncing slightly, her breasts trembling with her steps. Her beautiful waist, which seemed to be boneless, was curved to form an enchanting image.

"But…" She stopped as she was about to walk out the door. She started tapping one foot lightly on the ground.

"I am the leader of the Shadow Realm, and their attacking the door is tantamount to attacking my authority." She started to shake her head as she supported her chin with her fingers.

"At the same time, although their strength is not very high, their possessions can cause problems for my subordinates. Commanders are busy with other things at the moment, and what I can send may be damaged. As a good Queen, it would be foolish to send them to a battle where they would lose." Her thoughts continued to persuade herself as she stamped her feet and filled the empty room with sounds.

"Finally, I should be able to finish quickly with my strength, while I can test them. Who knows, maybe Cú Chulainn might even win a kouhai. "The thought of a second Cú Chulainn caused excitement to bloom in Scathach's still heart. A second Cú Chulainn could bring joy to her empty and eternal life.

"Hm… I guess I have to go myself." Shaking her head, she turned around and took a step, her body instantly disappearing from the room.

The next second she appeared in front of the huge door. The door was shaking violently, unlike its normal state. It didn't show any signs of collapse or deterioration, but even making such a large and powerful door vibrate was a feat.

Unfortunately, this was an effect of the power of space, the youth was just a mediator and had done nothing commendable.

"Let's see what their reason for coming here is." She started walking towards the door as the long red spear appeared in her hands. The middle part of the 2 meter long blood-red spear was decorated with scarlet bands. It was a simple but beautiful spear.

The spear danced deftly in one hand. The spear, dancing in harmony in her fingers, left a red stripe in the area it passed. She turned the spear in front of her one last time, then aligned it beside her.

As she made her way towards the door, the door, which stood like an impenetrable mountain even in the chaotic onslaught of space, began to slowly open. With a heavy roar and a flutter of dust, the door opened, allowing the five to meet Queen Scathach.