31 There is something else for you to know.

The next thing Leo and the others saw in front of them was Shin lying in the middle of a puddle of dirt on the ground, the explosion released a lot of energy gusts rattling the surrounding area upto a mile or so. Shin dragged himself up only to realise that in one day, everyone he cared about were no more.

Shin tried to sense around and use his energy but all he received was pain all over his body. He no longer had the shadow dragon nor the abilities he used to have. He made a deal with the devil and sacrificed his powers and the ability to hold the shadow dragon anymore.

He dragged himself towards the south of Tristina for days as he fed on the fruits and other creatures he found along the way. It was after five days that he reached Areon. Areon was the closest city to Tristina. It was still thousands of miles far away from the capital and the other cities though.

He knew of the Takahashi's, every shadow knew. He asked directions to the best blacksmith's shop in the city as he knew the talent of the Takahashi's and arrived at the entrance of the shop, only to see a sign in front of their shop saying 'Looking for a Job as a smith..?'.

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The thin white energy that covered the eyes of everyone in the room disappeared. They saw the entire truth with their own eyes for 6 hours. Everyone's faces weighed down as they understood what the guardians and Shin went through in one day.

"What you saw were the combined memories of Kuro and myself. He lurks in the shadows as he protects the royal family, so he knew all the details and thought it would be better to let me know, I guess." Shin sighed as he got up from his seat and sat on one of the edges of the triangular table in the meeting room.

"I didn't wake up after a few hours of lying unconscious in Tristina. 13 Days passed by before I woke up and by the time I woke up, the black clouds that covered Tristina and the surroundings didn't clear up. I understood that darkness still lingered actively in the region, so I decided to stay in Areon and help them defend it when the time comes and be gone forever, only to remain in the history books. But I didn't expect them to strike the city while I was away." Shin frowned as he said those words.

"I don't know how I even survived after the deal with the devil or even why I was alive after 13 days of lying unconscious." Shin concluded as he opened the meeting room and led the others out of the room to take some fresh air but only to be met by a foul burning smell all around the city.

The evening sun set slowly as the day came slowly to an end. Shin and the others went back to the North wall to see how the mess was handled from a good view.

"Shadow, we have only three guardians left and the divine spirit isn't around anymore. Time for you to comeback and help settle everything." Kenji Inouye, the fourth guardian said as if it was that easy to do so.

"Sorry! But I am done for. You can do whatever you want to. I won't interfere with any of your plans and I am not going to be a part of it." Shin looked away as if he didn't give a damn care about the world anymore.

Silence filled the surroundings as anger welled up inside both the guardians. "The world would have no chance without the guardians. The Demon Kings will awaken again sooner or later in a few years and the world would crumble. Shadow! do you even understand wha.." Before Erina could finish the sentence, one sentence from Shin shut her up.

"I do and I don't care anymore." These were the words that came out of his mouth that silenced Erina. Shin was calm and composed as he said these words as if he thought it out for a long time.

Ryu and the rest just stood in silence as they watched how the situation was playing itself out.

The two guardians were about to head in and smack the hell out of Shin but restrained themselves as Leo made his way to face Shin head on.

"Listen to me Shadow." Leo said in a low voice as he was about to state some things.

"I am not the shadow anymore, I am Shin." Shin cut Leo's words in the middle of his statement as he looked straight into Leo's eyes.

"Okay then, Shin...while you were here I am pretty sure you don't know what's happening in the rest of the world, right? Let me tell you." Leo's eyes narrowed down as his face turned serious.

"The Shades fell and were hunted down. Without you and Kuro, the Shades were left leaderless. Lisa couldn't hold the Shades like you or Kuro. An organisation called 'Dark Phoenix' suddenly came into the picture causing chaos and hunting down the shades!" Leo's voice raised up as he stated more and more facts to which Shin didn't react as he stared at the setting sun.

"Shadow, listen to me. Lisa is 'missing', we can't find her. The shadows are in chaos without the Shade's protection and in your absence people started to unleash their dark selves and desires." Leo's voice rose up with every statement he presented to Shin.

"Do you still remember what the people used to say? How did it go again? Ah yes!" Leo exclaimed as he remembered the words.

"Fall into the shadows and they will push you back into light."

"But hurt anyone in the light and you will be pulled back into the shadows."

"And those who were pulled, shall never see light again."Leo said those words in a slow voice as he tried to remind shin, who those lines were talking about.

"Shin, the shadows are unguarded and chaos is erupting within the shadows as they started devouring innocent people. It isn't long before the whole world starts to collapse Shin. And I need your help to fix everything back." Leo finished his sentence as he stood by his side looking at the sun set just like Shin.

"Like I said..." Shin started to walk away as he said those words but before Shin could complete his sentence, Leo interrupted him with an "And" as if he had more points to state.

"Do you really think Reo and Kuro don't know your mind and character?"

"Do you think they were stupid and didn't guess what your state of mind would be after everything settled down?" As soon as Leo hit Shin with these two questions, Shin stoppen in his tracks without looking back.

"Shin! One was your uncle and the previous Shadow guardian, you know that you shadow guardians are always a step ahead and make sure that things went your way. The other one was his highness, you were with him for a long time, weren't you? Do you think, he didn't know that you would break into pieces if everyone you cared about died all at once? Both of them were there that day in Tristina, Shin." After Shin was bombarded with the volley of questions and statements by Leo, he fell into a deep thought.

What Leo said was undeniably the truth and Shin knew that he was right. The Shadow guardians acted emotionlessly with others but in fact they had deep emotions and would only open up with a few people and masked their feelings around others. Shin was no exception, he only revealed himself to Atsuhiro, his uncle, the royal family members and finally the person he loved the most in this world, Evelyn.

"Now to the grand finale of my statements and questions." Leo said with a mischievous smile.

"Evelyn...What would you say, if I told you she is still alive?" Leo's smile disappeared and his eyes sharpened as he threw an intense stare at Shin to which Shin's eyes widened as his emotionless face finally collapsed to show different emotions.