Chapter 4: Return of the king

I woke up back in my family home. It was an old-fashioned Victorian style house. The insides were filled with obsidian marble. There were three stories and each had a spiral staircase with blood red carpeting. I was sitting in a rocking chair on the second floor in the room I had when I was super young. The walls were plastered with pictures of me as a child as well as paintings that I made when I was in kindergarten (talk about embarrassing). At the end of the room was my pure white crib. There was someone in it as well, someone way too big for its puny frame. His shaggy black hair gave him away.

"What are you doing in there, dad?" This scene felt familiar. It had definitely happened before. It was probably a few years back, maybe my first year of high school?

He closed his eyes and scratched his neck, "We used to read to you like this when you were little. Don't you remember? You were so cute as a child. Our little Viri."

His smile was just as stupid as always. Always trying to act like such a cheesy and typical father, but that was all an act. My parents possessed various types of magic which allowed them access to the upper echelon of mage society where only the elite, the retired from the Ministry of Magical Defense, the Mage Corps or even one of the big universities resided. Of course, I didn't know what types they had or why they had so many types when every other family only had only one type of magic. They were definitely an anomaly...

𝘈𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘸.

I tried to remember what had happened the first time I was in this situation, but I couldn't remember it for the life of me. It was if something was sealing off the doors of memory inside my head.

𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴. 𝘐 𝘩𝘢��𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤.

"Uh dad. Where does my magic come from? I have never heard of anyone having a living shadow, nor have I heard of you guys having them either.

My dad smiled and stepped out of the crib.

"It's really not that simple you see. Your mother and I had magic that resembled yours, well the ability to gain multiple magics, but you were the first to have a living shadow. We are very proud that our wish finally came true."

"And what ab- "

"Did I ever tell you about the celestials?"

My silence was enough to make him continue. He walked up to me and got on his knees as he reached the chair. I really wanted to know how he truly acquired his magic and why they were happy for a shadow that only took from others. He didn't talk about that though, he continued with what he mentioned before.

"The Celestials were an ancient race of beings, made purely of magic. You could think of them as angels or something of the sort."

I nodded, "Uh huh."

"After thousands of years of life, the celestials got bored and so they created humanity. They then bestowed a select few with some of their magic."

I couldn't see where he was going with this, but I didn't say a word.

"Eventually, some of the Celestials decided that they wanted more magic and attacked humans to acquire it. The high council of their race was very biased towards their creations and decided to punish these rogues heavily. They were stripped of their celestial power and were dropped into the ground of the human world, The Chasma, a place where all the evils of the world were stored. Over time these fallen celestials consumed the evils they were trapped with and regained some of their lost magic. These celestials became known as the Gorgos or how mankind always saw them: Demons. In time, some mages who were weak or sought more power made pacts with the Gorgos. This relationship was symbiotic and allowed some of the Gorgos to make it back to the Celestial plane and..."

"And what." I asked

"And that's all we know." He said sheepishly.

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦. 𝘊𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘴? 𝘎𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘰𝘴? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭.

I continued to rock back and forth in my chair before my vision began to dwindle.

"Wait, dad. What were the kinds of powers people could gain from these pacts?"

"See you again son," waving away my question with his outstretched hand.

Just what important information did this conversation yield?

2

My eyes fluttered open once again. I felt a weird sense of Deja Vu.

𝑺𝒐, 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒌𝒆. 𝑾𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔.

𝘏𝘶𝘩? I looked around.

"What the hell."

My back was perched upon a tree. It was probably 15 feet up in the air.

"Shadow, where are we now?"

I analyzed my surroundings. Below me was a large pool of water with more trees surrounding it. The arid air filled my lungs with the thirst for water. Past this 50-foot-long tropical land laid a barren desert., stretching out for miles.

𝘈𝘮 𝘐 𝘪𝘯 𝘌𝘨𝘺𝘱𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨?

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒄𝒍𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝑰 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆.

𝘚𝘰, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 ��𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘐'𝘮 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘴.

I got to my feet on the fat branch I was laying on. I held out my hand, open-palmed and waited for results. A fat grapevine appeared from the lake below up to where I stood.

"Looks like my ride's here."

I hugged the middle of its green body and commanded it to shrink down again. Once I was near the bottom I decided to experiment. I wanted to create a boat and I now had the magic to do that. It seems I didn't need to cut myself like Sanguino used to in the past. The blood just trickled out of my hand and expanded in size; shifting and changing shape until a little row boat was formed. It didn't hurt either.

"𝑰 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒎𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒔."

"Whoa, don't spook me like that. And what's up with your skin. You practically have human legs and arms now."

He had appeared in his physical form, but this time his arms and legs had human skin covering them.

"Ah that. Well, it's not important, just camouflage for later."

He snapped his fingers and his space-like body came back into view.

"It's still creepy, but whatever. Let's move on."

The boat slowly rode through the large pool of water, exotic trees I have never seen. Something like this shouldn't exist in a barren wasteland and yet it did. The water dazzled under the intense ray of the sun as I pushed through it. Sweat was flowing from all over my body. It was annoying, but the view had me distracted. This was a paradise and it pained me to push past it but I had to. While my body didn't need water and food, my throat still felt like it was filled full of sand paper. The sun blazed down through the holes of my tattered uniform. I really wanted to get out of the desert.

𝘚𝘰, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘚𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘯𝘰, 𝘎𝘪��𝘢𝘴, 𝘌𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘳𝘪, 𝘏𝘪𝘦𝘮𝘪s, 𝘍𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘮, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴. 𝘖𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥.

"I can't believe I have made it this far."

"𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐞."

"Hey you're not supposed to say that!"

"𝐇𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐲 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐲."

We finally reached the end of the lake. I glanced to the end of the horizon.

𝘚𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘰𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵: 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘥!

Shadow did say that he detected an enemy nearby, but they would be pretty easy to spot them with all this sand.

"There's also no way I'm going to walk through all that sand."

I closed my eyes and thought about what I could make with all this new found magic. I can't use ice because it would melt. I have no way of using electricity since I would have nothing to store it in. Any plant I make wouldn't last without water in this climate and I knew blood would easily get absorbed by the sand. That just left my shadow magic.

"Hey shadow…. Wanna carry me?"

I opened my eyes to be greeted by his physical form.

"𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐩𝐢𝐠, 𝐈 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐞𝐝."

His form flickered and distorted from my view. His body morphed and changed shape to something a lot less humanoid. In no time at all a four-armed insect looking creature with a flat back was in his place. Each of its legs were six feet high.

"𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥? 𝐇𝐨𝐩 𝐨𝐧."

I was slightly repulsed by the ant-like creature he had become, but he lowered his body for me, beckoning me to go.

𝘎𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘩𝘶𝘩?

I climbed onto the creature.

𝑯𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒐𝒓 𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒆, 𝒉𝒂𝒉𝒂.

I immediately regretted asking for a ride. With wicked speed, his feet screeched across the desert. We covered ground so fast that I thought I would fly off.

3

Woah woah woah! Slow down, will ya!?" I said fiercely.

At the pace we were going, I think we could give a Nascar racer a run for their money. That was until we were ambushed. Everything was going so smoothly. Shadow made quick work of the sand, his legs piercing through it with blinding speed and vigilance. It really felt like we were on a normal road. Then something rose up from below.

It was too fast for my eyes to process, but Shadow reacted as best as he could.

𝑳𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒐𝒖𝒕! He screamed in my mind.

His legs propped us into the air, though the projectile still collided with us, well with Shadow at least.

I was tossed to the ground, Shadow following my wake. My hair became a hive mind for sand grains and I was introduced to a new type of taste as well.

"Ugh, what happened? Sha…."

"𝐒𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞….. 𝐔𝐠𝐡 𝐈 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧."

A sharp object was sticking out from his large underbelly. It shared the same color and texture as the sand I took a bath in. As I inspected closer, a vaguely familiar voice perked up behind me.

"Looks like even the greats like myself miss, it would seem. Well the next volley should hit the intended target."

My head creaked towards the voice. There was a pitfall about 10 feet from us. I couldn't tell how deep it was from my spot in the sand, but half a body was peeking out.

𝘖𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵, 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮.

𝑰 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒍.

The projectile that had pierced Shadow was nowhere to be found. The body of Shadow disappeared into a whip of shadows, returning to where he belonged.

I pulled myself to my feet and began to clean myself up.

"Pft ew! I hate sand and I hate you even more, Jiang!"

Ben Jiang adjusted his glasses. "So, you do remember me after two years, it would seem."

"How could I not," I shouted back. "You acted like you were a king or something stupid like that after your power was upgraded!"

His body continued to rise from the ground.

𝘏𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘢𝘵, 𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭?

His chubby body was almost completely visible now. He was of average height and Asian descent. He had large cube shaped glasses that contrasted with his relatively round face. His dark brown hair was covered by a strange looking hat with goggles on top. Maybe some sort of moped helmet? He had black eyes that seemed intelligent, but was always squinting so you never really knew what he was thinking. His black uniform and red tie were nowhere to be seen. Instead his uniform jacket was tied around his large waste. The sight of his undershirt didn't take away from the main attraction: his giant smile. He was always smiling and everyone was annoyed by it. It was just creepy some of the time while other times it was just far too annoying. I guess I could say I wasn't a fan of this guy just like Sanguino, more for a different reason though. He still wore his backpack from school, he really never took it off. That's probably how he was able to live in that hole for so long.

"A king should always be above their subjects. That's what the internet said and it looks good, it would seem."

I almost gagged.

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘹 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯.

A little background on Benjamin Jiang. He started off as one of the laughing stocks of our school with how weak and lame his magic was. I wasn't in his class for my second year, but Fiona was and she told me all about it. Originally, he could create things depending on what kind of element he was around. Elements like you know…. water and fire and stuff like that.

Anyway, in class the closest thing to being useful with it was to create little metal or wooden bars (since that's what desks were made of) and could manipulate how they moved and so on.

Even Jiang felt bad about how little he could do and how he would need a specific scenario to even have a desired outcome. Then our third year came. He was in my class that year and was one day called into the headmaster's office.

When he came back, something was different about him. For one, his smile seemed genuine, but it still creeped everyone out.

The very next day, we had magic training and that's when it happened. We were in the gym, right next to the school pool. We were one on one battles to measure how far our power had grown. I sat out, like I always did, since I was listed as "late bloomer" (I knew what it really meant).

One of the matches had one of the two protégées of our year, Gil Fulmen and his opponent, the loser, Ben Jiang.

Honestly. I don't even know what Fulmen's magic even was exactly. From what I saw when I was actually paying attention, he could create weapons from thin air or the ground, but he can even summon them at different ranges. The teachers forbade him from ever going all out for fear that he would kill someone. Gil said he had a good handle on his magic, but he had to listen to the school. That resulted in him summoning wooden weapons to make up for it.

I felt bad for Jiang when I saw who he was up against. Projectile weapons would be scary to anyone. However, Jiang still had his genuine annoying smile.

The battle started with Fulmen crossing his arms with a satisfying smile, his signature pose.

"I'll make this a quick match so it won't hurt too much," He said sincerely.

Gil was a pretty nice guy by nature, but he took his battles seriously. Wooden swords appeared from above him, ten in total. They flew towards Jiang just like arrows. The rest of the students covered their eyes. Unlike my baby classmates, I watched eagerly to see Jiang get his ass handed to him.

Before the swords could reach him though, multiple weapons fought back and reduced the swords to near splinters.

"What in the hell?" I said aloud to myself from my spot in the back.

Five people that looked like they were made entirely of water were standing in front of Jiang, forming a v-shaped line.

"I found, well, a new way to use my magic. Meet my elemental subjects. Loyal, aren't they? And I'm their King, it would seem."

𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘩𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮, 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘎𝘰𝘥.

They did really look like soldiers. Their outlines had the shapes of helmets and armor. In each hand was a short sword, adding up to ten in total.

"I must say. I was not expecting you to use your magic like that. Good on you, Ben." Fulmen said cheerfully.

He turned over to our teacher, Mr. Wehr.

"I won't be able to damage him without going all out. Is it ok if we call it a draw?"

A gasp was let out by the thirty other students. Mr. Wehr put his hand to his bearded chin.

"I suppose that is alright."

After that day, Jiang acted like he was some sort of new found god. Everywhere he went, so did his elemental body guards. Of course, they couldn't be too far away from their element which is why he used wood and metal soldiers the most.

Every day I would see him being carried to and from class. It seemed like they were his replacement for friends, even though they were pretty much just mindless copies of himself. I never knew how many soldiers he could summon at a time, but it didn't matter. His reputation changed after that. From one who was looked down upon to one that looked down on others. And if someone ever needed proof for his newfound strength, Fulmen would happily vouch for him because that's just the kind of guy he was.

Anyway, Jiang can control soldiers that are made out of whatever element he is closest to or something like that. Right now, that would be sand.

I then realized why it looked like he was floating. at least ten of his sand soldiers were pushing him up from the ground, making him look like a chubby messiah or something.

They dispersed into grains as he stepped out of the hole. I greeted him with a face of pure disgust. Ever since he thought he was hot shit, I wanted to get back at him. Now look here, I'm not a violent person, but I just can't with Jiang. And now, I finally have the power to put him in his place.

"You know I have been waiting to wipe that dumbass smile clean off your face since I first laid eyes on you, Jiang."

His calm demeanor didn't waver, "Now look here, I know you don't have any magic and I am probably the first opponent you will face and the last, it would seem."

He then pursed his lips and paused for a moment.

"Wait a second. If you don't have magic. What in devils name was that black creature that one of my subjects pierced when they sensed you coming over our base. That was strange, it would seem."

I held my hand up to stop him, "Before I show you my magic. Please explain why the hell you were inside a goddamn hole in this massive desert? Better be a pretty good reason."

Sweat trickled down his forehead, the same as mine, "Well you see. I was teleported... uh... here and didn't want to have to… have to… uh I know! I didn't want to travel the desert during the day because I would be tired by the time I got out. It would be easy pickings for someone else if they saw me, it would seem."

He placed his hands on his hips to act as if he was making a valid point.

I put my pointer finger to my lip, "Well you see. I did indeed just come from a battle and it was well past four in the afternoon and beginning to get dark. Now don't quote me on this, but there's no way this desert wouldn't be covered by the moon by now, in fact it should be pitch black from how long I was out. I think you just hid here for a day, waiting for someone unlucky enough to cross by you, so you could ambush them, haha."

My devilish laugh had returned.

𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘸 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭.

"Silence peasant!" He hissed.

"You have angered the Emperor and shall be punished accordingly. My soldiers, arise!" As if on cue, ten soldiers materialized from the sand; half of them with swords, the other half of them with spears.

"Attack, my minions!"

They moved through the sand like they were on wheels.

In no time at all they reached me, but I was prepared.

"Shadow!"

He appeared as an infant of me, blocking three of the attackers. I created an ice wall in a small area around myself to block the attack. It didn't do much though, the soldiers melted into sand and appeared inside my wall. They must have reformed from the sand below me.

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘐 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘥? 𝘞𝘢𝘪𝘵. 𝘊𝘢𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘥?

I quickly skimmed through the possible alternatives in my head, but nothing that was of use came to light. There was just no way to deal with them permanently.

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘶𝘱 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘮. 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘸?

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒕? 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒚 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕.

𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸. ����𝘰𝘸 𝘧𝘢𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘰?

𝑨𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒂 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒕 𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒘𝒐, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒔 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒆𝒅, 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒔𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒎𝒂𝒙 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆.

I bit my lip as I moved backwards to dodge the sand soldier's attacks.

𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘶𝘣𝘣𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺.

Jiang stood back from his soldiers, their range seeming massive. The attacks kept coming my way from the remaining seven that were not fighting Shadow.. I had created a sword of blood in the air to try to keep their attacks at bay.

𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒉𝒊𝒎.

𝘐'𝘮 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨.

He told me his proposal and I agreed, instantly. I just needed to find a way to plant the seeds of the plan.

I activated my shadow armor to buy me more time. I also summoned blood spears and lightning bolts from above to fire back at my pursuers. Of course, I would have loved to send them at Jiang, but their range is barely more than five feet as of now.

The sand soldiers were destroyed, but reassembled just as quickly.

"Gah!"

A spear pierced my armor and made it to my thigh. It didn't seem deep, but it still hurt like hell. Why can sand hurt this much?

"My soldiers can't be killed by any of your weak magic and man, do you have a lot of magic. Some of them remind me of other students, it would seem."

Shadow was nowhere to be seen now, which left me fending off against all ten.

𝘔𝘢𝘯, 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘵 s𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘎𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘴'𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘮 𝘨𝘶𝘺.

This was no time to complain though. The web for Shadow's idea was slowly being spun.

𝘍𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴.

It would still take some more time, which meant I just had to survive. I ended up canceling my shadow armor since it seemed to be doing less good than bad vs these specific enemies. I sent more projectiles, but they were unrelenting.

Two of them quickly sped past me and appeared at my back. I felt Shadow trying to come out to defend me.

𝘕𝘰 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵, 𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵.

Instead, I covered my back in blood to try to absorb some of the attack.

It helped… at least a little bit. I was still knocked to the sandy floor though, blood flying out of my mouth.

"My my my. Will this be the end for Viri Inumbro. The first prey of the Emperor who shall become the mage. It can't be helped, it would seem."

I wore a blood-stained smile. Jiang caught onto it.

"What could you be smiling about. I think I'll end it here. Those were your last words, it would seem."

All the soldiers pointed their weapons towards my downed body.

"Hahaha!"

I couldn't help but laugh. It did sound a little crazy, which surprised me more than Jiang.

"All I can say, I fucking hate your smile."

"Wha-"

I snapped my fingers, "Vermillion Bloom!"

The ground around us rumbled, like the earth was rocking to its core. Below me a hole appeared, throwing me and the soldiers to the side. The verdant maw of the creature could swallow a car whole.

"What the flying fuck!"

I wiped the blood and sand off my uniform. "Ladies and Gentlemen, minus the ladies part… and the gentlemen part too. I present you with the VENUS FLYTRAP!"

I didn't plan to put this much emotion into my voice, but It just happened. It was a plant I knew Fiona could never summon and it took a lot longer to grow in the sand, especially to that size.

Its large neck darted towards Jiang, ready to snap him up.

His smile was wavering, but he didn't seem defeated.

"So that's what your plan was huh. I haven't put all my cards on the table. I need to go all out, it would seem. Soldiers return!"

Like a candle going out, they all vanished. That didn't seem to be the end to it however. The sand around Jiang began to kick up in the air like a twister.

"Now as the Emperor, I'll show you my prized beast. Show yourself, Sovereign."

A massive robot looking sand soldier exited from the twister. It seemed around the height of Gigas and hefted a massive great sword with both hands.

It easily intercepted the flytrap's attack and went on the offensive. With a quick horizontal arc, way faster than it should have been for its size, the giant severed the flytrap's head from its long neck.

"Mad, are you? Shocked perhaps? Maybe even ready to cry. I would too if I was in your position, it would seem."

"Would you shut up with that "it would seem" already, it doesn't even make sense half the time. Oh, and I knew you would have to recall your soldiers to fight something big like that. Just like Shadow said."

Jiang looked around nervously, "What do you mean? I killed your trump card. it's over."

I laughed again like a typical cartoon villain. I was on one knee now.

I have many trump cards; did you really think this was it? I'll show you a new one I made up just now. The stage is set and it's time for the final curtain call."

I closed my eyes and once again entered the zone that lurked around my consciousness. Instead of looking through all the levers, I wandered off to the very left side where a well stood by itself. I peeked inside. It truly looked bottomless, black vapors oozing out.

"Well here we go."

I descended into the dark depths, slowly returning to reality after each passing second. I hoped to imagine a weapon that could take down Jiang from that range. I opened my eyes again. Something was forming. A black handle was placed in my hand, a large string in front of me attached to something that curved down on both sides.

𝘈 𝘣𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸.

A long-range weapon of the ancient times. A spherical shape appeared at the front of my bow, with a long body.

"𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐩."

"With pleasure, Shadow Bolt!"

I let go of the arrow. Even faster than his travel form, his arrow form flew fast and true towards Jiang's body.

"Sovereign!" He shouted squeamishly.

It obeyed his command and dashed to block the arrow for him. Shadow paid it no mind however and flew straight through the sand warrior's body, now ain't that ironic. Jiang realized what had happened and attempted to turn tail.

"No this is not my end. I am the emperor, you cannot k- "

The arrow of the abyss collided with him. His entire body disappeared with a flash of darkness. Shadow returned to me.

"𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲, 𝐚 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐥,"

"So, you ate all of him, that means…. sweet!"

I summoned a soldier of sand. The only reason I could even use magic now was because of the new nutrients I had just received. That shadow bolt took everything I had. I had once again avoided murder, at least by my own two hands. Looking at the shadow reminded me of that stupid smile so I quickly dismissed it.

"I wonder what else I make with Jiang's magic that even he didn't think of?"