Chapter 71

I'm posting some chapters ahead of time on my discord server: https://discord.gg/r2VSvS5kaH

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With a click, the door behind Ashborn closed as he left the room he was in with his family. His ears still picked up the sounds coming from it, no matter how hard he tried to ignore them. Ash's heart was aching hearing the cries of his family, especially from his mother. She was wailing, and her voice was filled with pain. Adding to that, the rest of the family was crying... it wasn't relaxing, there was nothing good so far.

He'd liked to leave the room more energized, but this forced him to leave in the grimmest mood he could possibly have. There was no one to help him out with the bad mood, but Elijah, who was waiting outside of the room for the Leywin family, could try and cheer him up.

He may not have heard about what Ash talked about inside, but his expression was enough to tell Elijah how alarming the conversation was. He leaned with his back on the wall next to Ashborn,

"Ash, I haven't had a chance to apologize to you. I'm sorry that I couldn't help out in the academy before. I was knocked out before I knew it."

"You are still at it, Elijah? Least of everyone else I expected you to grieve over this. You were an adventurer and should've known that sometimes not everything goes as planned. Sometimes you just aren't powerful enough to do something; If you want to blame someone, blame me. I was the one who was not able to protect his family."

"But you shouldn't be the only one doing dirty work!"

These words caused something in Ashborn to spark. Only if Elijah knew of his past, he wouldn't have said this. Didn't he already pass down a job he had to do to his successor? Instead of doing it himself, he chose the cowardly path of just giving away his strength. Yes, he was tired of everything, but this didn't change the case. Ash didn't fight his arch-enemy.

"No, you are wrong. It must be me since I can't get anyone else to fix something I'm at fault for. Although I'm thankful for standing up for me, Elijah. Art really got a good friend for himself." Ashborn tapped with his hand on Elijah's shoulder.

"I'll be counting on you to take care of this place. How they say… you are now a man and a woman of this house."

"I don't think that's how it is."

"Well, too bad." said Ashborn at last, as he fell down in his own shadow, leaving the young boy with mixed feelings.

While still in his shadows, the shadow monarch decided to pay a last visit to Tessia and Virion. This decision was influenced by his brother, who was definitely absent, but everything was connected to him.

The Eraliths, by the way, were taking care of Caera. Since his army would be too busy to even care about protecting others, it was just for the better to leave the navy-haired girl in good hands. Ash had a certain level of trust toward Virion and Tessia, and they were a better option than his own family.

Ash emerged from the kingly furnished room alone. His presence was unnoticed at the beginning, but the light breeze that followed his appearance was felt by both Eraliths.

"Brat?"

"Ashy?"

"Yes, I suppose my nicknames are still in place. Even though you've seen what I am capable of. Good thing, you haven't changed your mind about me."

Virion felt extremely weird. The manner in which this boy talked had changed vastly from their previous meeting. He couldn't understand the reason for this, but it was creeping into his consciousness greatly. Tessia, fortunately, hadn't noticed this.

"How is the girl?"

"She is feeling well, there are no issues with her health. Although, there might be a little... problem with mana-core. I couldn't check it…"

"Caera has the same core stage as you, that's why."

Tessia was especially shocked to hear that. Wasn't that girl the same as her? Or maybe she had a talent like Arthur's! Yes, that must have been the reason. The elf-girl was a little bit jealous, so she didn't want to admit that Caera had achieved this by herself.

"She used this thing." Ashborn opened a small portal nearby and took something from it. That was Agrona's horn, which was still unabsorbed. It had enough mana to awaken tons of white-core mages, depending if adequately used. Caera failed at her first attempt, so this time, she shouldn't.

"It would help you to reach the white-core stage. Depending, if Caera isn't against it." Ashborn shot a glance towards the navy-haired girl who groggily woke up from her slumber.

She sat on her bed, "Of course, use it however you want." How can Caera be against when those people are taking care of her and it was HIM who gave him that item. She was grateful, and she wanted to somehow show that.

"Both of you are already strong enough to handle the sheer amount of mana from this, so we'll leave you here. Virion and I have to discuss something.

Virion wasn't surprised. He expected something like this, so he stood up and followed Ashborn outside. They exited the room and closed the doors, also placing a charm on it so that their voices don't reach the girls.

"What is it, brat?"

"There is something I left out about your student. I haven't told you about it since I didn't want others to worry, but I believe at least you knowing the truth won't be harmful."

"Since you are telling only me, not even your parents, it must be something overly serious."

Ashborn nodded grimly, "And I despise how grave it is. The problem is that I'll have to battle Arthur. There is a deeper narrative at play here. But I'll have to fight against the auburn-haired boy you can recognize with your eyes."

Virion pressed his back on the nearby wall since he felt his limbs giving up. He knew this wouldn't be a piece of pleasant news to hear, and obviously, now this very depressing news was delivered only to him.

"You don't want me to tell anybody, do you?"

"I won't force you to hide it. But I'll appreciate it if you could hold it for at least some time." Ashborn had a doubt he could hold a secret for a long period of time, he'd be massively annoyed by Tessia to tell her what they talked about.

Although such was his desire…Ash rethought his choice. Maybe it'll be better if Virion does tell the young elf about what was happening.

"You can tell Tessia now, I'm not good with consoling people. It would be better to receive such information from close ones."

"Yeah, it should be..." Ashborn took down the charm placed on the room, letting Virion enter the accommodation.

The old man's steps were rather heavy and way slower. His breathing was also fast and his nose was making weird noises. Ash understood that he was crying, as the sole bubble of tears dropped onto the floor.

After a few seconds, Virion entered the room, and Caera came out of it. The moment she opened the door, Tessia's cries could be heard all over the floor. In part, the intent failed.

"That's pretty brutal..." Ashborn moved his purple eyes down to see Caera standing next to him. She was staring straight at the window, which opened the view to his dream world.

He hummed and crossed his hands, "I have such a life. Problems always find a way to bother me."

"Sometimes I have the same feeling. But still, I can't comprehend how... Scythe Seris was so strong, yet you were still stronger than her. You killed a high sovereign with ease. What is there that can pose a threat to you? I'm scared just thinking about it."

A combined force of this planet, excluding himself, wouldn't be enough to even go toe to toe with the persona he has to face. So how can Ash explain it to a simple Alacryan girl?

"If I were to tell you that there are dangerous entities even outside of this world, would you believe me?"

"Well, considering how you travel through space as if you have a portable teleporter... I guess."

"And that's just a minor ability that I possess. This place you are in currently isn't actually real. It exists materially, but outside of the world, you call home. It was created using my imagination, and I can control it with my imagination. This is all thanks to the element the Asuras called Aether."

Caera wasn't going to ask if there were others who could do the same thing as Ashborn; it was obvious that there were. Would the person who could do this also worry about anything else?

"I hope you'll... get over every obstacle you are met with."

"Thanks, I appreciate it. While I'm not here, look over at Tessia. You two seemed to get along well, and she'll need that support from someone her age... from those who at least know something. "

"I shall try."

"Then that's it. I shall bid farewell to you."

Again, the shadow monarch dived into his shadow and completely disappeared from sight. His next destination was the beast glades, his very own enormous castle. Ashborn wanted to see it before it got obliterated.

He emerged at the entrance of his shadow castle. How funny it must be for others to see such an enormous entrance. Who was it made for? They'd ask themselves, thinking there's nothing moving of such a size... well, there wasn't supposed to be.

'I think Windsom will be able to enter through this... '

Amusingly, the entrance wasn't the largest part of the castle. Beru and the other ants went to try hard to build this place. They didn't just make it bigger but also furnished it. Almost every shadow soldier that was in the army during the construction of this castle was engraved on the walls of its hallways.

The shadow monarch proceeded to his throne room. Before it, he met with the statues of his most loyal shadow soldiers in this world. Beru was, however, displayed most grandly of all.

The giant gates to the throne room were ridiculously pristine, despite them being built with concrete. Ash pressed on the gates and opened the path for himself. There was no creak from the door; it smoothly revealed what was inside.

At the previous meeting with the council, this building was only lit by the torch. Nobody could see through the darkness that covered most of this room except Ashborn himself. That was the intent. After all, this is the castle of none other than the Shadow Monarch himself. The statue, which was built right behind the throne, would scare the royalty.

The stone figure was far from being complete; only the upper part was actually built. It was Ashborn in his armor behind the throne, almost as if he was grabbing the throne with both his hands.

"Beru, you have talent."

"I personally overseed the process, I'm glad my liege took notice of our devotion."

With a thud, the shadow monarch sat down on the throne. Looking back at the throne room, he could see its entirety. It was enormous, perfect for the occasion since it had to house a whole lot of soldiers. Hundreds of warrior asuras were resting in his shadows, ready to awaken at any moment.

Ashborn hasn't forgotten about them,

"Arise."