Chapter 441

When the dark clouds hanging in the sky began to move—

Reaper had no choice but to notice it too.

A massive current.

Wind roared, and the dark clouds twisted in a spiral toward the center.

Watching it and feeling something ominous, Reaper quickly started wrapping shadows around his own body.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t been giving it his all until now.

It was just that if he used this technique, a heavy burden would hit him afterward—so unless it was a decisive moment, he’d been trying not to use it.

That was why he was using it now.

A technique that tried to turn everything in the body into shadow.

A skill that could be called the Dark Star’s secret art.

But Reaper still lacked the ability to handle it perfectly.

Even so—

Alarm bells rang in his head, and he activated it at once.

And sure enough—

Kwarrrrrrung———!!!

The dark blue-black thunderclouds, twisted into a spiral, scattered a massive bolt of lightning down toward the earth from the center.

The lightning that had been spreading in all directions gradually gathered into one place, bleaching the world as if draining all color—turning everything white.

In a world flooded with light where every shadow vanished in an instant—

Only the dark blue-black clouds remained, a whirlpool shaped like a sharp cone pointing down toward Kyou, and all the lightning was sucked into it along with those clouds.

Then Kyou, with storm and dark clouds and lightning gleaming around him, began to glow blue in both eyes.

A state you could truly call a storm god.

To the point you could even call him a god of lightning—storms and lightning savagely occupying the space all around him.

“......This won’t be easy.”

“......”

At Reaper’s words, Kyou didn’t say anything in reply. He simply started moving.

With a single gesture, a typhoon surged, and a storm sharper than blades came flying in.

As that razor storm—sharp enough to pulverize everything—swept over him, Reaper’s body began to bend like a shadow.

Reaper’s body, every cell replaced with shadow, becoming a complete shadow state.

And in that moment, his body shifted—shadow honed into something sharp, taking the shape of a single blade.

At the same time—

Kwaaaaaaaaaa———!!!

In the place the storm had swept through, darkness fell in an instant, and Reaper controlled that darkness, absorbing it into his body and swelling his mass.

Reaper, who was darkness and also shadow.

And in the next instant, Reaper even absorbed Kyou’s shadow—reaching toward that shadow and clenching it tight.

Then—

“...?!”

For the first time, a ripple crossed Kyou’s calm expression.

Seeing that, even Seong and Helena smiled like it was quite unexpected.

Of course, the viewers had no idea what it meant.

Thankfully, Seong quickly spoke to accommodate them.

“Just now, he used shadow to restrict Kyou-nim’s movement.”

“You can control it too. Like that.”

A shadow was ultimately like a mirror that reflected an object.

But if the shadow seized control instead—

Then the body would move the way the shadow moved.

Exactly what Reaper was doing right now.

-This is insane insane insane insane

-I thought Kyou was gonna win, but wow, a reversal like this?!

-That’s a crazy shadow control technique, holy shit

-Wait, you can stop movement with that?

-That’s f***ing broken, seriously

-Who wins, for real?

-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ This is so damn fun.

Watching that sight, every viewer couldn’t help getting hyped.

It was obvious why.

It was a thrilling state where no one knew who would win.

Kyou had gone into storm god mode—

But the moment his shadow was stolen, his movement got sealed.

Even so, Reaper didn’t feel happy.

‘Like I thought... he’s not easy.’

He’d tried to force Kyou’s movement and pull the fight in his favor—

But all he’d managed to do was stop him.

Even that was impressive.

But if he couldn’t finish him, it wasn’t assassination.

Reaper couldn’t move his feet either while controlling the shadow—

But Reaper had become shadow himself, free in that sense.

He stretched his body long, turning himself into something drawn out, and shot in toward Kyou like a projectile.

Then Kyou scattered lightning and storm in all directions toward Reaper.

He couldn’t move, but his abilities weren’t sealed.

So storm and lightning poured out, and everything was swallowed in light.

A fierce bolt shot out to attack Reaper, and in that instant Reaper became shadow and slipped free of all physical force.

But then—

-Pajik! Pajijik!

-Hwi-woong! Hwi-uu-woong!

Should it be called a strange voice?

Should it be called the sound of nature?

Reaper couldn’t tell—but in that instant, he pulled his body, which he’d stretched out like an alarm wire, back to its original position, and in that same moment lightning and storm slammed into where Reaper had been.

Kwaaaaaaaaa———!!!

From an attack that swept everything away, the ground was gouged so deep you couldn’t even tell how far it went.

Seeing that, Reaper thought for a second that if he’d taken that head-on, it really might’ve been over.

And then he looked at the one who’d launched that attack.

Kyou was still frozen in place, held by Reaper’s shadow control.

But—

In front of him, storm and lightning had taken shape in the body of a small baby.

Reaper realized at once that it wasn’t simply storm and lightning mashed together.

And—

“He’s even using Lightning Spirit and Storm Spirit?”

“Mmm. It’s closer to an elemental spirit, but it feels more like a purer chunk of energy.”

“Yeah. They’re strong.”

At those words, not just the viewers—this time even the backup teams, who had been quietly watching the match, couldn’t help being shocked.

They had no idea when Kyou had learned something like that.

But those two, like little kids, definitely looked powerful.

The kind of things that made even Reaper break out in a cold sweat.

With the appearance of Lightning Spirit and Storm Spirit, the viewers went crazy too.

-Ahkㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-They’re too cute ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Look at that chubby little belly

-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ It really is a baby body ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Seriously cute ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Storm Spirit looks like a mix of a cat and a baby, and Lightning Spirit looks kind of like a dragon.

-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Anyway, cute, right?

-But their strength is filthy strong.

Everyone said things like that, doting on Lightning Spirit and Storm Spirit like they were adorable.

And they really were cute.

That kind of explosive reaction made sense.

Even so, Reaper tried to suppress the two using shadows—

But he couldn’t do anything to them.

They were so pure they could be called “essence,” and more than anything, they were storm and lightning itself.

Their power was strong, but more than that, the two of them pressured Reaper as if they were one body.

At first, Reaper fought them evenly—

But as time passed, Reaper—still with his feet bound—started to fall into a disadvantage.

Storm whipping from all sides, lightning pressing in on him.

And on top of that, these things—

“Lightning shines intensely and shrinks the shadows, and using that, the storm uses stronger wind to attack the shadows.”

“They really are outstanding, the two of them.”

Because they were that good, Seong and Helena praised them.

And it seemed Reaper judged that he couldn’t handle those two while still holding down Kyou’s shadow—

So he had no choice but to release Kyou’s shadow.

And that was the biggest blunder he could’ve made.

The moment he was freed, Kyou maintained storm god mode, retrieved Lightning Spirit and Storm Spirit, and as those two added into Kyou’s power—

Kyou attacked Reaper even more violently than when the two of them had been double-teaming him.

“Th-this...!”

He pressured Reaper with lightning and attacked with storm.

And the lightning he’d used gathered again in midair and flew back at Reaper—becoming a prison that locked him in.

And the storm became a guillotine to execute that trapped Reaper, and Reaper’s shape was gradually getting torn into rags.

-Wow, holy shit;;;;;;;;;;;

-It’s even stronger when he’s the one using it;;;;;;

-How do you beat this??????

-Reaper can’t do anything, damn ㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷ

-He tried to steal the shadow again, and look—Kyou erased his own shadow with lightning.

-They both have insane combat sense.

Just like that last viewer said—

Reaper’s sense was no joke either.

Kyou’s understanding was overwhelmingly higher, but the reason he still couldn’t completely crush Reaper was Reaper’s sense.

Even while lightning became a prison to pressure him, Reaper moved freely and blocked as much as possible.

Even when storm became a guillotine and came down, he held on as much as he could.

But battles between lords depended on understanding.

Reaper’s stamina kept getting carved away.

Now Reaper had no choice but to admit it.

This was what happened because he hadn’t learned everything from the Dark Star yet.

And once he realized that—

He answered obediently.

“...I lost.”

“Good work.”

Hearing Kyou’s words—now even polite—Reaper nodded, looking refreshed rather than frustrated.

“Honestly, thinking back to last time, I thought I’d win, but I was arrogant.”

At Reaper’s frank words, Kyou nodded as if acknowledging it.

“Honestly, I think I would’ve lost too if it hadn’t been for Helena’s training.”

If he hadn’t had the realization Helena taught him—

Then the one admitting defeat here would’ve been him.

When the two of them accepted the result like that, the viewers couldn’t help being impressed too.

-Kyah ㅋㅋㅋㅋ This is wholesome.

-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ This is a team!

-Kh, Reaper’s cool! Kyou’s cool!

-They were both cool.

-Reaper’s already that strong, if he trains too he’ll get even stronger???

-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Yeah, but Embris and Kyou aren’t easy either.

-We’ll have to see what happens.

While everyone kept chattering—

Seong stepped forward and said,

“We’ll stop the match here today. And then, today’s training... isn’t really something to do on stream, so we’ll end today’s broadcast here.”

The viewers were disappointed at Seong’s words.

But Seong had become a real broadcaster now.

Smiling, he said,

“Instead, when the training is roughly nearing its end, we’ll do another hierarchy match.”