The Villain's Story

A black sky tinged with the color blue, an ethereal sight to beings that had just seen dark clouds and the vague figure of the black sun in the distance for who knows how long.

A comforting chill washed over them; it was present all the time in this realm, and there was no black sand, the remnants of other shadows, rather plains of white snow that became mountains in the far distance.

A black and white world, with its own tinge of blue, infinitely smaller than the Realm of Shadows of the Shade king, Kulak, but different and special in its own ways.

The countless shadows that had entered it ran around in the snow, some picked it up, ate it, threw it at each other, and even began to play. It was a refreshing feeling for them, those who had spent a lot of time in Kulak’s realm.

Both of them were incredibly optimized for shadows; however, all shadows had spent a long time in Kulak’s world, and Alan’s was new. A new world that they were the first to experience. But their playtime was cut short by an urgent call.

Every single one of them stopped in their tracks and focused on the skies above, hearing a call from the outside, commanding them to obey. And so, they obeyed.

Outside, a tide of shadows rushed out from Alan’s body and formed a spear. Alan swung it around once or twice. The weight distribution was a little off, but he was getting the hang of it as time went by.

This was the most basic ability of Shadow Walker, and the Mantle of Shadows, Shadow Manifestation. He could use the shadows within the mantle to take any form he wanted, and the strength and density of the forms depended on both him and the shadows within the mantle, the latter taking priority.

The spear he had conjured was the same shape as the Ame-No-Sakahoko, but weaker in a few aspects. It had no special skills of its own, and it paled in comparison to the weapon held by Shi Lam.

Well, even the AME-no-sakahoko would pale in comparison to that black blade. Like his current spear, it was also made of shadows using Shadow Manifestation, however…

The difference between the ones composing the spear he had, and the ones making up the black blade was like heaven and earth, no, it was even greater.

It was like his was but a drop of water, but the black blade was multiple seas. The shadows Alan had couldn’t compare to the ancient beasts making up the sword of Shi Lam. However, it wasn’t as if Shi Lam would use the full power of that sword on Alan.

Hopefully.

Alan teleported in front of the dragon and stabbed, only for his spear to be parried by the blade.

‘…hmm, kind of spongy.’

At the point of contact, Alan had focused most of the shadows at the tip of the spear, leaving most of it questionable as a weapon. He was basically experimenting, but it was good to see this type of change.

The shadows obeyed every command instantaneously; there was no delay at all. If Alan willed it, he could have made them stick to the Black Blade, although this had a higher chance of success on any weapon other than that.

It was unpredictable, even for him. If he were hit by something like this, even he would be on the back foot; besides, weapon manifestation was the most basic ability of Shadow Manifestation; he could do so much more.

A sticky floor that would disorient his opponents, a deep pit to trap them, he could block out the sky to hinder their vision, as his own shadow sense reigned supreme; in fact, he could even use them to fetch the remote far away. They had so many uses, and these were just the surface level.

Alan knew there was a lot more he could do of this, yet another thing to add to his list, and he wasn’t even finished.

“Yo.”

He called out to the feisty one below, his shadow that was furiously nodding, and shadowboxing… if it could be called that. It was eager to act.

“Show me what you can do.”

And moments after, his shadow disappeared from the ground and moved up his legs, to his entire body. There was not a single aesthetic change, but the physical empowerment was clear.

‘… Hmm.’

He was clearly stronger; the buff was more than what an equal amount of mana would provide, but what was more, it was basically endless as long as he had enough shadows in the Mantle. His true shadow may have been the one empowering his body, but it was being supplied fuel by the shadows within the realm.

He could also boost the power of his spells this way as well, but that wasn’t the main thing on Alan’s mind at the moment; it was something else. A game changer.

His true shadow was not hostile to other energies. He could cover himself with his true shadow, empowering his physique and his magical capabilities at the same time… but he could also exceed one of them, with the usage of aura.

His shadow didn’t fight aura like mana did; Alan could layer his body with his true shadow, and above that layer, he could add aura. He could move his mana to his heart and then achieve a physical enhancement that would allow him to go toe to toe with God beasts and Metal Dragons.

It was surreal, and even as he was doing it, he almost couldn’t believe it. His strength had reached new levels, a level unlike anything he had seen.

Anything anyone had seen.

Shi Lam’s eyes narrowed as the weight behind the spear quadrupled. It was such a noticeable change, even for someone like him, that he couldn’t help but be impressed.

“Now, this… is interesting. Very interesting, prince.”

And there was still one more thing Alan wanted to try.