When they saw their friend turned into a shadow beast, their reactions were as exaggerated as they were meaningless to me.
I could feel it, the raw potential and power of my latest acquisition.
'Could this be the key to creating an invincible army?' I wondered. The shadow had lost its affinity with the lesser, insignificant elements it once wielded in life, but it had retained its overwhelming physical strength… and an absurd number of skills.
It surprised me. 'How can one man know and master so many spells and techniques?'
Setting the thought aside, I turned my attention back to those in front of me and pushed my domain to its absolute limits.
I had no intention of giving a single one of them a chance. Not after they'd hunted and chased me relentlessly all day.
Not planning to fight nine enemies at once, I split my domain into multiple sections, isolating each of them. When I noticed two of them had managed to regroup, I decided I'd handle them last.
One by one, each of them faced me in a duel. Even though my dragon, the shadowed man, and the resurrected Midnight surrounded and overwhelmed the one called Twelve, I still considered it a fair fight.
Twelve was the first to join my army. Ninety followed. Not a single one of the ten escaped their fate.
Thirty minutes. That's how long it took me to kill the ten who had tried to take my life.
I didn't feel proud of it. I didn't even know if it was impressive… or just ordinary, as I didn't know how strong the powerhouses of this world were.
"Master, may I absorb some of the shadows you've captured? Just one or two would be enough to help me reach the next stage!" Midnight asked, for what must've been the hundredth time since our journey started.
I didn't mind. I could feel the vastness of his potential. I'd gladly support his rise.
Giving him the [Darkness Dragon] to consume and two shadow beasts, I felt his joy ripple through the realm.
'This dog shows more emotion than his master… Is that natural? Or am I the abnormal one?' I wondered.
Ignoring Midnight, I left him in my domain and returned to the real world.
And immediately, I felt it.
A suffocating aura pressed down on everything. It was so overwhelming I couldn't even pinpoint where it was coming from. I tried to return to my domain. And failed...
Even though I had blocked all mental communication, I still heard a voice inside my head.
"They said you lost your memory… Come here. I'll remind you who you are. You and your brothers really are just kids. I can't leave you unsupervised for five minutes."
The voice was familiar. It was the same voice as the men I just killed. I recognized it instantly.
Calling on my [Shadows], I braced for a fight.
But before I could do anything, a man appeared in front of me… and slapped me with terrifying speed and force.
'A slap?!' I thought.
[You have died.]
------------------------------------
Sora looked at the cloud of [Shadow] elements before him and frowned.
'These Alter Egos are causing more and more trouble,' he thought, recalling the chaos of the past twenty-four hours.
'One Hundred Sixteen lost control. One Hundred One ran off to train in the demon kingdom, and a dozen others followed his example across the world… And this is after I asked them all to keep a low profile. What would have happened if I didn't?'
He received a friend request and immediately accepted it. As ten more came in, he sighed.
One by one, the eleven brothers who had been fighting each other minutes earlier floated in the air before him.
At the center, One Hundred Sixteen was red with shame.
Sora shook his head and spoke. "Well, at least now we know the cost of pushing a mythic class beyond a certain threshold. Your brother One Hundred One is attempting something similar, but he promised not to make any reckless decisions like yours without supervision."
When One Hundred Sixteen didn't respond, Sora asked, "So, what do you want to do now?"
One Hundred Sixteen replied, "Let's merge."
Amid his ten brothers' surprise, he added, "If I managed to slaughter those idiots behind me, it's thanks to a Supreme Skill." After a short pause, he continued, "Didn't you say you wanted to see what would happen to a Supreme Skill when we merged? Let's try it."
Sora was caught off guard. Maybe rushing here in a panic would turn out to be worthwhile, after all.
He nodded, and after confirming One Hundred Sixteen's consent, he activated [Alter Ego].
In the moments that followed, he began absorbing the memories of his Alter Ego, gradually drawing in all his knowledge, all his skills.
A new skill description attracted his gaze.
[Supreme Skill Unlocked: Eternal Night Shadows.]
[Supreme Skill: Eternal Night Shadows]
A supreme skill created for one who abandoned his identity, emotion and allegiances, becoming the representative of the Eternal Night on Server 69.
Description:
You have severed all ties and become one with the shadows. This Supreme Skill grants absolute command over shadows, allowing you to manipulate, manifest, and merge with them at a level unattainable by ordinary beings. Your affinity with [Shadow] and [Darkness] exceeds all limits.
Effects:
Effect 1 – Void Form:
You no longer possess a physical body. You exist as condensed shadow and darkness. You are immune to all physical attacks. You are immune to all elemental attack below the Supreme level.
Effect 2 – Umbral Dominion:
You can create and expand your [Umbral Realm], a personal dimension of pure shadows. In this realm, your power increases exponentially, and all enemies are weakened. You may isolate and divide intruders, trap them indefinitely.
Effect 3: Shadow Clones
Upon stealing a target's shadow, the user can create a permanent Shadow Clone of the original. The clone retains all combat knowledge and class skills, but loses all memories and access to any elemental powers unrelated to [Shadow] or [Darkness]. At any moment, the user can consume a Shadow Clone.
Effect 4: Shadow Bond
The user can manifest a Shadow Partner. This companion is born from the user's own shadow and possesses independent thought, loyalty, and the potential to grow. The partner evolves by consuming shadows or gaining experience.
[WARNING: Supreme Skills cannot be affected by anything lower than Supreme level, including Innate, Special, or Racial Skills. ]
The skill's description sparked some curiosity in Sora, but he pushed it aside and activated his [Alter Ego] skill once more.
Seeing One Hundred-Sixteen take form again, he smiled. "So, you're going by Shade now. I took the liberty of naming you Shade…" Looking at the others, he added, "From now on, you won't need to change your identity just to change your name. Just talk to me, and I'll rename you."
After a moment, he asked, "The Supreme Skill disappeared from my side. What about yours?"
Shade didn't need much time to adjust to his new body.
"I still have the Supreme Skill," Shade replied.
Sora smiled. "So the identity that creates the skill keeps it, but while we're merged, I can use it too. Interesting. In that case, get back to your business and stop messing around."
As the group dispersed and each Alter Ego returned to their training, Sora resumed his own tasks.
He vanished from his position and reappeared instantly above New York City. He quickly headed toward a massive building labelled as the [The New White House].
Moving past guards and formations, he entered a meeting room and glanced at the people seated around the table waiting. He spoke.
"Apologies for being late. I had to deal with a little problem." He swept his gaze over everyone present.
Several impressive names had gathered at Sora's request. He quickly scanned their levels to get a better read on everyone.
[GODS] [Edward McCall – Level 218]
[GODS] [Caitlyn Rock – Level 219]
[Kisuke Oyama – Level 190]
[ARAM] [Hope – Level 201]
[ARAM] [Alius – Level 230]
[ARAM] [Emily Frekk – Level 196]
[ARAM] [Kim Dong – Level 194]
[ARAM] [Morgan Casey – Level 185]
'The President of the United States and his wife are nearly level 220… That's impressive. Must be thanks to the method Kim Dong mentioned. Kisuke hides his guild name, but everyone knows he belongs to a neutral force. His level's low, though. It seems he's lost a bit of his shine since the update. Still, I'm guessing there's a reason he's here.'
Turning his attention to the woman seated next to Alius, he smiled. 'So that's Hope, Alius's girlfriend? She's pretty… though Kara's still more beautiful.'
'The level differences of the guys within [ARAM] are mostly due to talent. Alius clearly leaves them all behind, though.' He thought, enjoying his brother's success.
'And finally, Morgan Casey. According to Emily, he left [GODS] when Hannah took over and spent some time on his own before joining [ARAM]. He didn't benefit from Kim's leveling method, but he's still gained a few levels since peace returned yesterday.'