Chapter 15: Shadows of the Past

The Birth of the Shadow Saiyans

The moment Xyros' power exploded at the top of the tower, something deep in my bones told me I had just stepped into the realm of something… unnatural. Saiyans were warriors—flesh, blood, rage. But this? This was something else entirely.

Dark energy coiled around Xyros like living tendrils, whispering in an unholy language I couldn't understand. It was like the darkness itself had fused with him, making him something beyond what Saiyans were ever meant to be.

And for the first time in a long time, I felt something I didn't want to admit.

Fear.

Korr's voice echoed in my mind: The Shadow Saiyans didn't just fight. They consumed.

But how? How did Saiyans—proud, battle-hardened, real warriors—become this?

Xyros seemed to sense my thoughts because his smirk widened.

"You want to know the truth?" he asked, his golden eyes gleaming with something sinister. "How we became what we are?"

I didn't answer, but my clenched fists spoke volumes.

He chuckled, low and knowing. "Then listen well, because this is a story your people were never meant to remember."

And with that, the tower itself trembled—no, it responded—to his power.

And then the past unfolded before me.

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The Fall of the First Saiyan Empire

Thousands of years ago, before the Saiyans conquered the stars, before even the blood-drenched warlords who ruled our race, there was an empire. A true Saiyan empire, built not just on strength—but knowledge.

They weren't just warriors. They were architects of power, researchers of the limits of Saiyan evolution. They pushed their bodies, minds, and spirits to the absolute brink, searching for something greater than mere transformation.

And one day, they found it.

Or rather… it found them.

In the deepest reaches of space, on a planet long since turned to dust, the First Saiyans unearthed something ancient. A force older than the stars, sealed away for eons.

The Black Core.

A fragment of the void itself.

At first, they believed they had discovered the next step in Saiyan evolution. The Black Core offered power, whispered secrets of strength beyond imagination. But it came at a cost.

Saiyans were creatures of fury, of battle. The Core fed on that. It didn't just empower them—it corrupted them.

Those who touched it lost their individuality, their souls drained away until only hunger remained. They became something else. Not Saiyans, not warriors—predators.

The Shadow Saiyans.

---

The Saiyan Civil War – Light vs. Dark

It didn't take long for war to erupt.

The Origin Saiyans—Akuma's ancestors—stood against the darkness. They saw what the Shadow Saiyans had become, and they knew.

There was no saving them.

And so, the war began.

The Shadow Saiyans weren't just strong. They fed on battle. Every Saiyan who fell only made them stronger. Their abilities weren't just about raw power—they could steal energy, drain life force, consume warriors and make their strength their own.

The war was brutal. A thousand battlefields, entire worlds turned to ash. But in the end, the Origin Saiyans won.

At a terrible cost.

The only way to stop the Shadow Saiyans was to seal them away—banish them from history, purge every trace of their existence. The Black Core was shattered, its pieces scattered across the cosmos, and the surviving Shadow Saiyans were locked away in a dimension beyond time itself.

And for millennia… they stayed forgotten.

Until now.

---

The Return of the Shadows

I snapped back to reality, my breath ragged, sweat dripping down my face. The vision—no, the memory—had felt real. Too real.

Xyros stood before me, arms crossed, watching me with amusement.

"You see now," he said. "Your kind buried the truth. But the truth always comes back."

I gritted my teeth. "You're saying you're a descendant of the Shadow Saiyans?"

He chuckled. "Descendant? No, no, no…" His golden eyes gleamed with something that sent ice through my veins.

"I am a Shadow Saiyan."

A chill ran through me.

"That's not possible," I muttered. "They were sealed away. Banished. Erased."

Xyros tilted his head. "And yet, here I stand."

His energy flared, and for a split second, I felt it. The same hunger. The same void.

He wasn't just a warrior.

He was a living nightmare.

"You wanted to know what makes us different?" Xyros asked, stepping closer, his aura warping the very air.

I steadied myself, my body instinctively shifting into a combat stance.

Xyros smirked.

And then—

He vanished.

What?!

I barely had time to react before pain exploded in my gut.

I flew back, slamming into the tower's walls with bone-crushing force. My vision blurred, my breath hitching.

He hadn't just moved fast.

He had warped.

"You fight like an Origin Saiyan," Xyros said, rolling his shoulders. "Powerful. Stubborn. Predictable." His golden eyes darkened. "But we—we are something more."

I pushed myself up, my body aching. "Yeah?" I spat blood, grinning despite the pain. "Well, I've fought plenty of 'more.' You're just another name on the list."

Xyros chuckled. "Oh, I like you."

His aura pulsed. The shadows twisted.

And then—

The darkness moved.

A hundred tendrils lashed out, forming into shadowy figures—Saiyans, but not Saiyans. Their eyes glowed with the same golden light as Xyros, their bodies flickering like living nightmares.

I clenched my fists.

This is bad.

Xyros spread his arms. "The first trial was strength. The second was legacy." His smirk widened. "And this?"

The shadowy Saiyans surged forward.

"This is survival."

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Next Time on Ancient Legends…

Shadow Saiyans—an army?!

Can our hero survive against a force that consumes power itself?!

And just what is Xyros' true goal?!

Find out next time on Ancient Legends!