Chapter 63

"As it is now time to pass down the final judgment."

Ashborn's feet touched the ground. It cracked under the pressure. His dark, intimidating aura was slowly crawling onto Agrona's consciousness as the snake began trembling instinctively. Caera watched as the sovereign of her land crumbled on the floor like a crouton. Even on his knees, while trying to force himself not to bend even more. Agrona's body betrayed him, and his forehead was pressed onto the floor.

It wasn't just a show of force… no, it was total and utter domination. The purple-haired was obviously a realm above all who Caera had ever met, and now she is sure that there is nobody stronger than him. If this is not absolute power, then what could ever be? She wondered.

"Worship the Lord."

The shadow monarch stepped closer to the kneeling man, on the way, materializing the sword made out of the darkness.

"Praise the Lord." He stood over Agrona, looking down at him, preparing to strike at any moment. Completely blind to the situation, Agrona couldn't even open his mouth to speak. While Caera's pupils enlarged at the sight. The mighty Vritra is about to be killed in front of her.

"Prove your faith to the Lord…"

The sword came down on the snake's head. A few meters away, Caera heard a thud, but she couldn't see what happened. Her sight was set at an angle where she couldn't see the head of Agrona.

"...By your own blood and life."

Crimson eyes finally noticed how the head rolled next to Ashborn, and the trails of blood followed after it. Head made a final roll, and definitely, the face belonged to Agrona… it wasn't an illusion.

"Now rise, my soldier."

All the shadow soldiers had met the same fate once, but they obtained something in return. The emotion which burned eternally, Loyalty for their lord and the new power of darkness. Agrona was the same, now that he had his eyes opened in the darkness, he saw the world in new colors. The desires he previously held dear, all disappeared. Now he just wanted to remain loyal and useful to the one who gifted him.

As the shadow rose, it kneeled and lowered its head to greet its lord.

"Your commands, my King?"

The shadow was human-like, with the human body. Just way larger, and the skin was obviously dark. The head had long and branched horns. The said skin had scales that were visible only because of the purple mana running through.

"I'll keep my questions to myself... For now, in my shadow."

At the command, the creature nodded and immediately obeyed his new King. It disappeared from Caera's sight, who for all this time couldn't really keep up with the situation. Not every day you can see a dead man rising in front of someone, can you?

Then Ashborn turned towards her, "For you, I do have something. It might help you if there is a desire to get stronger of course."

"Um, there is?"

"This will be useless for me, but since you are here, maybe you can use it before it decays." Agrona's body, even if not his, was still an Asuran and strong. Way stronger than any human being, with enormous mana reserves.

*Snap*

The auburn-haired grabbed onto the corpse's horns and by squeezing his hand, the horns made out of mana easily came off from the sockets. He then threw the heavy object to Caera, who barely managed to get a hold of it.

"Here, it will help you."

"How can this thing help me?"

"Just absorb the mana from it, there's a lot of it. Would be enough for you to reach the white-core stage unless you lose most of it in the process."

Caera in disbelief stared at the horn. She had questions along the lines: How could this horn help her to get so strong? And again, the person in front of him just called him useless for himself.

"But why don't you use it for yourself?"

"It won't change anything for me, unlike you. It will help you for the better."

The random act of kindness from Ashborn was greatly appreciated by Caera. Even though the first simply gave it to ensure that it wouldn't become complete garbage, he wasn't sure if Caera could even use it properly. Only a few seconds later he realized the girl wasn't enduring enough to get a hold of this powerful object.

The remnants of Agrona's mana were still strong enough to surge through Caera instantly. The veins on the girl stiffened, and the mana core began trembling. It reached the point where the blood came out of her nose. Her body was shocked, her mind was shocked, Caera couldn't feel the pain entirely.

*Cough* She coughed out the blood and began falling forward, as she couldn't contain herself standing.

"There, there. You absorbed too much."

Fortunately, she was caught by the same auburn-haired boy who gave her this dangerous item. Instantly her condition became stable and the chaotic mana in her was calmed down forcefully by Ashborn. The internal damage also began healing quickly.

"Maybe your Vritra lineage isn't strong enough."

"My king, it was just my mana that was rejected by hers." Agrona's shadow manifested next to him to Ashborn

"I saw. Since you had partly similar blood, this shouldn't have been a problem. I guess it's not just her strength, it's just the Asuras, who are way above every living being on this planet."

"My king, not many could awaken with the Vritra blood. Hers even managed to resist mine. That's formidable if I had a say in that."

"Hm. She still received a lot of damage, mental and physical… Sleep for a little." With a little wave in front of the girl's face, her eyes finally closed and she fell asleep.

Ashborn proceeded to pick her up in a princess-carry. Compared to Ash, she was still smaller physically, so there was no problem carrying her around.

"Agrona, while we are at it. Tell me exactly what you have done."

"I understand my King, I shall begin right away."

Thus the shadow soldier began recalling the beginning of the story, in a very detailed manner. Apparently, it all started before Ashborn came to this world, during a genocide of the Djinn. Kezess to neutralize the powerful, but rather peaceful entities, sent out dozens of dragons to eliminate them.

Agrona explained the decision made by Kazess as just cowardness, because of their fear they decided to kill actually intelligent beings who 'posed' danger.

"I learned about the fate only after discovering the runes, which remained after the destruction."

Still, the remnants of the ancient magus remained. The relictombs that spread throughout the Alacrya were one of them.

"We the Asuras weren't able to enter the relictombs, thus I began sending inferior to us race in them to get some kind of intel."

The idea was to send people into these relictombs, later those who became the Ascenders were to learn more about relictombs. Unfortunately for Agrona, his questions were never answered, possibly the ancient mages already predicted this outcome and made the relictombs not reveal anything vital.

"All this was to take over the Epheotus. The sacrifices I made in my long life were all for my desire."

He sacrificed not only his lover but also his daughter for one goal. To take over the Epheotus, he needed some kind of trigger as a backup plan. Sylvia and Sylvie were exactly that.

"Ironically enough, my most despised enemy and I allied for our own downfalls."

"Kezess and you, going against me?"

"Not exactly, my king. You were graceful enough to give this snake and deer hybrid a second chance, this isn't a downfall, but a gift. I meant the experiment we have done on the flying continent."

"Tell me more."

"Kezess visited my chambers by himself, that came as a surprise to me…"

Agrona and Kezess made a deal. The dragon would not interfere in the lesser life's affairs, while Agrona has to help him in creating something. The thing that would help him undoubtedly defeat the being named "Ashborn Leywin".

"And so I looked into the element of Fate. I could only see the darkness but almost like… instinctively, if something inside me was giving me hints. I realized what I had to do."

The two were born from darkness and light, by the same parent, at the same time. The first is similar to another, yet so different from each other. One's destruction brings death, and the second's death brings life.

A connection of sorts was needed, and that was what Agrona found. The experiment was in the end successful, but as destined the creation attempted to kill its creator. Only with a little trick, Agrona managed to escape.

"And that's where Arthur comes, right?"

"Unfortunately, that's exactly it, my lord. Your brother, Arthur, was a piece needed to make it happen."

"I think I've heard enough."

Ashborn didn't need to hear any more information, he understood what was to come from his soldier's mouth. There would be a clash, with his own brother at that, if only Arthur can be called his brother after all the events unfolding…

Agrona felt the change in his lord and didn't press on it, instead he suggested proceeding by setting up the terrain for their clash.

The shadow monarch sighed, "Let's get going." He handed Caera to Agrona, who gently took the sleeping girl.

"Should I take care of my impudent puppets, my lord?"

"It's unnecessary, I'll do it myself." Agrona nodded in acknowledgment.

So both of them dropped into the shadows, also taking the navy-haired girl with them. Ashborn could see through the eyes of different shadow soldiers, thus spectating different events happening all across the world. Hawky wasn't an exception, and through its eyes, the shadow monarch watched his family.

At the moment, there wasn't a dire need for his interference. Hawky could handle it by himself, but he made his family wait too long. It was finally time to return, and on the way, he would also finish a few matters.

Such as killing the traitor.

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It all happened so fast that the Twin Horns weren't able to realize the entirety of the situation. The adrenaline in their bodies was pumped to the maximum and their heartbeat increased so much that their chests literally trembled. In a single moment, their ears caught a familiar voice, resulting in their bodies relaxing.

The words "It's all safe now, you may rest assured." coming from a familiar person that you can trust, is very reassuring. Especially, when you know that this person is strong.

Instantly, the pressure coming from their enemies died down. The group watched how Alacryan soldiers could only stare, drop their weapons and raise their hands. While the traitor faced a much more cruel fate.

Trodius Flamesworth first lost a hand, and it was now lying right next to him. Oh well, he himself followed right after, as he was lying on the rock-hard ground with a leg pressed on his back.

"Did you enjoy it, hurting your own child?" Something whispered in his ear, while the leg on his back pressed on his back even harder. It became tough for the man to breathe, he couldn't even shout in agony, only some grunts followed.

"I have no reason to let a fake parent like you continue living. Nonetheless… I hate backstabbers even more."

*Crack*

Flamesworth's ribcage cracked, the pain was already irrelevant, and his shock was too big to even think about. All he had on mind was survival, he begged in his thought for this hell to end.

"But, I believe your life is in a different person's hands. I'll just make it easier for her to decide what to do with you."

Ashborn moved down his leg by the spine, just right above the man's mana core, and by sending enormous amounts of destructive mana, he broke the man's magical powers. Still, the shadow monarch wasn't done with clearing the area.

'My lord, what should we do with others?' Agrona came out from the nearby shadow with the blue-haired girl in his hands.

'...kill those who resist.'

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Don't worry! No hiatus, just a little lazy ass me who forgot to publish the next chapter. I don't have problems with writing, just a little bit driven by another fic. Should I publish it btw? It might not satisfy many since the reason for me writing it, is... very complicated. But well, whoever had read it on my disc only gave positive reviews.

Let's hope it'll come out as intended. There are 3 very big chapters posted there whatsoever, for now, they are drafts and might be split... cuz they are big. Since it's just a work in progress, I'll be happy if someone does give me a little critique. It feels very weird to just receive positive comments when you aren't satisfied with your work.

https://discord.gg/r2VSvS5kaH

Cya later guys!