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SM/DC Chapter 136 : Legacy Shadow Legion Dungeon - Level 4
🕑 Added 2025-06-02 22:51:25 +0000 UTCThe shadows receded like ocean tides as Arthur and Raven appeared inside the Titans Tower in the familiar, silent gloomy room of hers. For a moment, they remained in the same intimate stance his arm still around her waist, her hand resting against his chest. The shadow’s energy dissipated with a hiss, and reality settled again.
Raven blinked, caught in the closeness. Then, with a slight, awkward shuffle, she stepped back, smoothing the folds of her clothes like she needed something to do with her hands.
“That… was certainly a nice way to get here,” she said, trying not to sound too breathless. “Quite different from the portals I use.”
Arthur smirked. “Told you. My way’s better.”
She rolled her eyes, though there was a reluctant curl at the edge of her lips. Her eyes scanned the room a sanctuary of the arcane and magic, now it felt a bit too weird for her.
“It feels like ages since I’ve been here,” she said softly, almost to herself. “Everything’s exactly the same… but it doesn’t feel the same at the same time.”
“I did some snooping while you were gone,” Arthur said, strolling casually toward one of her shelves. “Found traces that John did too. Left behind some magical item that got me into Azarath with the help of someone, and of course the lingering smell of cigarettes, that was another clue.”
Raven sighed. “That’s expected from him. Subtlety has never been John’s strength.”
But then her gaze narrowed slightly. “Wait… did you mess with my personal things?”
Arthur turned around slowly, both hands rising as if to surrender. “I didn’t.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Arthur…”
“I swear,” he added, grinning. “You can ask Kara. She practically was the one that stopped me from doing so. Besides, even if I did, my only intention was to find anything that could help me locate you. That’s it.”
Raven studied him, then gave a small shrug. “It’s fine.”
Arthur’s grin widened. “Of course it’s fine. You’re mine now.”
He said it so casually, like it was the most obvious thing in the world with certainty. Raven’s eyes widened, her face flushing with red. She didn’t deny it. She couldn’t even make eye contact.
Just quietly turned and busied herself with brushing some dust off her old spellbook.
Arthur took the moment to pace slowly, looking at the center of the room where the air always felt heavier, denser. A place steeped in magic, the location of his dungeon entrance.
“You should go see your team,” he said. “Pretty sure that Robin already knows we’re here.”
Raven hesitated. “I don’t know what to say to them...”
Arthur looked over his shoulder. “Just be yourself. You’ll figure it out.”
A key formed in his palm, curling into shape like smoke solidifying into steel. The runes along its edge glowed softly resonating with him, and only him.
Raven stepped closer, her curiosity overcoming the moment of doubt.
“How does this work?” she asked, tilting her head. “I tried to recreate it myself when I was trying to find you, but... nothing worked.”
Arthur looked at the key, then back at her. “It’s hard to....Ugh Honestly, I don’t think I can explain it. I just know how to use it. It responds to me, and only me. That’s why no one else can open it.”
She nodded slowly, thoughtful. “Figures. Nothing about you is easy to figure out.”
Arthur smirked and turned back toward the center of the room. He twisted the key in the air, and with a crack of dark energy and a pulse of violet light, a gate bloomed open coiling shadows forming a swirling portal.
He turned to her one last time. “I’ll be going now. See ya.”
The smile he gave her wasn’t just a farewell. It was a promise.
Then he stepped in and the portal sealed shut behind him with a low whisper of wind.
Raven stood in the silence of her room, surrounded by old comforts and new doubts. Her cloak shifted slightly as she took a breath.
Then, after a heartbeat, she whispered so softly it barely reached the walls
“… I still want you around.... But do come back safe, dummy,”
Her voice was so soft yet full of everything she couldn’t bring herself to say when he was standing right in front of her.
Then, realizing what she’d just said, she groaned under her breath and turned toward the door.
“… I’m turning into Starfire.”
****
As Arthur stepped through the portal, his body was immediately consumed by shadow, swallowed by the unseen force of the dungeon’s new reality. The air changed. The world shifted.
[Welcome to Legacy: Shadow Legion Dungeon]
[Levels 1–3: Cleared]
[Proceed to Level 4?]
Arthur narrowed his eyes. His hand tightened into a fist as the system interface projected in front of his eyes, and echoed through his mind like an ethereal whisper.
“…Yeah.” he muttered.
[Confirmed. Transporting to Level 4…]
The ground beneath him vanished reality spiraling like a dark whirlpool and within an instant, Arthur's boots slammed against soft soil.
He staggered slightly, catching his balance.
The first thing he noticed was the scent rich, earthy, and wild. The second was the sky filtered with a golden hue, partially hidden by tree branches so enormous they blotted out the horizon.
“…What the hell ?” he breathed, standing upright.
Everything around him towered impossibly high.
Flowers the size of houses bloomed lazily in the breeze. The grass stood tall as fences. The trees, literal God trees, they rose like natural skyscrapers, stretching hundreds of meters into the air.
Arthur looked down at himself, then at a mushroom casting a shadow over his head like a dome.
“Okay… this is definitely messing with my sense of scale,” he muttered, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
His boots began to lift from the mossy earth, his body rising into the air as he slowly levitated, the further up he went, the more surreal the world around him became. Insects like beasts crawled across bark the size of cliff faces. Wind rustled leaves as large as ships. And in the far-off distance, rising like a mountain carved from myth, he saw it.
A castle.
Ancient. Ornate. Shrouded in cloud and shadow. Massive.
He crossed his arms mid-air, eyes narrowing. “Figures. Giant realm, Giant enemies. At least I understand what I'll face now.”
A breeze passed through his dark coat, ruffling it like a wing. Arthur sighed, out of anticipation rather than weariness.
"Bellion is a long way to go..." he said softly to himself, voice carrying with the wind.
But then his eyes burned blue.
"But I'll get there."
He flared with shadow.
One moment he was hovering in midair.
The next boom. he tore through the skies, breaking the sound barrier with a blast of force. Leaves scattered. Trees bent. The sky roared.
Black tendrils spiraled from his back as he streaked through the sky like a shadow comet, the castle growing closer with every second.
“I will claim that Black Heart,” Arthur growled, eyes locked on the horizon. “No matter what stands in my way.”
****
The sonic boom of his arrival still echoed through the heavens as Arthur descended from the clouds like a harbinger of shadow and storm. Wind howled in his wake.
Then impact.
Arthur landed in a controlled crouch, shadows coiling beneath his boots and the earth trembled lightly under him. Before him stood the gate.
Massive didn’t begin to describe it.
The castle’s outer wall soared hundreds of meters high, forged from stone veined with ancient glowing runes. The gate itself was carved from titanic slabs of dark metal, each panel adorned with weird glyhps, pulsing slowly with violet and crimson light.
Arthur rose to his full height, eyes scanning every detail and his surroundings.
No guards.
No sentries.
No fanfare.
But his instincts buzzed, warning him with a whisper of the sheer magnitude of power that lay beyond those gates. Magic so dense. It wasn't just a castle it was a domain, and something… had built it to match their size and will.
Arthur tilted his head slightly.
"Huh," he mused aloud. “Should I knock or… just blow the damn thing off its hinges?”
He stood there in silence for a beat, then shrugged.
"Guess we’ll start with the polite approach for once." He raised his hand and gave the massive gate three solid knocks each one sending a ripple of vibration through the towering doors.
Then he smirked and leaned casually against the gate, crossing one leg behind the other.
“…Hello? I have a delivery. One large order of ass-kicking.”
With a groaning rumble that echoed across the entire realm, the gates shuddered then opened inward, splitting down the center with slow motion. Dust fell like powdered stars from the seams. Magic hissed out.
Arthur blinked, raising a brow in mild surprise.
“…Well. What do you know?” he said, stepping forward as shadows curled around his feet. “Not everything has to be solved with violence.”
The moment he passed through the threshold, the world seemed to stretch again, his senses adjusted just in time to feel it
They were coming.
From beyond the distant corridors, giants emerged walking titans of war, some clad in ancient armor, others wrapped in thick hides and runed cloth. their footsteps made the stone quake.
Eyes like molten fire locked onto the lone figure standing at the gate.
Arthur… smiled.
He raised his right hand, the Demon King’s Longsword materialized in his grip. The blade growled into existence, humming with dark and electric energy, sparking blue lightning.
He rolled his neck slowly, "Alright," he muttered, gaze focused, wild grin tugging at his lips. His voice was full of excitement.
“…I can’t wait to see what they can do.”
