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SLW Chapter 42 : First Apostle Down.
🕑 Added 2025-03-12 22:54:44 +0000 UTCAeron stood amidst the wreckage, his purple eyes glowing with an unearthly light. The air was wrong, as if the world itself was struggling to contain the abomination that had just been unleashed.
The Shadowborn Horror loomed before him a twisted colossus, its form constantly shifting. Dozens of jagged mouths gnashed and screamed, and its limbs, like the claws of some forgotten nightmare, scraped against reality itself. The sheer malice radiating from it felt like it could drown the world in darkness.
Aeron let out a breath, his grip on Direfang tightening as he tilted his head.
"Fucking hell…" he muttered, half in awe, half in irritation. "For something like this to exist in this world…"
The beast howled, a sound that made the air itself tremble. Its massive arm lashed out, a black tendril ripping through the remains of the temple and smashing the ground where Aeron stood.
He vanished in a blur, dodging with a flicker of Ruler’s Authority, appearing atop a crumbled stone pillar. His lips curved into a wicked smile.
"Alright then," he raised a hand high. "Let’s see if you can handle all of them."
His purple eyes blazed, and his voice rang out like thunder
"Come out."
The earth shook beneath his feet. From the blackness surrounding him, shadows poured forth a legion of death, his army. Hundreds of shadow soldiers emerged, their eyes glowing faintly, snarling for battle.
Shadow wolves and shadowcats prowled at the forefront, their fangs dripping with shadowed venom. Aeron’s shadow giant rose behind them, hefting its massive, jagged log-club with a deep, earth-shaking growl.
The ground split as his soldiers clad in blackened armor, emerged with blades gleaming with malice.
Aeron extended his arm and pointed toward the Horror.
"Tear it apart."
The shadows charged.
The Horror shrieked, swinging its colossal limbs...but Aeron’s wolves struck first, leaping onto it, ripping and tearing into its shifting form. Black ichor sprayed, but the monster barely flinched.
A shadowcat pounced onto its back, claws shredding through the writhing darkness. The Horror twisted, one of its mouths snapping shut and devouring the beast whole...only for more to take its place.
Aeron was already moving.
He blurred through the battlefield, daggers flashing. With a twist of his wrist, he hurled one of his silverfang daggers...it buried deep into the Horror’s shoulder, black tendrils already eating away at it.
"Feeling that, are you?" Aeron grinned as the beast trembled, its movements slowing. "Poison’s a bitch, huh?"
A massive black chain shot from the Horror’s chest, aiming to bind him Aeron laughed and simply snapped his fingers.
With Ruler’s Authority, the chain reversed midair and wrapped around the Horror’s own limb, yanking it down and exposing its flank.
His giant seized the opening bringing the log-club crashing down with an earth-shattering boom. The Horror reeled, howling in rage as shadowed beasts swarmed it from all sides.
Aeron dashed in, Direfang appearing in his hand. He slashed low, severing a writhing limb, and then pivoted hurling his second dagger directly into one of its eyes.
The Horror spasmed, tendrils flailing wildly.
"You’re just a big target," Aeron taunted, his voice cutting through the chaos. "Guess you’re not as powerful as you seem to be, just a weak abomination."
Another tendril lashed toward him. He caught it midair with Ruler’s Authority, twisting it violently and ripping it from the beast’s body.
Aeron grinned as he watched the Horror stagger, the poison seeping deeper into its form, weakening it further.
"Borrowed power’s a dangerous thing..." he said, appearing above the beast in a blink. "And you’re just about empty by now."
He threw Direfang as hard as he could but missed, or so it seemed.
The blade spun past the Horror’s head until Aeron raised his hand, fingers clenching into a fist.
Ruler’s Authority grabbed hold of the sword mid-flight, redirecting it in an instant, straight through the back of the Horror’s skull.
The beast froze, an unearthly wail echoing through the ruins.
Aeron landed softly in front of it, shadows swirling around him like a king overseeing his fallen enemy.
"And now…" he murmured, reaching out as Direfang flew back to his palm. "It’s really over for you."
With a single, fluid motion, he lunged burying the blade deep into its head.
The Horror convulsed one final time, and then collapsed, its colossal form disintegrating into fading wisps of shadow.
Aeron stood there, breathing steadily as the battlefield fell silent. His shadow soldiers lingered for a moment, their glowing eyes watching for any sign of life until he lowered his hand.
They vanished back into the void.
Aeron rolled his shoulders, glancing at the scorched ruins around him.
"Well," he muttered, flicking blood from his blade. "That was...something.."
As the last remnants of the Shadowborn Horror faded into nothingness, Aeron’s legs trembled and for the first time in a long while, he felt it.
Exhaustion.
His vision blurred slightly, the edges of his sight darkening as his body screamed in protest. With a grunt, he dropped to one knee, clutching his side as a sharp wave of pain tore through his ribs.
"Shit…" he muttered, coughing blood onto the cracked stone beneath him. It was dark almost black against the ruin’s cold surface.
He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, shaking his head in disbelief. "That bastard… was really strong." His voice was rough, strained. "I didn’t think they could be this powerful…"
For a moment, the only sound was his ragged breathing and the faint hiss of fading shadow energy. His muscles ached, his body feeling like it had been torn apart and stitched back together with nothing but sheer will.
But he wasn’t done.
Not yet.
With a slow, deliberate motion, Aeron pushed himself back to his feet, his purple eyes still burning with cold fire. His boots crunched against broken stone as he stalked toward Veydris’ corpse or what was left of it. The once-proud apostle lay sprawled and broken, his lifeless body twisted at an unnatural angle.
Aeron’s lip curled into a smile. "You made me bleed," he murmured. "I guess it’s only fair you pay me back... with your servitude."
He lifted his hand, and the air around him grew heavy...thick with power. Darkness swirled beneath his feet, spreading like a creeping void, consuming everything in its path.
"Arise."
The word echoed through the temple, cold and absolute a command no soul could defy.
A black like void rippled outward, engulfing Veydris’ corpse. The air trembled as shadows twisted and warped his broken form. For a heartbeat, everything was still.
Then, a figure emerged.
It was Veydris or rather, a shadow-forged version of him. His form was pitch black, as though crafted from living darkness, but his eyes burned a familiar, eerie crimson. The edges of his shadowed robes flowed like smoke, and his aura was just as cold just as dangerous as when he had drawn breath.
He dropped to one knee, bowing his head before Aeron. His smile widened. "Well… you’ll still be called Veydris." He let the name linger, savoring the weight it carried. "Let’s see if you’re as useful in death as you were annoying in life."
As he turned his gaze to the rest of the battlefield, more shadows stretched out claiming the bodies of the dead priests. One by one, they rose from the black, hollow-eyed and bound in eternal servitude.
A flurry of notifications flashed before his eyes:
You leveled up! You leveled up! You leveled up!
[You have defeated one of the Eight Apostles of the Gods – Veydris of Asshai, Apostle of the Shadow Gods.]
Aeron exhaled slowly, feeling the familiar surge of power coursing through his veins his body mending itself slightly, the exhaustion easing just a little.
"One of the Eight Apostles, seven more.." He laughed under his breath, shaking his head. "If the rest are anything like you… this might actually get interesting."
He cast a glance at his new elite knight, Veydris, who remained kneeling in the shattered remains of the temple.
"Get up." Aeron’s voice held no room for argument. "We’re not done yet."
As the temple’s ruins lay in smoldering chaos, Aeron stood tall, surrounded by his shadow army his enemies now his servants, his power growing with every battle.
And somewhere in the darkness beyond of shadowlands, something else waited.
