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SLW Chapter 41 : Apostle of The Shadow Gods - 2
🕑 Added 2025-03-10 21:52:21 +0000 UTCThe abyss roared, shifting like a living thing, as Aeron and Veydris clashed once more.
Steel rang against steel, each impact sending shockwaves through the blackened void. Veydris moved like liquid, weaving through darkness
Veydris was tiring.
Aeron vanished and reappeared mid-air, slashing downward with Direfang. Veydris barely phased through, appearing at Aeron’s flank and swinging his own blackened blade.
CLANG!
Aeron parried, his feet barely touching the ground before he launched forward, using Ruler’s Authority to pull himself straight into Veydris.
A knee to the ribs.
Veydris hissed, fading into shadows, only to reappear behind Aeron and send a burst of black chains at him. Aeron smirked, spinning his dagger in a blur, slashing through the tendrils as they cracked like whips.
"That trick is getting old," Aeron mocked, his eyes glowing bright.
Veydris didn’t respond. Instead, he twisted his fingers, and suddenly, the chains coiled around Aeron’s arms and legs, dragging him down into the void.
A trap.
Veydris raised a hand, and the abyss itself shuddered.
A wave of living shadow surged forth black, twisted horrors clawing out from the void, their forms writhing and shifting. They took shape shadow-men, malformed specters, and flickering wraiths, all screaming toward Aeron like a tidal wave of darkness.
Aeron’s purple eyes glowed brighter, a wicked grin splitting his face.
"Come forth."
The air itself shook.
The ground beneath him split apart as an ocean of shadows erupted, flooding the battlefield with his true power.
From the blackness, they emerged.
Massive shadowcats, sleek and predatory, their glowing violet eyes locking onto their prey. Towering shadow wolves, their fangs glistening with hunger. The air filled with the deep growls and snarls of creatures beyond mortal understanding.
Aeron laughed softly, shaking his head.
"You know, this is actually insulting."
He gestured toward the grotesque, lesser summons Veydris had conjured.
"This pathetic replica of my power is making me sick."
Veydris’ expression didn’t change, but Aeron saw it...the brief flicker in his eyes, the moment of hesitation.
He was angry.
Good.
The Apostle raised his hands, and the black chains tightened around Aeron, locking him in place.
Aeron didn’t even struggle.
Instead, he simply lifted his chin, his grin widening.
"Weak."
With a single thought, Ruler’s Authority surged, and the chains snapped apart like brittle twigs. The air trembled as the very essence of the void bent to Aeron’s will.
Veydris’ eyes narrowed.
Aeron stretched his arms lazily.
"My turn."
His shadow-beasts lunged, tearing into the Apostle’s pathetic summons like they were made of paper. Black ichor splattered, the wails of dying shadows filling the abyss.
Veydris growled and raised his hands, summoning dozens of black chains, launching them in a frenzy.
CLANG!
CLANG!
CLANG!
Aeron moved effortlessly, his body weaving between the chains like a specter. Left. Right. Duck. Flip. Twist.
He closed the distance gracefully, like a predator stalking its prey.
Chains whipped past him, missing him by inches...each dodge impossibly precise, his movements smooth, fluid, perfect.
Aeron’s daggers flashed
SHNK!
One chain split apart, another deflected with a flick of his blade.
He was upon Veydris in seconds.
A dagger came down fast...Veydris barely managed to block with his obsidian blade. The impact sent a shockwave rippling outward.
Aeron’s other hand shot forward, Ruler’s Authority gripping the Apostle’s throat...
"You're out of options."
“Am I” Veydris' voice slithered through the abyss, calm, taunting.
Before Aeron could tighten his grip, the Apostle's form melted into the darkness, vanishing like a whisper in the wind. His body twisted into pure shadow, dissolving into the abyss.
The battlefield fell into eerie silence.
Aeron’s purple eyes gleamed, his smirk unfaltering.
"Oh? Running away?" He tilted his head. "Or are you just stalling for time?"
No answer.
The air shifted a whisper of movement behind him.
Aeron spun
WHAM!
A fist slammed into his side, sending him soaring through the void like a cannonball. He crashed through a pillar of black mist, flipping midair to land on his feet, skidding across the abyss.
Veydris emerged, stepping from the darkness like a phantom, his eyes gleaming with cold amusement.
"You're not as omnipotent as you believe, Shadow Monarch." He flicked his fingers, and the darkness coiled around him like a living entity.
Aeron wiped a trace of blood from his lip, then smiled.
"And yet…You’re the one who is getting weaker.."
The Apostle teleported again, emerging from the blackness, swinging his sword in a ruthless arc
CLANG!
Aeron parried, but instead of countering, he let go of his dagger
Veydris’ eyes widened.
With his now free hand, Aeron threw a brutal punch, enhanced by Ruler’s Authority, sending the Apostle skidding back.
Aeron didn’t let up.
SHUNK!
Another dagger appeared in his hand, and in a blur, he rushed forward, slashing across Veydris’ ribs and stabbed him deep. The Apostle hissed, darkness spilling like blood.
"Your powers aren’t infinite, are they?" Aeron taunted, spinning his blade between his fingers. "You’re only borrowing them from a higher being. And you’re running out of strength."
Veydris exhaled slowly, his red eyes dimming slightly. "You see much, but not all, Shadow Monarch."
WHOOSH!
Suddenly, the entire void lurched. Darkness spiraled violently, wrapping around Veydris, as if the shadows themselves were screaming in fury.
And then
He vanished.
Aeron’s instincts screamed.
"Behind me."
Too late.
A black blade pierced through his side.
Aeron gritted his teeth, blood dripping onto the abyss.
Veydris leaned in, whispering, "You are strong, but arrogance has undone greater men than you."
Aeron grinned through the pain.
"Good thing I’m not just any man."
Ruler’s Authority ACTIVATED.
His dagger, still lodged in Veydris’ ribs, twisted violently
SHNK!
Veydris staggered, his breath hitching.
Aeron ripped himself free from the Apostle’s blade, flipping backward, blood trailing through the air.
He landed smoothly, despite his wound, rolling his shoulders. The poison was already working.
Veydris exhaled sharply, one knee dropping to the abyss. His breathing was heavier now, the black mist of his form flickering like a dying flame.
Aeron pointed his bloodstained dagger at him.
"This fight is really over now."
The endless blackness shuddered, cracks of dim red light seeping through. The suffocating abyss peeled away, like shadows recoiling from the light. The warped, endless battlefield collapsed, revealing the ruined temple once more.
The flames still burned. The air reeked of ash and death.
Aeron taking a deep breath as if the void had been nothing more than an inconvenience. Then, with a flick of his wrist, Direfang appeared in his grasp. The ancient blade hummed in his hands, hungry for its next kill.
He leveled it at Veydris.
"Any last words, Apostle of No One?" His voice dripped with cold amusement. "Or would you rather just choke on your own blood?"
Veydris staggered slightly.
The once-proud Apostle of Asshai, the so-called master of the abyss, was fading. His breaths came slow. Labored.
The poison had done its work. His strength was draining, his body betraying him.
Yet still… he smiled.
His eyes gleamed, unfazed, as if he had expected this all along.
"Apostle of No One?" He chuckled darkly. "Is that what you think I am... There is another not far from here, and is far stronger than I am."
Veydris chuckled darkly, his voice like silk laced with venom. Even with his body failing, even with Aeron's blade at his throat, the Apostle smirked.
"Is that what you think I am?" he whispered, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. "There is another… not far from here. And he is far stronger than I am."
Aeron arched a brow, twirling Direfang in his grip.
"I know that there are eight of you” he mused, eyes gleaming. "Let me guess, some other man, a plaything of a higher being? Just another pawn waiting for me to cut down?"
Veydris winced, his body trembling. His veins bulged, his crimson eyes darkening, reddened by pain and poison. Yet, through the agony, he grinned.
"A man…?" he rasped. "I wouldn't call it that."
Before Aeron could react...before a single muscle could move
Veydris drove his hand straight into his own chest.
CRACK.
Bone shattered, flesh tore apart. His own fingers plunged through his ribs, piercing his heart.
Aeron’s eyes widened. "What the..."
A deep, guttural laugh rumbled from Veydris' throat, blood pouring from his lips. His body convulsed, shadow coiling around him like living tendrils, writhing in ecstasy as they drank his life.
"This… is my farewell... gift..."
Aeron's instincts screamed.
The temple walls shook. The air became...wrong.
Then, it exploded.
A pillar of pure darkness erupted from Veydris' body, spiraling into the sky, howling like the wails of the damned. The remaining ruins quaked under an unseen pressure, and a gaping void swallowed everything in its path.
And from that abyss...
It emerged.
A colossal horror crawled forth, its body formed from shadows. Towers of writhing limbs, jagged fangs, a maw that stretched endlessly...the Shadowborn Horror had been summoned.
Aeron barely had time to move before one of its massive tendrils crashed into the earth, obliterating what was left of the temple ruins.
