Lord Shadow

Erika was standing there floating like an ethereal spirit looking at an orb. It was golden and life blooms around it.

Erika wanted to grab it but her hand pa.s.ses the orb like she was not there. It was then she realizes she is in her vision again.

"Which one?" She ask herself.

Now that she realizes that she is in a vision she faintly remember that she puts the Concentration Incense on the four corners of the inner Sanctum of her temple and the Nymph herbs in her drinks to intensify her vision.

She can"t control her vision this time which indicates she is seeing some far off future instead the immediate future.

In her vision her eyes colors are normal but she knows that her real body in the Inner Sanctum has white eyes with white smoke covering her.

Her concentration and vision is a bit clearer than before. It might have to do with the incense she buys from the Merchant a.s.sociation.

The only way to understand this vision and glean something useful from this vision is to let herself flows with the vision.

She looked at the golden orb when a person appears. Slowly the surrounding become clear. It was inside a large abyss with a gigantic monster remains behind the person.

The person face also becomes clear.

Looking at the face she was shocked. It was the Divine Archer Sofia. With a glowing bow behind her she looked divinely beautiful.

Beside her was someone shrouded in white light. Erika tries to peer through the light but could not see the face of the person beside Sofia.

"The Seven G.o.dly Beings!"

Erika said to herself as she floated nearby the person.

Erika notices that the seven G.o.dly beings has always been protected by her vision. Even in her vision she could not see their true faces.

The further she peers into the future the harder it is to see.

Erika could not hear what they said but Sofia and that person seems to argue about something clearly regarding the golden orb.

They are arguing in loud voices but Erika could only hear buzzing and then she felt that headache again.

The s.p.a.ce distorted and spiral sucking her inside the spiral as her consciousness drifted for a while before she regained her consciousness again, her illusory body appearing at somewhere else.

Her vision changed as she was inside a room filled with people she knew. Sitting on the round table made of glowing purple stones were people screaming to each other.

There is Hirate, Arno, Giselle and a few others.

She saw three people shrouded by golden light. There were speaking to each other, more like debating.

In the middle of that table was the golden orb.

Thunder boomed and she was in another vision. She could feel her head slowly having pains. Headache is slowly coming to her.

In this new vision, she saw a person shrouded in purple light, his face unrecognizable because of that purple light is holding someone on his arm.

The person on that purple shrouded man was someone Erika instantly knew

"Paulette" she said.

Then that person must be Jean. She remembers that she once saw a vision when she looked at Jean in the past. She saw six G.o.dly beings warred against each other.

Since then she has her own speculations who are these seven G.o.dly beings. Jean was also one of the candidate she believes is one of the seven.

"Could Jean be one of the Seven G.o.dly Beings?" She thought when another shocking thing happened.

Looking at her direction was that person as his voice pierce through the vision and his cold voice ringing on her ear.

"Who"s there?" And she coughed up blood as her Nine Opening purifications body strength wilted.

Her openings closed and quickly become clogged up forcing her body to go down to only Divine Meridians.

It was like Jean could see her even from the future. It was like he controls Time.

Erika quickly close her mouth in shock. For a moment there is only silence.

Then that vision stabilized as she saw the person shrouded in purple light, who Erika by now, is certain is Jean howled to the sky.

On his arms is a bloodied woman in her last breath.

With his howl a certain change happened to him as the skies opens up and a gush of a heaven defying energy exploded from him and his aura rises up.

"The evolution to being a G.o.dly being!" Erika understand now. At the moment of his death beloved Jean breakthrough to the next level.

Looking at the skies, Jean is seeming to be cursing at someone, as he pointed his finger towards the skies.

He then struck the dying Paulette on her head, who is now only having a little breath as Time stopped.

The winds stopped blowing, birds stayed in a stationary motions, as even the Laws of the world stopped revolving.

Time was stopped. In that one moment everything was eternal. Time seems to not exist capturing this moment of tragedy, immortalized in this scene.

Jean then constructed a purple coffin changing the landscape around him to experience acceleration of time as seeds grows then turns to trees and wilted in a matter of nanoseconds.

It was like he was harvesting time. Erika did not understand it but she could understand the terrifying force of this power.

With that power he constructed a coffin.

The coffin emanated ancientness and time distortions happened around it making life near it either accelerated to its destruction or regresses to its origins.

Then Jean put Paulette in there and fly away.

BOOM! A flash of light and Erika was in another vision.

She knows that this vision is not happening chronologically. She has to make sense of it. Her headache is getting worse.

Maybe the death of Paulette happens before the golden orb was found or even it might be vice versa.

This time she was in s.p.a.ce surrounded by a dark galaxy as seven G.o.dly beings face off each other on a large tables that was three times as big as Earth.

This seven G.o.dly being was gigantic as they dwarfed the planets and the stars. They all have their colors and all were shrouded by lights.

One particularly were shrouded by dark red lights that seems to choke life out of Erika. Then there is one other that is surrounded by green light holding a staff.

Then another flash of light and she appeared in the middle of a great war, million fighting and hurling magic and clas.h.i.+ng their weapons.

Millions dead, bodies filled the battlefield piling up to form a horrendous sight of hills of dead bodies all over the battlefield.

BOOM!

She then saw two snakes circling on the ground with body as large as a mountain, eating people like they were its lunch.

Green mist surrounded the snake as it"s seems to hiss.

Then a thunder strike the land, creating a ma.s.sive shockwave and appears from the white clouds, a golden eagle soaring the skies, lightning spewing out from its feathers, showering the battlefield with thunderstorms.

Then on the skies, appears a large brown eye the size of the moon. No, to be exact, the eye is the moon.

The soldiers on the ground stopped fighting like they were trapped in an illusion that rendered them immobile as they were slashed to death by their enemies.

Then earthquake shakes the battlefield, as the land spills outs and crack appeared forming a large gulf as a tree sprouted from the ground, its vines trapped the enemies as its branches shoots sharp thrones as large as a small hill killing hundreds.

Blood flowed like a river, coloring the battlefield red when white snowflakes falls from the heavens freezing everything and the clouds turns white freezing the lightning and covering the eyes.

The red battlefield now turns white as far as the eyes could see.

Then as Erika was overwhelmed with this sight she realizes a small sand hourgla.s.s on the ground that is not affected by the attack.

It was then Erika understand something. This is not the true vision.

This is the symbolism.

All she saw, the eagle the snakes, the falling snow, the tree, the eye all of it was symbolism she needs to decipher.

As she was thinking of this she saw a black scythe cut the moon into two and decapitated the eagle as the scythe falls down to the surface and the snow stopped.

The trees wilted, the snakes burrowed itself to the ground and everything was still. A light flashed and Erika was in another vision.

It was the man shrouded in golden light speaking with another man shrouded in green light. This time Erika was determined to hear so she burns her life vitality as she could only five words

"Whose side are you on?" Then thousands of images flooded her mind, a glimpse of a far off future in a jumbled manner.

Her mind felt like breaking as her body felt like she was grinded by time.

She could feel her lifespan shortened as she was hurled into Time and she arrived at another vision as her illusionary body landed on the ground with pain aching all over her body.

The pain was unlike any other. She has ethereal body, an illusionary representation of her in his vision world yet she could still felt pain.

This was not physical pain. It is the injury of the soul. It was like her soul was damaged. Looking left and right she saw a fertile plains with one large tree in the middle of that plains.

Below that tree is two people.

"Tch" she clicked her tongue as her expression turned dark. That is because she saw her most hateful vision.

She has seen this vision countless of time.

She saw herself gouging one of her eyeb.a.l.l.s and giving it to that man shrouded in darkness. And she was smiling in that vision as she whispered something into the ear of that man shrouded in darkness.

Just before she returns to consciousness Erika managed to see rings on the fingers of the man shrouded in darkness.

And then she woke up.

"Haa. Haa." She pants as she holds her heart. Her black hair turns white. She could see her hair falling down.

"I require more herbs to aid me" she said to herself. The room was full of incense smell that quickly calm her old injuries.

Her eyes is bleeding red.

Her youthful skin and complexion is wrinkling in a fast manner like she experience aging in a matter of seconds.

Her purple robe was full of sweat. The runic design on her robe glowed with white lights that seems to slowly providing energy to her.

She slowly calms herself down. Waving her hand, she extinguished the incense on the four corners of this room.

Then she shouted, her voice sounding weaker than she expected it to be.

"Antonius!" Outside a young man could hear the shouts. He quickly sprang into action as he rushes to the Inner Sanctum room.

The Paladins that guard the room did not halt his advance.

A young man with curly hair and muscly physique wearing a war armor enters the room, looking valiant and heroic.

With golden hair and golden armor he looks like a Greek G.o.d that was carved with perfection.

"Great Oracle, you have summon me" he said as he kneels before Erika bed his eyes is full of reverence and respect.

He then looks at the Oracle and shocked at what he saw.

The Oracle looks like she is about to die.

"Great oracle!" He said with alarm in his voice.

Her cloudy eyes were the same as always but it was her skin that alarms Antonius. A young woman now seem like an old woman approaching death.

"Do not be alarmed, Antonius" she said in that calm and ancient voice.

"Summon my Seers and let them seek my herbs. Ask it to the Revolutionary Army members to find me my herbs so I could heal myself back to youth."

Antonius nodded

"Is there any other orders Great Oracle?" He asked. Then thinking of the vision she saw she find herself remembering Sofia.

The Divine Archer. What is her connection to all of this? Then nodding to herself like she was making a decision she spoke tiredness is clear in her voice

"Is Athena and Freya still here on the Island? Or are they on a mission?"

"She is still here Great Oracle." Erika coughed a bit before continuing her words

"Ask them to arrange a meeting between me and the Divine Archer." Antonius heard the order and then dropped his head down before replying

"The Divine Archer is in China with Raymond to help w.a.n.g Jian battling the Weronians armies there. She will not be back for now."

The Oracle nodded. So I have to delay a bit. She mused.

No matter.

That is to be expected. As Seed Formation levelers Sofia and Raymond existence in the continued effort of repelling the Weronian invasion is crucial.

But Erika also has other plans.

"I need to find someone. Summon Hirate to my Temple. Tell him I will give him what he wants in exchange for one little favor from the World Government"

"But, we are of the Revolutionary Army side. This doesn"t seem appropriate" Antonius said hesitantly.

Erika shakes her head in disappointment

"We are at war against an alien species that sought to destroy this Earth and make a slaves out of all of us. There is no World Government or Revolutionary Army for now. There is only us…and them. Summon him. He will come"

"Great Oracle orders, this Antonius will accomplish"

She orders before collapsing into exhaustion. Antonius quickly shouted for healers and herbalist outside the Inner Sanctum.

Outside the temple, on the topmost tower of the temple a black raven perched itself onto the symbol of the eye that represent the temple of the oracle.

The raven eyes closed and opens showing a green glint before it flies away to the open sea.

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A blue light that brings with it wind squall cross the mountain and the forest as it disappeared into a dark abyss.

"I found it." Will exclaimed the moment he entered the cave. His body is still discharging electricity, wind howling behind him as the air around him exploded creating a ma.s.sive shockwave.

A person in black attire waves his hand without even looking back as the shockwave was naturalized as easy as that

"What do you find?"

Azief said as he just finished repairing the arrays of formation all over their caves. Invisible runes were carved on the four corners of the cave, hiding it from plain sights.

"A village" Will excitedly said.

"A village. In the middle of a warzone?" Azief said clearly feeling puzzled. After a few days Azief has grasp the environment around his cave.

It is a warzone on many parts of the world. The invasion is underway. And there is five gigantic pillars that pierce the clouds and reaching to the skies.

This pillars seems to be the source of the sealing. Azief still does not know much what the pillars is made of and how st.u.r.dy it is.

Considering that the World Government and the Revolutionary Army still did not bring down the pillars the only explanation was that either the pillars is to heavily protected or they could not bring it down.

There is also the fact that Azief senses an Eight Horn existence which is equivalent to a Divine Comprehension Levelers.

That is two realms above Azief.

If Azief met them with one slap he would be rendered dead.

But that precisely what puzzled Azief.

If the Weronians have an Eight Horn existence then why….is Earth not yet conquered? Could the Eight Horns existence are unable to move or is it that they don"t want to move?

Because of this too many unknown variable Azief still does not show himself. When he confirm the situation then he will show himself in the most grandiose manner.

This is a forest area where everyday humans and Weronians fought.

At night he and Will will sneak out and ma.s.sacre a few camps mostly consisted of three horns and four horns Weronians.

Azief even met a five horn Weronian which he slay almost immediately.

But Azief only operated at night where his strength is the strongest and did not chose a high profile target to avoid detection.

Azief knew that far from here is the human base camp but Azief did not go there. Instead he has been acc.u.mulating EXP silently here.

A few days of slaughtering here has lessened the pressure on the human army around this area.

Azief still did not want to show himself to the world for many reasons.

He fears that if he showed himself he will be make use by the Revolutionary Army and the World Government.

As he is acknowledged as the strongest in the world, if he shows himself there is no doubt that he will be shoved into the frontlines and made to fight relentlessly on the battlefield.

But that was not Azief style.

He will not enter into a battle he did not know he would not win. Why does he is called invincible by the people all over the world.

It was because he never lost a battle. At least that"s what the populace thought.

But the truth is a bit different. It is not that he wins all his battle because he is invincible. It is because he never fights a battle that he could lose that he is invincible.

Until he is sure that he knows all the information he will not shows himself. The only thing he could do right now is helps from the shadows.

But does the reason he has to not show himself is only to not be pushed into the frontlines? No, that would be wrong. If that is true then he is just a coward.

There are other reasons of course.

Azief had no illusions that all the heroes in the world loves him. Some of them hated him and wished nothing more to see his demise.

Being the strongest has its pro and con.

He did not mind entering the battlefield. But he did not want to enter a battlefield where there is enemies in the front and enemies at the back.

To make sure that doesn"t happen he has to enough power to suppress his enemies. And he is still insufficient at his current strength.

If he could broke through to Disk formation and forms his Disk he would be more relaxed.

"How many kilometers away?" Azief asked as he stands there in the middle of the cave thinking.

Will estimated the distance and then came with

"Fifty. We could be there in a few seconds barring any enemies in our path." Azief on the other hand is thinking about something else.

Then he asked

"I did not see a village here a few days ago." Come to think of it he did not see any villages when he flies over this area a few days ago.

There are a few campsites of humans and even some remnants of World Government and Revolutionary soldiers but there is no village.

"It is newly built. They have soldiers and a stone walls reinforced with runic carvings. I also spotted snipers and magicians. There is stone houses but only a few and a magician tower. Looking at the village it seems more like a base rather than a village. I think the village has a backing either by the World Government or the Revolutionary Army" Will answer summarizing what he had learned.

Azief nodded as he closes his eyes and examine his Seeds.

"How and why it is built around here? Right in the middle of this war zone while still remaining safe. With our initial surveillance and fighting we even met a five horn Weronians. Comparing my level with five horn Weronians is of course absurd but I do not believe there are so many Seed Formation levelers are out there right?"

And Will smirks.

"You will not believe it but the village is surrounded by powerful arrays. I saw a five horn Weronians tries to bash his weapon to the barrier only for the energy to be reflected back to it. Then magic arrows riddled the bodies of that Weronians before it died and the people inside the village cheered."

Hearing this Azief raised his eyebrows as his interest is piqued.

"A barrier that could repel a five horn Weronian? That is the equivalent of an Energy Disperse Stage levelers." Azief said as he stopped pacing around the cave.

"A barrier huh? Arrays formation." And then Azief smiles understandingly

One person came to his mind.

"I might know who the Arrayist is" Azief said smiling.

"But I need to confirm it." He said before nodding at his own suggestion. He must not reveal himself yet.

He did not intend to uses his seed and risk the chance of being paid attention to by the powerful existence that is roaming earth right now.

What important right now is to know the current situation.

"We"re going?" Will asked seeing Azief has stopped moving and having his fingers at his chin. Azief contemplate a bit and then he nodded.

"We"re going"

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Azief was in front of the village. The village was eerily quiet, only the sound of wind, and the sound of people gulping in fear.

The stone wall of the village stand majestically, lined up with archers, snipers and magician. Its guard on the stone walls aimed their arrows at Azief and Will, looking at them warily.

Will was beside him, lightning dances on his fingertips as he also looks at the archers.

All around their bodies were thousands of three horned Weronians corpses mutilated. Many of them have gaping holes where their heart used to be.

There is also many puddles of red blood and mist of red covered the entire village.

The archers on the walls could not help trembling and their aims slowly veer away as their hands keep trembling.

Thinking about what just happens a few minutes ago, the archer commander could not understand the level of power that the two men in front of their stone gates possesses

A few minutes ago, another Weronian force led by a four horns Weronians intended to storm into the village and destroy the barrier come.

They brought about three thousand Weronians with three horns to invade the village.

The archers was busy firing arrows while the magicians, wizards, warlock, witches busy hurling fireb.a.l.l.s, ice spears, explosion magic while the Elementalist manipulated the terrain when a dark red mist covered the forest outside the village and it was like the world falls to darkness.

The surrounding becomes cold and some even swear they hear an ancient hymn that chills the heart.

The mist covers the Weronians battalions like a mouth of a faceless monster.

Then screams and shouting could be heard. The arches on the walls lower down their weapon when they hear the painful shrieking of the Weronians, the despair and fear in their voice is evident.

If that is not bizarre enough suddenly a blue light crisscrossed through the trees as Weronians warrior falls one by one wherever the blue light cross.

The Weronian falls down with a hole on their chest, bleeding profusely before taking their last breath.

The expression on their face was of befuddlement and unwillingness.

They did not even know what kills them. When the scream ended, two person appears from the dark red mist.

A man covered in an oversized black long robe and a person in a gray robe with lightning dancing on his fingers.

And unconsciously like a primal fear the archers on the wall quickly felt that this two person poses more threat than three thousand Weronians warriors as they unconsciously raise their arrows once again and aim it at the two person in fear.

Their hands could not stop trembling and their forehead were filled with cold sweat.

The man in the black robe approach the barrier and one of the Archers was about to release his arrows when that person in the black robe glares.

His eyes that was hidden because of the hood s.h.i.+nes and then the archer on the walls that was aiming at him coughed up blood as his...o...b..degraded into the lowest level with just one glance.

Hmph" the voice sounded like a complete disdain.

The man in the back robe touched the barrier and the barrier ripples as a powerful dark energy slowly unravels the front part of the barriers.

The commanded of the Archer saw the man in the black robe nodded in satisfaction before he spoke, looking at the people on the stone walls, his voice clear and cold as his voice echoes in this empty forest.

"Call Lee Sangmin over. Tell him, an old friend is visiting"

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MEDITERRANEAN SEA

The wind is cooling and the smell of the sea invigorates her. A person is riding something sailing the open ocean fearlessly.

It was a little girl wearing a red robe. It was Morgana. She rides a red flaming skeletal sea creatures that resembles a dolphin.

The fire did no harm towards her. On the body of the dolphin like creatures there is dull spikes on every part of its surface except on its back.

With a leash strapped on its neck Morgana maneuver the beast like she was riding a horse. On her left hip is a golden gourd where Louise is stored inside it to recuperate from his injuries.

Looking at the vast sea of water in front of her she was undaunted by it. Her eyes are clear and her determination is as always, steel hard.

She….is heading towards the Island of Peace.

In front of her the Tome floats in front of her controlling the b.e.s.t.i.a.l creatures from rebelling and showing the location of the Island to her.

She did not smile. She shows no emotion. She wanted to cleanse the Karma that has been formed. And maybe look at the tattoos on the White Witch.

And she might offend Loki this time. But sooner or later they have to clash. Like Loki said, they have different objectives.

He will not abandon his mission, so he must not expect she would abandons hers. As the sea waters splashed to her robe, she stands there behind the back of the beast sailing through the water valiantly.

The Wicked Witch is coming to the Island of Peace.

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