Another day has passed since Vanoss had visited Isabella's club. From what he discussed with her, Vanoss has followed. It was a group belonging to a shadow organization that also allied with her family.
Naturally they just hired mercenaries or assassins, but allying with an organization that not even the authorities has other information about them seems like her family must not be some ordinary one.
And now their target is him, Vanoss. It could be either he defeated their strongest heir, Isabella, or he killed the Oriana family's strongest warrior. Vanoss doesn't really know exactly.
Right now, he was just walking outside through the streets of Academy City at 10 AM in the morning. Today is kinda crowded as a huge load of people, both tourists and students, of different races from different countries roamed around.
It seems like a kinda normal day... until this weird sensation Vanoss was feeling.
Couldn't take this anymore, he wore the Google Glasses and asked the AI.
"Hey Google, is there anybody following me?"
[If I'm Siri, then I would say no. But me, positive.]
"Okay... will the Headmistress notice that some intruders had infiltrated her city?"
[She had noticed since the start, but she doesn't give a shit.]
"What do you mean she doesn't give a shit!?" Vanoss exclaimed, his loud tone got some unwanted attention from the crowd around him, so he just lowered his volume, "Why?"
[Like I said, she doesn't give a shit.]
"Whatever, can you show me their location?"
[That's a negative, the unknown figures were using mana control alone to hide their presence incredibly, better than any high-tier stealth magic in the list of Tier Magic. Though not as good as Stella, it is so powerful that not even an A-rank at the Rogue Class could detect them easily.]
"Stop shitting facts, just tell me or else I'm replacing you with Alexa."
[Understood]
Then, a monitor appears right in the glasses in front of Vanoss' eyes, there, a bunch of red dots appear. There were also green and blue dots, which are civilians. The big dots in the middle were obviously him. After a quick calculation in the next nanosecond, there were at least more than seventeen of them.
Really? Sending seventeen people against one? They should've brought an army!
Vanoss looked at his surroundings, there were a lot of people. If they attack here, a commotion will happen and Vanoss won't like to get unwanted attention.
"Let's move to a quieter place."
———
"Alright, this one will do."
Mhm, a cliche place which is none other than the back alley. A dark back alley with no people and no disturbance.
"Now, let's meet them."
Vanoss summons a small kitchen knife. He then effortlessly throws the knife in a random direction, which creates a sonic boom.
A figure, who was hidden perfectly on top of the building, was disturbed, before it could pierced her, a hand easily parried the blade.
"So, you have noticed us." A man spoke with a voice so deep and so low that it almost seems to be emanating from the bottom of the abyss.
"No, it's more like I have noticed long time ago :/ ' Vanoss thought.
*Katsu* *Katsu*
A sound of footsteps rang out the dark alley in front of Vanoss, as a parallel line of menacing text was moving upwards.
At the moment, a man clad in jet black from head to toe, deep hood pulled forward, face hidden deep within the darkness of the hood.
The man walks forward composedly, until finally stopping a step away from Vanoss.
"So... you're the guy that will hunt me down?"
"My name is Shadow. I lurk in the shadows, and I hunt the Shado—"
Vanoss cuts him off boredly, "Cut that little dumb intro, man. You sound like a huge weeb that has been inspired too much by Superhero films since childhood... or maybe you are a huge weeb suffering from a mental disorder."
The words that came from Vanoss' mouth was like a hammer that smashed the guts of Shadow's subordinates. They were about to unleash an intimidating aura that could wipe out an army in seconds, because of that man's words of offending their master.
But before they did, Shadow raised his hand.
"For all my 35 years of being the head of Shadow Garden..." Suddenly, Shadow laughed, with his voice almost breaking character, "This is the very first time I have felt displeased by someone more than any of my fallen enemies."
"...Noted." Vanoss nodded, for some reason, he felt this Shadow Garden isn't the Organization Vanoss and Regina were hunting down.
Noticing what he was doing, Shadow stops laughing and held his face, "Oh, my bad. I found it too hilarious that you think of me like that. No, no, I am not like that anymore, that was like a long time ago, not even walked the path of righteousness to begin with...
Nor the path of evil...
We always have, and forever shall carve our own path. If you can, then be my guess. Gather all the sinful acts in the world for us to shoulder."
"Okayyyyy..." Vanoss said weirdly about whats this guy keep making philosophical quotes. "And second of all, there is no need to hide your men, I know there are hiding." Vanoss referred to the rest of his men, and having had their cover blown, they quickly revealed themselves.
Dozens of shadows appear from thin air and land on the ground. There were some that came out from the building's shadow. Creepy but cool.
"Impressive, you have some nice skills to sense our presence."
"Same to you, using mana control alone to use creative magic instead of using Tier Magic." Vanoss compliments as he looks at their back. There were still some people walking from the street. This place was no good either. "Maybe this is a bad idea, let's move to a better place."
"Why would we need to follow you? Don't you know what happened the moment you were hunted by the Shadow Garden."
"I know already, but killing me here would just make a ruckus right?"
Shadow turned his head back and looked at Vanoss again
"Actually, there was no need for that."
"Huh?"
At that moment, Shadow smirked.
"Cause we have our own battlefield." Shadow, the founder of the secret organization Shadow Garden, wasn't one to rush into enemy territory without a plan.
He looks at a beautiful 30 year old blonde woman with beauty that made Vanoss gasp. He knew this world has too many beauties more than earth has. Compared to every babe he encountered, this woman seems to be made by the hands of God.
She was so beautiful and gorgeous with her voluptuous, and beautiful body with long golden blond hair and blue eyes, as well as her pointy ears and slender figure with a large bosom—
Wait a minute, pointy ears?
"Hold the fuck, I thought Elves are extinct."
The serious and menacing look of Shadow suddenly changed to confusion as he raised a brow, "Where did you hear that? They are only endangered species with only less than a dozen existing around the Continent. Alpha is one of the last."
"Woah. Okay, good to note."
"Well, enough with that. Alpha, is it ready?" He asked his partner, or to be more precise, his wife.
"Of course, Lord Shadow. It already has."
Without wasting any time, the second-in-command of Shadow Garden held an Item that appeared to be a huge scroll.
"Activate, [Depiction of Nature and Society]"
The Magic Item that the elf holds, it is an <S+> Rank Item meant to isolate its intended targets.
Magic items that are above the A-rank can only be used once due to them having tremendous power and valuable enough to cause wars and conflicts. Once it has been used, one would need to find it all over again.
"Shit!"
By the time he lays his eyes on the item, Vanoss isn't ignorant or the clueless idiot like he is as he knows how powerful and dangerous S-rank Items are.
And so, he rushed at the elf with all his might, but it was too late.
The scroll activated.
Darkness closed up on them as if the world itself was being swallowed.
"Hey wait."
Before the world turned dark completely, Vanoss spoke.
"Let me ask one thing before we start our fight, because I just realized something..." He looks around, squinting his eyes at the people in dark clothing. "Why are all of them women!?"
Following his words, the world around him had completely turned into nothing but black.
———
Before the world turned to darkness, the ground where Vanoss was standing turned black. Darkness has surrounded everything including the light. It envelopes Evan into it, which now his sight is darkened, although he is not blind yet.
"Where am I? Brian? Lui? Am I in the Backrooms?" Vanoss looked around as he wandered around while surrounded by only darkness. "Dude, there's like nothing. This is bullshit."
Looking at his phone, it seems there is no signal, he tried to teleport or message his friends through chat and as usual, you can't chat anybody while your stuck in another fucking dimension. This is more like the third time he is experiencing right now and it is getting old.
"Fuck this, hey Google, where am I exactly?"
[Understood. It seems that this whole space has been enveloped by a powerful magic from the Magic Item called [Depiction of Nature and Society], it allows the user to isolate space. Apparently, it can even swallow the whole space of the opponent. It was an item that could seal a target into a closed-off space. To be more precise, it swapped a painted landscape with the real world, and then it would convert the real world into a painted landscape. The definition of “target” in this case was the same as that of the Super-Tier Spell [Change The World] and referred to a specific area. Nothing within that area animate or inanimate would be able to resist its effects.
On the other hand, this painted world was almost the same as the real world, with nothing strange or outstanding within it. However, it was fundamentally an illusion. One could choose from 100 other-worlds to overlay onto the targeted portion of reality. The most fearsome aspect of this item was not drawing people into another-world, but being able to manifest various effects on the targeted area. The user could also choose these effects. Example like if the user created a region of molten lava, they could still exempt chosen people from the fire damage it inflicted.]
"Damn, so you can also choose a world filled with pizza? With pineapples being the most illegal product?"
[...Maybe.]
"Alright, aside from that, what region were in?"
[The Dark Forest, where visibility was practically zero.]
"Forest, forest, forest, always has to be the fuckin' forest. What else?"
Before Google could respond, Vanoss suddenly sensed danger from his back. He turned his body around to see multiple figures all attacking him.
Though Vanoss could easily defeat them, their skills and their fighting is similar to Vanoss, somewhere strong as the level where he escapes the Organization.
"Hey Google, what are these things that I'm fighting?"
[[Depiction of Nature and Society] not only isolates the targets to another dimension and changes any regions the user likes, they could also make the battlefields to be an overlay. After a certain period of time, a sizable number of reinforcements would show up to attack the enemy. However, these troops would only be about 60% as strong as their opponents, so they were generally limited to depleting the enemy’s resources.]
"That's very interesting, but I still don't give a shit if they depleted me, I could fight an army of zombies for 30 days and 30 nights straight, man!" Vanoss said as he brought out a Diamond Sword and began to massacre these troops.
In a matter of minutes, after dealing with a huge number of monsters that had 60% of his strength that numbers 50 thousand, Vanoss had killed the last one, he waited for more but there was only silence.
"Google, why did they stop?"
[Shadow's subordinates were bored, knowing you are still fighting for more, and so the user cancels the troops so they will also do it themselves.]
"Finally, I'm kinda tired of all fighting the Level 60 me, you kno—"
Cutting Vanoss' words off was a silent whoosh, he jerked his head to the side to see a black knife heading towards his chest. Vanoss easily parries with his bionic arm. As it made impact, the knife splashes into black goo.
"What the hell is this?" Vanoss questions, looking at the black goo thinking it might be those Blight things that the Organization loves to weaponize.
Before Vanoss could figure anything out, more black knives were thrown from all of his direction, but he avoided and parried them with relative ease. However, when he dodges another dark knife, the ground underneath Evan turns completely pitch black, not before long huge thorns are unleashed, and attacks him.
"Dammit!" Vanoss shouted, he quickly took his Katana before unleashing his skill.
In a flash of light that brightens the dark world, the black thorns stopped in mid air because it was cutted in pieces.
"As I thought, you have some troublesome skills." The same dark and menacing tone said in every direction, as if he was everywhere.
"Yeah, and your skills and harem babes are pretty annoying as fuck."
"Oh yeah? I'll show you what those harem babes can do."
The monitor in the Google Glasses Vanoss is seeing shows multiple dangers from all sides! They are getting serious even though he dont know what kind of magic they are using right now.
"Hm?"
As Vanoss took a step back, a loud beeping sound was heard.
"Got him."
*BOOM!*
A loud explosion soon followed where Vanoss stood. The smoke cleared to reveal broken trees and destruction as Vanoss stood there unfazed.
Trap Magic has failed.
In the distance, scurrying footsteps could be heard running away.
"You little bitch!"
With a stomp of his foot, Vanoss dashed off the ground and stormed towards noise while drinking some Night Vision potions to see the darkness perfectly.
As he followed the noise, he entered a huge area surrounded by giant trees that reach hundreds of meters and could rival skyscrapers.
"What is this place?" Vanoss tilted his head to the side.
"Hup!"
Jumping out of seemingly thin air, a mature looking woman in a dark tight suit appears before unleashing her magic, and following it, a magic energy in the form of a dragon shot out from her palm and rushed Vanoss.
Though, it's not from any of the list of tier magic as the woman used her mana alone to create such creative arts, it is still powerful enough that even rival high-tier magic.
As soon as it made contact, the attack dispersed in different directions as Vanoss stood there unscathed.
"Tch"
"...hm?"
Looking down, Vanoss' notice multiple tiny moving black slimes encircling around him, who stood there with a disgusted scowl on his face.
The small slimes lit up and in the next second, exploded on him.
However, instead of the fire and destruction which usually accompanies such a spectacle, a toxic gas in black color was instead released.
"This poisonous gas melts the skin and even bones upon contact." Someone says hidden among the trees.
"That's stupid."
*Tap*
A stomp from Vanoss' foot brought forth a fierce wind that scattered and rid the air of the poison.
The person who caused this attack retreated back into hiding.
"...This hide and seek shit is getting really old!" Vanoss tried to rush the attacker, but quickly found himself entangled by black tentacles that violently came out from the ground.
"Nooooo! Anything but that!!" Vanoss panickingly yelled in fear.
The reason he is panicking is because he knows those types of hentai films where you get hentai tentacle! Vanoss doesn't like that one bit and he would rather get entangled by the Blight and get his soul devoured instead of this!
Trying to move at a desperate attempt, Vanoss moved his cybernetic hand in a circular motion and managed to make space for it, free of the slime.
*Snap!*
With his free hand, he snapped his metallic finger, manipulating the sound vector of it to make the slime vibrate hard enough to explode.
"Kyaaaaa!" A girl with cyan twin-tailed hair screamed, just a second ago, she had tangled their target, but then the next thing she knew, it exploded, due to the fact that it is connected to her body suit also exploded, revealing nothing but her naked body.
But compared to her in her battle suit, her huge bust and curve seems to be getting a great attention, but now, it seems it has vanished, even her thicker parts have gone incredibly small.
"I knew it." A short silver-haired girl said.
"Beta! T-This isn't what it looks like!"
"Shut it, Epsilon. I knew you were hiding something for all these years."
"Please don't say anything to the others Q_Q "
"I won't...... maybe I will~"
Back to Vanoss, as he had destroyed the slime and nearly got hentai tentacle. He then spotted a slender woman with long black hair with large dog ears sporting on top of her head and purple eyes appeared in the distance with a grin.
The Dog Demi-human woman wasted no time and rushed towards Vanoss with her slime sword in hand and tried to slash him like a rampaging beast, but Vanoss simply stepped back dodging all of her moves before he disappeared and reappeared behind the massive tree.
"Jesus, I bet that girl has the most stamina during sex with that Shadow guy."
As Vanoss tried to find something through his inventory, but thanks to her beast senses, the woman rushed where Vanoss was even though he used a potion to mask his scent.
As she was near to his location, she sliced the entire tree in two and alongside it, what should have been Vanoss, but he was already gone.
"!!"
With her beastkin senses, she sensed Vanoss appeared above her and before she could react, he kicked her head full force, sending her flying back.
"Huh?" Vanoss was surprised. That kick has so much strength into it that is enough to blow her head to blitz due to her being a B-rank, yet she was only sent flying.
"Hahahaha!! That was a great kick!" She stood and laughed as if nothing happened.
"Although... I much prefer giving rather than receiving!" She once again rushed towards Vanoss like a suicidal maniac and was ready to counter. She swung her slimy claws at his head at high speeds, but Vanoss stretched out his hand as if about to catch it, only for her to change course mid-air and swing her weapon at his legs.
Vanoss saw it coming and kicked away the weapon. Her arms snapped and she was once again sent flying, in all her delight.
"Hahahaha! It doesn't hurt! Something like this wouldn't hurt me at all!" The once again stood up, perfectly fine.
As she faced Vanoss once again, a huge wave of mana erupted from her body, she let out a maniacal face like she had gone berserk. And to Vanoss' surprise, the girl just literally stripped in an instant, she had used all of the slime in her bodysuit(Except the private parts) and transformed them into a huge sword that reached 300 meters, towering the rest of the massive trees.
Her special technique, [Iron Slab].
"Hahahahaha!" She laughs like a madwoman, she raises her giant sword of slime before striking down Vanoss.
However...
*Cling!*
Not Using any skills or weapons, Vanoss just simply swatted the giant sword to the side with his bionic arm like it was just child's play.
"Come on, you could do better than that."
Taking a step forward, Vanoss rushed forward in a blur and was in front of the woman in the next instant before punching her in the guts, dropping her huge sword and once again sending her flying and crashing onto the ground tens of meters away.
But even after receiving such an attack, the woman seems fine but has several injuries.
"Hey hey! Let me cut you to pieces already and stop touching me like you own me, you creep!"
"Are you touched in the head or something?"
"Hahahaha!" She touches the hilt of her giant sword, then it moves into her arm and returns as her combat suit once more before she dashed at him again with her weapon outstretched.
"Stop, Delta."
A booming command stopped her in her tracks as she could feel an unwelcome glare prickling the back of her neck.
"How many times must I tell you not to do as you want?"
"M-M-My apologize, Alpha-sama! As you o-ordered!" The Dog Demi-human nervously said as she jumps back right beside the beautiful blonde elf, who goes by the name of Alpha.
Alpha, the second-in-command of the Seven Shades of Shadow Garden slowly walked out of the shadows.
"Another one huh? What sort of game are y'all playing here?" Vanoss turned his attention to the elf.
"Just a little game of process of elimination... don't pay it any mind." She nonchalantly spoke.
"...ohh is that right?"
The members of the Shadow Garden had surrounded Vanoss, with weapons drawn and magic ready to be unleashed.
Although Vanoss was surrounded by dangerous people, he wasn't unfazed due to the fact that all of them were just within the B-rank range except for the blonde Elf who is only <A–> Rank among the group.
"You know what, I have no time for this." Vanoss simply says before bringing out his Mega AK-47.
"Say hello to my little friend!" Vanoss shouted as he aimed at the girls before firing thousands of rounds in each second.
Nearly all the members were almost surprised by the sudden attack, many of them managed to get away and avoided the rounds as they fell back, except for Alpha who easily deflects all of the bullets without getting hit, no matter how many rounds Vanoss is shooting, Alpha easily parries them all.
But when she feels a bit of pressure, she simply uses one of her skills [Red Mistform], turning herself into a kind of magical mist pool like the Red Mist that any physical attacks like the bullets have no effect on her.
With [Quick Flash], she had reached Vanoss, and immediately cut the AK-47 in half and kicked him in the guts.
Although it didn't hurt him, Vanoss was pushed several feet back. But he let out an enraged look because—
"You bitch, that was my precious AK!"
But Vanoss' words went on deaf's ears as Alpha simply ignored it as she was about to use her ultimate technique; She then charged her magic into her slime sword, which the jet black blade extends. To a length greater than Alpha's own beight before launching it in the form of a powerful dive attack against him.
*Booooom!!*
Following a massive explosion that destroys anything within a 500 meter radius, Alpha lowers her sword and looks though the huge cloud of dust she had caused, needing to know if it has any effect against the target.
"You know, I'm tired of this bullshit." Vanoss' voice was heard through the thick smoke. At both his hands appeared two series of Tactical SIG Sauer P229, and was about to shoot toward Alpha who disappeared from sight.
"Nevermind about her, let's change the setting between Predator and Prey shall we?"
Deciding to deal with her later, Vanoss aims in a direction, thanks to tracking, night vision and heat seeking mode from Google, he knows where the other girls are hiding.
*BANG!*
At that moment, Vanoss' eyes caught the bullet traveling that reaches the speed 10 times faster than any bullets on Earth could possibly travels.
The bullet, engraved with Dwarven Runes and made out of Adamantite metal, pierced through the thick smoke creating a clear path for it. When the bullet hits its target, a scream could be heard.
"Argh!"
"Be careful!"
Normally, the Shadow Garden members could easily avoid, or withstand bullets due to having slime armor and raw stats but I've already told you that the bullets Vanoss has is something far ordinary.
Then, Vanoss' senses alerts danger on his right and left side. He used the body of the pistols to parry the attack and jumped backward. In response, Vanoss shoots three to four rounds at my front. Two screams could be heard. At his sight right now, the thick smoke was covering his vision but thanks to the Google Glasses, he could easily see where his targets were, the nearest was only a few meters away from him.
"This time, you are entering my house now!" Vanoss said loudly. He then commands something, in the next few seconds, a huge cube, filled with 1000x1000 of TNTs appeared.
Running back to make his distance, Vanoss shoots an enchanted bow and arrow with the enchantment [Flames] on it.
(TACTICAL NUKE INCOMING!!)
As the arrow makes contact with one TNT block, it ignites. Without wasting time, Vanoss creates a box with Bedrock blocks around him.
And just a nick of time—
*Boom!(99x)*
With countless sounds of explosion and suffering an endless lag of despair. The sounds of destruction have finally come. The bedrock box that Vanoss made barely made a scratch after withstanding the huge explosion.
Breaking the bedrock with a normal wooden pickaxe, Vanoss gets out and looks around.
The aftermath, the whole area was blown off, Vanoss looks around, not seeing the assailants bodies anywhere, he doesn't know if they have survived or not. But there was one man standing in front of him, with his hands on his back and his clothing moved sideways with the wind blowing him.
"Miraculously, none of my shadow members were lost." His words were like a punch on Evan's face, he didn't get a kill? That's bullshit.
"I managed to return them back to the real world. Seeing your performance seems impressive, your weapons marked with dwarven magic, and your will of battle seems extraordinary. However...
You will push on. Prove that you are worthy to fight against the Shadows...
And do not forget, strength is not power itself, but how you wield it!"
"Oh, so its similar to like having a big dick is not how you good at sex, but how you wield it!" Vanoss jokingly said as he feels something familiar with the quote.
———
(Few Minutes Later)
For the next couple of minutes, Vanoss and Shadow still fought within the other world, in each split second, both of the two kept disappearing and clashed with hundreds of moves.
*Clangs!*
Their weapons clashed, creating a shriek that sent sparks flying into the air. Vanoss tried to kick Shadow right in the face, but the latter stopped the blow with his knee before trying to headbutt Vanoss in retaliation, but Evan dodged that before putting some distance between them.
They both stared at one another as if they wanted to see through each other before they vanished again.
Shadow appeared behind Vanoss and slashed downwards with his dark slimy sword ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
But Vanoss spun around and parried with his Bionic arm. Using his free arm, he summoned his P229 and fired point-blank range.
*BANG!*
One should have expected Shadow to be caught off guard by this sudden attack, however, it wasn't what happened. Somehow, he spun his sword to block the bullet.
Vanoss smiled before silently muttering [Edgedrunner], now he saw himself sped through the almost time-stopped world with colorful afterimages of himself he left behind, while Shadow's movements are now slowed like a turtle.
Instinctively, Shadow noticed that something was not right. However, he didn't have the time to ponder about this as Vanoss had already appeared before him as he moved at godly speed.
Vanoss also summoned another pistol, though several times weaker than the P229 he used, it is still enhanced with Dwarven Rune Smiths and has rounds made out of Adamantite metal, making it powerful enough to harm or kill B-ranks.
He then aimed the two guns that shined in magic power against Shadow's chest, the latter could see the dire situation he was in, he tried to use his slime armor to counter the bullets, but as the bullets struck Shadow in the chest, the bullets managed to penetrate through the slime armor like butter. At the last moment, Shadow quickly controls the mana on him to create a layer of barrier on his skin.
*BANG!*
The impact sent him crashing against multiple large trees behind him, passing through it and destroying another behind the first one. The concrete floor caved in, and the wood exploded into shards and splinters.
"Cough!" Shadow coughed up a mouthful of blood. His chest had ripped open, and hot blood splashed out.
He ignored the pain and used his magic to heal himself, he put his feet on the ground forcefully and stopped himself from dragging back any further.
"This is so much fun! I expect no more from you, Mr. Vanoss!" Shadow grinned as blood trickled down his lips, his expression seems like he never had this kind of fun for a long time. "But now is the time we bring this to an end!"
Shadow took a quick-draw stance, bending a little, legs spread wide, one hand holding the sword sheath and the other on the guard of the sword as he then commanded something, instantly another Shadow appeared having the same attacking stance as him.
'Woah, neat trick, but I don't feel it's a skill.' Vanoss thought as he looked at the second Shadow standing near the real one.
"Hey Google, I'm curious, is that a skill or something?"
[No, it's part of the abilities of the user when using [Depiction of Nature and Society]. Because if one-on-one confrontations were desired, one could instead face the enemy with an equal number of stronger entities, each of which had 80% of the user’s power. Due to this ability, it was quite useful if one’s opponent was to defeat their foe.]
"God damn it, if only I had that Item, I can do some cool shit."
[Like pranking your friends.]
"Well, I was thinking of slaughtering my enemies but yeah, mostly about fucking with my friends :)"
[You are easy to read, Mr. Vanoss]
"That's who I am, Google." Vanoss said to the Assistant AI before taking his attention to his opponent.
When the real Shadow unsheathed his sword, the clone also did the same and they have now disappeared simultaneously.
Vanoss heightened his senses to the limit, he waited until the last moment before unleashing his attacks. His arms aimed left and right, he fired.
*Bang!!!!!*
Two gunshots, however, sixteen bullets tore through the air and arrived before the two Shadows, which the two had a calm expression on their faces as they moved their sword, choosing the same stance.
*Split!!*
Calmly they split the bullets into two, but the split bullets continued on their destination, striking two massive trees.
*Boom!*
The split bullets violently struck on these trees, almost destroying the gigantrous natural structure, making tilt forward.
Vanoss did a long backflip to succeed in dodging two horizontal slashes of magic energy in purple color that barely sent his way. Vanoss was still in the air when he aimed his two guns at the clone and fired.
*BANG!!!*
Three bullets left the guns, one a microsecond less than the other, the first one speed through the air before the second arrived and struck it in the ass, increasing its speed to an astonishing level, and as if it wasn't enough, the third bullet struck the same support as the second bringing the first bullet speed close to Mach 120, clone or not, he couldn't react in time before the super bullet struck him in the head, there was no sound only the clone's head behind pushed to an almost ridiculous degree.
*Boom!*
Like a firecracker, it blossomed, creating a beautiful black and blue contrast.
Shadow's expression didn't even change when his clone was destroyed. On the contrary, he smiled before he rushed, this time, his speed doubled as if the destruction of his clone boosted his speed.
Seeing this, Vanoss' eyes widened before Shadow flashed next to him, his black slime sword moved, just some casual moves, yet the speed of his sword was dramatically increased to an astonishing level.
Even so, Vanoss was not a pushover, he grinned, battle intent flashed through his eyes accompanied by a crazy smile that seemed to indicate that he was enjoying this fight, a fight where the slightest lack of focus would result in a grave injury or worse, death, in a fight like these that you break your limit to grow stronger.
Vanoss surpassed his limit, he had to as his mana decreased at fast speed. Even so, he didn't care, he moved his arms and fired.
*Bang!* *Clangs!*
Shadow was shocked to see Vanoss being able to parry his sword using a bullet, but then he smiled, increasing his speed to the limit that his body couldn't handle. At this stage, it became impossible for naked eyes to follow them as the only thing visible was two lights moving, one black while the other red followed these sounds.
*Bang!* *Clangs!* *Bang!* *Clangs!*
None of Shadow's attacks managed to land on Vanoss as he could parry them at the last moment using his bullets which was a godly move only he, Marcel, Wildcat, and Brian could accomplish.
Seeing none of them managed to have the ascendant on the other, they silently agreed to put a distance between them. They stared at each other, forgot about others, forgot about their goals, the only thing that remained was to trample on the other.
''Let's end this!'' Vanoss announced it is his turn to do the offense. His speed increased to the limit as he moved at the speed that it's almost impossible for Shadow to even detect him.
Everything was happening at a speed impossible to describe, with the exploding circle reaching Shadow instantaneously. Despite this, he smiled.
"Your speed has indeed increased to an astonishing degree to my astonishment. If it increased more than that, I might have trouble keeping up, but not now."
Turning around in a flash, he fiercely swung his sword sideways as the magic energy around him was covered with purple light as the rising magic was taking on the appearance of violet lines.
For the first time since a couple of years, Shadow gathers a huge amount of his magic. Up to now, he has only used almost insignificant amounts of it.
Shadow's magic condensed. It becomes so condensed that it can almost no longer be sensed.
"You have my respects, Mr. Vanoss, you don't rely on borrowing power nor any shortcuts but sheer effort itself. Now...
Burn into your eyes the sight of my Ultimate Power, as a sign of respect for your death." Shadow mutters as his magic gathers into the jet black blade and carves out a pattern.
It is a spiral that sucks in even more magic. It is almost as if everything in the world is being sucked towards that spiral.
A terrifying amount of power now rests within that blade.
"This is... one of my strongest." Shadow raises his sword into a stance.
It is the stance of a thrust.
It is a stance solely for the sake of a thrust.
And second of all, what is shaking with that rattling sound?
Is it the earth?
Is it the air?
Is it Vanoss?
No... it is all of them. Everything is shaking.
Vanoss realizes that he, too, is shaking. But he is not afraid. Rather, he is incredibly excited..
"Behold......" Shadow muttered, as the jet black sword in his hands was clad in light before it was drawn back.
"I...
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AM...
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ATOMIC
And then, it was released.
Sound disappeared.
The torrent of light swallows Vanoss and everything around the two
It pierces through the earth and everything. It pierces, swallows, then soars into the sky.
And then...... it explodes.
*BOOOOOM!!!!!*
A pattern of light is seared into the sky darker than the night itself, casting a violet shade over the entire painted world, turning it from night into day.
There, a world-ending blast occurred, turning into a gigantic pillar of light that reached above the clouds till it had made it to the edge of the world. Simultaneously, purple light that transformed into wind flames rippled outwards as shockwaves, vaporizing and demolished everything within tens of miles.
This technique Shadow created could rival the Super Tier Magic.
Even if someone is hundreds of miles from the battle, they will still be violently blown away by the shockwave and will suffer from the heat of the explosion.
It is Shadow's ultimate technique, [I AM ATOMIC], a powerful Nuclear Magic that he created just himself alone, if he used his magic to unleash the spell all of his mana enough to lose his life, the spell will be so powerful that it levels way beyond Earth's Nuclear weapons and the Super Tier Magic, he might wipe out an army of A-ranks, even wiping out a Country about the same size as the Great Britain.
Shadow staggered back, his eyes reflecting the incredible sight of Vanoss who stood there, wearing blue shiny armor.
And yes... he lives.
"Haha, damn! That barely hurt!"
-0.5 Damage
"Hm?"
"Nevermind then."
"Hahahahaha!" Shadow laughed, "I already expect you will survive that, but never thought it will be like this, now I started to like you more."
"Okay... gay. I actually have no time for this crap." Vanoss wasn't done yet, he quickly brought out his Netherite Katana and used his skill [Everlasting Strike].
*Click*
A clicking noise reverberated within the danger zone of the explosion. And in the next instant, something happened that even made Shadow surprised.
The giant pillar of purple light was split in half!
"?!"
"You like that? I never thought of thinking of splitting a massive mushroom cloud from a nuclear explosion in my bucket list, however that seems different, but that still fucking counts!"
Shadow's expression darkened, he knew Vanoss was that special but not that much, able to split his attack like it was nothing.
As expected, the target that made his old friend wants all of his strongest members, an S-rank Item and including himself to deal with him.
He needs to finish this job quickly, he has other important things to do besides assassinating someone, he and his members weren't like assassins or something.
And so, he decided that it was time to use his other technique, the technique he acquired after defeating this mysterious man named '32', a decade ago.
Thinking about it, Shadow smiled.
Suddenly, his smile made Vanoss feel as if this was some ominous premonition.
While trying to make sense of this, he swiftly raised its hands to protect its chest as Shadow's sword seemed suddenly to have transcended space, instantly reaching his chest.
"You push and satisfy me after years of boredom, with no worthy opponent that could rival me. But now, I have no choice but to used my other technique, a great power that no opponent I have faced will be seen this."
As these words entered Vanoss' ears, it felt an intense sense of crisis. This crisis reached its peak when it heard the concluding phrase.
"[Purgatory]"
Swoosh~!
Suddenly, the destroyed forest turned pin-drop silent and turned blinding dark. Every source of light lost its function, not even the Google glasses Vanoss wore seems to work.
A sense of helplessness gripped everything. It was a helplessness every blind man would experience as they lost their sight, but it was new to those in the mausoleum.
*RIPPPPPPPP*
In such an environment, just miles behind Vanoss, a slit violently ripped open. It was a gigantic eye.
The slit was not even as thick as a hair. Still, it was too bright, the radiating glow of countless colors swirling as if it was the insides of a kaleidoscope tube.
*Whoosh!*
Ghost-like and demon-like figures appeared in the swirling colors, their expressions filled with hunger. They were pitch black, malevolent.
As Vanoss looked at them, his heart momentarily froze.
"Do you think now is the time to be distracted?" Shadow's voice rang in Vanoss' ears, bringing his consciousness back to reality.
He quickly turned his head and tried to move back, but it was too late.
*BANG!*
By then, Shadow's sword had brutally pounded onto his chest, easily piercing through his diamond armor and onto the clothing and flesh underneath it.
Vanoss' chest caved in, and his back arched out while its body slammed into the slit. The ghost-like figures smiled and extended their hands to grab the incoming meal, then their ethereal hands turned into chains and tightened around Vanoss, trying to bring him dragged inside the slit.
It was at that moment, Vanoss' eye throbbed, followed by a click sound, it was the sound of something being released. Vanoss saw a scene, the scene of him being tied up to a gigantic altar, chains pierced his body from all sides, these chains were burning hot meaning he was behind cooked alive, making matters worse, the altar on which he was being tied up was extremely cold, so he was feeling both burning and chilling sensation at the same time, numerous shadows were crawling under his foot, wanting nothing more than swallowing it, it was eternal suffering.
Time seemed to have stopped, Vanoss saw his life flash through his eyes, past in each time places where he loves and hates, laughs and cries, bad and good and everything he regrets.
'Wake up!'
*Ba-dump!*
Vanoss' heart skipped, unknown memories flooded his brain, bringing intense pain, among those memories, one particular struck him, almost as if saying this could get you out of your current situation.
"Oh god, I am so stupid! How did I forget that?"
*Kang!*
There was a bright flash of light that forced Shadow to close his eyes, and when he opened them again, he was gobsmacked by the sight before him.
Vanoss had escaped from the chains, he wields his Netherite Katana made by the dwarf, Ironwood. But right now, the cracks of the blade were emitting purple light, as if it had Shadow's magic.
"N-No way, you have my magic? Wait... don't tell me..." Shadow nervously said as he analyzed the sword Vanoss was wielding, which seems to agglomerating the magic everything around it without stopping at all.
"...You also used that sword to absorb the magic in the Atomic blast?"
"Umm... maybe?"
Fear gripped Shadow's heart. Not only him, even the ghost-like figures summoned through Purgatory seemed afraid, mostly from the sword.
"But thanks for the tip." Vanoss said before a torrential amount of mana gathered towards him in a matter of seconds. Because he was about to use his own ultimate attack.
[Judgment Cut End]
*Click!*
A faint click sounded in the surroundings as a deep silence suddenly descended upon the whole painted world as it trembled before Vanoss. At the next instant, the suction force in the air disappeared.
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, an unknown number of cracks in the air and the space formed in a split second, time seemed to have come to a halt. Everything, the [Purgatory], even Shadow who had Magic Items to counter Time-based abilities was frozen in place.
With his eyes widened, horror flashed across his face as he stared at Vanoss softly landed on the ground with a low thud.
*Thud*
Looking at Shadow that let out a look of fear behind his mask, Vanoss smirked.
"Checkmate."
Then, he placed back his sword onto the sheathe.
*Shattered!*
Just placing back to the sheathe, Shadow and his [Purgatory] were instantly shattered like glass shards.
Not only that, with a tremendous amount of magic energy the sword Vanoss had absorbed since it was crafted, especially absorbing Shadow's [I AM ATOMIC] magic, it shredded the whole painted world like a piece of paper, dissected it into countless pieces caused by the Sword itself.
———
Author: Those new characters and Shadow Garden weren't originally belong to me but belong to its respectful owner, Daisuke Aizawa.
Wondering why there are characters from different series? It's because it has something to do with the lore of my world. The information will be revealed, if you want to know now, its that the Elder the world Fordalt belongs to, their status was like the Cardinal World, multiple beings, Items, and Rules of Magic from countless other universes were created and mixed into this world, like some sort of massive crossover. That's why there are Tier Magic from Overlord, Ultimate Skills from Tensura, and otherworlders like Oum, Technoblade, and the Summoning Hero ended up there.
Secondly, the mentions of Shadow and Shadow Garden are similar to those characters I mentioned in Chapter 131, they are from another story but were alternate versions from their original counterparts, same as Shadow and his subordinates.