Becoming a Shadow in the New World

Is it God?

He paused for a moment at this point.

"If you think you are a god and you are doing godly things, so arbitrarily arranging other people's destinies, then you also have to accept that someone might break the destiny you have arranged."

Of course, you can also fix a broken destiny.

"As long as... you really are a god."

After speaking, Sid proudly raised his head, and the magic power within his body surged out unrestrainedly. The black magic power filled the entire room, making it difficult for people to even breathe. His unparalleled aura pressed down on Xian Guyong, almost causing Xian Guyong to collapse.

"Hahoo...hahoo..."

Under the oppressive aura of Sid, the spiritual power within Xiangu Yong's body slowed down, and he could only watch as Rudolf raised the giant axe in his hand, smashed the foundation, and took the holy relic.

Do you want to take action?

The thought only flashed through Xian Guyong's mind for a second before he dismissed it; to act now would only be suicide.

Even if Shadow didn't make a move in this state, she wouldn't be able to defeat Rudolph, let alone the fact that she's already been targeted by Shadow.

The only thing that gave her some comfort was that, in order to prevent Rudolf from making a desperate move and destroying the relics, they had prepared Plan D in advance, a material to replace the foundation.

However, this means that the Lion King Organization has really suffered a huge loss in this incident.

The original plan was to give Himeragi Yukina to Akatsuki Kojou so that she could become his blood companion after receiving his first blood. They gave her three and a half days and even deliberately caused a scene at Rudolf's place to lure them over, but the two of them still don't know each other.

Forced to activate Plan B, they sent the Sword Shaman to have Akatsuki drain their life force under the pretext of saving the island. The downside was that the temporary Sword Shaman was poorly trained, lacked emotional connection, and was too abrupt; anyone with a brain could easily see that something was wrong.

Then Rudolph, as if he had a cheat code, actually defeated Akatsuki Kojo. The only option left was to use Plan C, whereby she would personally kill Rudolph, who had already discovered the truth, erase the Lion King Organization's involvement, return the relic to the church as a victim, and then turn the tables, gaining public support and making both sides equally guilty.

As a result, Shadow intervened and saved Rudolph, allowing him to return alive. Not to mention how humiliating it was that a mere teacher broke into Itogami Island and took away the relic.

The church later learned of their Lion King organization's plan for retaliation and the pressure of public opinion to instigate war. The church couldn't make a big fuss, but the compensation would allow them to use up all their savings for their funerals.

Compared to the damaged reputation and the inevitable compensation, the foundation to be replaced in Plan D was practically worthless.

Despite having many thoughts in mind, in reality, Xian Gu Yong obediently put down the spear in his hand and watched helplessly as Rudolf took out the relic.

To everyone's surprise, the moment Rudolf took out the relic, the sacred aura within the relic, the magic power permeating the air, and the cross embedded in the heart of Akatsuki reacted. The intense holy light was so intense that even the alloy couldn't withstand it, and light appeared in the dark, sunless deep sea outside the foundation.

Under this holy light, Akatsuki... went berserk.

Completely uncontrolled, a massive amount of magical power erupted from Akatsuki's body, intent on destroying the place.

If this magic were to strike the surrounding alloy walls, the room buried at the bottom of the sea would immediately collapse, and everyone except Sid and Akatsuki would perish at sea.

Intercepting it with spiritual power is useless. The moment spiritual power collides with this magic power, an explosion will occur. The smaller the space, the greater the power of the explosion. And with such a huge amount of magic power as gunpowder, the aftershocks alone would be enough to destroy the entire Foundation Gate.

Realizing this, Sid's eyes sharpened.

The black magic that filled the air solidified and collided with the magic that Akatsuki Kojou unleashed.

An explosion... never occurred.

The black magic that collided with Akatsuki Kojo's chaotic magic was of the same mass as Akatsuki Kojo's magic, and the two canceled each other out perfectly without any overflow.

The collision lasted for several seconds. The two identical magical forces collided, each capable of easily destroying an island on its own. Yet, they collided in such a confined space without making a sound, thus creating a miracle in the history of magic.

Just after the clash ended, Sid felt a little dizzy from manipulating magic to the microparticle level when a golden lion, several times stronger than when fighting Rudolf, descended from the sky and struck Sid, kicking up a cloud of dust that obscured Sid's condition.

But everyone noticed that the moment the golden lion struck the shadow, a surge of magic flowed from beneath the shadow's feet to the ground, preventing the room from collapsing.

Chapter Forty: A Big Surprise

"Shadow!" x3

The current situation is something no one expected; Shadow actually saved them at the cost of his own life.

Everyone on the field believed that if Shadow were to face Akatsuki Kojou one-on-one, even if Akatsuki Kojou possessed the life force of a true vampire ancestor, it would definitely be Akatsuki Kojou who died.

Even though the legendary Fourth Ancestor is the strongest Ancestor, stronger than the Forgotten War King, by the standards of the New World, he is only SSS-level, still within the top fifteen in the world.

And Shadow, ranked in the top five in the world.

Don't be fooled by the fact that there may only be ten places in between; there are at least two levels in between.

Let me clarify that the top 15 in the world, excluding the five who are firmly in the top five, does not mean that there are only ten people in this tier. There should be more than twenty people in the world who are in this tier.

After all, there are elemental counters in this world. If we were to force an order, it would be very possible that the world's seventh-ranked player could beat the world's fourteenth-ranked player, and the world's fifteenth-ranked player could defeat the world's seventh-ranked player.

Because they are all at the same level, there may indeed be some differences, but these differences will not determine the outcome. Restraint and intelligence will determine the outcome.

Therefore, no one believed that Akatsuki Kojou would win. Even if it was a sneak attack, with Shadow's reaction speed, he would have enough time to use magic to defend himself, unless Shadow suddenly lost his mind and wanted to take the attack with his bare body...

Shadow must have really lost his mind. Everyone on the field saw it with their own eyes: when facing Akatsuki's attack, Shadow used the magic he had temporarily summoned to reinforce the room and prevent it from collapsing, but chose to take the blow with his own body.

Shadow's actions caused them to have mixed feelings, after all, Shadow had died to save them.

If Shadow hadn't chosen to use his magic to reinforce the walls, they would probably have been crushed to death by the weight of the seawater by now.

"Roar roar roar..."

There wasn't much time for them to process their complicated feelings. After eliminating the Shadow, Akatsuki's target became them.

At this moment, in Xiaogu City, the fangs of the vampires on both sides were outstretched, their eyes devoid of any clarity, like a wounded wild beast, their ferocious aura making it hard for them to breathe.

The shockwave of the gathered magic struck them. The current Akatsuki Castle was vastly different from the Akatsuki Castle during Rudolf's battle. Fortunately, with the reinforcement of Shadow's magic, at least they didn't have to worry about it collapsing for the time being.

Faced with this attack, everyone on the field moved simultaneously.

The holy relic in Rudolf's hand emitted holy light, blocking the attack. Xian Gu Yong channeled all his spiritual power to collide with the shockwave.

Meanwhile, Yukina Himeragi leaped towards the Snow Wolf with all her might, trying to obtain the Demon-Slaying Spear and use the Snow Wolf's ability to dispel magic to block the attack.

However, the shockwave formed by the magic was faster than Yukina Himeragi's speed. Just as Yukina Himeragi was about to touch Yukisui Wolf, the chaotic and disordered magic had already reached her.

Just as Himeragi Yukina was about to perish from this attack, Astallodi used her rose-manipulating fingertips to block the magic.

The divine vibration wave driving the spell on the surface of the white giant was operating frantically, trying to counteract the magic power, but it only lasted a few seconds before stopping in the face of such immense magic power.

After breaking through the barrier that neutralized the magic, the unparalleled magic arrived before Astallo, intending to pierce through and destroy the white giant in front of her, along with Astallo.

"The divine son of the Suanni and the high-ranking swordsman pray here. May the divine wolf of Xuexia transform the roar of a thousand swords into a shield, swiftly warding off evil and calamity!"

At the critical moment, Yukina Himeragi obtained the Snow Wolf, recited a prayer, and stood in front of Astallo, using its magic-breaking properties to block the attack.

The magical impact lasted for several tens of seconds. The surrounding walls, enhanced by shadow magic, cracked in several places, and the ground was destroyed, raising a lot of dust.

"Huh...huh..."

Amidst the smoke and dust, as the magical impact ceased, everyone except for Xiaogucheng knelt on the ground, panting heavily, trying to regain their strength.

"Uh... Ah, ahhh!"

Without giving people a chance to catch their breath, Akatsuki started moving again. Chaotic magic caused vortexes to surround him, and the phantom of a golden lion appeared behind him, becoming more and more solid as magic was introduced.

Seeing this, a deep sense of despair welled up in the hearts of Himeragi Yukina and the other two. Not to mention whether they could withstand this attack, even if they did, the surrounding walls would not be able to hold up.

"Damn it, why did the plan have to go through such a big change?"

A bitter smile crept across Xian Gu Yong's calm face; he was beginning to regret agreeing to the Lion King Organization's plan.

Akatsuki's actions wouldn't change because of other people's thoughts. The golden lion behind her had completely solidified, and golden arcs of electricity and flames surged, locking onto them. This attack... they would die.

As this thought crossed his mind, a light, flirtatious voice, seemingly coming from all directions, caught Akatsuki's attention.

"What? You're not..."

A black figure appeared in front of Xiao Gucheng; it was none other than An Ying.

"Pretty strong, huh?"

As he raised his voice, he kicked upwards with his right foot, striking Akiko in the chest.

The moment he was kicked, Kojou's body vanished from its spot, and a large hole appeared in a straight line from Kojou's location, extending towards the ceiling.

Xian Gu Yong and the others could hear sonic booms and explosions as the building was pierced from above. The golden lion in front of them, being uncontrolled, dissipated into pure magic.

After kicking Akatsuki into the air, Sid stood there and glanced at the people he had saved. He raised his right hand and flicked it, and a ball of blue-gold magic emerged from his hand.

After completing this action, he crouched down slightly, and with a "boom," Sid charged straight up through the passage created by Akatsuki Kojou.

Because of this action, Xiangu Yong and the others saw that there was a hole in the chest of Sid's black coat. Through the hole, they could see a red mark on his chest, but there were no other injuries.

"Is that... a dragon-like body!?"

The ball of magic that Sid threw out split into two. The golden ball merged with the surroundings, stabilizing the Foundation Gate, which was in danger of collapsing at any moment due to the battle just now.

The cyan magic rose to the ceiling and exploded, turning into specks of cyan light that merged into the bodies of Xian Gu Yong and the other three.

The blue light touched them, turning their bodies blue. Within this blue light, their strength, which they had lost in the battle, was restored.

Himeragi Yukina stood up, stared blankly at her hands, and clenched them tightly.

I feel like I've experienced this warmth, healing, and motherly feeling somewhere before.

"boom!"

A loud explosion snapped Himeragi Yukina out of her reverie. Looking around, she realized she was the only one left there.

Upon realizing this, she quickly turned around, grabbed the Snow Wolf, and left through the passage she had come from.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.