Lord Shadow

Chapter 183: Deep inside her dream

EARTH PRIME

‘BOOM!’

A sonic boom shattered the sound as a portal exploded out of nowhere, spurting out two figures who landed on the ground.

One person was clad in blue lightning and just before he falls to the ground he vibrated his hand creating a cyclone that soften his landing.

Another figure was clad in black and was surrounded by coiling dark red aura who immediately floats on the air after being spurted out by the portal

They were about to catch a breath when notification sounded in their mind like a message from a phone.

Then a translucent message appeared in front of their eyes

SPECIAL QUEST : WERONIAN INVASION ( COULD NOT BE DECLINED)

The Weronian are the barbarian race of the Universe. They have strong bodies and their physique did not differed greatly from homo sapiens species. They cultivated their bodies and neglect magic.

Drive back their invasion before Earth is occupied by them.

Time Limit: Until Earth is transformed into a habitable planet of Weronian. Estimated time is five months.

Victory Condition : Driving back the invasion

: Earth is not occupied by the Weronian

Failure condition : Earth is occupied by Weronians

: Earth is transformed into the Weron planet

Special reward : Upgrading of the Earth condition to suit humans

: The monster will dropped more artifacts

EXP gain will double because of the special quest

Monster all over the world are dormant because of the special quest

This was what greeted Azief and Will the moment they stepped out from the portal.

Will look at the quest and look at Azief.

‘You got it too?’ Will asked. Azief nodded as he seems a little out of breath as he slowly fly down.

Will who is already on the ground was sweating on his forehead and his hand a little bit of trembling.

His body is still discharging blue colored electricity.

Azief on the other hand coiling around his chest is dark red aura that seems to be dispelling blue lightning around him.

They come out of the Speed Source Tunnel after a grueling three weeks.

After Azief finished his conversation with Harrison at Earth 39 he went straight to Will at the underground lab where Will uses Miria particle accelerator to generate enough energy to send them home.

In that tunnel Azief saw the other 38 Earths that they used to travel, separated by a paper thin barrier.

It opens Azief eyes how thin it really is the barrier between worlds and how fragile it is which only strengthen Azief resolve to strengthen the barrier of Earth Prime.

He even saw some fragmented realities and separated timelines that keep looping.

Being in the Speed Source tunnel, Azief would describe it as the most bizarre adventure he ever experience.

He saw many weird things and bizarre worlds in his journey home.

But they did not stop in any of the other worlds or were hurled outside of the tunnel. This time Will has better control of his power.

He is still in the last stages of Energy Disperse Stage but Azief knows it would not be long until he reach Seed Formation.

‘Close the portal first’ Azief said and Will nodded. He hurls a blue lightning bolt at the portal with his hand and his hand exploded with blue lightning.

The energy of the bolt of lightning flows into the edges of the spherical portal and seems to sew the portal shut with lightning before it slowly shrunk and disappeared.

Then suddenly before Azief had the chance to speak of anything or even trying to make sense of the matter a monster appeared.

And it was not alone. Azief thought it was a monster but looking closely, Azief knew he thought wrong.

They have the physique of human and one horn. Their muscles are defined and its body have a few tattoos.

Other than that they are wearing grey armor.

‘Weronians!’ Azief was shocked. This means they are not a pack but a unit of Weronian soldiers

The one leading the unit shouted

‘Humans! Kill them!’ Azief could understand their words thanks to the World Orb translation abilities.

Azief stares at them with his divine sense and when he discovers their energy is weak Azief just harrumphed before waving his hand.

With it he sent the essence of destruction. The aura was sharp and poisonous and could destruct anything that is weaker than its owner.

A breezy wind passed the unit and they all turned into mist of blood.

They did not even have the chance to speak another word or to do anything before that wind pass them by and just like that their bones of steel and sturdy body turns liquid light, turning only to red mist.

Azief then saw the EXP rushing through him.

‘Double EXP but it is not that much.’ Azief thought to himself. Considering how weak the enemy was, that was to be expected.

‘Will, we need to get away first’ Azief said and Will nodded as he already has taken care of the dozens Weronians on the other side with his speed.

Dozens of Weronians corpse sprawled on the ground with a hole on their chest. Will drills their chest with his vibrating hands.

Will tapped the Speed Source as energy fills him all over his body, in every nerve, in every breath.

Smiling he dashed forward as the land beneath his feet erupted. Azief burns another dozens of the Weronian unit nearby using his eyes of fire.

Fireballs shoots out from his eyeballs as the forest was set into fire.

Then after confirming there are no longer anyone else Azief take to the skies, a sonic boom accompanying him as he fly up to the clouds.

Azief follows Will from behind as a black and blue blur passes by mountains and seas as they finally settled somewhere in the world, arriving at a deep cavern, hiding from the Weronians until they talk.

‘Did you see it?’ Azief asked when he landed on the ground asking Will. Will just nodded, his face looked grim.

‘They have come.’ Azief balled his fist as he knows that this is the chance he is waiting for. He already have seven seeds.

To persevere until the tenth seed one has to either be stupid or stubborn.

There is a risk of being overtaken by other if he stays in the Seed Forming realm for too long.

But it is undeniable that Azief Seeds could pressure even Disk Formation Middle Realm cultivator.

That is the purity of his energy.

Azief felt the restriction and pressure of Earth Prime bearing down on him when he first came out of the portal that slowed his speed and even his damage power.

But he also discover the purer his energy the less the restriction of this world works on him.

He manage to verify this matter with his repeated fights against many people of the same level of him when he was at Energy Disperse Stage.

Azief have always thought of this matter as strange. Since the World Orb intends to strengthen humanity why would it weaken humanity?

Azief notices this back when he return from Earth Two with Will.

But after coming back to Earth Prime the second time he knew his previous conjecture was wrong.

It was not that the World Orb make them weaker, they make this Earth stronger. The pressure comes down from the world itself.

The pressure of gravity is stronger than before but for levelers of his caliber he would only felt like his speed decrease.

Even the terrain was strengthen.

If not when Will runs before, not only the ground would erupt it would explodes with ripples of Speed Source lingering.

The same could be said about his flight speed that would disperse the clouds and compress the air around him.

The pressure of this world seek to strengthen humanity by forging them in extreme condition, pushing them to the limit.

Azief believe if anyone from Earth two or Earth 39 enter Earth Prime they would find it hard to even breathe.

It is the reason why when Azief arrived at Earth 39 he felt weirdly unrestrained like something bogging down on his power were lifted.

It was the feeling like he was unsealed.

‘What’s the plan?’ Will said as he sit down on the ground resting himself. Azief was brought back to his current situation.

He was already tired from all the running.

Azief think a bit before pondering all the thing he has seen and felt when he was flying before. He saw many people fighting all over the world at sea, on the skies and on the surface.

They did not linger too long in a place fearing they would be detected and with their speed they should not have been detected but Azief is not the type of person that would throw caution to the wind.

He is not the old Azief that would move according to his emotion.

When he has been perfectly sure of his moves only then he will let his emotion guide him.

He nearly lost Sina, nearly fell into a scheme of other people so how could he let himself be fooled again?

Will cover himself with Speed Source energy while he uses his dark aura to hides from being detected.

Other than a blur, their presence is not obviously felt. And it was wise for them to do so as Azief discover many things.

Azief even saw a Weronian that possesses seven horns. Seven horns means that Weronian prowess is equal to a Disk Formation levelers.

That was a whole one realm above him.

It’s not like Azief could not fight people above his realm of power but this also means that there might even be a Weronian with the power of a Divine Comprehension level.

With one slap Azief would be rendered dead if he met such experts.

And he also found out more thing. He discover he could not use his divine sense. Or to be more accurate his divine sense could only sense thing five hundred meters of his radius.

If he tries to go more than that, a lot of energy interferes making his divine sense useless.

Unless he rotates his Seed to bolster his divine sense he would not be able to sense more than five hundred meter radius, but that would only increase the chance he could be detected.

With little information Azief did not want to risk showing himself without a plan.

Azief could think many reasons why his divine sense acted like that but there is only one that is probable.

‘The Weronians has sealed the planet’ Azief declared.

Will sitting on the ground could only nod. He didn’t want to believe it but since his brother said so, then that must be true.

He also think that Earth has been sealed but he didn’t want to voice his thought fearing that would be true.

He knows that Weronian while they are the Barbarian race of the Universe they have grown weak.

If not why would the target Earth when there are so many other planets? They fear retaliation from the alliances of planetary system that is against them.

Since Earth has never even saw other intergalactic civilization they are not part of such treaty or alliances making Earth an easy target.

‘They fear the Intergalactic Alliance?’ Will ask.

‘Maybe.’ Azief said before his eyebrows creased. Then he continued.

‘Or maybe they need to seal it for a different reason. If the Supreme level beings like Odin, Olympus or Osiris came down then the fate of the Weronians fate is as good as sealed. We know that those supreme beings wanted us to survive which is why they sent us the World Orb.’

‘Then why didn’t they do that? Come down and help us?’ Azief shakes his head puzzled how could Will ask this question.

It’s like all the things Will heard before went on his left ears and exited his right ear.

‘Do you remember what that Old Jotnar said? There is still the Source Wall.’ And Will eyes widened. He finally remembered.

‘Out of those Seven Intergalactic Power only a few live outside the Source Wall. To come down to a lower realm especially Earth Prime would require them to pay a heavy price. Their power level would surely be demoted and if the legends that I heard from the Old Jotnar was true, breaking the Source Wall will inflict a curse on those who dares do so. And those who did not live beyond the source wall could not be trusted. Those Seven Powers all had bad blood with each other when they tried to occupy our Earth about six thousand years ago.’

‘You really remember the Old Jotnar information by heart.’

‘I strive to listen, Will. Whereas you kept dozing off at the time. How many time must I tell you, information is a weapon.’

‘Yeah, yeah. So, what do you reckon we should do?’ Will said as he creates a fire with the flick of his finger utilizing the sparks of lightning all over his fingers.

‘I have to gain more information. To do that, I need to meet my friends. Especially Loki.’

‘The trickster?’ Will eyebrows raised up.

He heard about Loki though he never met him face to face. Since Will used to work for the world government he knew what kind of existence Loki is for the World Government.

He is regarded as a trouble maker but also a very troublesome existence by the World Government.

Hirate the President of the World Government even said that he held more wariness towards Loki then towards Azief because he believe that while Azief is dangerous, his motive and intent while does not always coincide with the World Government his intention is clear and his actions could be understood.

But Loki…his actions always seems meaningless in the beginning only to have some unforeseen circumstances at the end.

There is also the fact that out of all Azief companions he was the most mysterious since no one has any records of him and those people that Loki seems to said he has met are dead or missing.

Azief without knowing the thought of his brother nodded.

‘For some reason, I kept feeling he would be the most informed about this situation more than anyone else.’ Azief smirked.

He is sure of this. Loki must know something that could help. He hated to think he will starts to depending on Loki because that would not sit right with him.

This time it is not about pride. It is about his steel heart. He fears it will waver. The moment he verifies that Loki was from the future….Azief heart wavered.

How many things he wanted to know, how many things he wanted to know future events he could take advantage off…. The greed almost take him over and that scares him.

How easy it is for him to abandon his path.

He knows his path. It is a lonely path not many would trod. He must not depends on anyone not because it will make him weak.

It is because it will make him reliant and reliance on someone else other than himself will denied his hard work.

Working in a team is fine but he must never lose the confidence he has cultivated. And Loki almost omniscient knowledge of the future tempted Azief.

But he managed to calm his heart and see the big picture.

Since he came from the future there must be something he wanted to change and if that is so to think that this timeline event would be the same as in Loki timeline would be childish.

There is also the fact that he could not fully trust Loki. Usually for people he couldn’t trust or use, he would eliminate him.

But….Loki….in the end…was family.

And for someone like Azief who has no familial love….to kill someone he regarded as family will be a betrayal to his own heart.

For his deceased family, he used to feel guilt for killing them. But he has already got over it showing that his feeling about his family wasn’t deep.

But he knew that if any of his friend Sina and Loki were to die on other people hands or under his own hand, he knew his heart could not bear it.

And Sofia? He didn’t even want to imagine losing her. Unlike other people Azief rarely shows his feeling on his face.

His face was usually expressionless or bored.

On other people faces it would look like that person is a lazy and unenthusiastic person but on Azief face, it looked like he was looking down on other people which suits his image as the strongest person in the world.

That title was not self-declared, it was given by the world.

Azief did not go running around declaring himself as the strongest person in the world, he was given that title after world shattering battle.

He also lacks gestures of affection. This trait happens because of his introverted personality and depression in his 20s.

It is for this reason his relationship progress with Sofia was slow with the pace of a walking tortoise.

If not for Sofia patience and the jealousy that Azief felt about Raymond when he return from Earth Two they might not have elevated their status from friends to whatever they are now.

That jealousy was the impetus for Azief to take a step forward. In battles, Azief like to take the first initiative.

He do not like to react to his enemies tactics, he would be the one forcing people to react to his tactics.

But in his love life, it seems he is more of a reactionary.

Azief never told this to Sofia but he had once had a crush on her when they were at the same high school

But at the time Sofia had a boyfriend, a cool sports guy with a handsome face and a car while he is a clown and while he is not ugly in his teenage years, he was not handsome either.

Of course one could not believe that seeing his face and physique now.

Even just standing he emitted majestic aura and his face become even more refined each time he broke to a new realm.

With one word he could move the clouds and shakes the world. He was a figure that is at the top right now.

People kneels before him out of fear and respect. The difference between that person in high school and the person he is now was like the difference between Heaven and Earth.

The increase in level did not change a person it would only bring out the features that complemented the person.

For someone like Azief who has a lot of darkness and destruction attributed laws, his face and expression, and the way he carried himself looks cold and unemotional.

He has this deadly feeling that could not be explained, a coldness that seems to emanate deep inside his heart.

This is all because the laws he practiced.

‘What should I do? You want me to find him?’ Will asked bringing Azief out of his pondering. Azief seems to contemplate that idea before shaking his head.

‘Too risky’ Azief said as he clicked his tongue.

‘What should I do then?’ Will asked.

‘Let me think’ Azief said. Will quieted down

His Divine Sense could not be used and he could not afford to act conspicuously until he ascertain the situation.

He also could not risk Will lives. Will is even weaker than him. If he tangled with a Disk Formation Expert he would die meaninglessly.

The reason why he is not worried about his other friend is because he still felt that his clone that he left behind is still breathing.

The fact that Budiman did not unleash the clone could only mean that his friend is safe. Especially Sofia.

He worries about her the most.

Sina is protected by Sasha, Wang Jian, the Seven Fairies and the Immortal Couple.

He knew Wang Jian would rather die than let any harm befall Sina because Wang Jian knows how important Sina to Azief.

There is still Athena and Freya. They should know that if his friend is dead, they should also not entertain the idea they could live.

Azief could be crazy sometimes of how protective he could be when it concern someone he loves and cherished.

Just look what happens to the Island of Peace. And it happens because the World Government kidnap Azief sworn brother.

Loki, Sofia and Sina was the first three companions Azief have when he began starting his journey.

Azief cherished them and thought of them as family the same way they thought of him as family.

He still remember the days they were camping and hunting monsters, drinking coffee and talking late into the night huddling near the campfire.

He did not worry about Loki.

By now, he is one hundred percent that Loki is not of this time.

The fact that his true original appearance is a child of six years old strengthen that belief.

Others may not be able to see Loki true appearance but for Azief who outstripped everyone in terms of level he could see through Loki disguise.

Even though Loki disguise could deceive people a few level above him he is still an Energy Disperse Stage leveler while Azief is a Seed Forming High realm expert.

Though for some reason, Azief felt a nagging feeling like Loki wanted him to discover that secret.

After all there is too many hints that Loki dropped long before he managed to confirm one hundred percent that Loki was a time traveler.

Azief smirk to himself while Will turns into blue lightning running across the caverns to check the perimeters while Azief is thinking.

It has become a routine that while Azief is thinking Will with his speed will check the perimeters as it would only take a second for Will.

The moment Will finished checking the perimeter not even one second has passed while Azief is still deep in his thoughts.

Azief notices that Will has finished checking the perimeter and so he did not bother checking anymore as he continues his thoughts, slowly walking back and forth.

Azief also discover why Loki could disguise himself and not being caught. Loki uses the worldly essence to bolster his disguise.

That was the hint.

How could an Energy Disperse Stage leveler use worldly essence other than reaching Seed Formation?

The other explanation is that the person has already mastered worldly essence.

But that would be too preposterous for a six year old kid to understand the profundity of the secret of energies.

Then there is only one explanation.

Azief has already sense the time essence swirling around Loki when he is at Energy Disperse stage and when he is at Seed Forming Azief put all the pieces together.

Since Loki could not lie about his age in front of Azief, the only explanation was that Loki was not of this time.

This is after Azief had tried to think of other possible reason.

And in the end he already verified it with Loki. And Azief also knows knowing too much of the future is not that good.

From what Loki seems to hint to him, he will survive this. But that’s the thing about time travel. The moment someone began to start meddling into time, nothing is set in stone as it throws everything into chaos.

Of course if Loki heard this he would scoff.

All he had tried to do the moment he arrived at this timeline was to throw everything into chaos and change what is set in stone but Time, Destiny and Fate keep course correcting Time with only slight difference.

It was like throwing a pebble into the sea.

The ripples does not affect anything.

‘Hmm. We will explore slowly. We first have to determine where we are. Did you see any villages or cities?’

‘None. Did you see any?’ Will asked back. Azief shake his head.

‘All I see are Weronians’ Will nodded

‘How many casualties do you think?’ Will asked. Will knows that the initial attack might have claimed more lives.

Azief face turns dark.

Considering how he did not saw many humans and more of Weronians when he passes them by before, Azief could only conclude one thing

‘It must be in the scale of millions. The core members of the Revolutionary army and World Government must have set up a resistance base somewhere. We can start there.’

‘You sure about this, brother?’ Will asked.

‘That’s what I would do if I am Hirate. He should have known that humanity must unite to battle this threat. It is the only reason I let their organization go after that battle. He understand my intention thus he did not ask too much of me.’

‘And Revolutionary Army?’

‘They have Katarina and Jean. I’ve met Katarina’ and Azief was reminded of Katarina. She was beautiful surrounded by petals of snows looking like an ice princess in fairy tales.

‘She was powerful and her skills are formidable. I don’t know her strength now but she must have improved. Jean was also not someone that could be underestimated. Even if Oreki and Hachiman were to fight him he could still stand his ground. When I was cleaning up your mess in the Ice Region, they were the only two people in that organization I pay attention to.’

‘Is that all?’ Clearly Will has heard about how people praise Katarina beauty. He looked at Azief with a smirking face.

She was said to be a rare beauty that could enchant anyone. If not that she disclose her unique class people might even think she is a charmer class or seductress class.

‘What are you thinking about Will? I would just feel sad if such people dies.’ Azief said, not saying anything anymore.

‘So, when will we start?’ Will said clearly knows he need to change the topic before Azief starts giving him the silent treatment

Azief was clearly pleased with the change of topic

‘After we are rested, we have to start exploring here. Determine where we are, if there is any hostile forces and gain information on the current events. Try to be low profile as possible. I don’t want to attract Weronians that are powerful than us. We must use our brains since the Weronians are not all weak like a one horn Weronians.’

Will nodded as he lean on the walls of the cavern and closes his eyes as Azief take first watch.

Looking at the cavern walls Azief smiles a bit as he scratched something on the cavern walls.

‘Azief was here’ he scratched on the walls as he smiles.

It was what he used to do with Sofia when they have to rest somewhere especially in a cave or closed space.

Life and death were separated by a thin boundary and every day could be their last, so every time they arrived at place and had to sleep or take shelters they would scratched their names on the walls of the cave like it was a proof that they lived and exist.

When they grew stronger they seem to forget about this stuff since they rarely have to hide themselves anymore or take shelter.

In the end we still have to hide and fear for our lives Azief whispers as he looked at the ceiling of the cavern and his determination to become stronger burning even intense.

It was this intense desire to become strong that had supported Azief until he become Sovereign, a God like existence in Loki timeline.

But in that timeline Azief was a darker person and his life was way more tragic which started the day of his imprisonment by the World Government which created a feud between the World government and the God of Death.

But in this timeline, Azief was not imprisoned by the Word Government yet that desire to become strong still exist.

Destiny, Fate and Time is not so easy to change.

Earth Prime is slowly being occupied by the Weronians. But the Prince of Darkness has returned.

And it is obvious that the world will be in chaos again.

With little information Azief could not know that his rivals are also getting stronger.

Raymond, Oreki, Hachiman, Katarina, and Jean, these people did not sit around while Azief was in Earth 39.

This people do not like being ordered and especially hated being under other people, so they too have strengthen themselves, forging themselves amidst battles and hardship.

With these six people on the lead over everybody else, this is the beginning of the rise of the Sovereigns.

A chaotic era is about to unfold.

***

AT THE SAME TIME

SOMEWHERE IN DJIBOUTI

A LUSH FOREST

Inside a dark cave illuminated by floating crystal Louise looks at the lying body of his Mistress with a worried expression.

She was panting and black sweat poured down from her forehead as her eyes and her ears were bleeding profusely.

Yet, she only groaned and mutters something unintelligible.

Louise looking at this scene could not hide his anxiety as his brown eyes were trembling while his hazel hair was messy.

Outside the cave a lightning storm was brewing. Thunder boomed and lightning fills the dark skies.

Weronian spacecraft sails the dark storms scanning for humans settlements. The thunder boomed and the land quake a little.

Louise is not worried anyone would enter this cave.

The cave was carved with sealing and matrixes formation on its walls.

On the outside it would appear like a huge lump of rock from normal eyes.

Unless one is a Seed Formation leveler or having an artifact that could see through illusions or formation master and Arrayist master, this cave could not be seen so easily.

Of course if even this kind of people enter Louise would not hesitate to execute them on the spot if they harbor evil intentions.

‘Please Madam Morgana. Hold on’ Louise said as he daringly hold Morgana hands tightly trying to at least offer some support.

It was then a man appears outside the cave looking at the cave like he seen through the formation.

The man figures were illuminated by the flashing lightning on the skies. It was a young man clothed in white robe looking elegant and dignified. He has long straight black hair and a clean appearance.

He was thin in his physique but power seems to be radiated from him as green smokes seems to accompany him.

Each of his steps produce a bit of green puff of smokes that seems to vibrate through the matrix formation slightly interfering with its operation.

Seeing the person that appears on the entrance of the cave Louise hastily removed his hand from Morgana hands and look happy seeing the person.

‘Open Formation!’ Louise shouted as the matrixes carved on the walls dimmed down as the man outside nodded.

The man walked inside the cave as Louise waved his hand as the formation resume back its task.

Louise come forward and quickly grab the man hand and said

‘Please. She is hurting’ that person only looked at the suffering that Morgana is experiencing and sigh.

‘I warned you both didn’t I? Magic always have a price.’

Louise seeing the deteriorating conditions of Morgan forego his pride and kneel in front of that man and pleaded

‘Please. Save her. I do not know who else to ask. Please Lord Loki’ the person was Loki. Loki look at the earnest expression of Louise and look at his ex-wife and sighed.

‘Karma’ he said

‘Destiny’ he added. He stepped forward to examine Morgana as he muttered

‘Fate’

Outside the world was chaotic, lightning and thunder illuminated the dark skies like it was signifying the dark days of humanity is beginning.

***

From now on the events will only happens at Earth prime. If any other Earth popped up, I will inform it at the top like usual. This time Azief come back to see his Earth being invaded and true to his personality traits he is taking it slow. If you notice Azief no longer depends only on his strength alone. He still flex his superiority and struts like a badass but only after he confirm he is the top dog on the area. That’s what I called character development.

Believe it or not that was the reason I made the Seven Fairy Arc and the Sina kidnappings. Both of those two events teaches him that he should never underestimates his enemies no matter how weak they are. And always have a backup plan. This was shown in his battle with Earth 39 forces where he schemed and until the end did not underestimate his enemies.

With the Sven Fairy he learns to appreciate the power of information as he was nearly schemed against by the League of Freedom. And Will and Azief is together now. Expect their combo. And Loki has appeared again this time as it seems Morgana hit a bit of a snag. What do you think he would do? Morgana after all shares a different objective than him. Would he steel his heart and take this opportunity to end her?

Leave some comments and for those how still did not leave your review please do as a show of support. Hopefully the review is good.

THIS IS THE EDITED POST

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