Shiora: Before the Darkness
Shiora: Before the Darkness
Before the Big Storm
mother who would have destroyed worlds for him.
Then something took her place.
His kingdom fell. His closest companions died. His people lost their home, and Crowley escaped barely alive—his body ruined and his soul shattered.
Now, as the last prince of a broken kingdom, Crowley must protect what remains of his people and stop the disasters left in his mother’s wake before more innocent lives are destroyed.
All while searching for the truth behind one question:
Can a broken prince protect everyone his mother left behind?
Betrayel:
“Ahhh...”
Elyka smiles and sits on the ground, extending her hand. “Come,” she says in the calmest, most gentle tone. Strangely, Crowley’s discomfort completely vanishes, and he takes her hand. She pulls him by his shoulder close to her chest, and the two of them lie down together under the White Sun. Within moments, Crowley falls fast asleep.
....
....
A nightmare swallowed him.
He stood inside a ruined dungeon, wounded from countless battles. The heavy scent of blood filled the air.
“LUMIE?!”
She lay on the ground, trembling in terror.
Before he could reach her...
Everything shattered.
Crowley suddenly opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw was Elyka smiling gently at him.
“Are you feeling better?” Crowley realized he no longer felt his former body weight. Looking down at his hands, he noticed his childhood size. “I guess I’m back to normal. I hope I didn’t cause you too much trouble, Mother... Thank you.”
Elyka leans in close, kisses the top of his head, and gently begins to stroke his hair. “This is the purpose of a mother—to protect her only son through thick and thin. This is the most important thing to me. Even if I am no longer human, my love will never change. Never say such a thing again to my only son who carries my blood, please.”
Crowley turns his face away slightly. “Okay, Mother.”
A short while later, Crowley takes her hand and pulls her up. “Let’s visit the training grounds. This place is boring, let’s go!” As soon as he speaks, their surroundings instantly warp, and they find themselves standing in a massive, breathtaking training arena.
Elyka steps away from Crowley and takes her seat upon the royal throne. “Now, Crowley, this is all well and good, but you must face your first real training session. And unfortunately, I cannot help you here.”
Filled with an odd sense of comfort and excitement, Crowley replies, “Okay.”
Elyka smiles. “It’s good to see you ready, but unfortunately, it’s not an opponent you’ll be very happy about.”
Suddenly, someone manifests right behind Crowley.
“But MOTHER!” Crowley screams.
Elyka looks on with a hint of sadness. “Unfortunately, my son. You are my child; I wouldn’t pit a mere human against you.”
“But Mother... in this world, that person is the closest to you—”
From behind the pitch-black, featureless mask of the servant, a stark white mouth appears, grinning wildly. “AHAHAH! LITTLE PRINCE, THERE IS NO NEED TO FEAR. I WOULD NEVER HARM A HAIR ON YOUR HEAD. BUT SINCE THIS IS TRAINING, I MUST SCRATCH YOU UP A BIT!”
A small wand slides out from the palm of his hand, and he hurls it toward Crowley. “I HOPE YOU HAVE STUDIED YOUR LESSONS WELL!” He snaps directly into a ready stance.
Crowley takes a deep breath, focusing his entire mind on the opponent before him. He bows respectfully. “Thank you for the assistance,” he says, standing back up and bracing his body in a combat stance. In Crowley’s eyes, nothing exists except the faceless servant.
Elyka stands up, holding a handkerchief enveloped in deep red flames, and tosses it into the air. The exact moment it hits the ground, Crowley finds himself completely paralyzed.
The faceless servant simply waits. A few minutes pass in absolute silence until faint whispering voices echo through the space.
“I SHALL BEGIN THEN,” the faceless servant says.
He advances with slow, deliberate steps. A long sword extends from beneath his hand. He drags the blade along the floor, scratching the ground with an agonizing, screeching sound as he slowly circles Crowley for a prolonged period. The only thing Crowley knows for certain is that, no matter what happens, he must not make the first move.
After circling him for a moment longer, the servant completely vanishes from sight. In a flash, he thrusts from behind, targeting Crowley’s neck. Crowley manages to parry the sword strike, but with blinding speed, the servant follows up with a second strike—kicking Crowley’s arm hard enough to shatter it—and presses the slender, long blade directly against Crowley’s throat.
Elyka watches with immense stress, but she does not interfere. Crowley freezes in sheer terror. The faceless servant glides the sharp edge along his throat without cutting him. The servant’s mouth reappears through the darkness, mocking him. “...IS THAT ALL?! COME ON, MOVE!”
The faceless servant barks, “FINE THEN!” pulling back her sword. “MAYBE LUMIE WILL ENTERTAIN ME MORE.”
The instant he uttered those words, Crowley’s eyes flashed a brilliant yellow. A massive explosion of light erupts where the two are standing. The servant’s body is blown to pieces, and her severed head lands right at Elyka’s feet.
Her severed head laughed.
The faceless servant’s mouth is visible through his laughter as he addresses Elyka: “THAT WAS QUITE GOOD, LITTLE MASTER. IF I HADN’T TAKEN A SHORT STEP BACK EARLY ON, I MIGHT NOT HAVE REMAINED STANDING, PERHAPS.”
Within a single second, her entire body regenerates perfectly, and she stood back up. Crowley, beginning to laugh from the sheer shock of the event, barely manages to push himself up from the ground, completely unharmed.
Elyka applauds Crowley from within the settling smoke and jumps down from the observation area.
“Well done!” Elyka called out the very moment the smoke began to clear. The pride in her voice was impossible to hide. A bright, joyful smile spread across her face as she rushed across the battlefield without the slightest hesitation. The instant she reached Crowley, she happily took both of his hands.
“Hahaha!”
Before he could even react, she spun around together with him, laughing with genuine happiness.
“I’m so proud of you!” “You did it, my son!”
Crowley couldn’t help laughing as well. “Hahaha! Mom!”
Around and around they went beneath the White Sun, their laughter echoing across the training grounds. For those few precious moments, the fierce battle that had taken place only seconds earlier felt as though it had never existed.
...
“Ahem.” A familiar voice came from behind them.
“LUMIE!” Crowley shouts. Breaking free from Elyka’s grasp in an instant, he sprints toward Lumie.
Lumie bends down with open arms, waiting to catch him.
Meanwhile, Elyka stands behind him with her hand still extended, unable to speak. No matter how badly she wants to stop them from bonding, she doesn’t. She kneels to the ground and covers her face with both arms.
Lev quietly walked over and rested a hand on Elyka’s shoulder. A faint smile crossed her lips. “...He’s happy.”
Elyka remained silent, watching Crowley. For just a heartbeat... Her fingers slowly curled inward, as though reaching for something that wasn’t there. Then they relaxed.
“...That’s enough.”
Lev’s eyes briefly drifted toward Elyka’s hand. She said nothing. Instead, she looked back at Crowley. “He chose to smile.”
Only then did Elyka smile. “...You’re right,” she says, standing back up.
Elyka calls out to the faceless servant. He appears by her side in an instant. “YES, MY QUEEN.”
Elyka smiles in a slight, unsettling way. “We are going to hang out for a bit in the Kingdom of the Vampires. If things turn out like last time, know that there will be a serious problem this time.”
The servant bows her head low. “IT WILL NOT HAPPEN, MY QUEEN.”
Unsatisfied, Elyka snaps her fingers, and the two of them instantly vanish, entering a white, minimalist room. Elyka sits on the carpet while Lev pours tea at the table.
“The usual strawberry cookies?” Lev asks.
With a childlike smile, Elyka asks, “Are those still around?”
Lev smiles back. “Yes.”
“Then please,” Elyka says. Within a short time, Lev prepares a beautiful tea party setting and brings it to the table. Elyka says, “Thank you for your hard work,” and immediately begins to eat.
Lev quietly set her teacup upon the table. “...You know...” “We’ve shared countless meals.” “Countless cups of tea.” “And more years than I can remember.” “I truly believed there was nothing left about you that I had yet to learn.”
Elyka smiled softly. “...Then why are you looking at me like that?”
Lev’s expression slowly faded.
“...Because today...”
“...I witnessed something that should never have existed.”
“When Crowley stood before death...”
“...I wasn’t watching him.”
“I was watching the one watching him.”
“The eyes looking back at him...”
“...were like those of a starving wild beast watching a lone fawn.”
“Not with the desire to kill.”
“Not with the instinct to protect.”
“...But with a fascination that should never exist between a mother and her child.”
Silence...
Without the slightest ripple of mana... One... Then another... Then dozens of pure white swords silently appeared around Elyka. They floated in absolute stillness, each blade pointed toward her. The room itself seemed to hold its breath.
Lev slowly stood. Her voice never rose.
“...Answer me.”
“...Who are you?”
Another long silence.
“...And...”
“...what do you want?”
Lev demanded. “Who are you?” Her voice is filled with extreme anger and disgust as she describes how Elyka looked at him.
Elyka offers no answer. She merely smiles coldly and adds, “What a pity... I didn’t think it would end this soon.”
Before Lev can even receive her answer, Elyka swiftly launches the first strike, and...
* SIGNAL LOST *
Inside a distant Kingdom, a phone rings. The faceless servant answers. A voice echoes through the receiver, sounding as if it is emerging directly from the depths of a hollow void:
L̵ ̵E̵ ̵V̵ ̵ ̵A̵ ̵N̵ ̵D̵ ̵ ̵H̵ ̵E̵ ̵R̵ ̵ ̵K̵ ̵I̵ ̵N̵ ̵G̵ ̵D̵ ̵O̵ ̵M̵ ̵ ̵H̵ ̵A̵ ̵V̵ ̵E̵ ̵ ̵B̵ ̵E̵ ̵E̵ ̵N̵ ̵ ̵O̵ ̵B̵ ̵L̵ ̵I̵ ̵T̵ ̵E̵ ̵R̵ ̵A̵ ̵T̵ ̵E̵ ̵D̵ ̵ ̵B̵ ̵Y̵ ̵ ̵E̵ ̵L̵ ̵Y̵ ̵K̵ ̵A̵ ̵.̵ ̵.̵ ̵.̵ ̵ ̵S̵ ̵H̵ ̵E̵ ̵ ̵I̵ ̵S̵ ̵ ̵C̵ ̵O̵ ̵M̵ ̵I̵ ̵N̵ ̵G̵ ̵ ̵T̵ ̵H̵ ̵E̵ ̵R̵ ̵E̵ ̵.̵ ̵.̵ ̵.
The audio abruptly cuts to static.
The servant responds, “UNDERSTOOD... THANK YOU FOR THE INFORMATION.”
She immediately brings her hand to her ear, and a black liquid flows directly into her ear canal, broadcasting her voice to all channels: “ATTENTION ALL LIVING SERVANTS WHO CAN HEAR ME: LEV AND HER KINGDOM HAVE BEEN COMPLETELY DESTROYED...”
He pulls her hand away from her ear. A massive panic sweeps through the kingdom. Everyone is ordered to evacuate immediately toward the alternate universe, emptying the entire country at maximum speed. The faceless servant quickly secures Elyka’s most important scrolls and rushes to find Lumie.
Meanwhile, Crowley and Lumie were dancing together in the room. Crowley was enthusiastically doing the robot dance. Lumie smiled. “Incredibly well done, young master!”
The servant bursts into the room. “LADY LUMIE, WE NEED A SIGNATURE FOR THE SNACKS. PLEASE COME WITH ME FOR A BRIEF MOMENT.”
Lumie replies, “I’m coming.” She raises her hand into the air, and a raven swoops down to land on it. “Play with this until I get back, please, Little Prince Crowley.”
But Crowley doesn’t even hear her; he immediately starts petting the bird. No matter how irritated the raven is, it remains completely silent just to avoid ruining the bright smile on Crowley’s face. Lumie laughs softly. “Pet him a bit more gently, young master. He looks a little too bothered,” she says, slowly walking away.
The faceless servant pulls her into a quiet corner. Lumie looks at him. “What happened?”
THE SERVANT WHISPERS URGENTLY, “YOU MUST LEAVE FOR THE VALUVA KINGDOM IMMEDIATELY. ELYKA AND LEV’S KINGDOM HAVE FALLEN; LEV IS DEAD. WHATEVER IS CONTROLLING ELYKA IS COMING TO DESTROY THIS PLACE FOR THE EXACT SAME REASON.”
Upon hearing this, Lumie suddenly vomits from pure shock. However, she forces herself to stand back up, her expression turning dead serious. “Marching an army from Lev’s kingdom usually takes months... but for Elyka, it might only take 15 minutes, even with our forces trying to delay her.”
“Understood,” Lumie says, immediately rushing back to Crowley’s side.
Crowley carefully lifted the raven onto his shoulder. The raven remained perfectly still. Crowley narrowed his eyes.
“...You’re awfully serious.”
The raven blinked once.
Crowley leaned closer and whispered, “...I know your secret.”
The raven slowly turned its head toward him.
“...Impossible.”
Crowley grinned.
“You stole my chocolate cookies.”
“...They were pistachio.”
Silence.
Crowley’s eyes slowly widened.
The raven closed its eyes.
“...”
Crowley’s grin grew even wider.
“HA! You just confessed!”
The raven let out a long, defeated sigh.
“...I’m sorry.”
Crowley’s face immediately lit up.
“I knew you’d apologize!”
The raven looked at him with complete disappointment.
“...Not for stealing them.”
“...For never getting to eat better cookies.”
“...Especially the strawberry ones.”
“...But you always ask for pistachio.”
“So that’s all they ever make.”
Crowley blinked.
“...Wait... So you wanted strawberry cookies?”
The raven slowly looked toward the window.
“...I miss the days when princes were quiet.”
The doors suddenly burst open. “LITTLE PRINCE!”
Lumie rushed inside, struggling to hide the panic in her eyes.
Crowley immediately pointed at the raven.
“Lumie! He stole my cookies!”
The raven instantly flapped its wings in protest. “I DID NOT!”
Lumie blinked once... then forced a smile.
“...We can argue about the cookies later. We have to leave. Immediately.”
Crowley tilted his head. “...Leave?”
Lumie gently took his hand. “We’re going on a vacation.”
Crowley’s eyes sparkled.
“A vacation?”
“Yes. But the carriage is about to depart. If we don’t hurry, we’ll miss it.”
Without giving him another chance to ask questions, Lumie began running while holding his hand. As they reached the doorway, Crowley suddenly stopped and looked back. “Oh!” He pointed toward the raven.
“Fly as high as you can. And stay really, really far away from here.”
The raven tilted its head.
“...Why?”
“They’re going to spray medicine around the kingdom. I don’t want you getting covered in it.”
The raven looked at Crowley for a long moment. “...Very well.”
With one powerful beat of its wings, it shot high into the sky before disappearing into the distance. Crowley smiled brightly and waved.
“See you later!”
A short while later, as they passed through the escape tunnel with Crowley sitting on Lumie’s shoulders, he had already realized that something was deeply wrong.
However, knowing that speaking up would only upset and trouble them, he felt no need to say anything, choosing instead to cooperate quietly.
Suddenly, a red-haired woman approaches from above.
A servant steps out ahead of her to deliver a message.
Elyka was severely wounded; her clothes were torn to shreds and soaked in blood, yet she stood perfectly upright, unwavering.
As Elyka prepares to advance, the servant blocking her path declares, “THAT IS ENOUGH. YOUR ENTRY INTO THIS KINGDOM HAS BEEN FORBIDDEN.”
Elyka breaks into a hysterical laugh. “Whose entry is forbidden? I couldn’t quite hear you,” she says, laughing maniacally at her own servant’s defiance.
The FACELESS male servant, his mouth once again visible through the shifting darkness of his face, maintains his absolute composure. “I will not repeat myself, IMPOSTOR. You are dead to this kingdom. As long as you attempt to enter, even if you annihilate every single one of us, we will never allow you inside.”
A small trail of darkness whispers into Elyka’s ear...
Elyka’s breathing grew heavier.
“Where is my son?”
The servant keeps his mouth tightly shut.
Elyka screams once more, but this time, it is in a monstrous, aberrant pitch that sounds nothing like her own—a voice echoing from far outside her own universe: “WHERE DID I SAY CROWLEY IS, YOU SLAVE?!”
The faceless male servant still does not open his mouth, completely unfazed by her reality-warping voice. In an instant, millions of tiny black fire arrows manifest behind Elyka, launching a cataclysmic assault upon the Kingdom.
Last run/Just as the attack was about to begin, the faceless male servant grabbed a rare-design coin—one of the Scrolls located at the very top of the foremost tower. He flipped it into the air toward a crow. The crow caught it mid-air, spreading its wings to soar even higher, climbing into the deep reaches of the sky.
At that exact moment, Elyka was fully prepared to unleash her torrential flames...
Suddenly, everyone—except the servant standing right beside Elyka—slammed their feet violently against the ground.
“COME HERE, VOB!” shouted the servants from every single corner of the kingdom in a thunderous unison.
Looking up toward the crow in the sky... Elyka’s flames instantly died out. The vibrant blue of the sky began to bleed into an absolute, pitch-black darkness. From specific coordinates across the multiverses, torrents of water began to pour down upon the earth from tiny, ruptured portals.
Extremely furious, Elyka hissed, “You...”
The servant standing before her smirked. “Did you seriously believe we would be the ones to stop you? Our mother... after all, we aren’t even as strong as her fingernail. But we aren’t brainless.”
A moment later...
The moment a colossal portal ripped open the very fabric of the Dark Universe itself, the faceless male servant standing before Elyka slowly smiled.
Only his mouth emerged from the darkness covering his face.
“AHAHAHAHA!”
“SO... YOU REALLY ARE JUST AS MY MOTHER DESCRIBED. HAH.”
He slowly raised one hand...
...and pointed straight at Elyka.
“YOUR FAVORITE FRIEND HAS COME TO PAY YOU A VISIT, FAKE.”
A deafening roar erupted from beyond the colossal portal.
The beast had found prey unlike any it had hunted in countless ages.
Nothing had cast a spell.
Nothing had manipulated mana.
Yet...
The Dark Universe itself began to change.
The white sky slowly darkened into absolute blackness.
The air grew unbearably heavy.
Silence swallowed every sound.
Countless tiny portals silently opened throughout the Dark Universe.
Endless torrents of water poured from each of them, falling upon the world below.
That single roar spread throughout the Dark Universe.
Every kingdom...
Every battlefield...
Every ally...
Every enemy...
Every forgotten ruin...
Every abyss...
...felt it.
The faceless servant burst into laughter.
“AHAHAHAHA!”
“ENJOY YOURSELF!”
Still laughing...
His body slowly dissolved into black mist.
His eyes never left Elyka.
Only after his body had completely vanished did his laughter finally fade away.
...
Elyka quietly watched him disappear.
She remained unnaturally calm.
She neither attacked...
Nor took a single step forward.
She simply stared into the colossal portal.
That unnatural calmness unsettled every faceless servant witnessing the scene through his eyes.
...
Far beyond the Dark Universe...
Far beyond the reach of darkness itself...
In a place where even reality seemed to exist upside down...
Where the very laws of existence had yet to take shape...
A faint chuckle echoed.
“...I hope you arrive here soon, Crowley.”
Even an unborn Universe, still waiting for the day of its own creation, felt that quiet laugh...
...
And for the very first time...
Fear silently spread throughout its existence.
Massive explosions and attacks, despite occurring far in the distance, could easily be felt as the entire region began to violently tremble. Lumie approached to check on Crowley, but realizing he was fast asleep, she said nothing.
At that moment, ? covertly pricked Crowley from behind with a small needle to ensure he wouldn’t wake up.
Lumie asked, “How far?”
The faceless female servant replied, “WE NEED TO GO MUCH FURTHER.”
The other faceless male and female servants standing beside her called out, “OUR TURN HAS COME, MOTHER. WE ARE HEADING OUT TO SUPPORT THE OTHERS.”
Vob would be able to stand against her for a long time, but the dark shadow beside him was about to execute something massive. They needed to hold and slow him down by any means necessary.
? whispered one final time, “GOOD LUCK TO ALL OF YOU...”
An even greater collapse occurred as their surroundings slowly began to crumble into ruin. Lumie screamed:
“LET’S GO!”
She began to run with every ounce of her strength. After a brief moment of respite, the faceless servants also manifested into shadows, rapidly separating from one another.
BUT... The dark shadow...
SIGNAL LOST
SIGNAL LOST
SIGNAL LOST SIGNAL LOST SIGNAL LOST SIGNAL LOST SIGNAL LOST SIGNAL LOST SIGNAL LOST SIGNAL LOST SIGNAL LOST SIGNAL LOST SIGNAL LOST SIGNAL LOST SIGNAL LOST SIGNAL LOST SIGNAL LOST SIGNAL LOST SIGNAL LOST SIGNAL LOST
In a flash, Lumie found herself trapped directly in Elyka’s grasp. She couldn’t move.
Elyka laughed, ruthlessly squeezing her throat. “It’s been a long time since we last met. What do you think you’re doing, slave?” she sneered, tightening her grip even harder. “Did you seriously believe you could escape to Valuva before me?”
Right after she said those words...
Suddenly, over a million small white swords rained down directly upon Elyka. Every single one of them narrowly missed Lumie, leaving her completely untouched.
The wounded ? pulled her back. When they suddenly spotted a little girl standing behind them, Lumie murmured in an incredibly low, strained voice:
“Aunt Lev?!”
The little girl snapped back instantly, “There’s no time to talk. RUN!”
Hearing this, while Elyka scrambled to deflect the incoming barrage, a small green dagger shot out from amidst the white swords within a fraction of a second. It was hurtling straight toward Lumie from an angle she couldn’t possibly see.
But Crowley noticed it and pushed her out of the way!
Despite its small size, the dagger inflicted a massive amount of damage right across his forehead, deep enough to completely shatter both of his eyes.
Furthermore, Crowley’s Light of Life fell to the earth, resembling a dying moon in stark contrast to its usual sun-defying brilliance. Even though his recovery speed was normally far faster than the speed of light, this time he wasn’t healing. He lay on the ground, suffering heavier damage by the second. He couldn’t stand up; his consciousness was slowly fading into darkness.
And in an instant, Elyka bellowed in absolute rage, “USELESS!”
Just as she was about to pounce on Lumie, the little girl manifested a massive sword in mid-air, halting Elyka’s advance and driving her back. A hundred more manifested right behind it. Although the little girl’s entire body began to break apart at a rapid pace, she scooped up both Lumie and Crowley into her arms and began to flee at maximum speed.
SIGNAL LOST
ALL THE WHITE SWORDS SHATTERED IN AN INSTANT!
Elyka stepped forward, closing the distance to the little girl.
“So you swapped your body using the Soul Swapping technique, huh...” she mocked bitterly. “I was certain I had annihilated every last one of you. I knew I should have incinerated your bodies with fire until not even a single fingernail remained.”
She grew slightly irritated. When the little girl remained completely motionless for a brief moment, she demanded to know what had happened to her.
Lev laughed maniacally, screaming at the top of her lungs, “Are you out of weapons?!”
SIGNAL LOST
Lumie was suddenly blasted far away. Her legs were in a catastrophic state; covered completely by a strange black liquid, any hope of healing was rendered utterly impossible. She lay there, broken and heavily wounded.
? once again broken into pieces, was violently hurled against the wall. Crowley rolled off of Lumie, crashing onto the ground.
Elyka approached them, a cruel laugh escaping her lips. “Lum...”
Suddenly, a massive arrow manifesting the form of a colossal red phoenix erupted, completely engulfing the entire layout of the tunnel! It slammed directly into Elyka, driving her far away.
The wounded Lumie crawled toward Crowley, dragging herself forward. She flung her blood-stained hand toward the shattered bodies of the ? . The tiny droplets of blood rapidly began to regenerate her.
Lumie continued to crawl until she reached Crowley’s side. Whispering an apology, she bit down on his throat. Crowley, whose face was completely mangled and whose condition was actively plummeting, felt the destruction slowly decelerate as his chaotic blood flow finally began to subside.
? stood up, immediately attempting to grab both of them to escape.
But Lumie cried out in sheer agony, “Go! I can’t heal my leg quickly, and touching it might cause problems—it’s highly likely contagious!”
Within a short period of time, the distant red flame died out. A voice began to echo, screaming frantically: “Lumie!” Someone was shouting out for her.
Lumie urged, “Hurry!” before adding, “I’M SORRY.” Clutching Crowley, ? bolted toward the door at maximum speed.
Closing the distance in an instant, Elyka materialized directly in front of Lumie out of nowhere.
“Shall I tell you something funny?” she said mockingly. “If I snap my fingers right now, both of them will drop dead instantly. Would you believe me?”
Lumie stared back with unyielding defiance. “Yes, but you won’t be able to do it.”
Elyka frowned deeply. “And why is that?”
From behind the shadows, a voice resembling a slithering serpent echoed as Lumie laughed. “Because I have this.”
It was another coin. This time, it bore the design of a crimson sword and a terrifying samurai mask. She crushed it completely between her fingers!
“COME, SHINRE!”
As Elyka raised her hand, a cataclysmic roar gushed down from the DARKNESS:
“I won’t allow it, imposter!”
Arriving at the speed of light, a crow slammed into Shadow, engaging her instantly. It pinned her down, refusing to let her move even a single foot. The entire region rapidly sealed shut, transforming into a dense forest. Even when Elyka attempted to break free, Nature itself violently turned her back. Meanwhile, the crow pulled the shadow outward, keeping it completely separated from the battlefield... And in an instant, the sequence was complete.
Elyka opened her eyes to find herself inside a thicket of bushes. Standing directly before her was a colossal iron grave. It possessed an incredibly ominous and terrifying appearance, adorned with a samurai mask and completely bound in heavy chains.
Suddenly, a hand burst violently out from within that sealed grave!
The raw power contained within completely and rapidly SHATTERED its confinement, obliterating everything holding it down. Out from the ruined structure stepped a living being donning a samurai mask.
The being looked directly at Elyka and grinned. “WOW...”
He unleashed a wild, maniacal laugh. “It’s been a long time, my Queen, HAHAH! Or should I call you an imposter?”
He raised his hand toward the sky; from within the roaring flames, a slender katana glided out. Inscribed upon its blade were the letters “MHH”. He drew the katana, pointing it straight at Elyka.
“It’s quite rude to try to run away so early... But you should have understood that you cannot escape unless we permit it.”
He sniffed the air deeply. “Hah... A cheater, as always. It’s blindingly obvious you didn’t pull this off alone; you couldn’t have broken out that fast against Vob. Let’s see what you can do all by yourself without your cheats.”
As one of the 12 Great Dungeon Lords spoke, the mask completely fused into his face, and he began to laugh wildly.
Elyka took a brief, sharp breath, closing off her mind to the world. In that exact instant, tons of crimson flames erupted from beneath the ground where Shinre stood, clawing at him from all directions.
Yet, not a single ember grazed him.
Shinre chuckled. With a sharp snap of his fingers, the sky underwent a cataclysmic shift. The pale, white sun vanished, replaced by a blood-red moon.
“You had better pull out that little dagger of yours,” Shinre mocked.
As he spoke, his attire began to morph completely, bleeding into shades of deepest crimson and pitch black. Alongside his katana, MYMT, a secondary blade materialized—MSS.
Sighing deeply, Elyka gripped her dagger.
“A—”
Before the word could even leave her lips, her cleanly severed body collapsed onto the cold ground.
Sheathing his blade back into its scabbard, Shinre took a slow breath. “Magnificent... Less than a nanosecond, and you couldn’t even react. Hahah.”
He bent down, his gaze locking onto where Elyka’s head had rolled. “I am certain, Lady Valuva... I am certain she will be a mother a thousand times better than a disgusting wretch like you.”
As the words left his mouth, his armor suddenly cracked and shattered, sending him crashing to his knees.
Elyka—her body entirely reconstituted and healed—raised her hand and ruthlessly tore through his neck.
Even with his head pinned to the ground, Shinre laughed maniacally. “Ahaha! Brilliant! BRILLIANT! MAGNIFICENT! I wonder what the Big Boss would give just to see you in this state... But the funny thing is, I can do the exact same thing, you useless woman!” he roared.
Behind her, another Shinre materialized, thrusting his blade straight for her throat. Elyka caught it with her bare hand. But suddenly, multiple clones struck from every conceivable direction, ripping her apart. Yet, as soon as they did, their bodies vanished, their armor shattering to pieces as they hit the ground.
Elyka blinked.
In front of her, behind her, to her left, and to her right—over a hundred clones of Shinre stood surrounding her.
Shinre grinned. “Let’s see how long you can last in my playground, you so-called Goddess of Darkness!”
In unison, they all lunged at her.
Meanwhile, inside the tunnel, the Shadow was in an utterly wretched state. “ENOUGH!” it bellowed, trapping the Crow from every angle.
Yet, the radiant phoenix struck once more, driving the Shadow back. The Crow flew directly to the mangled, broken form of Lumie.
“Are you seriously still on your feet, crazy girl?” the Crow squawked frantically.
“Get away from me right now...” Lumie whispered, her voice fading. “Go to Crowley. It’s safer there.”
“If I were human right now, I would slap you across the face! Thank your stars I’m a crow,” the Crow snapped back. “We’ve blasted that phoenix over a hundred times, but it just keeps regenerating. No matter how many times it’s torn apart, the Light of Fire isn’t enough to obliterate it. How is this even possible?!”
Suddenly, the cry of the phoenix ceased entirely.
“LUMIE, LEAVE NOW!” a voice commanded.
“No!” the Crow began to argue, but before another word could be spoken—
SIGNAL LOST
“Ah, why didn’t I think of this sooner?” a twisted voice muttered. “Ah... controlling a dead body is so much easier. How sweet.”
The entity glanced down at Lumie and Crowley. With a sharp snap of its fingers, a swirling shroud of shadows enveloped them both, vanishing them from existence.
“SIGNAL CONTINUE,” the voice declared, snapping its fingers once more.
“Ah, I forgot about the useless Queen. She must still be inside the sphere,” it murmured, surveying the area. It picked up a crystalline sphere from the ground, wrapping its fingers tightly around it. Within moments, the sphere began to crack and splinter. Elyka burst out from within, coughing violently.
“You’re late,” Elyka spat.
“Forgive me, MY QUEEN,” the Shadow replied smoothly. “Let us go and save your son.”
With those words, the Shadow detached itself from the girl’s vessel and wrapped entirely around Elyka.
? finally breached the deepest, most subterranean cavern beneath the earth. A profound, pitch-black abyss. She bolted downward, but through the warped physics of the space, her perspective made it feel as though she were climbing upward.
“FINALLY!” she cried out, accelerating.
As she plunged deeper into the inversion, she spotted the Inverted Door positioned at the very apex of the ceiling.
SIGNAL LOST
Clutching Crowley tightly in her arms, ? suddenly plummeted straight down into the vast, gaping void beyond the staircase.
“Finally, my headaches are gone,” Elyka muttered with relief.
But the moment the words left her lips, a colossal spear lunged from behind the door, impaling her straight through the shoulder. This spear was an artifact completely unknown, never before seen by a single soul within the Dark Universe.
But Elyka knew exactly what it was.
Before a scream could tear from her throat, ? materialized out of nowhere. Gathering every ounce of her remaining energy, she delivered a devastating, brutal blow directly to the locus where Elyka’s Sha soul resided.
Immediately after, as they fell through the void, bizarre entities wearing distinct, anomalous masks opened the door from the other side. They dragged Crowley and ? inside.
They spoke in an incomprehensible, ancient tongue, gesturing with their hands for them to enter. The two quickly scrambled inside, and the door slammed shut. In an instant, the door and the entire space surrounding it collapsed into nothingness.
The moment they crossed the threshold, their surroundings spun violently before the heavily distorted environment snapped into a pristine, normal reality.
High up in the sky, a colossally massive, mystical Eye manifested. Standing directly atop it was a Sovereign Being. Its form was incomprehensibly beautiful, yet its eyes were entirely hollow, devoid of anything recognizable.
The entity leaped down from the Eye, landing gracefully right in front of them.
Spreading its arms wide with a serene smile, it looked at the two of them.
“Welcome.”
The faceless servant bowed her head deeply. “PLEASE, MILADY...”
“It is fine,” Valuva sighed softly. “I did what I could, stripping away the weight of time from the little prince. Yet, there are things even I cannot undo. Elyka’s dagger... it is a weapon of absolute annihilation, specifically forged with the power to slay its own master. I possess no authority to mend a broken soul, even if I can control fate and space-time.”
“IS THERE A WAY?” ? pressed, her voice unwavering. “WHATEVER IT TAKES, MILADY.”
With a sorrowful look, Valuva delivered the grim truth. “You must die.”
A heavy silence fell over them.
“Though the wound from Elyka’s dagger is physically minor, its strike carries a curse capable of unraveling even me upon contact. One of the reasons Crowley hasn’t perished outright is because he shares her lineage. Elyka escaped with minimal backlash, but that single strike is enough to utterly erase him.”
“HOW WILL MY DEATH SAVE HIM, THEN?” ? asked.
Valuva’s tone grew increasingly solemn. “It is not a total death. I cannot restore his physical vessel to what it was—his eye is gone, his old face cannot be mended. But we can anchor his soul to his body. If you surrender your Sha—the vital essence that keeps you anchored—he will endure. An ordinary servant’s Sha would instantly shatter under the strain, but because you are their Mother, your Sha is potent enough to sustain him.”
The dark shroud covering the servant’s face shifted slightly, faintly revealing her mouth. “WILL THIS ABSOLUTELY KEEP HIM ANCHORED?”
“I cannot say for certain,” Valuva admitted, her eyes deepening as entire universes began to glimmer with blinding clarity within them. “But I can promise you this: he will see tomorrow.”
The faceless servant stepped toward Crowley’s prone body. As she prepared to touch her own chest to extract her essence, she whispered softly, “You will not die.”
“But you will no longer exist as a separate entity either,” Valuva added quietly. “From this moment forth, you shall eternally be one with Crowley.”
? smiled beautifully through the fading darkness of her features. “Thank you.”
She leaned down, the dark shroud completely lifting to reveal a cascade of long black hair and a serene countenance. She gently kissed Crowley’s forehead. Then, plunging her hand directly into her own chest, she forcefully tore her Sha from her being. Her physical form immediately began to crack and splinter into countless fragments as the brilliant mass of energy separated from her.
Her final words echoed softly through the chamber: “I trust you, my Queen.”
Valuva caught the glowing Sha in her hand. Pressing her finger lightly onto its surface, she drew a substance resembling black-and-white blood from her own hand and rubbed it into the core of the essence. Swiftly and powerfully, she drove the Sha deep into Crowley’s chest, right over his heart.
Within seconds, his physical vessel underwent a violent, chaotic transformation, but the horrific decay abruptly ceased.
Valuva smiled with a bittersweet, melancholy warmth. “He accepted the soul... thanks to my blood, Servant...”
“Soldiers!” Valuva barked, her voice echoing through the grand expanse. “Place the boy in one of the guest chambers within my personal quarters. And station Mari by his side. It is best to have someone brimming with positive energy monitoring his state.”
From the ranks, a towering entity donning a black dragon mask stepped forward and bowed seamlessly.
********
Another soldier spoke up, their words heavily distorted through their mask.
******** ****
“Elyka cannot breach this realm, that is true,” Valuva replied. “But that does not mean she will refrain from tearing down the rules to achieve her ends. She has completely lost her mind.”
A wave of righteous fury rippled through the ranks as the remaining soldiers raised their weapons, letting out deafening battle cries.
“You cannot claim your vengeance,” Valuva cut them down with her glare. “If you march out blindly, who knows what deceptive trick she will deploy to wipe you out, and your sacrifices will be utterly meaningless.”
Looking upon the overwhelming grief and anger etched into the faces of her army, Valuva let out a long, weary sigh. “I know, my friends. Elyka was my companion since the very beginning. But as you well know, she has always been consumed by greed—a monster through and through.”
She looked down toward the floor. “No matter what I do, it is in vain. Unless the Eye permits it, the true fate it desires must unfold: Crowley will kill Elyka, destroying his own soul in the process to wipe them both out forever. But unfortunately, neither I nor any of you can deliver the final blow. Only the one lying right there can achieve it. According to the Eye’s will, fate shall manifest this way.”
The soldiers stirred, their voices rising in frustrated disbelief.
“This is the decree of the Eye, and so it shall be woven into the tapestry of fate, whether we accept it or not!” Valuva stated, her voice filled with an intense blend of anger and sorrow. “I answer only to its guidance. It is time you all understand that the Eye is omnipotent and all-seeing, far surpassing even myself.”
The atmosphere suddenly fractured as a booming, primordial resonance filled the chamber.
“THAT IS ENOUGH. EVERYONE, RETURN TO YOUR DUTIES,” The Eye commanded. “TRANSPORT CROWLEY TO HIS QUARTERS. MARI, YOU BEAR THE RESPONSIBILITY. YOU ALREADY KNOW WHAT PROTOCOLS TO EXECUTE FROM PREVIOUS PATIENTS SHOULD HE LOSE CONTROL OR SCREAM.”
Valuva raised her hand. “What are you waiting for?”
With a sharp snap of her fingers, she warped everyone back to their designated stations across the cosmos.
Left entirely alone within the silent void alongside the massive, hovering entity, Valuva let out a soft chuckle. “Were you truly serious when you said that?”
“YES,” the Eye resonated. “THE IMPOSTER KNOWN AS THE GODDESS OF DARKNESS, ELYKA, WILL MEET HER ULTIMATE END AT THE HANDS OF HİS SON, CROWLEY. SHE WILL BE ERASED WITH NO CHANCE OF EVER RETURNING, FOR ALL ETERNITY. BUT IN EXCHANGE, THE YOUNG PRINCE’S SOUL MUST BE FORFEITED TO UTTERLY DESTROY THEM BOTH IN THE FUTURE.”
“Why can I not simply slaughter her the moment she steps within my reach?” Valuva questioned. “Those greedy fools will inevitably attack this place sooner or later. That way, the kingdom stands secure, avoiding total collapse, and there is no need for such absurd sacrifices.”
“IF ELYKA MARCHES TO BATTLE YOU, KNOW THAT SHE ALREADY HAS A PLAN IN MIND TO NEUTRALIZE YOU. SHE COMES RELYING ON THAT. EVEN IF YOU CLAIM YOU WILL TEAR HER TO PIECES, IT REMAINS AS TRUE AS 1 × 0 = 0, JUST AS ‘1 × ∞ = ∞’ EQUALS INFINITY.”
Valuva frowned. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“THE TIME FOR WORDS HAS CONCLUDED. RETURN TO YOUR POST.”
Before she could utter another syllable, Valuva was instantaneously teleported back to the grand throne of her celestial palace. Leaning deep into the cushions, she closed her eyes. Slowly, the massive throne room began to shrink, compressing and becoming one with her consciousness—merging completely into the Void Universe as her physical form became one with the cosmos.