68 Deus Ex Memoriam (1/2)

Lavador backed out with a jump. She looked at Ryan's figure, and even though he had such a small frame, she couldn't shake off this feeling of pressure he emitted.

”You, I don't know you.”

Ryan didn't respond. He looked at Shesmu with a smile and said, ”Shes, it's been a while. King of the underworld, remember?”

Shesmu looked up to Ryan. His shoulders were higher, his face more serious and mature. He was gazing at Shesmu with eyes that felt familiar, yet distant. ”Y-you're...”

Ryan nodded before he looked back at Lavador with a serious expression. ”As for the dollar store angel....”

Shadows from all around the room gathered around Ryan before he was engulfed in a ball of darkness. And from that darkness, a shadow emerged, standing atop Ryan while holding a black scythe.

”Hoo, so by the time you were unconscious, you mastered your shadow manifestation. How interesting. That alone would put you with the upper Tier ones.”

Ryan's shadow screeched like a phoenix before it curled up into a ball of shadows. A gorgeous scythe emerged. Black and red complemented each other perfectly, while white skulls decorated its back. Ryan spun his weapon with one hand before putting it over his shoulder, in a fight stance.

”That-That's impossible. You shouldn't even have enough ether to manifest your shadow weapon. Don't tell me, you're connected to the field?!���

Lavador's expression wasn't one of despair or shock, but that of pure unadulterated joy. She flapped her wings to fly high before she dived towards Ryan with mind-boggling speeds.

The two scythes clashed. Both Ryan and Lavador were in a standoff of epic proportions. She followed her slash with a flurry of attacks, forcing Ryan on the defensive. Her face was like that of a child who had just found a new toy.

”Hahaha, you guys are the best. First was Shesmu and now you, this has been just one pleasant surprise after the other. I feel spoiled!”

Ryan kept blocking all of her attacks with ease. Just as she raised her scythe preparing for a strong attack, Ryan engulfed his left hand in shadows and clenched at her face. She screamed and howled as shadows seeped into all of her orifices. With one vertical slash, she broke the standoff, making Ryan back out with a backflip.

”Huff, puff,” Lavador caught her breath while clenching at her face. ”What the fuck was that?”

Ryan didn't say anything. In fact, he just turned into smoke and disappeared. Lavador looked around to see where he teleported to, but she couldn't find him. The whole room was silent and calm—too calm.

The corpses of all the players budged and moved like they were filled with maggots. They liquified into a disgusting black ooze. The black oozes merged and formed a giant creature. One that had terrible teeth and predatory eyes—thousands of them.

”Hahaha!” With her laughter, the world broke into shards. Ryan was back where he was, and the corpses were left intact. ”You dare be so brazen as to try to trap me, the primordial chaos, into an illusion? How fascinating!”

Ryan didn't respond to Lavador's threats, he just unleashed on her a flurry of attacks, each strike faster and stronger than the last. Soon, Lavador could no longer keep up blocking with only her scythe. As such, she used her wings to parry Ryan's attacks.

The two fighters were locked in a standoff. Neither of them wanted to give an inch to his opponent. Every slash Ryan would make, Lavador would parry with a slash of her own. Every strike Lavador would attempt, Ryan would block with the stem of his scythe. Their movements were seamless and graceful, like two dancers playing off each other.

Black energy gathered within the tip of Lavador's scythe. She slashed vertically, creating a black energy crescent that Ryan could barely dodge. She used the time she bought with her attack to make some space between them.

She looked at her body and couldn't help but give a deprecating smile. Her wings were battered from the constant clashing. Her dress was also ripped in various places. However, none of that mattered. A wave of dark energy swept through her, cleansing Lavador. Her injured wings were healed, her torn dress was as good as new.

She looked at Ryan and grinned. ”I see. So that's why your attacks can injure me. Your mastery of the shadows has reached this far. How absolutely fascinating!”