His eyes shot wide open.
“W-what? How are you doing that?”
Jack could not believe his eyes.
The ground below the castle was covered in Darkness.
He noticed the Shadow monsters, afraid of the Darkness, had not stepped into the castle.
An entire castle’s area was under Neo’s protection.
The amount of Divine Energy and mastery of Darkness needed for such feat left Jack stunned.
“Since when could you use Darkness to this level.
“No wait, I forgot to ask about it, but how did you defeat the Shadow monsters inside the castle alone?”
“I’ll explain about it later. For now, let’s go.”
“Go where?”
“Somewhere not here.”
Neo added,
“The Darkness is scary to the monsters, but it’s not harmful them, since it takes time to devour anything and devouring something alive takes even longer.
“As soon the monsters realize this, they’ll rush in to attack us.”
Jack nodded with a concerned gaze.
He gave the map to Neo, since he took the key, and they left the room.
“We need to be careful about the Shadows too,” Jack spoke.
“Don’t worry about it. All of the Shadows have been defeated.”
“Arthur’s too? I saw it a few hours ago.”
“Yeah.”
Jack did not ask how many of them died while they defeated Arthur’s Shadow.
He did not want to know.
“How are we going to leave through that horde of monsters?” Jack asked.
They stood at the castle gate.
Neo posed a different question instead of answering.
“How fast can you run?”
“I’m pretty slow. Why?”
“We’ll run through the Shadow monsters.”
“…”
Jack was not surprised.
He was getting used to Neo saying or doing batshit crazy things by now.
“I can summon Phantom Steed. What will you use?”
“I’ll run.”
“What!? Just summon something!”
“…?”
“Call a Shadow summon for yourself.”
“I can’t use that Spell.”
“…That’s the first Spell every Shadow wielder learns after they awaken their Shadow element.”
Neo, like Jack, was not using mask.
Only Shadow wielders could do that and survive inside the Window connected to World of Shadow.
Because they were Half-Shadows themselves.
Neo did not say anything, but he found his situation weird.
If he was a Shadow who devoured the original Neo, he should’ve awakened his Shadow element.
But he was not able to use it.
If he was not a Shadow, or a Shadow wielder, it did not make sense why he could survive without the mask.
Jack summoned a Phantom Steed.
The black horse had thick legs and blue flames burned at his hooves,
Jack sat on top of it.
“Where are we going?” he asked.
“To the Depth Level 1. You’ll use the key to open the Window.”
A sigh escaped Jack’s lips.
“I told you I need to learn how to use the key.
“At my current mastery, I can’t open the Window,” Jack said.
“The Window closed recently. The space at its border should be unstable and it will be easier to open.
“If we wait, the space will be stabilized.
“Besides, this is a Calamity-ranked Window. The monsters here will keep growing stronger.
“If we delay our escape, it wouldn’t take long for each Shadow monster to far surpass us in terms of strength.”
“…Did I tell you I hate it when you make sense like that?”
“I don’t care about you think.”
“Yeah, sure, dear tsundere team leader.”
Neo’s answer was mixed with lies and truth.
The main reason why he was hurrying to leave was due to the corpses of his friends.
The corpses of Demigods would take time to start rotting, but delaying months was bound to damage them.
Neo wouldn’t be able to revive anyone if the corpses were not in pristine condition.
“So? How do we leave through that horde? It’s not like they’ll let us go if we ask them politely.”
“You can used anti-debuff Spells, right? Use them on me.”
“Are you sure you want them? You look exhausted.
“I don’t think you’ll survive the strain of if I apply anti-debuffs.”
“I’ll manage.”
Jack clicked his tongue.
He chanted Spells under his breath.
Black flames materialized on his palms.
They circled around Neo and seeped into him before forming glyphs over his skin.
As soon as Neo started to feel weak, Jack chanted reverse technique Spell.
The glyphs glowed.
The weakness disappeared and Neo could feel endless power rushing into his limbs.
His Divine Energy started to disappear at frightening pace.
Blood trickled down Jack’s eyes.
“You okay?” Neo asked.
“It’s my first time using so many anti-debuffs at once.”
Before Neo could say anything, Jack added,
“If you have time to worry, worry about yourself.”
“I’ll do just that.”
Neo stood at the castle gate.
He asked Obitus to remove the debuff of his bloodline and unseal his blessing.
Neo felt as if he had become invincible.
He called back the Darkness he was using to cover the castle.
He felt refreshed, no longer forced to split his focus to protect the castle.
Neo’s placed his hand on the hilt of the sword at his waist.
The Aura of Death and Darkness erupted around him.
It condensed and condensed and condensed again until it was covering his blade.
The monsters did not attack immediately.
They could sense the dangerous presence around Neo.
But they were too many.
A few Shadow monsters rushed forward and soon the horde was running towards Neo and Jack.
Neo exhaled deeply.
The sword fit perfectly in his hand.
It felt like an extension of himself.
Obitus became happy when it senses his emotions.
His synchronization with the sword increased.
Neo’s thumb pushed the blade slightly from the scabbard.
Death and Darkness coiled around the blade.
In a single, fluid motion, too fast for the eye to follow, his blade flashed through the air.
The Auras wrapped around the blade expanded violently.
The ground beneath him cracked as the sheer force of his slash tore through the mass of Shadow monsters.
The monsters didn’t even have time to react.
One moment they were charging at Neo with their clawed limbs ready to attack.
The next, they were cut down.
The red lightning flickered.
It disintegrated them in a chilling instant.
For a moment, only silence remained.