68 Deus Ex Memoriam

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!"

Neither Lavador's compliments nor her crazed laughter could reach Ryan. He looked at her with cold eyes and muttered, "Dark Domain." And darkness engulfed the world.

Lavador could no longer see anything anymore. It was as if she was staring at a black screen, in all eight directions.

Ryan slashed at her back, and her only response was a cackle. He once again slashed at her, and her reply was a laugh. The more Ryan struck her, the louder and more deranged her laughter became, until it climaxed in a full-blown maniacal fit.

"Hahahaha, a domain even? How romantic, to try to trap me in darkness? I was born in it, molded by it. Absolute Light!"

Her left wing glowed in a blinding light. White slowly corroded darkness like bleach, until the whole domain broke like a piece of glass.

Lavador's laughter died down. She looked at Ryan with deranged eyes and a crazy grin. "You know, chaos isn't about darkness alone. Darkness alone is boring. It's about Justice and Injustice, good and evil, sadness, and happiness. It's about knowing how to use all of these to orchestrate the most magnificent spectacle possible!"

Lavador's left wing glowed with blinding light, while her black wing grew even darker. The two auras merged to create a corrupted light.

"That, you're not wrong." It was the first time Ryan acknowledged Lavador. He spun his scythe in the air before he dashed towards her.

Lavador launched the beam of corrupted light. Blinding white covered in an aura of purple and darkness. Ryan easily slid past the attack and slashed the little girl's neck open.

Her head flew high in the air with blood sprouting everywhere. Droplets fell on the ground like they were petals of a dark rose. Even as she died, Lavador still had a smile on her face.

With her death, the gravity spell that was put on Shesmu was lifted. He stood up and walked towards Ryan. The latter turned around and smiled at him.

"That was fun for a finale, huh? Well, this timeline's me, please take care of him."

Shesmu nodded and said, "That goes without saying."

With Shesmu's confirmation, Ryan looked around at the room aimlessly. He had a peaceful smile on his face as if he had just resigned to something.

"Then, I guess that's farewell. Take care of Sophie."

Ryan's body glowed in all colors of the rainbow before he turned into particles and disappeared. He logged out.

Shesmu looked around at the room. The corpses of the players had already disappeared, and the only thing left was rubble. All of the statues of the beasts were destroyed by the fight between the two.

Other than that, the only thing left was silence. Somehow, Shesmu enjoyed that silence. With everything that happened, with all the nonstop mental and physical stress, a bit of silence was something he desperately needed.

He sat cross-legged for a few minutes and enjoyed a moment of rest. One he had not had for what seemed like a long time. From all the fights in the Forest of Beginning to the nonstop action of the Tower of Might, it felt like a long time had passed.

At long last, he slapped the ground and stood up. "Guess it's time for me to go as well."

Log out

And with that mental command, Shesmu disappeared as well.