Depth Level 3, South Side
The Shadow held Harrison’s head in a tight grip.
He tried to break free.
It was useless.
His Shadow continued to contaminate him.
Harrison’s consciousness blurred.
He was being overtaken by the Shadow.
Losing himself to it.
‘I can’t…fall… here.’
Harrison struggled to keep his eyes open.
A single mistake was about to cost him his life.
The Shadow would replace him and no one would ever realize the original Harrison was long gone.
‘I don’t want that.’
His chest heaved.
“Don’t… fuck… with me!”
He grabbed the Shadow’s wrist with a last surge of strength and tried to flip it over.
The Shadow scoffed.
It didn’t budge.
As Harrison’s Shadow, it always knew what he could and would do.
There was no way Harrison was going to win against it.
Maybe, he shouldn’t have insisted on fighting his Shadow alone and asked for someone’s help.
If Lucas was here with him, Harrison could’ve won.
Harrison realized he was defeated.
Regrets started to slip in.
The last vestige of his consciousness was about to disappear when suddenly he heard the noise of air being torn apart.
An iron rebar hit the Shadow’s head from the side and pierced its head.
The powerful momentum behind the throw carried the Shadow’s body away and pinned it into the ground far from him.
Harrison was free.
He heaved.
The Shadow, despite having a pole shoved through its head, continued to move.
The mimicked Invincible kept it alive.
Red lightning wrapped around the rebar surged.
It flowed into the Shadow’s body through the iron pole and killed it from the inside.
The Shadow stopped moving and it fell with a limp.
“Who… was it…?”
A single attack killed his Shadow.
Only Morrigan could achieve such feat, but she never came with them into the Window.
Harrison turned his head.
He stared in the direction from where the iron rebar came flying.
“There is no one there….”
He squinted.
Far into the distance, he could see broken wreckages flying around.
The distance was too great for Harrison to see the person who threw the rebar.
But…
“Red Lightning.”
There was only one person among them who could manifest Death element.
Neo.
He saved Harrison by defeating his Shadow from a distance where Harrison couldn’t even see anything and that too in a single attack.
Harrison’s face contorted.
Had Neo been hiding his strength?
Was it funny to act like a weakling while he waited for an opportunity to reveal his strength?
The gratitude and relief that came from behind saved turned into something darker.
Harrison punched the ground.
…
Depth Level 3, Extreme-South side
“It doesn’t look like he appreciates the help.”
Neo could see the frustrated expression on Harrison’s face.
He did not regret saving Harrison.
It was his job as the mission leader.
Suddenly, a silvery portal appeared behind him.
Lucas stepped on the rooftop.
He smiled wryly.
“I never knew you could use such a massive Aura Blade.
“It was visible from my location even though we were so far.”
He gave the Sean Shadow’s elemental seed to Neo.
The elemental seed was almost half evaporated.
After the seed evaporated completely, it would reform at the deepest part of the Window and the Shadow would be revived.
“What are you going to do with the elemental seed?”
“This.”
Neo used Darkness to devour it.
The voices returned for a brief moment.
[Digestion +3]
“Isn’t that harmful to you?
“If you keep devouring everything, your body will enter a state of imbalance where your Secondary Stats are completely mismatched,” Lucas asked.
“This is the only way we can make sure the Shadows don’t get revived.”
Neo knew a way to handle the imbalance.
Though, he would not reveal that to Lucas.
“Bring Nathan here,” Neo said.
Lucas used a portal to teleport Nathan after Neo revealed his location.
Nathan stepped onto the rooftop with a strained expression.
“How did you… do that with a single attack?”
“Hmm?” Lucas realized something was wrong with Nathan’s words. “What do you mean by that?”
“He defeated your Shadow with a single attack.”
Lucas’ smiling face stiffened.
He stared at Nathan as if he had heard an absurd joke, but Nathan’s half-awed, half-afraid face made it clear he was not joking.
“Stop talking about unnecessary things.
“The Shadow monsters are climbing the building to attack us. Let’s move somewhere else.”
Neo’s words snapped them out of the shock.
He added,
“We should meet up with Harrison before regrouping with Arthur and others.”
Lucas nodded.
He quickly composed himself, and the determination in his gaze solidified.
Lucas, able to see Harrison despite the distance, created a portal.
The three entered the portal.
They appeared next to Harrison.
Harrison was in a daze.
Half of his body had been contaminated with shadow elementals and he was on the verge of becoming a shadow monster.
Lucas used Holy Affinity to baptize Harrison.
While they were busy, Neo devoured the elemental seed left behind by Harrison’s Shadow.
[Constitution +1]
‘Now only Clara and Arthur’s Shadows are left.’
Clara’s Shadow was not a threat alone.
They had to focus on Arthur’s Shadow.
Neo looked around.
He made sure no one was looking at him.
“Paimon, I want to make the contract.”
“Are you thinking of fighting against the lightning clan’s boy?”
“Yes.”
The skeletal doll on Neo’s shoulder held a tiny fan in her hand.
She used it to hide her mouth.
“I hope you are not overestimating yourself after the chains binding you disappeared.”
“…”
“Good, seems you have a clear grasp of your limits.”
She smiled.
“So what do you want? A full blessing that will disappear after one use or the partial blessing that will remain with you forever.”
“Give me the partial blessing.”
Neo made his decision after careful consideration.
He had to look at the future.
Losing almost half of his God Blood in exchange for the blessing would weaken him greatly.
On top of that, if he took the temporary blessing and lost it after one use, he would become weaker than a Grade 5 Awakened Demigod.
“Done. I’ve unsealed the blessing.”
“…I don’t feel any different.”
Paimon smiled at his words.