Duality of Shadows

The crowd was still in shock, not finding any sign of Kakarotto anywhere. They searched the nine nearby lakes, but the waters stayed calm, not a ripple in sight. People exchanged bewildered glances, not expecting those old guys to pull something like this.

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Kakarotto, despite his arrogance and bloodlust, had fought honestly and head-on. But the six old guys had teamed up for an ambush that was just unforgivable.

The six elders looked around carefully, needing to be sure that he was really dead. They no longer cared about honor; history would be written by the victors, and no one would dare reveal this shameful fact.

"Is he dead?" Someone murmured from afar, completely stunned. Everyone shook their heads, with no answers. They waited and waited, but nothing.

Meanwhile, the disciples and cultivators from the clans, who had pulled back, clenched their fists nervously. But for some reason, none of them felt scared. There was this irrational certainty that he couldn’t be killed.

Most of the spectators, however, started to lose hope. "There’s no way he’s coming back." Even the most experienced began to believe it was all over.

Before, they were convinced that neither Mamdar’s full attack nor the elders’ ambush would be enough to take down the unfathomable king. But as time passed and the silence dragged on, that belief started to waver.

"Caution is necessary for lasting success, no matter how strong someone is," old Alv murmured, showing no emotion. The king was incredibly powerful, yet he had fallen.

"Hahaha!" Old Fiendgod laughed coldly. "Look at that, nobody knows what’s gonna happen till the end. That’s what he gets for thinking he’s above everyone; without support, he’s nothing, especially with so little power!"

The king’s death had calmed his rage and brought him huge advantages for the future. All the humiliation he suffered didn’t matter anymore.

"Unfortunately, I’m always the last to smile," a relaxed voice interrupted the moment of joy.

"It’s the king!" Someone shouted happily upon hearing the familiar voice.

Everyone looked around, but there was no sign of Kakarotto anywhere.

"Where is he?" The crowd was confused. Where was that voice coming from?

"There!" Someone quickly reacted and pointed to a high spot.

The eyes followed the indicated direction and saw Kakarotto lazily sitting on his throne, just like before, with his legs resting on the arm of the chair and a purple lotus in his palm. Even the young demon who usually accompanied him was in the same old spot.

He looked extremely comfortable, like he had been chilling the whole time, not moving an inch. The sight naturally shocked the crowd. They had seen him turn to ashes!

Nobody knew how he had gotten back on the throne. Had he been there all along?

If he had been thrown in the lake, someone should have seen him come back up. But if he’d been there from the start, that would be even scarier. Was it an illusion? If so, why hadn’t anyone noticed his real body on the throne?

"What’s going on?" The inexperienced ones were completely lost.

"This is surreal. His power level is way above everyone else." One of the elders managed to catch a glimpse of some mysteries, trembling in fear. He recognized that these were laws of time and space at such a high level that he had only heard of in legends.

The King had simply turned back time. He was practically immortal, able to kill his enemies without anyone noticing, and could decapitate his opponents at any moment.

The six elders took a deep breath, realizing the true terror of their opponent. They had only felt something like this once before, when the ancient king showed them how insignificant they were.

These six elders were the most powerful in the empire right now, but still, they couldn’t understand what had happened. They didn’t know if Kakarotto had been on the throne the whole time or if he had really turned back time.

"I’ve been waiting for your sneak attacks for a while now. Unfortunately, all you managed to do was tickle me," Kakarotto said coldly, looking at the terrified elders from his throne.

"One of us will die today! Even if I die, I’ll still take your head as an offering for my daughter!" Old Fiendgod gritted his teeth and threatened him.

Kakarotto replied disinterestedly, "I’m merciful, don’t worry; you’ll go be with her, so your daughter won’t feel lonely."

The other five elders scoffed, and the Deepmonster roared, "Little worm, I’ll skin you alive and drink your blood!"

"You think too highly of yourselves. The others died in a straight-up fight, but cowards who hide and watch their subordinates die, waiting for an opportunity, don’t deserve my time," Kakarotto said lazily.

The crowd went silent until they felt a quick approach from afar. A cutting wind and a multicolored lightning bolt rushed forward and entered the battlefield.

The elders turned, and then they saw two figures appear behind them. One was an Ancestral Devil known by all. The other was a young-looking Chromaraic, and they recognized him; he was someone respected even by the late King Vulke.

"Lord of Wind, you finally made it. What do you want?" asked the old Aberrant, his voice dry.

The two ignored the old men and turned to Kakarotto, who was sitting on his throne. Immediately, they bowed their heads in respect.

"Sorry for the delay, Your Majesty. I was in the imperial city, fighting the Primordial Elemental Spirits that settled there," the Chromaraic explained hurriedly.

Kakarotto scoffed. "Buman, I told you to run and stay safe. I don’t need help to take back the throne. I can return whenever I want."

He then turned to the Lord of Wind, his voice cold. "Were you helping him?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," the old man replied quickly.

"I’ll give your clan some credit. But now’s not the time. Step back," Kakarotto ordered, waving for them to move away.

The two looked up at him, clearly confused. "Your Majesty, let us fight by your side," Buman said seriously.

"Fight?" Kakarotto smirked sarcastically. "They’re not worth my time. Go on, clean up this trash quickly."

With a gesture from Kakarotto, the violet lotus in his hand trembled and floated forward. At the same time, Maelik moved along with it.

The six old men looked coldly at the two young ones. This had to be a joke, they thought.

Maelik sighed, and his eyes turned as black as the endless abyss. The small violet lotus pulsed and began to spin, rising into the sky. In an instant, it grew to nearly five meters.

The old men scoffed and drew their blades. Their nine inner cores pulsed, activating the laws created within them... but then, everything froze.

Their eyes widened as they saw the world change color. Everything around them was covered in a soft, mystical violet hue.

The Immortal Lotus spun serenely, radiating unlimited mental power that spread through time and space, giving no chance for defense.

Alm and Bruno watched with satisfaction. The mental cultivation technique was called: Nine God-Slaying Lotus. Just like the physical cultivation, which was created by a Fiendgod. Ruri, after recovering her memories, excitedly claimed that her mental cultivation was also created by an Immortal Lotus.

Now having this bloodline and understanding its characteristics, Ruri’s mental power became hundreds of times stronger. And with her mastery over the laws of time and space, this fusion became impossible to defend against.

While everyone was stunned, Maelik simply waved his hand. It was as if a sea of stars pulsed around him.

Everyone turned to him in surprise and felt the power of Elyin, Elwater, and Elwind emanating from the tiny stars. They were sacred words, connected to the laws close to Yin.

Alm and Bruno smiled slightly. Maelik was holding back. If he used all the Yin of death present on the battlefield, he could generate a power greater than Kakarotto’s at that moment. But he limited himself to the 66 inner laws he had recently created. And that was more than enough.

The old men, with eyes now violet and skin covered in marks of the same color, had their power completely sealed.

Maelik scoffed and flapped his wings. Even though he no longer had his beastly bloodline, he shaped his power so that, when he returned to his original body, he could still use that power.

Quickly, the world around him distorted, and six ethereal feathers condensed around him. Without even looking a second time, Maelik waved.

*RUMBLE!*

No one saw the feathers move, they only heard the sound of space breaking. Then, they saw the old men being struck.

"Ah!" Each feather pierced one of them, and their bodies were instantly split in half, as blood gushed out like a scarlet rain.

The crowd was ecstatic to witness this. Those old men failed to defend against a single blow. And these were just servants of the king. Did that mean Kakarotto had been playing around the whole time, not even using a fraction of his power?

The weaker spirits felt their legs buckle, nearly collapsing to the ground. "This is unreal..." Even some ancestors were horrified.

They instinctively realized that if Kakarotto wanted, only his servants could annihilate the entire empire with a single move. As for him? It was beyond imagination. The scariest part was that he wasn’t even a Divine Inquisitor yet.

Buman and the Lord of Wind, who watched everything up close, were pale. The old man remembered how Kakarotto used to act and talk as if everyone were ants. Before, he thought this was just arrogance. But he recently saw that his powerful clan was truly just ants in Kakarotto’s eyes.

The two began to reflect on their past actions, which now seemed absurd. The loss of the throne... What was the reason? He was more than capable of ruling the world.

Then they recalled when Kakarotto gave his explanation to the King: he was just having fun! All this was to cure his boredom. Like watching an ant hill. It could be entertaining, or he could just throw a torch and burn all the ants to ashes.

Quickly, all the survivors felt their souls tremble. Bruno, noticing the change in everyone, sighed with relief and murmured:

’We had to kill a lot this time... I tried several times to make them give up and gave them every chance, but those arrogant bastards only learn the hard way.’

’The more power, the more arrogant and irrational,’ Alm retorted dryly. ’We pretended to be fools and created an opening for the enemies to slander us, blowing up rumors and turning us into heinous rapists. But that’s no excuse for everyone to believe without proof. There isn’t a woman in the city who was actually touched by us. We did nothing, and that could be easily verified. Even the castle servants, if asked, could confirm that we always treated them well and that we’re not what they say.’

Bruno nodded. People just loved to throw stones when others were slandered. The powerful tarnish someone’s reputation? Why investigate? It’s easier to unite and throw a stone too, relieving their frustrations; it didn’t matter if the target was innocent or not.

’I saved those with at least a bit of common sense. Don’t get used to it. I won’t let something like this happen without justification, and without me trying my hardest to save those willing to listen,’ Bruno added.

Alm just huffed and stretched out his hand, gently holding the small purple lotus. Maelik also returned to his side.

"Does anyone else have something to say?" Kakarotto asked disdainfully. His voice echoed across almost the entire planet.

With his apathetic and drowsy expression, no one would believe that this bored man was responsible for so many deaths, knocking down the most powerful like they were bugs. Yeah, the image of a useless king seemed more fitting for his current look.

"In that case, start kneeling." He looked at the crowd and gestured.

Buman, the Lord of the Wind, and Minnan, who had been watching everything closely since the beginning, were the first to bow their heads. "Long live the king," they all shouted from the bottom of their hearts.

"Long live the king." Everyone quickly prostrated, showing their submission. They knelt with bated breath.

Earlier, during his coronation, some of them had gone to the imperial palace to greet him. Of course, they weren’t really convinced by him; they did it out of fear of Mermeon. But that was no longer the case today.

When the king was ousted from the throne, many despised him, calling him trash. Now, they were bowing. But... the aura he radiated was completely different from King Vulke’s. They didn’t feel fear; they felt reverence.

This king could be many things, but he wasn’t irrational. They felt this because he had allies at his side, as well as several young people and clan members who had simply retreated and were ignored by him.

Kakarotto only eliminated those who tried to kill him and take the throne. Any other powerful king would want to completely destroy anyone who had even slightly betrayed him before. Those clans would be utterly decimated, and no one could escape alive... that would be the action King Vulke would take. But he just wanted everyone to kneel and accept him, and no one thought it was an act.

"Great." Kakarotto said lazily. "Now let’s get to the real goal."

Kakarotto gestured from atop the throne, and in that same moment, the nine rivers and mountains around began to tremble.

Everyone turned, frightened, to watch the change. They soon realized that the waters of the rivers were disappearing, as if the earth was sucking everything up. In a few seconds, everything stopped.

Then, exactly where the stairs and throne were located, the ground opened up, revealing a golden box that floated slowly toward Kakarotto.

Until something unexpected happened. The more experienced among them turned their gazes toward a distant peak. There, they felt an extremely powerful fluctuation of laws.

Two shadows seemed to break through time and space, and in the blink of an eye, the golden box disappeared.

Kakarotto smiled. "Still playing and using tricks?" he said softly, waving his hand.

A massive wave of multicolored energy spread at an impressive speed, destroying everything around. The two shadows were enveloped in distorted power.

They quickly launched dozens of defensive inscriptions in a panic, but couldn’t stop the impact of the offensive wave.

*Boom!*

Their treasures shattered, and both were sent flying, spitting blood. Their hiding methods were nullified.

It was impressive that both were still alive. However, their bodies were bloodied, and their true appearances were revealed. Suddenly, all the supreme spectators recognized the figures in the event.

"What?! Mermeon, and that’s... that’s King Vulke! How is this possible?!"