Duality of Shadows

*CLANG! CLANG!*

Blades clashed. A fight of terrifying proportions broke out on that planet. All the inhabitants were in panic, feeling the movements of the laws and the violent tremors shaking the ground.

But the most terrified of all was the Alv. Sesel was like an agile warrior, born and raised on the battlefield. Even though that powerful Divine Inquisitor could kill her with a single move, she attacked and moved with precision, fully confident that she could escape at any moment.

Leafar, on the other hand, stood his ground against the enemy, preventing him from chasing after Sesel. High above, Yin flames created a domain around the battlefield, closing off the spaces around it. If the Alv tried to flee or got too close, the flames would turn aggressive, and dozens of runes would explode, unleashing a strange offensive power.

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He deftly avoided the flames, but they danced gently around Leafar and Sesel, protecting them and nullifying part of the Alv’s influence. The Yin flames were a strange support, possessing a devastating counterattack capability.

The second most terrified was the old Aberrant, who couldn’t believe how experienced and powerful those two young women had become. Since when did they get so scary?

The Alv found himself at an impasse; the three had indeed managed to block him. But that was only possible because the two were burning their souls in exchange for power. That wouldn’t last much longer—at most two or three minutes—after which they would be dead physically and spiritually.

Far away, Alm and Bruno emerged from the last cave. Without delay, they looked up at the sky, where the nine orbs radiated their laws endlessly. With a huff, they leaped directly, piercing the space in a straight line.

"Just a bit more," Bruno murmured as they moved away from the planet.

Ervly was pushing her laws to the max to surround the enemy, and he didn’t clearly notice that another person had escaped to the secret place. The Alv, of course, felt something subtle, but he couldn’t be sure amid that combat; Sesel moved like a snake, attacking the opponent’s blind spots at the slightest oversight.

Luckily, there was no QI there, so the power difference between the cultivators was based on their mastery of their internal laws.

This Alv had nine laws of the highest level, but Sesel and Ervly together had hundreds of levels slightly lower in comparison. Adding in their combat experience and the power of their burning souls, they fought on equal footing.

In the end, that was why Alm and Bruno had become unbeatable, and even they could face the most powerful directly. If it had been a fight between conventional cultivators, an enemy with many superior realms could simply use a devastating area attack or their QI to suppress the opponent’s power. But here, each had their micro-universe and their laws, which couldn’t be easily nullified.

In two minutes, Sesel was practically on her last breaths. Her soul was shattered, and her speed was less than half of what it had been at the start. But her eyes still shone with determination.

The Alv roared, sensing her weakness. When his spear lunged toward her, driven by pure survival instinct and will, she dodged, spinning mere millimeters from death. Then, her short blade made a deep cut in the Alv’s arm.

Leafar watched, holding his breath. That little woman was like a cornered tigress, but her fangs were still sharp. Nothing could make her fall while there was a single drop of energy left in her body.

*BOOOOM!*

The second after Sesel’s counterattack, a violent explosion of flames erupted from the Alv’s body.

Sesel was inches away from him, but Ervly’s control was precise and flawless. Sesel wasn’t hurt, and the explosion propelled her safely away. The two had transformed from water to wine after everything they had lived and experienced in that place. Their will and technique had been refined to the limit.

The Alv emerged amidst the flames, his face contorted in pain and his clothes completely burned. Those Yin flames weren’t that powerful offensively, but they could invade his body, eliminating his internal Yang.

This destabilized all his power like poison. Even a woman possessed Yang, and those flames would still have a huge impact; in a man, it was ten times worse. Those flames were bizarre and unique; someone who had never faced them couldn’t create methods to defend themselves before it was too late.

But… that was like the last gasp of energy from the two. They could barely move now. Leafar roared with all his strength, attacking the Alv in a frenzy; he couldn’t let them die before he did.

In a distant place, Alm and Bruno arrived at a region where the laws of the nine suns seemed to converge. It was an area so bright that even a divine cultivator, who had refined his body with QI, would feel pressured and suffocated.

Alm and Bruno sensed a spatial distortion at the center of the location; it was invisible and imperceptible to anyone. But they knew there was a small sealed space there. Around it, some runes that didn’t belong to the nine laws could be felt; they were interconnected with the place, forming a barrier that prevented entry.

’Only those who meet the prerequisites can enter,’ Bruno confirmed.

They needed to reach the peak of Anima cultivation for the doors to open for their passage. Although they could force their way in, it made no sense to do so. To complete the mission, they had to master that cultivation as well.

The two tattoos pulsed on their wrists. They both focused, and then Wuji was activated. Their arms opened. "Come to me."

Seven of the nine suns suddenly trembled and froze. All the light from the seven suns, which bathed the planets, went out.

The laws of that micro-universe twisted and spun, disappearing like a black hole was swallowing them up.

Muffled sounds echoed from inside that body. They moved quickly; in ten seconds, they hit the True Emperor Realm.

’Is this the third time? Does the first count?’ Bruno murmured before taking a deep breath.

Suddenly, they looked down and spotted a bloodied Alv charging straight at them. They both smiled coldly; it was all going as planned. After they started absorbing the laws, that Alv figured out who the target was and ran towards them.

For him to be hurt so badly, he must have forced his way through and didn’t have time to finish off the three of them completely.

Unfortunately for him, the nine cores were already formed, each containing a single type of law: the Duality of Shadows, created by them.

After gathering a massive amount of laws with the tattoos, they roared: "Unite!"

The nine cores pulsed and moved in the same direction within their bodies. The chaos law used to create these cores still existed inside them, acting like the key to this union, turning the cores into a mass of energy. So, all nine fused into a single entity.

Alm’s and Bruno’s eyes pulsed with the power of the Duality of Shadows law. A stability and new understanding emerged within that law. They both felt excited, sensing the significant change as the nine cores merged.

’Excellent! Using our law was the best choice; it boosted your capacity,’ Alm said, slightly satisfied.

Until...

*Puft!*

The sound of something piercing flesh echoed. Suddenly, Alm and Bruno felt the metallic taste of blood rising in their throats, completely catching them off guard. Their bodies trembled, and soon after...

**BOOOM!!**

A colossal explosion erupted in the air, causing the approaching Alv to stop dead in his tracks, eyes wide. The force of the explosion was so intense he didn’t even have a second to defend himself—he was sent flying back like a meteor, spitting blood.

The laws of Yin and Yang seemed to have been violently torn apart, white and black light fragmenting into chaotic spirals, creating a distorted kaleidoscope of energy and destruction all around.

The devastation was so intense that space itself seemed to shatter like glass. The echoes of that explosion reverberated in the air, but after several seconds... it left only a deep silence.

In the middle of the newly formed void, two divine souls floated with cold gazes.

Alm and Bruno were now bodyless; they had been killed before becoming Divine Inquisitors, with their entire physical form reduced to nothing. The elemental rune that gave life to the Primordial Elemental Spirit had been obliterated.

Now, they were just two pure divine souls, almost powerless, with extremely limited capability. Their faces were marked by furious and disbelieving expressions.

’Son of a bitch...’ Bruno murmured, a cold hatred permeating every word.

Bruno and Alm directed their gazes to a specific point ahead. The place that used to guard the entrance to the now-sealed secret spot stood tall, doors wide open.

Inside that space, a figure watched them.

It was like peering into a house through a window. Inside, there was a world surrounded by giant roots and leaves from a single colossal natural entity.

And at the center of that place was the one responsible for everything, watching them with a dark gaze. There was only a single presence there. Then they understood—who killed them was none other than the Tree of Nine Stars itself.