Chapter 180- Blood Eye Dagger (Part 1)
The series of notifications did surprise Rin a lot. Shadow Manipulation had been with him since the start and was basically his only weapon for the longest time. Through the days, it leveled up automatically without Rin trying to actively do anything.
However, because he didn't have any idea how he can even make it level up faster, it was a matter of time before it reached phase two. The first phase, Shadow Bringer, was already strong enough as it is, giving Rin the ability to do things not even the greatest of prodigies could dream of reaching.
So, one could only imagine how amazing Shadow Manifestor could be.
Shaking his head to clear up his thoughts, Rin focused on the notifications.
'Shadow Manifestor? What does that mean, system?' He asked.
[Shadow Manipulation has evolved to phase two.]
'Yeah, I can see that, but why now all of a sudden?'
[As mentioned, the host had met the requirements for the evolution process.]
'What were the requirements?'
[My apologies, host. I can't tell you the requirements. I'm not allowed to do so.] The system replied.
'Sigh, fine. But, what does this evolution give me?'
[As the name suggests, you are now capable of manifesting shadows out of nothing.]
The moment he heard that Rin's eyes widened to the extreme.
'What did you… just say?'
[You can now manifest shadows and use them without the need for a pre-existing shadow.]
'That's… that's amazing!!'
All this while, Rin's only glaring flow when using Shadow Manipulation is its complete uselessness in dark, shadowless environments. Not only did this rob him of half of his strength but it also put him in danger in case the source of light he relied on suddenly vanished.
So, to hear that now he can manifest shadows out of thin air was the greatest news he could have. It also came at the perfect time for what he was about to do.
[It's not over, host. Not only can you manifest shadows, but you can also control their form, nature, appearance, and everything about them. In easier terms, you can create anything you want from them.]
'Wait, by that you mean… I can create clones of myself?' He asked.
[Yes. Although they won't be as strong as the original, it's technically possible.]
'Holy shit! This is beyond amazing!!' If it wasn't for the fact that Rin was still inside the room with the other three, he would've started jumping around like a small kid after getting a Christmas present.
'Ehem, I see. Anything else?'
[Yes, your ability to control shadows had also reached a new level of mastery. Now, you can use shadows with greater efficiency, which means the mana cost is reduced greatly.]
'Good. Really good! Keep on giving me this good news from time to time, system.'
[...]
After that, Rin closed the windows and quickly moved out of the room. His time of celebration is over and the mission needs to continue.
When he was sure he was safe, Rin checked his summons. Luckily for him, they had already covered a great area of the house and checked many places. However, there is still no trace of the Blood Eye dagger.
'As I thought, this is not going to be an easy task.'
Sighing, Rin looked around him and decided to focus on something else till his summons found anything interesting.
'I need to find the citizens. The fact that I still didn't see a single one of them is really giving me a bad omen.'
Setting his mind on that, Rin quickly moved toward the next area of the place that neither his summons nor he checked. Rin had left this place for last since it was by far the most obvious place where the citizens could be… The 'prison area'.
Since the lord of this city loved to collect slaves, mainly demons, he had a particular section of his house that he put his slaves in. Rin had heard about it briefly from Evelyn before coming here. He never thought this simple information will come in handy.
From one corner to another, Rin made his way to the prison until he ended up in front of a thick metal door that was closed shut with a keyhole in it. There was also no cracks under it that he can use to pass through.
'Hm, this is troublesome…' Rubbing his chin for a few seconds, Rin's eyes lit up with a great idea.
He had an idea that might work.
*Swish*
Leaving the confines of his shadows, Rin approached the door and then put his hand on the keyhole.
'Let's see how this new power works.' He thought as he closed his eyes.
When he searched through his mind, the way he should be using Shadow Manifestor was there. It was so engraved in his head that it almost made him question whether it was there the whole time or not.
So, he quickly channeled his mana and instantly, out of the palm of his hand a black, weird matter appeared and spread around the keyhole.
'Cool, now the harder part.'
Although this was the first time he was using his power, what he was about to do required him to be familiar enough with it. However, he had no time for that, the matter was way too urgent, after all.
The shadow matter moved slowly and entered the keyhole. Inside, Rin felt his way around it.
'Ok. I need to do this now.'
After feeling the whole place, he started morphing the shadows as if it was made out of playdough making them take the form of the keyhole. The process was slow at first but quickly sped up as Rin grew accustomed to the feeling of the shadows until eventually…
*Click*
The sound of something clicking along with the door opening up a little bit reached his ear, making him open his eyes.
'It actually worked? If this is possible then opening every door in this world is possible!'
After noting that down, Rin pushed the door open and walked inside. Then, he closed it again just in case Cid decided to come here. Then, he submerged himself in his shadows again. This time, he didn't need light at all. All he had to do was to think of shadows and then he found himself in the shadow world again.
The place was predictably very dark with no light whatsoever. The moment Rin stepped in, the strong smell of mold, humidity, and other bad smells assaulted his nose making him frown slightly. Ahead of him was a long staircase going down to the basement of the house.
'This place definitely needs some fresh air. For demons to stay in such conditions, sigh. I don't know anymore. The more I get to know the truth from both sides, the more confusing it becomes. I guess Emilia's words are right, there is no right or wrong in this, only desire.'
At this point, Rin only had one thing in mind as his goal, to protect his loved ones no matter what. That's his top priority. His father and mother, Aria, Emilia, and the most important person, Elise.
Those people are the ones he cared for and so he will do everything to stop the demons from hurting them. If he can also stop this war with that then he will also be satisfied with it. However, stopping this war is easier said than done.
As he was having such thoughts, the journey downward had already ended and Rin found himself in front of a long corridor. On each side of the corridor were old prison cells.
'What an ominous place.' He thought as he held his nose.
The smell of feces and other things filled the place making it almost impossible to breathe inside here.
Taking a peek at the first prison cell, Rin found a group of people sitting in corners. Each one of them was in a tattered state with their eyes closed.
'The citizens.' Rin's eyes turned sharper as he looked closer at one of them.
The first thing he noticed was that they were unconscious although whether they were still hypnotized or not is still a mystery. After approaching one of them, he put his hand on their wrist and checked their pulse.
'Shit, his heart rate is very weak! The lack of oxygen will kill them! I need to get them out of here quickly!'
But, that was easier said than done. Getting hundreds of citizens out of these cells is extremely hard and would take a long time. Many of them could die.
'Think, Rin, think. What should I do? Oh!'
That's when Rin remembered that he had something that could help. Although this method was very rough and won't last long, it would at least give Rin enough time to get all of the citizens out of the prison, hopefully.
'I need to hurry.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks for reading. Any support you give me is always appreciated no matter how small it was. Let's all keep it up :)
Read 𝓁atest chapters at fr(e)ewebnov𝒆l.com Only