Becoming a Shadow in the New World

Magic transformed into a hurricane that swept through the small space, and a golden lion wrapped in electricity charged out of Akatsuki's body toward Rudolph.

Faced with this attack, Rudolf did not dodge, but instead tore off his cloak, revealing the battle armor underneath that emitted holy light.

"When I stepped onto this island with the thought of dying, I felt the suit become active, and I was very confused at the time."

But the moment I met the Son of God, I understood everything. This was God's revelation to me. Let you, you filthy vampire, see how the 'Fortress Garment,' empowered by the Son of God himself, can destroy you, the Fourth Progenitor.

The two collided, emitting a golden light that illuminated the dark room.

"The battle is over! What a boring fight!"

Even though the two below were still locked in a stalemate, Sid had already turned around and was about to leave.

Under normal circumstances, that suit cannot defeat Kojou Akatsuki because the energy inside the suit is limited. For someone like Kojou Akatsuki who cannot use most of his magic power, once the two are locked in a stalemate, Kojou Akatsuki has won.

After all, using SSS-level magic power to unleash an S-level attack probably means using more magic power than it takes to recover.

Yes, he has now given up on the idea that Kojou Akatsuki is a Kage-level powerhouse. He feels that Kojou Akatsuki is more like a classic light novel protagonist who was lucky enough to gain power but has various limitations.

But what he meant wasn't that Akatsuki won; he meant that Rudolf won.

For some reason, that armor is like a phone that's being used while charging. It's something that theoretically needs time to regenerate energy, but now it's constantly gushing out energy.

Both sides have unlimited energy, so it can only be a contest of skill and who makes the first mistake. How can someone like Akatsuki, who can't even fight, compare to Rudolf, the teacher who is a slayer? That's why he said the outcome was already decided.

As for him, he had thought about it for so long, but he still couldn't come up with a reasonable way to appear as a shadow. Forcibly transforming into a shadow would only ruin the prestige of a shadow-level powerhouse, so he had no choice but to give up.

It's best to hurry back and move some things away before the island sinks to minimize losses. Should we move the wine cellar in the west first, or the treasure vault in the north? We can decide whether to move the piano in the east later if there's still time.

Just as Sid was thinking this, he sensed an illusion barrier on one side of the last level and glanced at it casually.

Sid stopped in his tracks.

It was a girl with braids, two rustic braids hanging down on either side of her face. Her glasses, as rustic as those of Lan Yuqian, concealed her deep blue eyes, which were filled with calmness and tranquility. She was hiding her aura in a secluded corner.

While watching the battle below, he held up something that looked like it was for making a call to his ear.

"Yes, I understand. If Akatsuki is defeated, I will execute Plan C and take action personally."

"Don't worry, I've already prepared the foundation for Project D to replace it. If anything goes wrong and the relic is damaged, I'll notify you immediately to replace it."

“I know that relics can be returned to the church, but not in the form of being stolen. I understand that.”

The other end hung up, ending the stalemate. As Sid had predicted, Rudolf had won.

Seeing this ending, the girl with the braided hair sighed, a silver spear appeared in her hand, a cold glint flashed in her eyes, and she silently brought it down.

What the girl with the braided hair didn't notice was that as she landed, there was a black figure wearing a black coat and a mask behind the spot where she had been hiding.

A slight smile appeared on Xi's lips, and an excited voice escaped her lips.

"I... I've figured out how to make my entrance."

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Reminiscences of the Past

The moment Rudolf tore the golden lion apart, the familiars within Akatsuki Kojou's body went completely out of control. The backlash he suffered felt like being hit on the head with a hammer, and the unbridled rampage of the familiars caused him to spit out a mouthful of blood.

Rudolf seized the opportunity and jumped in front of Akatsuki Kojou, kicking him to the ground.

Not only that, the moment Kojou fell to the ground, a cross appeared in Rudolf's hand and plunged it fiercely into Kojou's heart.

"Bah!"

The cross pierced through Kojou's heart, pinning him to the ground. The struggle between the True Ancestor's life force and the holy light of the cross had already caused Kojou to faint from the pain.

Both battlefields have seen victors and vanquished. Yukina Himeragi and another girl were defeated by Astallo, while Kojou Akatsuki had his heart pierced by Rudolf.

Looking at the ruins of Akatsuki Castle on the ground, Rudolf narrowed his eyes. He desperately wanted to kill the Fourth Progenitor here, but he knew it was impossible. He could defeat a Progenitor when they were weak, but he couldn't kill one. Even after the worlds merged, the Progenitors' inherent life force remained at the pinnacle of immortality, so…

Rudolf, carrying his giant axe, walked straight toward the foundation stone.

Since we can't kill him, let him use his own life to sink the Fourth Progenitor and this island together.

He raised the giant axe high and swung it down heavily towards the pillar in front of him, but just as the axe was about to hit the pillar, it stopped.

No, it wasn't the giant axe that stopped, it was time that stopped. Rudolf's ferocious smile froze, the conflict between the vampire bloodline and the holy light within Akatsuki Kojou's body stopped, and on the other side, the spiritual power that Himeragi Yukina had gathered also stagnated.

In this space, the only one still moving is the girl with the braided hair from before.

Possesses the ability to forcibly intervene in the real world from a time that does not exist—the breaking of silence.

Strolling leisurely to Rudolf, the girl with the braided hair raised her spear and thrust it toward Rudolf's heart.

Under the immense power of time, the fortress armor could not react to defend against this attack, and the spear would rightfully pierce Rudolf's heart... as it should have been.

Just as the spear was about to touch Rudolf, time resumed its flow. Rudolf reacted in time, activating his Fortress Garment to block the attack, but he himself was also knocked away by the impact.

After knocking Rudolf away, the girl with the braided hair did not immediately pursue him. She stood there, stunned, and subconsciously turned her head to look at Himeragi Yukina lying on the ground.

In the girl's memory, there was only one thing that could destroy this ability that gave her absolute initiative in attack, similar to a time-stopping power: the Demon-Slaying Holy Lance in Himeragi Yukina's hands—the Snow Wolf.

But when she turned around and saw Himeragi Yukina, her originally serene eyes trembled.

Yukina Himeragi, lying on the ground, was still conscious, but she was no longer holding the Snow Wolf. The Snow Wolf had slipped from her grasp during the earlier battle and had fallen to a distance of several meters from her.

Since it wasn't Yukina Himeragi who used the Snow Wolf to break her silence, then who broke her ability?

"Clap! Clap! Clap!"

A burst of applause echoed through the room, which was buried deep in the sea, and the sudden sound attracted the attention of everyone who was still conscious.

"Fantastic! Brilliant! Brilliant!"

It was truly exceptionally brilliant.

In everyone's sight, a dark figure sat on the railing, clasping his hands together in front of him. Although he was wearing a mask, everyone could still tell from his joyful smile that he was very happy.

"Shadow!" x3

Whether it was the girl with braided hair, Yukina Himeragi, or Rudolph who had just stood up from the ground, they were all surprised by the appearance of the shadow.

"Why are you here? What are you plotting?!"

It was the girl with the braided hair who reacted first, raising her gun to question Shadow.

Ignoring the girl with the braided hair, Sid looked at Rudolph.

Rudolf, who was being watched, was taken aback at first, but quickly recovered.

"...Thank you, Lord Shadow, for saving my life. I now understand the whole story; I was tricked."

After he finished speaking, Rudolf fell silent, unsure how to respond.

To him, Shadow is a wanted global terrorist, and even if what he is doing now, if successful, would be a world-class terrorist attack, he is still pursuing the elimination of teachers.

But Shadow did save him just now. In fact, if it weren't for Shadow's reminder, he probably wouldn't have realized he had been tricked until his death.

He could now more or less guess what Shadow meant: he wanted him to give up the idea of ​​sinking the island and honestly retrieve the relic through negotiation.

After encountering Shadow, he spent the whole night reading through Shadow's information and could roughly confirm that Shadow was a lawful faction.

He is aware that what he is doing now is unlikely to be approved by the lawful faction, and even within the church, there are many people who say he is too radical.

He had already roughly guessed the identity of the girl with the braided hair in front of him: Shizuka Koyo, one of the three saints of the Lion King Organization.

With the shadows and the Three Saints present, sinking the island in front of them is nearly impossible. If he leaves now, he can still save his life, so... is giving up the only option?

Rudolf glanced at the saint's right arm and clenched his fists.

How could that be? Even if it meant his death, he would destroy the foundation that was insulting the saint at this moment.

"Keep doing what you want to do; that's the reward for a winner."

Just as Rudolf was about to make his move, Sid's words interrupted him, and he looked at Sid with disbelief.

Xian Guyong, who had been ignored, couldn't sit still after hearing this.

"This matter has nothing to do with Lord Shadow, so why should you interfere?"

Although she was pointing a gun at Sid, Xian Gu Yong didn't dare to make a move. She was well aware of her own strength. With the ability to break silence, she could defeat many opponents stronger than her in their first meeting. However, if the opponent was Shadow, it would be a question whether she could even break through his defenses, not to mention that it seemed that Shadow had broken her silence barrier just now.

"Why? Ha, ha, ha ha..."

Upon hearing Xian Gu Yong's words, Xi De laughed.

Seeing Xide like this, Xian Guyong's face turned ugly.

"Why so many whys? Like I just said, this is what the victor deserves."

After laughing enough, Sid casually uttered those words.

"He defeated Akatsuki, but I am the one who truly protects this place."

Xian Gu Yong didn't understand the meaning of Sid's words, but she still keenly grasped the loophole and tried to bypass the shadow to stop Rudolph.

“No no no.

"You've arranged this drama of a demon king destroying the world, and a hero appearing to defeat him—it's quite cliché. But the fact that the demon king defeats the hero is quite original. Since the demon king defeated the hero, isn't it only natural that he would destroy the world?"

"But I didn't lose."

In response to Xian Gu Yong's reply, Sid simply raised a finger and shook it.

"You still don't understand. You are not a hero."

You orchestrated this grand drama that fooled a believer fighting against demons for humanity, a true vampire progenitor, and used the lives of hundreds of thousands on this island as filming funds. With such arrogance, who do you think you are?