Shadow Slave: A visionary's guide

Under the false sun, the forgotten shore gave out an eerie red glow, amongst the crimson labyrinth a tree stood out of place, This magnificent tree stands atop the Ashen Barrow with its onyx branches and vibrant scarlet leaves. It looked striking and majestic. Its fruits, hanging between the scarlet leaves, were round and appetizing.

Beneath the great tree, was a creature and 4 silhouettes engrossed in a fight, The creature was as large as a house, with its eight segmented legs resembling tall pillars. Its form was similar to that of scavengers and centurions, consisting of a crab-like carapace and a protruding, somewhat humanoid torso. However, this was where the similarities between them ended.

Instead of chitin, the behemoth's shell was seemingly made out of polished, lustrous metal. It was as though its whole body had been once submerged into a crucible of molten steel, emerging from it encased in an impenetrable suit of shining armor.

The demon's head was more pronounced than that of a scavenger and crowned with several tall, sharp horns. Its metal face was almost human-like, but simultaneously repulsively monstrous and bestial.

It was a carapace demon, an Awakened Demon.

One of the silhouettes shakily rising to its legs. A stubborn light was burning in its eyes. Producing a loud screech, it clacked its pincers in the air and once again rushed toward the demon.

The smaller creature bravely ran toward the steel behemoth, raising its pincers to attack.

A fraction of a second after its attempt to attack, the demon caught the creature and slightly strained its arms and tore the creature in two, separating its torso from the carapace and crushing both halves into a bloody pulp.

While it was distracted, a figure appeared behind it, he had bright gold hair and golden eyes that seemed as bright as the sun, on his hand was a… machine gun, he fired continuously at the towering demon. Cracks started to appear on the back of the polished metal carapace, the demon immediately turned around and attacked the blonde boy.

The blonde boy did not stop shooting, only jumping back and creating distance between himself and the demon, just as the attention of the demon was concentrated on the blonde boy a girl appeared from behind the demon.

Her silvery hair cascaded down her back, her grey eyes reflecting the same cold determination that burned within her heart. It was nephis of the immortal flame, she dashed forward with all her might.

A shadow passed beside her, Sunny dashed toward the demon's legs.

By now the demon had already noticed their approach and had turned back to intercept them.

Nephis had managed to avoid the massive pincer and was closing in on them, too. Sunny and nephis reached their goals almost simultaneously, one from the right, the other from the left.

Sunny slashed with the Azure Blade, feeling it hit the polished armor and bounce back without leaving even a slight scratch on it.

Sunny crushed under his breath.

On the other side of the behemoth's massive body, Nephis made significant progress. She attacked the monster's injured front leg, cutting deep into its flesh through a wide crack in the metal plate. Severely damaged, the leg could no longer support the giant creature's weight. It buckled, sending the demon reeling.

Her graceful form flew through the air like an arrow released from a powerful bow, leaving afterimages behind. The silver blade of her longsword glimmered in the light of dawn, while her black-and-white armor blurred with every movement.

Beneath her, an ethereal golden haze materialized. It was subtle, almost imperceptible in the heat of battle, but it was there, silently empowering her.

She was all in, rushing at the enemy without leaving herself the slightest chance to retreat.

The demon reacted almost immediately, recognizing the threat. But "almost" didn't count on the battlefield. A moment of distraction was all it took to lose everything. That single mistake—no matter how small—had sealed its fate.

As she ran, the rhythm of her steps changed. The agony she should have felt using her aspect was lessened, her body moving with ease.

In the next instant, a soft white radiance ignited beneath the skin of her hands. But this time, it didn't stay there. The white flame flowed outward into the hilt of the silver sword, then into its blade.

The sword transformed into a sharp, radiant edge, burning with incandescent white light. It shone so brightly that Sunny had to resist the urge to close his eyes. But the radiance wasn't soft and warm anymore. It seemed capable of reducing anything it touched to ash—sharp enough to cut the fabric of the world itself.

A few steps away from the Carapace Demon's towering torso, Nephis bent her legs and leapt into the air. Her sword flashed forward in a vicious thrust—so fast that, for a moment, it looked like a beam of pure white sunlight.

Then, it collided with the strange alloy of the giant's lustrous armor… right at the spot where his heart should have been.

At the same time, standing on the edge of the fight, a boy with golden hair smiled slightly and murmured, "Finally."

Dense golden and holy flames erupted across the demon's body before entering its metal form.

Then, Changing Star's sword reached the Carapace Demon's heart, slicing it apart, incinerating everything around it, and making the azure blood of the fearsome creature boil and evaporate.

Sunny's legs buckled, and he gracelessly fell onto his ass. "Wh—wha… We did it?"

"Yes, we did..." came the blonde boy's response from behind him.

The boy, Ivan, looked at the remains of the demon and spoke in a light-hearted tone.

"That was quite the fight, wasn't it? And here you were saying we were crazy..." Ivan stopped and glanced at the duo with a confused expression.

Nephis and Sunny were staring at him, their expressions unreadable. Was it awe, dumbfoundedness, or just plain bewilderment?

"What? Why are you staring at me like that?" Ivan asked.

"Why? Are you really asking that right now?" Sunny spoke up. His expression was much easier to read—he didn't go out of his way to suppress it, unlike Nephis, whose face rarely showed emotion. However, thanks to Ivan's Spectator ability, he could read deeper than most.

"You brought out a bloody machine gun in a sword fight," Sunny blurted out.

"No, that isn't even why I'm flabbergasted," he continued. "It's the fact that it worked against the bloody crab—whatever the hell that thing was. Didn't you say the weapons you make can't be used against awakened abominations?"

Sunny had every right to be skeptical, as Ivan had previously claimed that whatever weapons he made wouldn't be effective against these nightmare creatures.

Ivan finally seemed to understand what the duo meant by their looks. He responded calmly. "I didn't lie about that, but I never said guns don't work. Ordinary guns don't, but this one is modified to work with awakened powers and soul essence."

"And the old saying goes: it's always better to bring a gun to a knife fight... wouldn't you agree?"

Ivan said, but as he did, he saw that neither of them was convinced. This could be a problem—if he didn't explain himself soon, both of them would likely distrust him, despite their shared survival.

He sighed. "I'm not lying. It's the truth. It's something I came up with before the fight. It was only theoretical, though, so I decided to test it while I had the chance."

Turning to look at one of the tree's branches, he turned back to the duo. "Let's head back. Cassie's waiting for us… and let's have a feast. Whatever you guys want to eat."

The duo didn't hesitate. They started moving to clean up the scene while Sunny went back to the branch to get Cassie down. Ivan simply stood, watching the scene unfold.

As expected, they seemed to naturally overlook my presence, almost forgetting I was even here. I guess that's the [Spectator] ability for you.

It didn't work like this when it was just Cassie and me, though. In large groups, I'm pretty much forgettable.

Ivan turned to look at the tree with an impassive expression. As a pinnacle of the mind domain, I can naturally sense other beings who rely on or use powers related to it. Now, I can almost physically see the Soul Devouring Tree using its mind hexes on the Forgotten Shore trio, slowly but surely attempting to turn them into its loyal thralls. However, something so weak can't seem to affect me—or rather, it seems to avoid me. It almost feels like it's trying to convey an offer.

Heh...

It can sense that it can't win against me, so it's trying to make an irresistible offer.

Unfortunately for you, ancient fiend, I have a story to look over.

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A/N: Hey guys, i apologize for the inconsistent update schedule but it's just simply how i roll, i have decided to jump over to the more crucial and important moments as i said there wont be much changes to the OG story except some parts where Ivan will be doing his spectator stuff... I assure you that the story will get more interesting after the End of the Forgotten shore as for now i only plan to build up the story and Ivan's character and things he might go out to do.

as for when the next update will be, the next chapter will hopefully be out by mid next week, possibly earlier, no promises, i just hope you enjoy my fanfic and comment and let me know what plotholes ( *there arent any* ) you want be to fix, or simply let me know your thoughts and what you thing Ivan should have done different, (ahem although he hasnt done anything so far except simp over cassie *cough cough partly my fault* )

anyways thank you for reading.