SHADOW SLAVE

Chapter 3061 Paradoxical Being

Nephis inhaled deeply and then invoked the Name of Fire.

At that moment, a radial wave of flames exploded from her luminous figure, momentarily illuminating the vast chamber and sending the darkness into a brief retreat.

In that moment, the two of them switched places.

Where a figure woven out of radiant light had been, now stood a shadow encased in a fearsome black armor. Sunny had assumed his human form, and Nephis turned into a torrent of light, infusing his body with ferocious, terrifying strength.

Only one incarnation had been augmenting Nephis. But now, he was empowered by the full force of her fiery soul — the measure of power he felt was indescribable, and since his Will had fused with her titanic Will, the world seemed pliant and malleable, ready to submit to his touch.

Of course, that feeling of power was not going to last long. As soon as the wave of white flames Nephis had unleashed was extinguished, the stone chamber would be conquered by true darkness once more — and when that happened, Sunny would be blinded and drained by its impenetrable expanse.

So, he had to act swiftly.

The abominations that had surrounded Nephis were briefly pushed back, some of them melting in the wave of annihilating heat. Sunny dove into the shadows and emerged next to Saint, placing his hand on her greave.

And then, he disappeared, having wrapped his second avatar around the taciturn Shadow as well.

That was Sunny's plan. He wasn't going to do better than Nephis in a battle against Creatures of Darkness — but Saint could. While simple on the surface, the issue of augmenting Saint was actually quite complex.

On paper, now that two avatars of Sunny were empowering her, she should have become stronger by roughly a half. And since Nephis was augmenting the second incarnation of Sunny, that augmentation should have been transferred to Saint, too, increasing that number manyfold.

Sunny and Nephis were connected by Shadow Bond, after all, which meant that she could augment not only him — she could augment his Shadows and Memories, as well.

All except Saint, that was — or at least had been.

Back in NQSC, before the Chain of Nightmares, the two of them had experimented with applying the Shadow Bond in various ways and found out that among all of Sunny's Shadows, Saint was the only one who did not benefit from Neph's flames. That was because Saint drew power from true darkness, and true darkness was incompatible with light.

However, things had changed since then... albeit not in a straightforward manner. Sunny was not sure whether it was because Saint was different now or because Nephis was, having gained a greater control over her Aspect and broadened its scope as a Supreme, but the taciturn Shadow could be augmented by Neph's flames now, as well. It was just that not all of her powers were augmented... in fact, some of them were even weakened as a result.

Saint was quite a paradoxical being, if one thought about it. She was a Shadow whose abilities were founded in true darkness, which was antithetical to shadows. More than that, she also wielded the power of nothingness, which was antithetical to... everything.

Perhaps it was her affinity to Nothing, which she had gained after Sunny and Nephis first experimented with the Shadow Bond, that allowed Saint to benefit from Neph's radiant augmentation.

When Nephis infused the taciturn Shadow with her flame, those of Saint's powers that were drawn from true darkness actually lost potency. However, everything else about her grew stronger.

And so, as soon as Sunny bestowed the augmentation of another incarnation — and that of Neph's flames — upon Saint, her figure visibly changed.

The crimson flames burning beneath the visor of her helmet blazed with fearsome intensity, turning flawlessly white. A brilliant radiance suffused her jade skin, spilling through the cracks in her black armor.

At the same time, her already ferocious strength exploded, making it seem like she could crush the entire mountain with one blow.

Saint had been staggering back when Sunny reached her, but now, she arrested her movement and regained her balance, making the vast chamber quake.

Saint embedded shadows, true darkness, nothingness, and light now — four forces whose union was supposed to be impossible many times over. And yet, they fused inside her, granting her terrifying power.

She was far more powerful than she had been a second ago...

But physical might was not why Sunny had chosen to bet it all on Saint.

Instead, it was one of her Abilities.

[Vessel of Nothing] Attribute Description: “Nothing dwells in this Shadow's body, granting her the power of annulment."

[Shield of Nothing] Ability Description: "Nothing protects this Shadow, and as long as it does, no one can harm her."

Saint rarely had the opportunity to use this Ability because it was not targeted, instead affecting an area around her — and since Saint usually led the Shadow Legion in battle, the shades would be weakened by it, too.

The [Shield of Nothing] allowed Saint to create a field of annulment around herself, suppressing or outright negating powers and Aspect Abilities of anyone unfortunate enough to find themselves within it.

That was what happened to humans and Nightmare Creatures... what about Creatures of Darkness, then?

Mordret had hinted that nothingness and true darkness were in conflict, one of them holding back the other.

If Sunny had to place a bet, he would bet on Nothing.

Nothing was capable of holding back the Void, after all. True darkness had been born from the blood of a Void Being, so why wouldn't it be held back by nothing?

He gave the mental command, and Saint activated the [Shield of Nothing], denying a vast area around her.

‘Will it work? Come on...’

Sunny held his breath, watching the Dark Ones intently.

A moment later, the flames Nephis had unleashed finally slammed into the walls of the chamber and were extinguished.

True darkness rushed forward like a flood, swallowing everything around.

And the eerie monstrosities hidden within it rushed forward, as well, aiming to crush Saint and tear her stonelike body apart. Then, the first of them stepped into the field of annulment created by the Shield of Nothing...

‘Come on!"

...And crumbled, the force holding the shards of fallen Stone Saints together having been erased from existence.

Sunny would have smiled darkly if he could.

‘It did work. Huh.'