Turning Chapter 835

Chapter 835

'This is... Gakane's shadow.'

He had never seen it displayed like this before, so it was hard to be certain just by sight.

But it was unmistakable. It was indeed Gakane's shadow that he had seen so often during their long training sessions.

‘He could use it in this way...?’

Gakane had developed the ability to transform his shadow clone into various forms through training, but this was unprecedented.

Yuder circled around it, inspecting closely. During this process, he found several members of the Star of Nagran’s Awakeners, subdued and lying prostrate. Among them, neither Nahan nor Hosanna were present.

‘Instead... I found this one.’

Yuder looked indifferently down at the unconscious Diemon sprawled on the ground.

His face, now aged into middle years, faintly reminded Yuder of his previous life where Diemon assumed the identity of the sage. The thought that such an insignificant creature had become a nightmare, devouring the empire after the fall of the Star of Nagran, struck him as absurdly funny.

Perhaps the essence of what we consider evil is not as grandiose as we think. Mold, easily removed when sparse, becomes untamable, engulfing everything when it spreads across a whole house. Maybe this was similar to Diemon.

The same could be said not only for Diemon but also for the real sage, Karl Enfile. Both driven by selfish desires, lacking any profound convictions or purposes.

The reality of these once-feared beings was, in truth, so pitiful.

Yuder genuinely felt relieved to have caught them before they grew any larger, as he buried Diemon in the ground.

‘This should do. The ones following will find him easily enough to take him away.’

Turning his gaze away from Diemon buried in the ground, Yuder refocused on Gakane's shadow curtain. Initially, it seemed like a completely new technique, but on closer inspection, it appeared otherwise.

‘I remember Gakane using a technique to cloak something in shadow for stealth. Of course, this is on a much larger scale.’

Yuder recalled that Gakane's shadow cloak technique was similar yet different from Emun Philang's ability, now the head of the Western branch.

Unlike Emun's ability to blend into darkness, becoming undetectable while hidden, Gakane's involved overlaying shadows on the target, making it perceptible from the outside.

Just like the curtain before his eyes.

‘And... there's one more thing.’

Gakane's technique had a unique feature: unless you were Gakane himself, the owner of the shadows, it was impossible to remove the stealth state from inside or outside. The shadow clone could withstand external attacks, sustaining little damage, and could last until Gakane himself was defeated.

But what if it was deliberately made on such a large scale?

There's a prejudice that stealth abilities work better on a smaller scale, but overturning that, a disadvantage can become an advantage.

After considering this, Yuder reached a conclusion.

‘So, this is like a temporary prison created using Gakane's abilities.’

How it was possible to create such a large barrier remained unknown, but there it was, right before his eyes.

It was probably the best move the Cavalry could play against Hosanna, who had teleportation abilities.

Yuder was almost certain that Kishiar must have been involved in this, considering the quietness of his battlefront since this was created.

‘Since I've identified its nature, it's time to enter, but how?’

The conventional method would be to ask Gakane to open a gap. However, Gakane, who had created the curtain, was inside, making normal communication impossible. Nor could he just use any ability to disrupt it, as it might harm his allies who could be in battle inside.

Waiting for them to come out was never an option.

‘Then the only remaining method is one.’

Having observed Gakane over time, Yuder knew well the weaknesses and limits of his shadow clone. Shadows, by their nature, were weak to light, and intense light would weaken the affected area.

Of course, today's weather was foul with no sunlight, and there were no objects nearby that could produce light. But if there was none, he would make it.

In an instant, flames spiraled around Yuder, gathering into a ball. The flames, compacting and intensifying, began to change color rapidly - from red to white to blue - emitting a fierce light.

Whoooosh!

Even as the dazzling flames melted the surrounding sleet into steam, Yuder watched, seemingly unaffected by the heat.

His gaze was fixed solely on the part of the shadow curtain that the light touched.

Soon after, a part of the shadow curtain touched by the flickering light began to fade and waver.

"Now!"

It was a momentary opportunity, but Yuder sharply seized it. Pushing his leg towards the weakened part, he felt a slight resistance before his body was swiftly sucked in.

It was as if he had plunged into a pitch-black swamp, the darkness flickering before his eyes.

When he opened his eyes again, he was in complete darkness. No one was visible, and no sound could be heard.

Yuder, feeling a tension enveloping his entire body, cautiously spoke out.

“Commander.”

His voice sounded faint and muffled, as if speaking underwater.

"Gakane, Kurga, answer me."

No response came from his comrades either.

The golden thread he had followed here was now nowhere to be seen in this place.

It felt suffocating, as if all senses - sight, hearing, touch - were half-paralyzed. Perhaps his senses were not functioning well in this space, a part of Gakane's shadow ability.

After waiting a moment for any sign of movement, Yuder exhaled and moved forward, ready to attack at any sudden appearance.

Suddenly, he spotted someone lying prostrate. Approaching closer, Yuder realized that the person had familiar golden hair.

Thump.

Was that heavy sound a thud in his ears or a beating from his own heart?

Without looking back, Yuder swiftly approached and knelt down. He lifted the upper body of the fallen person, his mind blank.

The disheveled golden hair shifted, revealing a smooth cheek, a forehead, and closed eyes. The man's face, looking as if asleep, was unmistakably Kishiar La Orr.

“...”

Yuder's hands, holding the man, froze, motionless. His eyes, gazing down at the face, also stopped, not blinking.

Time stood still.

The space began to collapse.

It was at that moment when everything around Yuder Aile seemed to entangle and sink into darkness like terrible debris.

The golden light that had faded in his left eye suddenly flickered, reacting to something.

‘...Ah.’

Yuder, reflexively blinking, suddenly noticed something peculiar about the man he was holding, something he hadn't realized immediately.

‘The clothes, they're different.’

The Kishiar who had attended the funeral with him today had been wearing a sleek, subtly shining black formal suit. But the clothes on the man before him were not those.

Not the familiar white Cavalry Commander's uniform Yuder knew so well, nor his usual casual attire, but in a way, very familiar clothes,

They were the garments Kishiar La Orr had worn in his previous life, in the last moments as he sat in Peletta Castle, embracing death.

The moment Yuder realized this, the man in his arms opened his eyes.

His red pupils softly swirled as they focused on Yuder.

"Yes, Yudrain."

His voice was sweet and enchanting, as if bewitching.

"It's the first life you've reaped with those hands, it would be slightly upsetting, even for me, not to recognize it."

As he spoke, the man extended his hand.

Yuder, before the man's fingertips could touch his cheek, jolted up in shock.

The man, who fell back to the ground like a broken doll, burst into laughter. Yuder's own voice had seemed muffled, as if submerged in water, but his voice felt distinctly etched in his mind.

"Will you discard me as soon as you recognize me? That's disappointing."

"..."

"It seemed like we had quite an interesting relationship…"

His laughter waned and then grew louder repeatedly. Amidst the incessant laughter, the man's body gradually crumbled like ash.

In the end, only one thing remained.

Two hands, wearing white gloves, covering every inch of skin.

And Yuder, looking down at them, was finally certain.

This was an illusion created by Nahan.