NOVEL NEXT Chapter 86 Sophia Part 8
The shadow reaper raised its scythe and charged at the one-armed archon who dodged to the side and rushed toward Zero's unconscious body. The reaper threw its scythe forcing the archon to jump to the side allowing the shadow to travel on the ground quickly and reach Zero before the archon. The scythe poofed out of existence and reappeared in the shadow reaper’s skeletal hands.
The archon hissed and charged at the reaper. The reaper melted in the ground absorbing Zero and avoiding the archon’s attack. The shadow instantly traveled to the other side of the void space and deposited Zero before traveling back to face the archon. The reaper emerged from the shadow pool and slashed at the archon who dodged the attack. After dodging the attack, the archon jumped and slashed its claws at the shadow shredding it to pieces.
The shadow pieces fell to the ground and swirled together before reforming as the reaper. As the reaper reemerged it was instantly shredded by the archon. The pieces moved away from the archon before reforming.
The shadow reformed into the form of a man rather than a giant skeleton. The archon lunged at the reaper who sidestepped the assault before slashing at the archon. The archon barely managed to dodge the attack and received a small cut on its throat.
“Accursed… creature!” yelled the archon as it underwent a sudden transformation where its pale blue translucent changed to a dark gray and it shifted it’s from the jester form to that of a grotesque canine-like animal Its severed arm grew back and the creature walked around the void stalking looking for the right moment to pounce.
Boom!
The archon vanished and a loud sound echoed throughout the void. The reaper was cut in half and the 2 pieces fell to the ground. The archon was standing next to Zero and was ready to attack when shadow spikes erupted from the ground forcing the archon to retreat. The spikes then wrapped themselves around Zero and he stood up in a puppet-like fashion.
Zero’s body controlled by the shadows walked and grabbed a sword as the rest in the area were absorbed by the shadow pool that originated from beneath Zero. The archon lunged at Zero with its mouth open attempting to bite off Zero’s head but he was absorbed into the shadow. A sword popped out from the shadows underneath the archon stabbing the creature through the chest.
The archon jumped away from the shadow and its muscles tensed and the blade snapped in pieces before the wound on its chest closed. Zero rushed at the archon who moved at a speed impossible to follow and attempted to slash at Zero’s side but shadow spikes appeared all over his body stopping the archon dead in its tracks.
Zero’s body then slashed at the archon who had stopped its attack and was standing in front of him. Zero’s attack managed to sever the creature's arm that had regrown causing the archon to fall to the ground now that its body was out of balance. All the remaining swords appeared out of the shadows wrapped around Zero and skewered the archon pinning him to the ground.
Zero’s body jumped back and the shadows released the body gently and laid him on the ground. The shadow turned into a swirling pool and traveled until it was underneath the archon before multiple spikes erupted from beneath the archon impaling it.
The shadow reformed into a human-shaped form again and summoned a scythe. It vivisected the archon starting by cutting off its limbs and then proceeded to decapitate and split its body into tiny pieces. The shadow reaper released its scythe and disappeared in a puff of black smoke. The shadow melted into the ground and absorbed the severed pieces of the archon relocating the pieces far away from each other.
The shadow then reformed next to Zero and observed the archon. The archon pieces made no movements and the shadow stood guard over Zero. The shadow sensed something from behind and turned to see light arrows heading for Zero so it threw itself in between the arrows and Zero as a way to defend the attack. The arrows hit the shadow and began to shine with a blinding light that caused the shadow to shrink and retreat back to Zero. A light orb like the sun appeared in the white void shining so brightly that all shadows were nonexistent.
Now that the shadow was gone the severed piece of the archon started to move and accumulate in one area. The pieces then reformed back into the jester form. The archon shifted and moved in a repulsive way as cracks could be heard from its body. Now seemingly normal for an archon it walked towards Zero as its hands shifted into claw form.
The archon stood over Zero with its clawed hand raised as it prepared to end Zero. It brought its hand down and stabbed into Zero who was awakened by the pain of the attack. He looked at the archon and said, “You should… be dead.”
The archon looked at Zero with its faceless face and a sinister smiling face appeared on its face as it said, “I… came… back… for… you.”
The pain and the fatigue overwhelmed Zero as he could not think and was at a loss on what to do. As Zero laid there in agony the arch used his other hand to pierce into Zero’s chest and grasp his heart and squeeze. The archon then released an eerie laugh as it used one hand to rummage around Zero's internal organs and the other squeezed his heart.
Zero’s agony continued like this for 10 minutes before passing out and the archon announced that he would be ending Zero's pain now as he pulled out his hands. The archon’s body split open and showed a ferocious number of teeth and a growl echoed as the body opened even more in preparation to devour Zero.
As the archon moved to devour Zero the white void instantly turned into a lush forest-like environment. The forest was full of trees and the sudden change of environment caused to archon to divert its attention away from Zero who was quickly surrounded by vines and pulled underground. The archon turned to quickly finish off Zero only to find him missing.