Arpious of the Planes

SHING

But just as I was about to leave the basic bitch forest, a small amount of killing intent was directed right at the back of my head and right at my heart.

So without hesitation and without looking back, I pulled my arms around and blocked both daggers with my daggers.

Clang

The vibration rang through my entire body. It felt as if I had been smashed on the head with a metal pole.

"Tsk… Annoying," I hear a female voice say as I quickly slip into the shadows.

But just as I entered the shadows, I felt my body freeze as if every muscle in my body tensed, causing me to sink even farther into the shadows.

This was the only risk of using what people call the "all-powerful" [Shadow Magic]... You can drown in it just like water.

Your throat fills with a thick substance that leaks down into your lungs. Your breathing, which had already been stifled, was now sporadic, and the feeling of it entering your lungs was nothing like drowning in water.

You can't feel water entering your lungs when you drown, but with shadows, it's as if you can feel every inch of your insides being coated in the thick substance.

But even though we're trained to resist this feeling, I couldn't help but panic as we were taught to escape quickly... But as I couldn't move a muscle, I just sank… And sank… And sank even more.

SPLASH

"*gasp*,"

I gasped for air as I felt my body be dragged out of the shadow, and a cool breeze hit my face.

"Not yet…" I hear a relentless yet cheerful voice whisper into my ear.

Now that I could move, I dashed forward without even trying to see what the voice came from. And as I did this, I coughed up the black liquid, which turned into black mist upon hitting the setting sun before me.

SHING

I already knew it. I already knew that I would die from just the extreme bloodlust practically licking the back of my neck.

But it was strangely a beautiful moment. I would've shed a tear if my head wasn't sent flying.

The one thing I managed to squeeze out at the very last moment was,

"Pretty," I muttered as the world turned upside down and the golden horizon mixed with the setting sun, making it seem like nothing else mattered besides this one moment.

As if my life was meant to peak at this very moment and then die, grasping onto the happiest and most refreshing moment of my life.

Thud

…

(Yin POV)

"How annoying… I wanted to torture her a bit for some information, but when I saw her run like a coward, I couldn't help but want to kill her," I mutter before activating [Grand Shadow Magic] once again.

I allowed the human's corpse and blood to sink into my shadow before turning around and making my way back.

A smile was plastered on my face after seeing her horrified expression as I dragged her out of my shadow.

Drowning in a shadow isn't a pleasant experience, and it can happen quite often. But I got the idea from Mistress, who forcibly kept her subordinates underwater when training the Water Corps and brought them to the brink of drowning.

Though it was just enough for their lungs to fill with water before getting dragged out, I thought I could use this idea as my subordinates in the beginning drowned in their shadows quite a lot upon receiving [Shadow Magic].

"But [Grand Shadow Magic] is superior,"

After a few more seconds, I found a small group of my subordinates who cornered the rest of the assassins, which consisted of 11 humans…

As I didn't have [Telepathy], I couldn't contact the other members of my corp, but just me was enough.

"Everyone, go back into the shadows!" One of the assassins shouted but from my own shadow sprouted what seemed to be 11 tree branches.

Each tree branch connected my shadow with theirs, and it began to devour the 11.

As the exhausted assassins sunk into their own shadows, they realized they couldn't move at all, so all everybody present could see were their bloodshot and widened eyes slowly plunging into the darkness below them… never to be seen again.

"Maybe I'll get a reward this time for taking down such strong enemies," I mutter, sticking my nose into the air.

"Commander, you should've left some alive," An elven woman from my corps speaks up, disappointed in me as I've done this many times before.

"Nope, this time, I saved some," I respond before snapping my fingers and dropping my daggers into my shadow.

Swoop

The branches which extended from 11 lonesome shadows disappeared while coughing up one barely alive human who my subordinates immediately restrained within seconds.

"AHHHHH! AHHHHH! HUFF HUFF HUFF,"

The assassin began to scream before coughing up black liquid, which immediately turned to mist upon hitting the slim bit of sunlight.

"Okay, I'm going to ask you a few questions," I mutter with a joyous smile.

"M-Monster,"

…

"*sigh*... He won't talk… I'm pretty sure Mistress can read minds, so I'll bring him to her," I mutter before throwing the disfigured man over my shoulder.

I also need to get him healed before he bleeds to death.

"Kill 'e… Lease kill 'e," The man muttered with his missing lips, so the words that faintly flowed from his mouth were messed up.

"Shut up," I mutter before wrapping his mouth in shadows.

"Wait, Commander, before you leave, I must tell you something," A Shadow Siren from my corps says just as I was about to sink into the shadow below me.

"What?"

"[Shadow Magic] evolved into [Grand Shadow Magic],"

"What?" I respond, my jaw dropping in shock as I thought it'd take a bit longer for them to reach [Grand Shadow Magic] because not only do you need to max out the level of [Shadow Magic], but your control over it must be extremely high.

"Yes, so may I have a duel with you to decide who the commander is," The Shadow Siren says with a cocky smile.

"I knew this would happen, but of course, I accept your challenge-"

"Wait, mine also just evolved as well,"

"Mine too,"

"Same,"

"Yeah, mine as well,"

Five of my subordinates reached [Grand Shadow Magic], and as I didn't want to turn down their duels, but I also had to get back to Mistress quickly, I came up with the grand idea to fight all of them at once.

"1 v 5,"

They were unhappy and thought I was looking down on them… and I was… As they weren't worth fighting in the first place.

And just like I thought, after only a few seconds of our little spar, I completely dominated them but decided not to play around as I needed to get back to Mistress as quick as possible.

"HUFF HUFF HUFF… SHIT! WHY CAN'T I BEAT YOU! WE BOTH HAVE THE SAME SKILL!" The same Shadow Siren from before shouts before coughing up another mouthful of blood.

"Bring him with us. We're going back,"

"HEY! DON'T IGNORE ME! THAT'S RIGHT! YOU MUST'VE CHEATED! WE'LL DO THIS AGAIN IN FRONT OF THE QUEEN, AND I SWEAR I'LL KILL YOU!"

After rolling my eyes, I sink into the night.

…

"Mistress, I'm back," I say before kneeling on one knee in front of her in her massive and grandeur throne room.

I tossed the restrained human to the side, and Mistress immediately got the gist, so she healed it with her warm and comforting white fire.

My shadows began to disintegrate from the fire, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't wrap my shadows around the human again.

As the human saw a chance to escape, he flexed his leg muscles, ready to dash away, but a sudden pressure and bloodlust leagues above mine was released, and it coated the room like a thick invisible fog.

"I-I'm pleased to see your bloodlust has increased once again,"

But just as I said that, the pressure and bloodlust increased tenfold, and Mistress's blood-red eyes began to glow menacingly.

My breathing stifled, and it seemed as if all the training I had undergone to resist Mistress's bloodlust had gone to waste.

My muscles tensed up, and I just barely managed to swallow a drop of saliva. I couldn't help but lower my head to ease the throbbing pain in my chest and lower diaphragm.

Click Click Click

The sound of heels clicked against the newly refurbished gray and white marble below, but just as I was about to raise my head, a pair of black heels appeared before me.

"Lick," I hear a cold merciless voice say, one that I wouldn't forget.

My body shivered in fear, and just as I was about to raise my head once again, I felt something hard press down on the back of my neck, pushing my face into the floor.

"What did I say?"

Despite me almost begging for my mouth to move, only a squeak came out.

"Huh? Repeat it,"