"…Your shadow will die!" Livia warned.
"Shit, Azrael!" I shouted. Azrael then came to an abrupt stop a little distance away from the borders of the galaxy we were in. "Yes master?" Azrael asked puzzled.
"Come back immediately. It's too dangerous." I said to him. "I see, I will be there shortly." Azrael said to me respectfully, but with clenched fists. He then took one last glance into the distance, then turned to fly back.
I lazily, breathed out a sigh of relief and imagined what could have been if I had sent Azrael there. Azrael was the shadow that had served me the longest. Thousands of shadows were used in order to create and strengthen him. Months I've spent training with him. Losing him would have been more than just a simple loss; it would have been a waste.
"Already proving to be useful…good work Livia." I said to her then patted her head. She looked at me in shock then quickly removed my hand from her head.
"I didn't do it to please you!" She said in an annoyed tone, but still hid her face.
"Ha ha, I see. Let's get going then." I said to her then walked through the gate I had opened earlier as she followed closely behind. We then appeared at what seemed to be the bottom of the ocean. There was no water surrounding us however, but we stood within a complicated kinetic structure.
This structure was thousands of miles in diameter. Earlier, as I was absorbing Neró's soul, I saw that there were hundreds of structures just like this one all around this world.
The structures were in fact built around pieces of the planet's core floating all about within the water. At the very center was a small sphere, the average size of an island, keeping the water in place. Strangely enough, there was no water within the kinetic structures, but we could see water outside of it.
A thin, almost transparent layer, of an unknown material to me, served as the walls of this structure. Outside this structure were foreign sea creatures, alongside the natives of this planet, swimming about at an incredible speed.
The natives looked just like Livia, minus her tail. They were humanlike beings with scales covering a majority of their bodies. A pair of gills could be seen on their necks and luminous nails that looked like they could cut through steel decorated their fingers.
"How is it so bright at the bottom of this ocean?" I asked. "Look down. The plant life down here is luminous." She said to her. I then looked at the ground and saw weird plant life growing in an unnatural way. Different shapes and sizes, of these plants, lit up the entire ocean floor in colors that I had never seen back on earth.
"Where have the other two helpers gone?" Livia asked me. I then woke from my daze and looked through the eyes of the shadows on this planet. I quickly spotted the tailed Lilith and Kitsune walking side by side not too far off, just a couple 100km down the road.
"They're not too far off. We will run into them eventually." I said to her. I looked around to see where to go first, but I then noticed everyone else inside the structure was standing still. "Is there something wrong with these people? Why aren't they moving?" I asked Livia.
"Are you serious?" She asked me flabbergasted. "What is it?" I asked in response. "Not only your movement, but your speech has greatly increased in speed ever since you took down Neró. I thought you were doing it just to mess with me. Everyone else only looks like they aren't moving because, in your eyes, they're that slow." She said to me.
'I never even noticed this increase in speed! It must be due to absorbing Neró's soul.' I thought to myself. I then tried to move as slow as I possibly could, but ended up dozens of kilometers away from my original position. 'Shit!' I thought to myself.
Suddenly, I heard what sounded like thunder coming from above me. I looked up and saw something approaching from afar at a tremendous speed through the water. It tore right through the transparent layer and landed right next to me.
"Azrael," I said.
"I have returned master." He said to me respectfully. I looked up once again, now at the hole that Azrael left after shooting through the structure.
'Damn, if my pace goes back to normal, will this place get flooded…? I just got here.' I thought to myself with a sigh.
I pondered for a few seconds on how I was going to go about this increase in speed. Wondering if this would be my life from now on. Fortunately, I quickly arrived at a solution.
My human form already weakened my overall strength, so, it was a good base to test out my theory. By increasing the density of the dark cloud within my body, I could increase its mass as well, which in turn would increase its weight. The heavier I was, the slower I would be. That was the theory at least.
'A couple hundred tons should suffice.' I thought to myself. I then began to increase the density of my dark cloud, and it worked out beautifully. I could now at least see people moving, but they were still very slow.
I continued to increase the cloud's density to the point where I could now see people walking at a normal pace. 'Easy.' I thought to myself. I then looked back up at the hole Azrael had left and saw it had already sealed on its own.
'So, people can go in and out of this structure as they please?' I thought to myself. I then began to walk forward, due to the increased weight on me, it felt like I was surrounded by chains weighing me down. 'Dam! At least I can move around normally.' I thought.
I thought the weight would have craashed the ground beneath me, but fortunately, the change in mass seemed to only affect me and had no relation to the planet's gravity.
"Let's catch up with the tailed Lilith." I said to Livia and Azrael as I opened a gate beneath our feet.
We then dropped right next to the tailed Lilith and Kitsune. "Where have you guys been?" Kitsune asked us. "Ran into a minor complication." I said to her. "About that, how is it that you two have been walking normally this whole time?" I curiously added with a question.
"Hmph! I match the my energy with the lesser beings I interact with. You can't do even that?" Kitsune said proudly. Although she said it like it was nothing, you had to have incredible knowledge of the energy within you and the energy of the "lesser beings" in question in order to match their energy.
To add to that, that knowledge had to be accompanied by a certain high level of skill to pull off.
"I'll admit, that is a much more effective method." I said turning to the tailed Lilith.
"Look at this cute red t-shirt I got. My last shirt had two holes in it from those arms I grew back at Asími, so I'm glad to have gotten a new one. According to the shop keeper, this t-shirt is waterproof and will never get wet, most clothes down here are. He was so kind to allow himself to pass out and allow me to take the t-shirt without even paying for it." The tailed Lilith began to say with an innocent smile, completely changing the subject.
'So, she knocked him out and stole it.' I thought to myself. "Whatever, take Livia with you. We will meet you guys later." I said to them then turned to leave. "Where are you going?" The tailed Lilith asked. "To check my progress. Will be back soon, so don't miss me too much." I said to her with a smile then left with Azrael.
"Wait! Leave Azrael with us." The tailed Lilith shouted. "Why would I do that?" I asked her. "I go where my master goes." Azrael quickly spoke against the idea.
"Well, we need him to carry our stuff. According to Elaine, it is not right for a lady to walk around with a lot of heavy bags…well, she also said I shouldn't bother people with my own baggage unless they insist on helping or something like that. The second part didn't really make sense to me." She said to me.
'As usual, she only takes what she wants to hear.' I thought to myself. "Fine, Azrael, go with them." I said then turn to leave once more. "Master?" Azrael said to me with a pitiful look.
"Don't make that face Azzy. We need you to protect us from bad men too." The tailed Lilith said innocently.
"Protection? You're the most dangerous thing on this planet." Azrael said, unafraid to voice out his opinion.
I then opened a gate and finally left.
"Psst, like anyone would misss him. We got some free time now. Let's go shopping! Azrael, we are going to put you to work today." The tailed Lilith said excitedly, revealing her true colors.
I then appeared at the all too familiar intersection with a wide road to the left and a narrow road to the right. I began to walk on the road to the right, but not without taking a few quick glances to the wide road on the left. I kept wondering what could possibly be down there.
I then kept the thought at the back of my mind and continued to walk. It was only when I reached the fortieth step that I felt the pressure begin to hinder my movement. It felt uncomfortable, but I could still keep moving,
By the fiftieth step, the pressure got even greater, but it was only half as bad as the last time.
Sixtieth step…
Seventieth step…
Eightieth step…
An incredible pressure dropped down on me at the eightieth step, but not one I couldn't handle….
I strenuously took five more steps before being forced into a halt. The familiar and suffocating feeling once again took over me. I then took a few steps back to gain some relief before turning completely.
'I advanced an extra 20 steps this time. I've gotten stronger! Now, 415 more steps to go!' I thought to myself.