Darkness.
For as far as the eye could see.
I can't move. I feel so stiff, like my body has been encased in stone. The crackling of lighting echoes through a sky I cannot see.
The weights that have been pulling my eyelids close, finally recedes. A great hall of black marble lies bare in front of me, tall pillars hold its high ceilings, and a chill rolls down my body from my neck.
Whatever force that was holding my body still, loses its grip. Beat after beat, I feel the blood of the Daemon I consumed all the years ago, course through me. Its tenacity seems stronger. I can feel it.
Looking down at my pale hands I finally wake from my daze.
By the gods, it worked!
I stretch my body, moving it in practiced motions. I feel—great! Fantastic even! Compared to right now, my transcendent body felt frail, sickly, sluggish.
Supremacy is a whole new ball game.
Wait—what's a ball game?
Didn't matter, calling upon the shadows, they begin to swirl around me solidifying into a dark tunic. Seven lightless suns shroud my Soul Sea in a colorless horizon, a breeze that's not too cold nor hot, whips my long hair.
Looking down from the top of the steps that lead to my Citadel, lightless figures coming in all shapes and sizes, the ones that possessed the forms of humans knelt. Those who possessed a form that resembled beasts lowered themselves to the surface of the endless sea.
Thousands of shadows. Thousands of lives I've snuffed. All of them prostrate themselves before me. Welcoming the presence of their ruler. Their lord.
Their Sovereign.
My lip twitches as it slowly curls. The chills come in waves; boiling pride fills every cell of my being. I want to laugh. I can feel it in the bottom of my belly, wanting to explode from between my teeth.
Even the law of Death can't kill me!
It's the thought of wanting to share this joy with Nephis that jolts me back to reality. She's out there on that damned skeleton fighting for her life against the Queen of Worms. I still have a job to do. looking up into the sky that has been devoid of light since its birth, I see the faces of the dead who were senselessly killed for the greed of two.
The rage comes bubbling in my chest; there's someone out there I still need to kill.
Closing my eyes and stretching the reach of my power, I feel the black wooden mask with the face of a demon tremble back on the fractured battlefield.
Anvil. I'm coming for your head.
***
The sky shatters into a pale white, its incinerating heat comes the moment my head peaks up from the dark pool of shadows.
The drums of war began their beat once again.
Hundreds of thousands of Awaken bellow screams till their throats are raw. The clamor of steel crashing against steel makes my teeth grind, no matter how much I hear it. I feel all their movements, I can almost see their faces from the shadows.
I can sense the blood painting the pale bones crimson. And it's because of him.
The King of Swords stares at me with his steely eyes. His square, axe cut face remains stoic through all he has witnessed. Although, I think I see a hint of shock in those eyes.
I haven't had time to fully grasp my Supreme powers yet, but I can already feel the innate understanding coming to me. I smile behind the mask, "Rise my shadows." A shiver shoots through the battlefield, shadows hiding in every nook and cranny of the bone plain tremble under my calling.
The shadows excitement is palpable, they're eager to fulfill my commands, it brings them joy.
One after another, each of the shadows that stood motionlessly begin to come flowing out of the darkness, seething anger in their lightless eyes. Leading the charge was none other than the first Shadow herself.
Saint.
She comes out mounted on Nightmare from the darkness with a great sword of true Darkness held to the sky. Rain is safe with Feind; my shadows will lower the casualties on both sides—hopefully. All that's left to do now is…
Anvil comes at me in a blur. Soul Serpent slithers into my hands even faster, I can see his movements more clearly now. Our blades grind against each other for only a blink before were thrown in opposite directions.
Not sparing him a second, I melt into the shadows the moment my feet touch the ground, the comforting coolness of losing a tangible body grips me for only but a second, then my blade is crashing on his head. If only it was that easy.
His eyes flick toward me and he pivots, plunging the hilt of his sword into my ribs, I feel them give, begging to shatter, but Bone Weave holds them firm. I tumble but recover quick, I'm on him again, our blades dance through each other's traps and defenses, our boots creating small creators as they push off the ground.
Even after reaching Supremacy, the Kings swordsmanship is nothing to scoff at. I start to let the hot, dry air come through my nose, my eyes narrowing with my slowing breath, I even start to pull in my Shadow sense. Anything to help my focus.
I feel blind. Like my eyes have been ripped from my skull, but that's only for the battlefield. With my Shadow sense drawn in so close, so focused, I can almost see future versions of the King and his movements.
I dodge left, parry a stab near my groin, his movements are getting faster. My fingers throb around Serpent, I meat a slamming overhead, absorbing it with my knees, pushing his blade up, I shoot forward like a slug from a railgun.
A long sword flings itself from my left in front of mine, preventing it from going through Anvils stomach. I shove myself back creating distance between me and him, his chest rises and falls slowly.
Damnnation.
Does this guy not get tired? Unlike his, my chest burns, lungs on fire from the air and exhaustion alike. "How did you do it." The King of Swords words come out as a low rasp.
"Do what?" His eye twitches.
"Natural Supremacy should be impossible. How did you do it," he growls, my cheeks start to ache from my constant smile.
He's completely freaked!
The laugh that started in my belly comes spewing from my throat. Theres a moment where Anvil, one of the first Sovereign's in human history, watches silently, and motionlessly, as I historically laugh at his ignorance.
I calm myself after a moment, my stomach sore, "It's a long story," I say through small cackles, Weaver's mask burst into a cloud of white sparks, his eyes widen slightly, "let's see, it probably started when I inherited the lineage of a Daemon."
I can hear his body shudder.