Shadow Slave novel Chapter 2856

Sunny was keenly interested in anything that had to do with Eurys, and by extension with the Nine. So, he glanced at Azarax, lingered for a moment, and asked:

"That Eurys... Eurys of the Nine. The two of you must know each other well, considering that you spent thousands of years side by side."

Azarax ground his teeth. Instead of answering the question, he regarded Nephis.

"That knave must have really guided you out of Hell. So, where is he now? What has become of him?"

She shrugged.

"I left him in the Underworld."

Sunny spared her a brief glance, then added:

"He made it to the Shadow Realm, in the end. He is still there, searching for peace."

And waiting for Sunny to grow powerful enough to slay him.

The skull of the ancient skeleton remained motionless for a few moments, then lowered slightly.

"...A shame."

Azarax stared at the sand, then pierced with a murderous glare.

"It's a shame that he escaped Hell before me. Oh, how joyous it would have been, to join the battle together!"

Sunny was momentarily surprised by the uncharacteristic show of sentimentality. It seemed that Azarax was not immune to camaraderie and affection, after all. However, he was proven wrong a second later.

“If he and I were to become swallowed by the curse together, I would have been able to crush, shatter, and mutilate that wretched worm for all eternity! I would have destroyed him a thousand times... ten thousand times! I would have visited a vicious death upon him for every accursed day I had to spend in his excruciating company!"

The vitriol in his voice could only compare with the hatred he had expressed when sensing the legacy of Shadow God in Sunny.

'I... guess not.'

Sunny cleared his throat.

"Would you even be able to defeat him once, though? That man killed a god. Azarax the Mighty is a fearsome name, sure, but can it really compare to Eurys the Godslayer?"

Azarax glowered at him silently.

"That worm was full of tricks, but he has never been more powerful than me. All he could do was plot and scheme. However, no scheme would have helped him defeat someone as fearsome as I was... as I am."

Sunny raised an eyebrow.

"How did he end up killing the avatar of War God, then?"

He wasn't asking out of mere curiosity. If he and Nephis succeeded and became Sacred, it would not be long until they would have to defend the borders of humanity from Cursed and Unholy creatures. So, every little bit of information about the nebulous art of godslaying was of vital importance to them.

Azarax turned his skull away.

“...Who really knows? It was a long time ago. And Eurys of the Nine had never been a forthcoming person, even before we ended up nailed to this tree."

He remained silent for a moment, then continued:

“All I know is that those of his people who hadn't been slaughtered were made slaves. The slaves from that particular realm were gorgeous, mild-tempered, and exquisitely cultured, so they were valued a lot by the wealthy merchants and the nobles of the Empire. Eurys was quite handsome and highly educated, so he fetched a good price... that was what people said about him later, at least, when he became infamous." 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Azarax clicked his jaws in anger.

“It was that War Maiden and the city she was hired to protect that became the ruin of my great army, my empire, and me. By the time I finally managed to kill her, it was already too late... everything around me was in ruins. She was cast to Hell for breaking the divine covenant, while the Dragon built his empire on the ruins of what she had destroyed. He could have never defeated me himself... if he tried, Eurys would have never gotten the chance to kill him. Because I would have ended him long before that."

Nephis frowned.

“From the way you speak, it sounds like the vessels of the gods did not start their lives as beings of the Divine Rank. They had to walk the Path of Ascension first, just like the rest of us. But surely, the Dragon was Divine by the end of the Golden Age... how could Eurys, a mere Transcendent, have killed him?"

Azarax stared at her somberly.

After a long stretch of silence, he said simply:

"Where there is will, there is a way. And Eurys was eerily adept at wielding his Will even before becoming a Supreme."

He paused, and then added in a lower tone:

“Of course, that alone would not have been enough to slay a god. How did he do it? Nobody knows. However, for every force that exists, there is a force that is its antithesis. Now, then, what is the antithesis of war... of life?"

Sunny tilted his head a little.

"It's death.’

Azarax laughed.

“Indeed. So, Eurys did not simply slit the Dragon's throat. He did so with the Slaying Blade — the blade of Death. He must have..."