Chapter 64: Shadow Commander has been destroyed
The city square had become a wasteland. Flames licked the edges of shattered buildings, smoke coiling into the crimson sky. Dead bodies littered the ground, the undead forces relentlessly clawing forward, their numbers staggering against the royal guard and Edward’s summoned shadows.
Amid the chaos, four figures moved as a singular force. Edward’s eyes locked onto the Lord of Undead. The armoured monstrosity towered above the battlefield, its blackened armour etched with shifting runes.
Edward did not speak. He did not need to.
He sent a mental command to his summons, and they all moved in unison. The Shadow Commander surged ahead, its massive shadow-tinged armour gleaming, shielded arms swinging to intercept incoming undead. The Shadow Reaper melted into the darkness, disappearing from sight, coiling through smoke and debris like a living shadow. Arthur pressed forward, blade steady, matching the rhythm of the shadows.
Edward’s chest tightened. The Lord of Undead pivoted, black tendrils of energy flaring outward, scattering nearby soldiers. Edward shadow stepped forward, appearing behind the Lord of Undead in an instant, his blade aimed for a lethal strike.
But the Lord moved with unnatural speed. His gauntleted arm shot up, intercepting the strike with a heavy clang. Sparks flew as steel met, and Edward’s momentum threw him a step past the armoured figure.
Arthur surged forward, his motes of golden light danced around his blade as he swung it wide.
It struck true, hitting the Lord of Undead in his side, but the armoured figure simply took the hit, its armour tanking the damage. Arthur stumbled back just in time to avoid the strike from the massive longsword, he pivoted to press forward but at that moment the Lord of Undead stomped the ground.
A massive shockwave rolled outward. Edward felt the tremor knock his balance off, kicking up dust and sending pieces of stone into the air.
Before he even realised it, the black double-edged longsword was moving toward him. Edward shadow stepped aside in the last moment, the blade crushing into the ground where he just stood.
At the same time, the Shadow Reaper lunged from the shadows. Its short blade skidded across the Lord’s armour, leaving a deep black streak across the armour.
But Lord pivoted and struck just as fast, sending the Reaper sliding across the ground.
The summon had no choice but to shadow step away as the Lord was already upon him.
Meanwhile, Edward’s pulse thrummed with energy.
His mental commands flowed outward, guiding his summons and synchronising their movements, in a desperate attack to create an opening.
The Lord’s arm lashed out again, its armoured gauntlet swung toward Edward in a wide arc.
The Shadow Commander slammed into the strike, shielding Edward and Arthur with his massive frame. The shadowy armour shattered in places, cracks spiderwebbing across the Commander’s chest plate, but he held on. The ground shook as the impact reverberated through the battlefield.
Edward moved again.
With a shadow step, he blinked beside the Lord, his blade slicing at the side of his neck. The armoured figure twisted, narrowly avoiding the strike. The force of Edward’s momentum sent shards of stone flying into the air, and before he could pull his blade back, Lord swung back with unnatural speed, its gauntlet cutting across Edward’s shoulder.
He rolled, blade humming, and vanished again, leaving only a shadowy afterimage.
"Dammit!" he cursed as pain flared from his shoulder.
But that was enough.
Using the small window, Arthur pressed forward.
He gritted his teeth and swung his blade in a powerful arc, thrusting it deep into the Lord’s armour.
The battlefield seemed to freeze for a split moment before the Lord’s gauntlet armour struck the Prince and sent him flying into a nearby rubble.
"Pitiful attempt..." Lord hissed as he pulled the sword out of his abdomen, but Edward wasn’t tricked.
Dark, blood-like liquid spilt from the wound as Arthur’s sword scattered away.
Unwilling to give it a moment’s rest, Edward and his summons dashed forward.
The unison of their attacks started to connect more and more, tearing and trashing the Lord’s armour with each hit.
But it was far from over.
The Lord’s speed was terrifying, to say the least, and during one of these exchanges, his counter struck true.
[Shadow Commander has been destroyed.]
Dark expression settled over Edward’s features as the notification appeared before his eyes.
The massive figure of the Shadow Commander dispersed into shadowy smoke, its ability now outside Edward’s reach.
Lord of Undead lingered for a moment, as if mocking Edward’s summons before lunging forward, now on the attack.
Edward’s chest tightened.
The battlefield had lost its rhythm. The coordinated strikes of the Shadow Commander were gone, leaving only Edward, Arthur, and the Shadow Reaper to fend for themselves.
The Lord of Undead moved with horrifying precision, every step sending tremors through the ground. Edward could feel the eyes of every fallen soldier and every undead still moving, focusing on him, as if the battlefield itself was alive and waiting for his demise.
He swallowed back the surge of panic. There was no time for fear.
With a mental quick mental command, he sent Shadow Reaper to the left flank.
The summon melted into the darkness, slipping along the cracked edges of buildings, sliding through smoke and debris, its blade drawn for a sudden strike.
Edward didn’t linger either. His own shadow step activated again and again, leaving behind a blur of motion and momentum.
Each strike at the Lord’s armour had begun to create tiny cracks, but the monstrosity’s resilience was astounding, while his stamina and mana were running lower with each move.
The Lord’s longsword swung with terrifying force, arcs of black energy cutting through the air. Edward dodged, narrowly avoiding a strike that would have split him in two, feeling the heat from the friction on his cloak. He blinked to another location, appearing atop a shattered fountain. From here, he had a clear line of sight to the Lord’s head and shoulders.
Arthur groaned as he pushed himself up from the rubble. Golden motes of light flickered around his body, shimmering across the ground like fireflies caught in a storm. "Edward!" he called, breath ragged. "Now!"
Edward didn’t hesitate. He lunged, blade streaking through the air, while the Shadow Reaper launched forward in perfect sync, a coordinated attack that would overwhelm almost anyone, or anything.
The Lord of Undead’s head twisted unnaturally, black runes across its helm flaring as it turned to counter. Sparks erupted as steel clashed against steel, and for a moment, the battlefield fell into a rhythm that Edward could barely comprehend: attack, counter, dodge, strike.
But Edward felt it—an instinctive awareness of his energy, the edges of his magic thrumming in warning. He didn’t have the Shadow Commander anymore; that colossal wall of defence was gone. Every mistake now could be fatal.
The Lord’s sword lashed again, faster this time. Edward stepped back, pivoting, letting the blade slice the ground where he had stood moments ago. Rocks and debris flew into the air, raining down as the ground trembled under the sheer weight of the attack.
Arthur pressed forward again, though every step was a battle against his own exhaustion. His golden blade glimmered as he swung it with renewed ferocity, landing a glancing hit across the Lord’s gauntlet. The armoured figure roared—a sound that echoed through the ruined city, resonating like a drum of war—and retaliated with a spinning strike. Arthur barely rolled to the side, golden light flickering across his body like a shield.
Edward narrowed his eyes. It was time.
He focused. Letting the Shadow Reaper slip into the Lord’s blind side, Edward gathered his strength. He could feel the blood-like energy within him, the dark pulse of power that thrummed whenever life and death collided in such a violent rhythm.
It was now or never.
With a swift intent, he sent another mental command, sharper than before.
The Shadow Reaper obeyed without hesitation, sliding out from the shadows to strike the Lord’s back.
Black steel carved into armour, leaving streaks that shimmered with the unnatural energy of the darkness itself. The Lord spun around, catching the Reaper’s blade with his own, but Edward was anticipating just that.
He shifted again, this time moving faster than ever before.
The Lord swung at him with a strike that looked powerful enough to cleave through mountains, but Edward vanished again, leaving only the whisper of his presence.
Then, he reappeared from behind, his blade aimed at the gauntlet that had struck him just moments before.
The strike connected with a metallic clang, sparks flew outwards, and the armour buckled just slightly. Not enough to pierce completely—but enough to halt movements.
Arthur, seeing the opportunity, surged forward once more, weaving through the Lord’s momentary distraction. His blade, drenched in pure mana, arced in a radiant attack, striking the Lord’s midsection.
This time, a hollow sound rang out as the golden light bit through a weak seam in the armour.
And for the first time since the battle began, the Lord of Undead staggered back.