The Tower of Shadows, known by many names throughout its incarnations, housed a unique ability exclusive to the Kuro Clan Head. This inherited power grew stronger with each generation, ensuring the Kuro Clan's status as one of the greatest for many ages.

As I drew closer to the Tower of Shadows, its appearance became clearer. It resembled a rubbery shadow, with hands, faces, and even whole bodies protruding from its surface, as if attempting to escape. However, they could only elongate the shadows and were unable to break free.

An overwhelming sense of despair emanated from the tower, causing one's knees to buckle.

The existence of the soul was a complex question, yet every Kuro Clan Head who inherited this ability entered into a Life Contract, not unlike mine. Their souls would be trapped and tormented within the tower for eternity after their passing.

However, before I could ponder this further, darkness began to seep out from the tower. Ordinarily, using a flashbang talisman would be a weakness for any Kuro Clan member. But the Kuro Clan Head represented the epitome of the clan's ability, nullifying this weakness. The darkness created within the tower was pure Ord, unaffected by light.

Creating shadows from Ord or any other element required an immense amount of power. Yet, the Kuro Clan Head possessed almost an endless supply of Ord, effortlessly producing more and more shadows.

In an attempt to evade the encroaching shadows, I leaped onto a nearby tree. But my efforts were in vain, as darkness blanketed the vast fields. The tree beneath me, as well as those surrounding it, groaned and gradually succumbed to the consuming darkness.

I found myself in a perilous situation with no solid ground beneath me, and the castle itself shrouded in darkness. Only the Kuro Clan Head could stand safely amidst this chaotic shadow. His intense gaze directed at me instilled a sense of intimidation, despite all that I had endured.

Crouching down, I propelled myself upward, yet the tree gave way. The darkness from the ground transformed into sharp projectiles, aimed directly at me.

{Perfect Me}

With a display of mid-air acrobatics, I managed to evade all the projectiles, sustaining only a minor scratch on my shoulder. However, as I descended towards the darkened ground, a platform of water rose up and caught me, allowing me to regain my footing. Simultaneously, Perfect Me deactivated.

The Clan Head interlocked his fingers, intensifying the surrounding Ord. Suddenly, a shadow bulged and transformed into an egg the size of a castle. The egg 'popped,' revealing a colossal golem made of shadows. The creature swung its hand down towards me, making me feel as insignificant as a bug.

I sensed the wind long before the attack would land, and the aftershock of the impending hit was powerful enough to push me back.

It was absurd how little effort the Kuro Clan Head had put forth during the war. Even compared to his Manga standard, he hadn't displayed his true strength. Despite humanity being on the verge of defeat, did he have a secret plan in mind? Maybe the Kuro Clan had connections outside the barrier, just like the Raion Clan.

If that attack landed, my fate was sealed!

My emotions spread through my Ord, sending a signal to Carpy. The barrier above me shattered. A colossal water blade, capable of severing the shadow giant's arm, rained down. However, the shadow entity promptly regenerated its limb and punched towards Carpy, who had barged in through the barrier.

Carpy attempted to block the attack with its tail, but it proved futile as it was effortlessly pushed back and slammed into the barrier. I leaped from the water platform, intending to reach Carpy, but before I could, shadow spikes shot up from the ground.

Shit, he read my moves.

Nevertheless, I paid no mind to the danger and allowed the shadow nails to pierce me: one in the arm, one on the thigh, and the last one in the stomach. However, I managed to dodge all the others.

As soon as Carpy and I made contact, our bodies fused together. The last sight I beheld was the shadow giant charging at us, each of its steps causing the earth to tremble. But by the time it was within arm's reach again, we had fused.

Water blades, colossal as mountains, materialized as I drew water from the air. They directed themselves towards the shadow giant, severing its limbs and decapitating it, causing it to collapse like a broken doll.

I approached the Kuro Clan Head, only to have a wall of shadows prevent one of my water blades from severing his head.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"If you had exerted this level of effort during the war, things would have been much simpler, and fewer lives would have been lost," I declared.

I could understand someone willing to kill people because they had no other choice. It would be kind of ironic if I couldn’t. After all, I was doing that exact thing. But he had no reason to hold back so much during the war.

"Despite the power you possess, you're quite a naive boy," the Kuro Clan head coldly retorted. "What would be the use of saving them? They would have rewarded my help by immediately getting scared and trying to create countermeasures against my special ability, just like they're trying to do against your demon's sensory abilities."

As soon as he said that, the shadows churned, and another giant golem manifested.

I couldn't help but groan at the thought of this turning into a battle of endurance. The chances of me winning were slim to none. Despite lacking any outward injuries, I still hadn't recovered from the last fight against the Demonic Exorcist.

However, my opponent wasn't my target. My target was the prince living in the castle. With that in mind, I sent a water blade at the Kuro Clan Head. The attack didn't pack much power, but it had speed, and the target was a human. Not everyone could survive a cut to the throat.

A wall of shadows rose up and intercepted my water blade before it could reach him. But that was enough for me. I took a deep breath and depleted over half of my Ord, spewing out an enormous amount of water to manifest a giant water blade aimed at the castle.

Surprisingly, before my blade could reach its destination, the giant tower disappeared and reappeared in front of the castle. A resounding gong echoed as my water blade collided with the tower, leaving no scratch.

He could manifest his tower within the shadows? I won’t be able to create a strong enough attack to penetrate that seemingly indestructible tower.

"It was obvious that you were going to attack the castle. You have all that power, but subtlety isn't something you seem to understand," the Kuro Clan Head stated, his words laced with cold ridicule.

Ignoring his taunts, I focused on the obstacle before me. The only way I could think of destroying something like the Shadow Tower was by somehow having the same physical might as Shuten Doji. He had almost broken the tower during the war. However, apart from him, I didn't know of any other demon with that level of raw physical power, and Shuten Doji was already dead.

While the Kuro Clan members' special abilities were shadow-oriented, they weren't all the same. People like Gem manifested wolves or parts of a wolf, others like Natalie manifested thorny vines. The Kuro Clan Head possessed the ability to form inanimate objects like spikes, spears, and golems. Each ability had its own strengths and weaknesses.

But when the Shadow Tower came into play, it would supercharge every one of their special abilities, taking them to a whole other level.

As I pondered the tower's durability, another idea formed in my mind. Closing my eyes, I concentrated on the senses around me. The Kuro Clan Head shot shadow spikes and attempted to have his shadow giant attack me, I couldn't fully focus to execute my plan. However, that didn't matter.

{Perfect Me}

In an instant, my senses expanded, and it felt as if my mind had transformed into a supercomputer. Water blades swiftly sliced the shadow giant in half, tearing it apart, while a condensed water shield defended me from the shadow projectile.

Simultaneously, I located the whereabouts of all the wine in the castle. Detecting the largest concentration of people, I directed the wine toward the individual with the lowest Ord.

On the corner of their room was a glass with wine, and the prince met his demise by a wine arrow to his throat. The Kuro Clan Head spun around, his eyes widening as they fixated on the castle. As a Blaster, he no doubt sensed what had happened.

"It appears I do have some degree of subtlety," I remarked, as Perfect Me deactivated after fulfilling its tasks.

The Kuro Clan Head glanced at me, his dark eyes filled with malevolent coldness. However, I knew that beneath his demeanor, he was capable of drawing logical conclusions. After all, that was the kind of person he was. With his target eliminated, there was no reason for him to continue fighting me. He wouldn’t gain anything from it.

"Now that we are no longer on opposing sides, how about we work together?" I proposed.

Unexpectedly, the Kuro Clan Head remained unmoved, his Ord intensifying even further. "You seem arrogantly convinced that you have unraveled all the plans of my clan. But you are far less intelligent than you think you are, boy."

"Hmmm, is that so?" I hummed, maintaining a smile. Revealing weakness at this point would be unwise, so I pressed on. "I see now, you aim to eliminate both my clan and the Raion Clan simultaneously. Or perhaps your scheme involves supporting another member of the royal family while keeping your options open."

Though his expression remained inscrutable, his flickering Ord provided enough indication that my guess was likely correct. That was the drawback of having so much Ord due to the tower, a human couldn’t control all that energy. Unless they had Perfect Me, of course.

Ord was an energy of emotion, and that was both good and bad in some cases. Because with emotional flunctuations, Ord would flicker too.

These people, always scheming something. I had only thrown the accusation haphazardly to try and test his reaction, but it seemed to be true. "What a pity. I thought we could join hands and be good friends."

My attempt at humor appeared unappreciated as his Ord skyrocketed, and he unleashed his full power. Without the need to protect the prince, he unleashed his true might.

He had no need to have the shadows around and gathered them around him. Concentrating his Ord, he conjured a towering shadow giant, its head reaching the sky, while he stood atop the creature's shoulder.

Ah, feck...