Draconic King of Shadows-Chapter 95: Unnerving Questions

A few minutes earlier...

As the dust slowly settled, and the smoke cleared, Damion stood up from the ground, his body reducing in size and his transformation canceling.

His tail, horns, black scales and claws receded, and his dense muscles relaxed.

He looked down at his hands, watching the Magitech Armor slowly crumbling, its nanoparticles losing their luster and falling off.

Damion stared down at his naked body, the power that he had just unleashed replaying in his mind over and over.

__________

[You have slayed an enemy]

[+10 Exp]

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[Shadow Puppeteer has been activated]

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[Name: Damion Darkblade]

[Race: Lesser Dragon]

[Level: 10]

[Exp: 10/100]

[Ability: Evolved Shadow]

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[Stats]

-[Strength: 50]

-[Agility: 50]

-[Constitution: 100]

-[Intelligence: 50]

-[HP: 500/500]

-[MP: 34/50]

-[Luck: 50]

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[Skills]

-[Shadow Manipulation- Lvl 10]

-[Dragon’s Authority- Lvl 10]

-[Dragon’s Reflective Skin- Lvl 10]

-[Dragon’s Breath- lvl 10]

-[Stat Share- Lvl 10]

-[Ability Sync- Lvl 10]

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He looked around at the deep, smoking crater he stood in. The area was denuded of trees, and the soil was charred, glowing, molten rocks laying in pits.

Damion nodded his head and took out a clean set of clothing from his storage to put on, sat on the ground and began reminiscing about the recent battles.

He hadn’t truly gone all out in the battles. If he did, then he would have pulled out his Puppets, tipping the scales in his favour.

He only went toe to toe with Kaiden to prove to himself that he was actually stronger than him, and didn’t need unhandled methods to win.

Kaiden might have been stronger than him a few days ago, but Damion had surpassed him with his recent evolution. His whole being had been transformed, making him more dangerous than ever.

His pool of Mana had increased exponentially, his physical capabilities had skyrocketed, and adding his primal intelligence in his transformed state, he was a force to be reckoned with.

[Shadow Puppet(s): 4]

Damion sighed.

Unfortunately he had lost all his Lesser Cosmic Wolves to Kaiden after he used them to stall him. Kaiden had massacred them easily, ripping through their ranks and destroying them beyond repair.

Or maybe they were repairable, and Damion didn’t know how to do so yet, either way, he only had four Shadow Puppets left.

The Lesser Alpha Cosmic Wolf was the weakest of the group. It could be dealt with easily by his other Shadow Puppets when they were still alive, and now that they were Shadow Puppets.

If Damion wanted it to be of good use, he would have to find a way to make it stronger. For now, he would use it as a mount to move around quickly.

Damion dismissed the panels in his vision and summoned his other three Shadow Puppets.

They appeared before him dramatically, their elements billowing and sparking around them as they spawned.

Then like trained soldiers, they kneeled in sync.

Damion felt a wave of warmth and pride wash over him.

Staring down at them, like a king at his subjects, a sense of accomplishment came over him, and he smirked.

That feeling was cast aside immediately though, and Damion focused again.

The three Shadow Puppets remained kneeling as Damion watched them, taking in their details.

Toby, his first Shadow Puppet, had a billowing fog of yellow swirling around him, together with the black fog of shadows. This proved that he still had access to his Sleepiness Inducing Ability.

The yellow sun in the sky seemingly had no effects on him anymore, returning his powers to their previous level. His green armor was intact, though not as great as before, and his massive blue-colored War Axe was held in his hands.

Damion stared at the armor and axe intently. Their original colors were fading, slowly being replaced by Damion’s unique shadow colors, namely purple, dark-green and black.

The black dominated the armor and weapon though, with the purple and dark-green accentuating it in their own ways to create an alluring set of equipment.

Damion nodded his head. Their active skills would be great for Toby’s combat style.

Damion then paused.

"He’s no longer Toby Keith, but a Shadow Puppet," Damion claimed, shifting his gaze to the next Shadow Puppet.

The Shadow Puppet, which was once Aspasia, was transformed completely for some reason. Her dark-green scales, fangs and claws were fading into a dark black, just like ’Toby’s’ equipments.

Her long, foggy hair of green was tinted with shades of black, and a green fog winded around her shadowy fog of black, hinting at her Poison Ability still in effect.

Damion had always wondered if Aspasia had a poison Ability —and had gotten her transformation from Ophidia— or there was more to it, and she had another hidden Ability.

He had an understanding of his Shadow Puppets, and when he concentrated on ’Aspasia’, he saw something within her that made him raise a brow. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"Weakness Detection?" Damion asked himself.

Weakness Detection sounded cool and all, but as Damion waded through the information he was getting, his eyes widened more and more.

Her Weakness Detection Ability didn’t merely stop at detecting the weakness in a target’s body, it went deeper than that, detecting more weaknesses, whether it was an object that was the target’s bane, or a person or thing that would make them falter if lost, wounded or destroyed.

Seemingly thinking up to this point, the Blessing of Luck triggered together with the Blessing of Knowledge, and Damion’s mind brought up Matilda’s kidnapping.

Had Aspasia plotted and made the Feral Brotherhood kidnap her so that she could retrieve the Jaws of Ophidia?

If so, how was she so sure that he would try and save her? They hadn’t really known each other then.

If he wanted to believe that she was the one who planned all this, it led to another disturbing question.

How had she made the system trigger a Daily Quest that required him to save Matilda?

He had never believed the system to be infallible, but it being manipulated by someone so weak was concerning. If Aspasia could do that much, what were the odds that someone stronger couldn’t do much worse?

Damion sighed, again. This was really a headache.