Duality of Shadows-Chapter 954: Underestimating The Ant

The Void Beast Spear trembled and vanished. At the same time, Alm and Bruno felt an indescribable pain, like their souls were being torn apart. It was a lethal strike—completely hidden and beyond their senses.

But... they were indestructible now. As long as the heavenly laws existed, they would remain alive. Their ethereal forms reassembled. Then, they turned and caught sight of the attacker.

’Kaiyka!’ Alm and Bruno exclaimed in unison, shocked.

They focused on those blue eyes, and only then did they realize something was off. Physically, it was her, but her soul was entirely overtaken by the queen’s presence. They couldn’t feel even a trace of the old Kaiyka, but they knew the body and soul belonged to her.

’Damn it…’ Alm growled, clearly furious. Something had slipped past them. They had underestimated the queen; just as they had their hidden weapons, she certainly had hers.

If they wielded terrifying and unpredictable things, why wouldn’t she? But calling it unpredictable wasn’t an exaggeration. Even if they had kept this in mind and prepared, it would’ve been hard not to be caught off guard.

Fortunately, they acted quickly and foresaw part of the future—though, in practice, it had completely changed, and nothing had gone as they had predicted or sensed. It was a double play in this deadly game; now both sides had revealed some of their claws.

’We need to run!’ Bruno roared.

The elemental calamity was about to dissipate, and their identities would be exposed. But if Kaiyka was with the enemy, the chances of that already happening were high.

’Trust Kaiyka. Our allies aren’t a burden, remember?’ Surprisingly, it was Alm who said that, calming Bruno’s chaotic thoughts.

Alm wasn’t the same anymore. After Meru’s birth, that dark figure had started acting in the world in a way that wouldn’t disappoint his daughter.

Knowing her watchful eyes were always on them, he understood that she would become a reflection of him and act in the world based on what she learned. Always attentive to those around him, Alm now thought clearly and chose to trust in this new path they were treading.

Bruno sighed and nodded in agreement. In the next moment, that Kaiyka’s eyes widened. She saw their humanoid silhouettes reconstruct, and then a strange hammer appeared in their hands.

"Fuck this!"

*RUMBLE!*

The entire elemental domain distorted as if it were exploding. A multicolored energy wave spread in all directions like a supernova.

Kaiyka was thrown back, but Alm and Bruno noticed a golden aura emanating from within her, protecting her at full strength. Then they struck with the hammer, and a spatial channel opened, leading to the underworld.

They vanished into the channel, which closed shortly after.

Alm and Bruno found themselves floating in the dark, absolute void, covered in Yin. The whale’s round, physical form condensed completely once more. It was close… way too close...

The queen had set up something completely unexpected. They managed to disrupt her plans by acting quickly, but she still had another card up her sleeve: using Kaiyka.

Alm snorted and said, ’It doesn’t make much sense for the queen to wait until this moment to attack us if she already knew our identities. Even if she was afraid we’d escape. We spent nearly a year stuck on planet Gloom, and nothing happened.’

Bruno nodded in agreement but didn’t delve into the thought. Now that they knew exactly what to look for and about whom, he simply focused on the system:

[Upgrade Points: 1000]

[Eye of the Past] [200 Upgrade Points]

[Use?] [Yes / No]

They had barely acquired new abilities and were already forced to use them to the fullest. The queen was going all out, and if they had been a little weaker, they would’ve fallen.

[Note: Due to your current power, only events within the past hundred years and restricted to individuals minimally tied to your karma can be seen.]

[Specify what or who you wish to view in the past, and you can glimpse exactly seven minutes of the events.]

Alm and Bruno read this and found it acceptable. The future didn’t exist, and this power was only a prediction based on the direction things were heading. The past, however, was already written and unchangeable. So, this power was completely accurate, despite being limited to just seven minutes. In other words, they had to know exactly what they wanted to see.

They thought of Kaiyka and, since they knew the exact date she was declared dead, decided to search for one minute before the event.

The sourc𝗲 of this content is freēwēbηovel.c૦m.

It was as if they were transported to the place where it all happened. They were just a few meters away from Kaiyka, and then, as if someone had pressed ’play,’ the event began to unfold before them.

They felt all the auras, all the people around, and everything that existed in that moment, exactly as it was, as if they were present. It was magical and terrifying, but they knew they couldn’t interfere—only observe and sense.

They wasted no time and analyzed everything around them with their souls, absorbing every detail. Then they snorted.

Rehvka claimed the event had been caused by those heroes from other universes. But… Alm and Bruno clearly sensed the auras of hundreds of hidden immortal heroes. There was no way Rehvka could know or feel that.

Alm and Bruno understood the situation. After the convention events, the queen hadn’t just sat idly, wasting time. Knowing that missionaries were scheming in her universe, she had set up an ambush during the second post-convention event, anticipating their arrival.

From the heroes’ gazes, completely fixated on Kaiyka, it was clear they had found a missionary—her.

Kaiyka had a divine soul, but thanks to her soul cultivation, she could suppress its fluctuations and easily fake being a common soul. However, with so many immortals around, there were bound to be some capable of seeing through that—and that’s exactly what happened.

Surrounded and with no chance to escape, they chose not to capture her right away. After all, if she truly mastered that law, she might be useful for capturing the spear. What could go wrong, right?

Thus, the event unfolded without her knowing she was completely surrounded and near death. Of course, Alm and Bruno hadn’t witnessed that part; it was just a hypothesis they were confident in, knowing the future and seeing the past.

As the seconds they had chosen to observe played out before them, Alm and Bruno realized the new law Kaiyka and Venjio had mastered. It was, indeed, very similar to the power of the Dao of the Void Goddess. Moreover, Bruno sensed the subtle power of faith flowing within Kaiyka.

That goddess was likely revealing the abyss Kaiyka had fallen into, something evident from her contorted face. Venjio, at her side, noticed something was wrong. Ten seconds later, Kaiyka turned to him and sent a mental message.

Then, she looked to the side, and her eyes locked with Rehvka’s. It was at that moment that she sent the message that would later reach them.

Afterward, Kaiyka acted exactly as Rehvka described. The heroes noticed something was off and surrounded the pair. However, Kaiyka managed to sever the heroic power with her sword, freeing them for a brief moment. Immediately after, the two burned their lives away, leaving not even a fragment of their souls behind.

When everything ended, Alm and Bruno were transported to another place. The scene now was a dark space surrounded by spatial runes. Before them, a pair of golden eyes seemed to be staring directly at them.

The two swallowed hard, utterly stunned. The eyes were encased in an ethereal silhouette, identical to the one they themselves had assumed moments earlier. It was the queen, and that didn’t surprise them. But above the eyes, where her head should have been, a golden crown pulsed with supreme power.

Its brilliance was like a sun, and they could clearly feel its origins.

"That bitch… that’s a Primordial Chaos item," Bruno spat.

Now they knew the source of the queen’s golden power. Since they were ignorant of the power of immortal realms—and her power beyond that—they had assumed it was something she had created. But in truth, it had always been the power of a Primordial Chaos artifact. She must have had that artifact under her control all along, using it to nourish the heroes and rule her domain.

Then Alm noticed a small golden rune in front of the golden eyes. The rune trembled, and time was reversed. Soon, Kaiyka’s figure appeared before the queen.

"That… this crown probably marks souls. The moment Kaiyka went to the event and the heroes identified her, the queen must have marked her soul to ensure she couldn’t escape. Not even choosing to die and using a missionary’s power was enough," Alm said.

Bruno scoffed, realizing that the queen, having faced countless missionaries in the past, was well aware of their basic powers. A miracle involving time and space might normally be impossible to counter, but if the queen was prepared, she would certainly have her methods to prevent escapes.

Soon, the queen’s voice sounded, making Kaiyka tremble from head to toe. Her soul had been marked without her knowledge, and the queen, by rewinding time, had reconstructed her body and soul.

Alm and Bruno saw the terror in Kaiyka’s eyes, but suddenly, an aura of determination overcame her.

"You think I’ll become a burden to him? Actually… hate to break it to you, but you just opened the doors and revealed your secrets to him," Kaiyka said coldly.

Alm and Bruno sighed. Did she foresee the future? Or was she just confident they would uncover everything?

The golden eyes stared at her as if seeing an irrelevant insect. Then the queen’s voice echoed again: "You won’t accept the deal? I can grant you any wish, letting you live peacefully however you want, forever."

Kaiyka chuckled softly. At that moment, her eyes pulsed at full force. The queen noticed and gestured, completely sealing all of Kaiyka’s powers.

But…

Suddenly, the queen’s golden eyes widened. The katana at Kaiyka’s waist moved on its own, even with Kaiyka fully sealed. And then, the blade pierced its owner’s chest.

Alm and Bruno watched closely. Kaiyka was incredibly meticulous. Her katana, crafted by them long ago, had never been replaced due to its connection to her Dao. Later, they had only altered the rune seal, switching from mental power enhancement to soul power enhancement. Thus, Kaiyka had left a part of her divine soul inside the sword.

With her soul cultivation and a divine soul, the possibilities were astonishing. And since the power came from the katana, not directly from her, it was possible to bypass the Sword God’s Dao, pretending it wasn’t an external power beyond her weapon.

Still, even with her soul cultivation, this was useless against the queen. The key to everything was the rune seal.

In the past, rune seals had already saved the whale precisely because their power didn’t depend on cultivation. A little Qi was enough to harm someone far more powerful.

Rune seals, creations of the God of Forging, mixed common and uncommon, simple and complex laws, creating something unique. These seals didn’t belong to the heavenly laws and, thus, weren’t recognized as such. Even for the queen, if she wasn’t paying attention, they could be surprising.

However, it was impossible to imagine harming the queen with something like that. In this case, Kaiyka pierced herself—not to die but to use the part of her soul stored within the katana, which wasn’t sealed.

And so…

The queen’s eyes widened as Alm and Bruno smirked mockingly. "Underestimating the ant as usual, a recurring mistake, isn’t it?"

Alm and Bruno had seen the last moments, and everything became clear. Kaiyka had completely sealed her memories, both in her body and soul.

The queen could force herself to read them, but that would take effort and time. Surely, she tried, but less than ten years later, the events in her micro-universe occurred. The queen had then decided to focus on opening that universe at all costs, temporarily setting Kaiyka aside.