Dorian blinked a second time.

"Oh, I'm back outside on the World Bridge?" He looked around, finding himself standing on the ground of the World Bridge that connected the Normal World of Shaptle to the Exotic World of Ballians.

"Great Lord!!"

"Almighty Hero!!"

Two elderly voices echoed forth with a feeling of might, but also exhaustion, as two Shades ran to greet Dorian.

"Ah! Captain Ayra, Captain Horbold. I managed to rescue you after all." Dorian's demeanor switched to a graceful, authoritative one as he looked at the two Shades, a small smile on his face. He drew upon the Law of Valor as usual to bolster his appearance.

He made sure to make use of the passive Exuberant Grace Ability he had gained when he added the Ancestral Vampire form to his collection back near the Fort City of Sutner, using the Ability to great effect as he walked forward smoothly. His every step was one of elegance and beauty.

"Thank you so much, Great Hero. I will never forget the favor you did for me today." Captain Horbold slammed his fists into his chest as he bowed, his voice emotional. His movements were sure, but also tired, bespeaking the effort and trials he had been through.

"Likewise, Great Lord of the Shade. I will bear this favor forever in my heart." Captain Ayra's voice was passionate.

"Lord Inigo did it! He rescued them!" Abruptly, from above, Dorian could make out cheers and yells raining down upon them.

Several hundred meters above them, a large Flying Ship could be seen, floating in the air. Dorian smiled as he saw it, feeling quite cheerful.

'Oh man, that was almost too easy!' Dorian waved grandly up at them, smiling cheerfully.

Abruptly, a sixth sense he had picked up over his time in the 30,000 Worlds seemed to go off and he spun around. A feeling of intense danger appeared, one that drained the mirth off his face in an instant.

'Perfect Body, activate!' Almost without thinking, he activated the powerful incomplete Divine Ability, the world around him losing some of its color as his physique grew immensely stronger and his perception of the world became enhanced. At the same time, he drew upon the Law of Valor to further boost his physique.

"Die!" A ragged voice that sounded as if it was drawn with exhaustion sputtered as, less than a fraction of a second later, darkness swarmed over Dorian's vision.

"Great Hero!"

"Almighty Savior!"

The two King Class Mystic Martial Artist Captains yelled out loud in shock and horror as an enormous globe of shadow surrounded Dorian completely.

'Woah.' Dorian felt his Mystic Armored Body Ability react as black energy slammed into every part of his body, trying to erode and dissolve him. If he hadn't had the Ability active and had been a regular expert, it was likely that the energy would have melted into the more vulnerable parts of his body, like his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.

Even the greatest experts were vulnerable to surprise attacks. Unless one had a powerful and rare defensive Artifact always active or some type of defensive Spell always turned on, it wasn't possible to be constantly on guard.

If the attack had landed on either Captain Ayra or Captain Horbold, either of them would have suffered tremendously, and likely died.

Even for Dorian, the black energy was extremely corrosive and proved a massive drain on his energy, his Mystic Armored Body barely holding it back. Some of it still managed to leak through, though the small remnants couldn't harm him in his Valor-boosted Perfect Body state.

'Ow! Damn, this really hurts! How do I stop this?' His mind raced as he felt the sting of the black energy. It felt like his entire body was on fire, burning his outer skin. He was stuck floating in the air, unable to jump off anything.

'Everyone is here, I can't just transform into something huge to try to escape. Further, that might not even work, I have no idea where this surprise attack came from. I heard someone yell 'die' at me?' Dorian's mind raced ahead of him as he reacted. His Perfect Body Ability let him process thoughts at an abnormally fast speed, meaning he ran through all of this in less than a fraction of a second.

As he felt the energy singe him, Dorian could sense remnants of the Power of Law within it. At his level, unless an attack was either overwhelmingly powerful or imbued with the Power of Law, it was impossible for it to hurt him.

As he sensed that, he could vaguely recognize what Law it was from, able to sense the general feel of it given that the attack was surrounding him.

The Law of Shadow.

Just as he was really starting to directly sense the Law, similar to how he'd felt his other Laws, an odd sensation flashed out from his soul. The various Laws he'd studied seemed to glow brightly in his mind, energy from them overwhelming the sensation from the Law of Shadow. As these energies clashed, they seemed to chase away any chance he had at detecting the Law enough so that he could study it.

This hadn't happened with the previous Laws he'd gained. It seemed that, because of the interrelated nature of his current Laws, he was able to just barely detect other, related Laws. But Laws that weren't related to his, he couldn't detect at all, at least not in a way that he could add them to his repertoire.

'Shadow? Hold on a second. If this attack depends on the Law of Shadow to operate…' An idea jumped into his head as he smiled.

He held out his hand to the side,

'Touching Light, activate!' He activated the unique Ability of a Lightsworn Fox.

WHOOOSH

A large sword made of pure, blinding white light appeared in Dorian's hand. This blade immediately melted through the darkness and shadow that surrounded it, blazing into existence with abandon.

"What?!" The voice that had yelled out at him when the attack appeared sputtered up a response again as the globe of darkness that had trapped Dorian imploded, light bursting through and incinerating it.

In a split second, Dorian tore apart the darkness trap, reappearing like a figure out of legend holding a blade made of pure light.

"Great Hero!"

"Forgive us for doubting you, of course you would be fine! Lord Inigo is mighty and great!"

Both Captains bowed deeply as they saw Dorian reappear, their voices apologetic. Their eyes were glued to Dorian as they bowed, however, drinking in the sight of the heroic figure he cut with abandon.

Dorian merely smiled, waving it off,

"Fear not, brave citizens. I shall quash this vile darkness and allow us to move forward with ease."

The Shade Captains and the Shades on the rapidly descending Flying Artifact all cheered out loud, apparently ignoring the fact that they were all technically related to darkness due to the inherent nature of being a Shade.

In a small window that stood in the lower section of the Flying Artifact, if one looked closely, one might see the figure of a pale, female Vampire rolling her eyes as she watched Dorian's theatrics.

As Dorian said this, he spun around, holding his sword made of light up in the air.

"For nothing can trample on the glory of the Shade Race! Everything shall fall before my mighty Lightsaber!" He yelled grandly as he glared at the direction of the attacker, and where he had heard a voice call out.

A vague, shadowy figure could be seen, black energy wrapped around it. This figure had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, perhaps teleported here like Dorian and the Captains had been.

"A Light Saber?" Up on the deck of the Flying Ship, Fabian looked down at the heroic stance Dorian had cut with admiration and a hint of confusion, rubbing his head.

"Isn't that blade in the shape of a regular sword? It doesn't look like much of a saber to me…" He shook his head,

"The Holy Highlord's techniques are too abstruse for me to see through."

The onlooking Shades all nodded in agreement, their opinion of Dorian impossibly rising even higher.

"How dare you desecrate the master's Dream Zone…" The shadowy figure of Kvoth shook as it glared at Dorian.

"And how are you casting a Light Magic Spell? I specifically checked and confirmed there were no Light Wizards here before coming over!" Kvoth spat out loud accusingly.

Unfortunately, Dorian didn't actually hear any of that. He was too engrossed looking up at the approaching Shade and the two Captains nearby, making sure they fell for his plot.

'Nice job, I've definitely got them on my side now. Even if Helena gets revealed, they won't try to murder her.' As long as they believed in him, he could explain everything.

'Maybe I can even help stop the war between the two Powers.' He thought, his heart hopeful. The last thing he wanted was for Helena to have to live through another tragedy. She had already been through far too much. Her entire life had been one of her obsessively training to grow strong enough to kill the Wizard King, with little care for the joys of life.

Dorian's attention snapped back towards the shady figure in front of him, however, as the darkness wrapped being seemed to snap.

"Are you IGNORING me?! Do you KNOW who I AM?!" Kvoth's entire body shook, as if the past few minutes of his life had been one of unspeakable torment.

"I am the Third Disciple of the Almighty Dream Mentor! Kvoth the Dark Strider! The Slaughterer of Lemomstone, the Breaker of Hallaway, the Master of Sha-"

"Alright, alright, calm it down great Killer of Lemons." Dorian cut him off, shaking his head sadly.

"You shouldn't pretend to be what you aren't, young shadow, even if you managed to take control of this abandoned Dream Zone." Dorian rebuked him sorrowfully, shaking his head and acting the part of a wise hero.

"That is a path that only leads to defeat and pity." He sighed, speaking from the heart. Of course, such advice didn't apply to himself. Still, for other people, it was advice they should stick to.

"Indeed, Everlasting Lord Inigo your words are full of wisdom." The elderly female King Class Mystic Martial Artist Ayra nodded her head as she spoke up in agreement.

"As you say, Great Hero, a faker will always be found out in the end." The other King Class expert, Horbold, added, also in agreement, his aged voice echoing with might and wisdom.

All the Shades aboard the Flight Ship nodded in unison, taking Dorian's words to heart.

In the window on the lower side of the ship, a vampire could be seen throwing her hands up into the air in exasperation at Dorian.

"Yo-yo-yo-yo-yo-you MONGREL!" The shadow vibrated so much it seemed to transform into a spirit of light for a moment. Right after, it immediately rushed forward at him, powerful black glow writhing around it.

"Die and give me that lucky coin!" The shadow's voice was filled with insanity, any grasp it had on reality apparently fled.

WHOOSH

Dorian sighed again.

"Alas, the truth comes out." He shook his head sadly a second time,

"Nothing more than a petty thief." Dorian stepped forward, slashing forward with his sword made of light. He didn't even bother to imbue the attack with the Power of Law, already able to foresee the outcome of this attack.

The blade was a magical weapon that held heat so concentrated it was equal to the strongest Dragonfire in existence. This shadow was merely a petty thief that was controlling whatever remnants this Dream Zone had left, in his eyes.

WHOOOSH

BOOM

His current physical state was one that could battle King Class foes on even footing. Given that his weapon had an extreme advantage over the attacking foe, the result of the clash could only be expected.

The shadow was sliced in twain, raw energy flowing out from it in a wave. The wails of tortured souls and great gouts of black energy shot off into the air as Dorian cut down the foe in one smooth motion, without hesitation.

'Woah.' Dorian felt his mental state twitch as the black energy and screaming washed over him. It seemed to be some sort of final attack, a release of some powerful tortured soul trying to damage his own soul.

"Sigh. Young shadow, even in death, you must not give in to greed." Dorian shook his head righteously.

'Law of Greed, reinforce my soul!'

The departing shadow energy seemed to shiver, as if it was trying to cough up blood in rage and frustration at Dorian's words and actions, as it dissipated. Instead of vanishing like one would normally expect, however, the dissipation seemed to transport the split shadow far away, the remnants of the Life Years Dream Zone helping send it away instead of letting it perish.

The shadowy body Kvoth was forced to use was nowhere near as powerful as his physical body had been, even with his ability to tap into the Law of Shadow. However, because of his unique physique, as long as he remained within range of the Dream Miasma or his Master's Dream Zones, at any time when he was in mortal danger he could teleport away to anywhere on the Exotic World of Ballians.

The teleportation had a stiff cost and would send him into a deep sleep for several days, but it was more than worth it to save his life.

Dorian's strike had surpassed Kvoth's expectations, once again. The once mighty Third Disciple of the Dream Mentor had known Dorian's sword of light was powerful when it broke apart his Dark Globe.

But he had had no idea how powerful it actually was.

The fact that it was as mighty, in raw heat, as the strongest Dragonfire in existence was not a fact that could be ignored. The sword that Dorian wielded contained concentrated light energy that was hotter than the surface of the sun, roughly equal to 10,000 degrees F (5,500 degrees C).

Even without imbuing the power of Law into it, the raw temperature was not something that could be easily defended against. It was so agonizingly hot that conceptualizing the raw power of that heat was difficult. The fact that it was self-contained and kept the heat within the blade was the only reason Dorian could wield it.

There was a reason the Draconic Tribes were widely respected and feared despite their very small numbers. Dragonfire was simply far, far too dangerous. Even Dorian's middling Black Flames were considered a lethal weapon.

When the blade melted into Kvoth as he angrily rushed forward, his unforgiving rage getting the better of him, he had instantly realized his mistake. Unfortunately, it was too late for him, and his body was split in two.

Thankfully, he didn't actually have a body. He was just a shadow, something he was grateful for, for once. Rejoining back together wouldn't be too difficult, not for an expert of his caliber.

However, he took substantial damage from the attack and immediately retreated, realizing that Dorian was practically a perfect counter to him. He vanished away, leaving the area immediately without any last words.

He was out of Dorian's sight, though, and that was enough for Dorian.

The irritating energy was washed away as the soothing power of the Law of Greed settled into the deepest parts of his soul, leaving him completely unscathed.

Dorian then turned around, holding his sword up high.

"The darkness has been vanquished, brave Shades! We are victorious!" His voice boomed with authority and might.

"Great Hero!!"

"Praise!!"

"We will follow you till death itself!!"

"WOOOO!!!"

Internally, Dorian winced as the warriors all let loose extremely loud cheers. What happened to them all being quiet? Even when they'd cheered before, they'd kept it relatively muted because of Helena.

Fabian seemed to pick up on this as he turned and glared at all the cheering Shades, his powerful King Class Aura shaking the air itself.

"Keep it down! We must allow the Great Hero's wife peace and quiet so she can rest!" He whispered quietly. However, because his Aura of Might was imbued into his words, when whispered, it felt far louder than the cheering Shades.

'No, you're even worse! Don't act like you're helping! Your Aura is way more noticeable!' He sent an annoyed glare Fabian's way as the Flying Ship reached the World Bridge ground level, right next to Dorian.

Fabian seemed to mistake Dorian's glare for an approving smile, and he nodded respectfully back at Dorian, a smile on his face.

"It is a pleasure to serve in your army, Lord Inigo." He whispered, his voice once more shaking the air itself as waves of power rolled off of it.

"Onward, to Shaptle!"

Dorian groaned.

It was going to be a long trip.

.. .. .. .. .. .. ..

…a few days later

.. .. .. .. .. .. ..

Leader took a deep breath, smiling as he took in the fresh air of the ocean. He looked around the beach shore, putting away his Magic Flying Artifact. A feeling of danger and power could be sensed around him, one that fluctuated as he turned his gaze off to a towering World Bridge just a few dozen miles away.

"The World Bridge to Moria… I'm finally here." His voice was cool and collected. As he looked at the World Bridge, he clenched his fists.

"Bastard that dares to claim he would wipe out my Race and destroy these hallowed Ruins… I hope you are ready to die." His words carried with them a grim foretelling of the future as he took a few steps forward.

"Lord Inigo. Prepare yourse-"

RUMBLE

Before Leader could finish speaking, a loud rumbling noise interrupted him. He looked down at his stomach mid-speech in surprise.

"Oh right. I've become abnormally hungry as of late thanks to my growing strength. I suppose I can go hunt some food first." He licked his lips, rubbing his stomach.

"But after that, I'll come find you and then you die." Leader shook his fist at the World Bridge to Moria for good measure, sending it a glare, before he turned away from the beach. His gaze landed on a forest that was set nearby, looking through the underbrush.

"Ooh, is that a Horned Rabbit?"

.. .. .. .. .. .. ..

Fifteen laughed maniacally as he stepped off the World Bridge, looking out at the surprisingly-not-really-forbidding landscape in front of him. His current form was that of a Grey Mantor, vague and unassuming, almost impossible to spot even when one was looking directly at it.

A colorful landscape full of flowers and trees, with warm sunshine shining down on the swathes of healthy grass that spread out across the land. A large mountain range could be seen off to the left, while a large plain, full of more flowers and trees, stood directly in front.

Vaguely, in the distance, a castle could be seen, set several dozens of miles away from the World Bridge.

"I have arrived here again, oh sweet Moria." Fifteen's body shook and twisted as he transformed.

His body stretched and grew giant, completely warping into that of a towering, 30 meter tall demonic being. It was gargantuan, covered in huge muscles and green scales. The air around it pulsed with a Demonic Aura, giving it a terrifying appearance.

His Greater Throne Demon form.

"COME TO ME, MY FELLOW DEMONS!" As he yelled out loud, his voice gained a powerful air, one that was oddly convincing. It echoed with authority and power.

A voice that twisted through Fate itself, actively manipulating reality, just like Dorian.

"A brother of mine is coming here to die! Hahahahaha! We must properly receive him!"

The seemingly normal Exotic World of Moria seemed to shiver, its colorful and warm appearance trembling slightly, a foreboding Aura spreading out.

.. .. .. .. .. .. ..

"…Inner peace…"

"…Inner peace…"

"…Oh? Is that a pie I smel-ahem…"

"…cough, cough…"

"…Inner peace…"

Excelsior Gamin shook his head, trying to regain his focus as he sat in meditation. He was currently wearing a set of ragged clothing, covered in dirt and grime. He had the appearance of a beggar, one that was sitting haphazardly on the side of a street.

Specifically, the Main Street of the Grand City of Cracktyl on Shaptle. The city that every expert that was intending to cross into the Exotic World of Moria or attend the Superior Auction that was hosted here would have to stop by.

Several times guards had tried to shoo him away, but he always managed to mysteriously reappear, sitting quietly as he observed the world around him.

"…Those pies smell really good…" One of the strongest beings within the Shade Commune glanced to the side shiftily as he looked at a large shop that was set up near him, the Grand Dios Bakery, selling a variety of baked goods.

One of the baker's apprentices turned a beady and suspicious eye upon Gamin, noticing his salivating glance.

Gamin immediately turned away, as if he hadn't been looking at all.

"…Inner peace…"

"…Get here already Lord Inigo…"

"…Inner peace…"

.. .. .. .. .. .. ..

WHOOSH

"At last…" Dorian muttered, his bloodshot eyes looking down the World Bridge towards the glowing portal he could finally see. He covered his ears slightly as he spoke, tears appearing at the corner of his eyes.

"I can finally get some peaceful rest." As he muttered this, his eyes widened as he realized several of his Captains and subordinates were standing on deck near him,

"Cough, I mean-"

"Onward! To save my poor wife and wipe out the Demons!"

"Woooo!"

"Praise Lord Inigo!"

"Praise!!"

He'd made it to Shaptle.

.

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I will be taking a 2-day break to prepare for the next volume, as I usually do, to ensure quality writing and precision.

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The End of Book 6

- Stats -

Number of Chapters: 24

Word count: ~76,000 Words

Avg. Word/Chapter: ~3,160

Book 6 first chapter released: December 24th

Book 6 last chapter released: January 26th

Avg. Word/Day: ~2,500 (Week long Webnovel China trip during this period)

Total Views - 9,004,000

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