SSS Ranked Shadow Monarch: Summoning Infinite Shadows-Chapter 193: Forbidden Arts

Flo flew toward Aren. Since this power was an illusion, she could temporarily halt the effect to allow Aren to think clearly, but what she could do was limited, not because she was weak, but because the illusion had already taken root inside his mind, and it would require him fighting it now, since it was no ordinary illusion.

"Aren, Aren." She called out to him, his eyes flickered, and then focused on her.

"Flo?"

"Yes, it’s me. You are currently inside an illusion, and it’s eating away at your sanity." she explained.

"Illusion?"

"Yeah, and the only way for you to break out of it is to stop being afraid. Your fears are what you believe can hurt you, they hunt you, but the only power they have is the one that you give them.

Do you want to be stopped here? Allowing all your fears of not knowing who you are to win? Or will you stand and decide to fight because you might not know who you are, but you are on a journey to find out?"

Aren listened to her words, and they hit the nail on the head. Running from his fears only made them stronger, but accepting that he had them and stepping forward was the only way out.

It was all easy in theory, but to act it out was where Flo didn’t know if he could do it.

Aren gritted his teeth. Pushing himself off the ground, he looked at every version of him that stood there.

"I may not know everything about me, but I know one thing for sure, all of you would be happy with who I am today and the journey I am on, so I know all of you are happy." As those words left his mouth, it was as if glass had shattered and the illusion came crumbling down like a deck of cards.

The priest watched as Aren stopped the illusion, shock written all over his face. "How? How is that possible? No one can resist the illusion, everyone has fears." He said in anger.

"Exactly, everyone has fears, but not everyone is unwilling to face them." Aren responded. He pulled out the ancient Devourer and pointed at the priest.

"Arghhh, you think you are special, you are nothing, a new awakened that doesn’t know the depths of the world, you can’t go against me." The priest said. He wore his chain back and then clasped both hands together, revealing the tattoo pattern that was on the back of his hands, the star with eyes.

"You still believe power comes from only your ability and martial arts, but I, along with many others, have touched things that you couldn’t even imagine. We have forsaken the path of normal awakened and have ascended into new paths.

Let me teach you, young man, about the forbidden arts."

The tattoos glowed with an ominous purple light, and then slowly transformed into mouths at the back of his hands with sharp teeth and extremely long pointed tongues.

"That’s disgusting." Aren remarked.

The priest didn’t respond and simply lifted both hands, showing the marks to Aren, as one began sucking Aren in with a terrifyingly powerful suction force, forcing Aren from the group.

Very quickly, he latched onto the ground with tendrils and also used tendrils to tie Fang down as well.

"Hmmm." The priest groaned when he saw this, and then the second mouth unleashed a powerful wind that slammed into Aren and Fang, pushing them away and snapping the tendrils.

Aren hit the ground, rolled, and came to a stop in a superhero pose, while Fang skidded to his side.

"You really have some nasty tricks, too many to count." Aren remarked.

"Sadly, you haven’t even seen the best of them." The priest replied before making some moves with his hands and body like he was dancing. When he stopped, both hands vomited a dark red liquid, sticky and bubbling.

The liquid slowly grew in size and then took the form of a man, tall and bulky. Then the skin turned human, brown and shiny, only his eyes remained black with blood red pupils.

"Do you know what happens when my hands eat people? They create a version of them I can control, but not only that, they push their potential, helping them reach levels that they were incapable of reaching.

You, young man, will be a fine addition to my army when this is over." The priest said, smiling ear to ear.

"Roaaaar." The man roared and charged ahead. One step and he already covered the gap between them, throwing a punch from above, his fist packing so much energy it forced the space to distort.

Aren and Fang leaped backwards. The fist slammed into the ground hard.

BOOM!

The explosion ripped the marble floor apart, blasting debris in every direction.

Aren landed on the ground. He looked up and the man was already in front of him again, throwing a powerful punch that Aren was forced to block.

BAM

Aren skidded back. His body felt the force of that attack and was shaken up. He gritted his teeth and forced himself to stop.

The priest, seeing that his summon was handling the issue, turned around and rushed for the door.

"I don’t have the time for this." Aren muttered. He summoned Raze, who appeared with a knee bent.

"Master," Raze spoke.

"No time, just handle that." Aren said and pointed at the man that was rushing at them.

Raze got on his feet. He flapped his wings hard to give himself enough forward force and slashed down with all his might.

CLANG!

Fist and sword collided, creating a shockwave that ripped through the wall, dust fell from the roof.

The both were locked in a stalemate, the man’s hands bleeding slightly, but nothing serious.

With the man occupied, Aren charged ahead. The priest was about to touch the door. He immediately used a tendril, wrapping around the hand of the priest and pulling it back.