Tensura - The Mystic Realms

The Shadow

"This is your last chance, King Sire," the mystic shadow spoke softly. "Give up your post, surrender your little kingdom along with all your divine items and go to exile." 

'What a dark, creepy aura!' thought the king. 'This couldn't belong to a human, neither a demon, nor a devil. Just what in the world is this being?' 

"And if I say no?" asked the King adamantly, sitting calmly on his divine throne. "Why should I listen to what a mere shadow has to say?" The king spoke nonchalantly, maintaining the calm demeanor despite facing the deadly aura which rared to devour his soul. 'No matter what, a mere shadow can't be a match for my divine army.' He was fully confident. 

The shadow smiled eerily. "In that case," it moved from its spot and stood before the king, directly staring into his eyes.

Endless darkness, a bottomless abyss, the end of existence - such the feelings of one who dared to look directly under the dark cloak, onto the shadow's real body. The king remained unmoved, silent, like a stone statue. 

"Halt your steps you insolent shadow!" shouted the knights surrounding the shadow in all directions, pointing their blades towards the dweller of darkness. 

"Stop!" the king commanded, coming back to his senses. The knights immediately withdrew their weapons and stood in attention. "The mystic shadow is a legendary creature of darkness which can't be hurt by ordinary weapons. Moreover, any living creature that comes in contact with it immediately melts down and gets absorbed into the endless abyss. You will only be powering up the shadow by fighting it." 

"What!?" The knights were surprised and terrified upon hearing such words from the mouth of their king. 

'What in the world is happening? When I looked into the shadow, all this knowledge seemed to flow inside me on its own.'

The shadow smiled creepily once again. "You are very fortunate, King. My master has decided grant you with a last mercy." It slid back to its original place, and formed into the shape of a human. "Now then, I am afraid my patience is running out. What is your reply, king?" 

"You-" The king rose up from its seat and drew its sword. "I am going to end your life here!" The sword shone with a dazzling brilliance. 'Even if that information about this shadow is true, it's still just a shadow. There's no way a creature of the dark can survive a blow from the divine sword of light. I will end this wretched creature right here and now!'

The shadow smiled again. It looked at the dauntless face of the human before it and withdrew to a dark disc shape on the floor. "Thank you!" were the only words heard by the king before the shadow disappeared into nothingness. 

"Huh? It ran away?" 

"Whoo! Our great king managed to scare that pesky shadow away!" A tall white Knight said.

"Of course, it's our great king Sire afterall!" 

The king looked around, confused. He fully expected for it to result in a duel between him and the shadow, and after a great battle, emerge victorious. But the current result was even better. 

'Oh well, just goes to show how great I actually am.' 

"Listen here, men. The pathetic shadow has run away with its tail between its legs. However, the enemy still remains. We must immediately prepare for war and once and for all, get rid of that annoying-"

"Lord Sire, there's an emergency!" a short man in a light armor rushed in, holding a binocular-like device. 

"What is it, soldier?" asked the head knight to the man standing at the door. "We are in the middle of-"

"The shadow is here!" he said, his voice shaking with fear. "The shadow is here!"

A wave of confusion traversed through the entire room. 

"What do you mean?" asked the knight angrily. "Did that stupid shadow appear once again? Just now Lord Sire has-"

"No! It's not the shadow creature. It's the shadow!" the soldier shouted. "It will kill us all! We need to-" Before he could finish his words, the soldier stopped moving. He was petrified with fear. 

The knight looked at him curiously. "What happened, why did you-" The knight moved forward to examine the soldier closely, but soon got his answer. But it was no use. He could no longer convey his thoughts to anyone. 

"What's happening, knights?" asked the king. "Why are you all standing there like statues?" 

Suddenly it got dark. 

"What!? How can it get do dark in the middle of the day?" The king drew out his sword and stood in a fighting stance. "Is this magic? But we have anti magic barriers placed all over the castle. Then, how could it..." 

The light form his divine sword illuminated the area, and the not so familiar sight. "What in the..." The place which was his throne room a moment ago, was nowhere to be seen. A dark, haunting feel creeped to his soul. 

"Where did all my knights vanish to? And what is this creepy graveyard?" The king couldn't make sense of the new happenings in his surrounding. Just then he heard a familiar voice. 

"Thank you." 

"W-what?" The king jumped up and turned around. What he saw knocked the living lights our of him. The shadow, which had seemed very small and defeatable to him earlier now looked like an endless stretch of darkness. It bore a gorgeously haunting smile, which alone seemed larger than his entire kingdom.

"Thank you, for declining to surrender." Spoke the shadow. Its gastly voice rared to drag the king's soul to the endless realm of darkness, or rather, it was already in the realm. But now he had no way to escape. 

"Thank you, for the delicious meal." These were the last words the king heard, before his consciousness forever submerged into the darkness. 

...

..

.

It was a wonderful day. The shadow was very happy. It had completed its task successfully, and was now on its way to make the merry report. 

"I am back, Rimuru sama." It said to the being seated in the middle of the room. "The kingdom of Ruthwall has been successfully subjugated, and all the divine items are now under our possession." 

"Is that so?" The little ball of blue replied. "Very good. I am pleased with your work. You may rest for now." 

"Yes." With that the shadow disappeared.

"Now that this issue is resolved," the tiny ball of blue jumped down from its seat and hopped to a box in a nearby shelf. "I will return back to..." With that, the ball of blue disappeared. It had now left the realm. The world of Mystic Realm. 

*

"Yo, Rimuru. How was your day today?" a tall, dark man with golden hair asked while munching on a bag of chips. "Did you get rid of that kingdom already?" 

"Yeah, Veldora," replied the slime with a smile. "It was fun!" 

"Kuahaha this new game you have created is very good!" 

Mystic Realms, a real life game based on Japanese MMORPGs, a new masterpiece created by Ciel has been a huge success. It entailed an endless world with countless creatures, spells, skills, items and various other features. It's best feature was that anyone in the entire world could access the Mystic Realm and once inside, the passage of time is disconnected from the real world. In other words, once can spend any amount of time here without worrying about the real world. 

"It's been a long time since we first started playing..." said Rimuru, reminiscing the day he first came up with the idea. "Let me tell you about the tale from the beginning!" 

Author's note: Please tell me if you liked this chapter and would like me to continue this.