Apocalypse Cheater-Chapter 204: Dark Throne
[: 3rd POV :]
A wry smirk adorned my face as I calmly stated, "I am but a human, but a unique one."
The smugness in my expression seemed to infuriate the Tribe Leader, his rage manifesting in bulging veins that crisscrossed his body.
"You!" he bellowed, his anger resonating through the cavern.
The ground quivered beneath his fury.
In an explosive display of wrath, he smashed the ground, triggering a seismic reaction.
As if in response to his violent outburst, his physical form underwent a grotesque transformation.
His already imposing figure swelled in size, his skin taking on a deeper shade of red, and his wings extending into monstrous proportions.
The once formidable creature now stood as an abomination, a nightmarish embodiment of rage and power.
"Behold my true form, you insignificant mortal!"
He roared, the sound reverberating through the cave-like thunder.
The echoes carried the weight of his newfound monstrosity, causing fragments of the cavern to crumble and fall in response to the seismic shockwaves he unleashed. T
he cave itself seemed to tremble in acknowledgement of the immense power that now radiated from the enraged Tribe Leader.
In the face of the Tribe Leader's monstrous transformation, I stood my ground, exuding absolute confidence.
"Well, even if your form grew larger, it doesn't change the fact that I'll win in the end,"
I declared with a calm assurance.
The audacity of my statement seemed to further enrage him.
"You dare to say that!? I don't think you can be that confident any longer!"
He roared, the ground quaking beneath his fury. In an attempt to ensnare me, he smashed the ground, causing a series of cracks to race toward my position.
The earth itself seemed to rebel against my perceived audacity, trying to trap me within its seismic clutches.
But I defied his attempt effortlessly.
With a casual float in the air, I regarded him with a knowing smile.
"?'' he grunted, clearly perplexed by my aerial evasion.
As he glanced around at the scattered bodies of his millions of kin, the realization dawned on him.
Their lifeless forms, victims of my previous explosion, now lay strewn across the cavern floor.
With a wide, devilish smile, I uttered a single word, "Rise."
The ground began to tremble anew as the fallen tribe members, previously deceased, responded to my command.
One by one, they stirred, bodies reassembling from the mist of their own blood.
The once-silent cave echoed with the eerie sound of their resurrection, transforming the aftermath of destruction into an unsettling display of power.
As I uttered the command, "Rise," an unexpected and dark transformation swept through the fallen tribe members.
A shadowy, slimy presence began to form around each of their bodies, coalescing into a nightmarish semblance of life.
Their eyes gleamed with abyssal crimson, a stark contrast to the once-lifeless state they were in.
It had been a skill buried in the depths of my abilities, forgotten until this moment, and now its eerie manifestation served a purpose.
The tribe leader, witnessing the resurrection of his former kinsfolk into something beyond comprehension, muttered in disbelief, "Impossible..."
His face reflected a mix of loss and an unfathomable disturbance, but that confusion quickly morphed into madness.
He screamed, "How dare you disrespect the dead and turn them into the undead!"
However, his outburst didn't deter me.
"Before you deal with me, how about you deal with them?"
I pointed towards the growing legion of undead, their numbers too vast to count.
The cavern once filled with the silence of death, now resonated with the ominous sounds of the reanimated.
The undead, under my command, stood ready, their crimson eyes fixed on the tribe leader, awaiting my next directive.
"Attack him!"
At my command, I directed my legion of shadow soldiers, and the cavern came alive with the sound of millions of footsteps closing in on the Tribe Leader.
They descended upon him with relentless fury, tearing and clawing at his monstrous form, reminiscent of the chaos he had once unleashed.
"You bastards!"
He screamed at the very kin he had used to command, now turned against him in a macabre twist of fate.
The once-loyal tribe members were now eager to dismantle their former leader.
'Even if you have my kin against me, it won't be enough to defeat me," he defiantly remarked.
In truth, I hadn't intended to use his own kin to end him.
The spectacle of his former followers turning on him was a side effect of their newfound undeath.
However, the Tribe Leader, with his immense physical strength, effortlessly destroyed wave after wave of my shadow soldiers.
"Hahaha, you see this?! Do you think this is enough to defeat me?! Think twice, human!"
He mocked, clashing his hands together before smashing the ground.
An abyss opened below, causing my million shadow soldiers to fall into the depths.
Realizing the current strategy wasn't yielding the desired results, I snapped my fingers, and the remaining shadow soldiers vanished back into the shadow world.
"Since they served their purpose, let me handle you."
The cavern, once echoing with the sounds of battle, fell into an eerie silence as the leader and I stood facing each other, ready for the final confrontation.
To confront the Tribe Leader, I made the decision to employ a skill I had never used before.
As I initiated the skill, black flamy shadows began materializing all over my body, enveloping me in their darkness.
Within seconds, the shadows coalesced, giving form to a majestic black throne—this was the power of a skill known as Dark Throne (S).
My armour and weapon were also influenced by the shadows, blending seamlessly with the dark energy.
At this moment, my very existence seemed to transform into that of a living shadow.
Once the Dark Throne was fully manifested, I sat upon it, emanating an aura befitting a True Shadow Sovereign.
The throne hovered in the air, positioning me above the Tribe Leader, and I gazed down upon him with an air of dominion, as if he were nothing more than an ant beneath my notice.
"What are you planning, human? You think sitting on a throne will change anything!?"
He mocked, clearly perplexed by the sudden shift in the tides.
Little did he know, that the Dark Throne had granted me a level of power and authority that transcended the mortal realm.
With a penetrating gaze from my shadowy eyes, I uttered a command, "Silence," causing the Tribe Leader's mouth to be sealed by an enigmatic force, a law beyond his understanding.
However, this was merely a side effect of the skill, a prelude to its true capabilities.
Raising my hand, I pronounced upon the cave, "Black Void."
At the tip of my outstretched finger, a minuscule black orb materialized and shot through the cavern's ceiling.
At an incomprehensible speed, the cave vanished, leaving us standing on solid ground where the cavern had once sprawled.
The Black Void, a partial ability, exhibited its power to consume based on the mana at my disposal.
Yet, its potential surpassed even this feat.
"Abyssal Claw."
Within the already terror-stricken Tribe Leader, a shadowy crimson claw emerged from the ground.
This ethereal appendage grasped three essential parts of his body, his head, left hand, and right hand, solidifying his helplessness in the face of the Abyssal Claw's ominous grip.
The Abyssal Claw, an insidious ability capable of seizing any target, be it soul, consciousness, or physical body, was now poised for its climax.
As the claw's grip tightened on the Tribe Leader's head, left hand, and right hand, his futile struggle against its ethereal strength became apparent.
"Shadow Prison," I commanded.
One of the claws, now holding his shadow, swiftly extracted it, leaving his silhouette on the ground nonexistent.
Bewilderment clouded the Tribe Leader's face as he questioned, "What did you do to me!?"
Without warning, he unleashed a guttural scream, a symphony of agony echoing through the cavern.
Unbeknownst to him, his skin and body were ablaze under the unrelenting sunlight.
The searing heat melted his flesh into a grotesque liquid.
"Make it stop!"
He pleaded, his futile attempts to move hampered by the unyielding grip of the Abyssal Claw.
Escape seemed improbable, and that was precisely as I planned.
"Make it stop! Make it stop!"
He continued to plead, each moment stretching into an agonizing eternity for him.
His bones now melted into a grotesque liquid, and yet, I had no intention of letting him recover easily.
"Bless of the Shadows,"
I muttered, and one of the claws began to mildly mend his injuries, eliciting another anguished cry.
"AHHH! You're worse than a monster!"
He claimed, but his words didn't provoke anger in me. Instead, I questioned his morality, "But are you not one?''
''Didn't your tribe claim the lives of many innocent villages? What right do you have to call me a monster?"
Even if he appeared human, the truth remained that they were responsible for countless lives lost.
Despite their perspective of me, their end would inevitably be death.
"You're insane!" he declared with a shout, and I simply smirked, replying, "Maybe."
Uninterested in further conversation, I initiated "Shadow Prison."
A colossal shadowy fang emerged behind him, engulfing him before he could comprehend what had happened.
Within the dark abyss, a fraction of his soul would endure eternal torment, a fitting fate for one who caused so much suffering.
