190 THE BADGE
The room erupted in disbelief.
"What?! That's suicide!"
"The Shadow of Anubis has wiped out entire cities!"
"Dan can't face an S-Rank alone! God of War or not!!"
Nicaesa's gaze swept across the room, silencing them. "Dan is stronger than you think. The boy has outgrown this fortress. If he cannot face the Shadow, then he's not ready for what lies beyond these sands."
All eyes turned to Dan.
He stood there quietly, his expression was unreadable. Then, slowly, he nodded.
"Fine," he said, his voice calm. "I'll handle it."
Lightning began to spark faintly across his armor as he turned to leave.
Outside, the twin suns of Anu were dimming behind the rising storm. Sowhere beyond the dunes, the Shadow of Anubis was waiting.
And Dan Dark was walking straight toward it.
-----
[On the battlefield of Fortress Myrone]
The Shadow of Anubis was not a creature born of flesh…it was the mory of a god made manifest, a walking image of the divine.
From afar, his silhouette seed vaguely humanoid, like a titanic priest draped in darkness. But the closer one looked, the less human he beca.
His presence bent the air around him, warping light and sound, making the world appear subrged beneath black water.
His head bore the jackal visage of Anubis, carved from shifting black stone, and his eyes glowed like twin suns of red fire. When he moved, the world dimd. His massive limbs left behind cracks of darkness that bled upward instead of downward, defying every law of nature.
And in his hands he carried the Scythe of Abyss…a weapon larger than fortresses, its edge spanning horizons.
When the Shadow of Anubis raised the scythe, the very night seed to buckle. A wave of darkness rippled across the heavens as if the stars themselves recoiled from the weapon.
The mont the Shadow swung it downward, the heavens roared.
Space fractured.
Ti stuttered.
Then the scythe descended fully.
It didn't just strike…it devoured.
The force field of Fortress Myrone disintegrated, the defensive lattice lting into smoke. If left unchecked, the blow would erase both the fortress beneath it.
This had happened before…countless tis.
It was a charade of destruction, a dance repeated between gods. Usually, Lord Nicaesa would arrive to et the strike, halting the weapon with his celestial mallet.
But this ti, Lord Nicaesa wasn't here.
Only Black Halo was.
The scythe pierced through the failing force field, plunging toward him. Black Halo exhaled softly…a single, tired breath against the storm.
Then the silver veins of the halo on his chest flared open.
Plasma, brighter and hotter than the twin suns, erupted outward like an inferno of condensed starlight lashing against the falling scythe.
There was no explosion. No echo.
Only silence.
And when the light faded, the Scythe of Abyss was gone…
destroyed.
------
"Hooray!" the soldiers cheered for Black Halo.
"Black Halo blocked the Scythe of Abyss!" one shouted in disbelief.
"He's the second person ever to do it!" another cried.
"Fortress Myrone has another superhero!"
Their voices rose into the night like a wave of triumph. For a brief mont, the darkness that had consud the sky seed to lift.
But the Shadow of Anubis remained unmoved. His jackal face turned slowly toward Black Halo, his eyes burning with cosmic rage.
"A corrupted mortal dares to challenge the might of a god…" his voice echoed like thunder through the bones of the living.
Suddenly, Lord Nicaesa appeared beside Dan.
"Did I really break the power of an S-Rank?" Dan asked.
Lord Nicaesa smiled, "That Scythe is only a small part of the Shadow's power, but you've done well."
"I'll return
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