Assimilate All Talents

"C’mon! Is no one here strong enough to give me a real challenge?!" it taunted, its tail lazily swinging, obliterating the remnants of a nearby building.

Despite its cocky remarks, Shadow Crawler knew why no one dared approach. The remaining A-rankers were either locked in battles elsewhere or had already fallen due to the loss of the blood moon’s empowering light. It had spotted a few of the kingdom’s elite A-rankers still engaged with vampires in distant skirmishes but saw no reason to intervene, its focus was better spent crushing the weaker vampires scattered across the city.

Amid the carnage, a voice suddenly echoed in its mind.

-Shadow Crawler? Can you hear me?-

The voice was unexpected and disembodied, but its tone carried familiarity. Shadow Crawler’s expression shifted from glee to confusion as it recognized the source. Though unsure how to respond, it hesitated only briefly before Sol’s voice returned.

-Just think about what you want to say.-

Shadow Crawler nodded slowly, its thoughts tentatively reaching out. -Like this?-

-Yes.- Sol confirmed. -I need you to do me a favor. Can you take over the shadow moon for me?-

Shadow Crawler froze when he heard his request which also caused the enormous shadow dragon it controlled to temporarily halt its massacre.

-You made it?- Shadow Crawler’s surprise was understandable. It recalled its past battle with Sol in the boss room, where he recalled him also utilizing skills similar to his fellow boss monster, the Handless Fiend. After a moment, a revelation struck, and its thoughts turned curious. -Can you... learn our skills?-

Sol didn’t immediately respond, not because the question caught him off guard, but because he was still locked in a fierce struggle against the enhanced goblin Harbinger.

-Can we discuss this later? Yes or no, can you do it?-

The urgency in Sol’s tone snapped Shadow Crawler from its musings.

-I can’t make what you did, at least not without some trial and error.- it admitted, frustrated by its own limitations. While it excelled at crafting shadow constructs, it had never developed its shadow law techniques for such purposes.

-You don’t need to recreate it.- Sol reassured him. -Just maintain the current shadow moon using your own shadows.-

Shadow Crawler’s eyes widened as realization dawned. It could work, but doing so would require sacrificing control of a significant portion of its shadows.

Without hesitation, a shadow tendril reached for Princess Valerie, plucking her from her perch atop the shadow dragon and gently placing her on the ground below.

Confused, Valerie turned to Shadow Crawler, who had also emerged from the dragon. "What’s wrong?" she asked, scanning the battlefield. Nothing seemed amiss beyond the melted remains of vampires scattered around.

"Nothing. Just taking over for someone."

"Taking over wha—" Valerie began, but her words trailed off as the shadow dragon flapped its enormous wings and ascended into the sky.

It soared toward the shadow moon, merging with it upon contact. The fusion was seamless, but outwardly, nothing seemed to change. Onlookers, including the goblin harbinger, stared upward with caution.

The goblin paused his assault on Sol, warily inspecting the shadow moon for any visible changes. When none appeared, he narrowed his eyes.

"What did you do?" he demanded.

Sol remained silent, using the moment to create some distance between them.

The goblin sneered, its confidence unwavering. "It doesn’t matter what tricks you try. I have the power of a god on my side!"

With a guttural roar, the goblin charged forward, its blade glowing ominously as it channeled its law technique to its peak.

Sol, meanwhile, with the shadow moon under Shadow Crawlers control, released his control over his forcefully expanded tether. What remained of the strained tether rapidly shrunk down in size and a notification flickered before him:

[Law Technique [World of Shadows] has degraded to [Umbral Domain] Lv. 1]

Glancing briefly at the message, Sol dismissed it, focusing on the goblin’s approach. His arm moved back, fingers curling into a tight fist.

The goblin’s laughter echoed. "You think a simple punch can stop me?!"

With a vicious grin, it unleashed the full force of its technique, the blade radiating an ominous aura as he struck.

Yet as the goblin’s weapon neared Sol’s neck, the overwhelming power he had channeled suddenly flickered and vanished, as if snuffed out by an unseen force.

"What?!" The goblin gasped, his momentum faltering.

Taking advantage of his confusion, Sol’s fist surged forward. His fist connected with a resounding crack, the sheer force of the blow sending the goblin hurtling through the air.

He crashed into a nearby building, the structure collapsing around it in a cloud of dust and debris.

Sol exhaled heavily, straightening as he recovered his stance. "Guess the power of a god isn’t as reliable as you thought."

"What have you done to me! I can’t even feel the connection to my god anymore!" The goblin was shocked and even afraid of whatever Sol did to him. He stumbled backwards in fear, losing all the composure and confidence he previously had.

Sol didn’t take advantage of this window as he was busy struggling to keep his hold over the goblin’s tether.

’If I let go for even a moment he will instantly recover his power…’

Through Sol’s eyes he could see the goblin’s tether being pinched like a hose preventing the power from coming through. Even so, some power still seeped through, but it was minimal compared to what it was previously. It might as well be considered at the level of a regular skill.

Eying the goblin he also thought to himself. ’Even though he lost access to his law technique, his body is still enhanced. I need to be careful.’

Sol split his focus in maintaining the goblin’s law technique suppressed and unsheathed his Lipon. He activated it which made it release a sword made of light.

"Come. No law techniques. Just you and me."

With neither of them able to use law techniques, this had become a battle between two extremely powerful B-Rankers.