Chapter 1295: Chapter 20: Meeting the Shadowy Celestial Marshal

Without a doubt, the environment of the Shadow Nation is terrifying.

The pitch-black and lightless night sky, the bone-chilling cold wind, the strange and piercing howls that occasionally break the night’s silence… along with the constant lightning and thunder. A looming ominous storm threatens, but it never quite unleashes its fury.

The Shadow Nation does not have “citizens” in the usual sense, so you won’t see any commoners walking along the roads. In that vast and silent wilderness, there’s nothing but various magical beasts.

The land here is grey or black, with trees and bushes around. But their shapes are twisted like skeletons, and all these plants are black. When lightning flashes across the sky, a trick of the eye might easily mistake them for clawing shadow monsters.

— It looks like a world shrouded in a black and white filter. The entire world is only black, white, and grey, with black and grey overwhelmingly prevalent, like a somber black-and-white film, or a very dirty black-and-white comic.

The only things that come “alive” are the warriors of the Shadow Nation, and the outsiders like Aiwass and Arthur.

The color of their clothes, as well as their hair and eyes, are the only hues in this dark world. But even so, some of those warriors are gradually becoming “black and white”–the price or perhaps the blessing of dwelling a long time in the Shadow Nation is being slowly permeated by shadow influence, ultimately irreversibly becoming an elemental lifeform.

Just by looking at their clothes, skin, pupils, hair… whoever has lost more color might have been here longer. Of course, it might also be due to being too weak to resist the shadow’s encroachment. For instance, Lancelot, who has almost been half-consumed by the shadows.

In this shadowy Netherworld with no sun or moon, time loses its meaning.

But fortunately, the warriors are exceedingly cheerful.

They enthusiastically split into groups, some carrying the hunt, while the rest eagerly gathered around Aiwass and Arsene, full of curiosity.

The warriors shared their “Shadow Brew” with Aiwass’s group, inquiring about events in the material realm. And Aiwass and Arsene, neither being taciturn or reserved, graciously accepted the wine. They animatedly recounted stories from the outside, eliciting exclamations of surprise from the warriors.

Such an experience was novel for Aiwass, yet familiar for Arsene–he often visited seniors imprisoned for decades, having similar conversations back then.

This effectively dispelled his fear of the “Phantom Demon.”

… Those legendary dead souls, the brutal shadow warriors of the Shadow Nation… are actually just a group of prisoners with rather rich entertainment lives. According to them, the Shadowy Celestial Marshal is quite a decent boss, yet they’re still not allowed to leave the Shadow Nation without permission–the only place they can visit is probably the Banquet Celestial Marshal’s domain.

Because the Dream Realm is fraught with bizarre and perilous Phantom Demons. Some of them are powerful enough to rival the Celestial Marshals, only lacking the chance to seize a Celestial Marshal Shard…

After all, the Celestial Marshal Shard itself is a form of enhancement, as seen when the Fog Sky Department and the Banquet Celestial both became much stronger after undergoing ascension. Even powerful Phantom Demons of the Fairy Queen’s caliber are not too rare in the Dream Realm. So the Shadowy Celestial Marshal is unwilling to let them roam freely in the Dream Realm.

Moreover, their romantic relationship with the Shadowy Celestial Marshal on the Path of Love keeps them from being sent into the Material Realm.

Thus, they are trapped here, spending their days in a sweet, large prison. They are generally content… though for stories, they have to rely on witches returning from the Material Realm to tell them.

But witches are adept at deception, and they also harbor ulterior motives towards them. Their words are half-truths, unreliable, and intentionally colluded to tease them. Now, with outsiders like Aiwass and Arsene, they can finally discern whether those tales are true or false.

It’s like a field trip for them, eating and drinking, strolling leisurely.

It’s hard to count how many bolts of lightning struck before they finally saw something different.

It was a castle built of black and grey stones.

It stood within the cleft of a dark canyon–unlike many castles that prefer elevated locations, it was constructed in the sunken center of a basin. Although it appeared massive, it was only two stories high, not quite fitting with the title of “Shadow Kingdom Queen”…

“This castle is built downward.”

At this moment, Lancelot, drinking with his arm around Aiwass, noticed Aiwass’s gaze and hurriedly explained: “It’s like death descending into an abyss, or shadows always lurking behind light. If the lightning thrashes in the sky, the downward shadows can extend infinitely… that is the ‘Infinite Palace’ of the Shadowy Celestial Marshal, once a colossal void, now a palace built by Her Majesty. We usually live inside it.”

“That being so,” Arsene was somewhat puzzled, “then why construct a second floor?”

“That’s called the Thunder Observation Platform.”

Lancelot replied: “Her Majesty sometimes stands there, using the shadows cast by the falling lightning to divine or curse.”

“Is there light inside the palace?”

Aiwass was particularly concerned about this question.

Although he possessed night vision… ever since gaining the ability of the Son of Si Zhu, he inexplicably started enjoying light. Just being in the Shadow Nation for a while made him feel somewhat uncomfortable.

“–Of course.”

Before Lancelot could respond, a woman’s voice reverberated out of nowhere, filled with mirth: “Without light, where would shadows be?”

As she spoke, a tall giantess stepped out from the castle, pushing open the door–

There was no doubt it was a pure-blood giant.

Unlike those ugly and coarse male giants, resembling gorillas, female giants were usually extremely beautiful. However, their skin was generally not very good, often having a rocky, flaking white texture like peeled walls. They looked like cracked giant statues.

But the Shadowy Celestial Marshal was different; her skin was soft and clean, with not a hint of cracks.

She seemed to be over four meters tall, considered petite among pure-blood giants, yet tall among priestesses. She had a head of originally fiery red hair, like satin, now dyed a dark wine red by shadows. Her pupils were also blood-red, with countless kaleidoscope-like shattered facets constantly glimmering inside.

Her beauty had an elven style with a tinge of heroism–not exceptionally stunning like Cardinal Galatea, with heart-stopping beauty; nor mystical and hazy like the Fog Sky Department.

Ignoring her enormous height, she looked like a confident and cheerful beauty. At this moment, she was draped in a rather revealing dark red leather armor, with a cloak woven from shadows of the night draped behind her. On her back was a viciously blood-red long spear covered in thorns, resembling a fish’s spine or some gigantic harpoon.

–Without a doubt, it was the Shadowy Celestial Marshal. Queen Scathach of the Shadow Nation.

She greeted Aiwass of her own accord before he could enter the castle.

“Greetings, Your Majesty the Queen!”

Arsene immediately knelt on one knee without hesitation.

He couldn’t even fathom–it was unimaginable for a lowly thief like him to meet a Celestial Marshal one day!

And to see a Celestial Marshal with his own eyes, still alive!

It felt like he was dreaming… oh no, this seemed to be a dream.

But it made him tremble with fear, not daring to show any disrespect–this was an authentic Celestial Marshal! A true god!

A god was standing merely dozens of meters away!

Contrary to his reaction,

the other warriors were not particularly reverent towards the Queen of the Shadow Nation.

They enthusiastically shouted, “Your Majesty, our guest has hunted a great prey for us!”

“Milady, now Vio and the others can regain their consciousness!”

“Dear, shouldn’t we have a banquet now!”

The warriors had various names for the Shadowy Celestial Marshal.

And, regardless of the titles, they contained genuine “love” instead of “awe.”

These were combative, greedy, envious individuals, skilled in battle and accomplished in affairs of the heart. The Shadowy Celestial Marshal had no adaptation to the Path of Authority, so she cared little about the measure of respect these people had for her–they were inherently her belongings, pets, lovers.

As long as the pets didn’t bare their teeth, no matter how naughty, it could be forgiven. In fact, if they bared their teeth, it was even better–the Shadowy Celestial Marshal, though a priestess, was also a warrior. If someone dared challenge her, she was equally willing to fight them fiercely.

Regardless of the location or form of the duel, she would gladly accept.

The Shadowy Celestial Marshal smiled and waved, “Take them down–release your brothers! Then dismember them, eat the meat!

“Then summon those fairies, my warriors! Ask them for the best wine, tonight we’ll hold a banquet!”

“–Oh!”

“Hooray–”

The warriors cheered joyfully.

They were all tough guys, highly efficient in execution and straightforward in personality. No one procrastinated, wasting not even a moment, and they scattered in a swarm.

–Even if every night was a banquet, the warriors would still anticipate the next evening’s revelry. Banquets were the Authority of the Banquet Celestial, but the Shadowy Celestial Marshal envied the Banquet Master for hosting successful feasts and having many friends. Thus, she insisted on holding banquets to retain the souls she valued.

As the warriors dispersed, only two warriors remained beside Aiwass.

Nation Destroyer Ares, and Lancelot.

After politely greeting the Shadowy Celestial Marshal one final time, they thoughtfully retreated as well.