Shadow Weaver: Sole Heir Of The Night-Chapter 174: Deamon fallout

[Crecent Moonblade]

[Tyrant]

[Description: born from a Deamon, son of corruption. This blade has the ability to bend the will of corrupted beast dragging it towards madness until it breaks. Extra mark can cause unstoppable bleeding]

The sickle shaped blade lay firmly in Enzo’s grasp, its red hilt slick with warmth that did not belong to the forest. Veins of dark light pulsed beneath the metal, crawling along the crescent edge like something breathing. Each pulse sent a faint whisper into the air, low and corrupted.

Moonlight fractured across the blade’s curve, bending unnaturally as if the weapon rejected the sky above it. The forest recoiled in silence, leaves trembling, roots tightening beneath the soil.

Enzo stood alone at the center of the devastation. His shadow stretched long and warped across broken ground, merging with claw marks and shattered trunks. The air was thick with residual power, pressing against his lungs with every breath.

Trees leaned at unnatural angles, some split cleanly in half, others reduced to drifting ash. The earth itself bore scars that refused to close, cracks glowing faintly before dimming once more.

The moon bear was gone, but its presence lingered.

Its death had not ended the destruction. It had only sealed the forest’s fate. The wonderland it birthed continued to unravel, collapsing inward and dragging the land with it.

The forest was dying slowly, dragged toward an inevitable end.

Then the sky trembled.

The clouds parted as if torn open, revealing two figures descending from above the canopy. They stood suspended in the air, facing one another, untouched by gravity.

Their existence alone bent the world. Branches bowed beneath invisible pressure, and the temperature dropped sharply as frost crept across bark and stone.

"Gamble of ice."

Their voices echoed together, emotionless and absolute. As they raised their hands, the sky itself responded. Frost bloomed outward from their palms, spreading across the heavens like a crystalline scar.

Ice layered upon ice, thickening rapidly until the clouds were sealed beneath a frozen shell. The light dimmed, refracted into pale blues and whites.

Then the ice collapsed inward.

Thousands of condensed icicles formed in a heartbeat and launched downward in violent arcs. They fell without order, without hesitation.

The forest screamed as the bombardment struck.

Terra turtles still clawing their way free of the soil were skewered instantly. Their massive shells cracked open like brittle stone, frozen lances punching straight through flesh and bone.

Some tried to retreat underground. None succeeded. Their bodies froze mid motion before shattering apart.

Silence followed each impact.

In the distance, the bombardment continued, its echoes rolling endlessly through the forest like distant thunder.

Zeke and the others arrived moments later, pushing through broken foliage as the sound reverberated through their ears.

"Are you okay?" Zeke asked, his hand gripping Enzo’s shoulder as if grounding himself.

Liana had explained everything as they ran. Fighting a Deamon was never simple. Most encounters ended in death.

Even Master Seth had barely survived his battle with Mother Poison Milk. His scars were proof of that truth.

"I’m good," Enzo replied, his voice steady as he exhaled slowly.

The weight in his chest eased, though the blade in his hand continued to hum. He loosened his grip slightly, careful not to provoke it further.

He understood what had happened. He had the tools to win this fight. The balance had been tilted in his favor from the start.

If the moon bear had not forced its half formed wonderland into existence, the battle would have dragged on far longer. Survival would have been uncertain.

Off to the side, Liana stood frozen.

Her eyes were locked on Enzo’s hand. On the echo of the weapon that still bled corruption into the air.

She could see the remains of the moon bear dissolving into nothing, its body unraveling as if it had never existed. Power evaporated from the ground where it fell.

A chill crept down her spine.

She had followed Enzo only to send a message to Zeke. She wanted revenge. She wanted to beat him down and reclaim the pride he had taken from her.

That was all this was meant to be.

Instead, she had witnessed a tyrant Deamon fall. She had watched Enzo stand at the center of it all, calm and untouched.

No wounds. No hesitation.

Her breath caught as the truth settled in.

She had not chased a reckless hunter.

She had chased something far worse.

"It’s over," Leon said as the last echoes of the barrage faded into silence. His voice sounded small against the ruined horizon as he slowly turned, taking everything in.

The forest no longer felt like a forest. What remained was a broken expanse of splintered trunks, frozen craters, and scorched earth layered with frost.

The terra turtles alone had been enough to scar the land beyond recognition. Their migration had uprooted ancient trees and crushed the soil into lifeless stone.

The divine bombardment had finished the rest.

Where canopies once blocked the sky, there was now nothing. Open air stretched endlessly above them, cold and exposed. The ground glittered with shards of ice and fractured bark, reflecting pale light like broken glass.

"This place is done," someone muttered under their breath.

"There will probably be an investigation," Leon continued, turning toward Enzo. His eyes lingered on the space where the blade had been moments ago. "So you should probably hide that."

This forest had never been ordinary. It sat under constant observation by the royals of the Ice Kingdom, its migration patterns mapped and monitored with obsessive precision.

If the terra turtles moved unchecked, entire regions could be buried or erased. That alone justified royal oversight.

What had happened here went far beyond that.

A Deamon.A wonderland.Divine intervention.

Any one of those would draw attention. Together, they would drag Enzo straight into the political jaws of the kingdom.

If he wanted to stay free of royal games and silent threats, the truth needed to disappear.

Enzo nodded without argument.

He walked toward the fading remains of the moon bear, its massive body unraveling into drifting motes of corrupted light. The air around it shimmered weakly, like a dying echo struggling to hold form.

Kneeling, Enzo cut away a portion of the dissolving flesh. The fragment resisted for a moment, then collapsed into his grasp.

He tossed it into the void coffin.

The space within swallowed it without sound.

Rising, Enzo lifted his hand and dismissed the crescent moonblade. The weapon faded instantly, its whispers vanishing as if they had never existed.

The forest seemed to exhale.

A second later, the air ruptured.

Sonic booms thundered overhead as smoke tore across the sky. Several jets screamed past, their shadows racing across the ruined land below.

The wind from their passage kicked up ash, frost, and debris, blinding the group for a brief moment.

When the air settled, the two divine beings were suddenly there.

They stood beside the group as if they had always been present, their hands resting casually on shoulders, their expressions calm and unreadable. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"We destroyed the forest," Minister Fin said evenly. His voice carried no strain, no hesitation. "That’s all you know."

No one argued.

The weight of his words pressed down harder than the divine presence ever had.

What followed would be investigations, reports, and endless bureaucratic noise. Blame would be shifted, causes simplified, truths buried under official statements.

It was better this way.

Some things were never meant to reach royal ears.

""Count Jake. Minister Fin. Why are the two of you always at the center of natural disasters?"

The voice cut through the ruined air, sharp and measured. "One would think you’re actively trying to destroy the kingdom."

The first to appear stepped through a warped gate that folded space inward before snapping shut behind him. The air rippled where he stood, refusing to settle.

He wore a black uniform reinforced with crystalline metal plates. Each shard caught the light differently, scattering it in sharp flashes that hurt to look at for too long.

Power clung to him in a disciplined way. Controlled. Suppressed.

Unlike most of the royals, his hair was black. Not silver. Not white. Not touched by frost.

It marked him as an anomaly.

"Captain of the Royal Guard, Vincent Lorand," Minister Fin said, laughing softly as if greeting an old friend. His tone was light, almost playful. "Always so dramatic."

The group stiffened.

They all knew that name.

Vincent Lorand was not just a royal enforcer. He was the blade the throne used when subtlety failed. The shadow that cleaned up messes no one else was allowed to acknowledge.

Unrelated royals feared him more than they feared the crown itself.

His presence alone had ended bloodlines.

Vincent’s eyes swept over the ruined forest, lingering on the frozen craters, the broken earth, the absence of life. His gaze was calm, but calculating.

"Explain," he said simply.

Count Jake smiled faintly, unfazed. "A migration anomaly. Terra turtles went out of control."

"And the divine bombardment?" Vincent asked.

"A preventative measure," Fin replied smoothly. "Collateral damage was unavoidable."

Vincent’s eyes narrowed.

For a moment, the air grew heavier. The crystals on his armor hummed softly, reacting to his intent.

One would think he was royalty himself.

In truth, he might as well have been.