CHAPTER 50: 50: SHADOW GUARDIAN

[You won’t die a healthy death, host. That I’m sure of.]

"Keep it to yourself. No one cares," Aaron muttered casually, a grin tugging at his lips. He enjoyed tormenting the system. Why not? If you really cared about someone, you didn’t sugarcoat things—you insulted them until they were nearly homicidal.

He took a step forward, his tone sharp and confident. "You can come out now. I don’t have all day, so it’d be nice if you didn’t waste my time hiding."

A voice answered from the darkness, smooth but laced with menace. "Aaron Highborn. The intel I received described you as cocky and arrogant. I see now it wasn’t wrong in the slightest."

A figure emerged from the shadows—not quite human, not quite monster. A tall woman with obsidian skin, four arms each gripping a blade, and four perfectly aligned eyes that glowed faintly on her face.

Aaron tilted his head, unfazed. "Well, thank you for the compliment. Is it just you, or is there more of your welcoming committee hiding around?"

"Trust me, just me will do," she said, her confidence echoing in her stance. "Don’t go wishing for more trouble than you can handle. You won’t be able to defeat me."

She raised her weapons slightly, the katanas gleaming ominously.

"Allow me to introduce myself, I’m—"

"Yeah, no thanks," Aaron cut her off immediately, waving a dismissive hand. "I don’t want you stealing the spotlight. Just get to the point. What do you want?"

"Arrogant prick," she hissed. "The key. We want it. Your parents must have given it to you. Where is it?"

Aaron blinked. "What key? I have no idea what you’re talking about."

Her eyes narrowed. "The key to the Abyss! Bring it to us so we can free our Lord into this world. Do it willingly, and you’ll be rewarded—power, wealth, honor. When our Lord finishes crafting his utopia, you’ll be praised."

"Psychopath," Aaron muttered, then turned his head slightly. "And you told me the Abyss didn’t care about this world. Seems even you don’t have your facts straight," he said, glaring at Nathan.

The Abyssal woman didn’t care for his comment. She roared in fury, a guttural, inhuman sound, and launched forward with blinding speed.

Before Aaron could so much as flinch, he was already diced into a thousand neat pieces. It was instantaneous.

"Aaron!" Ryder shouted, horror plastered across his face. Alice stood frozen, eyes wide. She hadn’t seen the woman move, hadn’t seen her draw her blades—just the aftermath.

The Abyssal woman turned away, dismissing Alice and Ryder like mere background noise. "I’ll just search for it the hard way," she muttered, already moving.

"Wow. What a monster you are," Aaron’s voice said.

Her eyes widened in disbelief as the bloodied remains fused back together seamlessly. Aaron stood once again, looking as if he’d never been harmed.

"You? How?!" she demanded, stunned.

She had sliced him into pieces no being should recover from. Not even demigods. And yet, he stood there, brushing imaginary dust from his clothes.

"Surprised? Me too," Aaron said, eyes narrowing. "Now what kind of ridiculous stats are you rocking, lady?"

A status screen shimmered before him:

Shiva (Pseudo Demigod)

Agility: SSS+

Strength: SSS-

Vitality: SSS-

Stamina: SSS+

Mana: SSS-

"Wow. This is so unfair. Don’t you think you’re a bit overqualified for bullying little ol’ me?"

"You surviving makes sense now," Shiva muttered. "If you really are the child of those two monsters, of course you’d have life-saving artifacts. But how long will they last if I keep reducing you to mincemeat?"

Aaron rolled his eyes. "Relax, lady. No man likes a feisty woman. Well, not with my tastes."

She stepped forward, her tone steely. "Tell me where to find what I want, and I’ll spare you."

"Yeah, no thanks," Aaron shrugged. "Not interested. And even if I wanted to, I don’t have what you’re looking for. Where exactly would I hide something that important? No way my parents would entrust me with something like that."

"Refuse then. I don’t mind carving you up until your artifact breaks," she snapped. In one move, she was on him again, slicing him into ten thousand bloody fragments.

Again, Aaron reassembled.

"Let’s try a million pieces next," she said, eyes gleaming with violent joy. Her blades danced again, and Aaron didn’t even get the chance to blink. He was gone in a flash of crimson.

She waited.

Then watched.

Slowly, impossibly, Aaron pulled himself back together again, every chunk of him knitting itself back to life. He stood shakily, his face twisted in growing irritation.

"Oh? You survived that too? Let’s up the stakes, shall we? A billion pieces should do the trick."

"Time out!" Aaron raised his hands, stepping back. "Don’t you dare get close to me! And you—you who’ve been chilling in my shadow rent-free, aren’t you going to step in? Or should I die first?!"

Each time he was cut, he felt everything. The pain was excruciating. Just because he could regenerate didn’t mean it was painless.

Shiva paused only to flash a wicked grin before launching forward again, blades aimed to end the game.

But she never reached him.

"Huh?" she gasped, confusion breaking across her face. Her vision blurred—then tilted.

Her head tumbled from her shoulders.

She hadn’t even realized it until it was too late. One second she was lunging at Aaron, and the next, she was staring up at her own lifeless body collapsing to the ground.

"Phew... that was close," Aaron sighed, collapsing to the floor, panting. "Had you been a second late, I’d have been done for. That lady was straight-up crazy."

The toll of repeated mutilation and regeneration weighed heavily on him. His body screamed in fatigue. Hunger gnawed at his insides.

"Aaron! What happened?!" Alice shouted, rushing to his side and helping him up.

She glanced over at the decapitated body of Shiva, still as death. She had no idea what had just transpired. One moment Shiva had been preparing to strike again, and the next, she was dead.

"Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks," Aaron replied breathlessly.

It had been the shadow guardian. For the first time, it had acted and done his job. The result was terrifying—and impressive.

If he hadn’t known about the guardian’s presence, he might have been just as confused as Alice.

Suddenly, a scream echoed behind them.

"Aarghhhh!" Nathan clutched his face, blood pouring from his eyes as he collapsed to his knees.