Chapter 206: Augustina: Your Fiancé Is Raised By Me, Don’t Worry (Two-in-one)
The deafening roar of the sky falling still echoed at the end of the abyss, echoing through mountains and seas.
But, on the barren throne.
The human youth, pierced through by the silver holy spear, had already lost his life.
His head hung powerlessly, his eyes, hidden by messy black hair, were tightly closed.
If it weren’t for the faint light surrounding his entire body next to the silver holy spear, rising and falling slowly with a very long period.
Anyone who came here and saw this scene would mistake him for a statue.
Like a suffering Jesus, a saint pierced through by the spear of destiny named Gungnir on the cross.
This was a natural phenomenon.
The moment Shaya fell into the abyss, he poured all his heart and spirit into his spiritual world, battling with the lofty will.
This was a long gamble, and no one knew how much time it would take.
The only thing that could be confirmed was that neither side would have a moment to breathe.
This was a game where everything was at stake; any slight distraction or lapse would result in losing everything.
The farewell words he had left for Heiser were naturally just comfort.
This was a world where the extraordinary existed; ancientness itself represented power. Talk of “old man, you’re the challenger” was just talk. From beginning to end, Shaya knew one thing clearly –
He was not yet thirty years old, and even with his age before transmigration, he was less than sixty years old…
To confront an ancient being that might have existed for thousands or even tens of thousands of years, and to defeat it, to become the true winner standing at the end.
With the Creator of the Glorious Era as his opponent, Shaya had no room for distraction from the start.
Of course, Shaya was not alone.
This holy spear piercing his chest was not a curse to him like the spear Gungnir was to Jesus, but a protection.
It carried the feelings of a maiden named Aerora from several eras later.
Relying on the power of the holy spear itself, Shaya could maintain his spirit and prevent him from collapsing in the battle of the spiritual world from the very beginning.
Of course, even so, it was still difficult.
He had to expend all his mental energy, endure the loneliness of long time, and give his all.
Only then would he have a chance – to fight for that single chance of victory.
Shaya had completely given up not only his perception of the outside world but even his control over his own body.
Even if the sky were to fall and the earth were to crack, and the end of the world were to descend at this very moment, he would probably know nothing.
Anyway, with the unending life and divine protection of the holy spear, he probably wouldn’t starve to death even if he didn’t eat or drink for several hundred years.
The silent palace complex thus fell into eternal silence, accompanied by the youth pierced by the holy spear on the throne, as if in a deep sleep.
No one knew how long this silence would last, perhaps decades, perhaps centuries.
Or perhaps, forever.
There was never a guarantee in a gamble of spiritual power, nor was there necessarily a winner. The two sides could both be seriously injured, and their spiritual powers could cease to exist together, which was not an impossible outcome.
This dead silence lasted for an unknown amount of time.
Until, at a certain moment.
The dead silence was broken.
It was a small, ink-black dragon tail, silently extending from the eternally dark world.
The next moment.
A faint shadow, accompanied by the ink-like surging night, silently enveloped the silent palace—
It was a delicate black dragon, beautiful and elegant, clearly still in its infancy, but one could already imagine its majestic demeanor when it matured.
If Shaya had noticed Night’s current appearance, he would have been greatly surprised.
Because long before Shaya and Heiser began their final journey, he had already made arrangements for the plan to fall into the abyss.
The vast majority of the familiars in his Soul Pact Space had been placed under a deep sleep enchantment by Shaya.
After all, no one knew what kind of barren scene the bottom of the abyss would be, or even if there would be food.
Unlike Shaya, who had the protection of the holy spear and the buff of immortality, the holy spear’s protection could not extend to his familiars.
Only by entering a hibernation-like dormant state would Shaya’s familiars have a chance to survive the long night with the resources stored in Sparkle’s Spatial Pocket.
Shaya had cnsidered whether he should take his familiars to the Western Continent to level up during this opportunity.
However, considering that the Western Continent was also restless, and the aftermath of the Great Calamity had not yet subsided, with countless half-mad Mythical Creatures rampaging across the land, Shaya ultimately gave up.
However, among Shaya’s familiars, Chi Hong protested.
It was not afraid of danger, nor was it afraid of the pollution of the Fallen Sun, nor did it fear fighting Mythical Creatures.
On the contrary, it wanted to become stronger by fighting Mythical Creatures.
In the process, with the addition of new familiars one after another, Chi Hong’s sense of crisis had intensified.
Back then, as a Star Spirit Body, it could still occupy the position of a cuddle pillow in Shaya’s arms. Now, even if other familiars didn’t compete, and voluntarily gave it to Chi Hong, Chi Hong felt a little embarrassed to take it.
Among Shaya’s contracted familiars, as time went on, a set of rules gradually emerged for them to compete with each other, determine their family hierarchy, and be recognized by everyone.
Among these rules, the most core and crucial one was that whoever provided more help and contribution to Shaya would have a higher status and naturally enjoy more affection and resources from their Beast Tamer.
And under this set of rules, Chi Hong had been ranked in the lower half of Shaya’s familiar sequence for a long time, even serving as the vice-class monitor several times.
Silver was the eldest sister, and she had already advanced to Legend Species by relying on the holy artifact of the Lord of Ashes’ skull. Illusion was a perennial auxiliary skill. She had greatly helped when Shaya and Heiser traveled and built the foam city where the Arcane Festival was being held.
She was stably ranked second and competed for first among Shaya’s familiars, a true standing deputy GOAT.
As an artificial intelligence, Yui was always Shaya’s most capable secretary, a solid Tier 0 that would never go out of style, and like Silver, she had bought a house in the ban list and couldn’t be removed.
Although Snake Snake and Night joined later and lacked seniority, they were naturally born Mythical Creatures, pure over-statistical monsters. Even with low compatibility and intimacy with Shaya, they could still dominate in team competitions.
After calculating, Chi Hong found that it could only compete with one other familiar, Sparkle.
But Sparkle was a space-type familiar. Even though Sparkle’s Blink had lost its appearance rate recently, its Spatial Pocket, like a storage ring in fantasy novels, was still a meta god.
Chi Hong, on the other hand, had no auxiliary abilities like Silver and Sparkle; it was a purely combat-type familiar.
Now, with its strength declining, it felt like it had become a burden to Shaya’s team, completely serving as a warehouse keeper and a drag.
Although with Shaya’s current wealth, and the opportunity to eat and cuddle whenever he wanted, he naturally wouldn’t care about the cost of raising one more familiar.
But Chi Hong itself could not accept it.
If it could lie flat and be a Buddhist like a certain little sable, sleeping lazily on Shaya’s shoulder all day, Chi Hong would not have trained its “Mastered Perfection” proficiency in “Slash” under extremely difficult conditions.
It would also not have possessed the “Overlord’s Heart,” which was described as having “the potential to become king.”
Therefore, at Chi Hong’s insistence, after much deliberation, Shaya chose to follow Chi Hong’s wishes.
He left it in the Western Continent and the Prime Material Plane, not accompanying him into the abyss, but facing the rampaging half-mad Mythical Creatures of the First Era on the Western Continent alone.
Of course, Shaya did exchange a few items for Chi Hong’s survival.
However, this did not include Night.
Although Shaya had already sensed Night’s identity in the future, in the Fourth Era.
But after transmigrating back, looking at the little Dragon of Darkness with a cute face, flapping its dragon wings and acting cute above his head, Shaya suppressed the urge to tell it the truth and instead let it fall into a deep sleep along with his other familiars.
However, at this moment—
The little Dragon of Darkness had, at some unknown time, awakened from its deep sleep.
And by some unknown means, it had silently passed through the seal Shaya had set, appearing in the abyss on its own, without being summoned by Shaya.
Simultaneously.
In the little Dragon of Darkness’s crimson-gold vertical pupils, a distant radiance rippled.
The rings of the years of time spread out like ripples.
And within those ripples of time, the crimson-gold radiance in the little Dragon of Darkness’s eyes grew more intense.
The veil woven from the night completely concealed the little dragon’s delicate form.
After a long while, the thin veil woven from shadow and night slowly receded.
And beneath the night, the original delicate young dragon was no longer there.
In its place stood a maiden with black hair and a black dress.
She slightly raised her head, and the childishness in her crimson-gold eyes had faded.
Although she still looked like a maiden, her every move exuded a regality that a queen would possess when looking down upon the world.
At this moment, she was no longer the nascent Dragon of Darkness named “Night.”
Instead, it was the Queen of the Night, Augustina, who would reign over the world in later generations, using the power of the “Hourglass of Time” to send her will and part of her power across time to the past.
The ripples of time around her dissipated, returning to nothingness.
And the black-dressed maiden gracefully descended from the void.
Then, step by step, she walked to the side of the silent throne and tilted her head slightly.
Her gaze fell upon Shaya in the throne, whose face was extremely pale, without a trace of blood.
Her dark golden vertical pupils flickered.
The next moment… an indescribable complex emotion surged in her crimson-gold eyes.
There was longing, and the reluctance of not having seen each other for a long time.
And also, indescribable heartache.
“Although I had some expectation in my heart, with such a huge commotion, you must have been causing a big scene in the abyss.”
“But I never expected you to end up in such a sorry state.”
“Shaya.”
“Or rather…”
“Master.”
Augustina looked up at the figure of the youth on the throne and whispered a silent murmur.
“You always appear in front of me, in front of everyone… always displaying a mysterious, all-knowing, seemingly omnipotent, and profound demeanor.”
“But in reality, you’re not actually omnipotent—”
“Are you just quietly concealing your vulnerable and exhausted side, not letting outsiders see it?”
“In that case, I’m truly fortunate.”
Her voice carried a hint of amusement, but her flawless face, as pure as ice and snow, showed no trace of a smile.
“To be able to see you at your most unguarded, with all pretense and mystery shed, the true you beneath that mask.”
“But it really makes me unable to laugh at all…”
“If possible, I would prefer you to always maintain that profound and inscrutable appearance…”
“That way, at least, you wouldn’t be so hurt as you are now.”
A ripple of light flowed through her crimson-gold eyes.
Augustina reached out her plain white finger to caress the youth’s face on the throne.
*Hummm—*
A clear ringing sound erupted.
On Shaya’s chest, the pure silver holy spear emitted an incredibly dazzling, brilliant, and radiant light.
A vast and mysterious aura descended. Although the holy spear itself did not move, its sharp intent locked onto Augustina.
This was a warning from the holy spear.
Even though separated by several eras, by an immeasurable distance of time.
The maiden’s feelings embedded in the holy spear pierced through the river of time, still affecting this holy spear.
Protecting Shaya, who was unguarded and at his weakest, from anyone approaching or plotting against him.
If she took one more step, the sharp intent of the spear would pierce Augustina.
However, even facing the holy spear, which even her future self could not underestimate, and which was on the verge of erupting.
Augustina’s pretty face remained calm, without even making the slightest evasive movement.
“Believe me, Little Ai.”
“I think, whether it was at that dinner banquet or in the Third Era, I have already proven my feelings.”
The sharp intent of the spear cut through the ground.
If the holy spear were fully activated, with Augustina’s current strength less than a third of her future peak, she would be ruthlessly annihilated by the holy spear without any doubt.
Moreover, due to causality and the timeline, if she were to die here… the future Queen of the Night, Augustina, would cease to exist.
But she simply looked calmly at the holy spear before her, allowing the sharp intent to lock onto her.
“I know I may never have a position in Shaya’s heart comparable to yours.”
“You are his one and only, the most special one, whom no one can compare to.”
“But… this feeling, I will never be inferior to you in any way.”
“Besides—Little Ai.”
“Even though Shaya has the divine protection of the holy spear for immortality.”
“But can you bear to see it?”
Augustina’s gaze lingered on the youth on the throne for a long time, never shifting away.
“Looking at him so exhausted…”
“And yet not having a single person to help him wipe the dust from his body, change his clothes, bathe him, feed him, or give him water.”
Hearing Augustina’s words.
The holy spear let out a clear hum.
Immediately after, the sharp intent of the spear slowly retracted.
She was right.
The holy spear was still just a holy spear. It could help Shaya defeat his enemies, but it couldn’t do the more detailed things Augustina mentioned.
And then, a smile finally appeared on Augustina’s pretty face.
“Then, Little Ai.”
“Please take care of me in the days to come.”
