Shadow of the Abyss - Chapter 40: Death of the Old Gods I

Book I: Lost ThingsTristan Abrascal is a thief, one of many making their living under the perpetual twilight of the greatest city in all of Vesper. Quick wit and a contract with a capricious goddess have always kept him one step ahead, until one night he crosses a line by accident that burns all the bridges he had left. But not all is lost, as his mentor offers a way out of peril that turns out to be more than a simple escape.It is also an opportunity to get even with the infanzones, the nobles he’s lived under all his life, and it so happens that Tristan has a full ledger’s worth of scores to settle with them.Lady Angharad Tredegar has fled halfway across the world, leaving behind a ruin of a life: her family butchered by a ruthless enemy, their estate torched and their nobility revoked. Yet no matter how far she flees the blades of assassins follow, and she finds herself growing desperate for any protection. She has one relative left to call on, her estranged uncle, but she finds that the safety he offers comes at a cost.Angharad has sworn revenge, however, and her honour will allow for no compromise. She will do what she must to survive so that one day bloody vengeance can be visited upon her enemies.The paths of the two take them to the doorstep of the Watch, but for desperate souls like them enrolment is a lost cause. They will have to do it the hard way instead, by surviving the trials on the isle known as the Dominion of Lost Things.Where every year many go, and few return.Book II: Good TreasonsThe trials of the Dominion are over.The four survivors have become students of Scholomance, enrolling together as a cabal, yet even on those infamous grounds they soon learn none are beyond the reach of their pasts.Angharad Tredegar is returned to a semblance of the world she left behind, but finds her honor sorely tested by bargains offered - every bit as tempting as in the stories and even deadlier.Tristan Abrascal needs answers. Mysterious enemies keep trying to abduct him, his classroom does not exist and he’s now had several conversations with dead people. Worst of all, his carrots keep dying.Maryam Khaimov is going mad, which would worry her less if it were happening on schedule. More frightening yet is the possibility that she is not, and there truly is someone else going around wearing her face.Song Ren must forge the others into a functional unit, all the while fending off enemies on all sides: rival cabals, vengeful countrymen and the deluge of implacable foes her companions simply cannot seem to stop attracting.Failure is not an option, for Song must bring back honor to her family’s name whatever the cost: it is the only way to keep their disgrace from literally eating them all alive.And as the four chase shadows in Scholomance, in the distance looms the greater test awaiting them in the Asphodel Rectorate. Asphodel is a faded power, the rotten carcass of what it once was, but under that rot looms darker things - of which monsters might just be the least dangerous.Besides, is treason really such an evil when you have the best of reasons for it?

Jaden lived an ordinary life. This was the life that he had lived for several years now. This kind of life was one that had existed ever since the death of his parents.His parents died in an accident, leaving him an orphan. The moment that his parents died, his uncles came over and took over everything that was supposed to be taken by him.He tried going to court, trying to see if he could get back the wealth that belonged to his family, but due to the connections that his uncles possessed, he did not succeed.Completely abandoned by his relatives and friends that existed before the death of his parents, Jaden was left to fend for himself.He managed to get a job as a bouncer in a club. But as a coincidence, he ended up irritating someone that he was not supposed to offend. And with that, he was beaten and left in an alley to die.But it was at that exact moment that out of nowhere, he was bitten by a dog. Jaden could not believe it. He had never expected that he was going to die just like this. And even before dying from the wounds that he had suffered from the beating, he was going to be infected by rabies?But the strange thing that happened was the fact that after the dog bit him, a holographic screen appeared in front of him.[Congratulations on being chosen by The Bodyguard System.]And with that, Jaden's life changed completely.

It was the best cheat in the vast and ancient world!Its origin could be traced back to Trailokya and it was the highest law!…Three years ago, three living creatures fell from the sky. King Monroe of West Ridge got one of them and he conquered six countries to unite West Ridge.Wu Zhao of the Big Zhou Dynasty in the Southern Wasteland got another one of the living creatures. She dominated all 19 clans there and became the top figure in that region.Owen Bertram also got one of the living creatures. Yet three years had passed and he was still a nobody. Nothing had changed for him.However, he soon realized that the tiny loach that he got three years ago was actually the biggest cheat in the world.Moreover, it led him on a non-stop journey of becoming the biggest winner in life!

The empire encompassed endless twinkling stars, but in this dark and terrifying distant future, there were only endless wars.......Gu Hang became the governor of a wasteland planet, where previous governors had all been executed for failing to deliver the tithe on time.Monsters and Low Energy Storms rampaged, survivor factions schemed against each other, technological regression, low productivity, the resurgence of Evil Gods, Green Skin Orcs taking root and sprouting...“Don't panic just yet, let me check the panel below.”[Military Tokens], [Heroes], [Technology], [Events]...Starting as the planetary governor, he would build fleets that traversed the Star Sea, suppressing all alien forms, heretics, traitors, and demons of chaos!Although I formed battle groups on my own, funded Battle Nuns, diverted the imperial tax, and disregarded deployment orders... I knew I was fiercely loyal!Traitors? This is clearly the Third Empire!