Duality of Shadows-Chapter 959: Take On The Burden

Alm and Bruno were completely stunned by the side quest’s objective. It was so straightforward. The system could only do something like this if the Queen had already discovered their identities and made her move. They’d be back soon enough to find out. So, there wasn’t an issue with the laws sending such a clear warning.

’Fuck!’ Alm exclaimed, moving immediately.

The two didn’t think twice—every second lost could mean the death of important people. The hammer appeared, and they simply struck out, leaving that world. But they were still deep in the underworld. Even at their fastest, it would still take a few minutes to get there.

***

A few hours earlier, on planet Gloom.

Meru and Rehvka were training together in a courtyard. The little girl held a short sword, swinging it nimbly at the pale woman.

The Yin tattoo on her hands shone brightly. Meru was directly trained by the specialist herself whenever her father wasn’t around. Rehvka had taken on an almost motherly role for the girl whenever Ruri was busy.

Calirer, on the other hand, was occupied with her own two children, who kept her plenty busy. Rehvka, though, was more than happy to guide Meru whenever she had the chance. Since the girl was born, Rehvka had always stayed close, and Meru had grown to value her deeply.

After training, Meru was never satisfied and would dash off into the forest to find Thea, eager to learn about the Yang side. That pleased Rehvka since it forced Thea to interact with others. That woman was so antisocial that Rehvka could hardly believe she had once commanded an empire during a mission alongside her master.

At that moment, a sudden commotion broke out as Zaimo sent an urgent message through the array to everyone.

’The God of Merchants! He sent a message to all his followers. He’s been captured.’

All of the Queen’s generals across the universe received the message and were taken aback. The whale had already gathered plenty of intel from those who defected from planet Alpenglow.

According to them, the God of Merchants wasn’t a direct ally of the Queen, and he had followers across multiple universes. The Queen, however, never bothered hunting him down or trying to locate him. She allowed him to create his following and expand the Larimar market everywhere.

In the whale’s absence, Rehvka was in command of everyone. She immediately summoned all allies to the Yinblood Sect.

In less than five minutes, everyone burned their resources to arrive and gathered in the sect’s main building. There, the Dwarf King Nival and Nebai were waiting with tense expressions.

"What was the final message?" Rehvka asked coldly as soon as everyone arrived.

"He sent the same message to all his worshippers. The Queen has started a massacre across multiple universes where his followers lived. Countless have already died, and in the main universe beyond this one, all of his worshippers have been wiped out. The heroes sent a single message: if the God of Merchants doesn’t surrender, they’ll slaughter everyone without mercy," Nebai reported quickly.

The Dwarf King Nival added with a pale expression, "They weren’t just massacred. Their divine marks were captured. With so many of those marks, the heroes could track down the followers in other universes more easily. There was no way to escape; even in an entire universe, with their location tracked through the heavenly laws, they were found instantly. The hunters were immortals, capable of wiping out everyone in just a few years."

Everyone took a deep breath. In smaller universes, time flowed differently. A few days in the Queen’s universe could mean centuries in those other places.

After the recent events, the Queen had clearly raised her alert level. If the message had only just arrived, it meant she’d begun her actions recently, likely after the incident with the Void Spear.

"She’s not willing to take any more risks or let master get that third item," Rehvka murmured, and everyone nodded. "She probably used her ultimate weapon..."

They already knew the God of Merchants wasn’t a direct ally of the Queen. The whale himself had shared this with Rehvka, who explained it to everyone. The God of Merchants was likely a strategic piece for the Queen.

She could have captured him long ago but allowed him to remain active across the universes with his Larimar market because it was more advantageous.

His divine power allowed ordinary people to reach great heights. Even though they were absurdly weak compared to cultivators in the same realm, they were practically invincible against most others in the universe. And all this without fighting over resources or constantly living under pressure and danger. Who wouldn’t worship a god like that?

With his presence, he gained countless followers and influence no matter where he went. In turn, the Queen created a secondary information network. Everything happening in the universes was either discovered by her heroes or through this god’s worshippers. If something went wrong, the Queen had this weapon ready: she just had to capture him.

Since he helped his followers cultivate, his influence over them was immense, and his mark was of the highest level. With it, he could see everything his followers saw and know everything they did, which made it easy to enforce strict rules. Gaining access to their memories was simple.

The Queen allowed his missionaries to operate freely while slowly cornering Heaven’s Will. All to extract as much as possible from him and his followers. Then she prepared, just in case things went wrong.

"The God of Merchants chose to surrender to avoid letting all his followers die because of him. But he sent that final message to give us time to prepare," Rehvka said seriously.

"Gather your armies and activate the Gaias on the planets. Master already anticipated this possibility. We’ll be exposed and won’t be able to live in this universe anymore, but we won’t become a burden or get captured. That would harm master."

Almin interrupted, "What, you planning to kill yourself along with everyone else?"

Rehvka turned to Almin and smiled, "Of course not. Master’s instructions were clear: if something goes wrong, gather everyone and execute the plan. My disciples are here, and my brother will act in my place. So, fight and wait for me."

Corin sighed and added, "Master will know through his followers that this happened. We just need to buy time until he arrives, and everything will work out. The problem is... immortals—and the queen might attack herself."

Everyone turned to Almin. He, in turn, felt the immense weight of responsibility pressing down on his shoulders. His brother had been very clear: he had to give it his all. It wasn’t surprising, considering he and Lyra held control of the Cauldron of Chaos and Order, a Primordial Chaos artifact even the queen coveted.

Almin took a deep breath. Memories of his days pretending to be a young master on Pristine Planet flooded his mind—acting like a coward, oppressing people just to feel marginally better about himself.

Now, in less than 200 years, he had transformed beyond recognition, finding himself in the middle of something so vast it defied comprehension.

"Gather all the ordinary people outside the array from every planet. I’ll place everyone inside the cauldron where they’ll be safe. After that, the main army will fight on Yinblood Planet," Almin declared seriously.

No one objected; this wasn’t a battle they could win. Immortals and the queen herself were on the verge of attacking them. The only way to resist, even briefly, was by relying on master’s preparations.

Quickly, everyone returned to their planets. The dwarves summoned everyone in the galaxy with even a slight connection to the whale, treating him almost like a secondary deity. Only an elite group was part of the Array, with Zaimo as their general.

The dragons did the same, though the most powerful were part of Yue and Yuan’s army within the Array, led by Ruri as general. They would be the ones to fight.

Almin gathered all his allies from the Phoenix Cry Sect. That sect was practically his now, though he had never accepted the leader’s position, considering it unnecessary. He didn’t want to waste time on leadership responsibilities and preferred focusing on pill refinement.

Lyra was the one who took care of the people, and of course, she made sure to build countless statues of the whale while working as a missionary, converting as many people as possible.

Lansha brought everyone from the Heavenly Spirit God Sect. She and Mihkriel had been building a massive army there. Lansha had grown up in the whale’s city and had been loyal to him from the beginning. When she took over the sect, she tried spreading his faith, despite her limited time.

After the war, 99% of the sect’s powerful cultivators had been killed, leaving only a few. The younger generation was easily influenced, leading to widespread recruitment efforts. Lansha struggled as a missionary, but Nixis helped define recruitment criteria. Now, almost everyone in the sect had become his followers.

The Nine-Star Tree Sect held the highest concentration of whale followers. Ambry and Idris conducted thorough selection processes, gathering as many devotees as possible.

Lastly, the former Shadow God Sect had been renamed the Underworld Shadow Sect. Vrix now led it, facing challenges similar to Lansha’s. He wasn’t suited to be a missionary, but Nixis helped him recruit new members and select the best among the demons.

After the events that led to the cauldron’s capture, the dense energy from the infernal laws at the galaxy’s center had diminished and would eventually vanish entirely. With that, demons could live without the laws corrupting their minds. Other races could inhabit the area, so demons who weren’t inherently evil were accepted into the sect and became faithful followers.

In less than an hour, Planet Gloom was overrun by people arriving non-stop. Almin and Lyra didn’t waste any time, ushering everyone into the world inside the cauldron.

Inside, there was a Yin-Yang forest the size of a dozen planets. The space was vast enough to house everyone comfortably. There were no wild beasts, only plants and serene nature.

After another hour, Almin felt a chill down his spine.

With his divine soul, he had developed a premonition-like danger instinct much like his brother’s. Though still in its infancy, the instinct was unmistakable in the face of such immense danger.

Everyone outside was ushered into the cauldron. Only the inhabitants of Planet Gloom remained. Anizu, who was overseeing the Feys, led them inside. When everything was done, only one figure remained—a little girl who ran up to Almin with a serious expression.

"Uncle, my dad’s coming, isn’t he? I can help buy us some time," she said, fixing her round eyes on Almin with striking determination.

He sighed as he looked at her. The image of young Ruri and Isla blended in her. Her resolve to fight and her maturity in grasping the gravity of the situation were traits of both.

"You need to stay safe. Sohum will be by your side. It won’t take long. The world inside the cauldron is huge, with plenty of places for you to explore. You’ll stay distracted, don’t worry," he said calmly.

"But... I can help too," she murmured, clenching her tiny fists with determination. "Dad said the mirror fused with me. If I can use it, I’ll be useful. I’m his daughter—I have to take on some of his responsibilities. He pretends everything’s fine, but he’s always worried and overthinking, afraid he won’t be able to protect everyone. He doesn’t even sleep or relax... Mom does her best to make him rest when I’m not around, but all he does is work endlessly."

Almin scoffed. Was this really a 10-year-old? She was incredibly perceptive, only pretending to be childish in front of her father. It wasn’t just the whale—every general worked tirelessly, day and night, bearing the weight of their responsibilities.

She had noticed all of it and already wanted to shoulder some of the burden so her father could rest.

This content is taken from fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm.

"You don’t need to..." Almin began, trying to persuade Meru, but stopped as he instinctively felt something.

He looked up. A golden light started to spread subtly, like faint threads in space, around the area. It was almost imperceptible—something even Anizu hadn’t noticed. Only someone with a divine soul and extremely sharp senses could detect it.

"Activate the formation!" he roared through the array.