Chapter 7:
Shadow Exister (volume 1)
Through the time vector lens, Sudirja knew:
Even though Kromopati was the strongest fragment of Sidran Gasra’s staff—and defeating it would prevent Sidran from creating any more fragments—Sidran’s own power would drastically increase once Kromopati disappeared.
“We bully the staff until Kromopati disappears—only then do we fight seriously.”
Sudirja echoed this message directly into his comrades’ minds.
Arga and Arjuna both understood from the time vector lens. Once Kromopati vanished, Sidran Gasra’s power would spike.
Before replying to Sudirja telepathically, Arga began preparing to face Sidran’s incoming surge of strength.
He summoned a very small magic circle, palm-sized, blue like lapis lazuli. The shape: a circle with an upward-facing triangle, containing two stars.
"Lan karmo rupo dadi pusoko wujud rogo," Arga whispered his incantation.
Nothing appeared to happen—but in the eyes of celestial beings, Arga had activated heritage magic. To human eyes, there was no visible change. But to the denizens of the sky, Arga’s body had transformed drastically:
He now stood as tall as two stacked mountains, his eyes glowed white like lightning in the night sky, and he had four arms.
Thankfully, Arga was Sudirja and Arjuna’s ally—because this level of power was terrifying. Even the legendary Buto Mowo Geni would pale in comparison.
Arjuna and Sudirja were aware of Arga’s transformation—thanks to the time vector lens.
But to regular people, nothing seemed to have happened.
That was exactly what William saw—he assumed Arga’s magic had failed, and stored that assumption in his mind: “Magic can fail too.”
Seeing Arga fully prepared, Arjuna and Sudirja followed suit.
Arjuna formed a magic circle shaped like a hawk within an orange ring, the color of a sunset. It was also palm-sized and hidden beneath his foot.
Sudirja formed an extremely complex, emerald-green branched magic circle with ten key incantations. It was microscopic—as thin as a hair split tenfold—and invisible to all.
Only Arjuna recited his incantation. Just like with Arga, nothing seemed to change afterward—except to the eyes of the sky-beings.
In their vision, Arjuna was accompanied by the spirit of a knight and a serpentine dragon, who appeared on his right. The dragon gleamed with golden scales, buffalo-like horns, and a crown of emeralds on its head.
Before replying to Sudirja, Arga created a fragment of himself.
To human eyes, Arga just stood still.
But to the sky-beings, his massive glowing body emitted light from his eyes—forming a clone that stood where the “human-sized” Arga appeared to be.
“Alright,” Arga finally responded telepathically to Arjuna and Sudirja.
Sudirja turned his gaze toward Dion. His eyes locked onto the staff controlling him.
“Trying to act smart, Sidran Gasra?” Sudirja mocked.
“Then you should’ve asked Demon King Semar to make you a real lifeform!”
Sidran Gasra’s rage flared uncontrollably. The staff directed Kromopati to attack Sudirja—
But before it could act, Kromopati snapped back to its original position.
Eight of the 49,999 remaining eyes vanished.
Still blinded by fury, Sidran had no idea—his power had already dropped 50%.
Arga leapt, preparing to summon clones near Sidran Gasra and its fragments.
The clones surrounding Kromopati resumed their merciless beatdown on the massive crow,
while the ones near Sidran merely mocked him.
30,000 of the 49,998 eyes vanished.
Sidran Gasra’s power dropped to 80%.
Boiling with rage, Sidran Gasra redirected Kromopati toward Arga.
Once again, Kromopati returned to its original position.
One more eye vanished.
Power down at 82%.
“Sidran Gasra.” Arjuna called out to the staff.
“You’ll all DIE and REGRET it!!” the staff roared with Dion’s voice.
It pointed its tip at Arjuna, intending to send Kromopati his way.
“Idiot,” Arjuna sneered.
Arga jumped again, summoning one clone near Sidran Gasra—
Right beside Dion, who was under the staff’s control.
“Sidran Gasra,” the clone called mockingly.
Fuming like a kettle at full boil, the staff swung Dion’s body at the clone—
But before the attack could land—
“Oh no, a baldie!”
The clone smacked the skull-shaped tip of the staff.
Arga jumped again, preparing to surround Kromopati with even more clones.
They weren’t as numerous as before—but still many.
The clones began battering Kromopati again.
Though mere shadow constructs, they looked satisfied.
“Thanks, buddy, for summoning us at a time like this,” one clone beamed at Arga with a proud grin.
The real Arga smiled and gave him a thumbs-up in return.
7,809 of the remaining 19,997 eyes vanished.
Sidran still had no idea—his strength had plummeted to 95%.
Arjuna aimed his bow at Kromopati, ready to end it.
He pulled the bowstring and released it—
An arrow formed out of thin air—
—firing straight at Kromopati.
Only 10 pairs of eyes remained.
That meant Sidran Gasra’s strength had now dropped to 98%.
Sudirja tightened the formation of his blue orbs—
—until all of them struck Kromopati.
Kromopati vanished.
Sidran Gasra’s strength had drastically dropped.
Kromopati’s feathers returned to the staff.
Slowly, Sidran’s power began to rise again. But it didn’t matter.
Because the group had already achieved their goal:
Sidran Gasra could no longer create fragments.
That meant, during the eventual sealing—
there would be no more monsters.
“Now it’s time we get serious!” Sudirja transmitted to their minds.
“Understood, Your Majesty,” Arjuna and Arga responded instantly.
Arga dismissed his fragments—
—and revealed his true form.
The majestic-class magic he had cast now became visible:
a golden titan, towering as tall as two mountains,
with a noble face and a calm—but deadly—smile.
Arjuna too unveiled his majestic-class magic.
The knight and dragon spirits that had been invisible
now stood clearly beside him.
Had the staff not been consumed by rage,
perhaps it would’ve fallen into despair.
And had it been a living being,
its body might’ve trembled too violently to stand.
But it was neither.
Its rage had boiled past reason—
and being an artifact, it felt no fear—only hatred.
Even as its strength climbed again, it now had only one viable opponent:
Sudirja.
That was because Sudirja had yet to cast his spell.
He had already prepared his branched magic circle,
and three of the ten key incantations were majestic-class spells.
At that very moment—
—the sun began to lean westward,
its light dimming toward the approaching twilight.
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