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ARTHUR'S BASE -
The lab in Arthur's base was alive with monitors, suspended containment tubes, and the sterile echo of metal against stone. In the center floated General Zod's corpse, half-armored, half-charred, suspended upright in a column of blue stasis light. His face was twisted by final, violent effort. His muscles slackened but still impossibly dense.
Shadow Lex stood before the stasis tube with perfect posture, hands clasped behind him. His silhouette flickered with violet static, sharp eyes.
Arthur approached the tube, hands in his pockets, gaze tracing the dead body. "Are you sure you still want him after getting his DNA?"
Shadow Lex glanced over his shoulder. "My king," he began smoothly, "Kryptonians are valuable even as a mere corpse. With time I can preserve him here. From this body, I can reproduce Doomsday or create more Kryptonian clones to serve your legion."
Kara made a harsh choking sound before the sentence even finished.
She stepped forward, eyes wide, voice sharp. "Arthur... you can't be considering that."
Arthur looked at her not defensive, just calm. "I'm not."
He tapped a knuckle against the glass. "I don't have a use for things I can't control, doomsday is an unstable being. "
Kara jabbed a thumb toward Shadow Lex. "He sounds exactly like the real Lex Luthor. This is exactly the kind of thing the original Lex would pull."
Shadow Lex looked proud instead of offended. "Efficiency is not villainy. It is merely correct."
Arthur shook his head. "Relax. It was only a suggestion."
He stepped back, studying Zod's frozen face. "I already extracted his shadow I don't need the body anymore."
Kara crossed her arms tightly. "Then give it to the League. Let them handle it."
"No," Arthur said immediately, firm but not harsh. "That's not an option. They'd turn it into an investigation or some sort of a tool. I'd rather dispose of it than hand them a corpse that can be weaponized, either by them or someone else."
Soft footsteps padded across the floor.
Raven appeared from the darker corner of the lab, arms folded under her cloak, eyes drifting up of Zod'sbody.
"It's so… deformed," she murmured. "He really forced himself to match Clark's strength, it took decades for Clark to adjust to Earth. What was he thinking?"
Arthur didn't look away from the corpse. "Desperation," he answered. "And the arrogance that comes with it."
Silence hung for a moment.
Then Arthur sighed. "I'll deal with this later."
He turned toward Raven. "I'll need to take another trip to your room. I have to enter that dimension again."
Raven nodded without hesitation, as if this was as normal as asking to borrow a book. "Whenever you're ready, you can go there anytime."
Kara stepped forward again, curiosity simmering under concern. "Is there really no way for us to accompany you? I want to see that place for myself."
Arthur raised a brow at her amused. "You? In there? No. It's not a place you 'visit.' It's a terrible place. Only I can survive it."
Kara lifted her chin, crossing her arms. "Even me?"
Arthur grinned a slow, wicked curl of the lips. "Especially you. You've already proven how reckless you can be."
Kara scoffed, pointing at him. "Look who's talking."
Arthur shrugged, lazy confidence dripping from him. "I didn't get caught."
Kara's face went red instantly. She whipped her gaze away. "Don't bring that up in front of Rae..."
"Oh…?" Raven's voice cut in filled with amusement.
Kara froze.
Arthur didn't miss the way Raven's eyes glinted with playful malice. Kara shot her a betrayed look.
Raven only smirked faintly and whispered, "Interesting."
Kara groaned and covered her face. Arthur gave her shoulder a light tap, an apology and a tease.
Kara still had her face half-hidden behind her hands, cheeks burning bright enough to rival her heat vision. Raven watched her with the smallest smirk, chin tilted in quiet triumph. Shadow Lex had already drifted back toward his instruments, uninterested in emotional chaos.
Arthur took one slow step
"Kara," he said softly.
She didn't look at him, still flustered. "Don't...just don't bring that up again. This is embarrassing."
Raven raised a brow. "Is it?"
Kara glared at her. Raven looked absolutely unbothered.
Arthur chuckled under his breath and reached out, fingers brushing Kara's wrist. She stiffened, caught between huffing and melting.
He tilted her chin up gently not forceful, just enough to make her meet his eyes.
"Kara," he murmured, a smile tugging at his lips, "I'm just teasing you."
The way she froze… shoulders relaxing, breath catching, a soft spark in her eyes Raven saw it all with the clarity of someone who wished she hadn't.
Arthur was already leaning in.
Kara's surprise lasted only a heartbeat before she kissed him back slow, warm, almost shy despite her strength. Her hands slid from hiding her face to resting on his chest. The hum of machinery, the cold light, the corpse floating in the tube… all of it faded around them for a moment.
Raven's expression didn't change outwardly.
But inwardly, the whisper in her head was sharp and sour:
'Well played, Kara…'
She folded her arms, cloak rustling around her legs. If anyone looked closely, they might've seen the faintest flush of violet irritation along the tips of her fingers.
Arthur pulled away first reluctantly thumb brushing the corner of Kara's lips. She blinked up at him, visibly dazed.
He stepped back, letting the air settle. "Take care," he said quietly.
Kara opened her mouth maybe to ask when he'd be back, maybe to tell him to be careful but she didn't get the chance.
Because the shadows around Arthur swirled all at once curling like smoke drawn into a vacuum, rising from the floor, from his boots, from the walls themselves. They wrapped around him with a low, whispering hiss.
The shadows devoured Arthur's silhouette in one smooth pull
and he vanished.
A single ripple of violet-black smoke collapsed inward and snapped out of existence.
Silence.
Then a shadow demon appeared in his place, raised a clawed hand in confusion.
Kara blinked, startled, then laughed under her breath still a little breathless from the kiss.
Raven sighed.
Kara exhaled "He better come back quick, I've got some nice plans." she muttered, half annoyed, half worried.
Raven responded "Don't get greedy now."
She was still replaying the kiss in her mind… and trying very hard to pretend she wasn't.
*****
Raven's room was quiet when Arthur stepped through the shadows and materialized inside it. The faint scent of incense lingered in the air, the walls faintly pulsing with residual traces of her magic calm violet threads gently drifting.
He exhaled, rolling his shoulders, preparing.
This room had become a gateway for him, The only place on Earth where he can access this dungeon.
He reached into his inventory, and a soft click echoed in the silence as his fingers closed around a key.
The key to the Legacy Shadow Legion Dungeon.
The moment he pulled it out, a notification materialized in front of his eyes like a shimmering, violet hologram.
[Legacy Shadow Legion Dungeon]
[Access To Level 9 Granted.]
Arthur smirked. "So it's finally open…"
The air around him began to hum. Not in sound, deep, sub-dimensional vibration.
A jagged tear in space appeared before him.
First a ripple.
Then a distortion.
Then a widening spiral of violet and white.
Within seconds, the portal fully formed an oval window of flowing, starlit shadow.
Arthur stepped closer, hand outstretched.
"Well…" He inhaled deeply, eyes glowing brighter. "Here goes nothing."
And he walked in.
****
[Welcome To The Legacy Shadow Legion Dungeon Level 9]
[The Monarch's Lieutenant Awaits]
The instant his foot touched the threshold, the world snapped.
His senses exploded with brilliance.
Reality unfolded into a vast, cosmic horizon not darkness, not void, but pure celestial radiance. The sky wasn't sky more like an infinite ocean of white and gold light, swirling with nebula-like clusters of color.
And the ground
No, not ground.
A branch.
Huge. Ancient. Colossal beyond comprehension. Wide enough to hold cities on its back. Smooth yet carved with runic grooves, pulsing faintly with luminous lifeforce.
Arthur stood on its surface, boots planted on something that felt alive.
He turned slowly, jaw tightening in awe.
Then he looked up.
And his heart paused.
The "tree" was not a tree
It was THE TREE.
A structure so massive it broke his ability to measure distance. Its trunk glowed like crystallized starlight, swirling with veins of shadow and light intertwined. Branches spiraled outward across the horizon like entire continents stretched across the sky.
Leaves shimmered like galaxies.
Roots pierced through dimensions beneath him.
The air tasted ancient older than magic, older than gods, older than the idea of life itself.
Arthur whispered under his breath, a reverence he didn't expect slipping into his voice.
"…The World Tree."
His eyes glowed brighter deep amethyst, reacting instinctively to the overwhelming presence before him.
A gust of wind rushed across the titanic branch, sending shimmering motes of cosmic dust cascading around him. They flickered like stars falling sideways.
Arthur stepped forward, heartbeat rising.
"So this…" he murmured, voice low, tinged with awe, "is the origin of the first Shadow Legion."
He felt it
The weight of legacy.
The pull of something ancient beings calling to him, whispering in undertones.
A sense of power so enormous that even he felt small in comparison.
/-\
If you Like this story! Check out my other stories! Solo leveling in Westeros.
&
If you wish to read more or simply support me than check out my patreon at
"https://www.patreon.com/FrenzyAren"
You can Get Access to 3 More Chapters OR 7 More Chapters if you want