American comics: Starting with Luke the Maker

The roaring bellow echoed through the cave and the souls of the assembled orcs. Even though they were elites among orcs, they couldn't help but feel shaken by such bizarre and evil attacks.

At that moment, a massive tentacle erupted from the dark lake like a dragon rising from the depths, its tip raised high overhead. Then, like a collapsing pillar reaching towards the heavens, it lashed down heavily towards their location.

Grommash had no doubt that if such an attack were to land successfully, it would inflict significant damage on them, gathered as they were.

This was something Grommash could not accept!

He could accept the deaths of his clansmen, but not such a sudden and unexpected disaster.

A heavy shield of light transformed into a thick wall of radiance. With Held's outstretched hand, it blocked C'Thun's tentacle attack. Inevitable conflict erupted where Holy Light and Shadow clashed.

C'Thun's tentacle reacted as if human flesh had been scalded by extreme heat, emitting sizzling sounds.

"...Insects, you have angered me..."

C'Thun's enraged roar once again manifested as a psychic storm, violently assaulting the orcs' minds. The power of Shadow and the whispers of the Void swirled around them, lingering near their bodies and in their ears. However, their minds only faltered for a moment before the corruption and contamination were swept away by the searing Holy Light.

C'Thun realized that his seductive power had failed to achieve its intended effect, which only fueled his rage. As a Void being, he cared little for other races and lives, but as a creature of Shadow, he loathed the Holy Light with a passion.

Initially, he believed these individuals were pitiful mortals who had somehow learned of his existence and wielded a modicum of power in a futile attempt to destroy him. But now, it seemed the female mage standing at the forefront was indeed a character worthy of his focused attention.

But that was all she was.

As one of the Old Gods, C'Thun had witnessed countless characters worthy of his focused attention throughout his long existence. Without exception, aside from the fortunate Titans who sealed him away, none had been able to resist their power.

Under the whispers of the Void and the erosion of Shadow, they would all fall, be corrupted, and become puppets obedient to his will.

As a reward for freeing him, C'Thun decided to transform them into Shadow creatures, to serve him and the Void in perpetuity!

"...Succumb, and let eternal darkness descend..."

The Shadow power within C'Thun erupted completely. The dark lake exploded skyward, the Shadow energy forming waves that crashed against the cave walls.

The Holy Light sun high in the cave, which C'Thun found so irritating, was instantly washed away by the surging water of Shadow energy, like a bonfire extinguished by a tidal wave, its warmth and light gone once the wave receded.

The thick wall of light in front was eroded layer by layer under the onslaught of Shadow power, eventually reduced to a thin, paper-like thickness.

The next moment, the massive tentacle lashed against the light shield, shattering it into glittering stardust. The surging Shadow power spread across the ground like rising water, seeking to engulf Held and the others.

However, all Shadow power vanished as it approached Held. The place where Held stood was like the eye of an energy storm, the endless Shadow power swirling into a large vortex on the ground, completely absorbed by Held.

As more and more Shadow power was consumed, Held's body and life state inevitably began to transform towards a Shadow being, the Holy Light on her body disappearing, replaced by Shadow energy like C'Thun's.

If Held hadn't warned them beforehand not to interfere in her battle with the Old God unless she specifically requested it, Grommash would have recklessly led his clan to try and snatch Held from the center of the Shadow vortex.

Of course, it was more likely that he and his people would have rushed forward only to be torn to shreds by the highly compressed, high-quality Shadow power.

As it was, he could only retreat step by step with Ner'zhul and the other shamans, leading their clansmen away from the ever-expanding Shadow vortex on the ground.

"...Foolish insect..."

Feeling his Shadow power being continuously drawn out by the Shadow vortex, flowing into the female creature, even C'Thun, who had lived for so long, had never encountered an opponent who dared to actively absorb Shadow energy, completely disregarding its erosion and transformation.

In his eyes, such behavior was suicidal, foolish beyond redemption.

No one could resist the Shadow.

Let alone actively absorb it.

This was equivalent to actively embracing the energy of the Shadow, automatically choosing to join the ranks of the Shadow.

This saved C'Thun a lot of trouble. He had thought he might have to spend more effort.

Swallow, then, swallow!

The more greedy she was, the faster she would accelerate her own corruption and fall. And the sooner she would become his puppet. Therefore, C'Thun not only did not stop the outflow of his power, but instead increased the output.

The scene was eerily calm for a time.

After only a short time, C'Thun stared at Held, who was still absorbing his Shadow power like a bottomless pit, and couldn't help but begin to doubt himself.

The other party had already absorbed a full tenth of his Shadow energy. Although this was far from his prime, even the weakened state he was in after being sealed for so long, a tenth of his energy should have been enough to corrupt any life on this planet. Based on experience, the other party had inevitably completely transformed into a Shadow creature and become his puppet, slave, and servant.

But he felt no ability to control the other party or issue commands. Instead, his energy was still leaking endlessly towards the other party. This situation was a little beyond C'Thun's imagination.

So C'Thun felt that he could no longer continue to supply it like this, and he prepared to cut off the energy supply to the other party.

But the situation made him feel somewhat absurd.

He couldn't cut off the outflow of his own energy.

In other words, he had opened the floodgates, but now the floodgates could not be closed for some reason that he had not yet figured out.

Grommash, Ner'zhul, and the others stared in horror at the High Priest, whose aura had changed drastically. This situation was also somewhat beyond their expectations. Of course, they had all been forewarned not to be surprised by anything they saw.

"...Stop! Insect! This is not a power you should covet..."

C'Thun's somewhat exasperated psychic storm reverberated once again. This time, it was not a condescending pronouncement from on high, but rather a kind of hysteria after being enraged.

"What are you referring to? This Shadow power?"

The Shadow vortex still rotated around Held, and the vortex was still expanding. This caused C'Thun's Shadow power to flow away even faster.

As a Shadow being, Shadow power was his lifeblood! It was his body tissue! It was the source of his power! With so much power flowing away, his size inevitably shrank again by a few points.

Since being sealed, this was the first time he had suffered such a heavy blow.

C'Thun was no longer thinking about turning the other party into his puppet and servant. He decided to kill the other party and take back his lost power!

He would definitely extract the other party's soul and torture it fiercely with Shadow power, listening to the other party's soul wail at every moment as punishment.

So he waved his powerful tentacles, intending to directly interrupt the other party's endless absorption with brute force.

A huge Shadow blade, carrying immense dark energy, met the smashing tentacle. Under the gaze of C'Thun's many astonished eyes, the strong tentacle collapsed at the first touch of the black Shadow blade and was cut in half without any obstruction. One of the octopus-like tentacles fell directly into the Shadow vortex below, and without any struggle, it was turned into the purest Shadow energy under the crushing force of the vortex, and then gathered into Held's body.

"..."

C'Thun had never encountered an enemy like Held. The Shadow power, which all life except Shadow life avoided, was absorbed by the other party without reservation.

However, the other party showed no obvious signs of corruption or fall. After absorbing so much of his Shadow power, she was still able to maintain her sanity and will, and still maintain the stability of her life form. This was simply beyond C'Thun's understanding!

He even felt that this female life was even more unreasonable than the Titans who had sealed him! At least they wouldn't think about eating him!

C'Thun even felt a sense of death. Those Titans were afraid of harming the vessel, and did not dare to really destroy them who had reached some kind of symbiosis with this world. But this female life seemed to be the nemesis of their Shadow!

Thinking of the Holy Light energy the other party had used at the beginning, this made C'Thun's head, which was dizzy from the seal, subconsciously stall again. The two opposing energies merging into one without exploding was simply outrageous!

However, C'Thun still knew that he had to struggle desperately now, otherwise the other party might really devour him completely. It was difficult to kill the Old Gods, but that didn't mean they really couldn't die.

More tentacles stretched out from the gradually drying Shadow lake, and a torrent of Shadow energy attacked Held like a rainstorm.

However, all the attacks were converted into the purest Shadow power and then swallowed by the Shadow vortex.

Held opened her hand towards C'Thun, and black chains stretched out from all directions, wrapping around and binding C'Thun's tentacles and body. C'Thun's huge body was even pulled out of the Shadow Lake by the pulling of the black chains and hung in mid-air.

Cytorak Crimson Bands [Modified].

Or should it be called C'Thun's Shadow Chains?

"...Despicable thief...Insect...You can't..."

C'Thun struggled desperately, but this modified magic seemed to be set according to the power of the one being bound. In principle, it was fighting against oneself.

Without external help, no one could break free from this restraint with their own power alone. Because it was fighting against one's own power.

If Agatha knew C'Thun's current situation, she would probably have a sense of sympathy. When she clashed with Held, she experienced this barbaric and unreasonable power.

All power and skills would be deciphered and transformed by the other party, and then turned into the other party's resources to fight against her.

It could only be said that she was worthy of being the successor to all of the Ancient One's teachings.

Held was even better than the Ancient One she knew and remembered in terms of stealing various energies, converting and applying different energies, filtering out the negative aspects of dangerous energies while maintaining herself, and so on.

Moreover, the upper limit of what the other party could bear and transform was endless. At least Agatha had never seen her limit.

Agatha, who could also manipulate energy and absorb energy for conversion, knew better than anyone how far Held had gone on this road and how despairing it was.

God of elements and psionic energy?

No, in Agatha's opinion, the Ancient One's ambition was even greater. She was walking the path of restraining and stealing all energy based on her own characteristics!

Once all energy was deciphered and stolen by the other party, it would become her own power. The more characteristics the energy had, the more abundant and complex the other party's means would be.

As for the problems of energy conflict, etc., Luke had undoubtedly solved them for her. At least he had solved them at this stage.

Agatha now understood how deeply the Ancient One and Luke were bound together, which was almost as unbreakable as the Vishanti trinity. Although she still couldn't figure out why Luke would lend the new energy he created with devouring and assimilation properties to the Ancient One to become a god, this type of energy was indeed extremely suitable for the path the Ancient One was currently taking.

"...I am willing to submit..."

C'Thun, whose size had shrunk greatly, whose aura was constantly falling, and whose state had become extremely weak, finally couldn't help but transmit his mental thoughts to Held.

If he was absorbed for a while longer, he would probably fall into eternal sleep.

Perhaps C'Thun's plea worked, Held finally stopped the Shadow vortex. As the last bit of Shadow power merged into her body along with the receding vortex, a pattern representing the Shadow appeared on Held's forehead.

But in the next moment, a Holy Light pattern replaced the Shadow pattern, and the rich Shadow power on Held's body no longer leaked out under some strange technique. The erosion and transformation of the Shadow quickly receded from Held's body until she returned to the way she had come.

Under the stunned gazes of many eyes, C'Thun, who had been reduced to the size of a frost wolf, Held's body was once again lit up with the warm power of Holy Light. Moreover, this Holy Light, which was much thicker and richer than before, formed a circular light fence, which confined him inside.

This made the weak C'Thun feel particularly uncomfortable, his whole body feeling like it was being burned at all times.

"Let's go. With C'Thun taken away, the abnormality here should be discovered soon." Held reached out and waved her hand. The Holy Light cage suppressed C'Thun's size and shrunk together, eventually turning into a ball of light, which Held grabbed in her hand.