The Ravenous Shadow (Name pending an upgrade), it was the answer that Elizabeth had arrived at, she didn't want to use Chloe's Lightning, and since that was out of the game, then the evolved version the Divine Lightning was also out of the game.

  But then what could she do? She hadn't been able to defeat [Shadow Pact] or [The Shadow Tide], she wasn't going to outmaneuver someone like that, she hadn't been able to detect the taint when she got infected by it and Nyctophagia was way weaker than those two.

  Granted, that shadow manipulation wasn't from him, but from [The Stygian Bane], but that was still out of her level. Perhaps if she could use Nyx, then there could have been an option of victory.

  But Nyx was out of the game till she finished reparinig Terra Nexus, then what could she do?

  Use another element? Fire?

  That wouldn't work, she didn't had enough mastery to control what she burned away.

  Space? As if that would work better, if she had the same mastery as Aura? Then sure, she didn't doubt that Aura could defeat Echidna, even if the purple maid should be weaker than Elizabeth. But even so, Elizabeth could see the purple maid defeating Echidna with ease.

  But no, that wasn't an option.

  So she did the best next thing, she powered up her Shadow powers. Her Lightning had increased in power and achieved Divine status when she joined the Lightning with her Sin.

  When her Lightning became bathed in Pride, it evolved into what she had. So what could she do to upgrade her Shadows?

  It was obvious, there was only one thing that could complement her shadows as well as Pride did with Lightning.

  Gluttony.

  The first Sin she encountered, the one she despised the most, she hated it more than she did hate envy, and that one was the one she got from Akira. The Sin that allowed him to be such a little piece of shit.

  The Sin that allowed him to rape, abuse, and mind-control thousands of victims.

  And why did Elizabeth hate Gluttony that much? Because it was the Sin she got after Ethan had played with her body, after he took it, ruined it, and ended up evicting Elizabeth from it.

  It was because of Gluttony that Elizabeth had ended up stealing Chloe's body.

  It was because of Gluttony that Papa and Mother ended up in the middle of an Apotheosis.

  It was because of Gluttony that Rossie had broken her Soul and grounded it into a paste to help Elizabeth recover.

  It was because of Gluttony that Elizabeth ended up in a coma for almost six months, and her body was thrown around as much.

  It was because of Gluttony….that Elizabeth had ended up collecting these Sin Gems, it was what allowed her to increase her power this much…

  It was….it was….it was one of the reasons she ended up with this much power, and if Elizabeth was honest, it was probably always going to end up with her, the compatibility with her shadows was great, even before getting it, her shadows had already shown maws when she lost control.

  If it was her inheritance from Alexanders or not, was up to debate. But it was obviously well suited for her Shadows.

  "We are keeping stability Mistress, no minion is out of control." And that was the proof, the report from Mordred as the shadows within the Shadow Haven had fused into a single entity filled with maws and dragon eyes all around.

  Even Mordred's dress was covered in these shadowy maws, the only remaining of her form was the face that hadn't been quite covered by those maws.

  "It also seems that this new power increases our detection abilities; I have found the spies hidden within the Shadow Haven; do we let the Valkrye scout leave?" Mordred reported bringing a spot to Elizabeth's attention.

  There stood a scared little girl hugging a small sword and shield.

  "Let her go…Actually, Aura, evacuate any nonshadow minion from the Shadow Haven." Elizabeth sent to the purple maid, getting a salute emoji from her.

  How was she even transmitting emojis using mental communication? That purple maid was weird.

  "....You….are you aware of what you did?" Echidna asked as Elizabeth's shadowy substance continued spreading slowly, consuming more of Echidna's shadows.

  The problem with having all the skills at 999 is that there was only so much you could condense your shadows, and Echidna was beyond that point. The woman probably never had to condense her shadows. And unlike Elizabeth, she didn't have a whole planet to shunt out her excess.

  So Elizabeth was taking that as a way to increase the density of her shadows by consuming the shadows of Echidna.

  "I did my best, someone was bullying me. And I didn't want to use a daughter's hand to hurt her Mother. So I took the second best option," Elizabeth answered, letting the shadows condense atop her hand, she wanted to form a Shadow Dragon…

  But the shadows didn't condense well enough to form one, instead turning into a mass pulled out of an eldritch tale.

  "Still a work in progress," Elizabeth would get there, she had managed to make Shadow Dragons…kind of….actually, those were more of a Nyx thing weren't they?

  "You….you corrupted the shadow, there is a reason why Shadow Users are feared, [The Shadowcaster] was a good example, we make the nightmares into reality!" Echidna raised her hand and pulled. This time, Elizabeth didn't even feel anything, but nonetheless, something was pulled and stuck into the shadows, "But you? You just corrupted those same shadows into that aberration, everything in this world is connected by shadows, what do you think will happen if your monster gets out of control?"

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  The thing that Echidna stuck into the shadows started to change the form, first slowly…then gaining speed as the figure grew in size, from the size of a pear into a child, into a little girl, and then into a fifteen-year-old girl.

  She was quite well looking and endowed, she was wearing a black dress with a side slit that went to the waist. The top of her black gala dress barely covered the chest and was really, just a pair of fabric pieces to cover some of the chest and give support.

  The girl was wearing a pair of black gloves that went almost to the shoulder and black stiletto shoes. Her eyes were pure red and had a long blonde hair.

  "....You…." Elizabeth in contrast was covered from head to toes in the black billowing shadow, and her hair had turned obsidian black.

  "Little old me…did you miss me ??" The other blonde girl said.

  "Your worst nightmare is….yourself in a slutty black dress?" Echidna asked confused.

  "Awww…..Lena doesn't recognize her old boss ??" The blonde girl purred, why was she purring? How did one purr? "Gotta say, I was surprised because Cathy wasn't that appealing, but you are also not that good-looking now…. Wasn't that hunk your son? Can you bring him out ??"

  "....what is this? Old boss?" Echidna said confused, processing what the other blonde was speaking.

  "....Proliferate…." Elizabeth in the meantime didn't waste a second, her shadows were growing slow, they ate, assimilate and then grew, at the pace she was going she had full confidence in being able to overpower Echidna…

  At some point, but it would take time.

  And that woman had brought Ethan back…she had brought [The Stygian Bane] from the dead, or had she? Was this a mere illusion? A nightmare brought from the dead?

  "I'm [The Stygian Bane]!" The blonde shadowy girl said, "Or well…in this form I may need a new name? Also you might want to get that in check, that skill is nasty, it killed me last time."

  "THE WHAT?!?!?" Echidna said, but before she could do anything about that, the effect of Elizabeth's last skill took hold.

  The shadows under her started to stir as red cracks formed in the shadows, her Ravenous Shadows traveling in those and spreading faster, Elizabeth used all her focus and pointed these towards Echidna and the other blonde.

  Echidna, to her defense, reacted quickly and started pumping out Mana into her Shadows, reinforcing them, Elizabeth could barely move forward her Proliferation. Each second earning her more Shadows more density, and a new appreciation for the skill. As it not only increased Elizabeth's control and power, but also spread her power more.

  It truly was a broken skill, one not designed for Human use.

  It took all her control to keep the thing pointed in the right direction, Elizabeth would probably need to destroy or repurpose the thing, she wasn't even aware that she could pull the thing out like this.

  "What even is that skill!" Echidna screamed as the facade of cool beauty fell, "And what do you mean that you are Ethan! Ethan was male!"

  "Darling, I got better," The other girl said, smiling and cupping one of her breasts with a hand, "So much better…?"

  "Stop touching my body!" Elizabeth screamed as she started molding the shadows into a spear(kind of looking spear) and threw it towards the other blonde girl.

  The spear broke out as soon as it got across the threshold made up from Echidna's shadows, but as it disintegrated it made new nodules out of Ravenous Shadows.

  "Should….we help?" At the back, Rossie asked, making an attempt to take a step forward.

  "No," A small Valkyrie said, jumping out from a rift that was open in the air. It… didn't look like a shadow base skill, but then again, right now, all of Elizabeth's shadows had morphed into Ravenous Shadow; she wouldn't trust anyone to use those skills. "It's too dangerous, those shadows don't recognize allies from foe, we tested it."

  "She is right Rossie, my Instincts tells me that those Shadows are dangerous," Rena said from the side, "I trust Eli too, but….that other girl wearing her appearance….she also gives me bad feelings."

  "....But…Eli-Eli needs us…" Rossie said in a small voice, "She is suffering too….I….I couldn't face my own fears alone…"

  "She isn't alone, she knows we are here…" Rena said, then turning to the ring that Elizabeth had given her, she gave it a small kiss, "Right? Eli?"

  Elizabeth of course wanted to say yes. But she couldn't spare the energy. She was stuck between wanting to purge Ethan's figure and wanting to comfort and be comforted.

  But as the Valkyrie and Rena had said… These shadows were dangerous. Even while they were made out from Elizabeth, she wasn't able to fully contain them, and Proliferation didn't make things easier.

  But that was besides the point, what Elizabeth needed right now wasn't that, she only needed enough to punch Echidna where it hurt...And enough to destroy that abomination that Echidna had pulled out.

  "Hmm....pink hair....I was never one to like those..." The evil blonde said, truly a spawn from the worst nightmares that Elizabeth could ever dream, "And that red-haired looks like a problem too. Did me taking over your body break something, I wonder ??"

  "Shut it!" Elizabeth said igniting the shadows that had spread around, letting them burst and extend the effects of Proliferate even more, the key with this skills seemed that was focused in spreading, so Elizabeth allowed it to spread further.

  Unlike what Ethan had done, when directing the skill downwards, Elizabeth was spreading it in a more linear way, she was taking the shadows around and using them as fuel. Yes, but also was spreading the thing to other targets, namely. Ethan and Echidna.

  Since the skill was designed to spread and infect others, this was closer to the original goal of it, so it worked better for Elizabeth this way.

  "Stop it!" Echidna screamed back as Elizabeth fueled the spread more and more, which meant that of course Elizabeth didn't stop, and instead fueled even more mana into the Ravenous Shadows.

  "Yeah, she is kind of simple-minded, trust me. I am using her hardware ?," The blonde girl said as she started floating around Echidna, "Say...do you mind if I go play around ??"

  "And you too stop!" Echidna screamed at the blonde girl, "Return to the shadows!"

  Would that work? Elizabeth wasn't sure, she...was sure that it was the original Ethan it wouldn't, but how much could Echidna pull out of the original Ethan from Elizabeth's nightmares?

  Elizabeth hadn't thought much about Ethan after the fact; she would admit that he was one of the nightmares that still plagued Elizabeth even to this day; the fact that Echidna was able to pull out a version of this... completely was worrying, too?

  From where had Echidna even pulled something like this? How much was really from Elizabeth? And how much was from [The World], how much had been pulled from Akasha itself?

  "I think...no." The blonde girl said, shaking her head with a smirk, "I don't think I'll be doing that."

  "...What?" Echidna stumbled at the answer, which Elizabeth took change to remove even more of the shadows that Echidna had used, more so Elizabeth could go after Ethan, "What do you mean 'No'? I am your owner!"

  "Yeah....no, you may have had that chance when I was a man, but right now...you aren't my type." Ethan said, giggling, "I mean, thank you for pulling the remnants from that thing...But no, I honestly thought my resurrection would come from the broken body I left behind, not from the smallest node of consciousness that thing took from me."

  That thing? What thing?

  "So for that...I'll not stab you in the back...but instead I am willing to-" The blonde girl continued speaking, but Elizabeth wasn't listening, instead she prepared. She planned, she executed her plan.

  "I fricking knew there was something left from you," Elizabeth said with a smirk as she molded a bullet out of the Ravenous Shadows.

  "So?" The blonde girl smiled at Elizabeth while she floated away, towards one of the walls of the room, "You can barely stand, Lena here will not stop blocking you for she fears a power that she can't control. There is nothing you can do to move to where I am to stop me...You are powerful, more powerful than this body I have right now...But I just need to shed it away and get a new one...perhaps a younger one? Growing up as a little girl may be a good way to spend time...Perhaps a newborn?"

  ...This motherf#cker....was he going to steal the body of another girl? A younger one? A baby?

  "What? It's the best way to get used to the female body." The blonde girl said shrugging, "Besides...that way there will be no way for you to catch me...not until it's too late anyway, toodles~"

  Yes, Ethan was right. Elizabeth couldn't stop him; she couldn't break the space to where he was standing. Echidna would definitely not allow her, and she couldn't trust that Echidna would destroy him if she stopped Proliferation.

  But Elizabeth had other options, she was serious in the fact that the Lightning was out of the window, that was not an option, Ethan also knew she had Lightning, that could give him a way to escape farther away.

  But she had other options.

  She didn't only have Ravenous Shadows and Divine Lightning, she had a third Element that was waiting for use, so she focused in making both the bullet she was going to use, and the canon from where she would shoot.

  When that was done, she started channeling the third element she had at hand.

  "Infernal Fire." It was the smallest of embers, barely a spark. It settled at the base of the cannon made from The Ravenous Shadow, but it was enough.

  Elizabeth let go of the small ember, and its explosion was enough to propel the bullet straight at the other blonde. The other girl had barely enough time to react.

  But that was all Elizabeth had needed, she didn't even need the full bullet to remain, the explosion was enough to almost fully destroy the bullet she had made, leaving barely a fragment of it.

  But that was all it took.

  Elizabeth couldn't help but smile as the fragments embedded into the blonde girl.

  "Well...dammit, I guess this one was also a fail, huh?" The blonde girl said as cracks in red color started showing on her body, "Well...a shame, but how many will you manage to stop? You weren't the only one I infected after all...Perhaps there is already another version of me in the wild? How many little girls have I replaced?"

  The girl spoke as she allowed her body descend to the floor, the shadows around her attempted to climb to her, but they got slurped in by the red cracks that had formed on her body.

  "How many little boys have I replaced? How many animals? How many shadows are already Tainted by me?" The girl continued speaking as she started laughing, "Fear me, Elizabeth Starbright, fear my return! For I am [The Stygiani Bane]!"

  "Shut it, old man," Elizabeth said, making a motion of crushing something with her hand, "It doesn't matter how many of you are around, they will all die."

  And Elizabeth would make sure of that; if she ended up with enough power to achieve an apotheosis, that would be the first thing she did, assuming Papa and Mother hadn't done that already.

  For now? For now, she had more important things to do.

  Like checking this new notification that she just got.

  "So...what did we learn Echidna?" Elizabeth said, smiling as she clicked off the notification, "Hubris is a dangerous thing, isn't it?"