With Evan now realizing who his enemy truly was, he finally understood his goal. But a new obstacle loomed before him—how to find the shadow presence.
Without hesitation, he stormed into the chambers of the Praximas leader, grabbed him by the neck, and lifted him effortlessly off the ground.
"Where is he?" Evan growled, his voice low and dangerous.
The leader coughed and gasped. "W-what are you talking about? Who told you that?"
Evan's eyes burned with fury. "Don't lie to me, old man. Where is he?!"
Suddenly, a chilling gust of wind swept through the room. The air thickened, and the light dimmed. Evan's grip loosened as the leader crumpled to the floor.
He was here.
The shadow.
A voice—deep, cold, and ancient—slithered through the air. "What is it that you are looking for… here?"
Evan straightened, trying to mask the dread building in his chest. "Stop hiding. Show yourself, coward!"
But for the first time in a long time… Evan was afraid.
The presence was overwhelming. The energy in the room was suffocating. It clawed at his mind, whispering things he didn't want to hear. Still, he stood tall. He would not show fear. Not again.
Then the shadow emerged—not fully physical, but not entirely intangible. A form, seen but untouchable. Evan struck at it—punches, fire, raw energy. Nothing worked.
"Why do you do this?" the shadow asked. "What's the point of this path you walk? It won't bring your mother back… and it won't fix things with your brother."
Evan faltered.
"I can," the shadow said. "I can give you your heart's desires… if only you let me."
The voice was almost soothing now, melodic even. Evan's defenses began to falter. Can he really? he thought. Can everything go back to how it was?
The shadow saw the hesitation and pressed deeper—showing Evan a memory: he and Ash as children, running through their old home, their mother calling them in for dinner. Laughter. Safety. Innocence.
Then—another vision.
A future.
Evan and Ash, both older, each with families of their own. Children laughing. Their mother, alive, playing with her grandchildren. Peace. Wholeness.
A world without pain. A world without betrayal.
But was that truly what he wanted?
Or was it revenge?
Evan's mind screamed. The manipulation was seamless, beautiful even. A dream wrapped in a lie. But his heart… his heart remembered something else.
A darker memory.
The day he first killed.
The day he slaughtered the Sun Walkers.
Their blood had drenched him. It clung to his skin, his soul. On that day, the version of him who believed in peace had died. He had buried his humanity beneath the screams of the fallen.
He never allowed himself to dwell on it. He couldn't. If he did, he knew he'd collapse—he'd cry like a child and never rise again. Because with the Sun Walkers, the last of his hope had been extinguished.
And with it, his innocence.
Revenge had become his only desire.
Love? No. Love had only ever brought him pain, betrayal… and death.
He clenched his fists, his eyes hardening.
"No," Evan muttered, voice thick with rage and regret. "You can keep your illusions."
The shadow fell silent for a moment.
And then it smiled.
"So you choose arrogance over peace. After all, you're just a child—and yet, you know so little."
The voice was cold, venomous. "But the deal I made with the dwarfs still stands… and now, they are mine to do with as I please."
Then, out of the shadows, Nellyx appeared—held by the neck, her body suspended in the grip of the shadow being. She struggled to breathe, but despite the pain, she managed a small smile in Evan's direction,Nellyx coughed weakly in the shadow's grip, barely holding on. Her voice was thin but calm.
"I tried… to have children once," she whispered. "Every one… taken. Every time, the shadow found them. I stopped trying. I stopped hoping."
She looked at Evan, tears shining in her eyes. "You think I'm scared to die? Evan… death is peace for those who've run out of reasons to live."
Then she smiled, and the shadow snapped her neck.
And the shadow said "death is peace for the unpeaceful".
And then—snap.
Her neck broke. Her body crumpled and dissolved into dust.
Evan stood frozen. The weight of what just happened crushed him. His fault. If he hadn't pressured them... she'd still be alive. Another person lost. Another death on his hands.
But instead of spiraling into rage, something in him shifted.
His eyes changed—not glowing with fury, but hollow, empty. The kind of emptiness that made even the shadow being falter. For the first time in all its years, it felt fear. Real, paralyzing fear. Its form became unstable—physical—and it stumbled to the ground.
Evan didn't move. He didn't have to. His presence alone commanded the room now.
This wasn't the same boy. The last time he lost someone he truly loved was when his mother was killed—while his brother held him back, forcing him to watch.
He couldn't do nothing again.
Evan was powerful. All from the Nefarious world were. But for a half-breed, Evan was beyond exceptional. Was it his training by the imp, one of the strongest mages alive? His birth under strange, twisted stars? The death? The betrayal? Or was it everything combined, converging into something terrifying and beautiful?
At Evan's feet, the shadow being crawled back, trying to escape.
Evan took a step forward and asked in a strange, hollow voice, "Why do any of this?"
Maybe it was directed at the shadow. Maybe at his brother. Maybe himself.
The shadow being, desperate, muttered, "I was like them once… I was asked by the former shadow being what my greatest desire was… I said, to be the strongest. And then… I became this.
Please—don't kill me. I only wanted to survive. I wanted to be like you."
Evan's lip curled. Disgust.
This thing—after all the pain, all the death—begged for its life? It had taken lives without remorse, and now it wanted mercy?
Every enemy, every lie, every monster had taught Evan that evil wasn't limited to humans. Every creature seemed to carry it deep in their core. Survival had become their excuse, their justification.
He grabbed the being by the throat and raised it into the air. Calmly, coldly, he whispered, just like he had to the others before, "For survival."
And then he snapped its neck.
As its body crumpled, Evan stood still.
Everything in his life—every loss, every scar—pointed to one final goal: the death of his brother.
Only then, he believed, could he find peace.
At least… he thought.
But now, with the shadow being dead, it felt like a swarm of memories came rushing into Evan. Endless visions from the shadow's past life flooded his mind—haunting, suffocating. The lives destroyed, the people broken… it was too much. Everything felt darker, heavier. And with Nellyx gone, with Evan standing in the chaos of confusion and grief, that question returned, louder than ever: Where do I go from here?
The planet was finally free.
But freedom came at a cost Evan never anticipated. The people, liberated from their curse, began killing themselves. He ran, desperate to stop them—but they were smiling. Joyfully. Genuinely.
One of them, the leader, stepped forward. His voice was calm, almost grateful.
"Thank you," he said. "We've been alive for thousands of years… but never in peace. This may look cruel and brutal to you, but to us, this is the most beautiful day of all."
Evan stared at him, lost for words.
"I'm sorry about Nellyx," the leader continued. "I made a deal long ago, and the entire world paid for my mistake. Now we're free to rest. I know you may never forgive me—I don't forgive myself. I've lost everything… and for what?"
For a moment, Evan felt the man understood him. Understood the weight he carried.
But then, the leader pulled out a knife, gave one last look of peace—and slit his throat in front of Evan. He collapsed with a smile on his lips.
And just like that, the planet fell silent. Blood and bodies everywhere.
Everyone was gone.
Only then did Evan fall to his knees and finally cry. Cry for Nellyx, for the people, for everything lost.
At least until the Imp returned.
It didn't take long. After the shadow being died, a pulse of dark energy had spread across the world. The Imp felt it. He knew Evan had killed again.
And he knew—it wouldn't be the last time.
By this time, Evan was already known throughout all the magical worlds as the Shadow Killer."