SHADOW BEFORE CREATION

Shoggnar Faughn

{I am Shoggnar Faughn. I will be your next opponent.}

Shoggnar moved his enormous body before descending toward the ground as though a tank had fallen from the heavens. The earth beneath his feet shattered with terrifying force, cracks spreading across the surface as he came to a standstill.

The sheer weight of his body alone was enough to make the air groan.

'An enormous form… a solid body, raw strength that can be sensed even without fighting… and this weight… formidable.'

Arthur raised his gaze toward Shoggnar Faughn, then briefly glanced at his hand. The flesh was still slowly decaying, as though time itself were conspiring against him.

'Damn… I don't have much time.'

"Well, then le—"

He did not finish his words.

Shoggnar Faughn's body disappeared from before his eyes.

"Damn, where—"

He was given no chance to think. A massive, solid foot tore through the void and slammed into Arthur's chest with devastating force.

He could not even activate Haki or raise his arms to defend himself.

Shoggnar Faughn's speed was something Arthur had never experienced before.

It was not merely speed… it was as though the entity itself pierced through time as it moved.

The foot struck Arthur's chest, launching him backward like a living projectile. His body crashed into a mountain behind him, destroying it and piercing through into a second mountain, then a third.

At the fourth mountain, he finally came to a stop.

The dust cleared, revealing Arthur's body embedded in the rock. His shirt had been completely torn apart, exposing his blood-stained chest. Blood flowed from his mouth and eyes as he struggled to breathe.

'T… damn… he's fast…'

'Even faster than Cthulhu.'

At that moment, Arthur realized a terrifying truth.

Shoggnar Faughn… was the fastest Great Ancient in existence.

His speed did not merely touch time… it pierced through it.

Even Cthulhu, who would later become the High Priest of the Outer Gods, had not come close to this speed when Arthur first faced him.

Arthur had never faced an opponent with such brutal movement.

"Damn you, you fast bastard."

Arthur moved his hand and struck the mountain behind him with a single blow, shattering it before pushing himself forward.

He tore away what remained of his shirt, revealing his tense, muscular body.

{You are strong, human, but I am Shoggnar Faughn… the fastest among the Great Ancients, and even among the Outer Gods. You will never be able to match my speed.}

Arthur coughed up blood, then calmly wiped his mouth and smiled… a smile charged with mad excitement.

"If your speed is the best among the Great Ancients and even the Outer Gods… and if you can pierce through time itself…"

He raised both hands together before his chest.

"Then I… will pierce through the Sea of Time itself."

At that moment, pure, dark energy exploded around Arthur's body. A dense, suffocating energy that overwhelmed even Shoggnar Faughn's aura.

{Very well… I will not hold back against you.}

Shoggnar Faughn declared, unleashing his full power without hesitation.

In a fraction of a second, his transformation began.

His body grew larger and more monstrous. The face on his back twisted, and a gigantic mouth opened. From within it emerged an enormous leech that rose above his head. Small wings sprouted from the sides of his body, while tentacles extended from his back like whips, and sharp horns appeared along his jaw.

{{Can you match my speed now?}}

Shoggnar Faughn roared powerfully.

And at that moment…

Time stopped.

Everything froze.

The world… the sea… the air… even the atoms themselves.

No creature moved.

Except for one human.

Arthur stood before Shoggnar Faughn and moved.

One step.

Then another.

He extended his hand, pierced through Shoggnar Faughn's body, and grasped something deep within him.

In the next moment…

Shoggnar Faughn's entire body evaporated.

He died.

Byatis, the last Great Ancient, stood there, staring at the scene in disbelief.

{You… stopped time itself, boy.}

He spoke in a low voice, filled with astonishment.

The next moment, Arthur's body began shaking violently, and he collapsed to the ground while screaming.

"Damn this cursed Law of Time!"

He coughed up blood profusely.

What Arthur had done was nothing more than compressing the Law of Time itself.

The Law of Time… the First Law.

It existed before the worlds, before the entities, before everything.

Arthur's understanding was only enough to manipulate the flow of the Sea of Time… not to stop it.

But what he had done now was beyond reason.

He survived only because he was in the world of one of the Great Ancients, protected by Azathoth's power, where the heavens could not interfere.

Arthur had compressed all his understanding of the Law of Time and forced his body to bear the full power necessary to withstand the flow of the Sea of Time.

The Sea of Time sensed his interference and attempted to crush him.

But he endured… for only five seconds.

For three of those seconds, the Sea of Time flowed through his body.

And at that moment, Arthur rushed forward, pierced through Shoggnar Faughn's body, and drained all of his power.

Then… the Law of Time exploded from his body and returned to its natural flow.

A pressure equivalent to a million worlds fell upon his soul and body.

Despite the countless worlds and galaxies… the Law of Time remained constant.

'Damn… if I don't do something, I'll die.'

Without hesitation, Arthur violently forced the powers of Atlatl Nasha and Abhoth out of his body, using them to expel the distortion of the Law of Time.

A great sacrifice.

He succeeded… but he lost two powers of the Great Ancients.

And yet…

His understanding of the Law of Time had increased.

And he had obtained Shoggnar Faughn's full power… without sending it to Byatis.

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