Magical Girl's Knight Brother

Chapter 590 The Second Belt

Deep within the Ghost Mist Forest, decaying trees twisted like ghostly claws, and a thick, greyish-white fog, like the solidified breath of the dead, clung to every inch of space. The air was thick with decay, resentment, and a nauseatingly sweet, foul stench.

Several twisted figures, shrouded in tattered crimson robes, appeared and disappeared in the forest clearing. Their empty eye sockets burned with ominous flames, radiating a chilling madness and malice. Facing this group of undead deeply corrupted by calamity, Scáthach's aura was entirely different. Her magnificent and powerful shadow armor flowed with a deep purple light within the gray mist, and the shadow crown on her helmet exuded an invisible pressure. Without any unnecessary movements, she simply slowly raised her right hand, which covered the shadow armor.

hum!

An indescribable fluctuation of law emanated from her, not a destructive impact, but carrying a majestic, absolutist authority originating from a higher dimension. The surrounding shadows seemed to come alive, like the most loyal subjects responding to the queen's call.

Immediately afterwards, a crimson light condensed and stretched in her palm, eventually transforming into an ancient-looking spear, seemingly forged from congealed blood and shadow—the Spear of Gde Bolg. Although its form was altered by the power of shadow, its essential aura, transcending life and death, remained incredibly powerful.

Scáthach, wielding a crimson shadow spear, spoke from beneath her helmet in a cold yet authoritative voice, like an ancient judgment echoing through time: "In the name of the Queen of the Land of Shadows."

Her voice wasn't loud, but it clearly drowned out the screams of the dead, echoing through the deathly silent forest.

"I hereby pardon you from all calamities."

This statement was like a divine revelation.

Those red-robed ghosts, which had been baring their fangs and poised to attack, seemed to have been struck by an invisible giant hammer. Their movements suddenly froze, and the eerie green flames in their empty eye sockets flickered wildly, revealing extreme fear and an instinctive submission to a higher-ranking being.

The next moment, they desperately tried to transform into red mist and scatter to escape.

However, it was too late.

The moment Scáthach finished speaking, the shadows that were everywhere—on the ground, on the tree trunks, and even in the mist—suddenly came to life. Countless pitch-black shadow tentacles, with edges shimmering with dark purple light, were like the swiftest venomous snakes, precisely coiling around and binding every red-robed ghost that tried to escape.

These shadows were not mere imprisonment; they were like greedy mouths of purification, beginning to devour the viscous, blood-like polluted energy clinging to the undead. Tang Zijun stood not far away, her eyes clearly capturing all of this.

He could see the crimson, foul energy being forcibly extracted from the struggling, howling undead, as if being powerfully sucked away, and flowing into the shadows that entwined them. The shadow tentacles, after devouring the contamination, became even deeper and purer in color, as if using the filth as nourishment, transforming it into more refined shadow power that fed back to Scáthach, or dissipated into the invisible laws.

Scáthach wasn't destroying these undead; she was forcibly stripping away and purifying their distorted and corrupted cores, absolving them of the calamities imposed upon them. This was a manifestation of the authority of the Queen of the Shadow Kingdom, a direct intervention in the "death" and the "corruption" rules of the Great Old Ones. The scene was incredibly shocking; Desk was speechless. But at this moment, the turmoil churning in Tang Zijun's heart stemmed more from the unbelievably ornate shadow belt around Scáthach's waist. While remaining vigilant about his surroundings, he couldn't help but glance at the belt—its smooth lines, its texture seemingly sculpted by the starlight and darkness, its perfect curves conforming to Scáthach's waist… Where did this thing come from?!

Scáthach had only raised her hand to condense energy, and the belt appeared out of thin air. This was by no means a simple energy shaping. Tang Zijun knew his Kamen Rider belt quite well. After all, it was shaped by the power of greed, the strongest desire in that boy's heart.

This incredible fulfillment of desires should be the domain of the greedy, so why can the power of shadow do the same thing? Condensing armor is one thing, but creating one out of thin air that perfectly simulates the core functions of the Knight System (at least judging from her successful transformation, the functions are complete), and even looks better than the original... this completely overturned Tang Zijun's understanding.

This requires an incredibly high level of precision in controlling energy, and a profound understanding of the rules governing Rider transformation.

Or perhaps, Scáthach, using her authority as Queen of the Land of Shadows, simply defined her own "Shadow Knight Belt"? Just like she defined her own weapons and armor? Watching Scáthach wield the crimson shadow spear, like a supreme purifier, pardoning the calamities of the undead with the bearing of a queen, Tang Zijun's lips twitched involuntarily. He was once again certain of a fact: never use mortal logic to try to understand an ancient god.

Perhaps Tang Zijun's gaze was too intense, Scáthach slowly turned her head to meet his eyes. "You seem quite surprised?" *Seriously...* Tang Zijun pouted. "I always thought the Kamen Rider belt was mine."

Tang Zijun had tried to replicate a Kamen Rider belt before. He had this idea ever since he learned that he was the only Kamen Rider in the world. Being a Kamen Rider is indeed very cool, but it also brings a sense of loneliness.

With this in mind, Tang Zijun began to study the secrets of the belt. However, at that time, Tang Zijun did not know the origin of the belt; he thought it was his cheat code. Tang Zijun tried to use other greedy people to replicate this power, and some greedy people even wanted to replicate this power to defeat Tang Zijun, but without exception, they all failed. The belts copied by those greedy individuals are completely unusable. Even if they transform, they are merely "Alien Riders," monsters formed from a combination of pure negative energy and the power of greed. As for the phantom-like Kamen Riders created by certain greedy individuals through their innate abilities, they are nothing but empty shells, possessing only an appearance without substance. Now, seeing Scáthach actually create the world's second Rider belt by hand, Tang Zijun's astonishment was beyond words. To this, Scáthach simply chuckled and said calmly, "As I said, the power of shadow has been altered by you into a different form. The one I'm using now is the altered form." "You mean, your belt wasn't created by you, but rather formed on you after the power of shadow transformed into cards?" Tang Zijun asked疑惑地问道. "You could understand it that way," Scáthach nodded and continued. "The power of shadow itself has no fixed state; it changes according to the user's will. Simulating something like your belt isn't difficult." Tang Zijun agreed with this point. He had previously reshaped Shi Yuan's body according to his own ideas, and in terms of form, the power of shadow was indeed very useful. However, this also aroused a new curiosity in Tang Zijun. "Can your belt use other cards? Can you use my enhanced form as well?" "Probably not." Scáthach waved her hand, and three cards exuding a dark aura appeared before her: [Attack Command], [Ultimate Command], and [Final Command]. These three shadow cards were formed after Scáthach's transformation, representing three offensive methods of her power.

Looking at the cards before her, Scáthach continued, "The Shadow Belt can only use the power of shadow itself; any other energy will cause it to reject, so I'm afraid I can't use your forms." "This belt is like a godhood; a single godhood can only master corresponding rules. The cards are the keys, and the belt is the lock. If they don't match, it can't be used forcibly." "But my belt can use many kinds of power," Tang Zijun still said, somewhat puzzled.

"That's the crux of the matter," Scáthach said. "My Shadow Belt is formed from a card, so its use is relatively simple. But your belt... is more special; the two can't be compared." "I think I understand," Tang Zijun nodded thoughtfully. "You can use the power of shadow because it is your own power. After I modified it, this power also gained the ability to form a 'belt replica' on its own, but it cannot be shared with other cards."

At this point, Tang Zijun raised her head slightly.

"But what if you learn to grasp more than just this one power?"

"Don't forget, in this world, you are revered as the Ice and Snow Goddess Skadi, and you share the same origin as the power of shadow. Before you relinquished your divine power, you carried several divine cores within you, and those were all part of your power."

"If you could find another card that grants you your own power, would it create a new belt, or would it change the belt you already have?" Upon hearing this, Scáthach's expression beneath her helmet showed interest, as if she were pondering the answer to this question.

She paused, then a slight smile appeared on her lips.

"That... might be a new challenge for us."