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[ Shadow Monarch in One Piece]
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[ Don't forget power stones... Please! ]
Third POV:
The corridor outside the classroom was alive again.
Students filled the space—talking, laughing, complaining about Snape's lesson as if they had just survived something traumatic. Their voices bounced off the stone walls, mixing together into a loud, messy sound that echoed up and down the hallway. Some students leaned against the walls, still catching their breath. Others walked in small groups, their heads close together as they whispered about the potion they had just finished. A few first-years looked like they had been crying. Their eyes were red, and their faces were pale. Snape had been in a particularly bad mood today, and no one had escaped his sharp tongue.
And among them—
Adam walked.
Calm.
Relaxed.
With a smile that didn't belong to an ordinary student.
His steps were slow and easy, not rushed like the others who were desperate to get away from the dungeon classroom. He moved like someone who had all the time in the world. His shoulders were loose. His hands were in his pockets. His head was slightly tilted back, as if he was enjoying a warm summer breeze instead of walking through a cold stone corridor.
It was sharp.
Confident.
Almost… proud.
The smile on his face wasn't wide or loud. It was quiet. Private. The kind of smile someone wears when they know something that no one else knows. When they have a secret tucked away inside them, warm and satisfying, and they have no intention of sharing it with anyone.
He moved through the crowd like he owned the place, hands casually in his pockets, eyes half-lidded as if nothing around him truly mattered. A few students glanced at him—some confused, some curious. They had seen Adam before, of course . But something about him today was different. The way he carried himself. The way his eyes moved slowly, lazily, like he was bored by everything and everyone around him.
Since when does he look like that?
A girl with long brown hair stopped mid-sentence and watched him pass. Two boys from Ravenclaw exchanged a quick look, then looked back at Adam. Even a group of Gryffindors turned their heads slightly as he walked by, their eyes narrowing with suspicion.
But Adam didn't care.
His mind was already elsewhere.
He wasn't thinking about the students staring at him. He wasn't thinking about Snape's lesson or the potion they had brewed. He wasn't even thinking about the way Hermione had ignored him after class, her nose in a book, her back turned like he didn't exist.
His mind was in the library.
Specifically, the restricted section.
He had been planning this since he left potion class . Waiting for the right moment. The library was always crowded. Always full of students studying, reading, whispering. Madame Pince was always watching from her desk, her eyes sharp as a hawk's.
Or so he thought.
---
Step by step—
He made his way through the castle, away from the crowd, away from the noise. His footsteps echoed in the quieter corridors. The portraits on the walls watched him pass, some whispering to each other, some pretending to sleep. A suit of armor creaked as he walked by, its metal joints groaning like old bones.
He reached the library.
The massive wooden doors stood before him, tall and silent like guardians of knowledge. The wood was dark and old, carved with patterns that had been there for centuries. The brass handles were polished smooth from generations of students opening them. Above the doors, carved into the stone archway, were the words: Knowledge is the light that never dims.
He pushed them open slowly.
Creaaak…
The sound was long and low, like a groan waking up from a deep sleep. The doors swung inward, revealing the vast space beyond.
The familiar scent of old books and parchment filled the air.
It was a heavy smell. Thick. Comforting to some, suffocating to others. The smell of leather bindings and yellowed pages. Of ink that had dried a hundred years ago. Of dust that had settled on shelves untouched for decades. Adam breathed it in deeply, letting it fill his lungs.
Usually—
This place was full.
Whispers floated between the shelves like ghosts. Pages turned in quiet rhythm. Quills scratched against parchment. Feet shuffled across the stone floor. Students leaned over tables with their heads in their hands, trying to memorize spells and potion ingredients before exams.
But today—
Nothing.
Silence.
Adam stopped just inside the entrance.
His eyes narrowed slightly as he scanned the entire place.
Left.
Right.
Between the endless rows of shelves.
Up toward the second level.
He looked at the long wooden tables in the center of the room. Empty. He looked at the reading chairs near the windows. Empty. He looked at the desks tucked into the corners. Empty. He looked at the balcony that ran along the upper floor, where students sometimes sat alone to read in peace. Empty.
No movement.
No sound.
No presence.
Even Madame Pince's desk was empty. The tall chair behind it was pushed in neatly. The stack of books that usually sat on the corner was gone. A single quill lay on the desktop, right next to a closed ink bottle.
"…Weird…" he muttered quietly.
His voice was soft, but in the silence of the library, it sounded loud. It bounced off the high ceiling and came back to him, smaller and thinner, like an echo from far away.
A small pause.
"…No one is here."
His gaze sharpened.
His eyes moved slower now. More carefully. He looked at the shadows between the shelves. At the spaces behind the pillars. At the dark corners where the candlelight didn't quite reach.
"…Normally… this place is never empty."
Something about it felt off.
Too quiet.
Too convenient.
His mind started turning, running through possibilities. Maybe there was a special event in the Great Hall. Maybe a class had been moved to a different time. Maybe Madame Pince was sick. Or maybe—
But instead of suspicion—
A slow smile spread across his face.
"Perfect."
The worry disappeared from his eyes. The tension left his shoulders. Whatever had felt strange a moment ago didn't matter anymore. The library was empty. That was all that counted. Empty meant no witnesses. Empty meant no interruptions. Empty meant he could do whatever he wanted without anyone watching.
---
He raised his hand slightly.
Calm.
Controlled.
His fingers spread apart just a little. His palm faced the floor. His whole body went still, like a hunter waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
"ARISE… Venyx."
The air around him shifted.
It wasn't wind. It wasn't a breeze. It was something deeper. Something heavier. The temperature dropped slightly, just a few degrees, but enough to feel. Enough to make the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
Darkness gathered at his feet—like ink spilling across the floor.
It spread out in a circle around him, smooth and silent. Not a puddle. Not a stain. Something alive. Something waiting. The darkness pulsed once, twice, like a heartbeat hidden beneath the stone.
Then—
It moved.
Rising.
Twisting.
Forming.
The dark liquid rose up from the floor like smoke going in reverse. It curled around Adam's legs, his waist, his chest. It spun and swirled, shaping itself into something solid. Something real.
From the shadow beneath him, a figure began to emerge—
Tall.
Half-human.
Half-spider.
Its body was sleek and dark, shaped by living shadow, with faint, glowing veins pulsing like venom beneath its surface. Multiple limb-like extensions curled behind it like silent weapons. Its face was smooth and featureless except for two narrow slits where eyes should have been. Those slits glowed with a dim, purple light, flickering like dying embers.
Then—
It fully manifested.
The last pieces of shadow snapped into place. The glowing veins brightened for a second, then faded to a soft pulse. The creature stood at full height, easily a head taller than Adam, its many limbs stretching out behind it like a fan of sharp bones.
And immediately—
Kneel.
Venyx dropped to one knee before him.
Head lowered.
Voice calm.
Loyal.
The creature's movements were smooth, almost graceful. No hesitation. No reluctance. Its knee touched the stone floor without a sound. Its head bowed low, the purple glow in its eye-slits dimming to almost nothing.
"At your service… my master."
The voice was low and smooth, like stones rubbing together underwater. Not loud. Not threatening. Just… present. Real. Filled with a quiet devotion that didn't need to be shouted.
Adam looked down at him, completely unfazed.
His face showed no surprise. No fear. No excitement. Just calm acceptance, like he had done this a thousand times before.
"…Good."
A short pause.
He let the word hang in the air for a moment, heavy and final.
Then he spoke again—firm, precise.
His voice was low, but it carried. Every word was clear. Every syllable was sharp. This wasn't a request. This wasn't a suggestion. This was an order.
"Guard this place for me."
His eyes flicked briefly toward the entrance.
The massive wooden doors were still slightly open from when he had walked in. A thin line of light from the corridor cut across the floor, bright and yellow against the dark stone.
"…And tell me if anyone comes."
Venyx lifted his head slightly.
The purple glow in his eye-slits grew a little brighter. The veins under his dark skin pulsed once, faster than before.
"As you command."
Without another word—
His form dissolved.
Not disappearing—
But melting into the surrounding shadows.
His body broke apart like smoke in the wind. Pieces of darkness peeled away from him and floated toward the walls, the ceiling, the floor. His limbs stretched and thinned until they were nothing but threads of blackness. His face faded last, the purple glow winking out like a candle being snuffed.
Slipping along the walls.
Crawling silently across the edges of the room until he settled near the entrance—
Invisible.
Watching.
Waiting.
If you didn't know he was there, you would never see him. He was part of the shadows now. Part of the dark spaces between the shelves. Part of the gloom under the tables and behind the pillars. His presence was everywhere and nowhere at the same time, spread thin like a blanket of silence.
---
Adam exhaled slowly.
A long, quiet breath that he hadn't realized he had been holding. His chest rose and fell once. His shoulders relaxed a little more.
"…Alright."
He turned his gaze toward the deeper sections of the library—where knowledge became darker… rarer… forbidden.
The restricted section.
It sat at the far end of the library, cordoned off by a thick rope and a sign that warned students to stay away. Beyond the rope, the shelves were taller and darker. The books on those shelves were chained to the wood, their covers made of strange leathers that didn't come from normal animals. Some of them seemed to breathe. Some of them seemed to wait.
Adam's eyes locked onto that section like a compass pointing north.
"…Now let's focus on our main work."
He took a step forward.
Then another.
His footsteps were quiet, but in the empty library, they sounded like drumbeats. Each one echoed off the walls and faded into the silence above.
He didn't look back.
He didn't need to.
Venyx was watching the door.
And Adam had work to do.
__
[ End of Chapter 43 ].
To Be Continued...
_____
If you want to read more about my works or just to support me then here is my patreon:
Patreon.com/Doflamingo4 .
__
If you liked this one. Cheek also my other stories:
[ Shadow Monarch in One Piece].
Patreon.com/Doflamingo4 .
__
Thank you all for reading...