"Night of blades."
Hundreds of glowing swords and spears made of mana hurtled toward Malik at high speed.
Malik jumped out of his throne, dodging the ones aimed at him, but as he looked down at the boy in midair, the boy snapped his fingers once more.
10 spears appeared out of thin air. This time, 4 spears hit his limbs, pulling him to the wall behind him. The other 6 converged onto one of the spears, increasing its speed and power. The converged spears aimed at Malik's core, the diamond on his chest.
The spear struck.
The impact destroyed the wall, leaving nothing but dust and a faint glow of mana in its wake.
The boy was sure he had won.
As he stared at the destroyed wall, a figure glowing with purple mana began to walk out of the dust. It was Malik.
The holes in his limbs had healed. His core had been reconstructed.
Any extra injuries that may have been caused by hitting the wall were gone.
As if they were never there.
"Weird, I could have sworn I hit your core. Please enlighten me. How did you manage to survive?"
Of course, hitting the core wouldn't work. Right now, that boy had managed to make his way into the shadow realm, also known as the realm of the dead. Every soul to ever existed must pass through there before they go into the realm of the living.
In the shadow realm, only the dead can exist. However, there are 2 exceptions for how one can exist inside the shadow realm without being dead.
1. The person must have a connection to the shadow realm, as Malik and the others there did. The god of shadows created the shadow realm and also created them inside the realm, in turn linking them to the realm and allowing them to traverse between the two worlds.
2. A portal must be created to the shadow realm for living things to pass through. Even then, it would take a considerable amount of mana to maintain one's body.
How much mana was this kid burning per minute to keep himself alive?
"Hey, you deaf or what? I asked you how you managed to survive that attack."
The dark golem remained silent. He was under no obligation to answer the boy.
"Well, fine. I'll figure it out eventually."
The boy stuck out his hand again, this time particles of light gathered and combined.
Whatever the kid was doing, Malik wasn't going to stand and let it happen again.
The mana around him began to flare, engulfing his whole body. Three of his scales tore themselves away from Malik's body. The scales hovered in midair around Malik.
The mana began to converge onto his fists, glowing with bright purple.
Malik lunged.
The glowing swords and spears above the boy's head began to strike once more. Fortunately, this time Malik was prepared.
The three scales that tore from Malik's body began to block the swords and spears from hitting Malik.
Dragon scales in general were difficult to pierce, but a black dragon's scales were said to be nearly indestructible.
The swords and spears attempted to pierce Malik's body, but every time they were close, one of the scales would block them, deflecting them in a different direction. But that wasn't the only reason they weren't able to pierce his body. Malik himself would dodge them as well. He would slide when they attacked him from above, and when he got the chance, he would hold onto one of them, using it to deflect any spears that came close to him.
Finally, Malik had come into the boy's range. Whatever the boy was forming wasn't complete.
Malik had the upper hand. He pulled back his fists and punched.
The boy blocked but the impact was strong enough to throw him across the room.
The boy rolled to lessen the impact of the punch. As the boy got on one knee, trying to get up once more. Malik dashed towards the boy. The boy waved his hands and five more swords appeared, charging towards him. Malik grabbed hold of one of the swords. The others disappeared.
Did the boy run out of mana to maintain them?
Shing.
A sound like a blade cutting through the air echoed around the surrounding area.
When Malik looked down, he saw a spear sticking out from his chest (his core).
The spear started to glow along with the sword in Malik's hand.
The boy backed away
The spear and the sword exploded.
" That should do it." Thought the boy.
A black flame ignites in the middle of the room. The flame grew bigger and bigger and then it began to take shape. The flame began to die down leaving nothing but a humanoid figure with black scales and flaming purple eyes.
" Once again, he rose like a Phoenix from the ashes."
The boy let out a sigh.
He pointed towards Malik. A small sphere of mana appeared.
"Bang."
The moment those words were said, Malik found the sphere of mana directly in front of him.
Amateur.
Malik waved his hand, hitting the sphere and directing it towards the wall to his left, destroying the wall completely. He looked back at the...the boy was gone.
As swift as the wind, Malik turned his body.
Clang.
The boy was holding a sword made of pure mana. He used it to attack Malik from behind once more.
Unfortunately, Malik blocked the sword with his arm. Swiping the boy away. The boy dashed towards Malik once more.
Clang.
Once again the boy's attacks were blocked. The attacks didn't stop. The boy kept attacking, trying to hit the core but Malik would have his hand to block each strike.
The boy backed away. As he adjusted his footing he released slashes made of magical energy towards Malik.
Malik just waved them all away.
Malik dashed towards the boy, holding his hands and throwing him right onto the throne.
Purple thread started to cover the boy's body, restraining him to the throne.
Malik walked towards the boy. Those threads were made using the mana of the shadow realm itself. There was nothing the boy could do.
"These threads, they're not created by your mana are they?"
How could the boy speak knowing he was about to die?
" If they were, I would have already broken free by now. You know, from the moment I stepped into this castle, I could feel the mana of countless beings. Wanna know the funny thing, all of these beings, they all possess one thing, dark mana. The mana of the dead."
What was the boy's point?
" Which means, we're in the shadow realm aren't we? It would explain how you didn't die when I hit your core earlier, and more importantly, why you haven't tried moving through the two realms."
Malik was impressed but knowing all of this meant nothing. The boy's end was inevitable.
Malik's arm began to transform, the scales began to rearrange themselves, extending and changing their shape. His hand becomes a sword.
" You don't see that every day." Said the boy
"Since we are revealing secrets, I think it's time I revealed mine to you."
Malik's sword began to glow, releasing a huge wave of mana, causing the surrounding area of his castle to come crumbling down. He could always rebuild.
" Die." Those were the first words Malik had said since the fight began.
He pulled back his sword and released.
As the dust cleared, Malik was sure that the boy had been killed but to his surprise, a hand was holding Malik's blade. The boy lived, and he even held Malik's blade like a piece of scrap.
The boy used his left hand to hold the blade, leaving his left hand open for an attack. The boy pulled his hand back. A ball of wind started to form around his fist.
The boy clenched his left hand and cracks began to form on Malik's blade before breaking completely leaving the blades on the ground.
" Consider this payback for what one of your allies did to earlier blade."
What was the boy talking about?
How was it possible for a mere human to-
" Normally, quality is more important than quantity but I'll make an exception this one time."
The mana generating the ball of wind increased. It was overwhelming, the sheer power being put into this attack was the same, no, it surpassed all of the mana Malik had put into his attack just now.
" Tempest Art:"
The boy punched Malik's core.
" Typhoon shot."
BOOM.
The punch released a huge blast of wind directly at Malik's core.
Unlike the attack that had hit him earlier, this one destroyed Malik's core, leaving nothing in its trail. The blast expanded, it went from hitting just the core to completely vaporizing Malik's entire body. The dragon scales on his body began to tear off him, evaporating into nothing.
_____
Malik opened his eyes, and all he could see was darkness.
" Where am I?" He thought.
"You're in my own dimension." A voice echoed from afar.
"Who's there!" Malik cried out.
" Have you already forgotten me, and I even went out of my way to use my full power?"
"Full power! Are you the boy I was just fighting with!"
" Bingo!" The voice echoed
" Let me out of here!"
The voice went silent before finally saying " Sorry, but I'm afraid that's not possible."
" And why not!"
" I think I might have actually liked it when you weren't talking. Look, if I let you out of here your soul is going to fade into the shadow realm and who knows how long it's going to take before I can find you in there, and now that I know reincarnation is real, by the time I've found you, your soul may have already been reborn as someone else."
Malik was confused. So what if he was reborn, what did it matter to the boy?
" Your master is Noir, the god of shadows."
Noir, that was a name Malik hadn't heard in 1,000 years.
" I bet you wished you could find him right. How about this, team up with me."
What was this absurd suggestion the boy had brought up?
" I'm looking for the gods myself to exact revenge on them."
Why would a mere human be after the gods?
" My name was Ephraxis, the god of chaos. I'm now referred to as Abel though."
Ephraxis!?
"But how? You died 1,000 years ago?"
Abel sighed in disappointment.
"You're a golem who is shaped like a human and can think rationally. You shouldn't be asking me this question when I just mentioned reincarnation earlier. Try to keep up."
Did the boy... Sorry, Abel just insulted him, Malik thought.
" How long have you been on earth ummm, what's your name?"
" Malik, and I've been on earth ever since the day you died," Malik responded.
" Really? If that's the case then you have to work with me here. I mean think about it. On the very same day that I died, Noir just so happens to put you on this planet. Nah, there must be a reason for this. At the end of the day, I want to reach the gods and you want to reach out to a specific god right? If you work with me, I promise, I'll help you find your master. Do we have a deal?"
It was certainly worth thinking over. But this Abel person, he wanted to kill all the gods, which also meant his master, but if he was suggesting this team up then it meant he wasn't completely sure if his master was part of those who betrayed him.
" Alright, it's a deal," Malik responded.
If there ever comes a day when they truly would meet the god of shadows once more, he would do whatever it took to protect his master if Abel truly did try to kill him.
" Ok, it's a real then. Before I go could you tell them one thing?
" What's that"
" How am I gonna get out of here?"