Necromancer: The Angel Of Darkness

"Oh, well this is a first".

The announcer looked to be in a dilemma after having summoned the two unconscious contestants back to the arena, though his words seemed not to have reached the crowds ears as they were still cheering loudly.

But with a raised hand it died down in a matter of seconds, his gaze was fixed on them both before raising it to the crowds as he spoke.

"Never in the history of this tournament has such a result occured in this round".

"Never in the semi-finals either".

He breathed out in exasperation "but, after thinking about it".

"When taking into conisderation how brilliant these two individuals have been".

"I chose to abuse my authority once more as host of this tournament and propose a compromise".

"Two, actually".

"One, i either declare both as losers or declare both as winners".

He produced a coin from his pocket, on one side was written the world 'Loser' and on the other 'Winner'.

"Now, let us see what lady luck has in store for these two".

And with that he flicked it, the coin went high but surprisingly could no longer be read by everyone present who could track it thereby adding to the tension they felt as they watched it fall back to the ground. A bounce and a second followed by a short roll and finally the last fall, there was a moment of silence as all eyes were laser focused on the coin laid down on the floor of the arena.

Then finally an outburst of a cheerful roar, the announcer himself smiling at it all as he went down to pick it up and run his gaze along the crowd.

"Lady luck has chosen, both shall be declared as winners".

His voice was clear as day to everyone even through the noise and anew round of cheerful roars reverberated through the air for a few more seconds more before the announcer motioned for calm to be steadily brought back into place, once regained he levitated towards the two unconscoius contestants and a placed an index to each of their foreheads individually before sending them away to the waiting area then and turning around to meet the crowd with the widest of grins on his face as he began floating higher and higher into the air.

"And now people, it is time".

""May our finalists please step forward into the arena".

In moments both appeared on stage and with a snap of his fingers, a near transparent barrier arose from all sides of the two kilometre wide arena cutting off the crowd and it's voice from the stage entirely yet still looking so close. Right now the arena was floating at a fixed position in space, both contestants easily counteracting the weightlessness with their slight levitation.

"From the very beginning this is where it was meant to end".

"Now, you can battle to your hearts content".

"May the better of you come out victorious

At that he vanished from the arena leaving both standing face to face a distance from each other, silently gauging, probing and then finally acknowledging.

Hope had changed a little from how she were eight years ago wen he last got a good look at her, something he hadn't done this whole tournament even though had stood on the same stage together multiple times now.

She was shorter than he was, unlike he who stood at a height of 6 ft 4 and nearly approaching '5, Hope was 6 ft 2.

Dressed in a comfortable white long sleeved dress and still possesing those starry golden irises with a black sclera just like his and vertical pupils, her silver white hair had gained a few touches of warm colors at it's ends thanks to her fairy half he'd imagine and from the sides of her head grew two silver horns curving upwards.

Her skin so fair and yet a bit pale, not a sickly pale or even like that of a vampire as he knew them but one more akin to warmth, but the greatest most recognizable change was to her face. He heard it all the time how his mother was commonly referred to as the most beautiful woman under the heavens and she still was, always will be to him when taking into account his bias but right now admittedly, she looked the closest, even more than his aunt to matching her.

"On that day eight years ago, I did not recognise it then but now I do".

"When you looked at me, something happened".

"I remember that look in your eyes, what did you see".

He questioned, seconds passed and yet he recieved no reply mental or otherwise, but he had his answer now even if not one he was looking for. Only one thing was left to do now, battle.

Both floated back down to the arena and began walking, then in a flash they were gone only to reappear at the very centre with their fists clashing against one another with all their might. The power was earth shaking and Emrys was forced a few meters back but steadied himself quickly, Hope was definitely physically greater than he was but quantifiably below Ishmael by quite a bit.

It seemed physical strength wasn't exactly one of a void dragon's greatest stats relatively when compared to their red counterparts, with this little greeting of theirs finished it was time to up the stakes a little.

A deep violet mana with hues of reddish gold momentarily burst from his body as did a golden mixture of black from hers, around his body streaks of his newly enhanced ethereal dark lightning with streaks of silvery white and violet circled widly yet in an almost hypnotic fashion.

With a speed like never before, he vanished in a thunderclap leaving streams of lightning across the stage as they clashed their fists once more only to be sent back but this time he manipulated the lightning around his body to wrap around her arms like a whip and pull her to him but the void mana around her destroyed it immediately upon contact.

Instead an almost irresistable force pulled him to her instead in a flash but he unleashed his claws and nearly dug into her outstretched hand instead only for her to step away at the last moment having sensed something off with those golden claws.

He retracted them and took a step forward to throw a straight jab at her but she stepped back just enough to be out of his reach by a hairs breath, he threw a second and a third followed by a double kick to her shins and sides but still she repeated the same process. With each time he took a step forward she glides a little back, jus enough, his starry violet never leaving her starry gold and vice versa.

Finally she retaliated, using the smallest of movements she moved slightly into his centre and with a quick motion grabbed onto his outstretched lightning covered arm instantly assaulting it with a skin bursting crushing force and pulling him slightly forward while her other reached for his face which he instinctively blocked by raising a hand to it as she had predicted and at the last moment she faked out to place a gentle palm onto his chest.

<>

In moments every last bit of his insides had been turned into an uncountable number of powerful explosions going off simultaneously yet unable to break through the flesh, his eyes burst from it's sockets in a puff of blood leaving nothing but those empty dark sockets staring down at her.

And then a glow was born in them, deep, violet and blazing. Before she could even realise it he gad grabbed onto her face with both hands, not minding the fact that the entire flesh and muscle of his left arm had been ripped off to free it from her grasp leaving just his bloodied golden skeleton.

With an air of craziness about him, he pushed his mana covered thumbs deep into her eyes popping them like a water balloon, in response a strong force from her palm sent him a distance away like a cannonball but he regained himself with ease.

Both stood motionless in silence for a few seconds, focusing their attention on removing each others mana slowing down their regeneration lest it continued running amok within them.

Just from this small little clash alone Emrys had felt the phoenix nature integrate with his 'normal' mana more than the whole time he had been under the influence of dark mana, the better the integration the stronger his base became and he would not be missing a chance to achieve at least 50% completetion

The streaks of dark lightning circulating around his body grew wilder and around his index he condensed a super compressed ball of it, so much so that the weight of it could be felt crushing down on the entire arena.

"Bang".

It shot off like a meteor at blinding speeds and upon impact a compact dome of dark lightning spread out for thousands of miles beyond the arena with thousands of electrical arcs spreading for far more than that. And then came a spiral of black eating through the dome with absolute ease, it overtook the entire thing in moments until there was nothing left, like it was never even there in the first place.

Emrys did not look surprised at this, disregarding the fact already that her affinity was of a greater nature there was also her mana which even at the base level without taking into account the fact she was a hybrid, each half was much stronger individually when compared to his.

There were two reasons why he could dare to only use his 'normal' mana against hers, the first being his already much too absurd normal body and blessed nature made up for some of the gap between them when they compete physically and the second being because he had to.

Upon complete integration the nature of a phoenix's mana but improved could compete quite well with that of a dragon's, even one like her. They stood at the pinnacle without a doubt but the phoenix remained in the top 5 of all divine creatures for a reason, depending on dark mana so much to bridge and overcome any gap wasn't something he was in favour of doing no matter how abnormal it was by even the most abnormal of standards.

No, he needed to have a supreme grade base because this too will kickstart an evolution that would send his dark mana to a most unbelievable height far more than before, right now he was holding back his own power because of his own base crippling it's potential and he had to fix it.

'Tsk, but in the end I still need to draw a little bit'

From his second core he drew a small portion of dark mana, suppressed it and mixed it into his pool of 'normal' mana, it would slow down the process of integration but the further process of dilution of his dark mana from being mixed into this pool would help reduce the penalty of his slowed integration.

Under the partial influence of dark mana his hair gained a few more streaks of white and his starry violet irises gained a hint of crimson around it's edges, the air around him turned much more oppressive and Hope could instantly make out the change.

<>

A long double edged greatsword construct made entirely of his dark lightning essence smelted and detailed to perfection and with a steadily spinning small magic circle as it's guard was summoned in his right hand, one look at the blade and one could feel it right in their very soul that it was dangerous.

The steady electircal hum and arcs of lightning occasionally streaking around it carrying an oppressive feeling of near unrivalled destructive power was unmistakable, at just one casual swing of it an arc of lightning miles high in length shot forward in a flash with the roars of a thundering thousands.

In moments it had crossed a near million miles worth of space and continued on for hundreds more as the seconds went by before breaking down to nothing upon losing steam, but this surprised Emrys a bit.

It's power came as no real surprise to him considering he was the one who made it after all under the aid of dark mana, but it's range was quite something for something so casually done.

His gaze lingered on the blade for a moment before shifting towards Hope who had moved to the other side upon the blade's descent and now in a spherical cocoon of void mana which had already begun fading away to reveal her unharmed form.

Hope released her massive dragon wings and with that her mana sudddenly turned so much colder and dangerous as she raised a hand to condense a golden black viscous liquid right below her index in the form of a drop. Upon it's formation as a side effect, a new and far more sinister space was imposed around them separating it from the original and eveything within this space bar it's caster was put on an immediate lockdown.

<>

Not even mana nor any form of magic was allowed to flow, everything was practically made a perfect statue as if time itself bad been momentarily frozen, the streaks of lightning around Emrys and he himself were no exceptions to this effect.

But if one were to look closely, they would find the rings of crimson around the edges of his iris steadily encroaching towards the pupil only to stop when nearly halfway there. Then he burst free of his restrictions just as the condensed drop fell down below and causing a ripple of voidal black threatening to overtake and erase everything within it's domain.

<>

The horrible power of this spell hadn't come to an end yet, in spite of such a devastating and oppressive effect it could further create a horde of void-like creatures from the sea of black below each bearing a different type of weapon and nearly half as strong or a little more than half of what she was in her current state.

If it were just this alone he would say it was difficult but manageable, but the fact Hope stood at the forefront of this horde signified that she had no intention of allowing him breathe in the slightest.

His eyes turned cold and hardened as he readied himself to the fullest, his senses pushed to it's limits as he spun the blade in his hand and squeezed it to reveal eight magic circles spinning around the blade, each representing a seal.

First level • [Release] -: <>

The first circle broke to pieces and with it came a substantial jump in his power as he raised the blade up high and swung with it all his might. For a moment it was like nothing had occured until suddenly there a small spark in the void which bloomed into an endless sea of gargantuous dark lightning streaming around them in a circular fashion leaving no escape, it moved like waves of the ocean crashing against one another and gave a feeling almost akin to it being alive.

From high above in this void-like space a sea of dark lightning roared, covering everything almost like it had become the very sky itself and with a gentle squueze of his fist he commanded-

"Converge".

And it all came rushing down, with a ferocity like no other and a destructive force near unparralled. It was madness unbridled, an endless play of being destroyed or devoured, torn apart at your very being or simply resist and overcome, her horde continuously recovering just as much as it was destroyed while she the very centre of it all stood tall, utterly unfazed by the chaos unfolding all around her, staring deep in his eyes just as he too did to her.

<>

A spell she had only just learnt moments ago from her last opponent during their battle upon seeing him use it just once, that is what she had casted oh so casually. And it's effects were beyond devastating, it was instant even, leaving no hope of resistance through ascension, it just ripped him of it entirely.

The storm, his power, his consciousness, his body. It was gone, all that remained was his undying immortal soul and just a huskless golden skeleton laying adrift in the void, persisting against it's harsh nature of erasure and yet the light of it's eyes gone just the same.

But it was this very particular thing, this very abnormal skeleton that would cause it. From it's head and around every joint, it's ribs, the sternum, the femur and on every other part of it's form, thin white lines resembling mana circuits were drawn on him and upon completetion a wave of crimson red energy engraved with the very stars in them poured out of his body and shooting up like a pillar into the void.

Her eyes slightly widened as she recognized this very energy from eight years ago during that blessed day of awakening, it was that same power that had rushed out and easily reaped the lives of two grand mages, a being whom even someone like her at current and Emrys combined along with every last one of her peers wouldn't be able to defeat just one of them let alone two as this power had.

Then suddenly to her surprise it all receeded back into his skeleton almost like it was never there and seemingly without having done anything at all, but those lines told her quite well that it was not over yet.

And she was correct, from those lines came a mana so pure and so ethereal, so dangerously potent beyond compare, as white as snow and engraved with the very stars bearing a hint of crimson-gold within. It flowed over the golden skeleton and right before her eyes she watched as it steadily began constructing his body once again.

His artifacts which he wore in the form of royal attire were reformed, his golden necklace with a piece shaped just like an arrowhead, golden ear piercings and golden cylindrical bracelets worn around his arms, all artifact jewelleries meant to suppress his ghost-like nature of obscurity to the fullest were all recovered onto his body by themselves.

It returned the power that she had ruthlessly stripped away from him, his consciousness was reborn, right now he was undergoing a complete and total rebirth. He would bear a false body no longer but a true spiritual flesh crafted from his very own soul and mana, power will become his blood and that shall be all he bleeds for as long as his core produces it.

Under the influence of his new mana his violet coloured hair had undergone a second full transformation from it's last one nine years ago, from raven black to violet and now a winter white with remnant streaks of violet within.

When he opened his eyes they were back to it's starry violet and unchanged by his rebirth bar one small detail, his pupils now vertical and like a cross with even ends.

The nature of the phoenix had now fully integrated into his first mana and mutating to create something truly powerful, crystal white flames burned around his body with the intensity of the cold.

And for the newly awakened mana which had now become his third core, he had no idea what it was and whichever race he could be to bear such a most devastating mana, but there was only way he knew to describe it as-

'Divine'.

Now more than ever before he felt the most complete, It was like the missing piece that should have been there when he awakened his dark mana four years ago. Overly powerful and yet alone, just like his formerly normal mana with no affinity but this time in reverse, dark mana was pure affinity but it did not mesh well with his normal mana.

It was not a natural thing for a fusion to lead to either getting entirely devoured or diluted if suppressed, it was supposed to cause an ascension of the highest level. That is why succesful hybrids exists, that is why someone like his mother exists.

A permanent fusion of her nature and mana as a phoenix bearing the innate nature of dark mana leading to the abnormality of what she was, it was something that occured upon her birth.

Her dark mana bore the soul imprint of her essence entirely and yet without losing itself still as the most destructive and powerful affinity in the universe, both worked together to birth the first and known dark phoenix to exist in this realm and beyond.

This was what he lacked and now had found, even now in their completely separated states which was abnormal he felt a closeness like never before between both, like they were one, just from this phenomenon alone he could already feel himself growing stronger by the second even more than he already was at present.

Instinctively he felt it quite well that any manner of fusion between both would lead to a most trusest of ascensions and on the day he is ready to permantly fuse both into the other as one it shall become the most devastating force that could ever possibly exist. But that day was not today, something just told him that instinctively

EnD.