Necromancer: The Angel Of Darkness

"What are you".

She asked, speaking to him for the first time since they had met eight years ago and in her soothing voice Emrys could definitely feel quite well the influence of her fairy half, years of being with one had made him all too sensitive to this aspect.

"I have no idea really".

"Since there are no records of a race with my characteristics existing beforehand I figured i'm a newborn".

"My inherited memories practically only told me the sky is blue and the grass was green".

"I had no other enrgaved instincts bar a desire for growth".

"Mhm, I am most likely a newborn".

He smiled warmly at the end of that sentence and for a moment Hope could have sworn that her eyes had caught a hint of.....loss, not loneliness but loss within those eyes but it vanished almost as soon as it had arrived.

"I see".

And with that the air of battle had returned, choosing not to use the power of his third core but the first which become the power of a phoenix entirely but improved as he had expected. The white flames burning around him were in fact not what they looked to be, instead he had been granted a third affinity of ice with a crystal white hue and even his dark lightning had been changed to a near silvery white with some retainment of it's dark nature.

The horde of creatures crafted from this void-like space began moving towards him, their power rising continously as they formed a special link to one another causing Emrys to furrow his brows a bit as he watched the entire horde fuse together in a most ghoulish of ways to form five branches which further split themselves apart to begin morphing into a more slender humanoid construct bearing no other discernable features.

But from their auras he felt it quite well, each of these five were nearly three to four times stronger than Hope in her current state with the one in the middle bearing thorn like features all over it's body being possibly six times greater or a little less.

A pillar of purplish-gold mana rushed out of his body in waves as he unleashed the full strenth of his improved base and spread both hands wide with open palms, on one side he gathered the white ice flames into a ball and on the other his lightning element.

In tandem with his preparation Hope furthered her partial hybrid transformation, half of both arms were covered in smooth black scales like obsidian and the claws of her feet became more pronounced. Almost immediately after the aura around her recieved a more than twenty times increase in power.

The five creatures surrounding her sunk themselves into the fabric of this space, moving through it as if it but an open field and this ability near brought their presence to a zero. Their incredibly fast and unconventional movements made tracking the already difficult to sense creatures almost impossible for Emrys who was barely holding on, then in a split second they attacked him from all sides through the fabric of this realm.

Hands grabbed at his head, arms, body and legs rendering him perfectly immobile as they slowly dug into him with their newly morphed claws, their power seeking to destroy him absolutely.

Individually each were either close to the same level as he or a little above when taking into account the strongest but with their power combined he had no hope of defeating them in this current state. But this made the solution to his problems an easy one, since their strength lied in their numbers then all he had to do was apply an age old tried and tested strategy of divide and conquer.

A ball of darkness was manifested before him which shot a tendril at one of the creatures to forcefully separate it from this realm and pull it into it's very own space alongside Emrys who teleported right into it leaving a small pillar of darkness in place of his former position.

Inside the ball of darkness the lone creature stood utterly confused but right as Emrys appeared before it the creature's command from it's creator was triggered causing it to launch itself towards him at blinding speeds.

Still with the ball of silvery white lightning floating above his palm and the crystal white ice flames around his arms, he countered the assault almost immediately as it occured. Multiple bolts of silvery white lightning shot off from the gathered ball which struck the creature square in it's chest with such force a large hole was put right through it.

This surprised Emrys by quite a bit as he hadn't expected such potency from his newly evolved element, his idea was to trap it in a cage using the augmentation of his darkness element and not to damage it, he didn't even think it possible for his element to interact with this void-like creature in that way on it's own unless imbued with dark mana alternatively too if not darkness.

Once the tournament was over he would make sure to study himself thoroughly well, he had to know what special property his lightning element contained and every other great change he wasn't aware of yet that came with his rebirth and his evolution before that too.

But with this new discovery the plan was to be changed, he stopped the flow of ice magic and flew towards the creature in a blink, grabbing it by the throat with his hands covered in silvery white lightning which rampaged all around the creature inside and outside until it was destroyed with no hope of reform.

Wasting no further time, he teleported out of the ball of darkness surprising the creatures whom had been attacking with their best efforts in an attempt to get inside or destroy the ball but to no avail.

And taking advantage of this surprise Emrys coat himself in a thin near transparent layer of darkness which he also integrated into his element and sunk his hands into the fabric of this realm to forcefully pull out another two by their necks and raise them high as whispered.

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A single giant powerful bolt of silvery white lightning descended upon them, engulfing both Emrys and the creatures enrirely but causing no harm while the creatures faced an instant obliteration upon it's descent leaving no hope of resistance nor recovery.

Now only two creatures were left including the very strongest of them, Emrys felt himself relax and watched as they willingly unfused themselves from the realm to stand before him. But his attention wasn't on them now but Hope, she had done nothing but watch the whole while and it nagged it him consdering she opted to join in the first time and nearly took him out of the tournament.

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He casted the spell once more but greater this time just as the creatures morphed their hands into blade constructs and heavy amounts of power poured out of their bodies, one thing he had taken note of was the fact these creatures couldn't cast spells.

They had an incredible amount of power which they could likely focus or disperse but they had no spells, this was sure. But based on the fact the nature of their being automatically made most spells useless along with the fact that just like this space they posses an attribute of erasure which he was constantly battling against, their lack of spells by all accounts could not be counted as an automatic weakness.

'Still, exceptions nearly always, exist'.

Brandishing the blade in his hands he swung in an horizontal arc unleashing a torrent of silvery white lightning that spread out in the blink of an eye but just as it reached them the strongest one formed a barrier of sorts around them which negated the attack perfectly well leaving no trace of it.

Emrys tilt his head playfully to the side looking mildly amused but unsurprised at this, then to his actual surprise the strongest creature suddey attacked the weaker one, it's hand going straight through it's chest as it began absorbing the entirety of it into itself and undergoing a full evolution right before his very eyes.

The spiky features all over it's body grew less but the remaining four at it's back grew longer and more curved like a hook while it's body grew a bit bulkier, almost covered in what seemed to be armour and it's featureless face gained a single vertical line running straigh across at the middle.

Seeing and feeling quite well just how strong this creature had become from absorbing only just one out of five he was feeling a little thankful that he had destroyed three already beforehand because without a doubt if it could absorb all of them then he would surely be needing the help of dark mana to defeat it.

But right now, he still had a way to defeat it.

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A whole new layer of explosive power surged through his power as he rushed out at a speed nearly eight times greater than his base, however just before reaching his target he stopped mid-air and turned his body to the side to avoid the creature's claw as it passed right by him.

In that same split second of all this action occuring he swung his sword at the creature's back causing a deep gash to appear as his element ate at it from the inside out but a large burst of power from it negated both his element and sent him flying a distance back.

He steadied himself with ease and watched as the creature repaired it's body and opened it's palm wide facing him, before he could even process what it was trying to do Emrys felt his body pulled by an invisible force towards it at breakneck speeds and just as he got close enough the four hooked spikes extended and dug into his body impaling him.

Or so it should have been but the moment those hooks pierced a millimeter into his body they broke off into nothing amd Emrys responded by giving a straight punch with his hands coated in lightning to the creature's face sending it flying far back like a cannonball.

Things were greatly different now, he bore a true spiritual flesh and his body circulated power, was power and bled raw, untamed, overwhelming power born from his very own soul and mana. It would take a lot more than this to comfortably harm him and handle the consequence of any bit of power he bleeds out, the five of this creature's powers combined was the only thing that came close at that moment when they attacked him.

The creature seemed to have some sort of instinct as it no longer tried coming close to him again, even if it did not know why it knew that close combat would be bad for it, the hooked spikes on it's back which refused to reform made as a good reminder.

But things do not always work out the way you may want it to, Emrys had no interest in letting that creature keep it's distance regardless as he rushed at it again with his stacked buffs still in effect and the creature reacting just as fast sent out a powerful wave of void mana stacked with it's invisible force which it used as an insurance to repel him far away.

The combination worked as Emrys was forcefully sent back while the wave of void mana ravaged his body only to be destroyed by an outburst of lightning from him, but this little distraction had bought the creature enough time it needed to complete it's attack.

A palm sized super dense ball of void mana, upon it's completion even this very realm showed cracks all over it which was spreading by the second and it's nature of erasure was like never before to the point he was feeling the threat of it even in it's unreleased state.

The creature was showing signs of fading away bit by bit showing that it had sacrificed it's all, including it's very being and the essence of this realm just to make this in hopes of ending it's target once and for all.

Emrys called to the ball of darkness which had been left on it's own the whole while and fused the entirety of it into his weapon, the darkness became it's new core and it's influence was displayed all over the blade and it's circles orbiting around it.

With his preparations complete Emrys raised the blade high and swung down diagonally in a gentle arc just as the power contained within that ball was released outwards.

Fourth level • [Release] -: <>

For the next few seconds there existed nothing but a still silence with no hint of eithers attacks present in this space even though it had just been there one second ago, as if it had just been a mutual fake out between both powers. But if one were to look closely, they wound find a thin white line drawn across the very fabric of this realm and though it looked to be just one line it's presence was marked upon everything but it's caster.

No single atom of this space in actuality nor the beings within were outside of it's effect, the line was all-encompassing. And so the destruction was instant, no room for shattered pieces nor to comprehend what was occuring, in one moment it was there and in the next Emrys was now back in space levitating above the arena just as before.

And moments later Hope was reformed fully unharmed but forced back into her base, the attack however strong had no effect of permanance nor could it temporarily override the strength of her regenerative abilities even with some darkness augmenting it's nature. Without a doubt he knew her nature tied into her regenerative ability made it the hardest to overcome amongst his peers, even beyond his quite possibly. Her power was just far too great to be overcome by fractions, to gain the upperhand he needed the full thing.

It seemed both had the same thought as they simultaneously unleashed their powers, the blade was unsummoned as Emrys lost himself under the full influence of dark mana turning his irises a deep shade of starry crimson and his winter white hair grew so long it touched his heels with the lower half becoming somewhat darkened at it's tips.

Hope meanwhile had unleashed her full hybrid transformation, the silver horns on the sides of her head grew longer as her body began getting covered in armor-like scales so dark it near absorbed every bit of light reflected onto it and from her body sprung her tail and wings each measuring a length of 1.9 meters and 4.6 meters respectively along with an hybrid golden-black aura bearing the natures of a most extreme erasure and heat.

It was a heat so potent it near rivalled that of Ishmael's crimson flames and floating on the back of her clawed hands were small golden halo rings, Emrys sensed that he had to take things a step further.

Countless little black feathers slowly began fallimg all around them as he unleashed the first pair of his pitch black ethereal wings measuring nearly five meters in length just as on that day eight years ago their 'world' was divided into two equal parts, one side of absolute darkness and the other bearing a mixture of honey gold.

Then in an instant it all receded back into their bodies.

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She made the first move, an automatic lockdown effect was triggered and space itself began trembling violently as did every bit of Emrys's existence down to his soul and from behind him came a giant crack spreading in multiple directions and branching out to create four other smaller cracks on all sides of him all forming a specific pattern based in forbidden magic.

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Just as the true power of this spell was about to reveal itself Emrys cut it short, suddenly it was like the perspective of the world had changed as Hope now found herself standing atop an endless sea of crystal black clear water looking at her own reflection and surrounded by stormy clouds of darkness serving as the skies and high above was her spell and Emrys at it's core all of which looked to be frozen in time.

But then he moved, his actions causing a visible ripple across the fabric of this realm like a slightly disturbed body of water and she watched as he separated himself from the hold of her spell and gracefully and silently, like an owl, flew himself downwards stopping just inches above the sea of black but his actions nonetheless eliciting a gentle ripple beneath the spot he stayed and his wings spread outwards now partially closed.

"Welcome, to my world".

"In here my word is law".

"It is nigh-inescapable, nigh-indestructable".

"The only way to leave it is to defeat me entirely".

And then he smiled "so the ball is in my court now you see".

"Unless you prove to me you're worth using every advantage this realm brings me.....I won't use it".

"In essence, starting from this moment onwards until the end of our fight".

"I. Will. Hold. Back. On. You".

Upon hearing those last words there was en eerie amount of coldness that passed through this realm, it was for a moment and the next a massive wave of power burst out of her body like no other, it felt almost overwhelming even to him but yet the smile on his face could only grow wider as he knew it, she was mad.

"You say that your word is law" she spoke, her tone so calm, so calm and yet so cold".

"Who decided that".

At that moment the realm glitched.

"Me".

And then a second glitch occured, on the surface to any and all watching it seemed like both entities just stood perfectly still in silence but underneath it all was a battle of great proportions raging on violently. Right now Hope was trying to rewrite his authority over this space but it just kept negating her will over and over again, so in a change of tactic she chose to seize over a small portion of it rather than the whole and use that as the foundation for a complete hostile takeover yet even that failed

Choosing to take things to the next level she summoned a giant dark magic circle interlinked with eight smaller others in arcs beneath her, instantly even without having done anything there was a great shift in the air.

The faint avatar of a dark obelisk standing nearly ten meters tall and four meters wide was summoned behind her and on it was written her decree.

•[Monarch's law]•

•Blessed under- Dragon's authority of Dominion.

•Decree of –Ownership–

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And it happened just as she had decreed, but the very moment she recieved full authority over this realm she saw it all, the limits unspoken, the boundaries she could push and break, the level of augmentation possible with this realm and for the first time in this tournament she would come to feel slightly...overwhelmed.

She looked Emrys straight in the eye and saw just how calm he was even after having lost what even she would deem as one of the most precious trump cards to have in her possession, he smiled seeing the slight look of confusion reflected in her eyes.

"Do you know what the nature of my authorities are"- he questioned all of a sudden.

"I understand yours quite well, all four of them imcluding the one that comes naturally with your birthright as a dragon and a fairy".

"But do you know what mine are".

Her eyes narrowed a bit in suspicion but he had her attention and that was what he wanted, the smile on his face grew a bit.

"I'll enlighten you of the first one".

•[The Death Of All Things]•

•[The Death Of Nothing]•

•[And The Death Beyond]•

And at that Hope found her decreed law removed and the obelisk recording it's history shattering to pieces but what surprised her even more than this was the fact it did not return to his control either, it stood in a middle point of neutrality not bound to one or the other like a free realm but in this way it was also at it's most vulnerable because either could reclaim it just as before in a heartbeat.

Hope's gaze was raised to Emrys in wonder of what he was planning that would structure things like this but upon seeing the look in his eyes she caught on to it immediately.

It was basically a provocative gesture and somewhat of a declaration – {If you're that desperate to take it then try it} and {If i can reject your authority once then i can do it again or multiple times over if i have to}.

She remained expressionless for a few moments, but in the end she could not help but smile and this little act of hers caught Emrys far offguard more than anything she'd ever thrown at him.

Both stood at a stalemate in this area, she could make laws to either restrict his authority like a no violence within a certain area for example or outright banish it by declaring death had no place in this realm but then he'd work around them just the same, for one it is a permanent constant which she was not powerful enough to change yet, at least in this realm and secondly Emrys was powerful enough to simply kill her authority just the same.

The laws could be imposed directly upon Emrys without targeting his authority but it would act out just the same for as long as it has been activated and is in use, it was akin to a defensive mechanism and it was the same just for her in this aspect. Emrys could not kill her, this one was sure and he could kill off a part of her or her power but her laws would return them just the same and therein lied the problem, neither had the effect of permanence over the other.

And then there was the last point, not all cards were to be revealed, at least not today no matter how tempting it was for both. Not out of fear of their enemies whomever they may be either in the now or in the future having data on them no, that was a welcome situation in fact because no one likes to be underestimated, especially not beings with such pride as they. It simply because at the end of the day, both contestants were feeling quite petty with each other and not truly enemies in light of it all.

In a situation like this there was only available solution left, just go against the other with pure overwhelming power until there was nothing left to draw from.

Their wings were spread wide and in moments both contestants had crossed a near billon miles in but a fraction of a millisecond and had crossed tens more with each passing second yet neither had exchanged a single move yet until they suddenly stopped mid-air and threw a fist at one another. Emrys with his body coated in a thin layer of darkness and Hope amplified by a field of her own void mana alongside that terribly potent heat.

The collision was earth-shattering and most surprisingly was the fact Emrys wasn't being physically surpressed unlike the last time even though right now it should be far worse considering not even his dark transformation could make him rival the strength of someone like her.

And this where the true purpose of him coating his entire body in darkness came into play, it was a theory that had come to him on a whim after taking into account one of his element's properties which made it serve as the greatest sponge ever concieved.

The property to absorb, doesn't matter if it's physical force, mental, spiritual or anything at all it could always be absorbed. And although this partial coating was nothing like his fully manifested dark space with no limits to it's borders, it could still serve well enough as sponge to neutralize a good portion of her physical force as well as weaken the effects of her troublesome nature.

Now with a confirmed success on his little experiement Emrys got a bit bolder, with quick movements he grabbed onto her wrist and went for a powerful kick at her sides which connected fair and square but it couldn't even make her flinch.

'That's a little disheartening'.

Emrys couldn't help but sigh in his heart at how unfair the body of a dragon like her was even if quite hypocritical of him and moments later Hope grabbed him by the face, applied enough force that the coating around him shattered thereby leaving it open to the onslaught of her nature and threw him millions of miles away only to catch up near instantly aiming a kick at his face but he dodged and flew behind to grab her by the wings attempting to rip them from their roots but a burst of power sent him tumbling backwards.

Hope immediately took advantage of this opening and dashed for him but Emrys did something that completely caught her offguard, from his regenerated eyes a strong beam of concentrated heat shot out and on instinct she dodged but it was just a moment she realized it was something that could pose absolutely no threat at all even to an average third circle mage let alone someone like her.

Still, just this little moment was more than enough for Emrys to gain the upperhand in this bout. With his body greatly amplified by his lightning element incomparably more dangerous under the influence of dark mana he responded with a piercing kick to her sides sending Hope flying straight down like a bullet into the endless sea of crystal clear black causing a massive commotion as if millions of nuclear weapons had been detonated in one spot leading to a continuously raging tidal wave reaching many hundreds of meters high and a seemingly bottomless crater spanning millions of miles in width.

At this moment the regeneration of his face was complete and just as he was about to descend down into that seemingly bottomless pit she was already levitating above it, the lightning had pierced a great hole into her sides and streaks of it were burned into her body as cauterized scars but it was all healing seconds later. In the next moment, she was already before him moving with a speed much greater than before and punching with a force so great it seemed like it could tear down the heavens itself.

And just before it reached him he manifested a giant wall of darkness to take the wrath of her attack but, it never came. Sensing something was wrong he immediately turned around in expectance that she would be there but found nothing, his senses tried to find where she might be but nothing was registering on his radar.

He dismissed the wall of darkness for a more clearer view and the very moment he did so that overwhelming power descended upon him, the impact was catastrophic. Even from how high up they were it had torn a deep gash into the skies above and the seas below spanning hundreds of millions of miles.

And Emrys stood there, his head missing as was nearly the whole of his upper torso and soon he began falling down into the bottomless pit below still unfilled by the endless galons of water that had been pouring into it from the sides.

Hope's gaze narrowed seeing him fall and feeling something was off, a second later her suspicions were confirmed as the body began dissipating into wisps of darkness revealing to her it was but a clone she had hit and in the next moment a giant spike made entirely of darkness impaled her body.

"You are not the only one who can erase your presence".

His voice came from behind her, low but laden with smug confidence. She teleported herself out of the impalement and grabbed him by the neck but he did the same leaving nothing but a small pillar of dark light and pulled her by the wings once again in an attempt to rip them from their roots but failing just the same as her power repelled him.

Emrys sighed in exasperation feeling that engaging her physically was getting him nowhere, her battle instincts far surpassed his and he was running out of tricks to surprise her with.

He gently pressed his index and middle finger to his thumb as if catching something delicate and invisible out of the air.

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An immediate lockdown effect was introduced as a well crafted rose made entirely of darkness with little wisps of it escaping off it's delicate petals was formed between his hands, but that beautifully crafted creation from the very moment that it was formed one could already feel the very vitality and power in the air drop to dangerously low levels, now a spiral bed of darkness lay below them spanning for millions of miles and spreading terribly fast by the second.

From this spiral came millions of evergrowing thorny branches spreading in all directions and reaching tens of thousands of meters high looking dark as night as they sunk deep into the skies above, it's thorns were crowned with a crimson hue at it's tip and grew to gigantic proportions yet remaining sleek as it spread in all directions and if one were to take a look at the skies above and the spiral below they would only see it completely overun by these thorns which were nearly touching in both directions completing the look of a perfect cage of thorns.

Suddenly, it stopped growing but Hope at current was trapped in this encirclement of thorns which all seemed to just narrowly avoid piercing her body yet leaving not an inch worth of space for free movement and from the crimson stained hues of those thorny tips she felt an immense level of danger.

But there was a second thing she noticed, the power contained within them was growing at an extraordinary pace, she would have almost believed that just existing was enough for it to continue growing stronger but the alarming rate at which everything else including her power became the weaker told of a different story.

The spell was killing this realm but when considering it's near endless structure it would take years before it drains a good portion of it's power but way before that point is even reached, right now this spell was en route to drain and surpass her powers entirely and she could not teleport easily as the lockdown effect seemed designed to restrict her, nor could she take the gamble that it would reach a possible limit before that even happens.

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With just a word from her mouth it was done, it all faded away into nothing including the rose caught between his hands. Yet there was no reaction from him at all concerning this, he seemed to be stuck in somewhat of a daze and this confused Hope as to why, this state lasted a few seconds longer before clarity was returned to those eyes and he breathed out a small air of frost.

At this very moment a primordial cold was felt across this realm and it shook her to the very core of her being, all signs of danger were ringing off in her head telling her she had to stop what he was doing even though she had no idea what it was and in act of desperation she went for the strongest spell in her arsenal.

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Just as the spell was cast, a shard of crystal black ice was summoned before him and then everything just turned deathly silent. In moments the realm itself began fading away into fine pieces returning them to the arena and the current state of Emrys could only be described as dire.

His body was gone as was the power contained within and his golden skeleton had one half of it destroyed, the shattered half were in finer and larger pieces each barely attached to the whole of him and just barely held in place by an invisible force but the light of his eyes were extinguished.

And then there was Hope who looked to be completely fine on the surface, except for the fact that right now she was unmoving and without a presence, frozen to an almost unbelievable level by his power yet none could see nor feel the effects or presence of it to judge how it was even possible.

The only thing that gave them confirmation something was wrong in the first place was her lack of movement and presence in the world.

This was the power of his spell cast at the last minute same tine as hers-

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Imbued with the terrible nature of his body which forces him into the realm of abject obscurity and the absolute nature of his 'black ice'. It was untouchable, could not be seen nor felt and it freezes absolutely, down to the point whatever it touches might just be truly dead and lost forever be it flesh, inorganic, antimatter, energy, spiritual, intangible such as gravity or time, borderline conceptual or even the soul and lifeforce itself.

This was the current state of both Hope and Emrys in this moment, a state of being truly dead even if alive yet nearly not existing and lost with both their times either frozen or in pieces.

And now the tournament had come to an end, their battle having reached it's final and it's result most surprising for the history books-

A draw.

EnD.