Just as it seemed Theron had every intention of meeting him head-on, he used [Shadow Step] again.

Blackmaul found himself caught off guard, almost like swinging a fist through a cloud. He was expecting, with all the momentum Theron was building up, that they would have an epic clash, but instead he stumbled through where Theron had been before.

This time, Theron only left three afterimages in his wake and flashed away a full meter. Unfortunately, he failed to follow up. He had expected to be able to swing his weapon and attack Blackmaul when he was caught off guard, but his skill wasn't high enough.

It was too hard to time his reconstruction and his attack at the same time. It led to a small pause, and Blackmaul's cultivation was too high not to recover in that small time frame.

The latter swung out his club to the side to meet Theron's attack.

BANG.

Theron felt his arms quake as he took three quick steps back, the earth shaking beneath him. Any other Silver Mancer would have been blasted to minced meat, but Theron's sharp gaze didn't even fade as he activated [Shadow Flush].

A cloak of dark fog wisped into being around him, flashing in and out and sending out plumes of fog that burrowed into the cracks of the ground formed by his steps and expanded them further.

The cracks raced across the cobblestone as though racing one another on an intertwining track, and the dispersal of the force was just fast enough that Theron was there to meet Blackmaul's next strike.

Theron activated [Shadow Flush] once again, the cloak on his body becoming thicker. This time, he only took two steps back, leaving him with enough time to take a sharp step forward and meet Blackmaul for his third strike.

BANG.

The two clashed once more, and this time Theron only took a single step back.

Every strike Blackmaul levied was heavier and heavier. Theron could feel that he was using a technique to absorb his power and return it with his next bit of accumulating strength. It was a momentum-building technique, a powerful one, and yet Theron was countering it with greater and greater force.

He was improving in the use of [Shadow Flush] faster than Blackmaul could build his momentum.

Theron met Blackmaul for the fourth time, activating [Shadow Flush] once again, and this time he stood his ground.

Winds howled and the earth between the two of them collapsed into a crater.

Blackmaul roared and his Echo formed to life, a pair of wings appearing behind him.

Theron responded with a use of [Shadow Step]. He couldn't fly, so the loss of footing would leave him at a disadvantage, and obviously he couldn't use [Entangling Clouds] here.

Blackmaul thought that he would gain an advantage in the sudden change, standing in the air above the crater and swinging down with all his might, but he swung past nothing but air.

Leaving just two afterimages in his wake, Theron landed at the edge of the collapsing crater with steps as light as a feather. His expression was still ice-cold, as though the collapsing skies themselves couldn't impact him in the slightest.

He shifted his feet and swung.

[Shadow Extend].

The crater wasn't particularly large, but standing in the middle of it should have left Blackmaul just far enough that he wouldn't be impacted by a normal swing.

This was no normal swing.

Blackmaul was still in the middle of his swing when Theron slashed down, the blade of his spear twinkling with dense spiraling fog that extended its tip forward a full half meter.

Chi.

The plaza fell into silence as Theron cut into Blackmaul's arm, blood spurting like a fountain of paint across the battlefield's canvas.

Blackmaul's body flashed as he activated his own movement technique, his wings flapping so hard that pillars in the distance cracked, some even collapsing directly as he landed on the opposite side of the crater.

He landed heavily, holding his club in one hand and looking at his arm.

The cut was shallow. He knew the weakness of this technique. [Shadow Extend] was great, but if you weren't familiar enough with it, you wouldn't reconstruct the blade of your weapon or your fist well enough, causing it to be less solid than it should be.

Because of that, the blade would either be shorter or duller than it should be.

If Theron had been more familiar with the technique, it might have even been possible that he could take Blackmaul's arm with that one strike.

If Blackmaul wasn't sure before… he was completely certain now. This Theron and the Demon Chosen he fought were one and the same. He didn't need evidence, he trusted his gut.

It was that same feeling of helplessness, that feeling that no matter what move he made in battle, he would be countered and crushed, that either his own strength would be used against him, or his own strength would be so tiny and insignificant that he would be smothered regardless.

Blackmaul exhaled a breath. It was as though he couldn't even see the looks of shock in the eyes of his junior brothers and sisters. Maybe someone else would feel embarrassed, that they were watching their own golden image crumble right before their eyes, but that wasn't what Blackmaul felt.

Instead, he was feeling the weight of the truth he had realized earlier already. He was too small in this world of cultivation, too insignificant.

A vein bulged on his forehead and across his jaw as he clenched it.

BOOM.

The ground beneath him shook as his Echo began to grow more and more corporeal. The Dark Mana in the surroundings surged toward him in an endless tide.

The Nightingale. It was the Echo that was the most sought after in the Sect, the founding Echo that their most core techniques relied upon.

But since the Patriarch, Blackmaul was the only one to have successfully gained it.

And now that he had touched the edges of the Cloud Realm, it was time for the Raven of the Night to undergo its evolution.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.