Godslayer began without hesitation.
Alex looked at the black book with his own eyes and slowly the blackness of the book was receding when viewed through his Demon Eyes.
Godslayer was absorbing every piece of Shadow aura that was on the book without leaving any behind, unintentionally collecting even the Shadow aura that was scattered in the abyss around him.
Of course, what was scattered could not be comparable to what was in the book itself.
Alex waited on full alert in hope that no one else arrived close by. He had been following the young man named Zhan Lushin for who knew how long, and he was afraid that he accidentally got someone else to tail him, like he did the young man.
Thankfully, no one came in the multiple hours that it took for Godslayer to collect everything inside of the black book. At some point, Alex even saw the physical textures of the book with his own eyes after lighting up a small fire.
"Ahh, finally done," Godslayer proclaimed, sounding extremely happy with himself in the end.
Alex look at the book and saw the lack of blackness with his Demon Eyes. "Are you fully done?" he asked.
"Yes, I collected everything," Godslayer said.
"Great!" Alex said. "That was easier than I thought it would be honestly. So, do you need some time to absorb it? Are you going to go to sleep?"
Godslayer paused a bit. "Actually… there is a small problem," he said.
Alex frowned a little. "What problem?" he asked in a worried tone.
"So… the thing is, since this isn't darkness aura, as you know by now, I cannot absorb it to make myself stronger," Godslayer said. "I can absorb it to make myself temporarily stronger, but it will not elevate me as a spirit."
"What's the problem exactly? That it is not Darkness aura?" Alex asked.
"Yeah, that's the main problem," Godslayer said.
Alex put on a disappointed look. "But you said this was going to help you. I thought you were going to get stronger from this," he said.
"I was, and I still can, but not in the way we hoped," Godslayer said. "I had expected the shadow aura to just have originated from Darkness aura, but turns out that is not true. It truly is shadow aura. Whoever placed the aura in the book managed to remove all intent from Darkness aura, keeping only the Shadow aura."
"So what does that mean? Did we fail?" Alex asked.
"No, we did not," Godslayer said. "We just… there is an extra step added to the process now, but…"
Alex waited for Godslayer to continue, but he didn't. "But what?" he asked.
"You will hate this part," Godslayer said.
"Come on! Spit it out. We're already this far enough," Alex said.
Godslayer sighed and spoke. "Here's the thing. The Shadow aura is now around me, and I can keep it around me for a long time, as long as your annoying yellow cloud doesn't come close ot it."
"Our initial plan was me hoping this was Darkness aura, in which case I could have absorbed that and Death aura at the same time to get stronger."
"However, now I need to first turn this Shadow Aura into Darkness aura. For that, I will need to add Intent into the Shadow arua."
Alex's anger calmed down a little. "That's it? Why didn't you say so before?" he asked. "I don't know why you said I would not approve of it. Just give it to me, I'll do it. It's just intent."
"No," Godslayer said loudly. "It is not JUST intent. Did you forget what Darkness aura is? Shadow aura is the aura formed in the absense of light."
"Darkness aura is that, but also the aura of corruption. The aura of grief and anger and cruelty and injustice. It is the aura of the darkness at the heart of people that have been wronged. It is the aura that grows when one gives up on morality."
"It is the aura of evil itself."
"To say that a Shadow aura needs an Intent to become a Darkness aura does not mean that you need simple intent. It means you need to feed it to someone who had been wronged. Someone who can fuel it."
"Someone who has suffered grief and injustice, and no longer sees anything wrong with becoming evil."
"To change Shadow Aura to Darkness aura, you need to find someone like that and then force the aura upon them. And then take it all away. That is the only way to create a Darkness aura."
"That… is the only thing, aside from Death aura that can empower me."
Both Alex and Godslayer remained silent for a while. "I will not ask you to find someone like that for me. I will keep this Shadow aura with me for now. It is plenty that I can use to aid you up to a certain level if required."
"Instead, let's just try and find an actual Darkness source. I am sure there are plenty out there," Godslayer said.
Alex remained quiet for a while and nodded. "Alright, let us do that," he said. He looked around the darkness that still lingered and asked, "What will happen now that you have taken away the source?"
"Nothing for a while," Godslayer said. "There is no light coming here as it is a spatial pocket that was designed that way. The Shadow aura will lessen over time, more if people use Yang Qi, but for a while, no one will notice that something is wrong with it."
"We should be able to avoid suspicion when the secret realm eventually fails a couple of centuries later," Godslayer.
"Oh, if that is all it takes then fine," Alex said. "Now that we've gotten what we came here for. Let us leave."
"Oh, will it be that easy?" Godslayer asked.
"Actually, it will be very simple," Alex said with a bit of a chuckle. "Just watch."
He threw the book aside and flew off in a direction where he had previously sensed spiritual senses. Those people had most likely moved away by now, but he hoped to find at least someone in the time being.
After flying straight for an hour, he finally sensed a spiritual sense. The moment he sensed it, he stopped and flew toward the person.
The young woman who was surprised by his sudden arrival panicked and immediately spread her spiritual sense all around him. She didn't even wait a second to see who he was or what he wanted.
She went directly for her number and wrote it onto the Mirror that she held in one of her arms, while the other one held a Spiritual sense dampening artifact.
The moment Alex's number was written, he felt the teleportation spell latch around him. When he sensed that, he couldn't help but smile.
"See? I told you it would be easy to leave," he said before turning toward the girl. "Thanks."
He disappeared, arriving on the stone platform that was formed around the well.
"So that's what you meant," Godslayer said. "I thought you were planning to win the whole thing."
Alex chuckled. "Is there really a need to do that though?" he asked. "I've gotten everything I wanted from the abyss, so there is no need to stay around."
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m