Chapter 96
Axel floated inside the shadow and he could see Drax aslear as day. Even though Drax was invisible.
That alone made Axel pause for a second. The shadow wasn’t just hiding him. It was showing him things others couldn’t see. That thought crossed his mind fast, followed by another.
’What else can this place do?’
But there was no ti to think about that now since his fight wasn’t over yet.
Axel knew the truth. Without the shadow void, he wouldn’t have lasted this long against Drax. Maybe he wouldn’t even be standing. That thought sat heavy in his chest, but he pushed it aside.
Outside the void, Drax was still invisible and he started attacking at random.
Black spheres flew everywhere, slamming into the arena walls, tearing up the ground, exploding on impact. Drax was trying to force a hit. Trying to get lucky but Axel wasn’t there.
He wasn’t invisible like Drax was, he was sowhere else entirely.
Drax was so caught up on trying to get a hit on soone who wasn’t there that he didn’t notice when his invisible shadow beca visible on the floor and started to stretch. Didn’t notice when it grew longer than it should have.
Axel burst out of it. He swung the Godrend sword straight into Drax’s back.
The blade was coated in Ruin Echo Energy
The hit landed. Then the explosion followed.
Drax scread as fire and force ripped into his skin, throwing him forward. He crashed hard into the ground and rolled.
Axel didn’t stop. He quickly created a shadow clone and stepped back into the darkness again, slipping through the shadow and reappearing on the other side of the arena.
’This is dragging on too long!’ Axel thought.
Ending this now mattered more than anything. If he was going to finish this, he had to go all out. No holding back. No saving strength.
That ant using everything including infernal skills, Umbra skills and Even his normal strength.
Two ssages flashed across his vision.
< [Infernal Core: 40%] >
< [Umbra Core: 40%] >
"Crap... Not much juice left."
He pulled everything together anyway. Every active skill he had flared at once. Infernal Energy, Ruin Echo, Fire Infusion and the Energy Burst. He packed it all into the sword..
The blade rattled violently and Axel launched it.
The attack tore through the air straight toward Drax, who had just managed to get back to his feet. Before Drax could fully react, Axel stepped into the shadow again.
He appeared a few feet behind him and delivered nother slash. Sa combo.
Then another movent. Axel quickly planted Ruin Echo charges around the space without stopping. One after another in a fast, ssy and desperate but. Then he stepped back into the shadow.
From inside, he watched as Drax tried to move but he was too slow.
The slashes hit first, then the explosions went off. Fire, force and smoke swallowed everything followed by a loud booming sound that rattled the entire arena. What the audience witnessed was a deadly display of power.
"IT SEEMS AS THOUGH THE RED IMP HAS GOTTEN ANGRY!" the comntator announce.
The smoke around the place rose high and when it finally cleared, Drax was on the ground. He wasn’t moving.
His sword had vanished. His body was burned and broken. He tried to push himself up once, then collapsed.
Axel slowly erged from the shadow, his breathing heavy.
The comntator’s didn’t speak at first. Even the entire arena was silent
Then, the comntator’s voice exploded through the arena.
"WE HAVE A WINNER!"
The crowd went insane.
"DRAX TAN IS DOWN! THE VICTORY GOES TO—THE SHADOW IMP!"
"Wait what?! What happened to Red Imp?" Axel looked up as the crowd scread his na. Thousands of voices were chanting the shadow imp’s na.
Axel hadn’t used his mask for this fight so everyone could see his face clearly. Deep in his gut, he knew he had drawn too much attention.
It wouldn’t take long now. Not with this display and especially not with a shadow demon fighting in public.
The demon slayers would hear about this....It was only a matter of ti.
Axel swallowed.
"...Shit."
****
Chapter 95
Axel knew the mont he thought about it that using any umbra skill in front of this many people would change everything.
The second he touched the umbra core openly, everyone would know. A shadow ability on top of infernal abilities ant only one thing. It ant that he had the Dual Mutation.
Dual mutants never stayed unnoticed.They were almost celebrities everywhere they went and Axel had managed to stay under the radar long enough by hiding behind one power set.
But right now, hiding was probably going to make him lose.
Infernal power alone was not enough. Drax was too slippery. If Axel wanted to win, he had to accept the risk.
’If I’m winning this,’ Axel thought. ’I’m using everything!’
The problem was simple. Drax was invisible. Umbra Step needed shadows. It needed timing. It needed a target.
Drax appeared again, a few feet in front of him with the dark golden sword pointed straight at Axel’s chest.
"Give up already," Drax said calmly. "Forfeit. It’ll look better than this." His eyes narrowed slightly. "You are not my match."
Axel snorted. "If you’re tired, just say so," he replied. "Stop cutting corners."
Drax smiled, then he vanished.
This ti, Axel didn’t wait.
The mont Drax disappeared, he dashed forward to that spot and slashed his sword through the space Drax had just been standing in. The blade t sothing solid.
Drax’s invisible body slamd into the ground, skidding across the arena floor. He was still unseen, but Axel knew he got him.
Axel didn’t pause. He activated Ruin Echo silently and stabbed the sword into the ground near where Drax had landed. He pulled it out and moved back just as the delayed blast went off.
"Ahhhh!"
A scream cut through the noise as Drax flew backward and crashed onto his back. This ti, his invisibility dropped. His body shimred and beca fully visible again.
Axel took a deep breath.
"Now it’s my turn."
< [Umbra Step Activated] >
A thin shadow stretched from Axel’s feet, crawling across the arena floor like liquid ink. Thousands of eyes watched as Axel stepped into it... and vanished.
The entire Nexus Field went silent. Even the comntator stopped speaking.
Up in her private viewing area, Dasha froze and her mouth slowly fell open.
Drax stood up, spinning around, confused. He looked left, rght and then behind him.
He was so confused and distracted that he never noticed his own shadow was moving.
It stretched outward, peeling away from his feet and Axel erged from it in a burst of motion, with a Hellrand Slash already coming out if the sword.
The slash tore into Drax’s back and sent him flying across the arena again. He crashed hard, rolling several tis before stopping.
Axel didn’t stay put. Oh no.
< [Umbra Step Activated] >
He sank back into the shadow instantly.
Dasha turned sharply to Kade. "Is it possible," she asked slowly, "for soone to awaken a second ability long after the first?"
Kade shook his head. "No," he said. "Not normally."
The comntator’s voice ca roaring back to life.
"IT SEEMS WE HAVE TWO DUAL MUTANTS IN THE ARENA!"
The crowd exploded in cheers seeing The Red Imp performing magic.
Drax lost it.
"FUCK YOU AXEL VAELON!!!" His face twisted in anger as he shouted and hurled his dark golden sword straight at Axel. At the sa ti, two black spheres ford beside him and shot forward, tearing through the air. Before Axel could even fully react, Drax created another sword out of thin air and sent that flying too.
Four attacks sent all in less than five seconds. The crowd roared as the arena lit up with motion.
Axel’s body moved on instinct. He twisted to the side, rolled forward, ducked low, and barely slipped past the second blade as it sliced the air where his head had been. One of the black balls skimd past his shoulder, close enough that he felt the pressure drag at his clothes.
The comntator was already losing his mind.
"THIS IS INSANE! DRAX TAN IS GOING ALL OUT! FOUR ATTACKS AT ONCE! HOW IS THE RED IMP STILL MOVING?!"
Axel landed on his feet just in ti to see Drax appear out of nowhere.
Right beside him, a fist ca flying straight for his face.
< [Shadow Clone Activated!] >
A shadow version of Axel snapped into existence between them.
Drax’s punch connected with the shadow and there was a loud crack. Not the sound of shadow breaking but the sound of bone.
"FUCKKK!!" Drax scread as his fist bent at an unnatural angle and he staggered back, clutching his arm.
The arena went dead silent for half a second.
Then the comntator yelled AVAIN almost choking on his words.
"WAIT! DID THAT SHADOW JUST TAKE THE HIT?! THAT WAS SOLID! THAT WAS A SOLID HIT!"
Axel stared for a brief mont, stunned.
’It’s solid...’ he realized.
A grin spread across his face. He didn’t waste the opening.
Axel lifted his hand and fired two Infernal Bullets in quick succession. Both shots slamd into Drax’s torso, burning into his side and shoulder. Drax grunted and stumbled back again.
"UNBELIEVABLE! THE RED IMP IS PRESSURING DRAX TAN! THIS IS NOT WHAT ANYONE EXPECTED!"
Drax straightened slowly, his breathing was now heavy. Then his body shimred and he vanished. Invisible again.
The temperature in the arena shifted as black spheres began forming everywhere. In total, there was 30 black spheres. One after another, they launched toward Axel from all directions.
Axel ran like hell.
He dodged left, jumped right, slid under one attack and twisted away from another. The spheres kept coming, faster and faster. His legs burned. His chest tightened. He could feel himself slowing.
’This won’t last!’ Axel thought.
Then he stopped. He slamd his foot into the ground and ca to a sudden halt. In one motion, he drove his sword straight into the arena floor.
< [Ruin Echo Activated!] ]
Axel leapt backward, leaving the sword there, just as the delayed explosion went off.
The blast swallowed the space around the sword in a booming wave of force. The black spheres vanished mid-flight. The pressure shook the arena walls. Drax’s assault stopped and smoke and dust filled the air.
Without a second thought...
< [Umbra Step Activated!] >
A shadow opened beneath him, wide and deep and Axel fell into it.
****
Inside the shadow, Axel floated.
The feeling still felt wrong and still unsettling like the last ti he was in it. It was like being trapped inside a silent void. No sound, no ground, just darkness that was stretching endlessly. The only reason he didn’t panic was because he knew he chose to be here and because he was in control.
Axel turned around and the arena appeared around him like a window. He could see everything. He saw Drax standing there, turning in circles with a new sword raised.
Sothing else caught his attention.
Drax’s body wasn’t normal. It looked like glass. Light was passing through him and his shape shimred faintly... it was distorted.
"He’s currently invisible,’ Axel realized.
But from inside the shadow void, it didn’t matter.
Axel could see Drax clearly even while he was invisible.
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