Versatile Mage (Web Novel)
chapter-3152

….

"If this continues, the fight could go on for a century,” the King of Night and Day suddenly said.

The other Dark Kings nodded along.

Despite being one of the Dark Kings, the Duke of Shadow was being badly beaten by the new Evil Saint King.

Even the powerful beings on the Dark Plane watching from outside the city and the distant mountains were shocked.

The Duke of Shadow might be the lowest-ranking among the Dark Kings, but he still ruled over the Dark Plane.

Since no one had challenged the Dark Kings in a long time, they believed that they were untouchable. They thought that they were the ultimate rulers of the Dark Plane.

The showdown between Mo Fan and the Duke of Shadow were causing cracks in the established hierarchy. It made the beings on the Dark Planes realize that the Dark Kings were not invincible; their strengths had limits. It was just that very few could threaten their position.

"He’s the Evil Saint King. He’s strong enough to be one of the Dark Kings. We shouldn’t even consider taking their positions,” said a powerful being, who still behaved cautiously on the Dark Plane. However, he was as strong as an emperor.

Speaking of emperors, they varied in power too!

The Duke of Shadow was not just a middle-ranking emperor. He also controlled the Shadow Element’s original power. Even middle-ranking emperors with extraordinary talents would still be overwhelmed by his supreme Shadow Element!

Yet, Mo Fan was unaffected.

He remained strong even when the Duke of Shadow removed his Shadow Element Forbidden Curse.

The magic of the Sixteen-Winged Angels came from Heaven Mountain, but it failed to overpower Mo Fan. The Duke of Shadow’s power was essentially on the same level as Heaven Mountain in Holy City. Mo Fan had mastered Fusion Magic and awakened all elements. None of the Dark Kings could beat him!

After being ridiculed by the other Dark Kings and hearing the discussions around him, the Duke of Shadow felt unprecedented anger. Just a few rounds of fighting had destroyed the reputation he had built over the years. There were many powerful beings on the Dark Plane. If he could not kill Mo Fan, who was trying to humiliate him, there would be many bold challengers in the future. Their faith in him as the Dark King of the Shadow Element might collapse.

He needed to show some real skill!

The Duke of Shadow had been holding back.

After all, this gathering of Dark Kings was not exactly a peaceful one.

He could not let the rest of the Dark Kings and Dark Citizens underestimate him. A ruler’s rage would surely make everyone, even the other Dark Kings, shiver in fear!

The Duke of Shadow stopped holding back and stared at the Divine Judgment Matrix coldly.

As the vertical eye on his forehead widened, the sky and the earth instantly changed.

The vast sky disappeared into darkness, and the earth vanished.

Suddenly, they became one. Instead of chaos, there was just cold, unending darkness.

Everyone present—including the other powerful Dark Kings—was trapped in this abyss. They knew that it was not some illusion or another realm.

The Duke of Shadow had used his powerful magic to cover the entire place with his dark hands.

They were in his palms!

All of a sudden, the Duke of Shadow’s figure grew immensely as if he were the universe’s creator. His body spanned across several galaxies. When the beings on the small planets looked up at the universe, all they saw was his body.

His vertical eye resembled a terrifying black hole. Even though the others could not see its actual form, they saw endless dust and fragments swirling around it. The black hole gradually consumed them as time passed.

The mountains, which Mo Fan had spent several weeks crossing, were divided into thousands of pieces floating in the air. They were slowly being shattered and sucked into his vertical eye.

Right then, the immense Galaxy of the Yin Energy God looked like a beautiful silver ribbon. The moment it entered the Duke of Shadow’s vertical eye, the eye sucked a quarter of it in.

Although it was linked to the Pacific Ocean trenches, the Galaxy of the Yin Energy God ended up seeming like a small ditch.

Even the massive ancient dark city had turned into mere rubble. No matter how powerful the locals were, they all became like dust and got swallowed by the Duke of Shadow’s vertical eye.

"Hahaha!” The Duke of Shadow laughed mockingly.

He found it amusing that the Dark Citizens had overlooked one important fact. As a Dark King, he was fundamentally different from them.

Forget living beings, even the powerful Light Element Forbidden Curse could not escape the black hole that was his vertical eye.

The sound of agony filled the ancient dark city.

They hoped that their master, the King of Night and Day, would protect them.

However, the King of Night and Day had conjured a duplicate to fend off the indiscriminate vertical eye.

Besides, he never cared about the locals. If they died, he could always buy a more entertaining living chessboard.

The vertical eye also devoured Mo Fan’s Divine Judgment Matrix without issue.

This black hole was pretty much the most terrifying disaster in the universe. Nothing could resist its devouring force, which went against the laws of space.

Mo Fan realized that this was the Duke of Shadow’s ace in the hole. It secured him his position as a Dark King.

Mo Fan tried using Space Element Magic to resist the black hole’s suction force.

Unfortunately, the space around him was collapsing into a giant swirling vortex. It turned into turbulent dark currents that pulled him in. So, Space Element Magic did not work.

Mo Fan quickly flapped his wings. He hoped that the Sacred Feather Vermilion Bird would help him escape the black hole.

However, it only slowed down the suction process. He still could not break free from the black hole.

"Sink and die! It will be your final fate!” the Duke of Shadow said coldly. It was as if he was delivering a divine judgment.

Even though Mo Fan had mastered various elements, and he could use Fusion Magic, he was as insignificant as an ant in a flood under the Duke of Shadow’s overwhelming power.

While the black hole was meant for Mo Fan, it affected countless beings, including powerful ones. They realized how foolish they were to doubt the Duke of Shadow before. They were all swept into this realm of death with no chance of resistance.

The other Dark Kings were affected too.

With that said, the Dark Kings were the rulers of the Dark Plane. Each of them had their own methods to avoid being sucked into the black hole.

"Mo Fan, you have to think of something!

"I don’t want to die young!”

With both hands, Zhao Manyan held on to a corner of the Heart Palace tightly. This cell was the sturdiest place in the royal court.

However, the entire ancient dark city was being sucked into the black hole.

"I don’t get it,” Mo Fan said.

“Forget about it! We’re dying!” Zhao Manyan yelled.

"This should be Dimensional Magic,” Mo Fan muttered.

Could the Shadow Element really create a black hole that could swallow everything?

Even though the Shadow Element could bring about coldness and emptiness, creating such a powerful black hole seemed more fitting for the Space Element and Chaos Element.

Was the Duke of Shadow also skilled in Dimensional Magic, or had he learned to merge Dark Magic with Dimensional Magic?

That seemed unlikely.

If the Duke of Shadow possessed such extraordinary abilities, he would not be ranked last among the Dark Kings.

Mo Fan tried to grasp the truth behind the Duke of Shadow’s black hole-like vertical eye. After all, he was also a Shadow Element Forbidden Mage.

Sadly, Mo Fan’s understanding of the Shadow Element was not as advanced as the Duke of Shadow’s. So, he could not figure it out.

If he could not figure it out, he could not learn it. But that did not mean he could not deal with it.

Mo Fan closed his eyes slowly. He started to create something using the Space Element and Chaos Element.

First, he solidified space, set rules, and ultimately, froze time.

The secret of time had always been about bringing together both space and chaotic rules, not just one or the other.

Mo Fan turned space into a permanent picture and used Chaos Element to stop the normal flow of the universe. Even though time kept moving outside, the space affected by Mo Fan’s magic remained frozen.

The once wild and raging vertical eye looked like it had been frozen by extreme cold.

The swallowing force and time freeze were invisible, but the Dark Citizens could see that the dust around had stopped moving.

It was akin to a powerful hurricane. People could gauge its power and shape by observing the swirling dust and debris it carried.

Similarly, the Dark Citizens had witnessed the vertical eye’s destructive force and form as it shattered the rugged mountains and churned the Galaxy of the Yin Energy God.

At this moment, everything stood still. They could not even move their bodies. They understood that time had stopped because of Mo Fan’s power.

Obviously, Mo Fan’s ability to control time was just an illusion. If time had truly stopped, those people would have stopped thinking altogether.

Even so, the beings on the Dark Plane were surprised, and they began to fear Mo Fan.

He was the master of Dimensional Magic!

He actually froze time!

Mo Fan was the only one who could move quickly in this area where time had stopped. Even the Dark Kings were affected by his immobilization spell. Of course, Mo Fan also noticed that Wen Tai and the King of Night and Day were still staring at him.

Those two could not be trapped.

Once Mo Fan froze time in the area, he had the opportunity to search.

Search for what?

He was looking for the secret to the Duke of Shadow’s black hole.

How did he manipulate space with the Shadow Element’s power?

The sky and earth were covered in darkness, as though a black curtain had been drawn over everything.

Mo Fan needed to fly higher and break through this veil of darkness to see what lay beyond the obscured areas.

Soon, Mo Fan spotted a gigantic eye.

Upon closer inspection, Mo Fan was shocked to see a massive beast floating in the dark sky.

The beast was so huge that it seemed to cover the entire sky. It was so colossal that what people thought was the sky was actually its back.

"Looks like a Shadow Ancestral Beast is accompanying him!”

The Shadow Ancestral Beast was as large as the sky, yet it remained undetectable. On the Dark Plane, the sky and land were already shrouded in darkness, and the air was thick with the Shadow Element. As such, this beast could easily blend into its surroundings and disperse into shadows.

"So, this is the secret behind the Duke of Shadow’s power? Turns out he relies on this Shadow Ancestral Beast.”

After Mo Fan discovered the truth, he laughed.

The arrogant Duke of Shadow was nothing but a being who depended on the Shadow Ancestral Beast!

He never mastered his supreme abilities himself. Instead, he concealed the Shadow Ancestral Beast behind a vast curtain of shadows.

The suction from his vertical eye was merely the Shadow Ancestral Beast’s relentless devouring. Since the others did not notice it, they mistook it for an endless black hole.