Never before would I have imagined such a thing was possible. This monster seemed to be breaking some fundamental law of nature. It was simply too unfair!

In what way was this allowed?

How was I supposed to beat it if it could undo everything? And how exactly was it doing it?

I recalled the odd sentence Sensei had said about the creatures and tried to make sense of it.

They despised light, but they were drawn to its power. What else was this light except for our magic?

It made sense why they wanted to capture Sylrin and I so much. With his abundant flame magic and my dazzling snake looks, we made quite the catch.

Perhaps the torment the shadow creature was inflicting on these creatures was a form of magic transference.

Yet, it didn't explain how the other monsters that came after us got their due. Sensei was quieter than usual, which made me suspect he knew something about them.

"If I was captured by them, what would you have done?" I asked out of curiosity.

«Interrupt your nerve endings to stop you from feeling any pain. Then wake you up when your stamina reserves kick in.» Sensei was quick to answer, like he was long prepared for such a scenario.

But his lacklustre reply only made me annoyed.

"Is that all? What happened to not letting me die!?" I exclaimed in horror. Was he insane? Like I'd let him experiment on me again.

«You won't be dead. I'm sure you can survive a few rounds.»

With such a response, I might as well be. The bastard!

"Don't pretend this isn't a dangerous situation!" I complained.

«Well...nothing happened, did it? You listened to me and took the potion, because it was your best choice.»

That was not the point! My God, he was frustrating!

I glared at the shadow creature that had moved on to repeat the same in the next cells, leaving the creatures it tortured to bleed out.

The creatures trapped in the dungeon were normal, regular creatures compared to those roaming outside. They bled, their injuries healed normally and they definitely felt pain. It also seemed as if they had been down there since a while already.

"How often do you think it drains them?" I asked Sensei.

«From the scarring, I would say about twice a day.»

Just what was the shadow trying to achieve by imprisoning these monsters?

If it was just for it to recover from its injuries, surely it did not need this many. And why not simply drain them all at once, instead of keeping them alive for a long time.

I was well aware that not all the monsters were like me who gained something from devouring their prey.

They didn't need to consume others for their magic to increase, because any injuries they suffered would eventually heal overtime if they didn't die, just as their mana and stamina would replenish after a while.

Ah...

It occurred to me that those creatures that pursued me and Sylrin were nothing like the monster's I'd faced before.

Their wounds didn't heal when I injured them, and while they continued to move around like nothing fazed them - cut off their limbs or make them incapable of movement and they eventually died.

It was possible they got their magic from eating other creatures, which explained why they tried so hard to eat us.

However, this explanation made no sense when the same rules were applied to the shadow creature. Those monsters outside were different. There was a certain urgency and persistence to which they ambushed their prey, while the shadow creature did not seem to possess any hunger. It didn't even want to eat its captured prey.

Perhaps, it was building up its power by draining these creatures over and over again. If so, it's cruel practice was far worse.

This was made evident when one of the creatures regained consciousness and began to screech. It was once a formidable creature with a wide wingspan, hooked claws and a sword-like beak, yet its blood curdling scream was enough to strike fear through my heart.

It wasn't able to break away from the rods impaling it, due to its lack of strength. It could only struggle weakly as yet another rod pierced through its body.

It was uncomfortable.

I felt as though I ought to do something but I had no idea what.

«Don't look away.» Sensei commanded. «Try to understand it as best as you can.»

This twisted guy!

"Really?" I snapped. "What more do I need to understand?"

«Look beyond the surface of their bodies if you want to make sense of what's actually happening.»

What exactly did he mean?

I looked at the dark shape of the shadow creature. It was somewhat graceful, yet dangerously sinister and it didn't help that the creature it was stabbing kept screaming.

I shivered in discomfort. I was already spying on it, and he wanted me to look further into its body. I was already using [Mind's Eye] and forcing it any further would likely increase the intensity of pain I was feeling.

And what if it felt my probing stare?

In my hesitation, Sensei assured me with a few words. «You're too far away for it to notice your presence.»

That was certainly a comforting thought!

With this, I gathered up the courage to probe even further, focusing more on the shadow creature itself than the dungeon's surroundings.

Immediately I felt the splitting ache in my head increase a notch further and the solid surface of the shadow creature's body began to peel back by layers, revealing the flesh and bone underneath its pitch black outer covering, until finally, the manifestation of its magical form remained.

Similar to when I used [Mana Sense], it resembled a silhouette that moved in the same way as the shadow's body, only this outline was accompanied by strange symbols that lit up the area around it, especially when its body melded into its shadows on the ground.

Was this another facet of [Mind's Eye]?

The inky black symbols that looked like foreign texts seemed to accompany the shadow whenever it did anything. When it absorbed the energy from a rod, the symbols formed a rotating circle around its palm until the rod was reduced to dust.

Also, a large circle of symbols appeared when the shadow creature sank into the ground. It didn't take much to notice the strange symbols seemed to appear whenever it was using magic.

Aside from this, I noticed something else that was deeply wrong with the monster. Its body was absolutely brimming with power and darkness radiated off it in tumultuous waves. Yet, in the middle of its heart, where the solidified root of its power should have been, was an alarmingly empty space.

In other words, it had no core.

For a moment, I blinked in confusion, wondering how something like that was possible?

A monster as strong as it had to have gone through several evolutions to possess its current strength. Yet, the absence of a centre of power only made it that much more bizarre and unbelievable.

Almost as soon as it absorbed the energy from another of the rods piercing the creature, I could see dark matter rising out of its body like waves of gas. Although its body was brimming with magic, it couldn't stay for long.

What the heck was this?

No...How was it even alive?

«Have you ever wondered what happens to creatures who missed their window to evolve?» Sensei asked.

I never really thought about it, I only knew they continued to live, albeit never achieving the magic or strength they were capable of, like those old creatures in the Nymph's forest.

But what did that have to do with this coreless monster?

«This shadow was once like that.» Sensei answered. «Frozen in a weakened state that made it prey to everything, it could only scurry away or die. The difference between a strong monster and a weak one is their ability to transform ether into mana, and how much of it they can retain within their bodies. When this isn't an option they become more susceptible to corruption from other forces to survive.»

I didn't understand a word of what he said.

Was he implying the shadow abandoned the use of ether to become the thing it was now?

But if it abandoned magic, how was it able to use it now?

Sensei sighed at my confusion.

«There are two major forces involved in the creation of this world. On one side you have the gods, but before they existed there was just nothingness, or the Abyss.»

Now it was my turn to sigh...I could sense an incoming lengthy tirade.

Sensei continued. «To create Aeon, the gods fought against the Abyss to bring forth living creatures that flourished under the living breath that is the Ether, but the Abyss never truly disappeared. You can't destroy something you didn't create, so you could say they only weakened its reign. But it is constantly trying to pull everything back into it and return this world to its prior state.»

Ah...so, we were merely existing on borrowed time? Wonderful.

«Naturally everything dies and returns to the abyss, just as everything alive has the potential to abandon the gods and turn to this abyss for power. For those beings, attaining more power is an exchange. They have to destroy all other creatures that use ether - it becomes their fuel. Stop devouring and they will eventually die, but continue and they could live forever. Both are opposite sides of the same coin in a battle for sovereignty that only has one ending.»

It sounded...crazy, and powerful.

Something that could battle numerous gods and still remain at a standstill, and perhaps even outlive a god.

But I had a feeling there was more to this.

If the price was to become a creature that lived endlessly, whose only claim to power was the destruction of others - it didn't seem that appealing.

"And which side do monsters like me fall in this battle?"

«Isn't it obvious?» Sensei laughed in reply. «They are more likely to get corrupted than all other creatures.»