Unlike with the usual Dark Magic, neither Arthur nor Zodiak were able to absorb it, however, it didn't take long for it to slowly contract into a singular black sphere floating far away above the enemy forces. This sphere was actually an entity known as Sol'khin, the first son of Timos, the Black Devil.

He was only a fragment of the past but that doesn't mean he can't hurt them. Quite the contrary, in fact, this Sol'khin is not only strong but he's dangerous to both Arthur and Zodiak, who can only rely on Dark Magic, which basically what the current enemy is made of.

****

"Come to think of it, I have always noticed a difference between Arthur and Zodiak's Dark Magic."

The Joker commented while watching the two individuals facing the countless disoriented Cthulhu.

"Technically, it's the same Dark Magic but it's indeed that the difference is rather huge."

Leiu, who was also watching the unfolding events on the 4th floor, explained, his chilling gaze lingering on past Sol'khin.

"Zodiak relies on the Spirituality of Dark Magic, making it less effective in fast battles. He can feed off the opponent's fear to recover while Arthur uses his Dantian. However, that is only a slight different, the truth lies behind the effects of each one's Dark Magic. Arthur's can consume things… a bit like Void Magic. As for Zodiak's, it is more like a permanent curse… something that, once it touches something, never… ever, disappears."

"You think Arthur's was affected by his Void Magic?"

"It must be, after all, the two have a lot of similarities. The reason I consider Zodiak's Dark Magic as more lethal is because he only focused on it while Arthur uses multiple types of Magic due to his race."

…

The first to attack was Zodiak, who transformed into a large dark cloud which enveloped hundreds of Cthulhu, floating from one area to another, leaving nothing but blackened and lifeless bodies of the aliens.

As for Arthur, he took a more frontal tactic, charging at the nearby golden-eyes archer and unleashing an absurd amount of Dark Magic. A wave of rising darkness emanated from his body, shrouding part of the sky then falling like a tsunami, engulfing four archers and even one of those invisible and fast generals.

When the darkness vanished, the dark-skinned Cthulhu was still alive but unable to move. His body convulsed on the ground, a dark fog coming out of all his pores, he has clearly been consumed by Dark Magic and will perish very soon.

The onslaught continued for ten to twenty minutes, in which the army of Cthulhu was totally massacred. The city lord watching from afar was flabbergasted, not knowing whether to celebrate or evacuate. Though they were killing the enemies, the magic they were using seemed more evil and malicious than those hideous monsters.

While Zodiak was feeding off the fear of the fleeing Cthulhu to replenish his Dark Magic, Arthur could only rely on the amount stored inside the black talisman inside his body.

Just when the last one of the enemies was about to fall, the dormant Sol'khin finally made his move. A suffocating pressure was unleashed by the floating sphere, which was quickly followed by a devastating and lightning fast that struck Arthur instantaneously.

The parasite wasn't even able to dodge and ended up being sent flying until he crashed into the thick city wall. The black sphere started heading toward the two while initiating another invisible attack toward the fallen parasite, though before it managed to hit him, Zodiak intervened, creating a black cube which trapped the unseen Sol'khin and blocked his attack.

"Be careful, he not only can use our Dark Magic but has your abilities too?"

"What do you mean my abilities? Wh-"

Before Arthur could finish, the black cube shattered into pieces and, from inside, a black wolf descended from the sky. Its body covered in black flames and its eyes were shining with a scarlet, malevolent light.

"What is this? Both Zodiak and Arthur here… isn't it a fortunate encounter?"

A ghastly voice came out of the wolf's mouth. It slowly walked toward the old man and the parasite, its eyes locked onto its two targets.

"The soul is separated, it's a perfect opportunity for me to eat it whole!"

As he finished speaking, Sol'khin shot at them with an absurd speed. Zodiak jumped in again, slapping two talismans on the ground before pointing his staff at the incoming wolf.

In the meantime, Arthur successfully imitated [Eternium] without having to resort to the disabled System. His body became covered in Dark Flames, boosting his physical and magical powers for some time.

Zodiak unleashed countless intertwining black threads at Sol'khin, stopping his mad charge, then he jumped to the back while bombarding the enemy with dozens of dark and lengthy spikes.

Sol'khin's body changed, becoming a rat, easily dodging the spikes but the talismans that hit the ground did a great job at hindering him. Like moving sand, the rat was pulled by the blackened and corrupted earth, drastically slowing its speed.

Arthur used this opportunity to attack, making great use of his sky-high stats to rain down punches and kicks at the defenseless rat. Finding it disadvantageous to be a rat, Sol'khin changed into a large rhino but his limbs were still stuck into the moving ground, causing him to recent all of Arthur's ruthless and devastating attack.

The parasite's fists cracked the rhino's armor and were about to finish it but it suddenly unleashed a burst of Hell flames which forced Arthur to retreat.

His resistances were gone now so the flames damaged him, nevertheless, he didn't suffer any fatal wounds.

Fortunately, Arthur backed off in time as Sol'khin pretty much turned this place into a purgatory, dying both the sky and ground into dark red flames that incinerated everything. Even the Western wall of the city crumbled within seconds, burning hundreds of soldiers to death.

The city lord positioned the mages to a safer place then ordered them to create as much water as possible to stop the flames of hell, which were spreading way too fast. At this pace, in less than an hour, the whole city will be turned into cinders.

Zodiak became a dark cloud and rose high-up in the sky, merging with the clustered red clouds. In just ten seconds, an unusual rain took place, black droplets fell on the hell flame, extinguishing it and causing Sol'khin to yell in agony as the strange liquid was hurting him.

Seeing no purpose using the hell flame anymore, Sol'khin changed into another attribute. His body became that of a blue phoenix with massive crystalline wings.Arthur stared at this form with shock, not understanding what's happening:

"That is not something I possessed."

Zodiak grumbled and retorted:"Who said he only has your abilities?"

"Fuck."

The moment the blue Phoenix made its appearance, the temperate fell down and the suffocating heat was no longer present. Instead, a blizzard made its appearance, not only canceling Zodiak's black rain but also freezing the ground and causing Arthur's body to became extremely slow.

Even when he tried activating his Dark Magic, it didn't work. Zodiak was able to cope as flew around in the dark cloud form but when he attacked using Dark Magic, it would vanish before even reaching Sol'khin.

It was at this moment that the Quad-Spirit took action, making good use of its strong Fire powers.

The area was soon split into sides, one was a world of fire while the other a freezing blizzard. The blue phoenix screeched and waved its massive wings as it faced off against a humanoid covered in fire.