Turning my attention back to the monster, it still appeared to have no intention of attacking us as It continued to gather dark mana to surround its body. I slowly stepped forward, one step, two steps, three before the monster finally seemed to sense something as he paused.

The floating orb of darkness looked like it was staring right into my soul as an ear-piercing shriek escaped its body. The sound was irritating, to say the least, and It made me frown with displeasure.

I had already established that my Water mana would not be very helpful here, Earth might be abundant but it still fell short when compared to one of the pillars of existence, hence why the only choice to counter it was by using another pillar.

I silently reached out to the cosmic mana, although I was hundreds of feet below ground, the incomplete statue in my soul space still shook as a thin thread of cosmic mana extended outwards and excited my body, slowly reaching out towards the cosmos above.

It was not long before I felt the Cosmic mana descent, its elements were strange when I studied them with my spiritual vision. They looked like celestial bodies, miniature planets of sorts that rushed into my command.

The Dark mana's elements, on the other hand, held varied shadowy forms, some tall others short, some humanoids others monster-like, the only common point between them was that they were all shadows with no distinctive features.

Seeing and feeling the Cosmic mana surrounding me, I closed my eyes to bask under the sensation for a second, my body was extremely comfortable, even my scales started to tingle alongside the mana. 'I can try to separate its body parts first, see It that will weaken him,' With but a thought, Cosmic mana surged towards the monster.

The mana was surprisingly tame this time around and did not even attempt to defy my orders or follow them half-heartedly. It lunged forward aiming at the monster's left leg, though as if sensing something, the abomination stepped back, Dark mana condensing in the area where he was standing, he forcefully willed its elements to change form into a large shadow that opened its abyssal mouth to swallow my attack.

The moment the surge of Cosmic mana clashed against the Dark one, both sides seemed to cancel each other as the monster's shadow disappeared, teleported into another plane. My Cosmic mana was thus nullified as well. Still, I wasn't disheartened, not giving the monster any time to attack, I lunged forward, my killing intent soaring to the sky.

I launched another Cosmic attack from the monster's blindside, though he seemed to have seen it coming as another shadow promptly appeared causing both energies to get nullified. Just as that happened, I had already reached the abomination's right side, I exerted strength in my back legs and leaped up coating my claw with cosmic mana as I delivered my strike.

This was my true aim since the beginning, the first couple of attacks were just distractions, it was nothing but a harmless attempt, I didn't hold much hope for them to cause any damage in the first place. 'In the first place, this is not my fight,' I inwardly mumbled.

Faced with my attack, the monster took one large step back and spun around, its four big wings morphed with the Dark mana as they seemed to merge into one whip that blocked my claw.

Boom

A loud deafening bang occurred as the cave shook causing debris to fall from all sides. It seemed like It was about to collapse from the force of our clash. Just then, the whip that the monster used suddenly shook before It reverted into four large wings, this time, however, their color was not a truly dark one, It seemed more tainted than before.

The monster was enraged as it tried to retreat, yet I did not allow it and instead pressed on. The difference between my current method of attacking and my previous one was that I now managed to make contact, or more precisely, have my cosmic mana make contact.

The monster was constantly surrounded by a layer of Dark mana, it was akin to a second skin which meant I wasn’t even seeing his true form since Dark mana was continuously protecting him. When I tested the waters with long-ranged attacks, the monster nullified them using his mana, still, he was not forced to use the one that surrounded his body.

Once I made direct contact, however, his second layer of ‘skin’ was the one that got nullified alongside the cosmic mana that coated my claws. Although It would not take long for it to regenerate for both of us, I had something the monster did not.

“Sidus!” I yelled out as I continuously launched a barrage of attacks using the various parts of my body coated with Cosmic mana to create the opportunity my little brother needed, and that was to regain control over the Dark mana.

Sidus did not disappoint, with each clash whenever the monster’s mana would get nullified, his connection to it would also get lowered for a split second. Sidus was using that to summon the Dark mana to him, slowly but surely, a large black shadow extended from behind him, appearing like a dark blanket that threatened to swallow everything inside.

The monster on the other hand looked more and more pitiful, his color dimmed as his appearance looked to be tainted. It was constantly letting our enraged roars but to no avail, I did not stop my attacks, and Sidus did not give him any time to recover.

It was perfect teamwork. Once I sensed that the monster was significantly weakened, and once it stopped being able to regenerate the Dark mana at a fast rate, I decisively stepped back and Sidus rushed in to deliver the final blow.

We didn’t need to talk, yet our moves were in sync, the moment I moved back was the moment he dashed in, his two claws seemed to morph into two giant scythes that cut at the monster’s head and torso. It moved its wings to shield itself but by now it was already too weak.

Sidus’s attack landed true and the monster’s body was split into two halves. It didn't have the time to let out its final scream as it fell to the ground in silence. I glanced at the scene in curiosity as the monster’s body slowly evaporated into dark mist.

The mist slowly edged towards Sidus and seeped inside his body, he closed his eyes as a content smile appeared on his face. To my surprise, a small part of the mist moved towards me and flowed between my scales before It disappeared.

‘Hmm, what was that?’