Shadow Clone

Lu Yuan shared the senses of the Shadow Clone he had slipped into the Dark Domain, giving him a clear view of everything playing out within.

Li Xinghai and Si Qi — the two elders — were pressing their assault on the black-haired elf in tattered robes.

The elf's power was formidable, though. Like every Soul-Devouring Orb holder Lu Yuan had encountered before, he was wreathed in a bizarre black mist thick with lingering spirits. Every swing of the long saber in his hand tore out a piercing, bone-scraping shriek.

Those shrieks were enough to make Lu Yuan's head ache even from a distance. For Li Xinghai and Si Qi, fighting at close range, it had to be far worse.

On top of that, the Shadows could deflect some of the two elders' attacks and strike independently — working somewhat like Lu Yuan's own Shadow Clones.

Even two against one, the black-haired elf moved with practiced ease.

Worse, as time wore on, Li Xinghai and Si Qi were burning through their reserves faster than their opponent. Their strength was deteriorating at a steeper rate.

By comparison, the elf's aura was weakening too — just not nearly as quickly.

He also possessed a strange variety of Spirit Power, identical to the other Soul-Devouring Orb holders Lu Yuan had faced — distinctly different from what any ordinary Gene Warrior could produce.

*Those who've undergone Aberration probably can't channel Gene Armaments anymore,* Lu Yuan thought. *They might not even be able to use Combat Techniques from their Transcendent Genes.*

It tracked. This black-haired elf, like every Soul-Devouring Orb holder before him, hadn't reinforced himself with a Gene Armament once. Every defensive measure he employed ran entirely through the Shadows.

As for the reason they couldn't activate Gene Armaments, Lu Yuan had no clear answer. His understanding of the Aberration phenomenon was limited to what he'd personally witnessed.

*Clang!*

The ring of steel on steel rang out as the elf's black saber crashed against Li Xinghai's black sword, sending him hurtling backward.

Li Xinghai expelled a slow breath, narrowed his eyes, and glanced at Si Qi beside him.

"Old-timer — still no word from the others?"

Si Qi wasn't faring well either. Numerous Shadows had burrowed into his body, and wisps of eerie black mist now seeped from his flesh, his expression drawn with pain.

He let out a low growl. An ice-blue radiance surged, and a dense draconic might rolled outward — expelling thread after thread of black mist from his body, each one accompanied by a faint, strangled shriek.

His color improved slightly. He said under his breath:

"They should be close. They don't have the right Spatial Type Talismans, so it takes a bit of time."

Li Xinghai exhaled slowly. His eyes were cold as they fixed on the elf. "Whatever happens — we cannot let him run."

The elf had, of course, heard every word. His blood-red eyes were glacial with killing intent.

He was gradually gaining the upper hand, yes — but the upper hand was not victory. Killing Li Xinghai and Si Qi remained beyond his reach. And as the battle dragged on, even he was being ground down. If another Battle Emperor arrived, his situation would become dire.

At that thought, his gaze swept across both opponents. A cold flash crossed his eyes, and he reached out once more to tear the space before him.

He refused to believe that — under these conditions — those two humans could interfere with his spatial rift a second time.

Seeing him open another rift, Li Xinghai and Si Qi's expressions tightened. They surged forward together, unleashing a torrent of Combat Techniques aimed at cutting off his escape.

From a distance, Lu Yuan's clone watched and narrowed its eyes.

Through the Shadow Clone's vision, his true body pinpointed the rift's exact location and rippled the spatial threads once more.

An instant later, the elf had barely begun to dive through the opening when he felt space twist and buckle around him again.

His expression shifted. He vanished from the spot in a flash.

**BOOM!!**

Space shattered. The implosion warped the fabric of the Dark Domain itself, tearing a jagged gash through it.

The elf had managed to dodge — but the shockwave still found him. He went pale, then spat a mouthful of blood.

Farther back, Li Xinghai and Si Qi saw it happen and scrambled to retreat, shielding themselves from the catastrophic blast rolling off the spatial explosion.

They stared at the slowly knitting fracture in space, then looked at each other.

"What just happened?"

One explosion could be chalked up to chance. Two in a row was something else entirely.

The elf was no fool — if he hadn't been confident the first time, he wouldn't have tried it again. And in the Imperial Capital before this, he had already done exactly that without incident.

"Someone in the shadows is keeping this elf from leaving."

Li Xinghai scanned the area warily and voiced the most plausible explanation.

Si Qi's eyes narrowed as well. He looked around without moving, then said quietly, "Hard to say whether they're friend or foe."

Li Xinghai probed the surrounding space, felt nothing, and his expression hardened. "Either way, what they're doing benefits us. As long as this elf doesn't escape, that's all that matters."

Si Qi gave a faint nod. "Mm."

While the two of them spoke, the elf was reaching the same conclusion.

His expression cycled through a storm of emotions before settling into something savage. His blood-red eyes raked the surrounding darkness as he rasped:

"Who's there?! If you have the nerve, stop hiding — come out!"

The only response was Li Xinghai and Si Qi's renewed assault.

Both men were more worn than before, but their combined offensive still carried tremendous force. The elf's expression kept shifting as he evaded their attacks and struck back in kind.

The battle resumed. Not long after, the elf — apparently unwilling to accept it — made another attempt to open a spatial rift. The moment he did, space twisted and exploded once more.

Now all three combatants knew for certain: a powerhouse with command over spatial forces was lurking unseen.

The weight of that knowledge settled over all three of them.

For Li Xinghai and Si Qi, the unease came from uncertainty — what was this hidden player's goal? Why were they helping?

For the elf, the calculus was simpler. The spatial powerhouse clearly did not want him to escape, which meant they were no ally of his.

The figure hadn't attacked yet. But there was no guarantee they wouldn't strike from ambush.

Users of Spatial Type Transcendent Genes were among the most dangerous ambush specialists in existence — and inside the Dark Domain, the elf's own perception was considerably weaker than it would be in the open world.

With no choice, he drew a portion of his focus inward, maintaining a defensive awareness against a sneak attack that could come at any moment.

This gave Li Xinghai and Si Qi the opening to reclaim the initiative. They pressed, driving the elf back step after step.

**BOOM!!**

After another collision with Si Qi, the elf staggered backward several paces.

His face darkened. Those blood-red eyes flickered with grim calculation. *I can't keep going like this.* A third Battle Emperor — maybe even a fourth — could arrive at any moment.

If tearing a spatial rift wasn't an option, then raw speed was his only play.

His gaze sharpened. He erupted with everything he had left, driving back both Li Xinghai and Si Qi, then wheeled and shot toward the outer edge of the Dark Domain.

His plan: break free of the domain, then flee directly into open space.

But just as he made his break for the boundary, dozens of Shadow Clones materialized at once. Each one held a black sword, and they swept toward him in a slashing, overwhelming barrage.

The swordplay's killing edge struck the elf as dangerous — but not extraordinary. Barely reaching Battle Emperor level, if that. Perhaps fractionally short of it.

Had he been at full strength, he wouldn't have given such an attack a second glance.

But he was a shadow of himself now, his aura noticeably spent. Dozens of Shadow Clones still pressed enough threat to demand caution, and he was forced to dodge.

Behind him, Li Xinghai and Si Qi caught sight of the scene — and both pulled up short. Li Xinghai in particular stared with wide, baffled eyes.

Si Qi turned to him. "Didn't expect you to be holding something back, old man."

Li Xinghai: "…If I told you those aren't my clones, would you believe me?"

Si Qi blinked, shooting a baffled look first at Li Xinghai, then at the Shadow Clones.

His jaw twitched. "That can wait — keeping this elf from getting away is what matters now!"

Li Xinghai gave a nod and resumed his assault.

In the shadows at a distance, Lu Yuan's body was wreathed in streams of pale golden light.

He had activated Sacred Brilliance, then pushed Shadow Dominion to its full extent — ensuring his Shadow Clones were considerably stronger than they would have been alone.

Dozens of clones in continuous succession. Enough, hopefully, to hold the elf at bay a while longer.

He had spotted through the Shadow Clone's eyes that the elf was about to flee, which was what had given him the idea. *I need to understand who this elf is.* He had launched an attack on the Imperial Capital out of nowhere — there had to be reasons, and Lu Yuan needed to know them. Otherwise something unexpected could catch him off guard later. And if the elf had powerful backers, Lu Yuan wanted to be prepared in advance.

He was careful not to activate the Great Solar Spirit Body, though — he couldn't risk Li Xinghai or Si Qi recognizing him.

After all, the shadow and spatial power he was channeling was already approaching Battle Emperor level — far out of step with the Transcendent Genes registered under his name. And even stacking Gene Armaments had its limits; it wasn't plausible to amplify so many different aspects at once.

Better to stay hidden than to fumble through excuses later. He'd stop worrying about concealment once his power had grown enough that it simply didn't matter.

Inside the Dark Domain, Lu Yuan's clones fought alongside Li Xinghai and Si Qi, pressing the elf from every angle.

Because Shadow Clones required only Spirit Power to maintain, and Lu Yuan could rapidly restore his Spirit Power by absorbing Spirit Crystals, his reserves were functionally limitless — the drain from the clones posed no concern whatsoever.

Every Shadow Clone threw itself at the elf with no regard for self-preservation, willing to catch the elf's strikes with their own bodies.

When one fell, another formed in its place and rejoined the assault.

Individually, each clone was far below Li Xinghai or Si Qi in power — but the fearless, inexhaustible tide of them sent ice down both elders' spines.

The elf roared in fury, his blood-red eyes burning with rage and humiliation. He was being held at bay by a swarm of clones.

And their suicidal, unrelenting nature was burning through his reserves at a far greater rate than the earlier stages of the fight ever had.

Worse, the clones actively intercepted attacks aimed at Li Xinghai and Si Qi, freeing the two elders to press their offensive without restraint — amplifying the pressure on him until it was nearly unbearable.

With the Shadow Clones in the mix, it didn't take long before Li Xinghai and Si Qi began to gain a clear and definitive edge. Fresh wounds opened across the elf's body one after another.

He raged and roared, but escape was denied him at every turn — tear a spatial rift, and it exploded; try to break out of the Dark Domain, and the endless clones dragged him back.

Li Xinghai and Si Qi, watching the elf's mounting desperation, felt quiet satisfaction rising in their chests. At this rate, it was only a matter of time.

Then, without warning, every Shadow Clone dissolved into black mist and vanished without a trace.

The sudden disappearance left all three combatants momentarily stunned, none of them quite able to process what had just happened.

A faint, desperate hope rose in the elf's ashen face. He seized the moment and bolted for the edge of the Dark Domain.

At that instant, a figure came crashing into the domain. Seeing the elf rushing directly toward him, this newcomer let white flames roar across his body — fire that shaped itself into blazing white birds and plunged straight into the elf.

The elf had no time to react. The fire-birds slammed into him. He screamed and was sent flying, long blackened burns seared across his body.

Li Xinghai and Si Qi looked to the newcomer.

He was an elder with white hair, wearing white robes — a powerfully built frame that stretched the fabric taut across broad shoulders.

The White Demon Battle Emperor. Rafael Harold.

At the sight of Rafael, smiles broke across Li Xinghai and Si Qi's faces. They turned back to the elf, their expressions becoming ice.

The elf looked at all three of them — and his face fell completely.

Outside the Dark Domain, Lu Yuan stayed hidden in the shadows. The moment Rafael appeared, he immediately let Sacred Brilliance and Shadow Dominion dissolve — he couldn't risk being detected.

After all, Rafael was operating from outside the domain, which meant he was fully capable of sensing unusual fluctuations.

And with Rafael now in play alongside Li Xinghai and Si Qi, dealing with a wounded elf should pose no great difficulty.

Still, Lu Yuan chose to remain and watch until everything was settled before leaving. Just in case the elf somehow managed to tear open another rift.

Before long, a series of violent detonations rang out from within the Dark Domain. Then the domain itself shattered. Li Xinghai emerged looking pale, blood at the corner of his lips.

Beside him, Si Qi and the newly arrived Rafael were equally haggard — covered in fresh wounds, their auras noticeably diminished.

Opposite them, not far away, clusters of lingering spirits scattered into the air with dying wails, as the elf's body slowly dissolved into dark mist. The last trace of life ebbed away and was gone.

From his hiding place in the shadows, Lu Yuan's brow furrowed slightly as he watched the mist disperse.

*He killed himself.* When the elf had realized there was no escape, he had chosen death over capture.

*Did the three of them manage to learn anything? Was this elf the true mastermind behind the Soul-Devouring Orbs? Did they find out who he was — where he came from?*