Chapter 30 - Dark Magic pt.1

Dark Magic...

"Are you just going to stare at the wall in hopes of burning a hole on it?" Gaos asks, sarcasm and impatience clear on his voice, interrupting the silence there once was. I said 'asks', but it's definitely more of a complaint.

"A hole won't appear no matter how long you stare at something unless you did something abnormal or supernatural." I casually said, looking down at the ground – specifically at my own shadow.

It's... actually been a while since I last trained my Dark Magic because I was too preoccupied with my preparation for attending the Royal Academy. Even before, I was also quite busy balancing my time – or just life in general as a Ducal House eldest daughter. I sometimes attend parties and social gatherings for a brief moment, forced by the Duke and Duchess to keep up with my 'image' and reputation.

And all I could say was that... it was boring and dull.

It's definitely similar to that feeling you have whenever you'd be forced to attend a party or some sort you absolutely didn't actually want to attend.

For all the past years where I've tried to acquire as much knowledge as possible about Dark Magic, reading all those rare books I was able to have by sneaking outside of the Euridice Mansion a few times that doesn't really explain much, as well as experimenting with it myself – I can't still confidently say that I can battle someone powerful with this and wins.

Although I managed to win against Gaos back then using my Magic, as I said before, it was just with the use of luck and other several things. I didn't even win with just using Dark Magic purely.

Besides, at that time, I don't think that Gaos is fighting with me with all of his power – or to be more accurate, he can't, because he's in his weakened state.

It was something I realized later on, a few days after I separated his shadow.

Although strong, as a shadow, he can't really fight with all of his strength and power like a person or a being alive can, because technically, he's already dead.

It can be achieved, but only by the master, which is me, transferring Mana to him. So whenever he needs to cast or use a more powerful spell or Magic that his own current Mana can't handle, it will be my Mana that will be depleted.

Base on all the books I've read, it was said that although a person with Dark Magic have the ability to revive any dead creatures with the exception of humans, it is different from necromancy.

In the first place, the necromancy in this world is something totally illegal, and unlike Dark Magic, you can also revive a dead human with it, but of course, this can not be done without paying a certain 'price'. In necromancy, it's not just about extracting their shadow but also literally reviving their dead body whether if it's in a good state or not.

In this field of 'reviving', Dark Magic relies mostly on Mana and the Mage's own life, while necromancy is in exchange for something. A life for a life, a life of another person, a sacrifice – those are just the few phrases I could use regarding it.

Besides, maybe using the word revive for Dark Magic is quite wrong. Perhaps 'borrowing the soul' or 'making a contract with a soul or spirit' is more correct because as said before, I am merely extracting their shadow or in this case, I can also call it their soul – or a part of their soul.

And although I'm currently bonded with Gaos, it is a bond that can be broken as long as I, the Mage or contractor wish it.

– Dark Magic is not just about having undead familiars though. I'll be stating quite the obvious, but of course, it is also connected with the ability to control shadows, as we Dark Magic Mages have the ability to extract 'shadows'. However, in the books, it doesn't really specify how we can control it or in what way. I'm also not sure about what kind of Magic does Dark Magic can do or cover.

So that's when I decided to try it –

When I had the time to be able to do so, I tried in on my bedroom, and later on, I asked Gaos if he knows anything about it.

And what he simply said was, "Of course, I do! I'm an abyss dragon!" Well... apparently, he's an abyss dragon. I only discovered it that day as well because I didn't bother asking before, and I always just ȧssumed that he's some sort of a fire dragon considering how much he used fire Magic against me before. Thanks to Aksia's knowledge, I already know about different dragon races or types that there are.

It's basically just like Elemental Magic – and abyss dragon is kind of equal to Dark Magic which means they specialize in that. That's when I remembered that the fire ball or fire Magic Gaos used when we fought was color black...

This made me think of the fact that although Gaos can probably see me trying hard to find information regarding Dark Magic, he didn't say anything.

Well, I guess it's partly my fault for not asking and ignoring his existence most of the time. Besides, if I had asked him about it back then, I'm sure he won't tell me anything anyway. He's like... a rabid dog back then. He still is now, but it's more tone down.

Afterwards, Gaos told me in detail about what a Dark Magic Mage can do.

"Dark Magic is great! I don't know why you peasants view it as a curse when it's so powerful. Obviously, you can do shadow extraction and shadow control, you also have that dark dimension of yours. But you can do much more than that, human!" Even though I can't see him, I can already imagine Gaos grinning smugly as he talks.

"Think about it! You can put lots of stuff in that dark dimension, you can even store the great me here. You can open this in whatever way you want, whenever and wherever, almost like a portal as long as you meet all the conditions."

"As for controlling shadow itself, you already have an idea, don't you? Just earlier, you controlled your shadow to take the form of a hand and hold a glass of water. Well... that's all I'll be telling you, figure out the rest yourself, human!"

– and that's what happened. I didn't try convincing Gaos to tell me more about it since I know it'll be a wasted effort, thus, I was left to think about it alone.

I could threaten him to severe or cut our 'contract', but he'll get back at me later on by annoying me. Besides, I have no intention of actually getting rid of our contract since Gaos is someone I can still use. Perhaps he just wants to see me struggle because I doubt he's doing this to see me grow and learn by myself.

Well... It's not like I haven't thought of those before. I did, but just didn't have the time to try it, or maybe it's because I'm also hesitant. I also already have an idea of what Dark Magic can do in general since if you're a fan of some fictional works, you definitely won't be that clueless about it.

As for how Gaos can use that black fire from before... It's probably just a basic attack magic as well, the fire ball that I mentioned before which can be used regardless of your Elemental Magic.

As for how did it turn black and why it seems slightly more powerful than that of a basic Magic, it's probably because Gaos did something else. Perhaps he added a twist, adding his Dark Magic as well.

I'm not sure how he did it, but I'll be sure to learn it as well.

But overall, these are some of the things I've learned about Dark Magic;

First, the thing that was mentioned earlier – my dark dimension which I will now call my 'void' since it's much simpler and shorter. It's also much more accurate considering that what's inside of it is an endless darkness. I can store or bring in and out 'anything' in it without any problem, but I'm not so sure if this also applies just fine to a living being.

But... I've never really tried putting someone else in there, so I have no idea about what kind of effect it will have on a human other than myself, or if it even has any.

After all, although I'm human, I am also the owner of this power which might be the obvious reason why it does not affect me. Other than that, I also have no idea if it has any effects on non-human creatures.

Gaos seems completely fine with staying inside of my void, but that's because he has a contract with me, and the reason why he can be here right now is directly connected to my Dark Magic. The fact that he's an abyss dragon might also have a part in it.

Secondly, my void seemed to be a limitless or infinite storage space that actually has space in it.

That should be obvious since if it doesn't have space, I wouldn't be able to put anything, but what I mean is that it's more than just a storage. Perhaps this void is actually my own shadow because as I said before, the inside of it was just endless darkness – However, it seems that Gaos who is inside of my void can still see the outside world or surroundings through my eyes or perspective.

Third, if I want to retrieve or get something I've stored inside the void, I would usually have to think about it as I reached out my hand inside a 'gap' which I'll have to open.

This gap or opening looks exactly like a black hole, one wherein I can also control how small or how big I want it, as well as where I want it to be as long as it's within my field of view, and in terms of the size, there's also this limitation that I can only make it as big an average human height if I open it on the air – even that is difficult, and the easiest is to just open up a small gap.

As for its limitations of opening it on the ground, it's the same as opening it on-air. If you think about it, this is similar to what I've done to capture Gaos back then, letting my shadow expand on the ground to swallow him. However, that's not exactly a gap. A gap is something like a portal to and out of the void, it might have originated from my shadow, but it is not directly connected to it.

Unlike when I let shadow expand directly from my shadow. The limitations of making my shadow expand are probably already that as well, when I did that, I was about 10 steps away from Gaos.

Opening or creating a gap isn't that easy though, because whenever I want to retrieve something, I would have to visualize the thing I want to retrieve strongly in my mind while also making sure that I'm still focusing on maintaining the gap.

I'll have to maintain the size and the location because once I get distracted, it will immediately close. If I don't visualize the thing I want to get as well, then I wouldn't be able to get it.

Well... so far I've been reaching out my hand through the gap to hold it inside the void, but I'm also planning on experimenting more so that I could take in and take out what I want without direct contact.

I'm not even sure if there has been a Dark Magic Mage wielder that has already done all of this before.

With that being that case, I'm quite hesitant about showing all of this to someone, but... I guess what happens will happen. I don't intend to hide what I can do unless needed – I mean, why would I hide it when it can scare away some of those who intend to do something? It will also probably give me some benefits and disadvantages. I will only hide it if I know that it will just give me trouble instead.

Besides, with my identity being Aksia Euridice, I can't exactly appear to be weak.

"Hey human, you're thinking too hard again, aren't you? Just try and do it!" Gaos exclaimed, although, Gaos voice is deep as if it came from beneath the ground as I said before – I still almost flinched at the loudness, it was like some sort of a dark entity or devil is shouting inside my mind, the words echoing and ringing in my ears.

"... I will" – without you telling me.

I haven't really done much yet inside this personal training room.. Well, since it's 'my' personal training room right now, might as well use it to the fullest.