During the fight, Charlotte had noticed a few things, but she thought that she must have been imagining things or mis-seen them.
Now, there was no doubt in her mind about what she could see Raze using, and the last spell he had just used; it was Dark magic.
To those who weren't from Alterian, it might not seem like a big deal, and it was just any other type of magic being used, but Charlotte knew the truth.
"When I met Raze back then, he was just a 2-star mage, and now he's a 4-star mage. He grew incredibly quick."
The thing was, Charlotte had seen Raze use Dark magic before. In their first meeting, and Himmy had witnessed it as well.
She had seen him use the spell, Dark Pulse, but that was it. The spell was a simple one that many, even those who didn't have the Dark Attribute, knew of.
Now, though, she had witnessed an incredibly powerful Dark Spell, a 4-star level spell.
'How could he even know such a spell? Sure, he could have increased his magic power and still use a spell like Dark Pulse, but he knows more spells.'
'As far as I know, I haven't met another mage who knows how to use Dark magic, so how could he have even learned such spells? Unless he came up with them himself.'
If that were the case, then Raze would be a genius. Spells were based on years and years of research. Sometimes, spells would take generations to come up with as the knowledge was passed down from one person to the next.
However, out of all the things she had seen, the fact that Dark magic was used, or a 4-star spell was used, wasn't the most concerning thing.
It was the strength of the Dark magic itself. More mana meant bigger spells, but the real strength of spells was how much affinity one had with that magic element.
For Dark magic to overcome what she could tell was Light magic that was coming from Niang and the sword, the Dark magic had to be incredibly powerful.
'The reason why Dark magic is outlawed and banned in Alterian is because the way to increase its affinity is by taking lives. For him to have gotten his affinity this high already…'
'He couldn't have been entering dimensions non-stop and killing beasts… he must have also killed humans. Just how many lives could he have taken.'
The strength of the Dark magic was making the entirety of Charlotte's body shiver, and she had no clue what to think of the situation anymore.
Before, it was a small matter that she wouldn't report to her superiors because she didn't want to make a big deal out of the matter.
Through her interactions with Raze as well, he seemed rather nice, but who knew what his true intentions or mannerisms were.
If she were to report this, just how would Alter react?
With Raze finally using his trademark Dark magic, he was more confident in the fight ahead. Niang had recovered and threw out another fist technique, punching through the air.
At that point, Raze decided to match it, performing the two-step shift; he threw his own hand out and performed a Dark Pulse.
Combining the two of them, he was using the move he had created: the Dark Strike. A beam of energy came out of his fist, dark in color just like what Niang was doing.
The two energies met in the center and hit each other. As they did, the energies lingered in the air for a few moments before they disintegrated into nothing.
The whole room was warping, and the power was passing through those who were watching.
"I have no clue what these powers are, but I'm sure if we were hit by them, or were in the middle, we would perish," Bargo claimed.
Once again, the flurry of punches had begun from Niang, and in response to this, Raze had placed his sword into the ground in front of him and started to throw out his fists as well.
Each time, he was shooting out Dark Pulses to match the attacks that were sent by Niang. The two powers were colliding with each other, destroying them.
When the two powers would collide, shockwaves would be sent out each time, but it didn't bother the two of them as they continued to attack.
What Charlotte didn't realize was Raze's Dark magic, although strong, wasn't as strong as she thought. The reason why Raze's Dark magic was able to go against the Light magic was because of his Qi.
He was using his fist techniques with Qi, plus the added power of Dark magic, to make the attack more powerful compared to what it would be.
If he was just using Dark Pulse, the Light magic would be too powerful, and he would be losing out.
As the two continued to fight this way, it looked like there would be no winner, and it would be more of the case of who was to run out of magic first out of the two.
'I can't keep this up; that sword is still giving him power even now. If I don't do something else, then it will cause a large problem,' Raze thought.
Thinking about it, he needed to wonder what he could do to win this fight. His opponent could heal, so how could he win the fight?
He no longer had the mana to cast the Dark Edge Sword Arts.
"I still have the mana pill; that will restore my mana for more time. It lasts five minutes instead of one, but… the issue is even if my mana is restored, I need a way to win this fight."
As he was thinking things through, he could only come up with one answer. He thrust both of his hands together at that point, using the last of the magic he had available.
"Dark Canon!" Raze cast.
A larger beam of energy erupted, and rather than face this by punching early, Niang punched the dark energy straight on, destroying it.
"I'm surprised you still have so much energy, but you must be tired now," Niang claimed.
Looking at Raze, he could see that he had the sword picked up back from the ground, but not only that. In his other hand, he had the dark-colored pill.
Taking it, he gulped it down, and soon he could feel the energy restoring inside the rest of his body. His mana had returned… but it would only last for five minutes.
On top of that, mana used wouldn't be restored; it was just back to the way it was.
"Four formations," Raze said. "In total, I have learned 4 of the 8 Dark Edge Sword Arts formations. When combined with Magic, these formations are even stronger."
Niang had no idea what the person in front of him was talking about, but he could feel a rise in energy from him for some reason.
Instead of fighting up above, confident in his strength, Niang decided to step off the stage and was ready to go for Raze.
"1st formation, Shadow Bind; the second formation, the Eclipse Strike, and the 4th formation Void pulse. I haven't been in a fight where I could use this until now."
Raze lifted his sword up, just so it was under his eyes, and then glided his hand across the sword. As his hand moved, Dark magic started to linger on the sword.
"The third formation, Nightmare Veil!"
