The Shadow Garden was a Mystical Space inside the Beast Region that even the Beast Monarchs couldn't enter. However, as this place was explored by humans so many times already, quite a lot of things were already known about this place to the outside world, especially about the basic outer structure of the place.
It was known that everyone who entered the Shadow Region, appeared at the same place in the Outer Zone. That meant the battle for supremacy in the Shadow Garden started right from the start... From the moment everyone entered.
That was the time where many powerful teams attempted to kill the weaker teams to eliminate the variants.
The stronger teams formed alliances to increase their chances of survival, while the weaker teams had to rely on their own skills and instincts to stay alive. The Shadow Garden was a place where strength mattered the most, and only the strongest and most cunning would emerge victorious.
Moreover, there was no outside interference in a place like this. No one from the outside could even see what was happening inside the Shadow Garden either. So no one could stop them. The ones who died could only blame their bad luck and nothing else.
This was something that Gabriel was already informed by the Stein Clan before he even came here. That's why, he wasn't surprised in the least when he was attacked as soon as he entered the Shadow Garden.
He raised his hand lightly, casting a shadow barrier before him, which blocked the attack for him. However, that wasn't enough. This was the new spell that he had personally created when he was inside the Stein Clan after all.
It wasn't just a simple barrier. It was much more.
Not only did the shadow barrier absorb all the attacks, but it also later reflected those same attacks where they came from.
The person who had attacked Gabriel was stunned, when he saw his attack coming back at him. Unfortunately, before he could even move, he was hit. His body flew back, as a hole was left behind in his chest.
The other people from the Skyler Family also arrived, along with the other powerful families. The entire place had turned into a small stage battlefield.
However, the heirs of various big clans were simply standing in the back with great arrogance on their faces. They had people who could fight for them. They didn't even have to dirty their hands.
There was only one person in the entire place who was all alone, yet that person wasn't attacked. She was the girl from the Northern Dragon Clan. Neither the big clans, nor the small clans dared to attack her.
She simply walked through the battlefield, occasionally glancing at Gabriel in the distance. However, she didn't approach him.
The battle didn't last long. Just as everyone had expected, the smaller clans were thoroughly destroyed. No one outside was going to know what happened since this had happened every time.
It was going to be said that they died because of falling into some trap. Everyone knew how dangerous the Shadow Garden was, after all.
After the battle was over, everyone continued entering deeper into the shadow garden while being careful about the traps.
Fortunately, in the outer zone, they could be more relaxed since most of the traps in this place were already known. It was the Inner and the Core Zone which was truly dangerous.
That was also where the shadow mages were going to come into play.
For now, Gabriel had no use. However, strangely enough, he didn't get much respect in the Skyler Family.
While all other big families kept their Shadow Mages in the back, to protect themselves for the time being, the Skyler Family Heir didn't do so.
For him, Gabriel was no more than a dog that wagged their tails for them. If he couldn't even survive in the Outer Zone without being protected, then he had no abilities to lead them to the Core Region.
Moreover, the Skyler Clan brought an extra shadow mage, on which they had more faith after all. If anything, they didn't really believe that Gabriel was any special. The only reason Gabriel was hired was to mess with the Stein Clan.
Gabriel didn't argue for the time being either. With his hands in his pocket, he walked ahead of everyone else, observing the Shadow Garden like a child, filled with curiosity.
He didn't know that the strange symbols on his bones that even Karyk couldn't understand had started shining a little.
As he walked further, the intensity of the glow increased, causing him to feel a strange warmth coursing through his body. Gabriel frowned, not realizing what that was.
"This place is really interesting. The plants were, I have never seen before. The essence they contain isn't something that belongs to the Upper Realm?" he muttered, feeling everything in his surroundings, thanks to his element having properties of Light and Darkness.
"Where are you?" While Gabriel was walking in the Shadow Garden, he suddenly froze, hearing a voice in his head.
'Karyk?' he frowned, raising his head.
"Hey!" While Gabriel stopped walking, someone pushed him from behind. "Stop wasting our time. Be a good dog and continue walking!"
Frowning, Gabriel glanced back, noticing it was again the heir of the Skyler Clan.
He shook his head lightly, not getting angry. He had seen too many idiots like this already.
He started walking again, but was still curious how he was able to hear Karyk's voice.
"How are we able to talk?" Gabriel asked, after creating some distance with the others.
He didn't notice that the girl from the Northern Dragon Clan was still keeping an eye on him.
"Look at your shadow..." Karyk's voice fell in Gabriel's head.
"Huh?"
As Karyk said this, Gabriel looked down, finally realizing that there was something different about his shadow that he hadn't noticed before.
His shadow contained something else... It was.... The path to Karyk's Shadow Realm where his entire army was!
"How did you do it?" he asked, only to get a small answer in return.
