The Lightning Emperor remained silent for a while, and Shang patiently waited for him to speak.
Finally, the Lightning Emperor sighed, accepting the situation. "What's there to do?" he asked with a tone of resignation. "I've known this all along, but I didn't want to face it."
The Lightning Emperor glanced to the side, seemingly lost in thought.
"Anti-Magic doesn't exist. It's merely the power of the Abominations. I should know. Lucius taught me a little about it."
"He taught you?" Shang inquired, sounding somewhat surprised.
The Lightning Emperor nodded. "Yes, he gave each of us a lesson in what he called Anti-Magic. I was the only one who gained anything from it. I learned how to transform Mana into what you call Entropy. Unfortunately, the Mana I use is consumed entirely, and I can only release about 30% of the stored power."
"People know that I killed Adam, but they are unaware of the extent of the destruction I caused. Well, the people there know, but those in the Lightning Manor don't. They aren't aware of the details," the Lightning Emperor explained.
"You can use Entropy?" Shang inquired.
"Entropy?" the Lightning Emperor repeated.
"That's what I call it," Shang clarified. "I need a Mana vacuum to demonstrate."
The Lightning Emperor raised an eyebrow, but he obliged and created a barrier around Shang, pushing all the Mana out.
SHING!
The Lightning Emperor took a deep breath upon seeing a High Abomination appearing beside Shang.
While he had accepted that Shang was the Child of Calamity, witnessing him summon an Abomination was still shocking.
Moreover, the Abomination didn't even act hostile; it simply stood next to Shang obediently.
The Lightning Emperor had never considered himself a villain. He valued honesty and fairness above all else.
However, now he found himself conversing with someone who could control beings destined to destroy the world.
It made him uncomfortable to support someone like that.
Shortly after, Shang used his Domain of Entropy to split the High Abomination into Mana and what he called Entropy.
Shang's hand reached for the ball of Entropy and held it.
"This is what I call Entropy," Shang explained.
The Lightning Emperor examined the ball of Entropy with interest.
"We know that Abominations aren't composed entirely of Mana, but we've never managed to separate the Mana from the other force," the Lightning Emperor remarked. "Shang, you've created something that only Lucius has seen before."
"May I take a closer look at it?"
Shang nodded. "Keep Mana away from it, or it will explode."
The Lightning Emperor nodded in return, and the ball of Entropy floated towards him, with the Mana vacuum following.
He then recited several complex words, creating abstract Mana fluctuations.
The ball of Entropy started to heat up, causing the Lightning Emperor to furrow his brows.
He continued chanting Spells, but the ball of Entropy kept increasing in temperature.
After about a minute, the Lightning Emperor summoned several devices that Shang had never seen before.
However, as soon as one of these devices touched the ball of Entropy, it vanished.
Another minute passed, and the Lightning Emperor let out a sigh of frustration.
"How am I supposed to test this ball of Entropy?" he muttered, sounding half-rhetorical. "I've only learned one thing: it destroys any kind of Mana it touches."
"And, well, almost everything is made of Mana," the Lightning Emperor added helplessly.
DING!
Shang tossed a hard piece of ore beside the ball of Entropy.
The Lightning Emperor raised an eyebrow, but he noticed that the Entropy was drawn to the ore.
"They're attracted to each other?" he remarked.
Shang didn't need to respond; the Lightning Emperor's mind worked rapidly, and he made several deductions.
"So, there might not even be a reason why the Abominations come to our world," he theorized, reaching a conclusion similar to Shang's.
Naturally, he arrived at a similar idea.
"Possible," Shang agreed. "Maybe the God can't even control the Abominations."
The Lightning Emperor furrowed his brows. "But he gave you your Affinity, and you can control Abominations, right?"
"Yes, but my control isn't absolute," Shang admitted.
The Lightning Emperor became increasingly intrigued. None of the Children of Calamity, apart from Lucius, had managed to become as powerful or learn as much about Abominations.
"I can control and summon them," Shang explained, "but I can't dismiss them or prevent them from appearing. If I sense an Abomination wanting to appear in Aterium, I can redirect it to somewhere else, but I can't stop it from appearing."
The Lightning Emperor scratched his chin.
"And you think even the God can't do that?" he asked.
Shang nodded. "I'm not entirely sure, but it's most likely."
The Lightning Emperor continued experimenting with the ball of Entropy for some time.
After hours of testing, he managed to learn a couple more things about it, but the nature of Entropy remained difficult for him to grasp, as it was unlike anything else in the world.
Then, the Lightning Emperor asked Shang to recount his life story without any secrets.
And Shang complied, revealing everything to the Lightning Emperor.
As Shang divulged his story, his thoughts drifted to a person he hadn't thought about in a while: Jerald.
Conversing with the Lightning Emperor reminded Shang of the genuine care he felt from both of them, but their actions and approach were quite different.
Shang's relationship with Jerald had felt like a bond between brothers before things fell apart.
In contrast, his connection with the Lightning Emperor felt more like a friendship and business partnership.
They both wanted something from
each other, and their conviction and power vastly differed.
Jerald was weak, always had been. After seeing what Shang had seen and learned, he could tell that Jerald hadn't been anything extraordinary.
At best, Jerald might have become a Boltling in the future.
However, every single Cloud was far superior to Jerald in intelligence, motivation, and talent.
Jerald could have never followed in Shang's footsteps, and Shang was aware of that.
Moreover, Jerald lacked decisiveness. He should have either informed the Lightning Manor about Shang or done nothing at all.
Instead, he devised an elaborate scheme and played a role for Shang.
As for the Lightning Emperor, he was already at the pinnacle of the world, possessing hundreds of thousands of years of experience.
Or perhaps...
The Lightning Emperor was simply more selfish than Jerald.
