The Mage Lord had just barely readied her Focus when Shang had already nearly reached her.
SHING!
The Mage Lord used several Mana Steps to gain some distance, but Shang was already shooting after her with scary speed.
The Mage Lord quickly realized that this couldn't be a Mage King since the Attack Flag would have reacted to the figure since it was obviously using Mana to move this fast.
Additionally, the Mage Lord couldn't even tell who or what this was.
Was this a Mage?
It had to be a Mage, right?
Nevertheless, she knew that she had to go all out. After all, the Lightning Manor wouldn't send someone to attack her as long as they weren't confident.
She remembered that the Lightning Manor had some kind of secret weapon that they wanted to use against King Sanctified Death in the future.
Was this the secret weapon?
If so, this might be the most difficult fight of her life.
Immediately, she unleashed her full power.
Just when Shang was about to reach her again, everything became dark.
Shang's Spirit Sense didn't work anymore, and if he had eyes, they also wouldn't work anymore.
On top of that, Shang felt his body slowly becoming weaker.
This was Shang's first time genuinely fighting someone that knew a level six Concept.
This was the level six Concept of Darkness, Eternal Darkness.
Eternal Darkness stretched the powers of darkness across a vast area.
Luckily, creating Spells that included such powerful Concepts wasn't easy, and the Mage Lord hadn't yet created one.
Because of that, she could only use the Concept as it was.
No matter what Shang did, it was impossible for him to see anything with his Spirit Sense.
WHOOOOM!
That was when Shang activated his Domain of Entropy.
The darkness around him vanished, but more darkness followed.
It would take a while for Shang to get rid of all the darkness.
Then, Shang felt over 30 Spells getting absorbed by his Domain of Entropy.
Apparently, his opponent had used some of her one-time-use Spells.
However, they couldn't get through his Domain of Entropy.
For about half a second, no Spells hit Shang.
WHOOOOOM!
And then, a concentrated beam of Darkness and Death Mana reached Shang.
Just when it entered Shang's Domain of Entropy.
Instant!
Shang used the level four Concept of Time, Instant.
The entire world froze, and Shang's Mana was rapidly being depleted.
However, this moment allowed him to plan everything and tell exactly in which direction his opponent was.
Time resumed.
ssssssss!
It was like two rapidly spinning drills hit each other.
The concentrated beam of Darkness and Death Mana rapidly vanished as it hit and destroyed a black cloud of smoke.
This was Shang's Death Sword Mana.
SHING! SHING! SHING!
The next moment, countless cuts in space appeared in the 10,000 kilometers in front of Shang.
It was like every cubic meter had a cut going through it.
This was a technique Shang had developed that combined his World Connection with the level four Concept of Space, Fragmentation.
DING!
One of the cuts hit something.
The next moment, a cloud of black smoke burst out of Shang's body and gathered around his sword.
In an instant, the cloud formed a black blade, but compared to Shang's normal Death Edge, this blade was over 100 meters long and thin.
Shang thrust forward.
And the thin blade shot out of Shang's sword directly at the spot where his World Connection had hit something.
BANG!
The thin blade broke apart after it hit something.
Naturally, someone with a fivefold Spirit Sense had ways to increase the power of their Mana Shield.
What Shang had just used was the non-essential Destination for Sword Kings he had comprehended, Blood Compression.
With this, Shang could compress Sword Blood into a small and powerful form, giving it some of the attributes of Sword Infusion.
As soon as the blade broke apart, it turned into black smoke again, but instead of retreating, it swarmed around the spot it had just hit.
Shang felt his Sword Death Mana rapidly getting depleted, which meant that his opponent was putting up a strong fight.
But not for long.
After a bit, Shang's Sword Death Mana broke through something and stopped getting depleted.
The next moment, the darkness around Shang vanished.
And then, the barrier turned transparent again.
Shang wasn't surprised or excited.
He knew how powerful he was, and he had entered the fight with one purpose in mind.
Testing his speed.
Shang hadn't used Mana Step.
Shang hadn't used Sword Heart.
Shang had simply run at his enemy and attacked her in a straightforward manner.
A Peak Mage Lord with a fivefold Spirit Sense that knew the level six Concept of Darkness and the level five Concept of Death.
And yet, Shang hadn't even truly tried.
If he wanted to, he could have used World Connection from a great distance.
But he didn't.
As the barrier turned transparent, the world turned silent.
This... thing was still alive.
But the barrier had turned transparent.
It was very difficult for the Mage Kings to come to terms with their new reality.
This had been a future Mage King.
This wasn't someone that had a chance at becoming a Mage King.
No, this had been someone that would have definitely won the next tournament.
And she had died?
To this?!
What even was this?!
But just a moment later, the Mage Kings realized what this was when they saw the sword hanging from the thing's right hand.
This was the menace?
What happened to him?!
They knew that they had crippled him in some way, but they still weren't sure how or why.
Even after seeing him.
The next moment, the specter's hood moved, and it looked towards the Judgment Palace.
At this moment, the Mage King responsible for the frontlines in the Judgment Palace felt her back shudder.
It was looking at her!
But how could it see her?!
She was over 200,000 kilometers away!
However, that wasn't the most shocking part.
She felt a little threatened.
She felt like this thing might have a slight chance of killing her!
But how?!
She was a Late Mage King!
The next moment, the specter turned around and flew back to the Lightning Manor, its way of movement still extremely bizarre and unnatural.
What had happened?!
This was the menace?!
But how had the menace become this powerful?!
This thing had destroyed one of the most powerful future Mage Kings that existed!
And then, a possibility appeared in the Mage Kings' minds.
This thing was so strong that it could win against such a powerful Mage Lord.
Did this mean...
Did this thing have a sixfold Spirit Sense?
It was difficult to believe, but that was the most likely possibility.
Sadly, they could only grit their teeth in frustration.
They were out of options.
They had already used several Mage Kings in ambushes.
They had already used their changed Defender Flags.
The Lightning Emperor had already finished dealing with the contract, which meant that he could watch over the menace 24/7.
And lastly, the war was going badly for the three Empires.
The Abomination Lords were causing heavy losses, and the Lightning Manor wasn't experiencing nearly as many losses.
They wanted to attack the Lightning Manor with all their power.
But it didn't matter!
They had already used everything!
And for the first time, the Mage Kings actually felt like they had a possibility of losing this war.
