Silasmandra shot 4 blast breaths, he used his barrier to reflect them back at the silasmandra, the reflected blasts collided with those suspended in mid air around it. Resulting in an explosion of light that prevented anything inside from being seen. Noir's gaze was not focused on this light and for any one who who did not follow his gaze they'd think he was simply looking away from the blinding light. The silasmandra had jumped out at the moment of blast collision, using the light as cover to sneak attack. This didn't escape Noir's notice and that was where his gaze was directed to. The falling silasmandra used it's claws to attack, and he used the sword to block, with their strength being roughly equal the silasmandra that had a larger build and assisted by the fall, overpowered Noir. He was knocked down and it was above him about to crush him under foot. The already damaged barrier cracked further on the first two hits and on the third it shattered and just when he was about to get hit directly, the light had died down and the shadows returned. He escaped into its shadow and its claws only dug into the ground. He reappeared partially with his lower half still in the shadow, with the flame sword once more he went for a clean cut to the neck. Body and head separated, the head fell on the ground and the body was left staggering, but he did not let his guard down because he was not aware of the limits of its regenerative ability. The moment he saw flesh growing on its neck he left the shadow and grabbed onto the dagger embedded in its chest, which even after healing had remained. And for the first time ever he used the attribute of darkness in an offensive way. Using the dagger as a medium he channeled darkness into its body, then let it go to use the flame sword, with a swift swing of the the sword he cut off its front legs. With the head fully regenerated it let out a cry, left with two legs and driven mad from the pain it shot out its beam indiscriminately. Since the beam was not aimed at him he did not bother to respond.

  "It seems it really can't regenerate when something interferes from the inside".

  He was only trying out possible ways to stop its regeneration when he injected it with darkness, and this method worked, it could not regenerate until it had expelled all the darkness in it and that was something it could not do. It had lost control and without its legs to support it, its head was beam blasting even right below it. Where Noir stood. He broke a chunk of the ground and threw it in the air then used the shadow of the hallowed ground to move to the shadow on the chunk of the ground in mid air. By the time the beam struck he was gone, from above the chunk he had a good view of the surroundings, the place looked like lava was coming out of the ground. He returned his attention back to it, he threw his sword right at its back, piercing it so deep only the hilt remained outside. The sword not only pierced it but also had enough force to smash its chest into the ground this also caused it to face up. Naturaly the beam was also redirected upward and unfortunately he was in its line of fire. He had no escape method, using the chunk of the ground he could not not move out of the way fast enough, the barrier was not an option at the moment and he could not see shadows to move to. Nonetheless he jumped out of the way and like he had expected he was still within its range, he was struck by the beam and started to ascend with it. It felt so hot that standing next to the sun would be better, it was this pain that reminded him of his old world. The demons there were known to have wings and here where the demons though different were superior how could they not claim the sky as their domain. Not accepting such a possibility, wings made of darkness sprouted from his back. With his wings he flew upward while leaving it's range, when he was out he stopped and looked at it as it approached and past him by and ascended beyond the sky. With it being so high it illuminated everything below to a point of it being brighter than daylight. Noir followed it with with his eyes till it was no more. A circle of darkness was present in the sky, the stars that once shined in the night sky were gone, the beam had blown everything in its path.

  "What a terrifying world this is".

  That was all he had to say on the matter. He flew back onto the ground as molten as it was.

  "Like I thought that was nothing more than a residue blast before it died, seeing as it did not last long".

  He said as he approached the corpse of the silasmandra, then pulled out his sword from its back. It was just a simple pull with a little force behind it but still simple, but the sword had even pierced into its mana core. By the time Noir sensed that something was not right, the sword was already out. Mana cores were more than just a way for magic beasts to use magic, it was also the energy of that magic, so when it is damaged all the stored up energy is released at once. What made matters worse was the amount of power a magic beast could exert at a time was only a very small fraction of what was contained in the mana core. Noir had no way to know this and even if he did it's not like anything would have changed, afterall he was not aiming for it. But this also meant he was not fully aware of the danger so he did not immediately retreat until the silasmandra's body began to bulge ready to explode. He turned and flew while looking at it as streaks of light came out of its body, which soon turned into a dome of light that incenarated everything on its path. He could tell that even flying at top speed he could not escape, it was at this moment that he felt a pull. He knew this because his body tried to resist this pull but it was futile as his body did not succeed and he was pulled away as the dome of light was moments away. At the exact moment he was pulled away he appeared just above the ground far from the dome of light. The already flying Noir crushed into the trees.

  "What was that ".

  He said as he got up and looked behind him at the dome of light where he was just a moment ago. What he saw was Nell, exactly where he was just before being pulled and crushing into the trees. He knew right away Nell had switched places with him, the relief he just felt for being away from the dome was gone as he witnessed what would have happened to him now happening to her. He watched as she was bathed in the light and faded away, he dropped to his knees and with a pained expression he clawed the ground, he could do nothing but watch.

  "Why'd you have go and do something like that without even saying a word". (It hasn't been that long since my reincarnation and I still hadn't recognised you as family, and here you are sacrificing yourself for my mistake, I won't even get the chance to thank you).

  While feeling responsible for her death he continued to watch till the dome of light that had stopped growing at some point, gradually disappeared. Now he would have to go home and tell them they lost a child and that thought made him hesitant.

  [There's nothing left for you here, go home it's already late].

  He was sure it was the guilt talking, urging him to go home since he was hesitant, since the voice in his head sounded just like her. He got up and used his wings to fly back, from this height he could see that the affected area was in the range of kilometers. Before he even knew it he had already reached town, he dismissed his wings and walked passed the check point. Upon arrival he opened the door, walked in, his eyes focused on the ground.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  (It's best I tell them before they ask).

  "Mother, father...".

  "We're back sorry for taking so long".

  A cheerful voice contrast to his own, interrupted from behind him before he could finish his sentence. He looked behind him and just as the voice had given away the answer, his eyes also agreed that the interrupter was Nell. His eyes wide from shock even causing him to retreat a few steps.

  "How are...I saw you...".

  "Shhh", she gestured with her hand for Noir to keep quiet.

  "What are you two still doing at the doorway come in already, it's late go to your rooms if there's anything you wish to say wait until tomorrow".

  Said their father in the next room. The two did as they were told and went inside,Noir felt betrayed and demanded.

  "You owe me an explanation".

  "Sorry, I just wanted to see how you would react". She smiled as she said so.

  "The voice in my head that was you, wasn't it. And how'd you do it, your illusion I mean, it was so real and I was clearly alone up until now".

  Nell who had reached her room stopped to answer his question then entered.

  "There was no illusion it was just as you saw it, and what makes it possible is awakening, being independent of your physical body. And yes the voice was me and the reason you couldn't see me is concealment magic".

  Her answers did not help but he knew with magic anything could be possible and not everything could be understood. He always had his detection magic activated and even when he could not sense the presence of other demons he knew he could still see them so this came as a great shock to him. He went straight to bed, thinking the time to understand would come.

  When he woke up the next day he went downstairs, in the dining room he found his father and Nell waiting on for him.

  "Morning father, sister".

  ""Morning to you too", your mother is out today so it's just us three, now that you're here let's eat".

  "I'll be at the library today incase you need me".

  He said as he sat down and joined them for breakfast. After finishing his meal he went straight out in search for their town library. The library was just as big as the weapons shop and packed full of books, categorised into major sections. What surprised him though was that there were no books about magic, after some time searching he found a book that stood out in the history section. It was alone on it's shelf that looked to be made for decoration than use, the book itself even had an odd appearance for a history book, it was half black and half white with a duality symbol on its cover.

  "Old Ones ".

  He read the title as he traced his fingers along its golden edges, this book a copy of the original which is one of two books dating back to the first generation of Demon kind. He took the book to reading area, there he started to go through it. According to the book the World Tree, the world and everything that makes up the world and found within it was created by The One. And in this world everything was in equal pairs, making it so the world could return to nothingness when all the corresponding pairs meet. And in order for the world to not collapse prematurely, The One split into two beings, The Light One and The Dark One. This made the world to develop a boundary that prevents the world's collapse to nothingness when the two beings ruled over all that relates to them respectively. The Dark One ruled over all that which was dark and The Light One ruled over all that which was light.

  The two beings as equal as they were, they were opposites naturaly this led to them wanting to be superior over the other. Their solution was to have a war through that which they ruled over. The Light One chose humans, who appreciated and valued the light while The Dark One chose demons, beings of darkness. This war had to have rules to be fair, the two races were not equal in terms of strength so there had to be representatives from each race. The two beings would grant an equal fraction of their power to their representatives, each had seven representatives and they would be called apostles and each faction of the apostles would have a leader, the leaders would be the deciding factor so they would have to fight each other no matter what. The war would be waged a thousand times, once every one hundred thousand years, the one with the most victories would claim the right to be the remaining will when they return to being one. Demons being an ageless race decided the leading apostle would be their ruler, the Demon king, the other apostles being lords serving under the demon king were referred to as Demon lords. Humans though chose their apostles from those in high position in their place of reverence for The One, cardinals of the Holy Temple. Taking inspiration from other places in the world where demon kings had death battles against a chosen human called hero, the leading cardinal was given this title to distinguish them from the rest of the cardinals. Humanity united under one ruler claimed one continent, and the Holy Empire was founded and demons lived in their own continent. With the world having such places that held significance to the two beings, the branches of the World Tree were used to mark them and serve as protection to these places...

  "I was under the impression that this was a world of demons, this book has been very enlightening even if not all is fact. And this war thing, I wonder how many have been waged and how long before another war begins, I'm sure it's a long way off and not something I have to worry about at present. The whole thing is absurd to begin with, but just to be sure I'll ask ".

  Noir went on to read other books that piqued his interest and held useful information and unfortunately there was no book that spoke of awakening. When it was close to evening he returned home and found his mother preparing dinner.

  "Noir what are you doing here at kitchen, do you want a snack after a trip to the library or you want to help".

  "No, I just wanted to ask you something, sorry if I'm bothering you, mother".

  "No your not a bother I have time so ask".

  He was glad to know he wasn't disturbing, so he asked without holding anything back and she answered his questions as she continued to prepare their dinner.

  "You want to know how long before the next Holy Demonic war, not long really just 5 weeks from now and it will be the 80th war. And you'll be at the academy by the time it starts".

  After getting his answers regarding the war, named Holy Demonic war after the founding of the Holy Empire and Demon kingdom, he left the kitchen, he was unsettled by the idea of war.

  (Fortunately I'll be at the academy and I'm still a child there's no way I'll be involved in it).

  That night he disappeared in his room, using the shadows he could see far beyond his eyesight, even to places he had not been to. Every place where there was shadow or darkness was available to him and he could travel there. After reading the book of the Old Ones his understanding of what demons were improved, enabling him to use darkness with more proficiency, making him invincible under the night sky. His destination the Slumbering forest, when he arrived he looked around for magic beasts that could help him improve his magic. His first victim was a lion type magic beast like the one he'd seen before, strips of darkness formed from its shadow binding it, it struggled but the more it did so the tighter the strips got. There were still somethings he was unsure of so he would have to test them out on mana beasts. And like the silasmandra he touched it and tried to manipulate its composition matter, he felt the same resistance like before, this time he took his time and discovered with enough power behind the magic he could overcome the resistance. With no more use the lion mana beast was killed, after killing it he found that the resistance was gone and could manipulate its composition matter without much power, the lion was broken down to dust. What remained intact was its mana core, which after analysing he learned its size growth magic, he did not absorb it, the last time he absorbed one the increase in his own mana was not significant. He then tried the same thing with trees and found no resistance dead or alive. The experimentation left a bad taste in his mouth but he knew this was the best way to test his limitations.