Wizard: Starting from the Skill Tree

"You... you are the Evil God of the Shadow Space?" Julius, due to extreme pain, spoke with a distorted expression.

He had never expected that Duke, who seemed merely a Magic Master and Child of Light on the surface, would transform into a Great Mage Level shadow life form in the Shadow Space.

This place was supposed to be his home ground, but now he was completely at a disadvantage.

The energy within Julius surged wildly, yet he could never break free from the chains’ constraints.

These chains were all condensed from Dark Attribute Rule Power. Duke’s control over the dark attribute rules far exceeded his, making escape impossible.

All this was beyond Julius’s expectations, shattering all his previous plans, and he fell into Duke’s hands almost completely unguarded.

As the High Priest of the Shadow Council and a Great Mage who had lived for centuries, Julius never imagined he would encounter such a situation.

Now standing before him was a terrifying being of the Shadow Space, whose intimidating aura was unmistakable.

Julius thought of many things in a flash, and then he laughed: "Fine, anyway, with you as a ’Child of Light’, the Light Sect’s doom is near. I should thank you, essentially, we’re friends, you did something we wanted to do..."

Julius muttered as if he were a rambling old man.

He had resigned himself to fate, as the rules condensed in these chains were extremely powerful, beyond his ability to break free.

Duke heard this and wore a peculiar expression, knowing Julius must have misunderstood something.

Julius likely thought Duke was a shadow life form lurking within the Light Sect, sure to be detrimental to them.

The life’s goal of those in the Shadow Council was to eliminate the Light Sect and Four Gods Sect. With a powerful shadow creature like Duke, also becoming the Child of Light of the Light Sect, the Light Sect’s future was bound to be grim.

This was probably Julius’s thought.

Duke didn’t explain; he just focused on dealing with the old man in front of him quickly.

He had no intention of staying long in the Shadow Space; after entering the Dark Form, it was easy to attract unknown powerful beings in the Shadow Space, requiring a swift resolution.

Duke raised his right hand, and the dark purple chains entwined around Julius tightened abruptly, cutting into his skin, flesh, and bones.

There was no splash of blood or sound of bones cracking; Julius’s body began to turn transparent.

His soul was devoured by the Shadow Space, his flesh decomposed by Shadow Energy.

A few breaths later, he was gone, leaving only a tattered robe and a small pool of dark red blood in place.

After confirming with his heightened senses in that state that Julius was truly dead, Duke turned and walked toward the courtyard entrance.

The Shadow Space behind him twisted and collapsed gradually, and the moonlight of Stone Hammer City once again shone on him.

He walked out of the courtyard, crossed the corridor, and ascended the stairs of the East Auxiliary Hall.

His boots made a crisp sound stepping on the stone steps, echoing in the empty staircase.

He pushed open the door and entered the room.

The parchment on the desk remained as it was when he left, and the flame of the oil lamp flickered gently in the breeze.

...

In the meeting hall of the Shadow Council, the atmosphere was as heavy as a soaked thick cloth, pressing on everyone’s chest.

The underground palace, located deep in the barren mountains southwest of Stone Hammer City, its construction date unknown, had walls engraved with Shadow Runes that flickered in the dim light like countless watching eyes.

The dome was so high it was swallowed by darkness, occasionally punctuated by the sharp and brief cry of bats from above, like the wail of the dying.

A long table was placed here, with seven people seated along its sides.

The main seat at the end of the table was empty, reserved for Julius.

He was never a punctual person but never absent from the Shadow Council meetings.

Today, he was absent.

None of the seven people along the table’s sides spoke; some looked down at the table, some leaned back in their chairs with eyes closed, others lightly tapped stone armrests with their fingers, issuing a dull sound.

The faint light stretched their shadows long, casting them on the wall, twisting and contorting.

The first to speak was the person sitting to Julius’s right, named Dominic.

He wore a deep purple robe with the Shadow Council’s emblem embroidered at the hem, an eye opened from the darkness.

Dominic was thin-faced, with white hair and deeply set eyes, yet his gaze remained sharp, like two unsheathed blades.

"Julius is dead."

His voice was not loud, yet it was like a stone dropped into a calm lake, causing ripples to spread.

Everyone else simultaneously froze; the fingers tapping the armrest halted in mid-air, closed eyes snapped open, and heads bowed suddenly lifted.

Several gazes fell upon Dominic at once.

Dominic took a dark purple Crystal Stone out of his pocket and placed it on the table.

The stone was small, only thumb-sized, its surface void of the flowing faint light now entirely extinguished, turning into an ordinary gray-white stone.

This was Julius’s Life Stone, something all key personnel in the Shadow Council possessed, tightly bound to their life force.

A lit Life Stone indicated life; an extinguished one meant the person was dead.

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