"How.. why.. this cannot be," The shadowy figure muttered.

"If you had obtained the cooperation of a spirit, you could have unlocked the full potential of their powers," Leon said. "But you killed one of Shadow's fragment instead of working hard to obtain its cooperation.. I guess this is the difference between us."

The shadowy figure couldn't accept that explanation, so he tried to attack Leon for quite a while and from all angles trying to discover the weakness of Darkness Armor. That was quite surprising, given that he probably has been using that power for thousands of years. Leon figured out he already learned every single spell directly related to darkness. Spells like Dark Sun were an exception, but even so..

Although Leon countered one of his best ways to attack, he still couldn't damage the shadowy figure in that state, so the only option left was to wait for him to drop his guard. However, considering how many layers of protection someone like that must have prepared beforehand, Leon was pretty sure that it would take a while.

"Shadow.. how much time until you evolve again?" Leon asked.

"I don't know, Master," Shadow replied. "I made the calculations before based on the mana the others had to consume to evolve."

"Mmm.. do you think all this darkness will dissipate if we kill him?" Leon asked.

"I don't think that is the case," Shadow replied. "A spell of this scale takes a lot of time and mana to cast. It would be easier to just keep the spell active since this is also being used to fortify his base."

Leon nodded; he couldn't imagine even Ilyana having enough mana to complete fill a planet with darkness. Most likely, the shadowy figure was using the mana he collected and was still collecting from other planets.

Congratulations! The skill Darkness Armor has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Darkness Armor has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Darkness Armor has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

..

Although Darkness Armor was leveling up pretty nicely, Leon didn't have time to waste there. For the time being, he was fine since Ilyana didn't contact him, but time in that place was passing as fast as on Earth, and that was bad.

Maybe things will work out better once Shadow evolves again, but Leon couldn't wait for that. Leon had an idea.. it was a bit risky since that would decrease the amount of mana, he could recover using Mana Magnetism, but it was the only thing he could think of to save time. However, that also would cut the supply of the shadowy figure's mana.

That bastard was so tense and thinking of a way to kill Leon once and for all that he didn't even notice when Leon transported both of them to his mindscape. Although the darkness came with them, he still could feel the changes in the scenario he could, but he didn't realize since fear and anger clouded his judgment.

In the end, to save mana in order to keep his mindscape active for as long as possible. Leon deactivated all his defensive spells. The shadowy figure noticed that and attacked Leon relentlessly. However, Leon survived thanks to his passive skills and Full-Recover. After using so much mana, the darkness disappeared, and the shadowy figure finally noticed that he had run out of mana and couldn't make use of the supply he created previously. That would be the best outcome for Leon.. if he weren't skin and bones now..

"H-how?" The man who looked like a lich asked visibly in panic.

"Shadow could see you.. Besides, when you control so much darkness to attack me, you can't move that much," Leon smirked, even though he looked like he was about to starve to death. "Thanks to that, I managed to bring you here."

That man finally understood that his body was still outside, and he still had accessed to a vast amount of mana, so he tried to use it. However, he also eventually noticed that his body couldn't be controlled as long as he stays in that dimension. He tried to recover his mana as fast as possible. Still, in a limited mindscape with that, he could only recover so much.. before the bastard could cover his entire body with darkness, Shadow drained that same darkness quite easily. The spirit was still weak compared to that man, but he could exert his full power when he has mana.

"Don't panic.. you won't die," Leon smirked. "I will make sure of it. In fact, you won't suffer all that much as well. You are a source of knowledge and power valuable, after all. I will make good use of your abilities to my heart's content."

Leon had learned his lesson. Even though he wanted to kill the son of a bitch in the most painful way possible, that wouldn't change anything. In fact, it wouldn't alleviate his anger since there was no point in feeling any anger.. Darya died in part because of him, after all.

Regardless, the shadowy figure struggled for quite a bit. The bastard also had some elemental spells at the level max that weren't related to the darkness attribute, but his spirits absorbed those attacks. In the end, he also tried to fight using his body alone. However, since he was a lich who could transfer his conscience to many other bodies, he was unable to heal himself with magic.

Eventually, Leon managed to knock him down without killing him. That had been tiresome since Leon was literally about to starve, but instead of eating something nice, Leon absorbed the memories of that bastard. That wouldn't fill his belly, but it would feed his growth.