Monarch of Darkness, Arsene

After finishing an oddly satisfying and sweet breakfast, Mephisto and I walked towards the empty training courtyard, where he began explaining more about the concept of Illusions and Black Sabbath.

While I didn\'t need an explanation as the Flames of Hellfire, I mean Flames of the Abyss, had held every conceivable type of Heavenly Dao within its core, I still found myself engraved in his lecture.

Mephisto did not teach by telling me how illusions work but rather how to apply their applications.

"Illusions are a part of life, but if you diverge from what the heavens layout, and dive into the mortal concept of this law, one could theoretically image a solid multiverse like the Origin Realm as an illusion. If the user, in this case, you, were to, let\'s say, actually believe this was a dream or an illusion, wouldn\'t you be able to control existence as you see fit? Now I know you just gained some ability that allows you to bend reality to your will, but everything has a limit. Your will has a limit. With the help of the illusionary dao helping think of the possibilities."

Continuing for about thirty minutes, I found my mind expanding at the many things I could potentially do.

Darkness, unlike fire, is intangible and lacks substance like other elements like ice, fire, or lightning. Those elements carry destructive properties, but darkness isn\'t necessarily a destructive element, more like a passive one. Its primary power comes from its intangibility and devouring properties.

"Darkness. Darkness. Darkness." I hummed seven times over, trying to figure out how to apply illusions into my darkness. Clearly. They go together, but for some reason, I can\'t think of— Wait!

Mephisto smiled. " You get it now?"

"Illusions are like my Darkness. They are intangible, but they have hundreds more applications than my darkness. If I imagine my darkness as fuel for my illusions, couldn\'t I create life out of said darkness? I could essentially give my darkness the same application as every single dao instead of piggybacking off them as I did with fire. I could create life."

"Correct. It\'s with my Illusions I regulated heaven and earth as the Architect. Only two beings are truly \'real,\' Arsene. And that is the One and the All. So worry not if what you create is real or not; the difference between creation laws and Illusions are but a flip of the coin. It simply comes down to the question of who decides what\'s real and what isn\'t. And the only one who can decide that is—"

"The Father, GOD."

"And he rarely interferes, and even if he does, nothing changes as the question will come down to the eyes of the beholder. Illusions are complex but necessary." He explained as my mind went blank.

"Just how much of creation did you help with?" I asked.

"Most of it, I guess. My Father had a lot of pet projects, but I did quite a bit, so I\'ve got a full grasp of every single Dao and Concept. Although so do other Angels."

"Come again?"

The Trickster smiled. " Relax. It\'s not as bad as you might think. Angels are born with an innate ability to comprehend just about anything with the help of the Law of Concordance that makes us whole. If we spend a cycle learning a Dao, we can learn said concept quite easily."

"How the hell can I relax when you say it like that? How long have Zantar and Balor been alive!"

"Easy. Ninety-eight percent of Angels and Fallen don\'t just study dao. If anything, we look down upon it, as we are beings that are technically above the Concepts of Heaven and Earth. While we might be enslaved to them, for example, death, Angels will work more on Mortal Dao and technique."

"Technique?" I repeated.

"We are a race of warriors. Lucifer is an absolute monster in hand-to-hand combat. My \'main\' specialty is Arcane Spells. Our goal is to make our techniques rival the concepts; while we are still far on that path, we\'ve come close with the invention of almighty techniques."

"And let me guess. That was your doing?" I said, unable to find myself surprised anymore.

"Not to toot my own horn, but yes. Although I was surprised when Zariel did something similar, creating a new path in battle prowess." snickering, his hand grew poised behind his back as he stared me down. " You\'ve got a nice tool. Tenebrae is one I respect; she is, after all, our aunt. Her power goes far beyond what you can think. Think on it more; I\'m going to visit our old friend Belphegor."

Mephisto vanished, leaving behind embers of light that faded away. I watched the nodes flutter about, slowly slipping from my eyes, and my mind began to think of energy and the body.

I opened my palm and spoke. "Rule!"

Darkness swelled within my palm, and an invisible domain suddenly formed, covering me alongside the courtyard.

"Devour," I whispered.

Darkness swelled to life, and in a blink of an eye, everything around me vanished, consumed by the Darkness.

"Long ago, I created a technique that did something similar. I never used it. But it essentially sealed a person\'s qi alongside elements and laws, which was useless, as everyone was stronger than me at the time. It was a perfect technique but poorly executed. Instead of trying to stop the flow of Qi, why not ensure Divinity has nowhere to go? I can\'t target the Divinity itself; it\'s too powerful, but instead, it must be the flow. I need to direct the Divinity to the vast expanse.

Sucking in a large breath, the invisible void around me began to distort as I focused on a single entity. The flow in which Divinity travels. Imagining a world without Qi, or Divinity. The path of Abyssal Night alongside my Divinity of Sin began to hum as I pushed my will out to the darkness.

The Black Estate flared to life as hundreds of runes began to pierce into the skies, alerting everyone of an enemy attack, but I could not stop. Not now.

Holding back the energy slowly building up, my \'Rule\' expanded over the entire estate, Granting me all the control; the Abyssal Laws howled as my voice raced into creation.

"Distort."