Tendrils of the Void inched out of his skin, pooling there as he struggled to direct his will behind them. They spread out, coating his skin with nothingness. Then he sighed. All he was doing was using Void Slipstream again.

Jonathan focused his will on trying to erase light around himself rather than erasing the air. This time, he managed to spread the Void into the photons striking his skin. Suddenly, pure darkness suffused his body, as the photons stopped striking his eyes. Normally, this would have been a problem, but with his other senses, he could move just as well as with his eyes open.

“Did it work?” He called out.

“Uh, all we see is a moving patch of darkness. Is that what you were going for?” Eva’s voice called out.

“Damn it. I need to find a way to make the photons pass through me instead,” Jonathan said to himself.

As the others cultivated their elements, or trained in other ways, he busied himself with his task. As he went, he was continuously distracted by the things that had been said just a short ago. He wasn’t entirely sure why he had decided to reveal his origin as an Outsider at that moment. Likely, it was to do with the stress and regret that he was feeling at the deaths of his allies, and that led to him not wanting to keep anything from those who still remained alive. He had enough strife ahead of him. There was no need to add secrets to that as well.

He went through a host of different ideas, but eventually, he found one that worked. If he used the Void to erase the space between where a photon hit his skin, and where it would have exited had he not been there, then he would become fully invisible. The only problem was how hard this was. He struggled for hours with his task, and day turned to night as he did so. Working with the concept was extremely difficult, as it was quite nebulous. He had to designate the photons striking him as the targets, which was quite hard where trillions of them were concerned.

Eventually, he made a minor breakthrough, and realized that if he created a field around his skin that contained the power of the Void, he could use that instead. The only thing left to do was to practice until he gained a skill.

The next day, he finally achieved his goal. A skill notification formed before him, and he smiled. Perhaps this could work.

You have gained a new skill!

Mantle of the Void: Legendary

Using the Void, you can erase the presence of your body to the path of photons, rendering yourself invisible. Doing so will prevent you from seeing, but you can make up for this with your other senses. It seems that if one stares into the abyss, nothing stares back.

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Jonathan closed the notification and woke the others from their meditation, sharing the good news. The only problem was figuring out how to share the effects. It took him a few hours, but eventually, he realized that he could simply extend a mantle of Void energy to their skin, keeping it separated from their bodies. With his control over the energy, it would dissipate long before it was able to harm them. With this tested and proven, they were ready to assault the Ashen Citadel.

With Jonathan’s new ability, they were able to bypass the legions of soldiers stationed in the land around the capital with ease. Jonathan’s mastery was nowhere near enough to shield the other byproducts of their motion from witnesses, but as long as they stayed far enough away, the cessation of sight was enough.

The Ashen Citadel slowly came into view, a massive scab of dark rock upon the flesh of the land, with glimpses of it caught during short moments when he dropped his skill, having to recharge his reserves. It was just as large as Jonathan remembered, but this time, a shimmering dome of elemental energy and mana covered it, being fed with mana from the Crimson Sect. It was a dull red hue, but still perfectly see through. Beneath it, the city sprawled outwards, the same as before.

“It’s time to put our arrogance to the test,” Edgar said. “Do we really have what it takes to defeat a being who has ruled this world like a god for so long?”

“We have to,” was all Jonathan said. That put an end to the discussion.

They continued, weaving their way between patrols of soldiers marching across the ash. There were little to no monsters in this area, so their path was basically unchallenged. However, the parties of fifty to a hundred fighters continued to draw closer to one another the nearer to the city they got. Each of them was headed by a Tier 2, and some of them were led by Crimson Sect mages, connected to them with tethers of ritual energy. Jonathan made sure to avoid those ones.

About five miles from the edge of the city, everything changed. There was a sudden snap in the air, and a wave of light cascaded across the group, snapping the cloaking effect in an instant, revealing them to the soldiers all around. There was a moment of frozen panic, and then they started running for the city walls. If they got into shadow, Jonathan could reapply the cloak.

Thousands of guards streamed in behind them, trying to bury them with their numbers. The Crimson Sect mages began to glow with light as they enacted their rituals, but Jonathan and Edgar killed them with elemental attacks before they could do so. These ones did not have advanced shielding, and were vulnerable to attack.

By the time they reached the force field, Jonathan had started to weave the cloaking skill back tougher, wreathing the others in nothingness. However, their position was still known, and because of the hordes of fighters, it was almost impossible to hide. Luckily, they were weak enough that they could just ignore them, save for the ritual mages.

The force field loomed overhead, a bulwark crafted from what looked to be all four types of Natural Sphere elemental mana, somehow coexisting with one another. It was clearly the work of Granath.