The changes that occurred to Arthur were not just inside his body and appearance. Even the items Zodiak was wearing were mysteriously upgraded. Including the Dark Flame Ring and Zodiak's robe.

dark flame ring : all your attacks will always contain black flames which increase the damage by 50%

Cursed robe of Zodiak : Casting dark magic is 75% faster / Nether Energy Regeneration is 10% faster // Nullify any curse/illusion/barrier magic cast on the user.

Unique skill(active)[Dark cloud]: you Can create a special cloud that allows the user to transform it however he likes.

250 Nether Energy/second

requirement : must be a controller of Dark Magic.

This upgrade was great for Arthur, not only his damage is greatly increased, the Dark Cloud can now be transformed however he likes, but the question is; Can he make a weapon out of it? So far, it has been only a mean of transport but it appears it isn't just meant for transport and he had been using it all wrong since the beginning?

Arthur wore the long black robe of Zodiak, since breaking through, he could feel himself bursting with power, his Meridians are constantly absorbing Nether Energy even without him focusing on doing so.

In the past, he had thought that due to his Unique Race, he would not be able to absorb Nether Energy, but it didn't appear to be the case, fortunately.

The familiar dark cloud was condensed out of thin air when Arthur wished for it. It was as strange looking as ever, it resembled a dark nebula and had a small purple luster in it, it is very hard to distinguish it if you don't focus enough.

With a mere thought, the dark cloud transformed into a sword, moreover, there was no longer the dark nebula around the sword, just as Arthur imagined, it transformed into a golden sword which was brightly shining.

Arthur kept changing its shapes several times until an idea struck him, so he tried doing it. The dark nebula transformed into a humanoid figure, it started clearing every second until this humanoid figure was exactly like Arthur, moreover, it didn't seem to be weak either.

He didn't know how strong it was compared to him but it was not weak to the point of losing to a Spirit Realm person, that's for sure. Knowing this is already more than enough, if this can be used a bait it would be great!

Next thing Arthur did was take out the two cultivation techniques Zodiak told him to practice and started checking them.

'Dark Anguish Technique' was a normal cultivation technique that made the circulation of his Nether Energy special and had a bonus power in it, just like any other technique. This technique used the Dark magic attribute as its core and if one doesn't have it, he would have a very hard time practicing it.

As for the second technique, it was only a body-strengthening technique with only one volume, but once Arthur read it, he understood why Zodiak adviced him to practice it too.

Apparently, 'Dark Star Body-Strengthening Technique' is enhancing one's body permanently by creating a layer of black magic around the whole body whilst limiting the use of Nether Energy, also, if mastered, the overall physical strength of the user would rise dramatically if he uses Dark Magic.

Basically, it feeds on Dark Magic to make the body stronger and vice versa, with the use of Dark Magic, it creates a protective layer from incoming attacks.

Arthur started practicing these two techniques without wasting any time, only a dozen of days are left and he had to at least stabilize his foundation.

...

The Grand Banquet is in two days. Arthur and Lucy were sparring against each currently, the surroundings decayed mountains were long demolished by the spars and could not hold on for even a day. Craters and pits of all ships are scattered everywhere, with some places totally frozen and others burned.

Arthur was flying at high speed while holding the flaming black sword in his hand, he didn't use the movement technique he got from the Ma Clan and instead practiced a new one.

It is a simple one called 'Slow Steps', it was a basic movement technique that anyone can practice but it is usually ignored as it was not that great.

It was mastered easily by Arthur and even with his great speed, he looked very slow yet moved at an extremely fast speed. He didn't need a movement technique that was great for the moment, with his lightning form and this simple technique, it should be enough.

As he was rushing at Lucy, she too was tip-toeing on the air, each step created an illusory Ice lotus under her feet, her speed equal to Arthur and it was very beautiful and pleasing to the eyes.

Contrary to Arthur, she left some after images after her as she was just too fast, with her ice-blue saber in hand, she swung it elegantly at the incoming Arthur.

The two blades clashed, despite Arthur's special black flames and the sword conjured from Dark Magic, it couldn't break Lucy's ice saber, the two attributes opposed each other and clashed in the air, causing small tremors and energy waves.

Arthur suddenly teleported behind Lucy and slashed down with his sword, the Dark burst was activated and an overwhelming black beam came out of his flaming sword, what's more, is that this strike contained some small green Lightning streaks in it.

He didn't just slash at Lucy, a loud clap of lightning rang out, it was deafening as it came down from the sky, it was very thick and white in color, its target was obviously Lucy.

The target in question was very calm, despite seeing the two incoming attacks, she didn't panic. An ice lotus appeared just above her, completely blocking the white streak of lightning and shattering it, but that was not the end, another Ice lotus the same size as the previous one was flying right at Arthur's incoming sword beam.

The two clashed for a split second before the black beam was shattered and the Ice lotus continued its way toward Arthur with an amazing momentum, its speed was unbelievable and it emitted a strong coldness that could freeze anyone nearby.

A black barrier was created in front of Arthur, while conjuring a dark red flaming sword, he slashed with both the swords in his hands at the incoming Ice lotus.

A cross-shaped beam which had the ancient flames and the dark magic of Arthur was launched at the incoming Ice lotus. The clash between them created a blinding light that lasted for a second, although the fight was in mid-air, that clash alone caused another mountain to fall apart.

Arthur and Lucy retreated repeatedly while gazing at the clash's location to see what attack managed to survive, but it was like usual, the Ice lotus was still floating unscathed and the cross-shaped beam disappeared.

"Tsk! I got no choice then.."

As he said that, his two swords disappeared and what replaced them were orange swords with black flames burning on their edges. They were made from Eclipse Magic.

Seeing the two orange swords, Lucy frowned and circulated her Nether Energy to recover and defend.

2 Ice lotuses were floating around her systematically, it was the core technique of the Nine Star Yin Technique, it focused on using Ice Lotus to defend and attack. It is said that if the user creates 9 Ice lotuses then their power would be godly!

She already managed to conjure two, which is considered pretty good for a beginner like her, normal people would take years to do so yet she did it in a few months.

Arthur rushed at Lucy and at the same time, two figures identical to him rushed at her from the her left and right side. Each held two orange swords and came at fast speed. But you could notice that one was slower than the original Arthur and the second had an average speed, probably half of Arthur's max speed.

Lucy was already prepared for this, so she focused on the original Arthur and disregarded the other two clones as they are long since dead after what she prepared.

The first clone was made from the Shadow Magic and the second was the transformed Dark Cloud which was named Dark Clone by Arthur.

A 3m flaming meteorite with a speed even faster than the Dark Clone came crushing at it, totally annihilating it and making it regain its normal nebula form but you could sense its weakening and turning hazy. As for the Shadow Clone, it couldn't react in time before a mysterious and almost illusory wave of sky-blue Energy rushed at it, freezing it at the spot and then shattering into beautiful little fragments that looked a bit shiny in the air.

The main clash has yet to happen, the two Ice lotuses appeared in front of Lucy, with an Ice saber in her hand, she tip-toed on the air as she charged at Arthur.

The two orange swords slashed at the two Ice lotuses, dark flames erupted and space distorted for a split second due to the powerful clash of two strong attacks.

The Ice lotuses were slowly spinning as they struck the two orange swords, but you could see that there were some cracks appearing on them, if this continued on, they'll shatter in no time.

"Mooo, using Void Magic is no fair... it easily devours my Yin Lotuses...."

Lucy complained, as every time, her lotuses would get countered by the Eclipse magic which had Void Magic.

Void magic was like a devourer and it apparently is like an opposite attribute of the Yin magic, it would devour it whenever it's too close and that's why the lotuses are shattering, they were being devoured by the Void magic in the orange swords.

As she said that, Lucy concentrated on the Ice Lotuses and they both started spinning faster than usual, the cracks stopped appearing and the orange swords were pushed back by them. Snowflakes were falling from the Ice lotuses and slowly enveloping the small area around Arthur, before he could retreat, a sphere of snowflakes had enveloped him, he started feeling a chilling coldness, even his bones were freezing and not even the protective layer managed to withstand it.

"You lost, hehehe."

As she said that, the snowflakes disappeared, so did the Ice lotuses, everything returned to normal, only Lucy was showing a victorious smile as she walked near Arthur and gave him a deep hug.

"I can't counter that attack yet... hahaha. but the score is 15-15, it's a tie."

Arthur didn't care much about winning, he only sparred with Lucy to train and hone their skills with combat experience. He won many times just like her, there were no bets whatsoever, he just started calling a score when Lucy teased him and won in the first spar so wasn't willing to give up.

"Sure, but what's so point of the score? It's not like the winner gets anything special."

Lucy was confused about this, she would always ask him this but he would not answer her, however, surprisingly, today, he finally replied.

"The loser has to do whatever the winner says..."

Lucy didn't seem surprised by what he said, in fact, she chuckled when she heard that.

"But you'll do anything I say just like I'll do anything you say even without winning, that's not a prize now, is it? hehehe~~"

Arthur couldn't help but scratch the back of his head as he couldn't think of some good prize. In the end, he just shrugged it off and changed the subject to avoid being teased any further.

"Anyways, the banquet is in two days, we should head out right now..."

"Ehhh.. but you still didn't tell me about the prize.. I want to know."

Arthur didn't reply as he summoned the Spirit Boat and entered it in advance as he wanted to avoid that question...

"Come on dear, why are you not telling me..."