Gabriel managed to escape the awkward situation with Carmen and came back to Kevin's house, there he found Munderic and Mak playing poker in the living room...

Gabriel-What are you doing?

Munderic-Losing...

Mak-I am kicking his ass.

Carmen-Are you guys playing a game?

Mak-Not just any game, the king of games, I love human's sometimes, they come up with the greatest ideas for entertainment.

Gabriel-Poker?

Munderic-I was also surprised when Mak said he knew how to play, I figured that a goblin wouldn't be so good at it.

Gabriel-How much did you lose?

Munderic-Seven hundred euros.

Gabriel-Oh shit. Is that how you had so much money? You gambled?

Mak-More or less.

Gabriel-You piece of shit. Where did you find money to start playing?

Mak-Kevin gave me money when we were in England.

Gabriel-But you said you didn't have money for tickets back then.

Mak-Well...

Gabriel-You fucking ashole, you made me pay for the tickets even though you had money?

Mak-You were the one who wanted to go after Marbas, why should I pay for those tickets?

Gabriel-Maybe because that's what the money was for, doc didn't give it to you to go gamble.

Mak-You are not one to talk, you aren't exactly trustworthy for anything either.

Gabriel-You mother...

Carmen-Stop it, where is doctor Kevin?

Mak-He is out in the yard.

Gabriel-He called me and said he wanted to show me something.

Mak-Well, go out there and see for yourself.

Gabriel went outside, Mak and Munderic also packed things up, Munderic didn't want to lose any more money and they all went outside to check on Kevin...

Gabriel-What is this?

Kevin was surrounded by black thick smoke, the shadow energy was engulfing his whole body as he sit there like he was meditating. As soon as Kevin noticed all four of them watching he stood up and the smoke vanished...

Kevin-Hey.

Gabriel-Care to explain what is going on?

Carmen-What is this doctor?

Kevin-Munderic called Nefaris and I made a contract.

Gabriel-Nefa...

Kevin-Nefaris, it's the name of the elemental that the summoning stone was for.

Gabriel-Did you actually sell your soul to an elemental?

Kevin-Nonthing like that, the contract was just for me to honor it's name once a day.

Gabriel-What's the drawback of this contract? Will you die if you fail to do it?

Mak-The elemental wasn't exactly demanding anything, he said that if he ever fails to pray he would just be unable to use his powers.

Kevin-Exactly, I didn't see anything wrong in trying it out.

Gabriel-It's not exactly a new type of food to try out, you are now capable of using shadow magic.

Kevin-Yes, I have a request for you.

Gabriel-Huh?

Kevin-I want to fight you.

Gabriel-What!?

Mak-Kevin said that he wanted to test out his new powers and I suggested that you would be the most suited for a spar.

Gabriel-Of course it would be you.

Kevin how about we go to the forest and have a little spar?

Gabriel-I am not sure...

Mak-Relax, I doubt there is any way for Kevin to be as strong as you, that form you take is nothing compared to a simple shadow mage, without experience at least.

Gabriel-Yeah about that, I have something to tell you guys after all this. (Maybe I should tell them about this guy)

Carmen-Can I also participate?

Kevin-What?

Gabriel-What?

Carmen-I haven't stopped training, Mak has even taught me how to turn off my Telepathy, I don't hear voices anymore and I have increased the power of my Psychokinesis.

Kevin-Maybe some other time, right now I want to gather some data.

Carmen-Hm...Fine.

Mak-Relax, Carmen, I am sure you will get your chance to attack Gabriel.

Gabriel-When did I become a crash-test dummy?

Mak-I don't know about crash test...

Gabriel-Really? You are just making a joke and calling me a dummy? You can do better than that.

Mak-It sounded better in my head. (Damn he is right, that was terrible, what's wrong with me?)

Kevin-Let's go then.

Gabriel-Fine, let's all test magical powers on Gabe, he can take it.

Mak-Stop being such a wuss.

Gabriel-Can I test something on Mak after that? I also got thunder powers at Japan, can I zap his fucking brain?

Kevin-Not now, I want to do my plan first.

Mak-Are you actually considering it?

Kevin-What? Oh no, Gabe, we can't zap Mak yet, his knowledge is very useful.

Mak-Please tell me you are joking, what is going on?

Carmen-I am sure they are just joking, Mak.

Mak-Thank you Carmen, you such a kind girl.

Munderic-(Kind and pretty.)

Kevin-Let's go.

All of them went to the forest, as the birthplace for Kevin's powers he thought that he could recharge with the shadows of the trees and as the sun went down he could test the peak of his powers during the night, Gabriel wasn't all that excited, after all he was the test dummy, Carmen, Mak and Munderic came along just to watch, as soon as they arrived at the forest by car, Gabriel and Kevin got into position, the rest just sat down on a blanket a bit away from the fight, collateral damage wasn't off the table for sure, even if Gabriel didn't attack back...

Gabriel-Is this ok?

Kevin-Yes, get ready, I am going to attack.

Kevin focused and as the shadow energy started to gather around him he cleared his mind, he tried to make the image of the attack that he wanted, something started to materialize in his hand, a straight line of shadow energy resembling a sword...

Gabriel-What is that?

Kevin-A sword.

Carmen-A sword?

Mak-Mage spells aren't preset like warlock or shamanic spells, they can basically manifest their energy in any way they like, the power is weaker but the versatility makes up for it. Also the structure of the spell changes with the will of the user, for example, a shadow sword would deal damage when it comes in contact with something.

Munderic-So he could just make a gun and shoot?

Mak-There is n reason, just creating the image of a projectile would let him shoot it from his hands, the energy just changes in the way it is activated, if he tried to make a projectile then the moment it left his hand it would get critical and the first thing that came into contact would take the damage, if he wanted to make a grenade then it would have a slight delay based upon the will of the user.

Munderic-Why would he want it to have a delay if he wanted a projectile then?

Mak-Everything has it's uses, Mundy, you summoned a demon to make you popular, how did that come to mind?

Munderic-Uhm....

Mak-Anyway, the way it triggers is based upon the will of the user, it's easy to mess it up if you are not focused.

Kevin-Gabe, I am going to attack you.

Gabriel-Do you want me to try and block?

Kevin-Do as you like, just don't hit back, I don't think it would be wise for my face to melt off.

Gabriel-Come on, that happened once.

Kevin rushed at Gabriel with the shadow sword at hand and took a swing on him, Gabriel tried to block but the shadow energy stuck onto his arm and it was burning at the point of impact.

Gabriel-What the fuck!

Kevin-I tried to make it something like a poisoned weapon.

Carmen-What happened?

Mak-Nice, Kevin changed it at the last second, by changing it into a poisoned weapon in his mind the sword left behind a burning effect. (At the hands of someone like Kevin it would be devastating, his intelligence combined with the versatility of this power is something to be afraid of for sure.)

Gabriel-It's fine now, what else you got?

Kevin-Let's try a projectile.

Kevin changed the shape of the aura once again, it now was a blob of shadow energy levitating slightly above his hands. After a couple of seconds of Kevin looking at it he shot the projectile on Gabriel, it exploded and got Gabriel on his knees...

Munderic-What?

Mak-What did I tell you? That was an impact grenade, he took his time to make it detonate as soon as it touched anything, there is a problem with though.

Munderic-What kind of problem?

Mak-Unlike a melee weapon that stays on him, a grenade or a projectile is just throwing energy away, it deals more damage for sure but it consumes a lot of his energy.

Gabriel-(Damn, I felt that one.)

Kevin absorbed the shadow of the trees to recharge and tried to make another unique attack, this time it was a shape of a gun in his hand...

Carmen-A gun?

Mak-Exactly, he is now using both of the previous methods, by utilizing the static energy on his hand and the structure of a projectile he can release small amounts of energy while having an accurate representation of the remaining energy in the

shape of a gun, basically as soon as this gun stops firing or slows down, it means he is running out of stamina like he would run out of bullets, that way when he stops firing he can recover the energy of the gun back into his Source and use it in a different way.

Munderic-This sounds complicated.

Mak-Yeah.(Very complicated to be precise, I can't believe Kevin is so accustomed to it this fast, he clearly is a scientist with a passion for research, he thinks of everything that can go right and wrong in seconds.)

Kevin started to shoot at Gabriel with the makeshift gun, the bullet projectiles did minimal to no damage and after about seven shots, Kevin stopped shooting...

Gabriel-Is that it?

Kevin-Give me a second.

Munderic-During a fight he wouldn't have the time to think about these things though.

Mak-Yes, that's why he is coming up with some basic techniques to have them available at any time, he is practicing and when he has to use them, he can do it almost instantly.

Munderic-Wow, Mr.Kevin sure is clever.

Mak-(But then again, he is shooting at someone with anger issues...)

Kevin absorbed even more shadows from the nearby objects and started to think about another way to use his powers...

Munderic-I thought he was done, what else could he have in mind?

Mak-There is something else, it requires a lot of concentration, let's see if he figures it out.

Carmen-What else?

Mak-There is an even more terrifying technique that only certain types of magic can do. ( terrifying for both the opponent and himself)

Carmen-What is that?

Mak-Well, the sun is going down, you will probably get to see it.

Gabriel-Hey, doc.

Kevin-Yes?

Gabriel-What's going on? The sun is setting, what else you got?

Kevin-Give me a couple of minutes.

Gabriel-Ok.

A couple of minutes passed, Kevin was looking at the ground as he was thinking about his next move, Gabriel laid on the grass until it was time and Mak refused to explain what he thought Kevin's next move would be, Carmen and Munderic were

very anxious because Mak said it would be terrifying, once the sun was completely down and the night sky made it's appearance, Mak stood up...

Mak-Let's have a look.

Carmen-What?

At this point Kevin lift up his head, after minutes of clear thinking he finally figured what to do next, dark energy started to form all around Kevin, Gabriel saw it and stood up, by the amount of shadow energy he figured that this would be an all-out attack and he was ready to block it, Mak was looking at Kevin very satisfied because he knew that Kevin found out the technique he was talking about, Carmen and Munderic were also watching carefully as the shadow energy around Kevin was getting stronger and thicker...

Munderic-I see a lot of energy, is this going to be an ultimate shot?

Mak-No, Kevin doesn't plan to shoot this energy. (That's what makes it scary)

Munderic-Then what?

Mak-Don't you dare read my thoughts with Telepathy, Carmen, you will just spoil yourself.

Carmen-Uhm, sure.

At this point, even Gabriel was looking at Kevin very interested and a bit scared, if this was an ultimate shot, then the time it took to focus the energy means that it would be stronger than anything else and since the sun was down, Kevin's power should be approaching its limit. Gabriel took a defensive pose and got ready to receive the attack but then the energy changed the way it behaved, all of the shadow energy surrounding Kevin got absorbed in his body...

Mak-YES!

Munderic-What?

In an instant, Kevin disappeared, everyone was shocked but Mak who knew what happened exactly...

Gabriel-(What?)

Munderic-What did Mr.Kevin do?

Carmen-Yes, Mak, please tell us.

Mak-He turned his body into shadow.

Munderic-Oh, I have heard of such a thing.

Mak-You probably have, certain types of magic that don't have a structural form can turn the user into the essence itself, it's a master level technique that it normally takes years to perfect. In this form the caster is almost invisible, not even an attack used on spectral beings can harm him since he now has no form, when we are talking about a fire mage then a simple splash of water could do the trick and earth magicians are vulnerable to physical attacks but when it comes to something as shadow, then the counters are very limited.

Carmen-So, doctor Kevin might be able to win?

Mak-Not in a million years. (Gabriel can use light powers, if he wasn't an idiot then he would already have damaged Kevin, or maybe he is afraid to do it.)

Gabriel-What happened? Doc?

The shadow energy was now moving at incredible speed and it approached Gabriel, with a lash it attacked Gabriel...

Gabriel-WHAT!?

Gabriel tried to punch it but the blob of energy quickly gathered again into one thick unit, after that, Gabriel unleashed a torrent of punches but the force of punches simple broke the united energy and it recovered faster and faster each time...

Mak-That's it.

Munderic-Gabriel can't do anything.

Mak-He can, if he figures it out.

Kevin hit Gabriel more and more times, the hits weren't strong enough to damage Gabriel, even when the energy took the form of a blade and sliced at Gabriel, the regenerating ability kept Gabriel fine but he was getting frustrated by the second,

just receiving hits was making him mad, at some point, he thought that when physical attacks can't do anything he could use the chaos energy like he used on Koma who was also immune to his punches...

Gabriel-Here it goes "Chaos Bite"!

Mak-Idiot.(Use your fucking head, what counters shadow?)

Gabriel conjured the chaos fangs and tried to hit the blob of shadow energy but it still had no effect, as with his punches, the shadow smoke like figure just gathered once again...

Gabriel-Why didn't it work? How about some fire?

Gabriel threw a couple of fireballs at Kevin and it kind of had some effect, it passed right through him but it was obvious that it damaged him in some way since he got staggered...

Carmen-I think the fire worked.

Mak-It wasn't the fire itself.

Carmen-What do you mean?

Mak-Let's watch.

Carmen-Why are you doing this? Just tell us what you are thinking.

Gabriel-(All right, the fire seems to work, I will try it again with some power.)

Gabriel shot even more fireballs with more energy in them, the result was the same, a slight stagger in the shadow energy but nothing else, at this point the fireballs that Gabriel threw weren't helping much since it started a small fire in the forest, Mak run with the blanket and put it out...

Mak-Stop shooting fire you fucking idiot!

Gabriel-It's working!

Mak-No, it's not! (It's just the light created by the fire that's working and it's minimal at best.)

Gabriel-(What else can I do then? Yes, light!) "HOLY FLASH"!

Gabriel's right hand glowed with a massive light and it spread across the entire forest, the shadow energy fell to the ground and it was shaking like smoke in a gust of wind, at some point, Kevin reverted to his original form and was on the ground damaged, after a lot of failed attempts, Gabriel was frustrated and put a much bigger amount of energy in this shot damaging Kevin and knocking him on the ground unconscious, after a couple of seconds, Kevin woke up and he saw all of them standing above him...

Kevin-Wha...

Gabriel-I am sorry doc, please don't make clean anything.

Kevin-What happened?

Mak-Gabriel finally put two and two together and used his light powers, it knocked you out of the shadow form, you should thank him for that.

Gabriel-What?

Munderic-Thank him for knocking him down?

Kevin-I know, I tried to revert back earlier but it wasn't easy, I couldn't control this form very good.

Carmen-What do you mean?

Mak-Using this technique is extremely dangerous, the user may lose all ability to revert back if it's not perfected, the fact that Gabriel forced you out of it is just lucky, and even if you managed to revert by yourself, it could have scary results...

Kevin-What results?

Mak-You would have to reconstruct your entire body, this is an extremely difficult task with even an extreme amount of focus, imagine if this happened in the middle of battle when you can't spare any seconds, there are very few magicians that have managed to perfect such technique and all of them were masters and teachers. There are many occasions where there was an imperfect recovery from the essence form, you could lose a limb, your head, or even worse...

Kevin-Worse?

Mak-Your dick!

Gabriel-Idiot.

Kevin-I am glad you are finding this funny, I think I might practice turning one arm into shadow and try to expand the radius of the effect at times to manage a better contro...

Mak-Oh shit, here he goes again, I can't listen to any more boring stuff, let's go home, I am starving.

Gabriel-Me to.

Carmen-I have already made spaghetti, all I have to do is make a bolognese sauce and we can eat.

Kevin-Let's go back then...

As so, Kevin came close to making a grave mistake while practicing with Gabriel, he had this powers for less than a day, even so, Mak was amazed that Kevin even thought of all those things in such a short amount of time, most mages practice for years to perform these techniques and Kevin was able to use them in an acceptable manner within a day, from this point there is only improvement, Kevin already has some plans in his head of how to learn to control his powers and what's for sure is that he will spend a lot of time experimenting, that's what he does, the plans for the next day aren't decided yet and anything is possible when you dive in a world full of magic and monsters you can't escape easily, most people are under the idea that things like mages and vampires are a form of fiction and so they never dwell beyond that but when you are engaged in their world there is always something happening, for now, they are all going back to Kevin's house to enjoy Carmen's cooking and have a good time sleep, except for Kevin who is always ready to pull an all nighter performing experiments, since Gabriel is now sleeping in the old garage then he doesn't have to wake up in the middle of the night when Kevin has troubles and he curses loudly, being asleep in the living room that is remotely close to the lab doesn't make it easy to sleep when there is a guy working and screaming when things don't go as planned, Munderic will have to settle for the couch, the same couch that Gabriel was sleeping up until he cleared and renovated the garage...