Spirit's Awakening: The Path of Lightning and Water-Chapter 373: The Encroaching Night

As Lassim’s senses returned to the world around him, the black and red lightning clouds that formed the Lightning Elemental in front of him billowed. The red Lightning pulsed in sync with the red lightning now coursing through him.

The energy felt both foreign and natural, as though it had always been a part of him but only now awakened. The sensation was a bizarre one. It was his lightning, but the black and red lightning elemental felt like a brother to him. It was no wonder that Spirit Warriors went crazy for hunting down and obtaining their own elemental cores.

He clenched his halberd tighter, the arcs of crimson lightning had replaced the former Violet entirely as the arcs danced along its shaft mingling with faint streaks of azure and iridescence—the fusion between the [Law of Storm] lightning, water and space elements.

The Lightning Elemental’s clouds shifted ahead of him, its jagged form shimmering faintly now that Lassim’s focus had returned.

Lassim could feel its urgency, the pull toward the storm’s most intense area beyond the East Grove unmistakable.

The storm had been its sanctuary for years beyond measure, its home and creation, but the Shadow Elemental’s corruption had broken-in—an invader—turning it into a battlefield.

Lassim’s spirit sense locked on the elemental as it began to move, its presence a guide through the swirling tempest in a specific direction.

Without hesitation, Lassim activated [Storm’s Dance] and followed. The miniature lightning storms around his feet were affected by the change of his lightning upgrade, now a terrifying crimson hue.

The Tempest’s Cradle grew more violent as Lassim advanced, the winds howling louder, and the lightning striking more erratically.

Yet, despite the storm’s intensity, Lassim felt no resistance. He was already practically one with all storms previously but now the red lightning within him seemed to further enhance it as it was a creation of the [Law of Storms] that he now was part owner and controller of.

This was calming the Tempest’s Cradle’s natural chaos and parting the dense clouds as he moved forward with each step through the air.

The Lightning Elemental eventually led him to a part of the Tempest’s Cradle where no other Spirit Warrior had ever ventured into before; mostly due to the Elemental’s averted and caution of would-be approaches.

The air grew heavier, the pressure in the air from the storm system building until it felt like the storm itself was pressing down on his spiritual pressure. His ears even popped slightly as just ahead, the sky seemed to ripple unnaturally, the black and red clouds twisting around a central point that pulsed with faint traces of shadow.

The Lightning Elemental paused, its form flickering as it conveyed a surge of emotion again to his mind—anticipation mixed with caution.

Lassim understood and nodded in reply.

Then with a step forward, his spiritual pressure flared as he pushed through the entrance. The storm’s energy rippled around him as he entered the center of the rippling and central point—a pocket dimension.

The space Lassim stepped into was eerily familiar.

The black and red lightning clouds stretched from horizon to horizon, their density suffocating the space making it appear as just endless sky.

It was identical to the mental realm the Lightning Elemental had pulled him into during their first encounter, but here, the corruption was unmistakable now that he knew the problem and recognized the foreign element.

Shadowy tendrils coiled through the clouds, changing their color from the red to the recognizable black with their energy seeping into the storm and draining its vitality.

The air was thick with an oppressive energy that felt against the very nature of the space and the advanced against the [Law of Storm]’s rule, the tendrils extending intelligently like living limbs of a kraken that pulsed with the dark mana.

After only just a few seconds inside the space, Lassim could feel their influence even pressing against his spiritual pressure, attempting to disrupt his connection to the storm.

The red lightning within him, followed by the fused mana and some now crimson red lightning sprite fish, flared in response, pushing back the encroaching energy and stabilizing his fused mana.

He moved cautiously, his halberd held at the ready.

The Lightning Elemental had followed him through the entrance and hovered nearby, its form flickering as it scanned the surroundings. Lassim could sense its frustration and pain—this space and the storm was its home, and this foreign elemental had snuck in. It was a violation of its very essence and stability of its creation—the Tempest’s Cradle.

Different from the time he was here in that mental battle, Lassim noticed remnants of the elemental’s constructs with it’s red and law signature scattered throughout the domain as he advanced. He was unsure what they were for or what their original shapes were as a lot of them were broken into what looked like rubble.

These fragments of crystallized lightning floated in the air, their once-brilliant red glow now dimmed by the shadow tendrils that wrapped around them. Runes etched into the bases of the clouds below him flickered weakly.

Finally, they reached the heart of the domain.

There, he saw it.

The Shadow Elemental being loomed at the center of the pocket dimension, its form both alien and terrifying. Unlike the amorphous tendrils that snaked through the domain, the elemental itself was a cohesive, towering structure of darkness.

Its shape resembled a massive humanoid figure, a giant but its edges bled into the shadows, creating an ever-shifting silhouette. Its "skin" was a deep, glimmering black that seemed to drink in the surrounding light, and its core—a swirling void of absolute darkness—was embedded in its chest.

Around the core, faint, jagged lines of gray light rippled and escaped outward, expanding and contracting like veins that were being shot from a black hole. The tendrils extending from its body coiled through the surrounding storm clouds, sapping their energy.

Above, the skies dimmed further, the red lightning faltering under its presence as the heavens darkened.

Lassim immediately understood it was tied to the [Night] element—that much was obvious. But as he watched, he began to notice something deeper.

The darkness wasn’t wild or chaotic, nor did it lash out randomly. It spread forward in a slow, deliberate manner, swallowing the storm around it piece by piece. The light of the clouds and the flashes of lightning were steadily dimming, as if the elemental wasn’t destroying them but consuming them, rewriting them into its own nature.

The way it moved reminded him of natural nightfall—the way the light vanished as the sun set beyond the horizon, or how the deeper one ventured into a cave, the darker and heavier the blackness became. The darkness pressed forward with purpose, extending its reach further and further, until no trace of the original storm remained.

That was it.

Lassim recognized the law through its behavior. This wasn’t just shadows—if he had to guess, it was probably something like [Law of Nightfall] or [Law of Dusk].

Had Undos, the Twin brother God of Bavdall the God of the Sun element been watching, he would’ve commended Lassim for getting so close to the actual answer—the [Law of Encroaching Darkness]. The elemental wasn’t merely part of the [Night] element—it was an equal tier, if not slightly higher within Undos’ domain, representing the overwhelming inevitability of darkness advancing, consuming and suffocating all light in its path.

The Shadow Elemental didn’t move immediately, but its presence grew more oppressive and urgent with Lassim’s and the Lightning Elemental’s presence returning to this pocket dimension.

The storm around it dimmed further, the red and black lightning clouds losing their vitality more quickly as the tendrils of shadows feeding the core extended further.

Lassim could feel the energy being drawn out of the domain, the vitality of the storm converted into the cold Night element.

The Lightning Elemental flared beside him in anger, arcs of black and red lightning sparking across its jagged form as it prepared to engage.

Lassim sensed its frustration and pain—the domain was its creation, its very essence woven into the storm, and now it was being consumed at a much more rapid pace. But Lassim raised a hand, halting the elemental’s advance.

"This isn’t something we can rush," Lassim said, his voice steady. His spirit sense surged forward as he studied the Shadow Elemental’s movements. "That law is going to be tough to beat even with the two of us. We need to dismantle it first somehow, weakening it like it weakened you."

The Lightning Elemental hesitated, then flickered in agreement. Lassim turned his attention back to the elemental, his mind racing as he analyzed its form.

The tendrils were possibly the key, he wagered—they anchored it to the domain, allowing it to extend its influence while protecting its core.

Lassim could feel the faint rhythms of its law, the way it pressed against the storm’s natural flow, twisting it into submission.

He then began a test, channeling his fused mana, letting the red lightning surge through his body and into the storm around him.

The energy rippled outward, creating faint distortions in the corrupted clouds. The response was immediate.

The tendrils lashed out, moving with an almost predatory precision to absorb and nullify the red lightning’s influence.

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But Lassim noticed something important: while the tendrils were highly effective against direct attacks, they struggled to maintain control over the storm’s natural chaos when he controlled it. It also had a hard time with the Space element’s influence within his fused mana

"Got it," Lassim muttered, a faint smirk forming.