The warehouse district had been reduced to a complete field of ruins. Cracked stone slabs lay scattered across the ground, and the air was saturated with a thick, suffocating abyssal aura.
Lin Ye stood at the edge of the array. His shadow flowed slowly beneath his feet like a black cloak—no longer out of control, but significantly more powerful than before.
Watching this, the man in black robes became increasingly exhilarated. "Excellent," he said, slowly clapping his hands. "You are even more outstanding than I imagined."
Reg stood not far away, his silver sword now coated in black mist. He whispered to Su Li, "Something is wrong."
Su Li nodded. She felt it too. Lin Ye's current strength had far surpassed that of an ordinary Demon Hunter.
The cloaked man, Versailles, slowly stepped out of the runic array. With every step he took, the shadows on the ground distorted slightly.
"Allow me to introduce myself," he said. "I am Versailles, one of the executors of the Shadow Council."
Lin Ye looked at him coldly. "I don't care."
Versailles chuckled softly. "But I care about you. The Book of the Abyss has been dormant for hundreds of years. And you... you are its new vessel."
Lin Ye offered no reply. His shadow slowly coalesced, a long black blade forming in the air.
Versailles sighed. "It seems I'll have to use a more direct method." He raised his hand, and the runic array flared to life once more. Darkness erupted from the center of the formation.
This time, it wasn't a Shadow Beast that emerged, but a colossal dark figure. It was humanoid in shape but stood three meters tall, its body composed of dense, viscous darkness and its eyes burning with purple flames.
Reg's face paled instantly. "An Abyssal Sentinel," he muttered.
Su Li gripped her shortsword. "Sounds like he'll be a handful."
Versailles said softly, "Kill them."
The Abyssal Sentinel let out a low roar and lunged at the hunters. Reg immediately moved to intercept it, his silver sword swinging with a brilliant white light.
BOOM!
The blade struck the monster, tearing a rift in the darkness, but it mended almost instantly. Su Li rushed in from the side, her shortsword darting toward the creature's joints with shadow-like speed. The two coordinated their attacks, barely managing to stall the monster.
Versailles ignored them completely. His focus remained solely on Lin Ye. "Now," he said, "it's just the two of us."
The air fell into a sudden, heavy silence. Lin Ye slowly raised his shadow-blade. "Just as well."
In the next second, both moved simultaneously. Versailles's shadow surged upward, darkness thrusting out like a spear. Lin Ye's blade met it head-on.
BOOM!
The two abyssal powers collided, and the ground cracked once more. The already damaged structures of the warehouses collapsed under the shockwave. Versailles took a step back, his eyes gleaming with even greater excitement. "It really is the Book of the Abyss."
Lin Ye said nothing. His shadow shifted again, this time forming dozens of black spikes that erupted from the ground all at once. Versailles waved his hand, his shadow transforming into a barrier.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The attacks hammered against the shield, and darkness churned in the air.
On the other side, Reg and Su Li were locked in a bitter struggle. The strength of the Abyssal Sentinel was immense. It took a series of heavy strikes from Reg just to force it back. Su Li suddenly flipped into the air and drove her shortsword into the monster's chest.
"Now!"
Reg delivered a finishing blow. BOOM! The Abyssal Sentinel finally shattered, its darkness dissipating like smoke.
Reg had barely caught his breath when a massive explosion thundered in the distance. The battle between Lin Ye and Versailles had reached its climax. Shadows swept across the entire area like a violent storm.
Reg stared into the darkness, his brow furrowed. "That kind of power..."
Su Li's gaze never left Lin Ye. "He can win," she said softly.
Reg glanced at her. "You have a lot of faith in him."
Su Li didn't answer, but her eyes said everything.
At the center of the ruins, Versailles was repelled once more. His robes were tattered, yet he was laughing. "Good. Very good. But you still don't understand true power."
He suddenly pulled a black page from his robes—a fragment of a Forbidden Book. The runes upon it began to glow, and the darkness in the air surged violently. Versailles's shadow became gargantuan.
"Now," he said. "Let us see who is the true master of the Abyss."
The darkness surged toward Lin Ye like a tsunami. The final showdown had begun.