Magical Heritage

Chapter 17:The Truth.

Vatel was still falling, waiting for another portal to open up. However, none opened. Instead, it felt as if he fell into an ocean, except it was still all black and he could breathe. He looked around and sighed. "Where the hell am I?" He asked himself as he looked around. He tried standing, which worked, he could stand. He then felt an odd feeling around the place, he couldn't feel any mana or anything most of his senses were dulled. He could barely see his hand in from of his face. A person then appeared in front of him, except this person was not like anyone he was seen before. He could tell at first glance that if he even tried so much as a simple sword swing, he would be dead. Vatel couldn't see it, but the man had floating crystal-like wings. He also had a small halo behind his head and a black star on his chest. "A mortal entered my domain... Interesting." The person said as Vatel slowly went to grab his sword. "Why so tense?" The man clapped his hands once before the place illuminated, sort of. They were standing in black water that was about ankle height.

The sky was also black but it looked like there was an eternal dark moon rise, and Vatel could now see the man fully. There wasn't anything sinister or good about him, he just seemed neutral. Vatel could see the wings slowly move. "What's your name?" The being asked as stared at Vatel. "..The name Vatel, what about yours?" Vatel asked as he stared the person. The person clapped his hands and made his 'wings', halo, and star disappear. "My name is Umbra, The God of Darkness." Vatel looked around. "Wait... A god? That's why I can't even feel your mana let alone your presence... Wait a minute... Where the hell even am I?!" Umbra looked around. "You're in the void, we gods go under the alias of Cosmic Flaws. Or just Flaw for short. Though we are not Flaws, mortals and immortals alike view us all as anomalies, as even the weakest god can destroy multiple galaxies." Umbra then thought. "You're interesting, not a lot of dead people come here often, not only that, you're not even dead. So tell me, what clan are you from and how did you get here?"

Vatel sighed and explained everything from Oni till now. When asked about his clan he assumed he meant his last name so he told him. Umbra nodded and his eyes widened as a grin appeared on his face. "A Kagehara huh? Lucky to be born in that clan... How about this? I'll train you, not only will I get you to unlock your racial attributes, but you'll grow closer to my darkness and become more in tune with it." Vatel seemed suspicious, raising a brow. "What?" Umbra then chuckled. "You have shadow magic, so naturally, like all magic, it can evolve. The limit as to how much it can evolve, we'll have to see how far it can go now will we?" Umbra started before chuckling a little. Vatel seemed a little confused by everything. "Wait.. what do you mean I'm lucky to be born into this clan? I had a completely normal life back on earth..." Umbra then thought. "Earth... Oh yeah! That world where the two universes collided. You see here, The Kageharas have been around for an extremely long time. You see, they were rival clans with the clan known as the Abomination Clan."

Vatel raised a brow. "Wait what? This is all confusing... First I have a normal life, then my game world becomes reality, then it stops being like my game world... Now I'm meeting gods and all this stuff? It's only been about two years since that happened! Not only that! From when we all met up till now only took about one and a half months! Why is everything moving so fast? This is making no sense..." Umbra sighed. "You want to know about a game world, then you'll have to see another god for that. However, you can't leave here just yet, and I can't send you to The Ring yet, the sheer mana would destroy your body. I'm surprised you haven't been destroyed yet for entering my domain. That's already your innate ability." Vatel tilted his head. "What?" Umbra sighed. "You see, there's one thing special about the Kageharas. They're extremely hard to kill. Even it takes a god a little bit of effort to kill them. Kageharas know a technique called the Immortal Body technique, but just because it's a technique doesn't mean anyone can learn it. You have to be a Kagehara to even obtain it."

Vatel sighed. "What do you mean?" Umbra palmed his face. "Okay, to damage a Kagehara with the immortal body, you need either Advanced Mana Armor, Authority Mana, Anomaly Mana, or extremely powerful magic. Unless you're a swordsman or swordswoman that can challenge powerful gods, you can't cut them either, at least not fully." Vatel tilted his head. "Wait, there are more gods?" Umbra nodded. "There's a lot. So much so that there are factions. I'm a part of the neutral faction, so I protect or destroy universes if I get something out of it." Vatel looked around. "How are you keeping this place up?" Umbra simply responded, "Mana." Umbra then turned around. "There are also pure and corrupt gods. Some gods aren't even all three. It's rather complicated, to say the least." He said, turning back to Vatel. "Anyways, The Kageharas was a loose clan, mainly raiders and stuff like that, hopping from planet to planet. Till they met their match, which happened to be the Abominations. You'll get more info later, but for now, this is the truth of your clan. Chances are, your parents were also no different from the rest of the Kageharas."

Vatel took time to process it before understanding. "So... My training. How will it go?" Umbra then walked towards him before grabbing his face. "Split." All of a sudden, around 16 shadows appeared, though, they could barely be seen. "Your training. Fight these shadows while also trading, tanking, and dealing blows. Each month the shadows will multiply by one individually. Since you've come into contact with the recent threat you're our best chance at analyzing him. Begin." The training then started, the shadows all seemed more skilled than he was. Stronger, faster, smarter, they didn't let up either. Each time Vatel was on the verge of death, Umbra would heal him. There was also slowly increased gravity until it was 3x what he was normally used too. After about two years, Vatel just slayed the last shadow, his body looking more toned and fit, though, it did look like he lost a bit of weight, nothing too bad though. Umbra then smiled. "Good. Now, because I'm a god, I'm gonna hold back on this attack. However, you should feel nothing." Umbra then instantly punched Vatel in the gut, but he didn't even seem phased. "Alright. Nice. To increase its strength, tank more blows. Now go." Umbra opened a portal that lead to the second 'floor' of one of the towers., Vatel walked though. What will happen next?