After mastering Void, Max's next focus was to master darkness.
After his profound understanding of the void element, Angakok's memories left the second best template for darkness.
In his tier promotion test, although Angakok had not mastered darkness, he had gained a passable understanding of the element and it gave Max some minor confidence to attempt in mastering it.
According to Angakok the darkness element wasn't just a state which encompassed the absence of light, instead he believed that darkness was the natural state of the universe and it was light that was impeding in the domain of darkness.
As per Angakok, there was no comparison between the power of light versus darkness.
On a planet with an atmosphere one felt as if light was a more powerful force that could dispel darkness and provide warmth and vision to inhabitants, however, the power of light within a planet was greatly exaggerated because of its resonance with atmospheric elements.
In the vast space that dominated the universe, the only visible existence of light were the small pocket of stars that could be seen as a spec between the dark enormous universe.
However, the darkness element wasn't just about the absence of light or its local application of powers in terms of attacks and abilities— the darkness element was an enigma that held many secrets, secrets that Angakok could not figure out.
There were two methods to study the darkness element as per Angakok, one was to try and study it within the realm of Chaotic Energies after isolating the void, however this method was not recommended since even with the void isolated in the atmosphere there was still the chaos energy mixed with darkness which made it hard to study.
The second method was to bring a darkness treasure out in the surroundings.
According to Angakok's observation, the darkness element clung together to its kind and created a ripple effect.
Bringing out a darkness artefact helped isolate the darkness energy from the chaos energy at least in the near vicinity of the treasure which could then be used to study its secrets.
Knowing this secret fully, Max had prepared before time!
He was in the possession of one of the arguably most important darkness artefacts of the universe which was Lucifer's sword the ' Divine Blade Azrael ', a blade contaminated from the seed of darkness itself.
It was the next best thing to having the seed of darkness itself and the moment Max brought it out he felt as if the few dozen eyes of celestials that had receded in the background suddenly focused on him again as he felt a crippling pressure descent upon him once more.
Almost immediately, a dark fog began to concentrate itself around the sword as Max felt something ice cold creep over his hand.
' The darkness….. it's cold ' Max thought as he felt the surrounding darkness creeping up on his hands to be so cold that it could easily freeze his blood vessels.
Thankfully he was a master of blood manipulation and could maintain his inner temperature easily which led to him not facing any difficulty.
Little by little, the darkness began creeping up all over Max's body as he felt like he had started to hear almost incoherent whispers.
For the first few seconds Max was afraid he had became delusional, however, after about 5 minutes as the darkness covered his body in its entirety, he finally realised what the whispers were really saying.
' This is Lucifer's element, it's bound to be evil '
' Will mastering darkness make me a bad person? '
' When has there ever been an honest user of the darkness element? '
' Cold…. I hate the cold '
' Mira is a black dragon, I bet she found this part of the promotion test to be easy '
' I'm afraid I don't see mortals with the same eyes anymore. I'm turning into a monster where I feel absolutely nothing when a tier0 or tier1 individual dies, even if he's a Bloodfall soldier '
' I miss Anna, she gives the best head '
' Will Hazriel acknowledge me if I become tier7? '
Max heard the darkness whisper to him the deranged thoughts of his own mind which he actively suppressed and never brought out to the surface.
It was a strange yet terrifying experience as he felt like the darkness was showing him a mirror of his own emotions.
Yes these were negative emotions, one's like insecurity, jealousy, lust, self doubt, prejudice, hatred... however the darkness whispering it to him wasn't malicious in nature.
It was almost as if the darkness element was trying to bring to the surface what had already been within him.
Max had a clear and tranquil heart and was able to draw this conclusion quickly, however, he could understand how someone with a weaker mind would slowly but surely give-in to the whispers of darkness and embrace his worst side.
Feeling the power of darkness Max realised how it was no wonder that most Darkness element users were either stoic bastards with a skewed moral compass or the worst kind of evil scum.
Handling the ravings of the dark wasn't for everyone and having too much of this unfiltered power was dangerous for even monarch level figures like Lucifer.
Being in contact with the seed of darkness for extended periods of time brought out all of his suppressed desires to the surface and clouded his sensible judgement.
Yes facing his brother was a big part behind his downfall, but a more clear minded Lucifer would have only sent his underlings the Savage King and the Mercenary King to deal with Regus Aurelius and would not have shown himself.
He was the backbone of the dark faction during the dimensional war and did not need to take any unnecessary risks.
It was the ravings of the dark that made him give in to his bloodlust which resulted in him wanting to personally get a piece of the action to humiliate and kill a monarch.
It was this desire that led to his overall downfall, and it all made a great lesson for Max to learn from.