Eternal Thief

Ace would've typically become alert or slightly panicked when the cloudy dark mist appeared. Yet, this time, he remained utterly calm because the dark mist gave him the feeling of familiarity and warmth. 

'Is this mist created by the dark orb?' Ace thought as he felt cozy in that dark mist that was poisonous for everyone else. 

Furthermore, despite the dark mist, Ace could see as clearly as day in it, and he felt he could also control this dark mist if he wanted to. 

Ace knew it was all happening because he was now the owner of the First Authority of Darkness, and this dark element was nothing but another branch of darkness, so he was completely fine. 

A faint smile appeared on his face as he looked at the grand space behind the door. Only a single bridge led towards a platform while the surroundings were filled with black liquid from where the dark mist originated. It was a pure dark Qi pool whose value was unimaginable!

However, Ace's eyes were locked on the dark-lit ghostly scepter and an eight-meter-tall hideous crimson devil sitting in front of it, deep in meditation state. The devil ancestor, Edward, was in his proper devil form right now, which only Albert and Margret know about!

Now, Ace had also seen it, and Edward was utterly oblivious to the fact as he still didn't feel anything amiss because, in his mind, this place was impenetrable. 

Furthermore, even if someone could appear here by some miracle, the devil scepter would react. However, it was only the case when someone touched the dark Qi released by it. 

But the Dark Qi not only reacted, but it reacted in the entirely opposite way, which shouldn't be possible, and now, Edward was utterly clueless about a pair of thievish eyes locked on him. 

'Devil Ancestor, the once strongest person of the ten continents and an old monster who lived for thousands of years, and now he's just sitting all defenseless in front of me like a sitting duck. I'm afraid this thievery would become extremely cumbersome if I didn't have the authority of darkness. But now…' 

Ace's cruel smile spread before walking slowly toward the Devil Ancestor. He didn't just take the scepter and flee, which was his primary objective. He changed his mind after what had just happened. Furthermore, he can't let this opportunity pass by. He will never get another one like this. 

Edward was utterly defenseless right now, and the dark Qi around him, which he so much trusted, was now Ace's greatest ally, so he wanted to take full advantage of this and get rid of this future trouble for good. 

After all, one less powerful enemy was better than having one more, and he could also get rid of the Blood Ancestor without alerting her this way. Moreover, he knew someone backed these guys, so if he could get rid of them, they might not be able to alert the mastermind. 

Lastly, Ace wanted another thing from the Devil Ancestor, the Devil Race's living storage space treasure, the only known space treasure that can store living beings in this world! 

That treasure's value was as high as the elemental orb or even more. 

Ace quickly made his way to the platform, which was shimmering in rune symbols and channeling powerful dark Qi directly into Edward's body. The platform itself was the last defense against enemies. 

However, in the fate map, this entire area was gray, which meant there was no danger except for Edward's red fate point, so he stepped on the platform, and Edward still didn't notice him when he was only a few meters away.

At this moment, Ace spotted a crimson ring with blue veins on Edward's ring finger, and except for that ring, he wasn't wearing another ring. 

'This should be it…' Ace thought, but he didn't jump the guns and even ignored the devil scepter, which was only a meter away from him now. 

The dark Qi was completely hiding Ace within, making him appear a part of it, and that's why Edward overlooked Ace despite him getting so close to him.

He walked toward Edward, and his expression was emotionless. The next moment, Ace raised his hand before he thought, 'Lawless Darkness!' 

The moment he imagined activating the first authority of darkness, something seemed to be stirred within him, and his entire body suddenly turned blacker than black. He completely vanished into the darkness. 

The surrounding dark Qi suddenly started gushing into the spot where Ace was like a black hole, and the devil scepter shone even more brightly, turning the Qi pool into dark mist even faster. 

The devil ancestor's eyelid sprang open at this moment, revealing dark eyeballs filled with bewilderment and alarm. The Qi supply suddenly cut off, and something within him started to feel extremely fearful, making him tremble like crazy, which was entirely new for him. 

Furthermore, he was even more shocked when he tried to move his body because he couldn't. It was like he had lost all control over it. He didn't have permission to even flinch from this place. 

He wanted to speak, but his mouth was tightly sealed. The foreign fear gripped his entire being at this moment, and finally, at this moment, he felt something he had forgotten long ago: death!

Edward didn't even notice the ring on his finger vanished at that moment. As death was approaching, he didn't even have the guts to resist it because the death was granted by something far superior to his entire measly existence. This was the feeling of Devil Ancestor before an ethereal pitch-black streak appeared between his body. 

The next moment, that streak and black hole behind him vanished, and strangely he wasn't cut in half, but the life within the devil ancestor was wholly gone as he fell on the platform. The once mightiest figure who ruled over the world was now dead, which he couldn't resist. 

Ace's figure appeared again, but he was ghastly pale and panted heavily while his eyes widened, 'I-I only activated it for two seconds, yet I-I've felt that endless emptiness wanted to engulf everything… was that darkness? And that guy appeared like a tiny particle of that emptiness, which I can easily devour on a whim. What a terrible yet magnificent feeling…' He thought with a complex look on his pale face. 

He used his authority because he didn't want Edward to escape or use some treasure, which seemed to play out well.

At this moment, the system voice rang a few times in succession, 

=====

[Thievery succeeded!]

[Host Stole]

[Living Storage Space Treasure (Low-Grade-9): 1]

…

[Time Space Fragment (Low-Grade-9): 1

…

--

[Reward(s)]

-Rewards: 749,400,000 Thief Points

---

[Thievery Rank(s)]

-High-Level Thievery(s): 1

---

[High-level Thievery(s): 5/100]

---

[Thief Point(s): 1,521,750,400]

---

[You have killed a Quasi-Soul Law Comprehension Realm Devil.]

[Reward: 10,000,000 SP]

--

[You have absorbed an excessive amount of Dark essence!]

[Converting them to EXP and SP!]

[EXP: 2.4 Billion EXP

[SP: 2.1 Billion]

--

[Martial Cultivation: Heavenly Dark Soul Manifestation [Stage-9]]

[EXP: 2,413,190,000/2,500,000,000]

[Soul Cultivation: Heavenly Black Wind Soul Core [Stage-9]]

[SP: 2,110,731,990/2,500,000,000]

[Elemental Orb: 0/1]

--

[NOTE: Your understanding of Darkness has been increased slightly!]

---

[The conditions for Living Thief's Space final scheme (3X-Time Acceleration Function) have been met!]

-One Grade-9 Storage Space Treasure: Present

-One Grade-9 Time Treasure: Present

-100 Million Thief Points: Present

[Do you want to update the Living Thief's Space?]

[Proceed/Not Now] 

=====

Ace instantly felt alarmed when a massive torrent of Qi broke into his body, and he felt warmth as his Qi(s) started to resort and then increase at tremendous speed. 

'Dark essence?' Ace was surprised by this sudden notification and looked around and was shocked when he found the entire Qi pool was empty. He knew when he felt rich Qi suddenly pouring into him when he was using Lawless Darkness wasn't just an illusion. 

But he was further alarmed when he saw over 1 billion TP. Then, the last condition to upgrade the thief's space was completed, which was completely unexpected but also pleasantly surprising. 

He never expected the Devil Ancestor would have two grade-9 treasures, even a treasure related to time, which was unheard of! 

But then he frowned, 'If I proceed, didn't this mean I'll lose the precious living space treasure? No, it's too much of a loss for me. I should find another space treasure to replace it…' 

Ace instantly decided, finally looking at the devil specter and smiling. This was his main prize!