True Concealment
Phantom Eclipse
Rank: Rare
Category: Assassin • Concealment
Become one with the darkness.
Upon activation, the user enters Perfect Concealment, becoming invisible to sight while greatly suppressing their presence for 15 seconds.
The effect immediately ends upon performing an attack.
The first attack made from concealment gains the following effects:
* Greatly increased movement speed.
* Greatly increased critical damage.
* Reduced enemy perception during the initial strike.
* Ignores a portion of the target's awareness, making the attack extremely difficult to react to.
While concealed, ordinary detection skills cannot reveal the user. Only specialized perception abilities or area-of-effect attacks can expose the user before the duration expires.
Mana Cost: 80 MP
Cooldown: 3 Minutes.
The cost of mana makes Phantom Eclipse powerful but not spammable. With roughly 400 MP, Aster can use it five times before exhausting his mana, encouraging strategic use rather than constant invisibility.
Aster quietly calculated.
His eyes swept across the battlefield once more. Twenty opponents. One rare concealment skill. Four hundred mana. He glanced at the newly copied skill.
Phantom Eclipse
Mana Cost: 80 MP
"...Five."
At most he could activate it five times before exhausting his mana. And each activation carried a three-minute cooldown.
That meant every use had to matter.
One mistake would cost him dearly. His breathing slowed. He ignored Valerius completely.
Instead...
His eyes searched the enemy formation.Three support players with their staffs glowed with enhancement magic. They were the backbone of the formation.
As long as they remained alive, every injury would be healed, every buff renewed, every mistake corrected.
"They die first."
Then...
His gaze shifted.
Two mages with one of them possessed equipment noticeably superior to the others. The other wore enchanted gloves that increased spell power. They are the two highest damage dealers.
"They're next."
The plan was decided.
The Primal Codex quietly pulsed.
---
Aster activates the first Phantom Eclipse. His mana go down from 400 → 320
The moonlight swallowed Aster. He disappeared.
Not merely from sight, even his presence vanished. The advancing formation halted.
"W-Where did he go?"
The support players instinctively gathered closer together.
Exactly as Aster expected. He moved silently behind the rearmost healer.
Fifteen seconds was enough for one strike.
The twin blades crossed. The support player's eyes widened.
Before he could scream—
His health instantly fell below ten percent. White light descended. He disappeared.
The concealment broke. Chaos erupted.
"Behind us!"
Aster had already retreated.
Inside his mind...
The Primal Codex quietly recorded another observation.
---
Phantom Eclipse
Comprehension:
18%
---
"...Presence..."
"The skill isn't hiding my body."
"It's hiding my existence."
He remembered every sensation.
Every movement.
---
Three minutes later...
The cooldown ended.
---
The second he activates the Phantom Eclipse, he vanished. Again darkness embraced him.
This time, he noticed something. When he controlled his breathing, his footsteps became naturally quieter. His heartbeat slowed.
Even the surrounding mana ceased fluctuating. The concealment deepened. The second support never noticed him.
A single venom-coated slash.
Gone.
---
Comprehension
39%
---
After killing the second support, with a plus movement speed, he quickly hides behind the Ash Trees.
---
"The body follows the mind."
"If my intent to kill leaks..."
"So does my presence."
The Truth slowly revealed itself.
---
Valerius frowned.
"Search!"
"Area spells!"
The mages bombarded the surrounding forest. Explosions shattered trees. Yet... Nothing.
Their enemy seemed capable of appearing anywhere.
---
Third Activation
Mana: 240 → 160
This time...
Aster ignored the remaining healer.
Instead...
He targeted the strongest offensive mage. The spellcaster had begun channeling a large-scale fire spell.
Perfect.
Aster emerged directly behind him.
Venom Edge.
Twin blades flashed.
The mage vanished into white light before finishing the incantation.
---
Comprehension
63%
---
"The concealment ends..."
"...the moment I attack."
"But the attack itself..."
"...must become inevitable."
He began understanding.
An assassin did not seek battle.
An assassin decided where battle happened.
---
Valerius finally saw him.
"There!"
He exploded forward. His sword carved a brilliant silver arc.
Fast.
Extremely fast.
Any ordinary player in the level of Valerius would have been cut in half.
Yet—
Aster leaned backward by the smallest possible distance. The blade passed mere centimeters before his face.
Valerius blinked.
"...Impossible."
He immediately followed with another slash.
Again...
Nothing.
Aster's body moved like flowing water. Every movement was economical. Every dodge barely escaped the blade.
The difference in agility had become overwhelming.
"You..."
Valerius gritted his teeth.
"...Why can't I hit you?!"
Aster never answered. He simply stepped aside.
Again.
Again.
Again.
To Valerius...
It felt less like fighting...
And more like chasing a shadow.
---
Mana: 160 → 80
Another disappearance. Another impossible assassination. The second offensive mage.
Gone.
---
Comprehension
86%
---
The battlefield changed completely.
Without supports, without their strongest spellcasters, the elite formation began collapsing.
Fear spread.
They could no longer predict where Aster would appear. Some instinctively turned their backs toward one another. Others swung wildly into empty air.
The hunters...
Had become the hunted.
---
Only one support remained.
Aster quietly observed.
"No."
"Last."
The healer had become terrified. His concentration had already broken. He no longer mattered.
Instead...
Aster looked toward Valerius. The young master continued attacking relentlessly.
Sword after sword.
Skill after skill.
Each strike met only empty air.
Every miss deepened his frustration.
"Fight me!"
"You coward!"
Still...
Nothing.
To Aster...
Valerius had already lost. The moment emotion overtook reason, his blade had become predictable.
---
Three final minutes passed. The cooldown expired. Aster inhaled slowly. His final use.
His final eighty mana.
---
Fifth Activation
Mana: 80 → 0
Darkness embraced him one final time.
This time, everything felt different. The concealment no longer felt like magic.
It felt, natural.
He understood. True concealment wasn't becoming invisible. It was removing every reason to be noticed.
No sound.
No killing intent.
No hesitation.
No unnecessary movement.
Only purpose.
The final support looked around desperately.
"W-Where—"
Twin blades crossed.
White light descended.
Silence.
The battlefield froze.
The Primal Codex burst open.
Golden pages illuminated the forest.
---
Phantom Eclipse
Comprehension Complete
100%
---
Ancient runes engraved themselves across the page.
---
Truth Recorded
"Darkness does not hide the assassin."
"The assassin becomes someone the world has no reason to see."
"True concealment is not invisibility..."
"It is the complete absence of presence."
---
Warmth surged through Aster's body.
The temporary copy vanished.
Only to reappear as a permanent page within the Primal Codex.
He slowly opened his eyes.
The five most important members of the enemy formation had disappeared.
Three supports.
Two primary damage dealers.
The remaining elite players looked toward the lone cloaked figure with pale faces.
Their carefully organized formation had completely fallen apart. And standing at its center...
Valerius still couldn't understand one thing. Despite unleashing everything he had, despite being recognized as the strongest known player in Divine Nexus, his sword...
Had never once touched Aster.