Chapter 358: Going All Out
"Blegh!"
Damian coughed up a mouthful of blood that splattered across the shattered stone floor. For the first time since the battle began, his body felt unusually heavy. Every breath scraped painfully through his lungs, and simply remaining upright demanded far more effort than he was willing to admit. The dark crimson flames burning inside the wound relentlessly spread deeper through his flesh, devouring everything they touched while resisting his natural regeneration.
He had been hit badly.
"Tsk! I could have taken your head if it wasn’t for the damn sand acting on its own." Hagrid muttered with a visible frown.
His gaze slowly lifted until it met Damian’s. A mocking smile gradually spread across his lips.
"Now who is the fool amongst us, my Prince?"
Even now, Damian’s eyes remained strangely empty. There was no anger, panic or frustration.
Almost absentmindedly, he lowered his gaze toward the clawed gauntlet buried inside his chest. The elongated blades continued burning with dark crimson flames, filling the wound with unbearable heat. Only then did he notice something else.
The wall of sand that had risen to protect him had never disappeared.
Several thick strands of compacted sand still wrapped tightly around Hagrid’s forearm. They had twisted the limb violently, snapping the bones within before forcibly changing the trajectory of the attack. What should have pierced straight through Damian’s neck had instead been diverted into his chest.
Only after calmly studying the wound did Damian finally raise his eyes to meet Hagrid once again.
"When did you use your Domain?" he asked quietly.
Hagrid’s smile never changed. He slowly nodded.
"You desperately wanted to see yourself win, so I simply showed you the victory you needed..."
"Eighth tail..." Damian interrupted weakly.
His breathing remained slow despite the blood steadily flowing from the wound.
"It never existed... did it?"
Hagrid chuckled.
"No."
His voice carried the confidence of someone explaining an obvious truth.
"That was the exact moment you stepped into my Domain. Everything afterward was nothing more than the future you wished to witness."
He tapped lightly against his own temple.
"The rest was simply your own desire."
Damian slowly nodded inwardly. He understood now. From the very moment he believed he had discovered an eighth tail, he had already lost that exchange.
Everything afterward had been nothing more than an illusion carefully constructed from his own expectations.
The scorching pain inside his chest continued spreading relentlessly throughout his body. It crawled through his veins like molten metal, burning its way toward every vital organ. Damian resisted instinctively, forcing his regeneration to compete against the invading flames, but the damage had already accumulated.
He had been checkmated beautifully.
"Damian!"
Clara’s frightened voice echoed from behind him.
Slowly Damian raised one hand. The simple gesture drew both Clara’s and Hagrid’s attention.
"Don’t worry, love."
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"This is nothing."
BOOOOM!
The instant those words left his mouth, an overwhelming eruption of dark purple energy exploded outward from Damian’s body.
The shattered parish shook violently and the altar behind him cracked as his pupils divided into three.
Two additional pairs of muscular arms erupted from either side of his torso as though they had always belonged there. His skin rapidly darkened into an obsidian shade while strange violet markings spread beneath it like rivers of living lightning.
The pressure filling the Mirror World instantly multiplied.
Hagrid didn’t remain idle.
The moment Damian transformed, he violently ripped his arm free from the sand imprisoning it and shot backward across the ruined parish. His broken forearm twisted grotesquely before snapping back into its proper position with an audible crack.
His transformation began almost immediately.
His long crimson hair continued growing until it dragged across the floor behind him before gradually bleaching into brilliant white surrounded by a faint crimson glow.
His skin darkened as well.
A blood red radiance leaked continuously from beneath it. His fingernails lengthened into vicious claws capable of tearing through steel with ease, while the dark crimson aura surrounding him burned so fiercely that the very air distorted around his body.
The pressure released by the two demigods collided repeatedly, causing the entire Mirror World to tremble. Thin fractures spread across the ceiling while the stained glass windows lining the parish shattered one after another beneath the unbearable weight of their presence.
"Aaah... Asura inheritance against my Demon Fox inheritance." Hagrid snarled, unable to hide the contempt in his voice. "To think even the Sin of Lust would rather rely upon a foreign inheritance than the one belonging to his own clan."
His crimson eyes narrowed.
"You are not qualified to rule my people."
"Hmph."
Damian answered with nothing more than a disdainful snort. Behind him, hundreds of weapons gradually materialized in midair.
Spears.
Swords.
Halberds.
Axes.
Bows.
Every weapon differed in shape, size and purpose, yet all radiated the same overwhelming divine authority. Meanwhile, the massive wound in Damian’s chest slowly began closing. The crimson flames still resisted fiercely, but his transformed body healed at a visibly faster rate. His flesh gradually hardened as though becoming something far beyond ordinary muscle and bone.
He slowly flexed all six hands as purple lightning immediately began dancing wildly across every finger.
"Save those words for someone who gives two fucks about what you think."
His three pupils locked firmly onto Hagrid. The amusement that had lingered throughout their conversation was gone. He had finally stopped treating this as an interesting encounter. The time for discussions had ended. He could no longer afford to hold anything back.
"Of course. I’ll do well to add it to my speech when I address my people as their new Patriarch!" Hagrid declared, his voice overlapped by a far deeper and more monstrous version of itself that reverberated throughout the trembling Mirror World.
However, the instant those words left his mouth, Damian had already vanished.
Boom!
Before Hagrid could even react, Damian appeared directly before him. All six fists shot forward simultaneously with terrifying speed, each carrying enough force to pulverize mountains. The combined impact detonated like an exploding star, unleashing a violent shockwave that tore across the ruined parish.
Hagrid was launched backward like a cannonball.
The shattered pews, broken pillars and fragments of stone lining his path were reduced to dust as his body tore through them before crashing violently toward the enormous parish doors.
Just before impact, an enormous transparent mirror suddenly materialized over the entrance like a protective shell surrounding the entire boundary of the Mirror World.
Boom!
Instead of breaking through the doors, Hagrid slammed directly into the invisible barrier.
The entire realm trembled violently as cracks spread across the mirror surface before slowly repairing themselves almost immediately.
Hagrid had managed to cross both arms before the collision, shielding his vital organs from the full force of Damian’s assault. But it wasn’t enough. The combined strike from all six fists snapped both forearms with sickening cracks. Bone splintered beneath the overwhelming force as his arms bent unnaturally before falling limply to his sides.
Pain twisted his face.
His brows knitted together as blood dripped steadily from the corners of his mouth. Yet he never had the luxury of dwelling on the injury. The instant he lifted his head, his crimson pupils contracted.
Hundreds of weapons already filled the sky above him. Countless blades of every imaginable shape and size hurtled toward him like a divine storm, blotting out the ceiling of the parish as they descended with murderous intent.
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