Chapter 521 Know your place (part 2)
"Boooom!", the impact caused by Archbald's Battle Avatar being smacked against the ground, made the ground explode, the magma that was kept underground at a high pressure, erupted on the spot.
The result was a loud explosion and a tsunami of magma that spread throughout the nearby area, followed by the angered voice of Archbald as he tried to brute force his way to stand up again.
Just to get hammered into the ground once again, this time by the right foot of the giant Daimon shaped shadow puppet.
"Aghhh!", fire is a good counter to blood element and magma is considered an advanced variation of fire element, so while Archbald wasn't suffering pain due to the magma, his Battle Avatar took damage from it, now add the strong shockwave damage that the giant "Daimon" caused by smacking and then stomping on Archbald's Battle Avatar, the Blood King felt his battle aura reserves take a big hit.
Normally, a punch and a stomp wouldn't make a Battle Avatar suffer, battle aura is solidified when becoming a Battle Avatar after all, which is why the Blood King itself didn't suffer any wound.
But that giant Daimon shaped shadow puppet which is fighting against Archbald's Battle Avatar isn't a spell, unlike what Rita used back to fight against Ulkrear, no, that is… her Domain.
'I can't believe she gave her Domain that form, also that is a lot of compressed mana… is that why she never used it before?', wondered Daimon as he felt the dubitative gazes of Jasmine, Reyne and even Freya on him.
'Hahaha, I got to give it to her, she is one hell of a maid~', jokingly said Evangeline, which made Daimon chuckle.
By default, a Domain takes the form of an elliptical space around its owner, depending on the element, talent and training of the owner, said Domain can be re-shaped according to its master's orders.
Of course, that is an advanced technique which requires a lot of experience, control and mana, because unlike battle aura, mana isn't solid by innate, some elements like metal or earth gain substance past a certain point, but solidifying mana is way harder than solidifying battle aura, which is why Karla only resorted to that after noticing that fluid attacks were being easily cut down by Daimon.
Domains are perfect to deal with numerous enemies, while Battle Avatars are perfect for a one versus one situation, or to snipe important targets, of course there are exceptions, like Aurora whose Domain can be both a strong defense or a tool to isolate strong individuals, to deal with them separately.
Anyway, what's important is that Rita seemed to be having fun, as she continuously stomped on the Blood King's Battle Avatar, mainly because her Domain had taken Daimon's shape, so in a sense her young master was fighting side to side with her.
"Enough bitch!", after realizing that due to the position in which he was being hammered into the ground, his Battle Avatar was unable to regain his footing, unless he dissipated it and then summoned it again, which not only will burn a lot of his battle aura, but will also leave him open for a direct hit from the enemy, Archbald instead bit the bullet and dived into the underground sea of magma, to then resurge a few hundreds of meters away.
The ground exploded as the Blood King's Battle Avatar came out of it, there were a few parts which had melted due to the magma, not to mention Archbald was furious after suffering such humiliation, he a king couldn't get up as he was being stomped upon by not even the enemy he was aiming at, but some servant, he was livid.
Ghouls aren't exactly stable beings to begin with due to their negative nature, they kill just for fun as a proof of it, and while the dark energy which Karla had, wasn't corrupted like the one Nethereals use, it still follows similar principles, in other words, if not controlled properly, it eats away at one's rationality.
And the current Archbald was furious beyond words, he lost that amazing sword he was given, his sponsor abandoned him, and the materials he was going to sacrifice to surpass the level in which he has been stuck for countless years, were stolen right in front of his eyes, which once again changed the tides of the war, but not in his favor.
"Blood Call!", shouted Archbald, his Battle Avatar exploded in dark red battle aura and then screams could be heard coming from afar.
"Noo my king, why!!!", and other similar wails echoed through the battlefield, as a lot of the low ranked nobles and soldiers of the Ghoul army, exploded into red mist which was then absorbed by Archbald's Battle Avatar, and then injected directly into the Blood King.
The damages done to Archbald's Battle Avatar were immediately repaired, his previously almost fully black battle aura had regained some red tone, and the Blood King actually recovered his rationality.
"This fight doesn't have anything to do with you right, get the hell out of my way and return me that", said Archbald as his Battle Avatar pointed at the pitch-black crystal which unknown to him contained Sarah.
"That is not up to you to decide, per my young master's petition, your life spark will be extinguished by me", followed by Rita's words, the giant shadow puppet in which she was swimming, released waves of dark mana which covered everything within ten kilometers.
The thing about Domains, is that they can cover huge areas, technically a talented peak Arch rank can cover up to a few hundreds of kilometers, but in general the strength of effect of the Domain will diminish the more the Domain extends, since the borders will be too separated from the point of origin which is the Archmage itself.
And the previous is without taking into account the interference that outsiders bring to one's Domain, after all, inside a Domain only the mana of the same element as the one of the owner of the Domain remain, so when another type of mana appears within the Domain, it causes interference.
So, the current accepted formula to consider an Archmage's Domain to remain at its peak in all its range, is one kilometer per every minor realm of the Arch rank, in other words the same rule as the Battle Avatars multiplied per ten, meaning that ten kilometers is the size of the Domain of a peak Archmage when fighting against an opponent of the same rank.
Once again, those are the standards of the four galaxies, which is also why Archbald right now was having a mental breakdown, he could somewhat accept that the enemy had "pushed it to the limit" and used the whole length of its Domain to create that giant version of the masked youth to fight on par with him.
But then what the hell was happening now, why was the whole nearby area being encapsulated in this oppressive darkness.
"Oh, don't tell me you believed this small shadow puppet represented my homage to my young master, his shadow extends infinitely without being restrained by anything, suppressing every being below his shade…", Rita stopped for a moment there before continuing.
"Unfortunately, even in this atmosphere that is beneficial for me, I lack the ability to make use of the entirety of my Domain to create a decent representation of my young master without being able to exactly replicate till his last detail perfectly, on the other hand thanks to that I still have a vast part of my Domain free for my use".
Rita who unusually talkative, came out of her daze as she saw the Blood King trying to runaway from her Domain.
"Oh well, though I could talk about my young master for hours, you aren't worthy of listening, but fear not, for you can become a stepping stone in his path to greatness".
Archbald who has turned his back on an enemy for the first time in his life, after feeling as if he was being suffocated by the dark space deployed by that strange woman, suddenly failed lost his balance as his Battle Avatar's right leg sank into the darkness that was covering the ground.
"Damn it, let me go!", he shouted as he tried to get out, but no matter how much strength he used, nothing happened, so ultimately, he could only severe that leg and then jump towards the nearby border of the Domain, to punch it with his two fists.
"Blood Burn!".
"Boooom!", the two fists of the Battle Avatar exploded in black and red battle aura, besides the increase in combat prowess, knights could use martial arts through their Battle Avatars, of course the consumption of battle aura was insane, so it was a last resort kind of thing, which only worked to show how scared the Blood King was right now.
'Shit, shit, shit, how is that bitch so strong, she isn't one of the "chosen" of which that woman spoke, so then why am I trembling!', inwardly screamed Archbald as he poured everything he had into that attack, the only thing he wanted right now was to escape from this place and then go to his royal capital to do the largest sacrifice ritual, in order to advance.
Thanks to the recent events he had seen the light at the end of the stagnation that has been torturing, ever since he went into a special slumber to find a way to breakthrough, originally, he accepted to follow Karla's orders as she promised to help him obtain a real advance, instead of the state he achieved thanks to Kerrol's atmosphere, but now he has found his own way.
"I can't die here, I will evolve and become the progenitor of my own race, like the first Blood King!", shouted Archbald as he punched Rita's Domain with all his might.
"Booom!", the result was a giant shockwave that made the wall jiggle, but the Blood King's smirk didn't last long as the arms of his Battle Avatar were dragged into the shadow wall.
"Crack!", with a loud cracking noise, the arms of Archbald's Battle Avatar were ripped off from its body and then sank into the darkness of the wall, followed by the giant shadow puppet with "Aghhhhh!", with the origin of it being forcefully removed, the Battle Avatar crumbled apart on the spot and a lot of wounds appeared on Daimon's shape, punching a hole through what was left of the Battle Avatar, successfully making Archbald's real body fly out of it due to the impact.
"Aghhhhh!", with the origin of it being forcefully removed, the Battle Avatar crumbled apart on the spot and a lot of wounds appeared on Archbald's body due to the recoil, blood exploded out of the wounds but before he could even scream, spiked shadow chains pierced his body and dragged him into the shadows, his screams could be heard for a couple of seconds, before silence reigned once again.
Rita nodded happy with the result of her work, she then snapped her fingers and all the shadows, including the giant Daimon shaped shadow puppet returned to her, she then flew towards Daimon and jumped into his shadow in a rush.
"It's done, Daimon!", she happily said from within Daimon's shadow, the comfort was clear in her voice as she was back at her happy place.
Daimon had quite a few questions for her, but he decided to leave them for when they had some private time, also his participation in the war was about to come to an end.
'They should be finishing right about now', he thought as he raised his head and gazed in a particular direction.
…
At the other side of the battlefield, things had taken an interesting turn, previously when the Ghoul abominations were still alive, the human army was losing members with each minute, because at least three people on the same realm were needed just to resist against a single one of those, and that resulted in one dying, a second one receiving serious wounds and a third one being infected by that dark energy to then be either healed by the Domain of the female elder from the church, or killed by other members of the human army if the infected was beyond help.
Needless to say, but 8 out of 10 cases ended in the third option, even if diluted that dark energy still originated in Karla, the female elder had never seen something like that, so besides trying to purify it with her light element she couldn't do anything else, especially because she had her own battle to fight.
Paula also received that dark energy from Karla, she wasn't at the level of the Archdukes so she would have normally lost her rationality, but apparently, she received some "benefits" from entertaining Adam, so she managed to keep her rationality and reach the same level as Felix and the other old monsters.
Unfortunately for her, Daimon's interference in the war hadn't ended yet, once Rita showed up and casually captured all the Ghoul abominations, the pressure on the human side plummeted and she was now in a tough spot.
And now while she was clashing with the female elder, she suddenly felt a piercing pain on her chest, where a red mark appeared and then faded away, making Paula's pupils contract like needles.
'N-No way, they killed Archbald!', she inwardly screamed, as she made the female elder retreat with one of her attacks, to then fly upwards in a try to escape, she even sold herself to obtain power, she didn't have any loyalty towards the Blood King, she just wanted a position of authority in the new order that was supposed to be born, but now she realized she was in the losing side, so she had to escape if she didn't want to be captured and tortured, either for when her path was blocked by a thin white light wall, the female elder managed to use her Domain one last time with the mana she satisfaction of the public or to get information from her.
It's a shame that when it rains it pours, she had yet to get too far when her path was blocked by a thin white light wall, the female elder managed to use her Domain one last time with the mana she had left.
"Don't get in my way you, old bitch!", she shouted as she punched the white light wall, after obtaining that dark energy from Karla, she couldn't use her Domain anymore, instead she now made more of that dark energy appear near her, but that was enough for her destroy the white light wall.
But as she left the elder's Domain, she was met with the last people she wanted to see right now, Jeanne and Reyne who were both holding hand sized white metal boxes, they were both in their vampire form as their red eyes suggested, also both of them had blood stains on their armors.
"Where do you think you are going, that woman said something interesting when I tore her heart out of her ribcage with my own hands, apparently the idea of kidnapping someone to forcefully obtain that white cross bow was yours, right?", said Emily as she craned her neck.
"Mm, since you tried to capture Reyne for that idiot, you should have been prepared to be beaten to death by us", added Jeanne.
"Shut up, so what if I decided to be the Blood King's slave, you two hypocritical whores did the same, otherwise that masked guy who was on par with the idiot that was played by me, wouldn't have helped you so don't you dare to look down on me!", yelled Paula as she summoned her Domain, or at least that's what she tried to do, when Emily suddenly punched a hole through her chest.
Jeanne who had become a white flash, appeared behind Pula and beheaded her on the spot with her sword.
"Let me tell you a little secret, unlike you, we aren't slaves but teammates with our "special" companion, now why don't reunite with Felix", said Jeanne as she grabbed Paula's corpse to take it with them.
The female elder looked at how those two easily disposed of the enemy she couldn't kill, and she raised her guard to the best of her capacities, at this point she didn't know what the masked youth was planning.
She saw Rita capturing the Ghoul abominations but not killing them, who knows if the masked youth was aiming to become the new Blood King, he had the qualifications to do so, since no one could stop him.
But she was wrong, Jeanne and Emily ignored her and shot towards the area where Daimon and the others were, the moment they reached a certain distance, Paula's corpse dried up as a big wisp of dark energy came out of her body just to be dragged towards the black crystal cocoon where the crazy girl was.
Rita accidentally stole the dark energy that Archbald's corpse produced, she tried to let go of it, since one of her young master's companions needed it, but the thing was instead integrated into her shadows.
"Crack!", to Jasmine's happiness, the crystal cocoon cracked after absorbing that one last bit of dark energy, and then exploded into a dark purple mist, releasing the "unknown" life form that was inside of it.
Daimon dodged to the side, but he was then taken by surprise since the "unknown" being changed directions, meaning he was going to be captured by it, or at least that would have been the case, if he didn't have Blink, so he just used it, and managed to avoid in time.
"It was closer this time, I'll be yours for sure~", the purple mist dispersed to reveal the crazy girl, who had a happy expression, the aura she gave off had changed quite a bit, and that wasn't the only change she had.
Earlier Daimon was surprised to hear from Jasmine that Sarah had obtained a Manifestation Phenomenon, because she is a knight, therefore she should have obtained Will Manipulation, which she had already showed signs of, previously.
"Look, I made around 80% of the curse marks disappear with the help of that dark energy!", said the crazy girl as she shamelessly raised her blouse and then turned around to show Daimon her back.
As for the Manifestation Phenomenon Jasmine mentioned, Sarah did develop one as the dark purple mist that was gathering around her, suggested.
Freya, reacted on the spot by tensing up as she felt the nature of that purple mist, but Daimon who already had Disaster in his hand, gazed at her.
"That is indeed a similar energy to the one Karla used, but despite being slightly crazy, she is trustable, I can vouch for it", he said.
Freya observed Sarah who didn't seem to have any worries as she played with that dark purple mist, and she ultimately calmed down.
Honestly Daimon understood her, because what was gathering around Sarah wasn't poison element mana as it should normally be the case… but nether.
"We'll discuss it later, now, before anything else, it's time to eliminate the end loses", he said.
Sarah glared at Adam who was being restrained by Daimon stepping on his neck, and she wildly smiled as she grabbed the trident along with Jasmine, to then use it to pierce Adam's back.
"W-Wait, I can give you anything you want… aghhhh!", he hadn't finished his sentence, when the prongs of the trident, pierced his back nailing him to the ground, so that Daimon was finally able to stop stepping on Adam's neck.
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