Chapter 244: Priority Targets
"...Tsk...EVELYN, YOU FUCKING BITCH!! I’M GONNA CRUSH YOU!!!" I scream at nothing, staring at this mess of a Domain that’s been raised. Obviously, it’s that pathetic failure’s fault!!
"I can’t believe I raised my Domain because of that failure!!" I can almost hear them mocking me, like "Marie, I can’t believe you fell for that!" It’s so pathetic of me to have fallen for such a stupid trick.
"And I can’t even use my own Domain’s ability!! All because of this damned brat!!" I stomp the ground repeatedly in frustration. I thought it was Lucien or Esther raising their Domain, and when I realized someone else had raised one, I had to do it too, just to not be at a disadvantage.
"..." I use my blessing to create a large sculpture of slightly solidified air and climb onto it. The sculpture takes the form of a great wind bear.
"Move forward." I use the creation blessing again, generating a large block of metal and starting to move it. I’ll use it and mold it as material for my creation blessing, since creating something from nothing is costly, while shaping something I’ve already created costs less.
Click, Click, Click
’A clicking sound?’ I’m confused, hearing a strange clicking noise in the distance. With all the active Domains at the same time, I can’t sense where everything is within the Domain.
"What the...AHHH, WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!!!" I see thousands of strange, faceless things madly rushing toward me. I quickly mold the metal block into several swords and fire them at these things.
"!!!" They’re weak, destroyed in one hit, but they keep advancing. I send the wind bear charging into them while I generate a large metal club. These things reach me, surrounding me.
’Is this Evelyn’s power? It’s bizarre.’ All these things have no faces, but their physiques are very human-like, which creates an uncomfortable, kinda creepy feeling. I guess it’d be the same reaction as seeing an army of the undead advancing.
"Kyaa, let go of me, you ugly thing!" A piece of a torso that had been flung through the air came crawling and grabbed my foot. I smash the thing while swinging the club, crushing more of these things that get close.
’I can’t use my blessing without considering the risk of my creation turning against me!’ These things seem weak, but they’re piling up on me, and the "Click" sound their bodies make is annoying.
"[Solar Earth Balm]" I use a spell that releases an immense electric wave, which explodes into the ground, followed by a great golden lightning bolt shot from the sky into the earth, burning everything.
"!!!" But these things leap onto me, clinging to my body as their bodies are literally carbonized.
"What a disgusting power!" I push this thing that latched onto me away, until I see something metallic inside them.
"Hun?" The metallic thing doesn’t seem to be actually part of their bodies, and it emits a strange glow.
BOOM
The doll explodes from that sphere, and my eyes start to water as the poison hits them. The dolls kick and punch me, but they’re so weak.
"How annoying!" I try to chant a spell, but another doll explodes, releasing a red gas. My whole skin crawls, and a nauseating itch starts to spread across my body.
’You cheating bitch!’ I leap onto the metal structure I create, but the dolls start climbing frantically. Finally, because of the destruction from my attack, I see how many there are.
"!!!"
"What the fuck!!? There are so many! Is this even fair?" I’m already ’bleeding’ magic just from having the Domain active this whole time at this immense size. I can’t fight against this many enemies, even if they’re easy to destroy; my magic will be drained too fast.
"Are you fucking kidding me!! I have to run? From a trick by that failure?" I generate a great eagle made of silver, with a magical release of fire and air to make it fly and be durable. I leap onto it and start to flee, despite my rage.
"..." I look down and get extremely annoyed. The dolls have started piling and clustering crazily, slowly rising like a wave emitting that uncomfortable click.
’How is this possible!!’ I start to climb higher, but soon my head hits the "ceiling." Because of the fusion of Domains, the Domain now has a height and distance limit.
"No way!! How!!" These things climb this high, and they’re fast as fuck!! I accelerate downward, and they all plummet from the sudden change. I use my creation ability to generate an object like binoculars, but enhanced.
"Urgh!!" My curse activates, and when I tried to use the binoculars, it burned one of my eyes. I’m temporarily blind in one eye; fortunately, I can heal it later.
’I need to get rid of these things. I can’t keep wasting magic on this chase!!!’ I try using normal magic this time, and fortunately, because I’m flying fast, I can spot a place with magic exploding.
’Is that... Augustus!!’ I see Augustus and Laplace fighting. At the other end of the Domain, two intense magics are also noticeable; looks like Esther and Lucien are fighting.
’Killing Evelyn would be great revenge for this humiliation, but almost all of us are bleeding magic because of the Domains. We need to take out the ones who have an advantage... that means...’ Lucien has a physical Domain; he probably isn’t spending Hikishin to keep his Domain active.
"Hey, you fucking pests!! Follow those two!" I use magic to accelerate sharply, leaving the dolls a bit behind as I head towards Augustus. I’ll leave these crappy dolls for those two.
"Hey, you two! Present!" I fly right over them, throwing various blades of different elements. The two look at me as I swerve and climb onto another, faster mount, blowing everything up down there to destroy their visibility.
I look back, seeing the dolls are getting close to the two. The new mount is a bat; it’s only two meters long, so it’s smaller and less visible. I continue with it, determined to go help Esther, because Lucien is the biggest threat now.
...
...
...
"Hey Esther, seriously? Attacking me this frantically? Wouldn’t it be better to eliminate Marie?" I question Esther, who’s focusing on me.
"No, Marie is weak. Killing her won’t be a problem. You are the problem with your Domain that doesn’t cost magic after it’s formed." Esther speaks, advancing on me with a red spear. I dodge by a hair and redirect with a sword.
"Come on, Esther, really? Why don’t you go after your crappy wife? That bitch did this!!" That damn woman used her Domain right at the start. My Domain ate almost 40% of all the Hikishin I had, because I forcibly expanded it without preparing.
"Urgh." Esther grazes my throat with her spear. Immediately, a large amount of blood flows, even though the cut is superficial.
"Watch how you refer to my wife. I’m the only one allowed to curse her out." Esther speaks with a cold glare, using a magic that fires several light rays at me. I release a great sonic wave that dissipates her magic.
"Tsk... if that’s how it is, then I’ll just finish you." I say, advancing on her. With a swing of my sword, I activate the relic’s ability, releasing a spatial slash that cuts off Esther’s head.
"!!!" She appears behind me as the "thing" I cut crumbles to the ground. She lands a light cut on my cheek, but the cut immediately turns into a hemorrhage.
’Damn curses.’ Any cut practically creates bleeding from what would be a serious wound, even if it’s just a scratch.
’That must be that [False Death of Shadows] magic.’ I’d heard Esther had that, but seeing it in person is another thing. I could have sworn I’d hit her.
"..." My sword collides with her spear, releasing a great shockwave, as I push, pressing her back.
"...!!?" She throws something at me. The small sphere immediately takes on a blood-red hue and explodes. The explosion releases a totally black, poisonous gas, blinding me.
"..." I use Hikishin as my eyes, detecting the shape of everything around me, even in the dark. I dodge the spear and land a kick to Esther’s face. I flap my wings to fly, but before I can, a slab falls from the sky, slicing my wings off.
"Gaaahh!!" I barely dodge Esther’s strike, seeing it was that damn Marie who attacked me from above, cutting away my aerial advantage.
’Damn it...’ If my Domain were working, this wouldn’t happen, but due to the absurd reduction in effect, nothing from my Domain is active. Not even the ability to force a 1v1, which is the most basic function of a Domain, works.
"2v1? Seriously, Esther? Have you sunk so low?" I ask, using magic to heal my eyes. But the wings are a bigger matter; I don’t have time to heal them, and all the cuts Esther gave me are bleeding too much. I need to stop the bleeding soon.
"Since when does honor matter when what’s at stake is the throne? As soon as you die, everyone can use the basic ability of the Domain. So, Lucien, just die already." She releases a great electrical discharge of black lightning at me.
’I’ve heard black lightning continuously burns the flesh. She really won’t stop using cursed attacks? What a fucking coward.’ I throw my sword upward, knocking Marie off her perch.
"[Giant’s Moon Splitter]" I use a powerful spell, forming an immense white sword with a black glow around it, and then fire it from top to bottom, hitting Marie. Esther opens her magical wings and flies, dodging by a hair as the sword strikes the ground with Marie beneath it.
Marie raises her sword and creates a great axe. She advances on me as I dodge to the side, but I’m hit by Esther in the abdomen. My veins immediately become so dark they’re visible through the skin.
’Curses...’ The worst is Esther. She only attacks with strikes that carry curses. I can’t heal curses without using high-level healing, but high-level healing takes a lot of time, and I don’t know purification, which focuses on removing curses.
"...!" I grab the spear, stopping Esther from pulling it back, and try to strike her, but she vanishes from in front of me, appearing at my back and kicking the butt of the spear, shoving it through me.
The laceration of having it pulled back through instead of going forward tears a deep hole in my belly. I stabilize the organ damage with magic, cauterizing the wound so I don’t die.
"..." I dodge another strike from Marie, being cautious of the two who have teamed up to eliminate me.
’If I can just last a few hours, they’ll get weaker from the Domain’s cost, and they know it... damn... damn... damn, Evelyn.’ Esther would never team up with Marie in any other situation.
Can I really endure a few hours of fighting? Against both of them? Marie would be easy, but Esther with these damn curses is the worst enemy to have to fight in a battle of attrition.
’If I survive, I swear I’ll dismember that damn woman, sell her to a cheap brothel, and make sure she never leaves it again.’ I breathe in short, ragged breaths, trying to think of what to do now, in this situation.