Chapter 238: Clash Of Domains
Ivy sat outside Cornelia’s office, her gaze fixed on the closed door as unease crept deeper with every passing second. The secretary had already returned to work, acting normal, but the silence inside felt wrong. Was Remedy able to convince her? The thought looped, tightening the tension in her chest.
The air in the waiting room suddenly warped, rippling like disturbed water, and Cornelia appeared without warning. She hadn’t used the door. That alone spoke volumes. In her arms, Remedy hung limply, her skin drained of color, her body frighteningly still except for faint, fragile breaths.
Ivy shot to her feet instantly, all hesitation gone, and rushed toward them. "What happened to her?" she demanded, her voice sharp with urgency. Cornelia didn’t react to the tone. She had seen enough already to know Ivy wasn’t a stranger to this situation.
"She helped me upgrade my domain," Cornelia said quickly, her grip tightening around Remedy as if she might slip away. "But right after that... she collapsed like this." Her eyes locked onto Ivy’s. "Do you know what’s wrong with her?"
Ivy’s expression shifted the moment she heard it, her eyes widening as realization struck. She gave a firm nod, already moving closer to examine Remedy’s condition. "I might," she said, her voice steady despite the urgency building underneath. "But if we want to save her..." She looked up sharply. "We need access to Orion. Now."
Ivy didn’t hesitate. The moment Cornelia asked, the answer was already there, locked in her memory. Remedy had prepared for this, of course she had. She always did. Every plan had layers, and every layer had a fallback.
Ivy remembered the exact words clearly.
If I ever collapse after assisting the Manager, follow the plan without delay. Don’t panic. Act.
That was Remedy’s way, it was precise, leaving nothing to chance. And now, Ivy would follow through.
Cornelia tightened her hold around Remedy, her expression tense but focused. There was no time for questions, no room for doubt. The urgency in Ivy’s voice had already made the situation clear. Whatever this was, it was serious.
Off to the side, the secretary could only watch, completely lost. Her boss, usually calm and unreadable, was showing visible concern for someone they had just met. It didn’t make sense. None of this did.
Before she could even process another thought, the air twisted.
Cornelia, Ivy, and Remedy vanished instantly, leaving nothing behind but a faint disturbance. The secretary blinked, frozen in place, unsure if she had imagined everything that just happened.
The next moment, the three of them reappeared in front of a massive steel door. The air here felt colder, heavier. The walls were reinforced, the atmosphere quiet in a way that made it clear this place mattered.
Cornelia stepped forward immediately. "I can’t teleport us any further than this," she said quickly, already placing her hands against the door. "So we have to move fast."
With a sharp push, the heavy metal door groaned open.
Ivy barely glanced around, but she didn’t need to. She already knew where they were. Deep underground, far from the surface. This was where Orion was kept.
Cornelia didn’t slow down. Gripping both Ivy and Remedy, she surged forward, her speed cutting through the dim corridor ahead. The path sloped downward, leading deeper into the facility.
The corridor sloped deeper into the facility as Cornelia surged forward, still carrying Remedy’s fragile body. The cold air pressed in from all sides, heavy and suffocating, but Ivy’s focus didn’t waver. Every second mattered now.
Far away, in Deadman’s Valley, the battlefield had already shifted.
Conquest stood tall at the center of the ruined land, its presence steady and overwhelming. The damage from before had vanished completely. Beside it, Famine and War remained silent, their gazes locked onto Adam like predators waiting for movement.
Adam didn’t hesitate.
"Asura’s Domain," he muttered under his breath.
A massive figure manifested behind him instantly, his supreme spirit erupting into existence with terrifying clarity. The air distorted as a wave of death energy surged outward, spreading across the rift like a tidal force with unstoppable momentum.
The moment it expanded, it collided head-on with the death affinity pouring from the rift itself.
The clash was immediate and violent.
Adam stood at the center, unmoving, his expression calm despite the pressure pressing in from all directions. Asura’s Domain wasn’t just a technique anymore. It had evolved far beyond its original limits.
At its core, it had been built from his initial fifty-four thousand enlightenment. That alone had been enough to form a supreme technique. But Adam hadn’t stopped there. He had continued refining it relentlessly.
The sixty-three manuals currently circulating in the market had changed everything.
Each one he sold fed him more enlightenment, and he reinvested it all without hesitation. What started as a powerful technique had been pushed further and further, breaking past its natural ceiling through sheer accumulation and refinement.
Now, the total enhancement had reached four hundred thousand enlightenment.
If others knew Adam considered a supreme technique "average," they might have collapsed from shock. But Adam didn’t care about comparisons. He only cared about results, and right now, his Domain was proving its worth.
The death energy around him surged again, stronger this time, forcing the rift’s influence to push back.
The two forces ground against each other, neither giving way easily.
Adam exhaled slowly, feeling the strain ripple through his body as he maintained control. Normally, this level of enlightenment would have already pushed him into the Lord rank. Anyone else would have advanced without hesitation.
But Adam’s path became fundamentally different the moment he defied the rules. In fact, the mere ability to accumulate 400,000 existence was reason enough for his path to be unique.
His eyes sharpened as the Domain expanded further, pressing outward inch by inch against the rift’s resistance. The battlefield trembled under the pressure, cracks spreading through the ground as the balance began to shift.
This wasn’t just a clash of power anymore.
It was a direct confrontation between two domains.
And Adam had no intention of losing.