Ebony's Fable

"What to do…" Ebony held the plum in his hands and stood there confused.

Surrounding him was a bunch of people, demons mostly. They were prostrating themselves, and he wasn't using any gravity magic on them. They wouldn't speak, and any movements from him spooked them so badly that it felt like they were about to break their bodies from how hard they were trembling.

The non-demon's weapons of choice seemed to lean towards guns. These dealt the most devastating damage to his ice sculptures, but their users were also the easiest to handle.

Ebony pat one of the highest level Demons on the shoulder, spooking them further. "How do you suppose I can make this invasion stop?"

"E-Ecstasy Lord is the only one who received Soul Lord Hollow's directives as he was the nearest…. there are a few others that aren't under him but took the general operation to offer souls for rewards. Following an expedition such as this is safer, so they tagged along, but they aren't under any orders."

"Who's the strongest member attacking?"

The Demons slowly pointed at the Dullahan's body with shaky fingers. There were no more green fires on his neck, but the sword was still aflame.

"That can't be right. Don't your…religion boost soul strength by offering souls? He popped like a balloon, and I don't use soul magic. There must be stronger." Ebony used essence to indirectly cause soul damage.

The incessant head shaking disappointed him. It seemed like he couldn't get information from them.

"Tell me about the armour user, the one using multiple sets of armour. Has an anti-divination stealth suit, a heat and mana resistance armour, possibly more."

"Do-do you mean Molstein the Manifold Chassis Sovereign? I-I heard he left after reporting that the high-quality soul is Frost Elven and not to be messed with."

They talked about all they knew about Molstein.

It should be the same person.

'Molstein.' Ebony committed the name to memory.

At the very least….a tinge of hope rose that Molstein wouldn't pop like Ecstasy Lord. Then again, Molstein was lined up for a different attack.

"Sophia. Look up Molstein the Manifold Chassis Sovereign." Ebony sent that message through Eidolon.

"What about the Soul Puppets?" He continued after sending the message.

"Puppets? Ah, they are not under our control. They follow Her Grace's Will and only hers."

Having an easier time than with Oplot, Ebony decided that he should do an Aura check before having any battle mindset in future. If his opponents can't even imagine beating him in their simulations, it did not bode well to blend into combat. He even edited the simulations not to carry all his skills, only pure martial arts and no magic. That matched with Martial Aura and was the most Will-efficient.

There was one obvious advantage of his style of applying aura. These simulations made it seem like a one-on-one fight to the individual, even though they are all together.

The drawback seemed to be that their individual mental strength could break them free from this stunned effect, not unlike how anyone can free themselves from the effects of an overflowing essence. Amongst these first targets, it ranged from 24 seconds to over 3 minutes. The fastest one to break free was a mage, perhaps mages had advantages, or this individual had training against this type of mental influence.

The sweat-drenched people also showed Ebony that under the effects of his martial and simulative aura, their stamina and mental endurance are drained significantly.

'The effects of overflowing Endurance are finally showing significant use.' His opponents would exhaust themselves before even breaking free to fight him.

His motivation to find Molstein increased. At this rate, he would really not have anyone to spar with. The more he figured out his new abilities, the less likely he was to have hopes for a good whetstone to sharpen himself against. And he hasn't even figured out how the trait he splurged his Potential on even worked.

Ebony doubled down on the Will he spent to increase the number of Scout Pigeons. He even found a portal to another Worldcore already. It was a low mana density area, very low. It was likely an Epic or lower quality Worldcore.

'Do I really need to hunt this guy down before Xin evolves.' He had been working under the assumption that Molstein was in Lacuna Expanse and in one of the camps offering souls to a statue, but might not be the case. If he'd already retreated, it would be a waste of time to wait and hunting him down might take forever. The man had anti-divination, he might have used other forms of travel instead of physical movement.

An individual not following orders that had good stealth and anti-divination was both a hassle and a challenge to hunt down.

"Auntie Ning." Ebony looked for the most efficient method. He imagined her mask while speaking aloud, relatively assured that she could hear him without calling her through Eidolon. The all powerful Saintess could probably get ahold of Xin's grandmother or other divination mages better than he could.

"I'm a little bu---enough bombarding me with cat images." The calm voice turned cold and dry.

"Sorry, what?" To say he was confused was an understatement.

"Hmm, nothing to worry about. Speak."

"Someone stabbed your descendant a while back, I want to know if he's still in this Sector."

"My descendant knows, don't waste my time. I see, okay. Don't let your wife use Her Blood till we get back. 2 days tops." The mental connection cut off.

Peeved, Ebony went back to his Domain. Before he did, he turned and faced the demons "Leave."

The Mares were the first to do so. Sadly. He had hoped they would stay but they were the ones who feared him the most.

His masked wife hadn't moved an inch from his Domain and faced his return.

"You know where he is?"

"Who?"

"Armoured guy, Molstein is his name."

"I don't."

"Is there another Ning Clan member around here?" Ebony let his voice out of his Domain. "Call your grandmother."

"You're being impatient."

"Mmm."

"What about the Ectasy Lord?"

"Buried. I have his sword." Ebony didn't bring the sword into his bracelet, just in case it hurt the hibernating spirit of his old prison chains now part of his myraid bracelet. The green flames kinda tickled him the entire time he was holding it.

His wife just put out her hands the moment he said sword and he handed it to her without any reservation. He could sense her smile under that mask of hers, the moment the green flames tried to latch onto her soul.

Her Intent exploded into the sword. It looked like the sword actually resisted. Its green flames spurted harder in response.

Ebony called Xin's grandmother. She didn't pick up.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

He sent a one-word message. "Location."

When he saw his Wife engrossed in a sword spirit fight, he smiled.

He got the location in the form of coordinates relative to him as a landmark within moments.

More than half of his Scout Pigeons disintegrate, retrieving his Will.

'Right under our noses.' Anti-divination be damned, he simply needed to ask the right person.

Ebony packed Dusk and Spine up, ready to move.

Back to Elcra it was.

"Going home?" Xin asked. She playfully swung the broadsword, much larger than her own and found that she didn't like the feel of it.

She still kept the sword.

"Mmm."

"Are you hiding something from me?"

"Mmm. You'll find out once we get home."

Dusk sat inside of Spine and unrooted itself form the floor. Their Domain's reach shrank to the size of Spine. The icy mountains all melted into Dusk as mana stores. They lost about 4% of the mana by moving it in and out.

The surveillance of the Elves didn't bother him when he went back through, and he wasn't under any obligations to tell them that the Ectasy Lord was dead.

Going back home on Xin's hoverbike, her crimson hair was the answer that she knew something was up. He tried to think of a way to get her out of combat mode. Her turn was over as far as he was concerned.

"I'll get mad if you don't bring me along."

"…Fine, get across Bubble Hills and stop before Arcta."

They didn't take long to get near their home with her bike's speed.

"This place, the hidden Nebulian village was around this area, right?"

"Mmm. I can sense it fully now," Ebony replied honestly.

"Why are we here?"

"Molstein found them. He is planning to submit them for bounty. He must have decided that this is worth more than my soul." Ebony did not expect Molstein to hop from one money-making opportunity to another.

To think he was on a chase with the Frost Evles and Xin, then found the hidden Nebulians who are wanted across the universe. Their bounties were extremely high.

"Hmph my husband's more attractive than these wanted Nebulian's. He's arrogant and dumb."

"Do you want me to be hunted down?" Ah, he succeeded in intonation.

"That's not what I meant!" It was a rare sight to find her flustered nowadays.

"This is perfect." Two problems in one location, the potential efficiency tickled his brain more than Ecstasy Lord's magic.

Ebony stood where Xin said there was a layer of mist that he couldn't see while she could. He was looking directly at the village.

"Let me try." His wife drew her sword and poked into the mist.

Her sword took a second before it 'sliced' the mist without letting it rejoin like the gas it was.

It worked, and she could see past the mist barrier after slicing a path open.

"How long would this last?" He nodded at her new application of Intent, slicing apart spells.

"If no one fixes it, I think till the mana supporting the spell runs out." Xin replied with half-assurance. There were too many variables when magic was at play.

Ebony being able to see them was undetectable. Their illusion spell getting sliced open did not slide. Yet the Nebulians weren't in the position to care. Not when every single one of them was locked in an exoskeleton made of metal pieces.

2 Emperor Mandate users were here, 2 out of 3 that chased him to Tidal back then. The third was still not showing himself, or was already dead somewhere.

Ebony's presence was known to the 3 Emperors in combat, but the couple were ignored the moment they looked over.

'The Mandate is used to push back this foreign Will. Molstein's Will. A Domain Mage... no, a Domain Engineer. High-powered lasers. Miniature warp missiles to send dangerous spells away. Modular armour for different situations. Top speed, power, perception. Calculation powers of an armour spirit, artificial intelligence.'

The Mandate users couldn't protect their people; they had their minds full just protecting themselves. Molstein, on the other hand had dozens of flying armours acting as humanoid robots suppressing everyone else. Their Mandates were useless against his Domain.

This was no fresh Domain. It was more stable than a rock under a waterfall. The Will supporting them was at least over a hundred years old.

'Is his Domain also mobile. No, it's attached to these metal alloys. His Will is imbued in his armour.' There was no way he could have made such a stable Domain in just weeks. It must have been brought over.

It was wholly possible, Dusk was one example. Budding Domains were like that. It was different once matured.

Excluding instant casting on the spot. These 'domain' casts would be a huge boost, but nothing compared to a properly grown Domain.

"He doesn't look injured to me." Ebony didn't even bother silencing his voice, but it would be impressive if they could hear him over the noise of their battle.

"I don't know how. My spell is still stuck on him. Some potion effect?" Xin replied with some uncertainty. She was confident her blood spell should be in effect yet, they weren't seeing an injured man.

Her blood spell or ritual was new. It wasn't out of the question for a simple potion to suppress its effects inside another body.

Ebony scanned the battlefield. There were almost a hundred sets of armour moving about. They looked more like full suits with people inside. Not quite armour, more so a power suit. An engineering marvel.

There were tiny ones for humans, a dozen giant ones that could easily fit a troll inside. All were humanoid, but some had more than 2 arms with additional appendages. Many of the sleek power suits were made of unpainted, white-grey alloy, but various other suits had different colours of different metals. All unpainted, but engraved with a symbol.

Most of them were standing by. They didn't need many of them to suppress those under Grandmaster, and there were even Unclassed who were just being hung and baked in mist. The Nebulian children were undergoing some form of Physique refinement as far as he recalled.

'That's quite a few power suit sets for different situations, there's even a gravity repelling one….'

"Can you be good and stay still?" Ebony held his wife's shoulders down.

"You're really trying to piss me off after your evolution. Why shoul--"

Ebony had already congregated his Will. Landing a kiss, he stunned her successfully. Then, she was Preserved in coreflame while her energies were stunned by his sudden action.

Embodiment of Sequester ran ablaze in his body. He imposed an intensive Sequester at the cost of more Will. He'd long found out that these coreflames were channelled with Will and he could intensify their effects as much as he had Will.

He sensed their slight alert when they noticed that he had suddenly disappeared. That wouldn't slip his notice.

He had about 14 seconds before his Will couldn't keep up with his expenditure.

Taking his own sweet time, Ebony conjured the threads and coiled them into a small circular base.

The cables extended and coiled around into a cylinder that continued getting longer. Till it was taller than he was, almost 3 metres long. Then, he generated a sharpened turtle scale for the tip.

Despite losing his lungs, he exhaled a cold breath through his nose and the corners of his mouth.

A casual swing of the conjured spear made him feel….at ease.

Ebony grabbed the spear and gave it a twist of his wrist.

This one doesn't break.

"Just this once, mother. Don't be too disappointed in my spearmanship." No resting stance this time. He spread his legs wide apart for a wider than shoulder-length horse stance.

The secondary Spine in the form of a spear readied itself across him.

His right hand held the base of the spear while his left gripped as far forward to the speartip as he could. He gave his right fist a twirl and the spear circled like a flexible bamboo pole.

Watching the Nebulian's every defensive Mandate and Molstein's every move, Dusk manoeuvred Spine accordingly. Adjusting itself behind Molstein as much as possible

Without any heads-up, the balls of his feet shifted at the same time as his wrist. His right leg and hand moved ahead of his left. The distance of a few kilometres is shortened to zero.

The spear tip pierced through the power suit and crushed into Spine. This Spine was quite a bit weaker from the original, and his spear got stuck deep.

Ebony didn't even care to see how Molstein was confused. He still couldn't figure out that there was an assaulter.

Before his confusion even sank in, Ebony's palm strike shattered his helmet all over Spine's trunk. Once again, Spine cracked because it wasn't as durable as the original.

Dusk helped to push the spear out from Spine by ice manipulation.

It was too late for Ebony to swing Molstein around while he was impaled. Regardless of whether Molstein could or could not see him, his armour and self-preservation already kicked in.

Molten alloy was conjured or taken out of his bracelet to snap the ice spear. It broke the spear so easily, it was rather concerning….if Ebony hadn't already let go of it.

Clamping the bearded face that probably did a little damage with how hard he smacked, Sequester slowly faded away before even half his time limit. Ebony was revealed from his stealth.

Resolve Cadence kicked in….and Soul Basillisk's Pseudo Imitation Roar flooded into Molstein.

The kill came in almost instantly. Numerous times faster than Ectasy Lord. Perhaps the soul enhancement did make a difference.

Ebony dissolved the broken spear.