Ebony's Fable

The couple hadn't even taken two steps before Xin looked up.

Ebony was rather surprised to find a tree on this platform that he hadn't seen earlier.

Nor did the Elf sitting on the ten-metre-tall tree register. From his wife's reaction, she didn't know this Elf was here either.

The Elf had been just outside Dusk's current compressed range.

"They have someone good besides the Redwood Banyan after all." His wife leaned in and commented.

"How do you think he's doing this?" Ebony asked.

It was not darkness magic. If it were darkness, Ebony should've sensed the lack of perception within an area. The lack of gravity and vibrations around a sphere would've been as obvious as daylight.

He also doubted a mental type illusion would've gone completely unnoticed by both of them until this close-up.

Ebony can't Mana Discern the Elf and his eyes don't Identify anything. The mana around the Elf was perfectly balanced with the atmosphere without any sort of overflowing leak they could detect.

"These paths do not welcome wandering feet."

He maintained a tight grip on his wife to prevent her from picking a fight. If she zapped away with her lightning elemental movement skill he wouldn't be able to block what she was aiming for in time unless it was him she aimed for.

However, since they were balancing emotions he understood why her desire to fight rose.

The two of them were within Dusk right now. Unless he allowed it, they shouldn't have heard the Elf's voice echo within these 30 metres.

The Elf transmitted his voice with mana strong enough to override Dusk's sonic suppression.

"Space magic." His wife answered.

He nodded in agreement.

It was slightly different from Kong Jing, but this Elf couldn't be Mana Discerned or sensed because he cut himself, plus the tree he was sitting on away from this space. Even after overlapping with Dusk, it was invisible to his senses.

Ebony was rather curious if the Elf was allowing both of them to see him.

"Leave the Dawnweave kid."

The members of the Dawnweave family rushed ahead of Ebony in clear glee at the sudden appearance of support but they kept their mouths shut so no information about who this space magic-using Elf was leaked.

"We made our stance clear." His interpreter replied.

Then both of them felt the same blood rush when the Elf stood and drew his bow.

She knew well enough that if that unassuming arrow left the unknown Elf's bowstring, Ebony wouldn't stop her.

"Stay your hand, Scion of the Luna'Myrr House .This is MY forest."

The Redwood Banyan had roots crawl up this Scion's tiny tree and wrapped around the Elf's ankles at incredible speeds.

"Matriach! You're just going to let him take our child away!?" The Elf who stood before Ebony resembled the frozen Tower Head that he was dragging away.

There was no response for a solid second. Longer than enough for all these Kings and higher to think a thousand other thoughts.

The Redwood Banyan finally moved in response to try to pierce roots from under the wooden platform to grab Slyvarinth Dawnweave but Dusk was a spherical Domain.

It was impressive enough that the roots can pass through the sonic shielding, gravity repulsion and survive the liquid mana's radiative nature to hostiles. More so that the other Domain core almost succeeded in touching the frozen Elf.

Ebony was about to catch the roots that spiked from the platform but the roots swerved around like a snake to avoid his touch.

'That's some impressive speed for a tree.' Now even without his wife's rising desire for a good fight, he was highly interested in a duel as well. He would definitely fail to catch the root if he failed even when he was in Dusk's reach.

Tower Head Slyvarinth floated a bit off the ground. Spine wasn't sent here so he couldn't store the frozen man in a more secure position.

Since the Redwood Banyan made its move, Ebony returned the favour.

Sending mana through Dusk to speed up his cast, he tapped the Domain Core's pointy end on the wooden platform and sent Sequester through at his maximum mana channelling speed.

The Redwood Banyan showed off its reaction speed once more and cut off Dawnweave family home's platform to disconnect any physical contact and prevent Ebony from punching any mana into its main body.

Dawnweaves' shock aside, their house didn't drop.

Dusk held it up and gravitated themself towards the trunk of the Redwood Banyan.

The Redwood Banyan and the Elves who were constantly strengthening their Domain was not used to the situation where a smaller Domain was within their own and was free from their influence.

Thorn Warden and the other Kings who surrounded Xin earlier jumped around catching the servants and weaker family members of the Dawnweave family but these people were already encased in Ebony's mana since they were under Dusk's range.

"Can't underestimate these old folks," Ebony warned his wife.

Despite their weak auras, Ebony found that every single King here had a mana skin skill trained so well that they could enter Dusk without too much harm.

Cutting through the outer layer of sonic and gravitational repulsion and wasn't greatly affected by the passive magnified gravity.

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'Should I increase passive magnified gravity?' Ebony considered doing so but it was a waste of resting mana consumption of his Domain.

Instead he actively strengthened the spell and forced all but the Thorn Warden to their hands and knees.

Ebony continued to study their mana skin skill, which was far superior to any mana skin skill he saw amongst the Imperials.

Regardless of their skill tiers, levels and any compounding Fortifications Ebony was mildly amused that these Elves were not as defenceless in close range as he'd imagined.

He raised a finger and had Dusk vomit out more mana even at the cost of mana leaking out of their Domain range.

Thorn Warden was stunned on the spot. The mental lapse when hit by the overwhelming force of overflowing Wisdom was enough for him to take advantage of the weakened mana skin.

The suppressed Kings were forcefully gathered into a lump. All tied together by icy wires. Ebony kept the Thorn Warden in the centre, squeezed by his weaker breathens so he couldn't move too forcefully unless he was determined to hurt his people.

"Your retainers are utterly foolish, Lady of the Mossgrove House." The Scion of the Luna'Myrr House ridiculed the Elves who willingly jumped out of their Domain and into Ebony's.

Anyone with a brain should know better, much less these mage-focused Elves.

Ebony gently pushed out the innocent Dawnweave members and servants before the tied-up Kings were pushed back into the Redwood Banyan's influence again.

He led his wife out of the Elven Domain step by step.

Slapping away the Redwood Banyan's continued root rescue attempts to take Slyvarinth Dawnweave away as they slowly walked further away from the core of the Elven settlement.

While the mana right outside Dusk was in constant disturbance, either the Redwood Banyan or the Matriarch was stopping anyone from casting a direct spell at them. They limit their aggression to take Slyvarinth Dawnweave away and not attack him.

Dusk's bubble expanded the moment they crossed the edge of the Elven Domain and it quickly returned to its original size.

That was good data for future overlapping of Domains.

"Scion. I know you're there." Xin had a head full of red hair. "My turn." She called dibs.

"Mmm." Ebony let her take it.

They were no longer within the Matriarch - Lady of the Mossgrove House's Domain. This Elf seemed not to care and watching them closely ever since.

Now that they were outside, he had no reason to follow Mossgrove's rules.

"Hahaha. What arrogant youngsters. I'll bring that whelp back after rooting weeds like you out."

Xin blasted into a bundle of flames with large holes.

Ebony found an arrow stuck in his shoulder, thigh and under his rib.

The one who called dibs on the fight had already flown to chase the arche,r and Ebony calmly studied what just hit both of them.

'Spatially transported arrows…this mana purity. He's only a King.' There was no piercing of skin or muscle. The arrow just popped in between his muscles.

Fun.

Thanks to his magic body and perception, he felt it coming at the last moment and physically shifted his muscles apart so he wasn't hurt but this was a very interesting magic arrow spell.

"Transmutation? Ha! Still got one of you." The Scion wasn't about to let anyone get close and personal so easily. He was a rather talkative one.

Xin's speed and lightning element might have caught him off guard but the Elf who was still sitting on his tree wasn't moving. He just wasn't getting any closer to his attacker.

'His arrows are so accurate even within Dusk. That tree he's sitting on is not a Domain, but these arrows have Will-infused space mana.' Ebony shook his head in disappointment.

It looks like his Will and spatial control that he tried to give Dusk were far from perfect.

It was one thing to send an attack into Dusk from outside and still be so accurate. It was another to be uninterrupted by his magic body. He still didn't know how the arrow could be placed directly where his body was.

As they were both Kings and his magic body was pretty much unsurpassed on this planet, it should be impossible to just spawn an arrow inside his body. Even space magic can't do that.

Suddenly, he felt a strong sense of disdain as their arrogance and calm dropped.

His wife just emotionally balanced all three of them together. It was a mistake that she was desperately changing on the spot.

Guess her control over this skill of hers is still elementary.

"I see. That's smart…" Ebony finally found his answer. The arrow itself was actually a twig or branch of the tree that Luna'Myrr sits on.

A living creature, a fresh twig arrow, also had a magic body. This allows it to slip through the defences of the magic body with the living arrow's magic body. Similarly to the overlapping of magic bodies when one physically contacts another living creature.

He heard some chatter from Luna'Myrr mocking Xin's chase attempt and persuading her from trying or he would kill Ebony. The talkative one claimed that Ebony was just a target board for him.

Xin was in constant half-transmuted form as Luna'Myrr didn't stop putting arrows where her body was.

'No wonder I have more arrows in my body now', Ebony found a few dozen more arrows across his body after he finished studying the attack in his trance. Since his wire-like muscles were shifting aside themselves and he Oscillated a few millimetres away to prevent any bones from being hit, he essentially didn't take damage.

He tightened his muscles and snapped every arrow before ejecting the wooden fragments out without using any mana.

Xin smiled when Luna'Myrr finally shut up in shock.

"You monsters…" Sadly, the silence didn't last long.

"No matter. Both of you have been exposed to Noxa Manchineel's gas for the past half an hour. You'd be dead soon enough." Luna'Myrr laughed out loud in the safety of his space magic spell that kept him far away from both of them, despite looking as if he was sitting right ahead of them.

Ebony looked at the arrow fragments in his hands. 'Isn't that a toxic tree?' It was a tree species he was familiar with, but not this exact one.

He cocked his head, not feeling any skin burns. Even the muscles within his body that snapped the arrow didn't feel any poison.

Mana Discern couldn't sense anything odd either.

As for his wife, even Luna'Myrr seemed unsure. He didn't expect a human who could completely transmute their body. Depending on the poison delivery method, if it doesn't directly attack life force and mana his wife was probably safe from the poison Luna'Myrr tried to deliver.

Too bad his wife already disconnected the emotional balancing from the Luna'Myrr so he didn't know what the Elf was feeling.

Unexpectedly, he got to see his wife casting lightning magic. Summoning lightning down from the skies instead of her fingertips.

She tried to use lightning's normal speed to reach the Scion since she couldn't physically reach him in a short time.

Luna'Myrr's skill wasn't unlimited distance and neither was it constantly expanding space.

The lightning strike actually hit the ground and the black burn mark on the earth could be seen.

He could be reached.

That information had Xin double her efforts.

Luna'Myrr's increasing arrow shots proved that he was getting nervous as his space spell probably isn't all that mobile.

Ebony guessed that the mental capacity needed for this spell was huge and not something he could cast within a second or two.

Invisible poisons. He stared at the exploding arrows in the distance.

Xin was avoiding pockets of space during her flight, suggesting to him that there were spatial traps the Elf placed in advance.

While there was no Domain, the Elf was still capable of Will manipulation and infusion so this area of effect space spell might be strengthening him in some manner.

"STOP! I'll ACTIVATE ALL THE POISON IN THAT MAN'S BLOODSTREAM!" Luna'Myrr screamed when Xin's conjured fire lance was about to reach his neck.