Inside one of the large, hidden warehouses, the space was choked with dark, tentacle-like growths crawling along the walls and ceiling.
Between them hung rows of cocoons, suspended and gently twitching, as if something inside was struggling to breathe.
The cocoons began to convulse.
One by one, hands tore through the hardened layers. The shells split open, peeling apart as the restraints failed. As each cocoon ruptured, the same figure stepped out—calm, composed, wearing the same unsettling smile.
Again.
And again.
Dozens of identical bodies emerged, all turning forward at once.
"Finally," they said together, their voices perfectly synchronized.
"My perfect body is complete. Now I can finally put an end to that resistance… and consume him."
The smiles widened in unison.
***
They hovered above the island, gazes fixed downward, confidence clear—as though the island's fate was already sealed.
A voice spoke from behind them.
"That smile's just as ugly as the last one," Luke said calmly. "New appearance, same problem."
Every head turned at once.
Luke stood there with Esdeath beside him, relaxed and almost amused, while Jean lingered just behind, eyes sharp and wary.
A low, distorted laugh rippled through the figures.
"Hehehe… three new prey," they said in unison, their gazes crawling over the three of them. "I really want them."
Luke smiled back—slow, deliberate.
"Well," he said, "let's see who dies."
He snapped his fingers.
Reality folded.
The sea vanished.
The island unraveled like a discarded illusion.
In its place, towering volcanoes clawed their way upward, rivers of molten fire cutting through blackened stone. Lightning tore across the air in violent arcs, thunder rolling without pause. There was no sky—only an endless, distorted reflection of their own spiritual consciousness staring back at them.
The spiritual world.
"I should thank you," Luke said evenly. "Blocking some of my powers forced me to realize something."
He raised his hand, gesturing to the warped horizon around them.
"I was never limited. I just hadn't pushed far enough."
His finger lifted, pointing upward.
"This is the result—a world where your spiritual sense is sealed."
'Tempest Inferno Domain'
The confidence on their faces finally cracked.
"No one enters this place without my notice," Luke continued, his voice steady, absolute. "And once you're here…"
His gaze locked onto them, sharp and merciless.
"No one escapes."
Lightning roared overhead. The ground shuddered beneath their feet, responding to his presence alone.
Luke stepped forward.
"Today," he said calmly, "you don't run."
His smile hardened into something final.
"You die here."
"Hehe… impressive," Shadow King said, amusement rippling through all of his bodies at once. "But maintaining something like this consumes an absurd amount of energy. How long do you think you can hold it?"
Luke didn't even hesitate.
"Oh, you don't need to worry about that," he replied calmly. "I can hold this forever."
It was true. Maintaining the domain chewed through mental power and mana at a ridiculous rate—but Luke had more of both than he knew what to do with. For him, this wasn't a countdown.
It was a lock.
The Shadow King's smiles thinned.
Then his bodies moved.
One twisted violently, flesh folding in on itself as it morphed into a towering mass of muscle and claws. Another swelled grotesquely, bones cracking as it expanded. Others reshaped entirely—jagged limbs, warped forms, monstrous silhouettes tearing themselves free of human shape.
Multiple forms. Multiple angles. No hesitation.
They attacked as one.
The air screamed as they surged toward Luke, Esdeath, and Jean—an overwhelming rush of violence unleashed all at once.
"Only one warning," Luke said. "Don't get touched. Go all out."
They didn't hesitate.
Jean didn't dodge.
The first body reached her and simply stopped—its momentum ripped away as invisible force crushed it flat, folding metal, bone, and flesh into a compact mass. Phoenix fire flared behind her eyes as she flicked her wrist and hurled it through two more rushing forms, tearing them apart mid-air.
They tried to push back.
Bad choice.
Heat rolled outward from Jean, not wild, not explosive—controlled. The ground beneath the Shadow King's bodies began to glow, then burn, Phoenix energy searing through anything that lingered too close. One shape tried to reach into her mind.
It didn't get the chance.
The presence was incinerated—not the body, but the thought behind it.
Esdeath met her side of the charge head-on.
Ice spread instantly, not creeping but snapping into existence. One creature lunged—frozen solid mid-motion. Another grew larger, trying to overpower her.
Esdeath smiled and dropped the temperature further.
The air cracked.
Both bodies shattered at once, fragments scattering across the ground like glass. More rushed in, and she moved through them smoothly, freezing, breaking, advancing without pause.
Luke watched the flow shift.
They were learning. Adjusting. Redirecting away from Jean's fire, away from Esdeath's killing zone—trying to funnel toward him instead.
Luke stepped forward once.
The space in front of him collapsed.
Three bodies slammed into an invisible wall and crushed inward, compressed until they tore themselves free in new, twisted forms.
*****
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