Chapter 449: Battle in the Domain
Almost simultaneously, the Black-Robed Figure swept their left hand outward. A pitch-black, crescent-shaped arc of sword energy—condensed to a terrifying density—tore through the air. It shrieked directly toward Dan Heng, who had been lingering on the flank, waiting for the perfect opening to strike.
Dan Heng's pupils constricted. His grip tightened on Cloud-Piercer. With a swift, fluid thrust, he drove the spear forward, the razor-sharp tip accurately piercing the dead center of the incoming crescent arc in a desperate bid to shatter it.
The dark energy, however, was exceptionally dense. Though Cloud-Piercer managed to hinder its momentum, the resulting kinetic shockwave violently exploded outward. The sheer force dragged Dan Heng backward, his boots skidding across the stone floor for several steps before he could stabilize himself, his breathing hitching into a ragged rhythm.
Having shattered the joint containment of Stelle and Dan Heng in a single, devastating move, the Black-Robed Figure refused to yield a single second of respite. Their now-free left hand reached out, grasping the strange, crescent-moon ritual sword that had remained dormant until now. The twin blades—one wreathed in black flames, the other a curved ritualistic relic—formed an eerie, lethal contrast in their grip.
Then, under the shocked gazes of the Trailblazers, the figure executed a baffling maneuver. They gently lifted the crescent ritual sword, aligning its ancient, black sun-like pommel directly with the hilt of the black-flame longsword. With a deliberate, heavy thrust, they slammed the two hilts together.
Clang—!
A deafening metallic ring echoed through the hall. From the exact point of contact between the twin swords, a violent shockwave of black ripples erupted outward. The distortion warped the very light in the room, bending the air into unnatural shapes. Directly behind the cloaked assailant, the previously empty space violently collapsed inward. A miniature black hole tore into existence out of thin air—an infinitely deep void that greedily devoured all ambient light and sound.
"Move!" Dan Heng barked sharply. Every instinct screamed of lethal danger. He pivoted, desperate to rush toward March, who was still deeply concentrated on charging her energy.
But time had already run out.
The moment the miniature singularity stabilized, it began to expand at a terrifying, exponential rate. The gravitational pull became an absolute force. Stelle, Dan Heng, and March were instantly swept off their feet, their bodies uncontrollably dragged into the crushing embrace of the event horizon, swallowed entirely by the abyss.
When the sensation of solid ground finally returned to their boots, the trio quickly realized they had been torn away from the solemn, dilapidated ruins of the Throne of Enlightenment.
They now stood in an indescribably eerie dimension. Beneath their feet stretched a dark gray plane, smooth as polished glass yet entirely devoid of reflections. It extended infinitely in every direction, eventually bleeding into a hazy, suffocating darkness.
Hovering above them was a colossal, twisted phantom of a Möbius strip. Emitting a cold, metallic glow, the impossible geometric shape surrounded the three Trailblazers like a cosmic cage. It rotated with agonizing slowness, exuding an oppressive aura of endless confinement and inescapable cycles.
"This is... the end."
The Black-Robed Figure's voice drifted from the shadows ahead. It remained as glacial as before, but within this isolated Domain, the words carried a heavy, spatial echo. The distorted acoustics magnified the sheer majesty and crushing oppression of their presence.
Refusing to grant the trio even a fraction of a second to adapt or formulate a plan, the enemy initiated their assault.
As the colossal Möbius strip rotated, the surrounding light and shadow began to violently warp. One after another, identical Black-Robed Figures materialized from the ether. They solidified silently, rising from the mirror-like floor as if breaching the surface of a dark lake, completely encircling the Trailblazers.
In the next heartbeat, the clones moved in perfect, lethal synchronization. There were no complex martial arts forms, no battle cries—just the brutal, synchronized swinging of their shadow swords, all aimed directly at the three companions trapped in the center.
Slash!
Dan Heng and Stelle instantly shifted into a defensive formation. Standing back-to-back, they divided the perimeter between them, forming a physical barricade to protect March, who remained in the center.
"Hah!" Stelle's golden eyes narrowed into sharp slits. Gripping her Lance of the Preservation, she swung her arms in wide, sweeping arcs. Scorching trails of fire painted the air, drawing blazing circles that violently shattered or deflected the dozen shadow beams hurtling toward her front. The howling wind generated by her heavy swings roared like a burning, impenetrable shield.
On the opposite side, Dan Heng's Cloud-Piercer danced into a blinding blur of cyan light. The spear tip flashed like a constellation of cold, unforgiving stars. With surgical precision, he pierced the weakest structural point of every incoming shadow blade. By breaking their surface tension with a single, concentrated strike, he detonated the dark energy in mid-air with terrifying efficiency.
Occasionally, a stray beam would slip through his relentless flurry of thrusts, striking the Jadeite Shield he constantly maintained around himself. Yet, the impacts only stirred up faint, glowing ripples across the barrier, failing to shake his defense in the slightest.
Fortunately, the clones seemed to operate on a single-use mechanism. The moment their swords completed their arcs, their shadowy forms rapidly faded, dissolving back into the oppressive grayness of the Domain.
However, this was merely the opening gambit—a brief prelude to the true pressure the Black-Robed Figure was about to unleash.
Before the kinetic aftermath of the shattered sword beams could even settle, the true body of the assailant, hovering in the void, made their move. They raised the strange, fused longsword high above their head with both hands. The dark aura surrounding them began to climb and condense at a truly terrifying velocity.
The entire Domain began to violently tremble. Endless streams of chaotic energy surged from all directions, funneling directly into the raised blade. The weapon transformed into a bottomless singularity, greedily devouring every ounce of light and ambient power in the vicinity. The blade itself began to rapidly expand and deform, swelling into a colossal, apocalyptic greatsword.
Slash—!
"Block it!" Stelle roared, her voice tearing through the deafening hum of the Domain. Blinding golden light erupted from her eyes as her faith in the Path of Preservation burned to its absolute apex.
She gripped her Lance tightly with both hands, hoisting the heavy shaft horizontally above her head. Scorching, magma-like flames violently erupted from the metal like a volcanic geyser, weaving together to form a massive, solid barrier of fire above them.
Dan Heng immediately stepped into the vanguard beside her. He mirrored her stance, holding Cloud-Piercer horizontally, pressing the cold metal of his spear directly against the burning shaft of Stelle's Lance. Roaring cyan dragon shadows and violent windstorms spiraled outward, smoothly merging with the blazing barrier to forge an intertwined, impenetrable defense of wind and fire.
Pressing their shoulders together to anchor their footing, the two Trailblazers unleashed a unified, deafening roar.
"Hah—!!!"
BOOM—!!!
An apocalyptic explosion of sound violently shook the foundation of the Domain. The scorching flames and razor-sharp windstorms clashed frantically against the descending dark blade, aggressively corroding and grinding away at the shadows. Yet, the sheer, infinite mass carried by the colossal sword pressed down upon Stelle and Dan Heng like a collapsing mountain, threatening to crush their bones into dust.
Just as the two opposing forces locked into a desperate, grinding stalemate—
Behind them, March, who had been fiercely guarded by her companions, finally completed the absolute zenith of her energy accumulation.
The raging vortex of ice and snow that had previously surrounded her had long since subsided into eerie stillness. Every ounce of her power, her unyielding will, and her deep, unwavering desire to protect her found family had been restrained, hyper-compressed, and poured entirely into the gleaming white blade of Sode no Shirayuki.
Delicate, falling snowflakes condensed upon her pink hair and shoulders, catching the ethereal reflection of the blade's light. The frost painted her hair a brilliant, glowing white. Her entire presence felt deeply ethereal and pristine, resembling a mythical goddess stepping out from an ancient legend of winter.
Her tightly closed eyes suddenly snapped open.
The usual bright playfulness and lingering hesitation were completely gone. In their place remained only absolute purity and a chilling, unbreakable determination.
"Final Dance: Shattered Jade."
There was no devastating shockwave, no violent eruption of power. She simply, gently leveled the tip of Sode no Shirayuki—now charged to its absolute peak—directly toward the descending dark blade and the colossal phantom wielding it.
In the millimeter of space directly in front of the blade's tip, reality itself seemed to solidify for a fraction of a second.
Immediately after, a single point of extreme, indescribably cold white bloomed from the metal. It erupted outward, spreading at a velocity that defied human comprehension.
Wherever this blinding white light passed, it did not merely freeze the environment. It forcefully dragged all energy, matter, and kinetic force into a state of absolute, eternal slumber and stillness.
This gentle touch of white first grazed the very tip of the dark giant blade that was currently deadlocked against Stelle and Dan Heng's wind and fire barrier.
Crack... crack...
The tip of the colossal sword, previously invincible and roaring with destructive black flames, was instantly encased in a thick layer of crystal-clear, diamond-hard ice.
Worse yet for the enemy, this absolute zero state began to spread at an unstoppable, ravenous pace. The frost crawled rapidly up the length of the giant blade, surging past the hilt and racing directly toward the colossal phantom towering behind it.
The Black-Robed Figure violently jerked their arms, attempting to withdraw the greatsword. However, the conceptual cold of Shattered Jade seemed to target the very essence of activity and existence itself. The figure surged vast amounts of dark energy to melt the frost, but instead of breaking the ice, the energy was instantly frozen solid. It acted as highly combustible fuel, becoming raw nutrients that only accelerated the spread of the glacial layer.
In the mere blink of an eye, more than half of the apocalyptic blade, along with the right arm and a portion of the chest of the giant phantom wielding it, were completely entombed in brilliant, deadly ice crystals.
The colossal phantom's movements instantly became stiff and agonizingly sluggish. Its massive, shadowy body began to tremble violently under the freezing assault, and the crushing, destructive downward pressure it exerted on the Trailblazers suddenly plummeted by more than half.
Stelle and Dan Heng immediately felt the suffocating weight on their shoulders lift.
"An opening!" A fierce, predatory gleam flashed across Stelle's golden eyes. With her chaotic, battle-hardened instincts, there was no way she would miss the perfect opportunity to kick an enemy while they were down.
The dormant power of the Path of Destruction violently erupted from deep within her core. She prepared to smoothly fuse it with her remaining Preservation energy to launch a devastating, point-blank counterattack.
But in the exact microsecond before her muscles could spring forward, the Black-Robed Figure—despite being partially entombed in absolute ice—executed a deeply unsettling maneuver.
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