Capítulo 41: Mana Domains And The Twelve Generals
Before it is explained who the Twelve Generals are, the time must be turned back. Turned back to when Sayuri first initiated her Mana Domain.
Anyone the least bit knowledgeable about mana would know about the existence of mana homes.
It was well-known that mana homes had a certain counterpart. Just as they were natural creations that came from the portals, mana domains were man-made versions of those.
Mana Domains involved a person releasing a large portion of their mana into the air and turning the area around them into their own artificially made mana-home.
The logic between it was inexplainable, but since only the strongest of the strongest could hope to expend enough mana to change the world around them, it was just left as it was. A technique that could change the very plane of the battlefield, turning an outnumbered fight into something more bearable.
And for Sayuri, whose affinity was of the Nature type, particularly the sub-affinity Plant, the Mana Domain was something that allowed her to tap into her innate power in places where there weren't many plants.
And yet… how were they overpowering her?
"Impossible. This is my domain!"
On the other side of the golden lake stood twelve humans. At first glance, their appearances were of children, but if one were to analyze the mana inside them, one would find that they carried Demonic Ashra inside!
And it was not just any Ashra, either. It was so pure, it almost felt like divine power.
It is said that the stronger demons are, the closer they resemble humans.
This is because Demonic Ashra has its origins deeply rooted in mana, thus changing the demons' bodies into that of the ones who were thought to first wield it.
"His Majesty will be very disappointed, Kano. Expect a painful punishment the moment you return." One of the children spoke.
Even as the demons looked no older than children, Sayuri could not distinguish any of their facial features. They each had a veil over their faces, barring any sort of eye contact.
"Ye–yes." Kano responded, albeit a bit later. He could not find the strength in him to speak to them.
""Heehee! You're gonna get beat~"" Two demons sang in unison.
The other demons remained silent as if the matter at hand concerned them not.
As for Sayuri, she was having a mental crisis as to how the demons could just enter her Domain so easily.
"I should test the waters first. Elegance will come later."
Sayuri raised her hand, and a beam of sakura petals was shot at the twin demons.
Unfortunately, it was blocked by some sort of barrier. The beam disintegrated upon contact, leaving Sayuri breathless.
""No attacking! Red lady, scary!""
"In that case…" For the first time since the domain was created, Sayuri unsheathed her sword.
Mana around the domain began converging into her sword. Raising it, Sayuri swung it downwards.
And out of nowhere, a gigantic blade of sakura petals appeared in the direction she cut.
The blade shot across the entire lake in a second and somehow looked as if gathered more mana from the surrounding air as it traveled.
"This should do some damage…"
*thwang*
"No effect?!"
***
The current situation will now be turned back to when Dignitas' party first spotted Dignitas and Shib on the receiving end of Varnier's attacks.
"Remember this name, mortals. For it will be the last name you will hear. I am Varnier, the Stone Demon."
Even as the pressure threatened to sacrifice them, Wang Jin and Rokas still moved.
"This is… nothing, heh." Wang Jin tried to put up a smile.
"You are right. This pressure cannot stop me." Rokas did the same.
"What are you two idiots doing!? Don't be idiots!" Alter ushered to follow them.
"You say that, sister, but you're doing the same by following them." Percivale forcefully lifted his body off the ground using Spatial Magic and did the same for the others.
A mysterious force that Rokas assumed was Percivale's pushed them upwards, helping them to resist the pressure forcing them down.
"With this… we can fight." Rokas tightened his grasp on his sword and shield.
Just as the party was preparing to charge towards Varnier, they were stopped by a rustling sound coming from the edge of the room.
On that side, there was nothing but rubble that had burst out from Varnier's entrance into the infirmary.
But from the broken debris, a hand forced its way out. And soon after, a sword came out with it.
And then, the figure of a bloodied John rose from the concrete, looking half-dead.
"Is that… John?"
"Right… he came with us!"
"And he's carrying someone."
From the perspective of the group, John carried a girl on his back. She was relatively uninjured, except for the small amount of blood on her legs.
The girl had white hair, and pure white skin, which had gotten sullied from the dirt on her clothes.
John slowly opened his mouth, his expression turning into that of pure anger.
"You… this is not how it is supposed to go! I'll kill you!"
For the first time, John's cheerful demeanor had shattered. Instead, it was replaced by wrath.
"Hmm. Prey that fights back… is not prey."
"Oof!" Dignitas was dropped from Varnier's hold and fell onto the floor.
Suddenly, the A rank demon had lost its interest in Dignitas. It turned to John and raised its hand.
With his remaining breaths, Dignitas warned John.
"Bull-ets!"
John seemed to have understood it. He nodded, and Dignitas could've sworn he saw a smile rise from the heated expression he was holding.
*ptoof* *ptoof*
A barrage of rock bullets was fired from Varnier's hand.
"This is nothing." John had gently placed Curie on the floor.
With grace, he aggressively danced around the bullet's trajectory, deflecting the ones that got too close.
That was not all, however. In his mind, John silently chanted Mana Maxima and increased his speed almost three times its normal state.
John charged forward, his sword in hand.
Varnier's eyes widened at the sudden increase in his prey's speed. He raised his hand to block it.
Expecting the sword to helplessly bounce off his rock-hard skin, Varnier paid no heed to block it and instead focused on counterattacking.
However, his expectations were destroyed. John's sword was not swung in a downward slash.
As he was swinging, John twisted his arm, turning the slash into a thrust.
The blade stopped just as it reached Varnier's hand, and made its way deep into his eyes!
"UGAAAAH!"
Pain coursed through Varnier's head. How? How could a mere D rank hurt him this much?
"That's not all. I'll make sure to repay the pain you caused Curie."
"Y-you!!!" Varnier slammed his hand downwards, hoping to crush John.
Unfortunately for him, the demon's attack was met with opposition from Rokas, who had swiftly traded places with John. An immovable shield stood in his way.
"Behind me…?"
Varnier wasn't able to register it, but multiple Chaos Orbs had seeped into his body, disorienting his senses.
Chaos Magic had the unique ability to quite literally cause chaos in its targets, turning them into living corpses!
"ENOUGH!" Raising his hand, Varnier slammed it downwards like a hammer, and the entire infirmary shook.
"Wang Jin!"
Everyone had been sent flying backward, with the unlucky Wang Jin being flung outside through the hole in the wall.
The single earthquake-like attack had managed to stop the group's assault so easily. Even John, in his enraged state, was not able to save himself from the blast.
This was the clear difference between ranks. John Ailey may have been a regressor in his past lives, but that only allowed him to keep his knowledge and not his strength.
"Prey need to be taught a lesson. Their sole purpose is to serve as nourishment for the predator!"
"What is this guy on about…"
***
Sayuri was left stunned. Her attack, which carried a significant portion of her strength, did not even manage to leave a scratch.
It was akin to firing a high-penetration gun at a thin metal plate and the bullet somehow not piercing through.
And worse of all, the child-like demons had now been provoked. Those demons that could easily resist Sayuri's Domain were now unleashing their killing intent toward her.
"Halt. No one will attack unless I say so." One demon spoke up, who Sayuri assumed was the leader.
""Ah, ah! Bad, bad! Let us fight!""
"This human deserves to be punished for her impudence, don't you agree?"
"Right, right! And I've got just the right idea! We could start by pulling off an arm or two, and then we'll move on to the–"
"Enough." The leader raised his voice. He turned to the one demon who was in the far back. This one seemed to have no intention in participating in the conversation.
"Duke Greyroth, if you would."
"...this again. Did I not tell you that I'm not your janitor? My role isn't to clean up after your messes. Engaging in combat with a human is beneath me."
"I'll make sure to put in a good word to His Majesty if you do this for me. I know how much you long for his attention."
"...very well. But this will be the last time I assist you with your ploys."
Duke Greyroth pushed aside the other demons and moved to the front.
""Ah, not fair! Why does he get to fight?!""
"Shut it, you brats. This won't even be long enough to be called a fight." Duke Greyroth instantly released his Ashra reserves into the air.
A menacing, deathly energy covered the entire Domain, threatening to replace the golden lake with eternal darkness.
"Let the abyss consume you…"
"This is bad!" Sayuri began resupplying the domain with her mana, hoping to keep it from crumbling.
Unfortunately for her, what that did instead was further increase the speed at which the darkness began to swallow her domain.
Right now, the thought of elegance was nowhere inside Sayuri's mind. Against an opponent that could effortlessly destroy one of her most powerful moves, what could elegance do?
"The darkness heeds my command." Greyroth chanted a weird spell, and from the darkness, the shrieking of countless entities could be heard.
"HIEEEEKKK!!!"
The shrieks were unlike anything Sayuri had ever heard before. They were high-pitched and unpleasant to the ear.
And from the darkness, shapeless, formless monsters crawled out. They ranged from the size of a rat to the tallest of elephants.
Each of these grotesque entities carried a terrifyingly high amount of Devil Ashra inside them.
Their purpose? To annihilate the one known as Sayuri Kinako. In her own Domain, no less.
"Take this!" Unsheathing her sword, Sayuri swung it swiftly toward the horde of monsters.
An "after-slash" followed her initial attack, dealing devastating damage to the monsters.
"Wraaaaaa…" The monsters groaned in pain. However, they did not disappear. Instead, the places where they were hit were immediately filled up with darkness.
Just like earlier, Sayuri was unable to affect the monsters no matter what she did.
Acting quickly, she disappeared out of sight, hoping to find the timing to escape.
Right now, she had no chance of defeating the dark entities, much less the demons. Her only option was to retreat from the Beast Continent.
***
"That's all we have for The Maiden Of Blossoms, sir. Her last known location is noted to be in the Colosseum in The Hero Academy."
In a large, underground bunker hidden from the world, a group of workers was lined up across multiple desks, typing frantically into computers that seemed to compute the formula for time travel.
Of course, this wasn't the actual case. In reality, the workers were hired by the Hero Association as "callers", or people who responded to emergencies in the case of Hero-related incidents.
They would relay information to the supervising caller, who in turn would inform the higher-ups of situations happening around the world.
"And what of Cendria Macador? Any news of her fight against that demon? The one she took to space?"
"We've been trying, sir, but I'm afraid the bright light that erupted during their fight messed up with our satellites. We're unable to provide a clear view of outer space at the moment."
"She'll be fine, hopefully. Now then, onto The Crimson Maiden. You say she mysteriously disappeared from the Colosseum?"
"Yes sir. We detected a small amount of Spatial mana on her bracelet, so it's possible that she may have been teleported to somewhere we don't have surveillance."
"...the Beast Continent."
"Yes, that's what I was thinking as well, sir."
"If that's the case, we'll have to call upon them. I never thought we'd ever need to request help from them, but they're the ones who know the most about that wretched place."
"Sir, you couldn't mean…?"
"That's right. You've probably heard of them. The Wastelanders, or the humans who have survived on the Beast Continent with minimal contact with the outside world."
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