Bab 4: Chapter 4: Nightmare Domain.
Just before the minotaur swung its axes, Lyra had shut her eyes afraid of her inevitable fate. Not only had she failed to save Ava but also Julius, because she had been distracted, he had to sacrifice himself for her.
"Julius… I'm sorry…"
Tears streamed down her face as she thought about how she had failed. At how easily she was about to lose everything that she cared about.
The world had already taken it all once during the apocalypse, and now again… It was all about to disappear.
'It was all my fault…'
Those were her final thoughts as she waited for the attack to come.
But strangely enough, it never came.
Instead, the sensation of rain crashing against her skin had disappeared and a deafening silence emerged.
"...?"
Confused, she slowly opened her eyes and they widened.
Before her eyes the battleaxes were halted in front of her. Something was attached to it, a shadow-like string which held it back.
The same could be said for the minotaur. It struggled in the spot, snorting as shadow-like strings which had extended from out of the ground and wrapped themselves around it, restricting its movement.
"Something… stopped it…?"
The sky had become pitch-black with a waxing crescent moon that slowly shifted into half of a full moon at its centre.
"This… this is-"
*Step!* *Splash!* *Step!*
The sound of footsteps approaching echoed in the distance, Lyra turned in the direction of the source and almost instantly began to tear up.
"It can't be…"
The air around him was different. With every step, she felt a chill run down her spine as a dark mist surrounded him. His rain-soaked curly hair covered his face, hiding his expression.
The condition of his left leg and arm was so bad that it was a wonder he was able to move at all. In order to walk toward Lyra, he balanced on some strange shadow-like strings supporting his left leg, they were similar to the strings restricting the minotaur.
Something metallic was caught between his teeth, but before she could see what it was, he spat it out.
Watching as he drew closer, her nose reddened as tears streamed down her face from relief. She couldn't believe her eyes.
"Julius..!"
-
"Heh~ The condition to activate his ability was to be endangered, so he threatened his own life by shooting himself thus forcing the ability to activate." Said the black-haired Vampire unable to hold back her smile.
She glanced at the pitch-black sky above their heads before looking over at Julius's figure.
"In theory, it would work but who would be crazy enough to pull a stunt like that in this situation? Had it failed, he would've died right there… he's insane. I was expecting something big but this… It far exceeds my expectations."
She leaned towards him from the top of the roof with a grin.
"Show me… the extent of your resolve."
-
"You're alive…" Lyra muttered. "I thought… because of me… that you…"
Her voice trembled as if something was stuck in her throat. But in that moment, his palm reached out to her head, rubbing it as he asked.
"Are you… alright… Lyra…?"
Those words… The warmth of his palms, his gentle smile. It caused all the emotions which she had bottled up to burst out.
"..I was scared…! I was so scared…! Scared of losing you… scared of not being able to save Ava… scared of dying…!" She broke down crying in front of him. "I… I didn't want to die! I wanted us all to return home and go back to the way things were!" "
After letting those final words out, her body lost its strength. She collapsed, falling forward onto his embrace.
"Thank you Julius… for saving me… please… save Ava… let her feel… this warmth…"
With her eyelids having become heavy, she could only let out a few more words before losing consciousness.
"Nightmare." Julius called out as the dark mist which surrounded him slowly inched towards her. "Touch her and you'll regret it." He muttered, his hollow eyes clouded by anger.
The dark mist instantly seized it's approach. Julius placed Lyra on his back and turned to the minotaur behind him.
"If you want something to devour… There's something right there…" He muttered, glaring at the minotaur.
The minotaur's eyes bulged red, the shadows which had latched onto it began to tear. It couldn't hold it back for much longer.
Aggravated, the minotaur which had managed to free its arm stretched it out towards Julius in an attempt to grab and break him.
The dark mist slowly inched towards the minotaur.
[Target identified within the domain.]
[Would you like to suffer the Nightmare status?]
"Devour it." Commanded Julius as he took a step towards it.
In response, the dark mist around him quickly surrounded the minotaur, entrapping it. It tried to swat the mist away with its arm, but it was futile.
It roared and groaned but within seconds of having its body covered, its movements slowed and eventually its eyes shut. It had fallen into a slumber.
Shortly, after it's body began to tremble severely. It's mouth foaming as it groaned in pain.
[Nightmare status has been afflicted.]
[The target is experiencing a never-ending nightmare. All pain sensations have been heightened to the maximum.]
"You hurt Lyra so brace yourself." Julius muttered as he extended his arm out to the right. "Since no matter how much you struggle…"
Through the darkness of his shadow, a dark spike slowly extended out of the ground, aimed towards the minotaur's chest.
"You will never wake up." He declared.
In that instant, the dark spike burst from the ground. Piercing into the minotaur's chest. It couldn't penetrate complete through as the minotaur's hide was that durable.
So the dark spike retracted and struck again, repeatedly striking at the same spot in fast succession.
*Splatter!*
After a few seconds, it finally penetrated through the minotaur's hide and flesh, piercing right through it's heart before coming out of the other side.
It's body convulsed for a few seconds before it lost all of its strength. The shadows holding onto it faded, before it collapsed onto the ground right before his eyes.
[You killed an Abnormal Minotaur.]
[+10 Experience Points.]
[Level 1(10/50)]
Julius glanced at the newly formed screen in front of him before looking at the other two screens which had appeared a while ago.
[Skills]
[Nightmare Level 1: Nightmare Domain.]
[Generates a domain centred around the User. The user is granted limited control over the shadows within the domain. The user is able to choose targets asleep within the domain to afflict the Nightmare status.]
[Additionally, The domain applies curse effects to all residents within it's range. The curses effects vary on its stage. Each lunar progression signifies a progression in the domain's stage.]
❖First Stage curse effects: Sleep deprivation.
❖Second Stage curse effects: Blindness.
❖Third Stage curse effects: Suffocation.
❖Fourth Stage curse effects: ???
❖Final Stage curse effects: ???
He looked up at the sky, the moon was still a waxing crescent moon. Since Lyra and the minotaur could still see him when they were awake, Julius concluded that they were in the first stage.
[Energy: 73 -> 72 -> 71 -> 70%]
He watched his energy bar decrease before looking down at the shadow strings supporting his left arm and leg.
"It was a gamble… since the Minotaur had attacked me, Nightmare would've targeted it but there was guarantee that it would've saved Lyra in time… there was also no guarantee that Nightmare would've activated. But this… not only did it activate but I'm somehow still awake and able to control it?"
He gazed at the screens.
"It's the first time It's ever happened… Does it have something to do with the system…?"
He glanced over at Lyra who was on his back. Her breathing slowly grew fainter.
"Shit… she's losing too much blood… I need to stop her bleeding but before that I need to get out of here…"
In the distance, down the streets and scaling the buildings. There was a slow emergence of reptilian and disfigured creatures. It was only a matter of time until the monsters reached them.
Julius looked left and right in search of the labyrinth portal. Based on how Lyra had reacted before, they must've been close.
'Damn it… Where could it be!? I don't have time…!'
Julius's eyes widened as they landed on a collapsed building just down the road.
"I'm sensing something strange coming from there, is it because of my domain…?"
With no other option, he followed his gut and rushed towards the building. Not paying any heed to the monsters as he entered it.
The inside of the building was a mess, the staircase was broken but that didn't stop him as he ran up its broken and twisted design.
The pain in his left leg and arm were mind-numbing, but the warmth of her body kept him going, pushing forward.
When he finally made it to the top of the stares, his eyes widened.
There it was. A red circular portal, resting in between the debris. Then, as he stepped towards it, he spotted it. A figure sat on a piece of debris next to it.
A beautiful black haired girl with curls which spiralled down to her shoulders. Although her figure was petite, she had prominent curves which stood out.
Her eyes were a bright crimson red with slit pupils and she wore a regal black outfit with trims of silver and revealing cut giving the presence of royalty.
But contrary to the captivating aura her appearance exuded, her posture was dull.
She sat boldly on the edge of the debris with her legs open, resting her right cheek on her palm, while her other hand rested on her knees, looking smug as she gazed at him with her slit pupil crimson eyes.
'Who is she…? Maybe a hunter?'
*Yawn*
"Looks like you finally made it, human." Said the girl as she rubbed her eyes whilst yawning.
'Those fangs… her pointed ears… she's not human.'
The girl slowly got up, stretching her slim figure before she grabbed the hems of her outfit, slightly bowed and introduced herself with a smile.
"I'm Ruby. A Vampire princess from Ingram."
Hadiah
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Power 
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