Chapter 117: Clash of Domains

The silver lightning tore through Valerian’s body, turning his insides into minced meat. If he didn’t have his [Infinite Cosmos Physique], that single attack would have destroyed all his vital organs.

But he did have the physique, so even while he was getting cut apart, he was able to think clearly and start to counter Ravena.

The first thing he tried to do was to simply teleport away from the hand that was lodged in his chest, but while doing so, he found out that Ravena had cast another space lock, making teleportation impossible.

He was getting cut apart further by the second. While he didn’t need to worry too much about dying from normal injuries, his physique was still not matured, and therefore dying was still very much on the table if his body were to be destroyed.

Knowing he had to think of something fast, a thought came to him that could work. He began to activate [Law Breaker].

Valerian was sure that if Ravena was serious and was using her will, even [Law Breaker] wouldn’t be able to help him with his current strength. But she wasn’t going serious right now.

So the option of using the [Unique Skill] was something that could help Valerian right now.

As [Law Breaker] activated, he focused it on the space around his body. He could feel the locked space that was invisible to the naked eye and began to force his way through it.

The skill met with Ravena’s mana, and she could feel that he tried to free himself of the space lock. She didn’t shut down the attempt and wanted to see if Valerian would actually manage to break it.

[Law Breaker] met with the lock and began to unravel it, slowly breaking it down and freeing the space around Valerian.

The "Law" that Ravena had placed on the surrounding space that prohibited spatial travel broke apart under [Law Breaker]’s unique properties, freeing Valerian.

He didn’t even wait for a second to celebrate his win over the space lock and instantly teleported a few kilometers away.

Ravena looked at her now empty arm as the burns began to heal over.

’He even broke through it. This is getting terrifying.’

To block the combined attack of Valerian, Ravena hadn’t even used mana and had just met it with her bare hand. And this bare hand was charred to a crisp, something that shouldn’t be possible for anyone below the SSS rank.

Spreading out her mana, she searched for Valerian and was surprised that she wasn’t able to find him.

’He hid?’

She was quite surprised that there wasn’t already another spell flying at her right at this moment, and the stillness of the surrounding devastated forest felt wrong.

’I guess I have to let him come to me... after all, he still hasn’t used it.’

Before the fight began, Sylas had whispered something into her ear:

"Force him to use his domain."

That was all. He didn’t say anything else. While it was surprising that Valerian had already unlocked his domain at such a young age, it wasn’t something that was impossible, as the only thing required to do that is to resonate with the [Unique Skill].

There was no age or rank someone had to achieve to use this ability, and Ravena herself had unlocked it centuries ago.

After Valerian teleported away, he hid himself in a cave he created by manipulating the earth around him, then he retracted all the mana that was leaking out of him.

When he broke through to the next stage of his physique, he lost his mana pool for the stars that could generate divine mana. So if he pulled in all the mana that was leaking out of him, there was nothing someone could use to track him down, as he didn’t have a mana signature without a mana reservoir.

Leaning against the stone walls of the cave, he collected his thoughts.

’I managed to wound her, but there is no way I can win this. And Sylas said that I should try to kill her and go all out. He must be planning something.’

The way he had come to know the principal, he understood that there was no way the man would just say something like that without thinking about it; he was too old and too mysterious for that.

’Then let’s go all out.’

Standing up, space bent around him and he reappeared on the surface. Instantly, Ravena’s piercing silver eyes snapped to the spatial distortion created by his teleport.

’I have to improve on my space magic...’

First getting caught off guard by the space lock and then being tracked so easily by Ravena, refining his mastery over spatial magic became one of Valerian’s next goals.

Ravena’s body disappeared and reappeared a few meters in front of Valerian, already in a dash with her fist cocked back.

The ground split apart under the force of her stride, creating a small earthquake.

[Primordial Scales] once again covered his forearms and black-purple lightning crackled around his body, enhancing his speed, while ice crept up his arms and legs in an armor of clear blue ice.

Valerian blocked the punch by crossing his arms in front of his face. When her fist hit him, the ground under him collapsed, creating a dent in the earth. But his body stood firm in the middle of the dent, already moving to strike back.

His fist covered in black scales and blue ice neared her side, but was stopped when she simply caught it without much problem. But Valerian didn’t move back or try to attack her again. Instead, while his arm was still caught in her grip, he moved closer until he stood directly inside Ravena’s guard.

’What is he doing?’

Their bodies were mere centimeters apart now, while Valerian’s right hand was still in Ravena’s palm.

Her eyes, which were looking down on Valerian in confusion, widened as the feeling she got was incredibly familiar. In her countless years of war, she had clashed with other Ascendants and Demi-Gods.

Some of them, like her, had a [Unique Skill], though that was rather rare, and their clash would always fall back to a single thing.

’Domain...’

As that thought passed through her head, a thin, almost transparent film extended from Valerian, stopping after making it 30 cm away from his body.

But since they were so close, she could clearly feel her body entering another person’s domain.

Before she could think about the effects of his domain, she felt a heavy pain in her left hand that was holding Valerian’s fist. When she looked down, she saw Valerian’s fist moving through her arm like it was made out of clay, deforming her bones around it, causing them to break and her skin to tear.

’The fuck?!’

The fist moved fast through her arm, and when she tried to move backwards, she found that her movement was locked, as if the concept of moving away from him ceased to exist.

In that split second, she realized the dangers of Valerian’s domain and activated her own to counter it.

Her silver eyes began to glow in a bright light as a dome expanded outward from her faster than light. Unlike Valerian’s, which was barely 30 cm away from his body, hers reached for multiple kilometers before ending.

Their domains clashed, and Ravena sent a single command out with her mana:

Sever.

And her domain listened as the almost translucent layer around Valerian split apart in the middle. It tried to counteract the severing power of Ravena’s domain, but the difference in strength and refinement overwhelmed Valerian’s domain, and it broke.

With her movement restored, Ravena jumped back and created distance between herself and Valerian. Her arm was bleeding heavily, and the bones were reduced to chunks that floated in her bloody arm.

Valerian stood in front of her on unsteady legs. Just activating his domain for such a brief moment was heavy on his restricted mana flow. Even if he didn’t run dry on resources, he still had to let his body cool down after releasing so much at once.

Ravena looked at Valerian with wide and shocked eyes as the weight of the situation settled in.

’If I didn’t have [Severance], would I have been able to dodge that?’

After thinking on it for a second, she came to a conclusion.

’Most likely yes, but it could have ended much worse.’

Her broken arm that hung limply at her side was proof enough that Valerian’s domain, even if unrefined, was a terrifying power.

The fire to continue was burning in Valerian’s eyes, but as he took a step forward, he suddenly lost the strength in his legs and fell toward the ground.

Yet his body didn’t hit the dirt, as Ravena caught him with her one working arm.

"Let’s stop here."

"No, I can still fight."

He wasn’t out of mana, and his body, even if tired, felt fine.

’So why can’t I move my body!?’

His question was answered as the annoying voice of Sylas came from the side:

"Stepping into the path of the divine has put a strain on your soul, and before it could get used to its new standing, you forced it to endure that domain of yours. And now it’s protesting."

He moved over to Ravena and held out his hand in front of her broken arm. Silver mana took the shape of a clock as her arm began to turn back.

After a few seconds, her arm became normal again, and Sylas turned to Valerian.

"I think you showed enough for today. Go rest. Tomorrow you will have a day off, so go meet your friends or something."

With a clap of his hands, Valerian’s unmoving figure disappeared, being sent back to his dorm to rest.

Now with her arm turned back to normal, Ravena turned her piercing eyes to Sylas.

"Explain everything, Elf. Everything."

Sylas only laughed lightly and clapped his hands, taking both of them to his office and leaving behind the devastated forest.