Chapter 263: Three Stages

Zaakrax, Atlas, Kael, and all the other rulers, including Solaris, who had returned only moments ago after making sure Seraphiel remained safe, were completely swallowed by the expanding Domain. Even Velmira, who was still injured after being sent crashing across the ground earlier, was unable to escape its reach.

The darkness spread faster than anyone could react, covering the battlefield in every direction and cutting them off from everything outside. Within only a few moments, the mountains, the sky, and even the ruined battlefield that had surrounded them disappeared from their sight.

For several moments, there was nothing but darkness.

No one could see their surroundings, and even their perception seemed unable to properly determine what existed around them.

The only visible source of light was the faint ashen glow coming from the Halo that floated somewhere high above them. Yet even that glow provided almost no illumination, leaving everyone with the strange sensation that they were standing inside an endless space rather than the battlefield they had occupied only moments earlier.

Several rulers instinctively released their Spirit Energy to examine their surroundings, while others remained completely still, unwilling to make a careless move before understanding what had happened.

Then, after several moments of silence, something changed.

The darkness gradually became less absolute.

The ashen glow above them spread slightly, revealing the figures of the people trapped inside the Domain. At almost the same time, a voice echoed through the darkness.

"This...is a Domain." The voice came from everywhere at once.

It didn’t sound as though Orivian was standing in front of them, behind them, or even above them. His voice seemed to exist throughout the entire Domain itself, reaching every person from every direction simultaneously.

"An Astral Domain where I am considered a literal God." The rulers immediately became tense.

Atlas narrowed his eyes while Kael carefully looked around, trying to determine where Orivian was. Solaris also remained alert as she examined the strange environment surrounding them, while Velmira’s expression became colder. None of them could locate Orivian’s actual position.

Zaakrax and Sylvaris reacted differently, both of them had their eyes widened. They understood what they were looking at immediately. More importantly, they understood exactly how difficult it was to reach this stage, "This..." Sylvaris’s voice barely came out.

Her hand slowly rose to cover her mouth as she stared at the strange Domain surrounding them. Her entire body trembled slightly, not simply because of fear, but because she was witnessing something she had spent more than a thousand years trying to achieve.

She had entered the...Astral World Rank long ago.

She had spent centuries studying its rules and mechanics, strengthening her soul, and trying to understand the true nature of the power she had gained after stepping beyond Special Ex-rank. Yet even after all that time, she had never been able to reach the final stage of Astral World.

And now, someone had casually displayed it in front of her.

Zaakrax was shocked as well, but his reaction was completely different, he wasn’t afraid. Instead, his eyes contained a strange mixture of disbelief and excitement.

He had entered Astral World less than a month ago, so unlike Sylvaris, he had barely begun to understand the realm he had entered. However, the moment he reached Astral World, certain knowledge had naturally appeared within his mind, information connected to the structure of this new level of existence.

Astral World was fundamentally different from every rank that came before it, it wasn’t simply another increase in strength. There were three distinct sub-stages within Astral World, and each one represented a completely different level of comprehension.

The first was the formation of the Astral Core.

A cultivator needed to condense their Spirit Energy and Soul Force into two distinct cores, one representing the physical side of their existence and the other representing the soul.

The Spirit Core provided an enormous reserve of compressed Spirit Energy, while the Soul Core condensed the essence of one’s soul into a singular existence, containing their emotions, experiences, will, and accumulated Soul Force.

Only after forming both cores could someone truly stabilize themselves within Astral World.

The second sub-stage was the formation of a Domain.

Unlike an ordinary technique or barrier, a Domain was created by extending the influence of the Soul Core into reality itself. The cultivator would use their own imagination and comprehension to construct a separate space that existed within the original world while remaining distinct from it.

Zaakrax slowly looked around.

’This is what the second stage eventually leads to...?’ He could feel the difference between the battlefield outside and the strange space surrounding him, and that alone was enough to make him understand how much room there was for growth.

But there was still a third stage...The final stage.

Astral Domain.

Zaakrax’s expression gradually became more serious.

At this stage, simply possessing a Domain was no longer enough. The cultivator needed to comprehend their Unique Ability to an extreme level and establish that ability as a Law within their Domain. Once that happened, the ability would no longer function like an ordinary ability that could simply be resisted through greater strength or another technique.

Inside the Astral Domain, that ability itself became part of the rules governing reality.

Anyone trapped inside would be subjected to its influence. No matter how they attempted to resist it, as long as they remained within the Domain, escaping the Law itself would be nearly impossible.

And Orivian had reached that stage, but...even that wasn’t the most frightening part.

Zaakrax slowly looked toward the ashen glow above, ’First of all he doesn’t have an unique ability but an ultimate one...’

Event Absorption.

That was Orivian’s Ultimate Ability.

Zaakrax had already seen how terrifying it was outside the Domain. Orivian could absorb events, including the events caused by attacks against him, allowing him to erase their consequences entirely. Yet what he had created now was something far beyond simply strengthening that ability.

Within this Domain, Event Absorption itself was a Law.

Zaakrax’s expression became increasingly serious as he tested his surroundings with his perception. He could already sense something disturbing. Zaakrax’s eyes narrowed further as he thought, ’It can consume the event of us using our own power in the first place.’

That realization made him understand the difference between himself and Orivian even more. This wasn’t merely a difference in the amount of Spirit Energy they possessed.

It was a difference in comprehension.

Zaakrax clenched his fist, ’This is the level I need to reach.’

He wasn’t discouraged, if anything, the realization only strengthened his determination, ’No...I need to surpass it.’ He thought as he remembered his father words and teachings once again before nodding to himself and dismissing it for now, his gaze moved across the Domain again.

He saw that the other rulers were already gathered together to cooperate together for now as all of them were either going to leave alive or die together, it was better to help each other at this moment, seeing that Zaakrax smiled a little and moved toward them.

All of them completely unaware that Orivian, the voice they had heard of when they entered the domain, was not even in the domain to begin with, he had gone somewhere else...somewhere he had been meaning to go since the moment he took over Azarion’s consciousness.