Chapter 244: Dome of Light 3

Suddenly, Alex felt a deep chill running down his spine, the temperature in the dome felt like it had dropped by several degrees, odd sweat running down his face as he could not help but look down at the still raging explosion of lightning below him with a bad feeling in his heart. 

Out of the still roaring purple thunderbolts, hints of black were seen slowly leaking from it, the leaks only getting bigger, deeper, and more profound, Alex's bewilderment growing step by step alongside it as he inwardly took a gulp of saliva, tightly gripping his spear in the air as he prepared for the worst, the deep hatred and killing intent from the atmosphere overwhelming his senses, making it hard to even breathe

The cracks of darkness in the midst of the explosion grew so much to the point that all the lightning was fully engulfed and snuffed out by the raging aura of death-filled black, leaving nothing its wake but a little, deadly smiling black-haired girl standing in the middle, her power so strong that the entire dome of light around her began to shake, a massive earthquake spreading from beneath her feet to the wide expanses ahead.

"Useless! Do you think something so weak could even touch me? How insulting… Now you… DIE!"

Alex who was staring at her from above could not help but shudder at her words, his heart lurching deep down in his chest, his body shaking and his eyes wide open in disbelief. 

That was his strongest attack that he could manage to muster in his new spirit mode and she still scoffed at it and laughed it off like it was nothing, in her base form no less… She was not even in spirit mode herself and was still capable of doing such a thing… It felt too unreal… She was a person that he had never heard about before in his entire life yet she was still capable of such a feat...

He knew his opponent was powerful, but not this powerful… He thought that his spirit mode along with his extra training would manage to make the difference between their strength from the last time they had met but he was sorely mistaken beyond his wildest dreams. 

"SHIT!" 

Alex yelled, shaking his head, removing any trace of fear or hesitation from his face, he was a man on a mission and he planned to see it through to the end... He tightly gripped his spear in both hands, falling straight towards the ground from his high jump, his teeth almost cracking from how hard he was gritting them, his raging lion-like aura of lightning surrounding his body reigniting with vigour as he confronted death straight in the face, no hint of fear or hesitation on his bright visage and white, lightning-filled eyes.

Abruptly the ground below began to shake, even more, a sudden massive crater formed on the ground where Yami once stood, causing the ground to crack and collapse all around it as she disappeared, now nowhere to be seen. 

Alex who was using his knight vision only barely managed to spot her blurry, bolting figure flying towards him like a bullet, her black spear thrust forward straight in his direction, Alex still trying his best to keep his calm despite knowing that she was not trying to injure him, but kill him instead, which went completely against Emilia's orders.

Taking one deep breath, Alex focused lightning into his feet and boosted off the air, dashing towards the speeding Yami with his own spear in hand, his lightning aura increasing even more, especially around the tip of his spear, his entire body glowing the various colours of the rainbow as he pushed his body to its limits, yelling his heart out as the world around his now looked like nothing but a blur, only Yami's angry, grim reaper-like figure of darkness engulfing his few

This was the only thing he could do in his situation… There was no way in hell he would be able to dodge her attack, and blocking it when she was going at that momentum was completely impossible. Matching her attack head-on was the only logical thing for him to do. 

"AHHHHHH"

All of his energy, hopes and dreams, determination, and unbreakable will and love to protect the people he cared about were infused into the tip of his spear as he thrust it straight at the tip of Yami's spear right in front of it, the two spears clashing against each other from tip to trip, like 2 speeding bullets perfectly aligned, his aura of lightning clashing against her aura of darkness. 

Both clashing in the air, their aura roaring, flowing and mixing around them from all direction, they seemed equally matched, a death glare on both of their faces, Alex's rainbow glowing body now growing even more brightly as he pushed his body even further past its own limits, zero regards for his own muscles that were tearing apart from the inside. Yet, with such a trade-off, it seemed like he was gaining the upper hand.

"NO! YOU WILL BE THE ONE WHO DIES!" 

Pushing Yami and her aura back, which only made him push himself even further, his aura growing and roaring even more with the prideful air of a lion, blood vessels popping from everywhere on his body, his teeth cracking and his body becoming even tenser as it seemed that Yami was on her last legs. 

"Pathetic…" 

Yami spoke in a low, ominous voice of pure death, the figure of the grim reaper growing from behind her as small cracks were heard coming from Alex's spear, his face tensing up with a hint of horror that only grew as those small cracks spread all the way from the tip of the spear to the handle. 

"I will make myself clear again... Now… You die…" 

Yami's aura exploded, doubling, no tripling in size as it completely ate up all the lightning in its path, along with Alex's hopes of victory, horror on his still resolved face as his spear completely shattered in a million pieces, that along with a heart that he only barely managed to move before Yami's blade was thrust straight into his stomach, cutting out a huge chunk of it as she sped right past him who now dropped on the ground, his previously white, lightning-filled eyes now colourless and gray and his body all bloody from pushing himself too hard, a loud crash being heard and a crater being formed in the wake of his impact. 

"ALEXXX!" A female scream sounding like Jayden calling his name was heard entering into his hazy mind, sounding more like total static than anything else as he looked up at the bright yellow sky of the dome of light. 

Abby, who was still injured on the ground being pinned down by lightning blades stared at the scene above her with open eyes, her mind and soul completely split in half, conflicted on what to do and think. Part of her was cheering and celebrating, happy about the inevitable death of the nuisance that had put her in the situation she was in and the other half of her was completely broken and distraught beyond belief, begging for any higher being to come and save him, like she was about to lose a part of her own soul. 

This odd mix of emotions left a sight on her face never seen before… Half of it a wicked smile of satisfaction and the other half completely distraught with tears running down her face as she tried to move out of her bindings but to no Avail.

*Aha* *Aha*

Now on the ground, he barely managed to open his now gray, dead-looking eyes that looked devoid of hope, coughing blood all over his stomach, his entire body broken and shattered beyond belief, not being able to move even a single muscle.

"AHHHH!" 

He tried to move, over, and over, and over again, but no matter how hard he tried, his body would simply not respond… 

"Fuck…" 

He mumbled to himself, as he continued his futile attempts of moving, tears of blood falling down his bloody face… After all that talk, all his heart and soul, he still failed… For the second time… He had found himself in a similar situation before, but now there was no escape from his inevitable doom. 

He could not uphold any promise, or ideal, or any sense of justice he had in his heart. He was useless, simply an empty shell, that, not even in his dying breath, could accomplish anything meaningful in his life or atone for any previous sins that he could not escape from… 

"Oh wow! That's impressive young man… You're still alive!" He heard a voice from above, looking only to see the black grim reaper herself walking in his direction with her spear in hand.

"The sight of you is rather pathetic don't you think? Just like last time, you talk big, but you're in reality absolutely nothing… You can't blame anyone but yourself… I had "orders" to keep you alive, but I'm sure Emilia won't mind this one exception... The moment you made my sister cry was the moment your fate was sealed…"

Infusing her spear with darkness, she aimed it straight at Alex's heart who had already begun losing hope…

'Abby… I'm sorry… I couldn't make myself any use to you… I couldn't keep any promise, just like every other promise I made in my life... I'm truly the definition of despicable failure…'

Alex thought, tears still running down his face as he closed his eyes, ready to accept his fate… 

"Now die…" She spoke, thrusting her spear straight at him with moderate speed, no remorse on her face, almost like she was squashing an insect. 

Suddenly, Nags, who was watching everything unfold right in front of him felt an odd feeling in his heart, looking ahead of him at Jayden who was trying to force herself through the seemingly endless hoard of light soldiers to save Alex, tears running down her face as she did not care for her own safety, getting slashed, attacked, and injured along the way with no care in the world as her main goal was to reach Alex as fast as possible. 

Personally, Nags could not care less about Alex and felt nothing towards him as he had only met him a day prior. Plus, it made no logical sense to save him. He would have much rather saved his own energy to protect himself than someone who was now no use in battle, literally on the verge of death.

Yet, despite his wishes, his body began moving on its own, casting skills out of nowhere despite his best wishes, a familiar feeling that he had felt many times before. Then, he remembered something, the order that had been the reason for all of this, making him grunt in realization.

He lifted his hands and targeted Alex who had his heart ready to be ripped apart and yelled.

"Maximum Defense! Shield of Absolution!" 

A sudden purple dome of energy surrounded Alex's body, catching Yami by surprise as her attack was seemingly blocked out of nowhere, which only grew her annoyance as she infused even more dark energy into her blade, draining almost all of Nags's mana in her attempt. 

*Crack*

"What the hell is this!? Nags!? Is that you! You're next you little prick!"

She yelled, now infusing even more of her energy into her spear, completely shattering Nags's shield along with draining all of his mana and demon energy in 1 fell swoop, only managing to delay her by a few seconds, not enough time for Jayden to catch up.

"Now you're dead!" 

She yelled once more at Alex whose eyes were still closed and crying, oblivious to all that had just happened to him. 

"NOOO! ALEX!" Jayden screamed her heart out once more, forcing her way through the many soldiers of light, her body all bloody and stressed from everything around her, the tears on Abby's right side of her face and the wicked smile on the left only growing even worse. 

*Snap* 

Suddenly, mere millimetres before Yami's spear and Alex's heart made contact, a massive snap was heard entering everyone's ears. 

"WHAT!?" 

Yami yelled in extreme annoyance and disbelief seeing what had just happened and who was now under her. Instead of Alex's body at the other end of her spear, it was now Jason's body instead, the same person who was running away from the light soldiers like an idiot, snapping around the battlefield all injured, about to die when his mana ran out, pure horror on his face as he coughed blood on the enraged Yami's face, Alex now nowhere to be seen. 

"W-wha..."

A spear deeply stabbing into his already priorly injured body, he managed to mumble, horror on his face unlike anything before it, akin to how he looked experiencing Moby's nightmare skill, maybe even worse now as death seemed only one step away, tears running down his face as he cursed his miserable reality that was ruined by the existence of a single demon...

"W-what just happened… I-I didn't want this t- *Cough* happen… My body *Cough* moved on it's own… again… *Cough* Y-yami… Have mercy… I-I *Didn't me-" 

"Shut the fuck up you disgusting pig!" 

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!! AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!! AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

She infused her spear with even more darkness, making Jason's body begin to melt and decay as he screamed out in pain, death ravaging all his senses as he was left with nothing but his own skeleton, not even a single drop of blood remaining.

Instinctively, she looked around for where Alex's body had disappeared to, only to see it flying in the air, the same look of painful acceptance, self-loathing depressing on his bloody face as he was caught by Jayden who jumped up and grabbed him, holding him tightly in her arms as she stood her ground against the hoard of light warriors surrounding her. 

"J-Jayden? Is this a dream? Am I in heaven or hell?" He mumbled, slowly opening his eyes only to see her blurry figure protecting him in her original body, only seeing the back of her blue hair along with the many light soldiers ahead. 

"No Alex! You're alive! Stay with me! You're losing a lot of blood! I'll heal you when I'm done with these guys! Don't give up! This is not the Alex I always knew!" She spoke, turning around, only for him to see her tear-filled eyes which snapped him out of his daze and reawakened him from him back to his senses.

"Yami is on her way! Don't die because of me! Just run and leave me alone! It's not worth it!" He screamed with all the energy left in his body, Jayden's heavily injured body unmoving as she spoke. 

"Don't worry about it… I doubt that she would kill me seeing I'm Moby's boyfriend, Emilia wouldn't let it slide like killing you… I might suffer, but if It buys you even a little more time then it's well worth it. If we are going down, let's all go down together…" She spoke with a firm resolve, no fear in her voice as blue-tinted shadows surrounded her daggers as she prepared herself to tussle, Alex inwardly cursing at the dire situation yet feeling odd calmness and renewed vigour being comforted by her words. 

Nags was now all alone fighting a small troop of light soldiers, which would have been very easy for him to destroy, but now with zero mana and demon energy, that was no longer possible as he tried his best to run and evade with all his might, desperation in his eyes and he countered attacked with his war axe when he needed, many attacks slipping by his defence and heavily injuring him with light.

Yami, who was now annoyed and angered beyond belief put on a face of absolute death as she strolled over towards the cornered duo of Alex and Jayden, ready to finally take them out, her anger's fuel seemingly more than ever before as she felt like her sister was still crying and hurt in her mind, despite the fact that she now wanted to have her turn back. 

Everything seemed completely lost, for everyone in the dome, death seemed like a mere step away… 

When, suddenly…

*BOOOOM*

*Crack* *Crack* Crack*

A massive explosion was heard hitting and shaking the entire dome, various now appearing and beginning to form in the bright, yellow energy-like sky above, catching everyone's attention, making them look up in shock and haste out of instinct before the entire dome shattered into a million pieces.

The small shards of energy immediately disappeared in mid-air as the rocky ground and the bright orange sky of the planet was now once again able to be seen, the various soldiers of light that were on the ground fading away into dust along with the dome, seemingly right before it was too late, making everyone look around in shock at what just happened. 

"I'M BACK!"

Suddenly, a loud, manly voice was heard, sounding and echoing into all of their ears, making them look up at the rocky hill where the sound was heard, only for them to see the prideful visage of a man among men, a smile of victory of his pristine face that did not even have a single spec of dust, the blood on it seemingly not his own, his foot standing on a higher rock, his armour looking as good as new, no cracks at all with only splatters of blood on it, his posture high and mighty as he held a dead body in his right hand, the look of absolute horror on it's pale, white visage, it's body injured beyond belief as it was clearly seen through her tattered armour, a black mark on her single white horn growing out of her head.

"M-Moby… I-is that you…"