Alex stopped once his domain stretched to nearly three hundred meters, and for a moment, the Blight's domain lashed out in fierce retaliation.
The miasma in the air boiled, the twisted flora and fauna lashed out, and the toxic swamp bubbled violently as the domain fought to purge the encroaching darkness.
While it managed to eat through sections of the darkness, each piece devoured was quickly replaced, the darkness filling in faster than it could be consumed.
Cthux narrowed his eyes at Alex as tens of miasmic tendrils took form around him, expanding rapidly into the darkness to form a thick, choking smog that engulfed the area, casting everything in a mix of darkness and a deep violet haze.
The tens of tendrils twisted and writhed, creating a pulsating, living fog that served as both a shield and a weapon, and using the disturbance to his advantage, Cthux vanished in a flash.
Alex's eyes darted across the surroundings as he slowly turned, picking out the tracks of Cthux as he moved like a ghost, each of his steps barely leaving a flicker in the ocean of cosmic energy.
The single flicker suddenly turned to two, then four, and then eight, continuing to multiply until there were sixty-four individual flickers in the ever-growing chaos of two forces.
The clones were perfect, but Alex could easily single out the real one because of the unique energy fluctuation it gave out.
The clones were still a threat, so Alex conjured a sea of spears, enough to nearly cover his entire domain, raining them down without pause, each one exploding at random, engulfing a sizable area in intense corrosive darkness.
Alex took to the skies, swiftly taking care of the four clones closest to him, while the spear rain thinned their numbers down by another two, with many more taking a direct hit.
The clones did not just stand by, as Alex was bombarded with energy slashes from all directions, while some of the clones closed in only to explode in his face.
While Alex dealt with the miasma and the clones, Cthux chose the perfect moment and made his move, zooming past his back, his dagger gliding silently to decapitate him in one swift motion.
At the very last moment, Alex used one of his domain-exclusive skills, a thin veil of darkness appearing behind him, one that looked like nothing special. Yet, when the dagger made contact with the veil, it began to sink in, like a pebble in a pond.
In a fluid motion, Alex spun around and slashed his sword, slicing through the dark veil like paper, releasing a razor-thin slash of darkness that in an instant traveled a few hundred meters, slicing the darkness and dividing a section of even the Blight domain cleanly in two.
On the other side, the muffled grunt of Cthux was heard as the slash went through his right arm, and what should have been his abdomen. But in a fraction of a second, he twisted it and avoided the fate of having his body sliced in two.
Alex clicked his tongue at missing an easy kill but stayed calm and raised his free hand, conjuring a barrage of chains ending in sharp, spear-like tips from all directions, aiming to ensnare Cthux and pin him down.
The snickering laughter echoed as the violet miasma's presence intensified, the two elements clashing in a fierce battle for supremacy, their collision spiraling into a chaotic storm.
Cthux's barrage of attacks also grew fiercer, all while he rained down countless Blight needles whose mere scratch poisoned and decayed Alex's cells.
Cthux was pushing Alex into a corner, chipping away at his defenses until there was an opening for him to end this battle, a simple yet effective strategy.
Alex waved his hand and created a few dozen dark Stygian orbs, each one no larger than a baseball, yet they pulsed with an eerie glow, sending ripples through the surrounding darkness as they twisted their surrounding gravity.
All of the orbs, numbering seventy-eight in total, covering the entire dark domain, exploded simultaneously. Their silent explosion released the buildup of inky darkness in all directions, erasing every speck of violet miasma in an instant.
Each orb expanded, covering nearly thirty meters in diameter, their unleashed energy blanketing the surroundings and twisting the fabric of space.
Not a single inch was spared from the devouring darkness, as even the land and air within a few hundred meters surrounding the dark domain were engulfed. The deteriorating shadows hungrily erased every trace of foreign energy in their path.
It was a good attack, one that could level an entire city if left unchecked, but against an Elemental Ruler in his own domain, it was just a nuisance that would deal some minor damage. In Cthux's eyes, it was just a desperate distraction.
"Mana Amplification" "Mana Overdrive"
Alex pushed his ancient heart to its limits, pumping mana through his body at an extreme speed, his aura growing sharply as he bridged the distance between him and Cthux.
As the explosions took place, Alex closed the distance in an instant, his blade slicing through the air as he unleashed a torrent of concentrated energy.
A flood of inky darkness surged forth, engulfing nearly a third of the dark domain and Cthux, who was forced to stay in place as more than a dozen explosions took place all around him.
Alex took a deep breath, showing the fatigue of using two high-burn skills one after another. At this moment, Cthux appeared before him, his blade cutting into Alex's chest and heart while his left hand took hold of his right wrist, his nails digging into his flesh, pumping a stream of venom.
"Only if you were a little stronger," Cthux said, snickering as he filled Alex with the venom fueled by his law of Blight.
Alex did not waste a word on the laughing ratling. He let go of his sword and opened his hand, manifesting a small point of darkness that was barely visible in the ocean of darkness surrounding it.
Cthux appeared confused, but as Alex swiftly took hold of both his hands, he realized that something was off, and sensing the small point of darkness devouring the surrounding darkness like a hungry beast without growing in size sent shivers down his spine.