The man's panic deepened, his hands flailing in the air as if trying to cast some sort of defensive technique. Yet in my domain, everything he attempted was futile. Every movement, every desperate reach for his Qi backfired, sending blood spraying from his nostrils and eyes. His face, now a mask of pure horror, contorted as he struggled against the inevitable.
"Quite an interesting domain, don't you think?" I asked casually, holding the Soul Sealing Stake, the dark energy pulsing through it in rhythm with my heartbeat. "This stake has seen countless souls suffer under its influence. And now, it will mark your end."
I raised my arm, and just as I was about to bring down the Soul Sealing Stake into his chest, something unexpected happened. The man's body shuddered, then twisted unnaturally. In a moment, his entire form warped into something else—a wooden doll. Life had already been drained from it, and he was no longer human.
"What the—" I muttered as the whole domain collapsed around me, vanishing into thin air without a fight. The target had perished, but not in the way I had anticipated.
As the strange transformation took place, I stepped back, my eyes quickly scanning the battlefield for answers. Just as I exited my domain, I saw her—a bloodied, gasping figure in the distance, her face familiar but distorted by agony.
It was the Death Widow, and next to her was the same person I had trapped earlier.
She was barely clinging to life, her body trembling, her blood-soaked clothes clinging to her as she leaned heavily on the one I had left incapacitated.
"What sort of domain... can make a pseudo-Heaven Stage... suffer such a backlash?" she choked, her voice barely audible, her breath labored as if every word drained her.
I approached slowly, my focus split between her and the others battling in the distance. The Cryptic Sun and the Wisest Sun were still engaged in their lethal dance, each maneuver and counter too intricate for the untrained eye to follow. They were playing a game of life and death, and the Cryptic Sun was beginning to crack under the pressure.
His formations were unraveling, faltering against the sheer mastery of the Wisest Sun, whose fingers moved with unfathomable speed—flicking, pulling, and plucking at the fabric of reality.
Occasionally, the Wisest Sun would toss one of my cubes into the fray, disrupting the Cryptic Sun's plans, each cube dismantling portions of the enemy's formation. The Cryptic Sun was forced to retreat further and further, his advantage slipping away like sand through his fingers. The cubes didn't break the entirety of his structures, but they unraveled enough to weaken the base.
And without a solid foundation, everything crumbled.
Meanwhile, the Blue Sun was flying like a comet, her body still humming with the force of her own hammer strike. Her expression was a mix of fury and satisfaction. She had endured the full brunt of her own attack, and now, that rage was being funneled directly into her next target—the short-statured cultivator who had dared to challenge her.
My mind raced, a plan forming. I locked eyes with the Blue Sun, her hammer glowing with untapped energy as she approached her opponent.
"Don't stop swinging your hammer, no matter what happens!" I sent her a message through my divine sense.
She didn't question it. Trusting me implicitly, she surged forward, her hammer already mid-swing.
As he fell to the ground, his eyes locked onto mine one last time, filled with disbelief and horror. And then, just like that, he was gone.
Three pseudo-Heaven Stage cultivators. All eliminated.
The battlefield grew eerily silent for a moment as the dust settled. The Blue Sun, her hammer still humming with energy, glanced at me with a smirk.
"That was... satisfying," she said, her voice echoing through the now-quiet space.
I let out a long breath, and my muscles finally relaxed after the chaos. "Yeah. That was something."
But there was no time to celebrate. I turned my attention back to the Cryptic Sun, who was still engaged in his desperate battle against the Wisest Sun.
The Cryptic Sun's face was a mask of frustration. His formations, no matter how complex or intricate, were being dismantled one after another. The cubes continued their work, learning and adapting with each passing moment, breaking apart his strategies at their core.
"You can't keep up," the Wisest Sun said calmly, his fingers moving in a blur as he manipulated the Laws of the world with practiced ease. "You were never going to win this."
The Cryptic Sun's eyes flickered with desperation, but even he knew it was over. With a final, defeated sigh, he stopped. His formations fizzled out, leaving him standing there, vulnerable and exposed.
"Do you yield?" the Wisest Sun asked, his tone gentle but firm.
For a moment, it looked as though the Cryptic Sun might fight on. His hands twitched, ready to summon one last formation, but then he saw the look in the Wisest Sun's eyes. It wasn't just power—it was inevitability.
There was no escape.
The Cryptic Sun lowered his hands. "I yield."
Yield? Nah, that's never happening. Not with that guy.
Especially after that creepy ass smile that popped up the moment a ringing sound echoed through the Dark Garden. The whole area began vibrating anew as I felt an energy far too disturbing echoing through the entire area.
Something big was happening... and I didn't like it what so ever.