Free Web NovelChapter 169: Chapter 168 : Clash of Domains
Two powers erupted at once.
The world around Arthur and Lucas twisted as their domains unfolded, swallowing the ruined Imperius estate in overlapping tides of authority.
From Lucas, a golden dome expanded outward, radiant and blinding. Its light washed over the battlefield, turning broken stone and blood into something almost sacred. The air inside hummed with dense, swirling currents of energy—fire, lightning, gravity, pure mana—all compressed and layered over each other.
From Arthur, a crimson dome surged up to meet it.
His domain was darker, heavier—a corrupted sky of blood-red clouds and writhing shadows. The ground inside it became an endless, seething sea of blood, waves rising and falling as if the land itself were bleeding.
The two domains collided.
Golden light clashed against crimson gloom.
The impact shook the estate. Warships overhead shuddered as shockwaves rippled outward. Soldiers staggered, some falling to a knee as the opposing pressures crashed against each other.
Inside the golden domain, Lucas’s body shuddered once.
Then every wound he had suffered vanished.
Cracked bones snapped back into place. Torn muscles knitted together. Ruptured veins reconnected. Internal bleeding stopped as if it had never existed. Swollen flesh smoothed, cuts closed, and dried blood flaked away.
In less than a second, he was whole.
Lucas almost collapsed to his knees, gasping for air.
"Fuck..." Lucas muttered under his breath. "I almost died there. I didn’t want to use my domain this early, but that bastard forced me."
He straightened, his chest still heaving, and looked ahead.
His eyes widened.
Arthur’s crimson domain was still rising, pressing against the golden barrier once more.
’He’s unfolding a domain too...? Already?’ Lucas thought. ’Perfect. Let’s see whose world is stronger.’
A smirk tugged at his lips.
’Do you really think you can beat me in a domain battle, little brother?’
Lucas whispered under his breath.
"Unfold... and rip it apart."
His golden domain shifted.
In the next moment, the light within it condensed, swirling toward a singular point in the air before Arthur. It took shape—massive, majestic, and terrifying.
A golden lion emerged. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
It stood taller than the surrounding buildings, its mane made of pure radiance, each strand of golden light crackling like lightning. Its eyes burned with ruthless intelligence, and every step it took made the ground tremble. The pressure it emitted made even seasoned soldiers’ knees shake.
Its roar split the sky.
The sound stabbed into the hearts of the Imperius soldiers—not with fear of the enemy, but with overwhelming pride in their heir.
From the viewing platform, Adrian watched, his expression grim but undeniably impressed.
"He’s gotten stronger than before," Adrian said in a low voice. "He’s already learned to give his domain its most destructive form."
The golden lion was the embodiment of Lucas’s domain—Infinite Flux given shape. Every strand of light on its body was a different type of energy, converged under a single will. It was power made flesh.
The soldiers below began to shout.
"Lucas!"
"Prince Lucas!"
"Our heir!"
Their cheers echoed across the battlefield, feeding the golden domain.
On the other side, Arthur’s domain seethed.
His world was a massive sea of blood that devoured everything it touched. Shards of stone that fell into it dissolved. Stray blasts of mana that drifted too close were swallowed whole, their power absorbed and spread through the crimson waves.
But unlike Lucas’s domain, Arthur’s had no clear form.
Not yet.
The golden lion reared back its head.
Using Lucas’s bloodline ability, it opened its jaws and released a supersonic wave of condensed energy. The blast shredded the air, tearing through what remained of the estate’s structures. It carved a trench through the earth as it hurtled toward the blood sea.
Energy flowed endlessly into the attack.
Inside the lion, Lucas drew upon every type of power his domain could access—kinetic, thermal, spiritual, and dimensional. The supply felt limitless.
The golden lion crashed into the crimson domain.
BOOM.
A deafening explosion ripped through the world.
For a brief moment, red and gold wrestled for dominance in midair. Then the crimson domain cracked.
Arthur’s blood sea shuddered, then shattered. The ocean of blood collapsed, losing cohesion and spilling outward as a rain of scarlet droplets that evaporated before they touched the ground.
The golden light ripped through everything in its path.
When the shockwave faded, Arthur stood amidst the fading remnants of his broken domain, breathing heavily. Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth.
He coughed and spat out a mouthful of crimson, splattering the ground at his feet.
Beside him, Elizabeth clicked her tongue.
’Tch. He’s impressive,’ Elizabeth thought. ’But that Lucas guy... his domain is more refined. Arthur doesn’t have enough experience with his yet.’
She watched the way Arthur’s shoulders rose and fell, the faint tremor in his fingers.
"It looks like I’ll have to intervene after all..." Elizabeth murmured under her breath.
In front of them, the colossal golden lion lowered its head toward Arthur, its eyes filled with brutal amusement.
Inside its radiant body, Lucas laughed.
"You’re just as useless as ever," Lucas said, his voice echoing from within the lion. "And now everyone can see it. I admit it—you’ve gotten stronger. But you’re nowhere near my level."
Golden light flared brighter around the lion’s fangs.
"Now," Lucas said, "it’s time to die."
He prepared to lunge.
Then Arthur’s voice cut through the roar of energy.
"Wait. Wait. Wait."
Jessica exhaled slowly.
"It’s over," she said, resignation in her voice.
Sylvia closed her eyes, unable to watch any longer.
Adrian smiled faintly, and Agnus’s lips curved into a sharper grin. To them, this was the natural conclusion—talent crushed under legacy, anomaly erased by the main line.
Lucas’s grin widened.
"What is it?" Lucas asked. "You finally going to beg for mercy?"
He could feel the eyes of every soldier, officer, and noble watching him. This was his moment. His chance to show the entire world that he alone was worthy of inheriting the Imperius throne—that anyone who stood against him would be destroyed.
"Go on, then," Lucas said. "Looks like you want to beg for forgiveness. Do it. I might spare your worthless life if you—"
"Will you shut your trap for a bit?" Arthur said flatly.
Lucas’s eye twitched.
Arthur glanced around.
The ground. The shattered estate. The blood mist hanging faintly in the air from his collapsed domain. The residue of both domains clinging to reality like a stain.
"Good," Arthur muttered. "It’s everywhere now."
He looked back at Lucas and smiled—a slow, unsettling expression that didn’t reach his eyes.
"Let’s try this again," Arthur said.
Lucas narrowed his eyes.
Arthur raised his hand slightly.
"Domain Devourer."
"Fuck, now that’s a cool name," Arthur said.
Elizabeth froze.
Her breath hitched.
"It can’t be..." she whispered.
Because what began to rise around Arthur was not the formless blood sea from before. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
It was something far more terrifying.
