Chapter 368

‘In his previous life, the Wraith had reached the level of a 9-Star True Demon King not long before.’

At the 9-Star transcendence stage, unless the very laws themselves were nullified, there was no way to intervene.

“Step back for a moment. I’ll handle this.”

[Hmm?]

The Wraith responded with interest.

There was no flicker of caution—only an air that seemed to say, “Go ahead, show me what you’ve got.”

[No matter how much you struggle, it will be futile. You might as well feel your helplessness. Sink deeper into despair.]

“Well, that sounds like something you’ll be experiencing.”

[!!]

Christian stepped forward.

At the same time, his domain began to unfurl smoothly.

The Seven-Color Dominion.

A powerful territory, but still insufficient to break through the current situation.

Yet Christian’s reaction was baffling.

Without a trace of fear, he twisted his lips into a confident smirk.

“Let’s see about that.”

A brilliant burst!

His domain expanded explosively, as if darkness itself was about to shatter.

Within the darkness, the shimmering seven colors began to shift.

Growing larger, they transcended mere starlight, radiating a dazzling spectrum of colors that blazed brilliantly against the void.

Light belonging to darkness, light belonging to light—none were excluded.

At the pinnacle was darkness that embraced all light.

A newly attained domain born from his achievement.

The Sovereign of All Ages.

There was a reason Christian had completed the realm of Sacred Radiance before mastering Dark Magic.

By allowing darkness to encompass a perfectly established worldview of Sacred Radiance, he elevated the rank of darkness itself.

Light and darkness are everything in the world. In other words, Christian’s darkness had effectively come to rule the world.

What this meant was clear:

He could dominate even the laws established by his opponent.

“Disappear.”

Christian pointed at Robinson.

Crash!

The sound of something breaking echoed.

Christian’s domain had shattered the Wraith’s laws!

[!!]

The Wraith showed a shocked reaction, while Robinson, who had fallen to the ground, roughly pulled out the nails embedded in his body.

“Wraith, I’ll kill you!!”

“Father!!”

Blinded by rage, Robinson charged recklessly at the Wraith.

Domain.

Bloodstorm unleashed.

A tempest of blood that brought nothing but destruction swept through, with Idrinne following closely, lending her strength.

Domain.

Firebrand.

Flames of blood flickered.

A sacred karmic fire that bestowed glory upon allies and ruin upon enemies.

Idrinne didn’t stop there.

Domain fusion.

She merged Robinson’s domain with her own.

Normally, domain fusion was a feat only possible at the 8-Star level or higher—and even then, it involved harmonizing two of one’s own domains. Combining two fundamentally different domains belonging to different people was unheard of.

But true to her monstrous reputation, recognized by Christian, she pulled off the impossible with ease.

The difficulty was extreme, and the power unleashed was incomparable to before.

Domain fusion.

Bloodstorm’s karmic fire.

The blood tempest surged, carrying the karmic flames.

Destruction and sanctity flickered simultaneously.

At that moment, the Wraith began to move.

Click.

Suddenly, the sound of droplets falling echoed.

A strange occurrence.

Though the karmic flames raged as if to overturn the world, the faint sound penetrated everyone’s ears with startling clarity.

Click. Click. Click.

The dripping was rhythmic.

As if detached from the world itself.

What was even stranger was that the sound seemed to grow louder.

No, that was wrong.

The dripping sound remained the same.

It was the heightened sensitivity of their senses that made it feel louder.

Now, as if thunder exploded in their ears, every nerve focused on the dripping, and the Wraith’s domain was fully deployed.

Domain.

Abyssal Corrosion.

Simply put, a debuff power.

It made the opponent hypersensitive to curses, so that even the same curse would inflict fatal damage.

But that wasn’t all.

Abyssal Corrosion was just the prelude; another domain unfolded.

Boom.

Suddenly, their vision shifted.

In a gray world, faint restless souls floated.

A horrific sound echoed.

Kyaaaaaaak!

Stop. Stop.

Just kill me already.

The screams of those sacrificed to the Wraith.

Even the scream of the sculptor who had recently been slain by Christian could be heard.

This was the worldview the Wraith had established: The Screams of Agony.

The cries of these restless souls became the source of the Wraith’s power.

[I’m curious what kind of screams you will make.]

At the Wraith’s gesture, the gray magic shimmered.

A curse was unleashed.

It wasn’t a high-level curse.

A 4-Star general curse that inflicted pain to break down the opponent.

But combined with the Wraith’s domain, The Screams of Agony, this curse could no longer be called ordinary.

Kyaaaaaaaak!

Stop! Please stop!!! Please!!!

The power of the curse amplified alongside the souls’ screams.

Even Idrinne and Robinson, both 8-Star, felt a chill run down their spines.

And that wasn’t all.

The previously unleashed Abyssal Corrosion had made their senses extremely sensitive.

If they were to receive that curse now, they wouldn’t be able to endure—it would break them.

[Don’t worry. I won’t kill you. I can’t end this as soon as the feast begins. Look forward to the pain you will endure.]

Flash.

The curse detonated.

Just as the Wraith twisted his lips into a smile at the impending screams—

An anomaly occurred.

Both Idrinne and Robinson remained unharmed!

[…What?]

An incomprehensible situation.

Had the curse failed to take effect?

No.

The curse had properly settled.

Both of them showed faint grimaces, proof of that fact.

But that was all.

Their reactions were as if they had simply been hit by a 4-Star general curse.

“I told you. You’re the one who will taste helplessness.”

[!!]

An arrogant voice.

Christian’s domain enveloped the two.

“These two are under my protection. There’s no way your domain will sway them.”

The Wraith’s power was by no means inferior to Christian’s.

In fact, objectively speaking, Christian had yet to catch up to the Wraith.

In terms of depth of achievement and sheer power, both.

The problem was compatibility.

‘The Wraith’s domain twists the world and builds his own realm within it.’

In contrast, Christian’s Sovereign of All Ages held the world itself beneath his feet.

By the nature of their powers, Christian’s domain had the upper hand.

Even the world the Wraith had constructed was something the Sovereign of All Ages could bring to his knees.

‘Actually, my domain has a natural advantage over most others. I can even stand against the 9-Star power of Genesis Descent.’

Of course, that didn’t mean he could nullify the Wraith’s domain.

The Wraith had also firmly established his own worldview.

In fact, it was even more solid than that of Hepfelman, the so-called 9-Star Saint Lord Christian had recently defeated.

‘But weakening it? That’s entirely possible.’

A brilliant burst!

Christian’s domain expanded.

It overlapped directly with the Wraith’s Screams of Agony, and the real battle of domains began.

Kraaaah!

With a thunderous clash, darkness and grayness pushed and pulled as if locked in a fierce struggle.

This was no mere contest of strength.

The meanings embedded within each collided, Christian’s will to dominate clashing against the Wraith’s twisted world filled with pain.

‘Not so easy after all.’

Christian’s gaze deepened.

As mentioned before, the meaning of the worldview itself favored Christian.

Honestly, the Wraith’s worldview wasn’t particularly unique.

But the depth of malice within it was as bottomless as an abyss—untouchable by anyone.

‘Still, I have the advantage.’

Slowly, steadily, Christian’s domain began to consume the Wraith’s.

Idrinne lent her hand.

“Time to show that wicked bastard the power of our friendship!”

‘…Maybe tone it down a bit.’

Though her words sounded childish and out of place, her skill was unmatched.

Firebrand.

Domain fusion.

She merged her domain with Christian’s.

‘Insane.’

Naturally, the stronger the domains, the harder it was to harmonize and fuse them.

Yet she succeeded effortlessly.

Rumble!

The world of darkness blazed alongside Idrinne’s blood-red flames.

Christian’s will to dominate the world and the noble, sacred flames created a powerful synergy.

Especially since Idrinne’s Firebrand also carried the energy of Pasā, the force that destroys evil.

“Did I do well?!”

“Yeah, you did.”

Christian twisted his lips into a smile.

The battle was tipping.

The Wraith’s domain was pushed far back.

Not only had its range been taken, but its meaning was also damaged.

The suffocating malice was partially diluted, and this time Robinson moved.

“I’ll kill you!!”

Domain skill.

Bloodstorm Rampage variant.

A blood spear bloomed within the storm, flashing like light.

The domain skill, imbued with triple effects—‘unavoidable,’ ‘ignores defense,’ and ‘absorption’—pierced straight through the Wraith’s gray robe.

It hit!

But Robinson’s expression was grim.

“Why isn’t the power activating?”

Absorption.

A power that devours the life force of living beings like a vampire, cutting off their breath.

His absorption power even had ‘absoluteness,’ meaning once it hit, no one could evade it.

Yet there was no reaction.

‘It’s like piercing through an inanimate object? Could it be…?’

At that moment, the Wraith’s robe fluttered.

The face revealed from within was chillingly lifeless.

It gave off a similar vibe to a doll or a moving corpse like an Archlich, but it was different.

It had transcended the laws of the flesh through dark magic.

All the limits—aging, biological functions, injury, sickness, wounds—completely erased.

In other words, though the wraith still possessed a physical body, it was essentially no different from a spirit.

[You put on quite the charming little show.]

“!!”

[Of course, it’s nothing more than a mere performance.]

The wraith raised its hand.

The horrifying screams of the lingering souls echoed once more, even more agonizing than before.

Its energy grew even more intense.

It was incomprehensible.

Surely, the wraith’s domain had been damaged by Chris’s territory, yet it had only grown stronger?

[My dominion thrives on despair, agony, and torment. The more you flaunt your tricks, the more you fuel my power.]

It was absurd.

If the enemy’s destruction of its domain only made it stronger, the wraith was practically invincible.

‘Impressive,’ Chris clicked his tongue.

In truth, he knew very little about the wraith.

They had never crossed paths during the Age of Ruin.

He had only pieced together rumors, but this was far beyond anything he had expected.

[Well then, the little performance is over.]

With a flash, ashen lightning crackled from the wraith’s hand.

The Scythe of Harvest.

A physical curse that severs the opponent’s limbs.

Physical curses become increasingly difficult to activate the more severe the damage inflicted on the body; curses like limb amputation require extremely complex conditions. Yet the wraith bypassed all of that entirely.

[Let’s start with an arm.]