Chapter 662 Clash Within The Domain
"You…"
As Rey's defiant voice rang out in the hall, the Oracle's neutral face depicted a light frown. She furrowed her brows, causing creases to appear on her face while staring hard at the defiant human.
"... You weren't given a choice in the matter."
~ZZZTZ!~
All of a sudden, a glitchy effect manifested around Rey—almost as though space itself was collapsing on him.
However, within the fraction of a moment, he removed himself from that position and teleported a few meters from the spatial disturbance.
Swiftly turning his face from the glitch to The Oracle, he could already deduce what had just happened.
"Tch." Her clicking tongue added more to his suspicions.
"You just tried to evict me by force, didn't you?" Rey asked, a deep glare forming on his face as he began to address The Oracle with enmity.
"Yes. Your purpose here has been consummated, and you have become an eyesore."
Rey gritted his teeth as he watched The Oracle's condescending gaze upon him. A lot of emotions swirled within him, including a certain tinge of regret.
'I shouldn't have brought Esme here. I knew something was shady from the start, but if I could have known it was this bad, then…' He briefly glanced at Esme, who was busy sighing and shaking her head.
"Rey, just stop."
Despite hearing her saying those words to him, he just couldn't stop and listen.
'I know I'm being selfish, Esme. But… we need to talk about this at length first. This is all just happening too fast. We could be making the wrong call here…'
Rey wondered if he was the one being unreasonable? He just didn't want to quickly abandon their bond the moment they found something convenient.
Was that so bad?
Yet, the glares he received from both sides—Esme and The Oracle—somehow told him he was in the wrong.
"If you stubbornly choose to remain here, then…"
Rey's full attention returned to The Oracle as soon as he heard this, but once he turned to her location, she was nowhere to be found.
It was almost as though every trace of her had been removed.
"... You leave me no choice."
Once Rey heard that voice, his instincts screamed at him, and he obeyed them instantly.
~WHOOSH!~
Like a bolt of lightning, he dashed away from his position, only to find it exploding a tiny moment later.
~BOOOOOOOOOM!~
No debris or shard flew in any direction, but the loud explosion caused the entire area to tremble violently. 'Damn… what an impact.' Rey couldn't afford to think, as he swiftly left his position once again, only for blasts to appear in those positions that he abandoned.
He kept doing this, trying to sense patterns in the explosions in an attempt to deduce how they worked. He also strained his eyes very hard to seek out The Oracle.
'With my Divine Form, I should be able to at least detect her with my senses. My Eyepatch is off too, so my perception is at its peak right now. Yet… why can't I see anything?'
He also couldn't understand where the explosions were coming from.
He just kept racing away to avoid the destruction that would certainly not be very pleasant to experience.
~BOOOOOOOOOM!!!~
What Rey didn't understand at the moment was that there was no use searching for The Oracle and the cause of the explosions.
They were one and the same.
"Your attempts are futile." He heard a word whisper into his ear, and a hand held his shoulder very softly.
'H-huh…?'
~BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!~
At that moment, a loud explosion enveloped the area where Rey stood, causing him to fall to his knees in a mere instant.
"G-gahh…!" He felt pain, but it swiftly disappeared thanks to his Class Privileges.
His rational mind instantly entered overdrive as he struggled to make sense of everything and find an escape from the situation he found himself in.
'She wasn't hiding or anything. The reason I wasn't able to pick her up with my eyes was because she was simply moving too fast!'
Anytime she stopped moving, an explosion would occur, which Rey constantly avoided.
Until now, that is.
"Simply yield. There doesn't have to be any sort of conflict here, Rey Skylar." The Oracle sounded like she couldn't be bothered by Rey's resistance.
She was much stronger than he was, and her experience most likely dwarfed his. The only thing he had going for him was his tenacity and stubbornness.
But even those… how far could they really take him?
"I am not leaving here without Esme!" He growled, once again vanishing from his kneeling position before The Oracle could send him back to the Shrine.
"You're not going to get rid of me that easily."
Heaving, as if he was out of breath, Rey recognized he had to take the current match completely seriously if he was ever going to win—or even survive.
'She's much stronger than that Divine Beast. I'm lucky that she doesn't want to kill me, but that doesn't mean I should get complacent about this…'
Once Rey resolved this within himself, he decided to go all out.
The first thing he activated was [Divine Power Ascension], which ended up boosting his Stats to a heightened degree. He went on to include all the other Buff Skills he recently obtained from the Monsters he killed very recently.
As he expected, they only caused a small increase in his Stats, but their effects stacking up meant that he was good to go.
'Emil, I'll be needing your assistance here!'
~Understood, Master!~
While Emil didn't have the Skills he stockpiled in his [Doppel], she could replicate parts of other Monsters and replicate their abilities—making her a perfect partner in such a situation.
'I'd say we are both stalemated on the Magic front, so that's canceled. Using [Perfect Divine Ray] might cause her to get very lethal with me, since it's a kill move. I don't want her to get too serious…'
Rey could tell that the reason he was getting so much leeway was because she underestimated him.
He had to keep it that way.
'We both have the ability to control our domains, so while I can't possess everything here, I'll use [Perfect Domain Of The Divine] to create a considerable space around me for the purpose of overall mobility and also to help me out in combat.'
Rey still wasn't done with his assessment.
'My defense and regeneration are both in the SS-Tier, and with pain being mitigated to the point of nigh-nullification, I should be able to actually withstand some of her attacks while dealing counters.'
Then, if he was to focus on benefits, he had [Perfect Divine Martial Supremacy], [Perfect Divine Form], and [Perfect Divine Adaptability] in his arsenal. Playing his cards well, he could find a way to somewhat keep up with The Oracle if he dragged things out for long enough.
Of course, all of this was on the premise that she wouldn't take him too seriously.
'[Unbreakable], along with my other related Skills, makes up for my lack of durability compared to her. But, with those pure Stats she just has the superior speed.'
Rey, no doubt, had the better set of Skills for combat. But… so what?
From what Dagon showed Rey, Skills were pretty meaningless if one was up against an enemy that was too strong to be bothered by them.
'I should focus on perhaps wearing her as thin as possible, then escaping this place with Esme. If I can learn more about that [Clairvoyance], and even gain some Skills from her through [Doppel], that would also be good. Still, the primary goal is to secure… Es…. me…?'
Rey's eyes bulged the moment he realized something very fatal.
'Where is Esme?!' He looked around like a crazed man, but found no sign of her in the slightest. His heart raced quickly, but soon calmed down. Beads of sweat formed on his face, but they disappeared in no time.
His eyes twitched as he felt restlessness try to overtake his ability to remain calm.
… All to no avail.
"Seems you finally noticed." The Oracle said.
She stood a distance from him, her regal outfit still shimmering beautifully as it accentuated her purity and grace.
"WHAT DID YOU DO?" Rey asked, gritting his teeth as he clenched his fist.
"Kept her somewhere isolated and safe… away from you."
"You…"
"Why do you stand in the way of her happiness and your goals? It makes no sense…"
"Let me talk to her."
"...."
Rey was on the verge of breaking down as he bowed his head, his clenched fist loosening as he sighed heavily. "Please…" The murmur slowly escaped his lips, and as he raised his eyes, he pleaded for mercy.
Rey didn't care if he had to kneel, prostrate, or beg a million times.
He just wanted to talk to Esme. But—
"No."
~WHUUUSH!~
That instant, several golden blades appeared all around Rey Skylar—all of them a product of [Divine Weapon Creation]—as he glared at The Oracle with desperate rage.
"I won't ask again!"