[GARETH VOSS POV]
The scenery before Gareth’s eyes changed without the slightest warning.
One moment he had been leading his team through the ancient mountain range, carefully observing every fluctuation in the surrounding Mana while remaining vigilant, yet in the very next instant the familiar mountains, towering forests, and endless sky had all disappeared, replaced by an endless expanse so empty that it almost resembled a world where only darkness reigned Supreme.
His body reacted long before his thoughts did.
The massive greatsword resting upon his back was instantly drawn as Mana surged throughout every mana veins in his body, while his senses spread outward with enough force to inspect everything within hundreds of kilometers.
But the result was disappointing to say at least, there was nothing around him.
Only an endless place filled with an indescribable emptiness.
This isn’t an illusion. My senses aren’t being deceived, and neither has my perception been altered. I have been forcefully transferred into an entirely different space. Is it some sort of Treasure or a Domain? but how did I not notice any disturbance in the surroundings mana??
Before Gareth could continue analyzing the unfamiliar world surrounding him, his expression subtly changed as an uncomfortable feeling suddenly spread throughout his body, causing him to instinctively circulate his Mana several times before carefully examining every part of himself.
The result immediately caused his heart to sink.
My strength...
It wasn’t that his cultivation had regressed, nor had his Mana disappeared. Rather, every aspect of his existence seemed to be carrying an invisible weight, causing his Mana to circulate sluggishly, his body to feel noticeably heavier, and even the power he could exert to be forcefully restrained by an unknown authority.
Within only a few breaths, Gareth arrived at a conclusion that he found difficult to believe even after personally confirming it several times.
Nearly 30%...
This place is suppressing nearly 30% of my overall combat ability.
For the first time in several centuries...
Gareth genuinely felt astonished.
Throughout nearly two thousand years of cultivation, he had fought numerous God Rank experts, experienced countless Domain clashes, and even survived battles against opponents considerably stronger than himself, yet never had he encountered a Domain capable of reducing his strength to such an absurd extent before the battle had even begun.
Whoever created this place or domain, could not be treated like an ordinary God Rank cultivator.
Only then did Gareth slowly lift his head toward the only other living presence within this endless world.
Standing several hundred meters away was a humanoid figure unlike anything Gareth had ever witnessed throughout his long life.
He possessed a slender, perfectly proportioned physique, his skin carrying a deep violet-black color with a subtle cosmic texture while countless tiny golden symbols flickered across his body like distant stars.
Larger ancient symbols were naturally embedded across the backs of his hands, shoulders and legs, while his pure white hair gently drifted despite the complete absence of wind.
Gareth’s pupils unconsciously narrowed.
What race... is this?
During the course of his life he had traveled through the Mortal Realm, visited the many places, fought countless Devils upon the battlefields bordering the Abyssal Realm, and read more ancient records than most organizations possessed, yet not a single memory within his mind matched the existence standing before him.
The thought remained for only a brief instant before Gareth forcefully pushed it aside.
His breathing gradually returned to its usual rhythm and he returned to his calm state.
Ash quietly watched the subtle changes in Gareth’s expression before giving an almost imperceptible nod.
"As expected."
"Someone with your experience isn’t the type to lose his composure simply because the sudden surrounding changes."
Gareth’s grip around the greatsword tightened slightly as his sharp gaze remained fixed upon the mysterious figure standing before him.
"...Who are you?"
A faint smile gradually appeared on Ash’s face.
"I thought your organization had already spent the last week searching every corner of the Realm for me, so I find it rather surprising that the very first question you ask after finally finding me is my identity."
Realization quietly surfaced within Gareth’s eyes.
"...So it truly was you."
Ash gave a slight nod before calmly answering,
"I am the one you people have chosen to call....The Absolute Anomaly."
Ever since the Anomaly Hunter Unit had been established, countless rumors had reached Gareth’s ears claiming that every mysterious disappearance, every missing patrol, and every vanished team had ultimately been the work of the Absolute Anomaly.
Even so, Gareth had never fully accepted those conclusions because they simply contained too many contradictions.
No matter how extraordinary a single individual might be, making thousands of experienced cultivators disappear without leaving behind even the slightest clue was something he had always considered practically impossible.
Yet reality had now unfolded directly before his own eyes.
The incomprehensible Domain surrounding him, together with the existence standing several hundred meters away whose appearance matched no known race recorded anywhere within the countless ancient records Gareth had studied throughout his life, had quietly destroyed every remaining doubt lingering within his heart.
Taking a slow breath, Gareth gradually regained the composure expected of someone who had survived centuries upon countless battlefields before calmly asking,
"...What exactly do you want from us?"
Ash couldn’t help letting out a quiet chuckle.
"What do I want?"
His smile remained unchanged as he slowly shook his head.
"I believe you’ve mistaken the roles here."
"I was living peacefully without provoking anyone, yet somehow the entire Realm suddenly decided that I had become an enemy who needed to be hunted down. Organizations that had never met me declared me a threat, countless cultivators accepted missions to kill me without questioning why they had been issued in the first place, and now, after all of that, you stand before me asking what I want."
Ash’s rainbow eyes quietly met Gareth’s.
"I merely chose to return the same courtesy."
"If the entire Realm believes it has the right to hunt a single individual simply because he exists, then that same individual should naturally possess the right to hunt the Realm in return."
Every word was spoken calmly.
There was no hatred or rage in those words, but the calmness behind those words alone caused Gareth to feel an indescribable chill quietly crawl across his back, because he could clearly tell that the person before him genuinely believed every word he had spoken.
Gareth slowly tightened his grip upon the hilt of his greatsword.
"...Does that mean you’ve already decided to fight every one of us to the death?"
This time...
Ash openly laughed.
It was simply the laugh of someone who had just heard something unexpectedly amusing.
"Us?"
He looked at Gareth with an amused expression.
"There is no ’us.’"
"Your team....is already dead."
The instant those words fell...
Eight bodies suddenly appeared between the two of them before crashing heavily against the ground one after another.
-BANG!!!
The sound of flesh colliding against the empty world echoed with unsettling clarity.
Fresh blood gradually spread beneath the motionless corpses.
Gareth’s breathing unconsciously stopped.
His gaze instinctively swept across every fallen body before finally coming to a halt upon Leon Hart.
The young Half-Elven swordsman...
The same young man Gareth had watched mature throughout decades of service within the Transcendent Circle, personally recommending him for the Anomaly Hunter Unit because he believed Leon possessed both the talent and temperament to survive its dangers...
Now lay motionless in a pool of his own blood.
For a long moment...
Gareth simply stared.
His fingers gradually tightened around the hilt of his greatsword until faint cracking sounds echoed from the reinforced metal beneath the overwhelming force of his grip, while countless arcs of blue lightning began dancing uncontrollably across his body.
When he finally lifted his head once more, the calmness that had accompanied him throughout this entire encounter had completely disappeared, replaced by eyes stained crimson with uncontrollable fury.
"You..."
His voice trembled ever so slightly beneath the overwhelming rage.
"...You bastard!!"
An overwhelming surge of Lightning Mana suddenly erupted from Gareth’s body, causing countless blue arcs of electricity to spread wildly in every direction as the empty world trembled beneath the violent fluctuations.
"You slaughtered people who couldn’t even fight back..."
His voice had become noticeably deeper than before, while the calmness that had accompanied him throughout the encounter was gradually replaced by undisguised fury.
"I don’t know whether this entire conflict began because of us or because of you, and at this point I no longer care. What I do know is that eight people who trusted me to bring them back alive are now lying dead before my eyes, and as their captain, I have no intention of leaving this place until one of us falls."
The surrounding Lightning Mana suddenly became even more violent.
" Domain Expansion... "
The words echoed throughout the endless world as an enormous amount of Lightning Mana burst from Gareth’s body before rapidly spreading in every direction.
" Lightning Sovereign Domain. "
BOOOOOM!!
Dark storm clouds instantly gathered above the endless expanse while countless bolts of lightning descended from the heavens, transforming the previously empty world into a sea of roaring thunder.
Rivers of crackling lightning spread across the ground, illuminating the darkness with an endless blue radiance as Gareth’s Domain forcefully expanded, attempting to overwrite everything belonging to the Cradle of Endless Worlds .
The two Domains collided almost immediately.
-THURMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!
The authority of two completely different worlds silently clashed against one another, each attempting to establish itself as the absolute ruler of the surrounding space.
The boundary separating the two Domains refused to remain still.
One moment the endless storm occupied the surrounding space, filling the world with roaring thunder and endless lightning.
The very next moment, the silent emptiness reclaimed everything once again, erasing the storm as though it had never existed.
Back and forth.
Again and again.
The surrounding landscape continuously shifted between two completely different worlds while the space separating both Domains twisted violently beneath the pressure generated by their collision.
Neither side managed to completely suppress the other.
The Cradle of Endless Worlds , despite having existed for less than a single day, stubbornly resisted every attempt to overwrite its existence, refusing to surrender even the smallest fragment of its territory, while Gareth’s Lightning Sovereign Domain , tempered through centuries of cultivation and countless life-and-death battles, steadily pressed forward with unwavering momentum, slowly reclaiming more and more of the battlefield until the balance quietly began tilting in his favor.
The advantage he had wasn’t overwhelming.
In fact, it was so small that had either of them relaxed for even an instant, the outcome might have become completely different.
Yet...
A slight advantage was still an advantage.
As the violent fluctuations gradually settled, Gareth’s Domain finally established itself as the dominant Domain, pushing the Cradle of Endless Worlds back by the narrowest of margins.
Almost immediately, Gareth felt the invisible burden suppressing his body noticeably lessen as the circulation of Mana throughout his body became considerably smoother than before, yet after carefully sensing the changes within himself, his expression failed to improve in the slightest.
Only fifteen percent...
Even after winning the Domain Clash, nearly fifteen percent of my strength is still being suppressed.
Standing opposite him, Ash naturally noticed the subtle change in Gareth’s aura.
He immediately understood that the suppression had weakened from thirty percent to fifteen percent.
Even so, his expression remained completely unchanged.
The Domain I created using the knowledge of the Runes was able to stand almost on equal footing against the Domain of an Initial God Rank cultivator who had spent centuries tempering and refining it.
That alone is more than enough.
There wasn’t the slightest trace of disappointment within Ash’s eyes.
On the contrary, the outcome had only strengthened his confidence, because he knew better than anyone that the Cradle of Endless Worlds had only just been born.
It was nothing more than the first step upon a path that would continue growing alongside his Inner Universe, becoming stronger with every new world he created and more Runes he comprehended.
The two of them quietly looked at one another across the half empty and half lightning filled region, neither making the first move as endless thunder continued roaring overhead.
The clash between their Domains had come to an end.
The true clash....was only just about to begin.
*****