Explosions and cutting waves of crescent moonlight reshaped the landscape as Jake and Ell’Hakan battled across the planet’s surface, tearing everything up in their path. Most of it was sand, but there were also plenty of massive rocky plains for them to destroy as Jake constantly redirected Ell’Hakan’s blow away from himself and into the environment, with the nahoom not caring in the slightest as he continually released his rain of starlight shards.
Courtesy of the Void Sphere, none of their destruction was reflected in the real world, and neither did they encounter any other living beings as they continued fighting, the fight having taken on its own tempo. Ell’Hakan had slightly powered up once more despite his state seemingly worsening, making him able to constantly put pressure on Jake.
Not that Jake was losing out much as the battle stayed surprisingly equal for a while, with Jake constantly retreating and forcing Ell’Hakan to give chase to avoid Jake pulling out his bow, as while Ell’Hakan had a slight advantage in melee combat, it was the opposite when distance was established.
Jake did wonder a few times if attacking even mattered much, as despite doing a lot of damage, Ell’Hakan seemed to not care in the slightest. In fact, it seemed to almost make him stronger as despite losing another arm and taking multiple injuries, he simply healed everything immediately using his odd starlight energy. Or, well, considering he called himself the Celestial Child, perhaps calling it celestial energy would be more accurate.
However, Jake soon became confident that despite nothing seemingly changing, his attacks did have an effect. He began to notice that the poison still running through Ell’Hakan’s body began to move differently when it sought to attack his vital energy, almost as if it met obstructions or cut-off paths. Moreover, as Jake focused more on the poison in Ell’Hakan’s body using Sense of the Malefic Viper, he began to notice the small cracks.
Not on any armor or weapons, but on Ell’Hakan’s Soulshape, indicating his soul was breaking apart in real-time, and whenever Jake landed a blow, he only sped up the process. Seeing this, Jake even doubted it for a moment as he questioned how Ell’Hakan could remain so damn blasé about everything. If Jake could detect the massive amounts of soul damage going on, so could Ell’Hakan, right?
Because Jake sure as hell noticed how much his forearm hurt every time he moved it, the damage from being grabbed earlier taking annoyingly long to heal. While it wasn’t enough to negatively affect his combat prowess, it was bad enough to make Jake extremely cautious of ever allowing Ell’Hakan to catch him like that again.
To avoid being caught, Jake had also chosen a very specific direction to move in, as the two of them were rapidly moving toward where the largest population of the nahoom had once presided: the capital city.
He planned on using the area to his advantage, as the nahoom really liked building tall towers and large buildings that should help block many of Ell’Hakan’s attacks, while Jake felt confident that these obstacles would instead only lead to more of his arrows hitting as he got more opportunities for tricky curving arrows.
Soon enough, the city appeared as they went over a sand hill, Ell’Hakan shooting a beam of moonlight straight through the sand as it was kicked up everywhere during his pursuit. Jake dodged the beam as he shot an arrow that the nahoom decided to dodge, slowing him down slightly and giving Jake a chance to use a few instances of One Step before his opponent turned into a beam of light and pursued once more.He appeared in front of Jake as he unleashed an explosion of starlight that Jake purposefully blocked with a barrier of arcane mana to launch himself toward the city. He was ready to be attacked again, but instead, the nahoom began talking while giving pursuit.
“Even now, it stands proud, a beacon of life and a testament to the power of the nahoom in the middle of the desert,” the Celestial Child spoke, turning his attention briefly toward the capital city Jake was nearly at.
“I do find it appropriate for this to be the site of the battle, and I shall bury you here once you’re dead, erecting a monument to serve as a warning and reminder to all who dare try and walk a similar path to yours.”
“Reminder to whom?” Jake yelled back in between using One Step. “How many did you kill of your own kin already? Are there even any alive to build the monument for you?”
“I did not kill my kin. They simply gave their lives to protect this planet. They know that should I fail to slay you, it will mean the end of this world, your very existence a threat to the universe,” the Celestial Child responded calmly. “You also underestimate the nahoom. We are a hardy race, and even if you had succeeded in your plot of destroying the planet, we would have survived through our kin spread throughout the galaxy. Kin that shall return and help rebuild once you have fallen.”
The confidence of the nahoom was almost impressive, and Jake would have had at least an iota of respect if he didn’t know it stemmed from Ell’Hakan mind-fucking himself into oblivion. He truly was utterly delusional, believing everything he said with genuine conviction as if it were the absolute truth.
While that was pretty damn laughable, Jake also recognized how dangerous it was. Ell’Hakan was effectively closer to an elemental or spirit now with his current body, only hanging on due to the constant influx of faith energy and an insane display of Bloodline-fueled Willpower that could truly only come from someone so broken.
Finally entering the capital city proper, Jake instantly used the many tall towers to his advantage. Ell’Hakan followed, but he seemed in less than a rush. In fact, rather than chasing after Jake directly, he instead flew up into the air. Initially, Jake thought he was doing this to keep better track of Jake, but instead of looking downward to where he would be, the nahoom instead stared directly at the sky.
Up there, the twin moons were still glowing brightly, though neither of them had released any attacks for quite a while. Seeing Ell’Hakan stare at them, Jake just shrugged mentally as he shot an arrow toward him, the nahoom at least aware enough of himself to quickly move and block it.
“Impatient... but very well,” Ell’Hakan said as he turned toward Jake. “You are powerful. More powerful than I had expected you to be, even considering I do not believe I underestimated you. Considering the failing state of my vessel, dragging things out needlessly seems ill-advised... so allow me to hurry things along.”
The Celestial Child held out his arms to each side, and from Jake’s perspective, it looked like he held a moon in each hand. The light behind him suddenly intensified, and Jake’s eyes opened wide as he felt a wave of warmth wash over him right as he was blinded. ṚáN𝘰𝖇Ę𝙨
“Sunrise.”
With a moon in each hand, the Celestial Child looked like he became the sun itself as it rose up behind him, joining the twin moons in the sky, all shining brightly. Jake was instantly assaulted by the heat as it mixed with the coldness of the moonlight from before.
A massive maelstrom of faith energy swirled around the newly formed sun, feeding it some of all the energy Ell’Hakan couldn’t absorb. This skill usage had clearly sped up the nahoom’s demise further, but despite that, this wasn’t a good thing for Jake... far from it.
Rather than this “sunrise” making the sun start by actually being a sunrise, it appeared already mostly risen immediately, the heat it gave off also representing this. Jake’s scales were immediately put under extreme pressure as the heat of the sun began to burn Jake, and despite the sun still not being at its highest point yet, things were already worse than when he’d fought against this skill last time...
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Because despite the rising sun, the moons hadn’t gotten any weaker. In fact, it appeared to be quite the opposite.
The moonlight had been changed slightly in nature as the coldness was gone. Even the element of death had disappeared, with both of them entirely replaced with the concept of stillness, said concept having been amplified as the moonlight lost its other properties.
This resulted in Jake’s body not only being burnt, but he also felt himself get slower as the moonlight sought to immobilize him. The Celestial Child had effectively activated a double domain, and right now, the only saving grace was that Jake had a moment to adapt as the Celestial Child didn’t look like he could move freely while keeping the skill ac-
A beam of light appeared in front of Jake as Ell’Hakan appeared, even his physical body now reflecting his rapidly deteriorating soul as white cracks had appeared throughout, revealing glittering starlight inside the fissures in his body. Jake saw these fissures but didn’t have time to consider them more as he desperately moved his katars to block the trident bathed in starlight that swung for him.
Jake was launched back upon impact, the celestial energy searing into his flesh as it penetrated the already weakened scales. His opponent instantly followed up, and because Jake couldn’t move as he wanted due to the moonlight, he failed to fully block as he received a cut to one of his forearms.
He tried to make some distance and make use of the city’s layout, but he was simply too slow now to get away fast enough. Jake was pushed back repeatedly as he tried to minimize injuries, the only harm he did to Ell’Hakan stemming from the few times some of Jake’s toxic blood splurted on him.
Every wound Jake received was infected with the celestial affinity, burning into his soul along with his body, not to mention the fact having his scales broken by the trident strikes made the actual sun also burn him, worsening his injuries.
This can’t go on, Jake thought desperately as he kept being pressured, only getting a minor break after being blasted through a large stone tower, which temporarily gave him cover as it crumbled down around him.
The double domain was too much to deal with, and Jake tried to fight back as he kept resisting it with Pride of the Malefic Viper. However, the skill simply wasn’t strong enough to keep up. While it did allow him to more easily impose his will upon the world around him, Jake still had to actively use it to resist.
Pride allowed him to more easily summon mana into the air all around him, and while he did try to use his arcane affinity to stabilize the space, the combined powers of the sun and moonlight were just too difficult to battle at the same time. Especially while also dealing with a physically more powerful nahoom currently burning his own soul while swinging a star-wrapped trident around.
His only real way to fight back was to try and adapt on the fly to the domain. His scales were admittedly doing a wonderful job, and without them, Jake would have been completely and utterly fucked. The scales did also help analyse all the energy they absorbed, giving Jake some level of insight into the kind of magic he was dealing with, but proper analysis and discovery of a way to counteract it would take long... way too long.
Ell’Hakan exploded through the falling debris of the falling tower, stabbing Jake, who was still trying to deal with the domain. Failing to fully block once more, Jake was sent spinning toward the ground as he smashed through a multi-story house and into the ground, the impact of hitting the house actually hurting as the buildings were constructed by Builders who had strengthened all the materials used significantly.
Getting up quickly, Jake barely teleported away in time, only to be struck in the back half a second later by a beam of starlight blasting him down a long street and through another five houses before he landed on the dusty street once more, rolling several times.
Punching the ground, Jake caused an explosion of arcane energy, launching him upwards with his back blistering and burning from a combination of the beam of starlight and powerful sunlight.
If not for this damn domain... Jake cursed as he was forced to dodge another three ranged attacks, Ell’Hakan closing in again.
Usually, the best way to battle a domain was with one’s own domain... the problem was, Jake didn’t have one. The closest thing he had was Pride, and that wasn’t a real domain skill. It was more of an aura skill than anything else. Domain skills altered the world, while all Jake could do was affect the world just around him by imposing his will, which simply wasn’t enough...
... wait, why wasn’t that enough?
As Jake was once more sent flying through the air, he questioned himself why it wouldn’t be enough? Pride of the Malefic Viper made it easier to control the area all around him, made it easier to summon magic there, and even allowed him to attack anyone within his presence with mental attacks.
Right now, Jake’s presence extended quite far. If he wanted to, he could even make it extend at least dozens of kilometers in every direction, though it likely wouldn’t work to infuse that entire area with mana using Pride. Doing so would also be extremely wasteful, as it all came back to the importance of scope versus intensity.
That’s when Jake got his idea to fight back. Right now, he had his presence extend quite a good distance away from himself to fight any ranged attacks, the skill having proven very useful against the falling star shards, but right now, he didn’t need that.
Jake focused as he slowly retracted his own presence, consolidating it. It shrunk from extending a few hundred meters in every direction to less than a hundred, then fifty, forty, thirty, twenty... Jake kept retracting his presence until it was only in a five or so meter radius all around him.
Right as Ell’Hakan closed in again, trident raised and ready to strike, Jake made his gamble. Activating all his Willpower, Jake focused on Pride of the Malefic Viper as he imposed his will upon the world in his immediate surroundings.
Rather than try to make his own domain, Jake did just the opposite... he willfully expelled any domains. Leaning into the concept of Pride itself, Jake simply didn’t allow any domain to affect the area his presence had already laid its claim on, arrogantly only allowing his own magic to exist there.
Jake felt his mind be strained as he pushed his Willpower further than usual, the double domain fighting back against what Jake was trying to do. Blood began to drip from Jake’s nose as he strained himself too much... but soon, it was replaced with a wave of confidence as he felt his body lighten up and the moonlight’s effect on his body severely lessen, making him know he’d succeeded. The extra Willpower also instantly became useful, Jake instantly feeling he got it as he barely had to even check the notification.
Skill upgraded : [Pride of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)] --> [Pride of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)]
Ell’Hakan’s attack arrived just then, but Jake could move again. He dodged it significantly faster than before, taking the nahoom by surprise as Jake landed a counterattack by stepping forward and quickly jabbing his opponent in the chest.
The Usurper stumbled back and swung to counter, but Jake was faster as he kept pace and landed another stab, dodged the swing, and stabbed one more time for good measure, every attack of his resulting in even more cracks forming across Ell’Hakan’s already rapidly breaking down body and soul.
“Even now, you grow stronger,” the Celestial Child said as he dodged back from one of Jake’s attacks.
“Wouldn’t feel right if you were the only one,” Jake smiled, using his newly improved Pride to manifest magic all around him as hundreds of arcane bolts appeared instantly. At the same time, he also finally consumed a health potion to try and better his current state.
He had taken quite the pummeling, leading to wounds covering his entire body, most of them burning with celestial energy. The vital energy instantly flooded his body and began to heal him, the nahoom in front either not noticing or not caring.
“Perhaps it wouldn’t, and it does prove you are worthy of being recognized as my adversary,” the Celestial Child responded right as the sun above flashed, a massive laser of pure light descending as the nahoom charged again. Jake quickly released his mana bolts, sending them flying in an unpredictable swarm as he dove forward.
Dodging the sunbeam, Jake clashed with Ell’Hakan yet again, the nahoom no longer taken by surprise from Jake successfully nullifying most of the two domains’ effect on him. To clarify, Jake was still burning through mana to resist it, and even then, some of it continued to leak through. The effect was just so much less now, and his scales could handle it for the most part.
As Jake and Ell’Hakan crossed weapons, their magic also met all around them, arcane energy clashing with celestial magic as they rapidly tore through the capital city. Jake occasionally got the opportunity to create distance and use the environment as he had originally planned, but Ell’Hakan was equally quick to adapt as he was rarely taken by surprise.
Somehow, the fight had moved to seeming equal again, almost having turned into a battle of endurance. Jake was burning through his resources quickly to keep up with the stronger Ell’Hakan, while Ell’Hakan was burning through his very existence. Jake had long stopped holding anything back, even using another two Eternal Shadows to dodge while landing solid counterattacks, despite the increasing cost of using the skill consecutively.
Both of them had to know the fight was nearing its end, with Jake only having one burning question in his mind... did the Celestial Child have any more tricks up his sleeve?
Because Jake almost hoped he did... this desire soon to be realized.