BOOM…!!!
The void between them trembled.
Alexander narrowed his eyes and then waved his right hand, his essence pouring out like a raging tide.
The first collision was his loss, taken aback by the brutality of the initial impact. The combined wills of the corrupted Enforcers crushed and ate into his domain with ruthless momentum.
'Not again.'
Behind Alexander materialised a giant, radiant ring that spun like a vortex. With its appearance came a spiral influx of void energy rapidly converted at breakneck speed.
His reserves were not going to be enough.
'Barely a second has passed, but more than half my reserve is gone.' Alexander thought to himself, feeling a bit of strain on his core. 'No matter… I'm putting an end to this madness. Their presence is too abhorrent.'
There was something about this fight that reminded him of his battle with the Hulmite. Unlike the Hulmite's inability to use his domain to the fullest, Alexander was different.
Thinking back to that fight, he realised it had to do with the power of his will.
Despite the Hulmite's attempts to weaken Alexander in all aspects, the Hulmite could not impose his weaker will on a much stronger one.
"Impressive, Alexander!" Azarion yelled with a crazed look. "But you're only one being!"
Following that declaration, eight of the fourteen Enforcers broke away and closed in on Alexander's domain, layering themselves with thick auras of corrupted essence.
Without hesitation, they pierced into Alexander's domain, their essence acting as a corroding agent.
"Bold of you to step into my space." Alexander maintained his calm demeanour as he split his focus into several units, each unit focusing on one Enforcer.
His eyes glowed a dominant white as he spoke. "But your essence won't make a difference here."
The Enforcers ignored his words, pushing forward with confident grins. The clash of essence had revealed something to them: Alexander had somehow matched their combined wills!
It was an impossibility that made no sense at all. But that was it; they were matched, alike in power.
However, there was more than one category in which they were superior: they had the numbers and the strength.
As long as they pushed through and reached him, they could corrupt the Deviant Veilwalker, turning him into one of them, or at least that was the intent.
Their ruthless momentum as they pushed through Alexander's domain came to an abrupt halt when the surrounding void grew exceedingly heavy, akin to moving through tar. But that was just the beginning of their troubles.
Their senses had been severely hindered, pushed back until it was barely a few meters from their bodies.
The eyes became their only alternative within the domain, and no sooner had they come to a halt than they spotted Alexander split himself into eight bodies.
"!!"
Before they could even react, eight extremely condensed spears of light were already on them, their speed akin to instant teleportation.
Although the perceptions of the Enforcers remained strong, their reactions were delayed.
The spears of light tore through their auric shields, each unit of distance covered neutralising the corrupted essence... rejecting it.
By the time the spears made contact with the bodies of the Enforcers, most of their condensed mass had been devoured, barely left with a thread.
But that was enough.
SCREECH…!
An uncharacteristic screech of pain escaped the Enforcers, sounding no different to the void creatures.
The spears carved out an opening for the second round of light spears to cut through unimpeded.
It was an extremely thin opening that lasted barely a picosecond, but a picosecond rightly used.
With Alexander's Nexis Radiant's neutralising power set as high as possible, the light spears pierced and embedded themselves into the Enforcers.
Unfortunately for them, that was the first of many piercings Alex prepared for them.
SCREECH…!
The corrupted Enforcers had seen only one spear, but that did not mean there was only one.
Alexander could express his will however he wished; he decided how things played inside his domain.
All eight Enforcers who had charged into Alexander's domain with unbridled confidence now resembled trembling porcupines, as light spears went through their whole bodies.
The corrupted essence around them reacted to neutralise the damage, but the spears never stopped coming in.
As fast as they disappeared, new ones took their place. And with the void inside Alex's domain locked down, the Enforcers could barely move.
"This is the power of my will…" All eight Alexanders looked in the direction of the remaining Enforcers, raising their right hands. "We are nothing alike."
At the end of those words, eight simultaneous snaps rang out.
BOOM…!!!
For a brief moment, the corrupted Enforcers trapped within Alexander's domain lit up like radiant suns, overwhelmingly bright; the dark essence was utterly overwhelmed and consumed.
When the light died down, nothing remained where the Enforcers once occupied.
"..."
Alexander's other bodies dissolved moments after the flash disappeared, and he calmly stared at the shocked and dumbfounded expressions of the remaining Enforcers, inwardly surprised at himself.
Azarion and his companions could not make sense of what was happening. Alexander wasn't dealing with a passive essence. His opponents were faster and more powerful than he was.
So how?
"You are an anomaly, Alexander…"
"Your abilities surpass our expectations…"
Alexander had no intention of explaining himself to the Enforcers. The Enforcers were merely puppets corrupted with an abhorrent essence.
They were never expressing their own wills, merely projecting theirs through the corrupted essence.
'But Zauren should be a different matter…' Alexander deduced. 'Unlike these morons, Zauren has an actual black core fused into his existence. That might also be why they were able to hide among the Enforcers without being spotted.'
Unfortunately for them, it meant they were vulnerable to Alexander's essence, even if they appeared to be matched.
Moreover, invading his domain was their biggest mistake when he was not holding back.
The others had realised this, and that was why they hadn't made any other moves. Clashing with their domains would get them nowhere, as they were apparently matched.
ROAR…!!!
KREE…!!
Multiple pained beast cries, louder than before, drew their attention.
Glancing in the way of the cries, Alexander and the corrupted Enforcers spotted the other Enforcers battling the void creatures, returning from wherever their fight led them.
The beast Enforcers were no longer holding back, having transformed into their beast forms to unleash all their might.
With sizes surpassing Supermassive stars, the void creatures looked like ants in comparison.
Even so, the void creatures were pushing the Enforcers back with unrivalled momentum. Alexander counted fewer Enforcers than before.
'Either they are out of the range of our senses, have abandoned the fight, or are dead.'
Alexander's assessment was not baseless, as some of the Enforcers were fighting more than one void creature, taking massive damage that tore through their bodies like a hot knife through butter.
They were being suppressed, considerably so.
Looking at the frantic movements of the Enforcers, Alexander instantly understood their intent, not that he blamed them. Those void creatures were not holding back at all.
Moments after their resounding cries, all the Enforcers managed to create brief openings that allowed them to escape their opponents.
In a flash, they plunged into Alexander's domain without hesitation.
The void creatures they were battling, on the other hand, came to an abrupt halt as soon as the Enforcers entered Alexander's domain.
They remained right at the boundaries, facelessly staring at the heavily breathing Enforcers.
Menacing growls with blazing eyes stared back at the void creatures as the Enforcers took the moment to recover, the surrounding void energy being drawn into their bodies at speeds visible to the naked eye.
Had they been regular beings, they would have been bleeding profusely.
Once the Enforcers were sure the creatures had no intention of breaking into the domain, they turned around to face the being they were shamelessly taking refuge from.
Alexander focused on one of the giant golden dragons, recognising the light in those draconic eyes.
The dragon had many of his scales blackened and corroding, exposing their inner essence. Although recovering, the process was incredibly slow.
The dragon, Drakmor, held Alexander's gaze in a silent plea.
'Please…'
Alexander heard Drakmor's intent echo through his domain. He glanced at the other Enforcers and saw the same pleading look in their eyes.
Some could not even hold his gaze for long and lowered or turned their gaze away, ashamed at their actions.
Reality was finally setting in for the Enforcers. They had realised that without the Supreme One, only Alexander had the power to clean up their mess.
Those void creatures needed to be defeated before they turned their attention to the rest of reality.
Although they had managed to eliminate a few of them, they had lost a lot more. The help they had called for was not enough either.
When Drakmor and the others looked over to Azarion, they noticed only six of them remained; the others were nowhere to be seen. 'D-Don't tell me he's already killed eight of them!'
The disbelief echoed through their shared connection like lightning, many among the Enforcers staring back and forth at Alexander and their corrupted colleagues.
Try as they might, their senses could not pick up the signature of the others.
'Unbelievable…'
'At this point, we should have already accepted the truth before our eyes.' Calyndra expressed solemnly. 'Alexander is not like us; our standards and understanding should not apply to him. We can only swallow our pride if we want to survive the mess we brought on ourselves.'
'...'
"Hahaha…!!"
Everyone snapped their heads in the direction of the corrupted Enforcers, confusion evident in their eyes. Their laughter did not match the atmosphere at all.
'Are they laughing at our strategic retreat?' An Enforcer asked.
"How adorable…" Azarion's response directly stabbed at the pride of the Enforcers, leaving them embarrassed and humiliated. "You've finally realised the bubble you morons lived in, haven't you?"