Chapter 378: Chapter 378 Domain.
A fleeting silence hung in the atmosphere. Luxuria put on her brave front and tried to exert pressure on the boy using her mana. However, all of her efforts were futile before Soma.
Luxuria's eyes shook, and an intense vibration spread through the atmosphere coming out of Soma. Her body shuddered in fear, and she realized that the Charm her subordinates had put on the boy might not work.
Her vision distorted, and brilliant crimson of lightning began to envelop the figure of the boy who was dead set on killing her. All the decorations she had put blasted away and dissipated into fine dust as they entered her body, for her magic created them.
Feeling alarmed, Luxuria hurriedly stretches her hands together in front while interlocking her fingers, preparing something.
Soma, on the other hand, had already pulled off his strongest enhancement, "Martial Saint First techniques," which he devised on his own. Then, he put his stance firm on the ground, wary and ready to lunge at the enemy in front of him.
However, faster than he could act, a blackish-purple mana circle surrounded them on four sides as it gleamed ominously, leaking out black miasma that contorted Soma's face because of its foul odor.
"This is!?".
From the view he caught, Soma noticed a certain spell that Luxuria had created as a means to protect herself as one of the weakest of the Demon Lords subordinates.
Luxuria opened her palms together, then with a determined expression and a firm image of her spell, she clenched both palms tightly as they bled, leaving a drop of blood in the magic circles.
"Domain Magic-...".
Her voice was solemn and chill, while her sharp eyes glinted in a firm stance.
"I wouldn't let you!, What!?".
"Asmodeous Lair!".
Before Soma could do anything, her spell was complete, and the magic circles cried in shrill agony, spinning counterclockwise and radiating an intimidating aura that attacked the trapped person's mentality.
The world before Soma's vision distorted for a moment; a crack appeared, and then a massive black maw swallowed everything within his sight. He was trapped inside Luxuria's Original magic, 'Domain Magic Asmodeous Lair.'
After Luxuria trapped someone who was far greater than her in terms of strength, she couldn't hold herself properly. Legs turned soft, and her body flopped to the empty ground, gasping for breath.
The magic consumed more mana than she ever thought, indicating that the boy standing before her earlier was stronger than her.
However, Luxuria had a brain she polished for over millennia, searching for an attempt to deal with a figure stronger than her and come up with a solution to trap them into an endless complicated maze filled with illusions, picturing desire or deepest fear shown into the person trapped inside, over and over again until they break.
She inhaled deeply, trying to calm her raging heartbeat; Luxuria lifted her gaze and saw a giant black ball floating silently in the air. Inside, it was Soma who was trapped. Two magic circles appear below and above the ball. Then it begins to spin in opposite ways, sucking the surrounding mana to maintain the magic.
"Fu, no one can escape my magic once it is done unless you are…!?".
An unpleasant crack rang across the silent room, reaching Luxuria's ears, which were stiffened like a statue. From the corner of her eyes, she caught a tiny crack appearing on the black ball, but in defense, the magic circles spun more aggressively, greedily sucking the surrounding mana to fix the crack.
"Impossible, what the hell is that boy!".
Out of thin air, a translucent sphere floated in front of Luxuria before it shone in black color, and the images of the trapped boy could be seen. She is rather curious about what kind of maze and illusions showed to him inside.
What she saw was enough to make her jaw slacken to the ground because Luxuria found the images of her colleague devouring a whole part of a human female without its head and a figure of a young boy, sitting solemnly within the corner, embraced by the dark, stare right through her with empty eyes.
With a jerk, she loses control of the sphere, and it falls down to the ground with a thud. Her body won't stop trembling in fear, and she feels a bit of regret for not properly finding out about the boy's background first.
"This is a mess! I should get away from here first and observe him from afar".
Meanwhile, the person trapped inside had a unique perspective: where he witnessed his parents' slaughter in a third-person perspective. Soma stood still, watching it with cold eyes that froze even his warm heart.
The scene repeated again and again; it sharpened the blade in his resolve and completely shut down any feeling that involved the demon race.
A swift change in his demeanor brought upon a crimson aura that completely coated his skin in a tremendous malicious intent to eradicate every demon within the planets. The scenery distorted as it struggled to keep playing the deepest fear Soma had.
[Extra Skill Adapt, activated]
[The user's mental resistance increased, erasing the Domain influence]
[Extra Skill Puppeteer activated]
With fluid motion, the crimson aura that enveloped his body sprung to life and gathered around his right fist within a blink. Soma retracted his fist back; he could hear a clunking noise from his gauntlets, probably because of how tightly he clenched his fist.
"...Disappear!".
[Martial Saint Second Techniques - Ashura]
His low and threatened voice, coupled with a massive concentrated power in his fist, blasted forward, spreading like wildfire, destroying everything in his path.
The Domain couldn't even lift a finger after colliding with the power Soma had unleashed. It broke apart like a fragile glass. Not enough with just that, the crimson energy kept shooting forward, destroying even the reality before Soma.
A 'boom' resonated as the manor where Luxuria spent time hiding turned into rubble, with half of the place turned desolated from his single attack.
[Extra Skill Adapt activated]
[After relentless training and effort the user put in, the user's understanding of the essence of technique had increased…Changing into exclusive Techniques]
[The user had absorbed Martial Saint Second Techniques]
[Martial Saint Technique Ashura]
Despite having achieved his dream, Soma swipes away the translucent window that blocks his vision to look in front of him. No one except him stays in the place; he sharpens his senses and tries to search for Luxuria's presence.
"!?".
He got a response from his skill. Soma's body jolted to the side toward a certain way, and his instinct told him to move forward following it. Soma summoned his boots and kicked the ground so hard it left a gouging land while he ran in the air.
Luxuria, who felt restless, kept alternating her gaze back and forth inside a limousine Xiao Yin owned. The inside felt stuffed in awkward and ominous silence as Luxuria, whose rage was apparent but unable to give her subordinate a glance, truly disturbed Xiao Yin's mental state.
"What is happening? Did the master should be having fun right now? Why is she so angry and afraid?". Xiao Yin swallows all her curiosity and keeps sitting on the floor with her two guards behind, who have a disheveled appearance the same as hers.
While Xiao Yin was stressed in her mind, her master body jerked as she felt a tremendous malice chasing behind her like a mad bull.
"He's coming, hurry and get this thing moving faster!".
Luxuria snarls at them, making their faces turn blue, terrified as the limousine begins to accelerate further.
"Impossible, how can he get out of my Domain? Who the hell is he?".
Xiao Yin observed her master's mental state, putting herself on full guard of what was actually happening. She glanced outside and saw many tall buildings made from reinforced materials standing majestically. Glass glittering around, reflecting the warm sun, shops selling various merchandise with branded names, and a market caught her attention, as did the presence of crowds, which was perfect for distraction.
"What!?".
"!?".
However, before Xiao Yin and the others could understand what happened, their vision distorted, and they saw the world turned upside down with a sense of freedom within their being before feeling a sudden impact that jolted her nerves and screamed in agony.
The brain shuts down for a while, refusing any information, and the body slams around uncontrollably, accompanied by broken bones.
A commotion broke out when they saw a limousine float, crash, and roll around multiple times until it stopped a dozen meters away from where Soma was standing, his back facing the car.
Soma, who is the center of attention, forgot about his surroundings and turned his back around, facing the car, then walked toward it.
Many of the crowds who saw Soma's menacing figure took out their phone, and, with trembling fingers, they managed to call the awakeners association to witness terrorism that was caused by one of them.
People who stayed in the building and saw the commotion took out their phones and started a live stream to spread the news worldwide.
After he was near enough to the limousine, one of the doors blasted open, and she came out, crawling with her wrecked outfit, bruise, cut, and blood spilled from her face. The figure of Luxuria, with her overflowing beauty, began to attract all eyes to her and soon branded Soma as the Evil one.
"...Help me!".