Chapter 387: Dual Territories
Racheal smiled brightly as she turned and walked back toward Damian, twirling the pale crescent dagger between her fingers before dismissing it into pink mist. She raised one hand and waved at him cheerfully as though she had merely finished a casual conversation instead of a battle against one of Wrath’s strongest demigods.
Damian remained seated upon his throne. His expression was completely frozen and his brows were tightly knitted beneath his fan while confusion and disbelief lingered deep within his eyes. He had witnessed every second of the exchange without blinking, yet the more he replayed it in his mind, the less he understood what had actually happened. Racheal’s powers seemed to exist somewhere beyond the framework he had slowly begun understanding.
He finally let out a slow breath.
"Okay... what the hell was that?" Damian muttered.
Silence answered him.
After waiting a few moments, he turned toward Rin, only to find the little fox wearing the exact same bewildered expression. Rin scratched the side of his face awkwardly before letting out an irritated sigh.
"Even now, I can’t seem to grasp how it works," Rin admitted honestly. "I’ve watched her fight more times than I can count, yet every battle leaves me more confused than the last."
Before Damian could ask another question, a thunderous voice shook the mountain.
"THAT’S BECAUSE SHE COMBINES TWO TERRITORIES INSIDE ONE. IF I HADN’T SEEN IT WITH MY OWN EYES, I WOULDN’T HAVE BELIEVED IT WAS POSSIBLE."
Fulgur’s voice rolled across the heavens like thunder itself. Racheal froze mid step and her smile disappeared instantly.
Slowly, she turned around and her pupils contracted. Fulgur was standing exactly where he had fallen. His large hand rested against his throat as fresh blood covered his fingers. Yet as he slowly lowered his hand, the deep wound sealing his neck had already vanished completely. One after another, the claw marks, puncture wounds, shattered limbs and every injury she had painstakingly inflicted rapidly disappeared beneath rippling scales before smooth skin took their place once more.
Within seconds, there wasn’t a single wound left. Racheal stared at him in disbelief.
"Impossible..." she gasped. "You should have died."
Fulgur calmly nodded.
"You are correct. Ordinarily... I would have."
His silver eyes quietly observed her.
Naturally, he had no intention of explaining the true reason behind his survival. The Authority bestowed by Wrath had transformed him into something that stood between life and death. As long as his brain remained intact and his body was not completely destroyed, death itself struggled to claim him. Severed limbs, crushed organs, pierced hearts and slit throats had long ceased being fatal injuries.
Those were not secrets he intended to share.
Instead, he looked toward the pink mist surrounding the mountain.
"I understand now."
His voice carried genuine admiration.
"You possess two territories. One is the Fantasy World of the Fantasy Queen. The second is the Devil’s Mirror World. I should have realized it the moment another world appeared above us."
His words caused Racheal’s expression to completely change. She never expected the secret of her territories to be uncovered very quickly. The truth was her fantasy world was used as a cover for the Devil’s Mirror World.
High above, Damian slowly lowered his fan. Even he had failed to notice that. At this point, Racheal was panicking inside.
"You know about the Devil’s Mirror Territory?" Racheal asked, unable to hide the shock in her voice.
This was impossible. Only Lin Qui, Hazel, Ruby and herself knew about this authority. Not even many of Lust’s own subordinates possessed this knowledge.
Fulgur merely shrugged.
"Have you forgotten?" His calm voice carried neither mockery nor pride. "It was within the same ruins of the Dark World where you acquired the Devil’s Mirror Territory that Hagrid acquired the Mirror World spell he later used against your husband."
Buzz!
Racheal’s eyes widened and her breathing stopped for a brief instant.
Everything connected.
The fury that erupted within her was so intense the surrounding mist trembled violently. She clenched both fists until her nails dug into her palms.
"That treasonous swine. He should have died five centuries ago."
She grounded her teeth, her eyes burned with murderous intent.
Damian quietly raised a brow in response. To think Hagrid would still be troublesome despite being injured by Damian.
"What exactly is the Dark World?"
The name sounded strangely familiar. He vaguely remembered Hagrid mentioning it while speaking with Faceless, but Clara’s safety had been his only concern at the time.
Rin answered immediately.
"The Dark World is believed to be the exit of our universe."
Damian blinked.
"The exit?"
Rin nodded.
"It leads into foreign territories inhabited by creatures, civilizations and monsters so terrifying that even Gods avoid venturing too deeply. But it’s also overflowing with resources, inheritances and ancient opportunities beyond imagination."
Damian rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"An exit from the universe..."
His curiosity immediately grew.
If such a place truly contained inheritances capable of producing authorities like Racheal’s, then it was undoubtedly somewhere he intended to visit after ascending into the God Realm.
His thoughts were interrupted by loud cracking sounds.
Meanwhile, Fulgur slowly tilted his neck to one side and his joints echoed loudly across the silent mountain.
His gaze remained fixed upon Racheal.
"Now I understand your powers."
He slowly raised one hand and five fingers unfolded.
"I can confidently say you will die within my next five moves at most."
Despite the confidence in her expression, tiny beads of sweat rolled down Racheal’s forehead. She forced herself to smile.
"That’s a bold statement coming from someone who still can’t hit me." She said.
Despite Damian finding out the location of the mirror world and how it worked, that doesn’t mean she has been caught yet.
Fulgur calmly shook his head.
"No. That’s because you were never here to begin with."
Buzz!
Both Damian and Racheal froze.
Fulgur casually pointed toward the upside down Racheal embracing his mirrored self within the reflected world.
"You’ve been hiding inside that little mirror all this time. Leaving me to battle nothing more than your reflection. You truly deserve your reputation."
His admiration became genuine as he slowly nodded.
BUZZ!
Without another word blue lightning exploded across the heavens.
Raikiri: City Of Thunder!
The clouds above Lebanon instantly erupted.
Thousands upon thousands of bolts of heavenly lightning ascended toward the reflected world hanging overhead.
The sky exploded with deafening thunder.
Crack!
Crack!
Crack!
The reflected mountains shattered.
Glass breaking sounds echoed endlessly as enormous fractures spread throughout the entire mirrored world.
Racheal’s scream suddenly pierced the battlefield.
"Aahhh!"
The reflection collapsed completely.
Her true body was violently ejected from the shattered mirror world before plunging headfirst from the upside down heavens. Her pink aura flickered erratically, flashing in and out like a dying candle struggling against the wind.
Fulgur calmly watched her fall.
"Now... Be gone."
Boom!
His massive body exploded upward. He spun gracefully through the air as one of Raikiri’s black rods tore free from the mountain beneath him and shot upward like a bolt of lightning.
Its handle landed perfectly within his waiting hand.
His rotation accelerated.
The momentum built terrifyingly fast. By the time he reached Racheal’s helpless body, the black rod had become nothing less than a divine executioner’s staff.
There was no hatred in his eyes, only quiet resolve. He intended to grant her an instant and painless death.
However just as the rod descended toward her exposed head...
"THAT’S MY WIFE YOU ARE TRYING TO KILL!!!"
Damian’s furious roar exploded across heaven and earth. His figure appeared between them without warning and his left arm swept forward, catching Racheal securely against his chest before she could continue falling.
At the same instant, his right palm shot outward toward the descending Raikiri. Dark purple demonic aura erupted violently from his entire body, swallowing the surrounding sky in an instant as the mountain beneath them trembled beneath the sudden collision of two overwhelming powers.