Chapter 44: Domain of the Fallen, The Bloodied Elder

Saile stood completely still in the dark stone hallway.

He closed his eyes, tapping directly into the massive, bottomless ocean of dark magic sitting heavily inside his core. He didn’t bother raising his sword. He simply sheathed the Calamity Fang across his back with a smooth, sharp metallic click.

Elder Torin let out a harsh, barking laugh.

He thought the boy was simply giving up. He thought the terrified orphan had finally realized that dodging Diamond-Tier speed was completely impossible.

"Look at him!" Torin yelled, pointing his heavy iron scythe forward. "The fake has accepted his death! Finish the rat!"

The five remaining assassins did not hesitate. They lunged forward with explosive, blinding speed, aiming their poisoned daggers directly at Saile’s throat.

They were less than three feet away when Saile finally spoke.

"Domain Expansion," Saile whispered softly into the freezing air. "Domain of the Fallen."

He did not let Naicul take over his body. This was his own raw power.

A completely silent, invisible shockwave exploded directly out of Saile’s chest. It instantly swallowed the entire stone hallway, expanding rapidly into a massive, pitch-black sphere.

The normal laws of physics inside this dark zone completely ceased to exist.

The ambient light from the torches died instantly. The air grew terrifyingly thick and completely silent.

Then, the true horror began.

The absolute gravity inside the fifty-foot radius instantly multiplied by fifty. It did not build up slowly. It slammed down with the raw, brutal weight of a falling meteor.

Boom!

The thick stone floor of the corridor violently caved in. It shattered into thousands of jagged pieces under the sudden, massive pressure.

The five elite assassins were ripped right out of the air.

They crashed face-first into the ruined stone with sickening, wet thuds. Their high-speed Diamond-Tier agility meant absolutely nothing against a Mythic-Grade skill.

"Gah!" one of the killers choked out.

His jaw cracked heavily against the rock. Thick red blood violently sprayed from his nose and ears. The extreme gravity pinned them completely flat against the ground, locking their muscles in place.

They could not even lift a single finger to defend themselves.

Elder Torin was caught right in the absolute center of the dark zone.

The bitter old man let out a strained, agonizing roar. He desperately flared his A-Rank Shadow Blade magic, trying to create a magical shield to hold up the crushing weight.

It was completely useless.

The gravity shredded his shadow magic instantly, blowing it away like dry leaves. Torin was forced violently down onto his hands and knees.

His heavy leather armor creaked loudly. The silver spikes on his shoulders bent inward from the sheer pressure, painfully piercing his own skin.

Saile slowly opened his eyes.

They were plain brown. They were completely cold and totally focused.

He stood perfectly straight in the exact center of the pitch-black zone. The fifty-times gravity did not affect him at all. To Saile, the air felt incredibly light, almost entirely weightless.

He took a slow step forward.

His heavy combat boot crunched loudly over the shattered stone. The sound echoed

like thunder in the suffocating silence of the Domain.

He walked effortlessly past the five crushed assassins. They were groaning in pure, blinding agony, their ribs cracking loudly under the sheer pressure.

Saile stopped right in front of Elder Torin.

The bitter old man was shaking violently. Sweat and thick blood poured down his badly scarred face. His single good eye stared up at Saile with absolute, unfiltered terror.

"You..." Torin gasped, spitting a glob of dark blood onto Saile’s boots. "What... are you?"

"I am exactly what you were waiting for," Saile replied coldly.

"I will never bow to a child!" Torin screamed wildly.

Using every single drop of his remaining Diamond-Tier strength, the Elder pushed

himself slightly off the floor. He gripped his heavy iron scythe with both hands and swung it directly at Saile’s legs in a final act of pure defiance.

It was a desperately slow, completely pathetic attack.

Under the crushing fifty-times gravity, the heavy weapon moved like it was stuck in thick mud. Saile didn’t even bother to step back.

He casually lifted his left boot and stomped down hard on the curved iron blade.

Clang!

The heavy scythe was pinned instantly to the floor. Torin cried out in pain as the violent kinetic shock rippled straight up his arms, tearing his thick muscles.

Saile did not give the traitor another second to breathe.

He dropped his weight slightly and whipped his right leg around in a blistering, blinding spin sweep. He funneled a massive burst of raw physical momentum directly into his heavy combat boot.

His heel slammed perfectly into the side of Torin’s skull.

Smack!

A sharp, localized sonic boom cracked violently inside the heavy gravity zone. A

visible ring of displaced air blasted outward from the brutal kinetic impact.

The raw Platinum-Tier physical force, combined perfectly with the extreme gravity, was absolutely devastating.

Torin’s skull crushed and caved in with a sickening, wet crunch.

The bitter Elder was launched sideways, skidding violently across the broken stone floor until he slammed hard into the wall leaving a paint of blood. He fell completely limp, dead before his body even stopped rolling.

Golden system screens instantly flashed into Saile’s vision.

[Major Threat Eliminated!]

[Massive EXP Gained.]

[High-Tier Item Dropped: Diamond-Rank Skill Shard (1)]

Saile completely ignored the EXP drop. He mentally commanded the Endless Devourer to vacuum up the glowing red shard, quietly storing it away in his high-tier ring.

"A fitting end for a traitor," Naicul whispered in Saile’s mind, a dark smile highly evident in the God’s ancient tone. "You are truly learning how to rule, kid."

Saile turned his cold gaze toward the five surviving assassins.

They were still crushed flat against the broken ground, completely paralyzed. They had just watched a seventeen-year-old boy effortlessly execute their Diamond-Tier leader with a single physical kick.

Saile snapped his fingers.

"Cancel Domain," Saile commanded softly.

The heavy pitch-black aura instantly vanished. The crushing fifty-times gravity

lifted completely, letting the normal, freezing air rush aggressively back into the narrow hallway.

The five assassins gasped desperately for oxygen. They coughed up thick blood, clutching their bruised chests as they frantically tried to recover.

Saile looked down at them. He didn’t draw his epic-grade sword to finish them off.

"Look at me," Saile ordered.

The elite killers slowly pushed themselves up onto their knees. They did not dare to stand up completely. They kept their heads bowed deeply to the stone, trembling in pure, unadulterated awe.

"Torin wanted faith," Saile declared, his voice echoing coldly down the stone corridor. "He wanted a holy savior. He wanted someone to completely prove their divine right."

Saile took a single, heavy step closer to the kneeling assassins.

"I do not care about your faith," Saile stated flatly. "I do not care what you believe. I do not ask for your prayers."

He pointed directly to the broken, bleeding body of the Elder.

"I demand absolute obedience," Saile finished. "You will bleed for me. You will die on my exact command. Or you will end up exactly like him. Do you understand?"

The five Diamond-Rank killers smashed their foreheads directly into the dirty stone floor.

"Yes, Sovereign!" they shouted together, their voices shaking with absolute submission. "We belong to the Fallen God!"

Right at that exact moment, the sound of heavy footsteps echoed loudly from the top of the nearby stairs.

Lady Vesper rushed into the hallway, followed closely by Mrog and Alis. The three faction leaders had felt the terrifying spike in gravity all the way from the main war chamber.

They stopped dead in their tracks, staring blankly at the absolute destruction.

The stone floor was completely caved in. Elder Torin was dead against the far wall. The elite assassins were bowing like terrified dogs at Saile’s feet.

Vesper looked at Saile, her glowing purple eyes wide with a mix of shock and total worship.

"Sovereign," Vesper breathed heavily. "Are you injured?"

"I am completely fine," Saile replied casually, brushing a speck of dust off his black cloak. "Elder Torin had a sudden change of heart. He will no longer be joining our ranks."

Mrog and Alis swallowed hard, staring nervously at Torin’s crushed skull. They immediately dropped to one knee, swearing their absolute loyalty all over again in their minds.

"My Lord," Vesper said, quickly stepping forward and bowing her head. "We have an extremely urgent situation. The war horns were not just sounded for this ambush."

Saile narrowed his brown eyes. "What is it?"

"We have been discovered," Vesper warned, her voice tight with real tension. "The ruling tyrant of the Lawless Zone has sent an envoy directly to our front gates. Warlord Nelaek’s men are here."

Saile crossed his arms. He knew exactly who Warlord Nelaek was. He was a brutal

Platinum-Rank tyrant secretly funded by the Holy Church to keep the desert in complete chaos.

"What do they want?" Saile asked coldly.

"The envoy is heavily armored," Vesper replied, standing back up. "He is loudly demanding that the Remnants surrender all of our wealth, our weapons, and our base as tribute. He claims Nelaek has a twenty-thousand-man army waiting to slaughter us."

A massive, terrifying twenty-thousand-man army. They would be marching directly against the Remnants’ five thousand starving, hidden soldiers.

Naicul let out a low, dark chuckle inside Saile’s head.

"A perfect opportunity, kid," the ancient God purred aggressively. "An army of that massive size carries an absolute ocean of EXP."

Saile did not look afraid. A cold, highly dangerous smile slowly formed on his face.

"Bring the envoy to the main courtyard," Saile commanded softly, his brown eyes flashing with deadly intent. "I will give him our absolute answer."