Chapter 195: Four Executives

The hall overlooking the city was large enough to accommodate an army. Reinforced windows stretched from floor to ceiling, defensive markings covered the black stone floor, and enormous pillars supported the ceiling high above.

Four figures waited at the far end.

Aldric Voss stood at the center, his silver-streaked hair neatly arranged. Mirelle Dain watched beside him, her black gloves concealing her hands. Garran Holt rested a massive weapon against one shoulder, his scarred jaw set in a permanent scowl. Ilyas Renn stood slightly behind the others, studying the approaching Ashcrofts with a calculating expression.

"Reinhard Ashcroft and Emily Ashcroft," Aldric said. "Destroying our estate and breaking through several floors of our tower is an impressive achievement. Unfortunately, you’ve mistaken a public victory for the ability to destroy an established power."

Reinhard smiled. "You rehearsed that, didn’t you?"

"I prepared several speeches. I had hoped to use the more flattering one."

"Shame. I would have loved to hear it."

Garran laughed and stepped forward. "Enough talking. I’ll crush them here and drag their bodies to Xanxus."

Mirelle’s pale eyes settled on Emily, then moved toward Yuna. She seemed less interested in their expressions than in the flow of Mana beneath their skin.

"Interesting. The reports didn’t adequately describe the changes in their Mana structures."

"Perhaps we should capture one alive," Ilyas suggested. "It would be wasteful to destroy something so unusual before understanding it."

Yuna laughed, but the sound faded when all four executives turned their attention toward her.

Garran looked her up and down. "Is this really the best you’ve got left? An S-Rank who intends to stand in our way?"

"I’m standing right here," Yuna replied. "You don’t need to discuss me as though I’m not in the room."

Garran’s expression darkened, but Yuna stepped forward before he could respond.

"Reinhard. Emily. Keep going."

Emily immediately turned toward her. "There are four of them, and they’re all S-Rank."

"I know."

"You don’t have to prove anything by fighting all four alone."

Yuna’s expression softened. "I’m not trying to prove anything. If we leave them here, they’ll follow us and attack us from behind. Someone has to stop them."

Reinhard studied her. She wasn’t volunteering out of pride. She had recognized a tactical problem and decided to accept responsibility for it.

"Don’t underestimate them. They’ll try to break your rhythm before you can establish one."

"I’ll be careful."

Emily hesitated, clearly unhappy about leaving Yuna behind. Yuna gave her a reassuring smile, and after a moment, Emily nodded and followed Reinhard toward the next staircase.

Garran watched them go without attempting to stop them. "You really believe you can fight us alone?"

Yuna drew the Blade of Jade. Its green edge reflected the light streaming through the windows, while the Robe of the King settled around her shoulders.

"Stop talking and come at me. I need to defeat you all for everyone."

The four executives exchanged glances.

Then they unleashed their Mana Domains.

Domain: Command Lines.

Silver lines spread across the floor beneath Aldric’s feet, extending toward his companions and forming an intricate network of intersecting paths. Each line connected positions across the battlefield, allowing Aldric to synchronize his allies’ attacks and redirect their movements along predetermined routes.

Domain: Living Formula.

Mirelle’s Domain covered the walls and pillars with pale geometric patterns. Invisible threads extended through the air, tracing Mana pathways and exposing the structures of the abilities activated within her territory. The longer she observed an ability, the more precisely she could interfere with a particular part of its Mana flow.

Domain: Mountain’s Wrath.

Garran’s Domain crashed over the hall like an invisible mountain. The floor groaned beneath its pressure as his Gnosis transformed the surrounding space into a battlefield built for overwhelming physical force. Every impact against his body or weapon fed the power he could accumulate and release through his next strike.

"Domain: Golden Labyrinth."

Ilyas’s Domain spread in a web of dark golden lines. Each marked a possible route through the battlefield. When an opponent followed one of those paths, Ilyas could exploit their expected movement, striking where their chosen route would leave them vulnerable.

Finally, Yuna’s Mana expanded outward.

"Domain: Dawn Descend."

Gravity shifted across the hall as Blazing Dawn asserted its authority. Broken fragments of stone lifted into the air, circling Yuna like a storm of ammunition. Incoming attacks slowed within her effective range, while electromagnetic forces gathered along the Blade of Jade.

The five Domains collided, transforming the hall into a landscape of competing powers. Silver lines twisted beneath floating debris, Mirelle’s geometric patterns spread across the pillars, and Garran’s pressure crushed sections of the floor. Ilyas’s golden routes intersected with Aldric’s formation, turning their combined territory into a maze of carefully arranged attacks.

Yuna felt the pressure immediately. She was contesting four S-Rank Gnosis Domains simultaneously, each imposing a different principle upon the same space.

The executives attacked together.

Aldric raised two fingers.

The silver lines shifted, and Garran charged along a designated route, his weapon swinging toward Yuna with enough force to shatter the pillar behind her. At the same time, Mirelle sent pale threads toward Yuna’s arms, attempting to interfere with the Mana controlling her movements.

Ilyas waited near the edge of the exchange, watching the routes Yuna might use to escape.

Yuna increased gravity around Garran.

"Solar Gravity — King’s Burden!"

The ground beneath him cracked as gravitational force multiplied. His forward charge faltered, but his Domain reinforced his body, allowing him to continue swinging despite the pressure.

Yuna redirected the force sideways. Garran’s attack missed her, and his body slammed into a pillar hard enough to fracture the stone.

She lifted the surrounding debris and accelerated it toward him.

Blazing Dawn — Heaven’s Arsenal!

Fragments of stone and metal shot toward Garran from several directions. He roared and swung his weapon, smashing the first wave apart, but the barrage forced him to abandon his pursuit.

Yuna tried to capitalize on the opening.

Aldric’s Command Lines shifted beneath her feet. Her next step carried her toward Mirelle’s waiting threads, while Ilyas’s golden paths narrowed the routes available to her. She twisted aside, but a strike emerged from an angle she hadn’t expected and grazed her shoulder.

Garran’s weapon came down.

Yuna raised the Blade of Jade. The impact drove her knee toward the floor, but she redirected the force through her stance and rolled away before the next strike landed.

The executives didn’t give her time to breathe.

Aldric controlled their timing, Mirelle interfered with her Mana, Garran forced her into defensive exchanges, and Ilyas punished predictable movement. Whenever Yuna tried to establish a rhythm, they changed the conditions around her.

Garran laughed as he raised his weapon again. "You should have stayed with the others. Fighting all four of us was an act of arrogance."

Ilyas tilted his head. "You could still surrender. It might preserve your life, although I make no promises about what our researchers would do afterward."

Yuna ignored him and concentrated on their movements.

Aldric’s formation depended on the executives following designated paths. Mirelle needed time to examine an ability before interfering with its Mana structure.

Garran needed to land impacts to accumulate force, while Ilyas relied on his opponents following the routes he had prepared.

Their teamwork made them dangerous, but it also created dependencies.

Yuna changed her movements deliberately.

Instead of retreating from Garran along the obvious path, she stepped toward him, increasing gravity around his weapon just as he swung. Its trajectory dipped, forcing him to correct his stance. That correction disrupted Aldric’s timing, and Mirelle had to redirect her threads before they could reach Yuna.

For the first time, one of the executives was forced to defend instead of attack.

Aldric’s eyes narrowed. "She’s trying to separate us."

Yuna smiled. "Finally. Someone’s paying attention."

She swept the Blade of Jade through Mirelle’s approaching threads. The weapon cut through the magical attack, severing the connections before they could interfere with her Mana. Its power allowed Yuna to reproduce the cutting effect twice, and two more slashes tore through the remaining threads.

Mirelle’s expression changed. "That weapon can reproduce her Gnosis attacks?"

"Twice," Yuna replied. "You should have paid closer attention."

She drove her blade into the floor.

Gravity surged beneath Garran, forcing him down as the stone cracked around his boots.

Before he could break free, Yuna redirected the force sideways, slamming him into another pillar. She lifted the shattered fragments around him and accelerated them toward Ilyas, forcing him to abandon his prepared position.

Aldric’s formation faltered.

Yuna accelerated her own movement, reducing the resistance beneath her feet. Her blade flashed toward Aldric, forcing him to raise a Mana barrier.

The Blade of Jade cut through its outer layer, and Yuna followed with a gravitational strike that threw him backward.

For one brief moment, all four executives had to defend simultaneously.

Then Mirelle’s Domain flared.

Pale patterns spread across Yuna’s Robe of the King. Mirelle had finally gathered enough information about the way Yuna distributed Mana through her Domain. Her interference disrupted the flow sustaining Yuna’s more complex environmental effects.

The floating debris fell.

Garran tore himself free of the damaged pillar, while Ilyas redirected the remaining fragments away from Aldric. The four executives regrouped, their expressions no longer amused.

"You’ve made an unfortunate mistake," Mirelle said. "The more you use your abilities, the more information I gather about how they function."

"Then I suppose I’ll have to give you something interesting to study."

Yuna spread her arms.

The hall shuddered.

Gravity shifted in several places at once, pulling Garran’s weapon sideways while lifting the shattered floor beneath Mirelle. A barrage of debris erupted toward Aldric, and Yuna redirected an electrical discharge from a damaged defensive conduit through her Domain.

Solar Dominion — Heaven’s Rebuke!

The electricity curved around Yuna and struck Ilyas from an unexpected direction. He raised a barrier just in time, but the impact shattered its outer layer and forced him backward.

Yet Yuna could feel her control slipping. Maintaining so many effects at once drained her Mana, and the Robe of the King restricted her to her Gnosis. She couldn’t compensate by relying on other abilities or equipment.

Mirelle’s interference had exposed the weakness in her approach.

Yuna had been treating Blazing Dawn as a collection of separate techniques. Increase gravity here. Accelerate debris there. Slow an attack, redirect electricity, alter the terrain. Each action required her attention, and every additional effect increased the strain on her control.

But these forces were already interacting throughout the battlefield.

Gravity affected Garran’s weapon. His weapon’s momentum determined its trajectory. That trajectory could be altered by friction and motion. The resulting impact could send debris into the air, where Yuna could manipulate its movement and redirect it toward another target.

She didn’t need to treat every effect as an isolated command.

She needed to understand how they connected.

The realization spread through her Mana.

Her control deepened, and the scattered energy within her Domain began moving with greater precision. Rather than directing every effect separately, she could coordinate their interactions through a continuous flow of Mana.

Aldric noticed the change first.

"What did you just do?"

Yuna looked at the silver lines crossing the floor. She could feel their Mana, the movement of every fragment suspended in the air, and the forces acting upon the executives themselves.

Mana Sovereignty had always allowed her to control Mana with extraordinary precision.

Now she understood that true sovereignty meant more than forcing Mana to obey her. It meant understanding its movement, distribution, and relationship with the Gnosis that shaped it.

Her Domain expanded.

The floor beneath the executives cracked as gravity shifted again. Broken stone rose into the air, arranging itself into a rotating formation. Each fragment moved along a precise path while Yuna adjusted its momentum and gravitational pull.

Garran charged.

Yuna increased gravity beneath his feet, interrupting his advance.

His weapon continued forward, carrying the force he had accumulated, but she redirected its momentum toward one of Ilyas’s golden routes. The weapon smashed into the floor along the marked path, throwing shattered stone into the air.

Mirelle launched another interference attack.

Yuna reduced its velocity, allowing it to drift past her shoulder before redirecting the resulting force into the debris above. The fragments accelerated toward Aldric’s Command Lines, disrupting the silver network and forcing him to abandon his formation.

The entire sequence unfolded as one connected response.

Previously, Yuna would have needed to consider each technique separately. Now, her Domain allowed her to coordinate their interactions, turning one change in the battlefield into the beginning of the next.

The four executives were forced to reposition simultaneously.

For the first time, Yuna felt the deeper structure of Blazing Dawn. Gravity, motion, friction, and electromagnetic forces were no longer merely different abilities she could use.

They were interconnected expressions of her Gnosis, and her Mana Sovereignty gave her the foundation to control how they worked together.

She had achieved a genuine breakthrough.

Her control was still limited, and maintaining the Domain remained expensive, but she had gained a deeper understanding of her Gnosis and the means to utilize more of its authority.

Aldric looked at the disrupted silver lines, then at Yuna.

"Enough. The previous formation is no longer reliable."

Garran tightened his grip on his weapon. Mirelle’s pale patterns spread across the walls once more, while Ilyas’s golden routes began shifting into a new arrangement.

The four executives had stopped underestimating her.

Yuna raised the Blade of Jade as debris circled around her, her Domain pressing against theirs.

Aldric’s expression hardened.

"Use your strongest techniques. We’re ending this now."