CHAPTER 186: 7 DOMAINS

[: Daniel’s POV :]

The moment everyone of them nodded, understanding what I intended, I let a calm smile spread across my face.

This wasn’t cruel.

This was preparation.

"All right," I said softly, almost lazily.

"Let’s begin."

Xerath raised a brow.

"You... you’re actually going through with this?"

"Absolutely," I replied. "We’re not here to cower. We’re here to fight, and these Apostles... they need to learn what it’s like to face beings who won’t flinch."

Rika clenched her fists, golden beast-aura igniting around her hands.

"Let’s do it. I trust you, brother."

Kiel cracked his knuckles, a feral grin spreading.

"Finally, some fun. Father, let’s show them who they’re messing with."

Melira’s quiet voice broke the tension, calm but firm.

"Son, I will show you what your mother is capable of"

I nodded once.

"I have confidence in you and all of you’’

’’These Apostles... they are the perfect crucible. Their divine authorities, their laws, their blessings... they will not help them here. Only their skill, only their instincts."

Sylthara’s tail flicked, eyes narrowed.

"You truly wish to pit us against them without holding back?"

"Yes," I said, voice low, resolute. "And they will understand the difference between being hunted... and being outmatched."

I raised my hands, letting the void hum around me like a living beast.

The air thickened, the clouds above splitting under invisible pressure.

"Thronefall... Kingbreaker... Domain Lock," I murmured, activating the combination of powers.

Instantly, the world fractured.

Reality is split into seven concentric, overlapping Domains.

Each Domain was vast, city-sized, shimmering with faint boundaries of light and shadow, each radiating a unique pressure.

The Apostles screeched, struggling to escape, only to find invisible barriers sealing them in.

"No! What is this?!" an Apostle from the Radiant Dawn shrieked, his wings flailing in frustration. His sunfire aura flickered uncontrollably.

"Domains?" another whispered, pale as his chest heaved.

"Impossible... nothing... nothing can contain us like this!"

The Divine authorities, the layered blessings, the countless laws they had mastered over millennia... they all failed simultaneously.

Sparks of energy fizzled to ash as if someone had reached into the universe itself and snuffed them out.

"I-I can’t... I can’t activate my Shield of Ascendant Radiance!" yelled another, panic coating every syllable.

"Your precious laws... evaporated," I said casually, stepping forward.

My aura coiled around the boundaries like living chains.

"Your levels... your innate abilities... those are all you have left. Nothing more."

Xerath’s eyes gleamed with grim approval.

"Boy... that’s some serious Domain work. You’ve locked them in without destroying them outright."

Kiel leaned forward, teeth gleaming.

"This is genius. Brother, you just turned their panic into a battlefield for us."

Rika, eyes wide but determined, nodded.

"They’ll learn the meaning of pressure firsthand. Let’s go."

From within the seven Domains, the Apostles’ reactions were a mixture of disbelief, horror, and raw fear.

"Why... why can’t I leave?!" screamed one from the Iron Colossus Legion, his titanic mechanical form pounding against invisible walls.

Sparks flew as his attempts to break free only left him bruised and battered.

"This... this is illegal!" cried another, from the Constellation of Whispering Stars, their robes of cosmic dust quivering.

"You cannot bind us like this! This is not allowed by the Laws of Sovereigns!"

I tilted my head, eyes cold.

"You’re correct. It isn’t allowed. But I don’t care about your laws. Only what you are capable of... without the crutch of your masters."

The Apostle of the Sovereign of Apocalypse trembled, crimson aura flickering like dying embers.

"Y–You... this is—" He couldn’t finish.

His authority, his divine protection, even the fragments of the Avatar’s power embedded within him... were all gone.

He was raw, vulnerable, human in comparison to the impossibility standing before him.

"Your arrogance... your certainty... it ends here," I said..

The Apostles screamed in frustration as the Domain Lock forced them to their limits.

Some leapt, some teleported, others tried summoning relics or cosmic weapons... all in vain.

The invisible walls held, the suppression of their authorities nullifying every advantage.

One from the Celestial of Radiant Dawn fell to his knees, hands trembling.

"We... we are not gods here. We are... trapped."

Xerath muttered, impressed despite the carnage.

"You really are teaching them fear... without actually killing them."

Kiel grinned savagely.

"And that fear is ours to play with! Let’s go, everyone!"

Rika ignited her golden aura, stepping forward.

"Time to test our limits!"

The seven Domains shimmered, the Apostles inside trembling under the sheer presence of me and my allies.

Every attempt to break free was met with the immutable force of Thronefall, the crushing weight of Kingbreaker, and the binding inevitability of Domain Lock.

"This... this is... impossible!" screamed an Apostle from the Tide of Shadows, their body shifting between mist, beast, and humanoid.

"Our powers... they’re gone! Only... only our... skills remain!"

"And your skills are what we’ll test," I said calmly. "

No divine intervention. No shortcuts. Just raw combat. Just you... against us."

The Apostles’ terror deepened with every heartbeat, every pulse of my aura.

They were trapped, stripped of their crutches, forced to confront their mortality and the sheer unpredictability of beings who did not fear them.

Xerath leaned close to me, voice low and approving. "You’ve turned them into training dummies for us... and yet... It’s the fairest test I’ve ever seen."

Kiel’s grin widened. "Fair? Nah. It’s awesome."

I raised my head, the void and domains swirling around me, holding the Apostles like fragile insects.

’’This is where you’ll meet your end’’

The Apostles inside the seven Domains howled in desperation, rage, and disbelief.

Their divine weapons cracked uselessly.

Their blessings flared then died. Their laws... their sacred authorities... evaporated like mist.

And my allies? They smiled. Excited, hungry for battle, ready to step forward into the Domains.

"Let’s go," I said. "Show them what it means to truly fight."

’’Then we shall go first’’ Xerath declared.

The moment the Demon King, Xerath, stepped into the Domain, the very air seemed to shudder, as if reality itself were holding its breath.

This Domain, one of the seven forged by Daniel’s will, contained the Apostles of the Sovereign of Apostles, and the tension was thick enough to suffocate.

Shadows writhed unnaturally along the jagged boundaries, and the ground beneath them hissed, cracked, and shifted under the oppressive weight of their presence.

Xerath moved first, a single step forward, and the Domain groaned.

His immense form towered like a living mountain, a black aura feeding off the very shadows of the world coiling around him.

His eyes burned like twin abysses, drawing in light, courage, and hope, leaving the Apostles raw and instinctively terrified.

Kiel grinned, claws flexing.

"Finally, a real battlefield. I was starting to think all we’d get were polite duels. Anyone else feeling this rush, or is it just me?"

Lilith’s dark laughter drifted through the air like a predator’s whisper.

Shadows spiralled around her, wings forming from onyx feathers with edges flickering in dark fire.

Her transformation was a glimpse of ultimate power, a predator cloaked in elegance and menace.

"Kiel, you’re insufferable. This is serious, but I suppose you’re excited... I can forgive a little arrogance."

Kiel smirked.

"Excited, yes. Arrogant? Me? Never."

Xerath exhaled, and the shadows around him erupted violently, coalescing into jagged, writhing forms that fused with molten flame and storm-lightning.

The ground beneath him fractured, and the sky darkened as though noon had been swallowed by night.

Winds of malevolence, hotter than lava yet colder than ice, spiralled outward, bending the air and silencing all natural sounds.

"Behold... the true form of ruin," Xerath intoned, his voice resonating like a cathedral of suffering. "Abyss Emperor—Descent of Ruin."

Lilith stepped forward fully transformed, her wings spreading wide, the feathers shimmering like jagged glass.

Her eyes blazed with cruel light, her form radiating power that could shatter continents yet was tempered with precision.

"Let them see what it means to confront us," she said, voice calm but deadly. "And yes, husband, I mean you too. Keep it interesting."

Kiel flexed, golden energy spiralling across his limbs as he entered his ultimate form, speed, strength, and instinct heightened beyond the mortal

threshold, yet still far from divine omnipotence. "Interesting? I thought we were here to make history. But I guess I can try to behave."

Xerath’s body expanded further, molten-black wings tearing the sky as his jagged obsidian claws extended.

Veins of fire ran along his Eternal Hellforged Body, the air bending around him, gravity itself trembling at his presence.

Storms coiled and lightning split the darkened sky, shadows writhing like living tendrils.

"This is going to be fun," Kiel muttered with a grin, eyes glinting with feral excitement.

"I hope these Apostles brought their A-game. Otherwise... snooze fest."

Lilith’s dark laugh cut through the tension.

"Kiel, do not insult your opponents. Treat them like the meat they are, but taste the fear. That’s the spice."

Xerath’s gaze swept across the Domain, his aura flaring.

"Your authorities, your blessings, your sacred laws... mean nothing here. Only skill, only will. Only the fight."

Kiel’s smirk widened.

"Finally, a place where I can break some faces without someone whining about divine rules."

Lilith’s eyes flickered with amusement despite the deadly seriousness.

"Focus, Kiel. This isn’t a joke. But... yes, it is magnificent."

The Domain itself seemed to pulse under their presence, boundaries shimmering with oppressive weight.

Every step they took sent ripples through the floor, every gesture bent the laws of gravity and motion.

Even the Apostles, trapped and vulnerable, could feel the inevitability of confrontation pressing upon them.

Xerath raised a hand, letting molten shadows coil like serpents.

"Let us see which side shall win: is it your destruction... or our destruction?"

Kiel cracked his neck, golden aura sparking. "Destruction? Oh, we’re going to teach them a lesson they’ll never forget."

Lilith’s wings flared, dark fire dancing along the edges.

"Then let the lesson begin. And may the strongest survive... though I expect that will be us."

The Demon King’s gaze, molten and unyielding, swept the Domain, calculating, assessing, and promising annihilation.

The air itself seemed to vibrate with anticipation as father, mother, and son prepared to unleash devastation, a storm of ultimate power poised to collide with those foolish enough to oppose them.

And in that moment, the Domain was alive with tension, dark laughter, and the thrill of war.