What’s wrong with me? This knot of unease gnaws like cold mist curling in my chest.
Nareinya’s aura turns wintry, a hush of ice bleeding from her skin. My heart won’t unclench.
I’ve got the Sword Domain. I might not lose to Nareinya. Still, a thin chill keeps needling me, like rain under armor.
Forget it. Don’t overthink; swat the gnats and move. I shake my head, set the Shattered Light Sword across my hip, ready to strike.
Draw Sword Technique!
I gather Sword Aura like a rising sun, then whip it free. A golden arc flashes, a crescent of light rippling outward like spilled dawn.
Oh? That level of trick? Boring. Flame Star.
She smiles with disdain, pulls the bowstring, and looses an arrow wrought of fire.
Boom!
With a single blast, the arc and the arrow unravel, their power streaming back into heaven and earth like smoke in wind.
Sigh. I’ve entertained you longer than I meant to. Hey, Yumigawa Sumeragi, it’s been ages and no winner yet. How about you yield and spare yourself?
Ha. Why should I surrender?
Because you can’t block my next attack. You’ll get hurt—maybe die.
…
I want to mock her confidence, but the dread keeps swelling, a storm-tide rising under my ribs. Words stick.
So? Silence means you agree.
No! I’m still fighting, no matter how strong your next strike is.
Fine. Don’t cry when it hurts.
She shrugs, then freezes over again. Her left hand lifts the Divine Bow, Palus; her right draws the string taut.
As she pulls it farther, a dark arrow coalesces between bow and string. Its breath leaks like moonless sea, and I shiver.
Divine Bow, Palus—Sixth Arrow: Eternal Night!
Snap. The dark arrow leaves the string like a stallion slipping its reins, charging me—yet faster than any beast under heaven.
Opposite of the last arrow, Aurora—this one births pure night. It flies, and the whole sky falls dim. The surrounding blades get swallowed by the dark like stars drowned by cloud.
Gulp.
I swallow hard, staring at the arrow that plunges heaven and earth into black.
Eternal Night blew past my worst guess. For me, stopping it is near impossible.
No matter what, I can’t sit and wait to die.
I drag a breath, tamp the panic. I lift the Shattered Light Sword high and drink in the Sword Domain’s power.
Destruction Invisible Sword!
A vast, shapeless blade of Sword Aura blooms above the Shattered Light Sword, a maelstrom devouring the Domain’s energy and edge like a hungry void.
In a blink, the dark arrow closes to less than a meter.
Cleave!
I fist the Shattered Light Sword and hack down. The giant blade meets the dark like thunder splitting the night.
BOOM!!!
Cough, cough—ow!
I manage to block it, but the blast’s backlash slams me back dozens of meters. I hit a boulder and stop, bones ringing like bells.
My organs feel shoved out of place, pain blooming like thorns. I almost black out.
And my Sword Domain? Fractured—touch it and it crumbles like frost.
I really did it now.
I stab the Shattered Light Sword into the ground, lever myself upright, and force a bitter smile.
I’m impressed.
The smoke thins. Nareinya steps back into view, surprise shadowing her face.
Didn’t think you’d block the Sixth Arrow. So—want to surrender? If I loose the final, the Seventh Arrow, you won’t dodge. You might die. Heh-heh…
Let’s try and see.
I grind the words out. I won’t do the shameful thing and yield.
I’ve got one last way to flip the board—self-detonate the Sword Domain.
Yeah, like a mage’s field. At the brink, you can blow it and take the enemy with you.
It’s a kill-one-thousand, lose-two-thousand move. It drags you in, lashes back hard, maybe ruins your Domain forever.
But right now, I’ve got no choice. If I don’t blow it, I surrender—or die.
Fine. Pray for yourself.
She draws the bowstring to its limit in a heartbeat, the world creaking like a bow under heaven.
With heaven and earth for a bow, gather all things as the arrow. Divine Bow, Palus—Seventh Arrow: Heaven’s Final, Wrath at Dawn!
She releases. A world-shaking arrow screams out, a spear of morning that dims the sky.
As it flies, all things seem to condense into that single shaft—mountain, river, wind, and fire swallowed into one.
It’s coming for me, carrying power I can’t possibly resist.
So there’s really no choice!
I bite my lip till iron floods my mouth, then swing the Shattered Light Sword without a tremor.
Let ten thousand blades erupt, scour the world—explode, Sword Domain!
I pull every thread of the Domain, and cut toward the arrow that makes heaven and earth go dim.
What—self-detonating your field? Savage! Not good… this power’s too strong?! Ah!!!
Blood sprayed.
…
Half a minute later, the Sword Domain is gone. The illusion array fades like dew.
The forest lies almost entirely destroyed. No tree stands whole. The ground is a pitted moonscape, cratered with holes of every size.
Nareinya is down and doesn’t get up. Her face is bloodless, a pale mask—she’s heavily wounded and won’t recover soon.
I’m no better. I’m sprawled before a big tree, slumped as if seated.
Truth is, I spat a mouthful of blood and went limp. My body won’t move; strength drains like water from a cracked jar. My mind swims.
If I hadn’t thrown everything into a Sword Aura shield at the moment of the blast, I’d have been blown to dust.
Good thing that shield held like iron bamboo, strong and steady.
No wonder it’s a kill-one-thousand, lose-two-thousand “trump.” Please let the backlash not be too brutal.
The worry bites. If I can never use the Sword Domain again, what then? The recoil feels anything but small.
…Xiao Nuo should have a way, right?
My thoughts blur; my body sinks like a stone in deep water. I let my eyes fall closed and whisper.
Then, of course, I pass out.
…
Lord Blackflame, you—
Blackflame appears beside Nareinya. Demons to her left and right each carry Tisiya, Di Yue’er, Heidier, and Mina.
Looks like they’re all out cold.
The mission failed. We need to retreat.
Failed? No—Yumigawa Sumeragi is lying by that big tree up ahead. Lord Blackflame, just walk over and take him.
No! We can’t take him. We leave—now!
Huh?!
Blackflame’s group vanishes, leaving no shadow behind.
