The ground beneath my feet crumbled; the earth split and fragmented, leaving a crater that grew with each second. "I must find an opening," I thought, focusing on maintaining my protection while looking for an opportunity.

In a blink, seizing the precise moment when the wave of branches passed, I disappeared with a flash of golden lightning. I found myself standing at the bottom of a deep crater, grateful that my body had not yet suffered any damage.

With no time to catch my breath, I spread my legs and moved my spear, while the monster and I disappeared into a nebulous cloud of dust and golden lightning.

I was the first to reappear, but the cost was high. My clothes had been torn from stomach to ribs, and I could feel blood flowing from the wound. The pain was intense, but I ignored it. As princess of the high elves, I had been trained to endure much worse wounds.

As the cloud of energies dissipated, I spotted the creature on the other side of the destroyed forest, floating ten meters high. I noted with satisfaction that it had a hand pressed against its neck, with blood escaping between its fingers. "At least I managed to wound it," I thought, though a grimace of pain crossed my face.

The Nightmare slowly moved towards me, its nose wrinkled in a bitter expression while trying, unsuccessfully, to hide its surprise at my survival. It was then that I felt the change in the air. A dark and malevolent energy began to emanate from the monster, distorting reality around it.

—It's time to end this, princess. —it said with disdain while its form crackled with energy.

But its voice sounded muffled, drowned out by the sound of blood rushing to my head. The world became blurry and my eyes fixed on the Nightmare.

[Domain Expansion: Incarnation of Perfection (S)]

The world around us seemed to stop for an instant. Then, with an explosion of dark energy, a dome of pure evil expanded from the monster's body, engulfing us both.

«No, I cannot allow this to end like this. »

With a cry, I channeled all my energy.

[Domain Expansion: Requiem of Stars (S)]

My own energy burst outward, colliding with the monster's in an explosion of power that shook the very foundations of the earth.

For a moment, our domains fought for supremacy, two opposing forces in a precarious balance. The air seemed to tear as two spheres of energy rapidly expanded, colliding with each other with colossal force.

My domain filled the air with bright flashes, as if the night sky had descended to surround them. Shooting stars began to fall in all directions, with the power to destroy entire cities.

Fortunately, the barrier of the domain itself isolated the area and prevented destruction in the outside world.

The stars impacted the domain's ground with devastating force, creating craters and raising dust clouds. However, the Nightmare's domain manifested as an overwhelming darkness.

Hundreds of black hands, gigantic and deformed, emerged from nowhere, intertwining and overlapping their fingers twisting like hungry worms. The clash between both domains was spectacular and terrifying. The starlight fought against the absolute darkness of the Nightmare, creating a spectacle of lights and shadows that would have taken any observer's breath away.

Gradually, the gigantic black hands began to gain ground, crushing and absorbing my stars. I felt how my domain crumbled under the overwhelming pressure of my enemy.

«No, I cannot fail. Not now.»

Stolen novel; please report.

I fought with all my strength, but it was useless. My domain completely collapsed, leaving me exposed to the devastating power of the Nightmare.

The force of the impact threw me backward, my body hitting the ground with brutal force, pain exploding in every fiber of my being. I could feel blood flowing from another deep wound in my side. The black hands lunged at me, threatening to crush and destroy me from within.

I had to move, had to fight, but my body refused to respond. Pain and exhaustion had taken me to the limit of my strength.

I began to calculate my remaining options. Even if I used the domain expansion again, it wouldn't last long enough. I bit my lip, frustrated at having let myself get into such an unpleasant situation, I had no choice but to use it.

I didn't know how severe the backlash would be when using it, but I had no choice but to try.

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and searched deep within myself. Upon releasing it, I found myself with an almost strangling amount of energy while my body burned. The world around me became blurry while an almost palpable aura of different colors enveloped me.

An ancestral power, dormant for years in the depths of my being, began to awaken. This was an ancient art, passed down from generation to generation only to elven royalty. Golden runes, bright as newborn stars, appeared on my skin, serpentining up my arms and legs.

[Ancient Art - Divine Dawn (S+)]

Power flowed through me like a torrent, revitalizing every cell in my body. The world around me seemed to slow down, every movement of the black hands visible with crystal clarity.

The space around me distorted and the ground beneath my feet began to crack from the energy surrounding my body. Color disappeared from my sight, as I could only see in shades of gray.

The surge of energy that had been ravaging around me was suddenly absorbed and compressed into my body while the sensation of insurmountable power overwhelmed me. The feeling of superiority, above everything, living or not, in this universe, almost drove me mad. I suppressed the growing temptation to raze everything around me out of pure mania.

—Kuh! —I gasped aloud. The energy in the atmosphere seemed to bend to my will, as if even nature was now under my command. I moved, the world moved around me in slow motion as I jumped.

My spear became a blur of light and movement, cutting through the black hands as if they were paper. A surge of violet lightning coiled around my body as I effortlessly dodged the thousands of giant hands shooting towards me.

Every hand that the purple lightning tendrils touched disintegrated and withered instantly, but for every tendril that crumbled, dozens replaced it. Using the hands shooting at me as footholds, I quickly advanced through the avalanche of hands that were thicker than my body, approaching the Nightmare's core.

The Nightmare roared in frustration and fury, its domain trembling under the force of my attacks as it unleashed its arsenal of spells uncontrollably, a deluge of crimson branches along with thousands of giant hands, but it was useless. But I knew I couldn't maintain this pace for long.

The energy running through my veins had a price, and soon I would have to pay it. Gathering all the energy I had left, I launched one final desperate attack. My spear glowed with blinding power.

As my spear burst with a gigantic violet lightning around me, deadly speckled spirals of electricity tore through the tsunami of hands and instantly shattered it.

The spear cut through the air, flying with the force of a meteorite and sliced through the monster's defenses as if they didn't exist. The spear pierced its chest and emerged through its back, and shot toward the dome that isolated the area from the outside world.

It crashed with colossal force, the barrier shook like a tsunami and soon, it shattered into countless glass fragments. At least now, my children would be able to escape. The Nightmare struggled to stand, its face pale as it trembled, its arms glowing with speckled lightning.

It thrashed desperately, as if trying to shake them off. The lightning jumped over it, devouring the Nightmare from the chest outward, along with blood from internal organs spilling out. The world seemed to stop for an instant.

Then, with a deafening roar, the Nightmare's domain crumbled. The creature itself began to disintegrate, its body consumed by the power of my attack.

—Impossible... —was the last thing I heard before the Nightmare completely disappeared, reduced to nothing but dust in the wind.

The outside world slowly came back into focus, but I barely noticed it. Exhaustion hit me like an avalanche, my legs giving way beneath my weight. I fell to the ground with a thud, my body refusing to respond to my commands. Pain and fatigue clouded my vision, but I could still see my children in the distance, helpless and vulnerable.

«No, I can't give up now.»

With superhuman effort, I began to crawl across the ground. My body roared with agony and pain, the backlash from using that ability was greater than I had expected, but I didn't stop, couldn't stop. Not when my children needed me.

—Anastasia... —I whispered, my voice barely audible—. I have to... protect them...

But even as I struggled, I could feel darkness claiming me. My strength was leaving me, my vision darkening.

«I'm sorry... I'm so sorry...»

Unconsciousness finally claimed me, dragging me into an abyss of darkness and silence.