The Uthraki nodded, and turned, marching through his own platoon. The unit folded in behind him, and the newcomers joined. As Jonathan followed, he started to analyze the powers of his new Domain in greater depth. What he could tell so far was that it would serve as a way to either strengthen his own attacks, or act as a ranged option in cases when melee attacks wouldn’t cut it. For now, it was highly basic in scope, but it would likely increase in utility as he grew in mastery. For example, Arkanon had been able to banish an elemental spirit with just his Domain alone.

Jonathan was a long while from Master Rank, but he was more than strong enough for now, especially with his titles and stats. He likely was quite close to Arkanon in terms of total stat points, but they were more spread out.

The Uthraki unit marched on, striding over the bodies of comrades and enemies alike. In a battle like this, there was no room for expressions of sentiment. There was only death and glory. They quickly reached the locus of battle, and Jonathan found himself unable to control his bloodlust any longer.

With a roar, he leaped over the heads of the Uthraki, gathering fulminating Void energy to his fists. His runes crackled with power as he arced through the air. Stamina poured through his body like jet fuel, enhancing his abilities to their utmost. Ephemeral Trifecta triggered, and the stamina enhancement increased dramatically. Finally, the newest addition to his strength layered itself upon the already monumental edifice of power, sending his might skyrocketing. His fist appeared to be a star as it descended, promising vengeance and death in equal measure. The mimics seemed unperturbed, simply tilting their heads up and leveling their weapons, ready to receive the attack.

Jonathan smiled grimly, and as he reached the ground, he let loose. His fist atomized one of the mimics, but that was only the beginning. As the monster was obliterated, a shockwave of pure energy erupted outwards, blasting back the mimics for a few dozen feet. Those closest to the epicenter of the attack were shredded apart. Then the true attack came to bear. A cone of pure consumption tore through the ground and fighters alike, directed towards the center of the mimic forces. Where it touched, nothing remained. Armor, flesh and bone were turned to ash and air, wiping out hundreds of mimics in a single strike. Then Jonathan withdrew his fist, and smiled.

“This will do nicely.”

Behind him, there was only silence as the Uthraki registered the sheer destruction caused by one man. Then Hushar let out a bellow of approval, and where there had been silence, there was suddenly a storm of cheering.

Hushar pointed forwards, a grin on his brutish features. “Kill them all!”

The other Uthraki were only too happy to oblige. A tide of red skinned warriors piled in after Hushar, whose sword gleamed in the lambent light. The mimic line was broken, sundered apart by Jonathan’s assault. Now, there was a clear path to victory.

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Jonathan charged ahead, tearing into the beleaguered mimics. There were still thousands of them left, but his first strike had achieved more than had been achieved over the ten minutes before his arrival. Each of the mimics was akin to a mid Tier 3 warrior, with some of them ranging even higher than that. For him to have wiped out as many as he did, and in a single attack no less, had turned the tides of the battle.

As the remaining mimics regathered themselves, Jonathan was there to meet them with the cold steel of his gauntlets. Shockwaves of pure force and Void energy tore through bodies left and right, his pace only increasing as he grew better at integrating his Domain with his own strength. Expert Rank was a heady level of skill such as he had never felt before, and he found himself not even having to use his Blessing to predict the strikes of his enemies. His skill was enough to do that for him. Of course, that would not be the case had his enemies been of any worth.

Hushar reached him a few moments later, swinging his sword with wild abandon. His face was taut, filled with hunger for Expert Rank mastery. Every movement of the man’s sword seemed to be calculated to contain as much skill as possible. It seemed that his desire for a weapon Domain had eclipsed his desire for an Advanced skill. After all, there was no limit on when one could make one. He could always reach Expert Rank in two more skills, and blend them together to create one similar to Jonathan’s.

Over the next few minutes, Jonathan grew far more adept at using his Domain to its fullest potential. Not only was it useful for imparting more brute force into his strikes, but he could also use it for fine point control during melee combat. He began to use it to unbalance his opponents during critical strikes, rendering them almost helpless. As it was a form of telekinesis, it was very hard to resist without a Domain of one’s own.

His Domain was more generalized than the Domains of other fighters, Theodore coming to mind. That man had honed his Domain until it perfectly complemented his swordplay, creating a force that could be used to cut the very air around him with his will. However, he hadn’t really used it for battlefield control, instead keeping it within himself to make his strikes stronger.

Jonathan wanted to make the most of the Advanced nature of his skill, and the power that brought. He sunk into a trance as he fought, blending his body with his Domain. It was a part of him now, and treating it as such would increase his ease of mastery.

Essence poured into him all the while, and after about a quarter hour of solid fighting, he had leveled twice. The mimics might have been low level for Tartarus, but they were still higher level than him, and there were many who were above average. Eventually, the army had broken before his spearheading of the Uthraki advance, and the last of the mimics were slain, their bodies falling to the ground. Before they could celebrate the victory though, the ground began to tremble. A figure appeared, racing across the shattered earth behind the dead mimics. It was titanic, shaped like an Uthraki but easily three times that in height. Behind him, Jonathan heard more than a few whispered prayers.

“An Exult…” One of the nearest Uthraki said, his voice low and filled with fear.

Jonathan remembered that term from his meeting with the elemental spirit. It had been engraved into the grave of Arkanon’s beloved.

He narrowed his gaze, anticipating a challenge. Then he scanned the monster.

Mimic Exult(Boss)

Level 287

Health: 241154/241154

Status: Vengeful, Healthy