"What a peculiar sight...How are you able to replicate a domain without being fully tapped into the world's mana?" Asked the man.

"I am blessed by God," I said curtly.

"Arrogant." His eyebrows twitched slightly; he must've thought I was messing with him.

'It's the truth though...'

"An imitation will always fall short. The might will always be shortlived, yet the flaws remain bare for all to see." Ranted the man, which I really didn't care, either.

"This is what a domain should be." His words landed, and thus gone was the sound from the world.

Not just the sound, the color, the wind...everything was robbed.

It felt like that time with Pepe, but also fundamentally different in some way.

"In the space and time where I live and breathe. Only I will prevail." Each and every word that fell down felt like someone was hitting a massive drum inches away from my ears.

They ensnared me, holding me captive, and I was unable to escape.

'Make my domain stronger! Stronger! More!' Feeling my insides churning purely from the ongoing pressure, I gritted my teeth hard and did everything I could to ramp up my domain.

Little by little, I was able to push the reach of his domain back, holding my ground.

"Impressive..." Praised the man with a face as straight as a bark.

And the battle began in earnest.

Blinding lasers of high heat blared through the space upon my command, contending against the man's barrier before disappearing quietly. Failed in my pre-emptive strike, I condensed them into one big railgun to try and wrench open a hole in his magical barrier, which the man didn't even bother to meet and merely dodged with ease as if to mock me.

I summoned arsenals of weapons after that, which didn't last long under the mercy of his domain, and then, I summoned a bonafide big-ass dragon, hoping that it could offer the solutions to all my current problems.

And to my dismay, I was wrong, yet again. He cut through the dragon as though it was made out of fucking paper or something...

I threw everything at him, thinking that everything would work out just as things have been so far.

Man, was I wrong...

'Damn it! I can't hit him.'

Like trying to catch a slippery eel with your bare hand, the man kept evading by a hair difference. Even

"No? That is wrong. Never fight without a clear line of purpose. Only amateurs do that." Schooled him.

"Shut up..." I growled in reply.

The bout continued till I eventually realized I was going nowhere except for emptying my tank.

If I made my spells always hit their target, they would fall short due to the lack of power, and if I tried to add power on top of that, my mana pool wouldn't hold up.

Hell, it took a ridiculous amount of mana just to catch him with my spells, and worse yet, I still need to keep my domain up and running to counter the other party's domain.

'Can I even get away from him at this rate?' Unbeknownst to me, fear had begun to take root within my heart.

"A body and mana of a novice, yet able to invoke a domain...Often uses spells with mysterious origins, but lacks knowledge of how the powerful wage the battle." Stated the man lightly, pondering quietly without seemingly a care in the quiet midnight sky.

He straight-up looked like he was on a freaking picnic or something.

"Tell me...Who are you?" Asked the man, with his eyes half opened.

"You don't need to know." Feeling the pressure, I replied in a raspy voice.

"Pity..." He snapped his finger, and like virtuous soldiers of the old wars, his domain began marching on, devouring everything in its path.

I almost lost consciousness in return...Akin to a predator piling up wound after wound on its prey's exhausted body, the old man's domain kept on breaking and invading my own, trying to devour me whole.

'I need to back away...' I knew better than to keep hovering there like an idiot. At the very least, I needed to create some distance between us.

'Fly back!' And just as I was about to flicker out to safety, I rammed into a sturdy translucent wall that appeared out of nowhere.

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"Reckless..." A cold verdict.

'Urgh...Shut the...hell up!' I felt the world spin in place.

"Catch your breath...Slowly...Now, let's try again..." Iterated the man as though we were on some freaking coaching session.

"ARGH!!" I bellowed out in agony.

Left with no chance to get away, I was forced to meet his encroaching domain head-on, and the more I tried to resist and fight back the domain's encroachment, the more painful it got.

"Dangerous...But soft..." Muttered the man.

BUZZ!

Out of nowhere, my blessing of danger finally decided to ring. And finally, I could feel the bloodlust seeping out from the sleepy-looking old man.

The closer he got, the more severe my blessing of danger warned me, buzzing loudly and shaking me harshly from the depths of my soul.

In that moment where I genuinely hung between life and death, I couldn't help but recall everything that happened so far in this new life God gave me.

It was something I felt once, yet it painted totally different scenes now compared to the first time.

Father's stoic yet warm figure, Mother's warm hug, Alyson's smile, Adam's laughter, Helena and Howard squabbling, Renata, Byron, Hannah, the House...

Everyone...

'...What the hell...Is this all it takes to squash you flat, Alex...?' I knew I didn't have the time for a stupid monologue, but I just couldn't help it.

'You can't die...No. You won't die...Not until you save this fucking world, Alex! You will save this world! You will save it!! I will not die!!!' I screamed like a depraved man inwardly.

"RARGH!!!" A surge of mana from within me exploded out, gushing madly to the world outside as I screamed with all my fiber of being.

I no longer minded my rapidly drying mana pool. No more cheap tricks. No more second-guessing myself.

All I saw was him. All I heard was the endless buzzing sound of warning from within me. And all I knew was...I wouldn't be the one to fall.

It was my conviction that I would come out victorious...

No matter what happened...

"A stranded man wasting all his water just to wait for the rain to save him...What a foolish notion..." Sighed the man.

"Ha...Ha..." I was panting ruggedly.

It grew harder and harder for me to breathe due to the mana deficiency, yet I paid it no mind.

Instead, I kept the image I had in my mind clear without any distractions whatsoever.

'If I'm running empty...Then take it from the outside!' Trying my damnest to keep my consciousness afloat, I started to suck in mana from the air.

An unimaginable pain ran through my whole body in immediate response. It felt like hundreds and thousands of swords were stabbing and skinning me alive at the same time.

I bit my lips so hard to hold myself from screaming in pain, fearing that it would break me out of focus.

"...Magnificent..." Expressed the man with the still spotless nightwear.

He decided to no longer approach me and just floated there, anticipating my move in daunting silence.

Holding on to the last straw of my willpower, I could hear the sound of death fast approaching me as my body could no longer withstand all the rampaging mana that ran its course throughout my veins.

"Ha...Sword...Of..." I held my hand up weakly.

"Requiem..." And tossed it down as the sky above the sleepless capital illuminated in pure, blinding radiance as though a new sun had been born.

And from beyond the thick shadows of the ominous clouds, something emerged.

It was a sword of pure light basking in ethereal radiance...

The air screeched, and the ground quivered when the judgment of light was nigh. Even the blanket from the goddess of the night was not capable of vanquishing the holy light that emanated from the colossal sword.

It was truly a spectacle that existed way beyond what words could describe.

And all that just to give this man...A Saint...An eternal rest to the lands beyond the endless rivers of stars.

The last thing I saw was the light that blinded the world as the sword, as big as a huge island, came crashing down, and the man, who was laughing madly while facing it with his arms stretched open.

'...Crazy fucker...'

And then, it was all dark...

***

"Hahaha!!" A hearty laughter rang crisply in the night sky.

The man who was known as the incarnation of Boreas's holy hero, the Saint of Boreas, was holding the body of a young boy, unconscious and defenseless.

He hasn't laughed like that in years...

Deemed as the strongest from his early years, he was always alone.

The weak and foolish often challenged him, while the strong and sly always avoided him.

He was always bored...The world was strong, yet her children were weak.

Hence, the man, who had been strong his whole life, was lonely throughout his whole life. Alone when he was young and alone even after he reached the peak...That was his fate...

But now, the man hailed by many as the holy guardian of the kingdom could finally feel his blood gurgling in excitement. No longer was he bored.

He found something...Someone strong in this mortal world full of weaklings...

He was dripping with blood from the huge wound that ranged from his shoulder down to his hip, yet the man could register nothing but pure ecstasy that threatened to wreck his mind asunder.

"Hahaha...Amazing! Amazing!!" Shouted the man in pure joy, smiling from ear to ear.

He glanced at the cleaved sky and to the boy in his arms.

A young magician with a body filled to the brim with unhealthy amounts of fat and hair as white as snow.

A boy who was able to drive the Saint to such an extent despite being so young.

The man felt content yet impatient at the same time. He wanted to fight again, but he also wondered what would happen if he let the boy grow for some more...

It didn't take long before the Saint to decide what he wanted.

"Rat...Tell the boy I will wait for him." His look of delight soon turned rigid and cold upon addressing the figures in black masks, seemingly ready to throw their lives like moths to fire.

The Saint threw the boy into the arms of the weak and insignificant figure, leaving his words of promise in the cold and serene night sky.

"Tell him...I don't like waiting for too long..."