Demiplane Battle
"This sword can withstand Karsus' Piercing Cannon?" Clement froze. What kind of divine weapon could endure supernova heat unscathed?
"Your suppression field has only seconds left—" Before he finished, the dark magic sword flew into Sophia's hand.
Gripping it, an immense energy surged from the blade into her body, reinforcing the collar's field to unbreakable strength.
"This is… souls?" Clement sensed thousands of wailing souls within the sword, their essence being extracted and refined into energy by Sophia.
"You brought your entire arsenal to turn me back into that vile Zhendan man's plaything, Clement. I bring one weapon, and this duel's still unfair?" Sophia's organs, fully restored by the sword's soul energy, allowed her to stand tall.
"You're using the sword's soul energy to cast?" Clement asked.
"Too basic." Sophia raised the sword, and an unnatural, dark starlight tore through the demiplane, descending onto the blade.
"Soul energy's enough to break your Weave suppression."
"Wait, you're not tapping our world's Weave…"
"Correct. This is lunar mana."
The moon, a celestial body brimming with magic far surpassing Earth's, was known to few. Though distant, its mana was purer than the Earth's Pulse.
"A sword linking to the moon… the legendary Holy Sword Moonlight?"
"Close. This is the Dark Curse of Night, from my non-blood-related vampire great-grandfather."
"Do you know what it's killed, insect?" Sophia's blue pupils turned blood-red, gripping the dark sword in her right hand. She soared, her eyes fully red, pupils gone, black shadows spilling from them.
A lightning bolt struck. Clement, forewarned, teleported away.
But a thousand bolts blanketed a radius of hundreds of meters, larger than several Goulens coliseums.
BOOM!
Clement, half-charred, materialized and crashed to the ground. Previously, Sophia's limited energy and focus on maintaining the suppression field restrained her. Now, tapping lunar mana, she could wield her true "magic" instead of sorcerous "source energy."
Her magic, compared to Clement's, was near limitless.
With the sword—her soul phylactery—maintaining the field, she could unleash her full power.
"I'm Goulens' chief mage, 'Radiant' Clement!" Enraged, he'd never shown such panic before.
Splitting into eight, he channeled the demiplane's near-infinite energy, firing eight Karsus' Piercing Cannons—some at Isaac, others at Sophia in the sky.
BOOM!
Sophia, her pupil-less eyes oozing dark shadows, teleported before Isaac, raising the Dark Curse to block all eight cannons.
"With my dictum, I command your restoration." With the sword's protection, she cast Dictum: Heal, fully restoring Isaac's wounds with a white glow.
Her dark, hollow eyes locked onto Clement, chilling him through his void eye.
Time Stop failed against her, and her counterspells could nullify his. She could render him powerless.
Clement, desperate, gathered the demiplane's full energy, warping space. This strike might collapse it.
"Enough, insect." Sophia, airborne, stared coldly, her black eyes glowing blue like an elven sage. Energy surged into the Dark Curse.
Clement heard her chant, recognizing ancient Elvish. For the first time in decades, he felt fear, sweating. He couldn't cast it but knew the spell.
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Forty Thousand Years Ago
Dragons were the world's natives when high elves arrived via world-ships.
In ancient times, high elves ruled, led by thirteen Archmage Sages. Only Ada Bellion remains today. They could move mountains, alter weather, and shift planetary orbits.
Some spells required multiple Sages. Twelve, using elven relics, could destroy planets.
The greatest Sage was High King Aerion, with his wife Ada Bellion and twin brother Malexes, both Sages. Malexes, then a high elf, wielded apocalyptic power.
Two holy swords, Sunflare and Moonlight, belonged to Aerion and Malexes, forged by otherworldly elves—the world's mightiest weapons.
Ten thousand years ago, Malexes betrayed Aerion, summoning the Demon Emperor's true form. Moonlight fell, becoming the Dark Moon.
The cataclysmic war shattered the world. Four of five primordial dragons died, leaving Akyuun, Time King, and his daughter Nargisa, Magic Queen.
Mairs, a future-traveling Archmage wielding Arthur's invincible Excalibur, joined Akyuun to defeat the Demon Emperor.
Many high elves joined Malexes, becoming drow—dark elves. Ten Sages perished, leaving one soon after.The world-ship, needing two Sages to operate, stranded the elves.
In their final battle, Aerion and Malexes fought at lightspeed with Sunflare and Dark Moon, their clashes shredding everything nearby. They battled from the elven homeland (now 2,000 km west of Roseland) to modern Aeliran.
Roseland was then a single continent. Aerion's supreme spell, Aerion's Strike, blasted Malexes from 9,000 feet into the earth, fracturing the continent, forming Britannia and Eirni.
The Dark Moon, cracked by the strike, absorbed Malexes' hatred and darkness to mend itself, flying thousands of kilometers to Ijit in modern Etan's south.
Ruled by pharaohs, Ijit's pharaoh was sacrificing live mummies to the death god during the cataclysm. The Dark Moon, infused with dark energy, crashed into the pyramid, merging with the ritual. Hundreds of priests and the pharaoh vanished.
From the ruins emerged the "First Dead," wielding the renamed Dark Curse of Night.
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Paris, Present Day
At 3 a.m., the Seine was serene under a starry sky.
Suddenly, the air above, where the invisible Goulens Arcane Institute floated, cracked like glass.
The night turned to day.
A rainbow beam burst from the crack, piercing the demiplane, illuminating the world, shooting eastward.
Goulens, the continent's magical powerhouse, held vast arcane resources. Sergei from Rossia and Jane Lancas from Aeliran sought its knowledge. But two millennia of Goulens' artifacts, mana reserves, barriers, and mysteries shattered.
The beam crossed nations, known to few.
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Alamanti Empire, Graz, Styria Duchy
Elisabeth von Hapsburg's clone had just died. Sipping wine in her castle tower, she now peered through her telescope at Goulens' capital.
"Dear Charles, I thought you'd all perish. That vampire you saved—what kind of deity or demon is she?"
Licking her finger, she smirked, "Goulens is a second-rate magical nation now, Clement. Quite the feat."She laughed chillingly.
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Nidesia, Amsterdam Outskirts
A traditional Japanese samurai mansion, newly built, spanned 6,000–7,000 square meters. A handsome Japanese man, samurai sword at his waist, held a dead Nidesian blonde, her neck bearing bite marks with no blood.
He grinned at the day-like night. Behind him, a kimono-clad woman was bound to a tree.
Wearing a magic-suppressing collar, her arms were tied behind, suspended. Her kimono was roped tightly, especially above and below her D-cup chest. One leg was hoisted, tied at the ankle and knee to a tree ring, forcing her to stand on one foot. Ropes pulled her shoulders back, lifting her forearms slightly. A silver crotch rope, hidden under her kimono, extended to the ring, forcing her to tiptoe to avoid torment.
A buzzing sound came from her groin—her own collected device, now her captor's trophy.
Her mouth was gagged with polka-dot silk, knotted tightly. The 175 cm, pale, doll-like blonde refused to submit to the Japanese man.
"Miss Renko, is that your best friend's magic?" Kibu Yanzuki asked, lifting Laurena Safisanis' chin.
"Mmph!" Laurena, one of fewer than twenty royal vampires, loved dominance, not submission. Her pride forbade enslavement.
"Still defiant, Renko?"
Yanzuki kissed her gagged mouth.
"Mmph!" Blushing, Laurena felt Yanzuki's bloodline ability—super poison, effective even on dragons, vampires, and liches—infuse her with aphrodisiacs.
He touched the vibrating rod under her kimono, intensifying her torment.
"Mmph!" she moaned.
"Renko, I planned to take your friend, but you'll be my concubine too," he said, kissing her flushed lips.
"Mmph!" Yanzuki grabbed her hair; she resisted with double human strength, despite weakening poison.
The ropes, specially made, held firm.
"Not my concubine?" He bit her neck, her body heating unnaturally from the aphrodisiac.
"Disrespectful, Renko." He tied her other leg, suspending her fully. Spinning her, the poisons—meant for her friend—dizzied her despite vampiric resistance.
"Comfortable, Renko?"
"Mmph!" Dizzy, she was at his mercy.
Yanzuki whipped her with a vine, expertly causing pain without severe harm.
Snap! Snap!
"Mmph!" Her buttocks bloomed with welts, then her suspended feet.
"Mmph—ohhh!" She screamed, eyes glazing.
Hiss… Molten silver dripped from his bottle, scalding her heat-sensitive skin.
"Mmphhh!" She convulsed, dangling helplessly.
He painted a bound woman on her buttocks with silver, signing Kibu Yanzuki. The silver fused with her skin, a permanent mark.
"Is this white night your friend's doing?" he asked, pinching her breast and kissing her forehead.
"Mmph!"
"If so, capturing her as my concubine will be tricky."
"Mmph…" Laurena despaired.
Yanzuki untied her torso ropes but kept her legs suspended, hoisting her upside-down.
"Leave her until tomorrow night for my enjoyment," he said, returning to the mansion.
"Yes, Lord!"
The vibrator buzzed, leaving Laurena moaning.
The Safisanis bloodline ability wasn't just psionics but "intelligence enhancement," mutating their brains for multitasking, calculation, memory, and spatial reasoning. Laurena, with a 180 IQ, was second only to her clan's head. But their "smarts" didn't enhance imagination or reasoning, unchanged from their human selves.
Like Sophia, Laurena's arrogance and shortsightedness led to her capture. The vibrator, her own "treasure," now tormented her.
"Mmph… so good…" She'd used it countless times, but never this intensely.
"Mmph…" Closing her eyes, she thought, Fifi, don't get caught…
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South Swedan, Livonia, North Roseland
A handsome, gray-skinned man with white hair stood in a fortress, surrounded by seven severed "moon wolf" werewolves.
"Thorn, must you play monster hunter with this bird-woman?" a 2.3-meter Viking berserker with red-orange hair and beard, wielding a massive axe, said to royal vampire Thorn Markov.
"Shut up, meathead," Thorn replied coldly.
"What's that?" Kaelin, a celestial with white wings, spoke, her voice soothing even dragons.
The night turned day-like.
"Know what happened?" Kaelin asked, her enchanting voice calming.
"Even the bird-woman's clueless?" the berserker laughed.
"Shut up, meathead," Thorn snapped, stunned by the sky. He sensed his friend caused this.
"Fifi, what've you done…"
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Silandria Capital, Bucharest
The principality's prince hadn't returned to his castle in weeks.
Prime Minister Konrad von Duncanhoff roamed unchecked, draining a victim's neck.
The night turned day. He shielded his eyes with his cloak.
Not sunlight?
Realizing, he dropped his still-living prey, who fled.
Princess… was that you? You're alive? I knew you wouldn't die…
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Zhendan Empire Capital
Morning in Zhendan.
Emperor Zhu Youshi held court. The sky shifted from dawn to noon.
"What happened?" he asked.
"Grand Scholar, any insight?" he asked.
"It… seems magical," the scholar said.
"Demons?"
"Hard to say. Perhaps elven magic from the Blissful Realm."
"Your Majesty, I have a proposal," Prime Minister Zhao Hongda said.
"Speak."
"This omen suggests we restrict women further," Zhao said.
"Why?"
"Last night's stars foretold…"
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Kyoto, Japan
As the land of the rising sun, it was morning.
The Shogun, training in his courtyard, stared at the sky.
"What happened?"
His onmyoji reported the beam crossed Japan, alerting elves in the Overseas Fairyland, then shot into space.
Celestial bodies were spared, as only one Archmage cast it.
In ancient times, eight Sages with the Star-Smasher relic cast a similar, less potent spell, shattering an asteroid two-thirds the moon's size.
The light faded, Roseland's sky darkening.
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South Roseland, Soth's Desert
Clang!
A half-charred figure appeared, collapsing in pain.
"Ugh…" Clement gasped, having teleported at the last moment.
Seven purple, translucent demon projections surrounded him—Sophia's contracted Lower Plane beings: legendary demon warriors, scornful warlocks, bloodthirsty dragons, or molten balors.
A sword tip sliced space, opening a portal. The Dark Curse floated as a sweating, panting Sophia, missing her sword arm, emerged. The sky-shattering strike's backlash was immense, prompting her to summon the "Dracula's Seven Demons," each nearly as strong as non-demiplane Clement.
Only projections, as she lacked mana for their true forms.
Sophia approached calmly. Clement, panting, accepted his fate after centuries.
"Huff… haha… I lost. Kill—" A demon warrior grabbed his neck, tossing him to Sophia.
"You want—" Aaaagh! A Bloodheart Dagger pierced his groin, collapsing him.
A four-meter demon's claw pierced his chin, lifting him.
"Look at me," Sophia said coldly.
Clement resisted, but her psychic control forced his gaze. Without the demiplane's barrier, he was defenseless.
"Kill me—" Aaaagh! The dagger pierced his left eye, then forced his mouth open, shoving the eyeball inside. He chewed and swallowed under her control.
Tears streamed, but her power suppressed his cries.
"Want to die?"
He nodded desperately.
The Dark Curse swung, and his body fell, soul rising—only to be yanked back by a glowing hand.
His head reattached. For souls briefly departed, a non-pinnacle Resurrection spell sufficed, a divine gift Sophia could arcane-cast without much mana.
Clement realized his fate, terror in his eyes as three demons toyed with him.
"No… no…" Sophia grabbed his tongue.
"Who planned to burn my vocal cords to stop my sonic cannon?"
"Ugh…" His lone eye pleaded in fear.
Rip! She tore out his tongue, forcing him to chew and swallow it.
"Aaaagh!" His healed groin was pierced again by a demon's claw.
"Aaaagh!" He screamed.
"Too noisy," Sophia said, her blood-red eyes glaring. "Be quiet, and they'll be kinder."
"Ugh…" Tears flowed, his throat and lungs spasming as he stifled screams.
Sophia stepped on his convulsing head. I didn't scream…
"I said they'd be kinder, not me. We're not done." She read his thoughts.
Clement's eyes mixed despair and madness. He broke.
She used her Dominatrix Soul Gaze, the clan's strongest ability, controlling his soul and forcing sanity upon him.
"Ugh…" His despair returned, stripped of madness's escape.
"Too loud." She ripped out his vocal cords.
"He's yours. Play. I've mana for two more resurrections. If he breaks, bring him back." She tossed him to the demons, who grinned wickedly.
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After countless torments and resurrections, Clement—devoid of senses and mobility—was approached by Sophia. She restored his eye.
He saw her blood-red eye.
Clement awoke in bed, sweating. A dream?
Maybe still dreaming, but safe.
"Claman!" a woman called his nickname. He knew her.
In the Hundred Years' War, young mage Clement fought with his lover for Goulens. She was killed by Duke Lancas, sparking his hatred for Aelirans and dimming his hope.
If a dream, he'd stop it.
He stepped out, seeing her golden hair.
He smiled—then saw Sophia von Dominatrix behind her.
His eyes widened, wetting himself.
"You like her," Sophia said, touching her hair.
"No! No!" Her head was torn off, smiling grotesquely.
"Come, eat for immortality." Sophia approached with the head.
His mouth was forced open inhumanly, her head stuffed into his unnaturally stretched throat.
Despair filled the space.
It was a dream.
Clement awoke at ten, his happiest time.
Not a dream? Dead, reliving joy?
No! He realized…
He was dead. Sophia sealed his controlled soul in the sword. Decades of torment in his mind were mere minutes.
Her arm regrew via Clement's blood and soul energy, but her mana was gone.
"Sano, open a portal," she told a demon warlock projection.
He complied. Sophia walked through, the Dark Curse following.
She snapped her fingers, dismissing the demons, and entered the portal.