The more they walked, the greater the pressure.
The deeper lands did not welcome intruders.
They measured them.
Yuto felt it the moment they crossed the threshold.
The air thickenednot with corruption alone, but with intent. Mana currents no longer flowed freely. They curved, bent, resisted, as if the land itself had grown opinions.
Seraphina slowed first.
"…The pressure just jumped."
Mimi's ears flattened. "Yeah. It's like the ground is staring at us."
Zarek rolled his shoulders, muscles tensing. "Heh. Now this feels right."
Elira tightened her grip on her staff. "The Healing efficiency is down by at least fifteen percent."
Yuto raised a fist.
They stopped.
Ahead lay a vast basin carved into the earth, its walls lined with crystallized corruption, black-red veins pulsing slowly, like a sleeping heart.
At the basin's center stood a ruin.
Not a building.
A scar.
Stone melted and reformed into jagged spires, floating slightly above the ground, connected by threads of warped mana.
Yuto's breath fogged.
"This isn't just a nest," he said quietly.
[Advisor: "Correct. This is a proto-domain."]
Silence followed.
Seraphina turned sharply. "Proto… as in...?"
"Something trying to become an overlord," Zarek finished, grin fading slightly.
[Advisor: "More accurately, something preparing a seat."]
Yuto's eyes narrowed.
"So Ven'rael is testing territory."
[ Advisor: "Yes. And you are standing inside the edge of its influence."]
The land pulsed.
As if acknowledging that fact....,
The moment they stepped into the basin, the pressure multiplied.
Gravity felt… heavier.
Not physically, but spiritually.
Yuto felt his mana compress inward, instincts warning him not to expand recklessly.
Mimi staggered, catching herself. "Ugh, my illusions feel… sticky."
Seraphina planted her feet, shield flaring. "This place is suppressing output."
Elira closed her eyes, focusing. "It's filtering mana. Anything not aligned gets taxed."
Zarek cracked his neck. "So we punch harder."
Yuto shook his head.
"No. We move smarter."
He took one step forward.
The ground reacted.
A ripple spread outward, subtle, testing.
Yuto felt something ancient press back against his presence, like a ruler measuring another ruler's shadow.
[ Advisor: "Proto-domain resistance detected."]
"So it does feel me," Yuto muttered.
[ "Yes. And it doesn't like you."]
A faint smile tugged at his lips.
"Good."....
Swift!!!
They emerged silently.
Six figures pulled themselves from the crystallized walls, humanoid, but wrong. Their bodies were partially fused with the domain itself, limbs tapering into jagged mana spikes.
Domain-bound sentinels.
Each movement caused the basin to hum.
Seraphina raised her shield. "Those aren't normal corrupted."
"No," Yuto replied. "They're anchored."
[Advisor: "Destroying them will require either sustained purification… or disrupting the domain's control."]
Yuto inhaled slowly.
"Then we do both."
He turned slightly.
"Seraphina, hold their attention. Zarek, break anchors. Mimi, jam their targeting. Elira, don't overextend."
They moved without question.
The sentinels attacked as one.
Blades of condensed corruption lashed outward, carving trenches through stone.
Seraphina met the first wave head-on, shield screaming under the impact but holding firm.
Zarek roared and charged, blade glowing as he severed a sentinel's leg, only for it to reform instantly.
"Yeah, okay anchored," he growled.
Mimi's illusions flickered, but this time, they lagged.
"They're adapting!"
Yuto stepped in.
Spirit Instinct flared not fully, but sharpened.
He felt the threads.
Thin, almost invisible lines connecting each sentinel to the basin's core.
There.
"Break the threads!" he shouted.
He struck, not the body, but the space between sentinel and stone.
[Mana Shaping: Precision Sever.]
The air split like torn silk.
One sentinel froze...
Then shattered.
The others reacted immediately, pressure spiking.
The basin pushed back.
Yuto felt it slam into his chest like a warning.
[ Advisor: "Domain resistance escalating. You are being marked as a hostile authority."]
Yuto grimaced, but didn't retreat.
"Good. That means it recognizes authority."
He surged forward, strikes landing faster, cleaner.
Not overpowering.
Undermining.
One by one, the anchors failed.
The sentinels collapsed into inert crystal.
The basin went quiet.....
Yuto exhaled sharply, dropping to one knee.
Not from injury,
From pressure.
Elira rushed to him, light flaring. "Your spirit flow is destabilizing."
"I'm fine," he muttered, though his vision swam slightly.
[ Advisor: "You forced localized authority inside a proto-domain. That is… inefficient."]
Yuto chuckled weakly. "Did it work?"
[ "Yes."]
The ground beneath them cracked faintly.
The proto-domain pulsed, unevenly now.
Seraphina looked around. "The pressure's… fluctuating."
Mimi tilted her head. "Like it's confused."
Zarek wiped his blade clean. "Or pissed."
Yuto pushed himself upright.
"That was just the outer shell," he said. "The core's deeper."
[Advisor: "And closer to Ven'rael's awareness."]
Yuto stared at the ruin's center, where the mana threads converged into a dark, spiraling sinkhole.
His evolution meter flickered faintly.
82%
Slow.
Painfully slow.
But stable.
Earned.
***
As they approached the sinkhole, ancient markings became visible, etched directly into warped stone.
Elira squinted. "That's… old script."
Yuto traced one symbol with his fingers.
"Overlord law," he murmured.
[Advisor: "Partial doctrine. Likely left by a previous failed ascendant."]
Seraphina stiffened. "Failed?"
["Yes. The land remembers those who tried and were rejected."]
Yuto withdrew his hand.
"So this is what happens when you're not strong enough."
The markings pulsed faintly, as if agreeing.
Zarek snorted. "Well, that won't be us."
Yuto didn't answer immediately.
He looked down into the darkness.
Something down there was watching.
Not attacking.
Waiting.
"This isn't the dragon," he said finally.
"But it's close enough to smell it."
[ Advisor: "Ven'rael is testing you indirectly. Measuring persistence."]
Yuto clenched his fists.
"Then tell it this.."
His aura flared, steady and controlled.
"I'm not leaving."
The basin trembled.
Deep below, something shifted.
---