“Hm!?”
As soon as Sonio spoke, Egrette realized something was wrong.
However, she was one step too late. Magic power erupted from Sonio’s body, erasing the Crimson Sea of Flowers wherever it passed, as if it were being crowded out or eroded.
Seeing this, Egrette consumed her magic power to re-strengthen her Domain. She even relied on her exquisite technique of fusing blood and magic to convert her very blood into mana for the confrontation. Yet, she found it difficult to withstand the surging, turbulent magic of Sonio. Gradually, she was overwhelmed.
‘How is this possible? Normal methods of using magic power to maintain and strengthen a Domain could never reach this level!’
A Domain was equivalent to a mental world manifested in reality. Invoking such a space that distorted reality necessarily consumed magic power. However, it was much like running an air conditioner; the magic power required to open a Domain was greater than that needed to strengthen it, while the power needed to strengthen it was greater than that required for simple maintenance.
Of course, although techniques to strengthen a Domain with magic existed, the efficiency was incredibly poor. Under normal circumstances, they were never used. What Egrette had done shortly before was merely a trick to hide her true Domain.
Now, however, Sonio was clearly strengthening his own Domain to combat hers, and the scale of the reinforcement far exceeded her own. It had already transcended the standard level of magic power reinforcement.
“No, he must be stopped! Everyone, fire!”
Upon receiving the command, the Maid Guard and Heath Ledger aimed their cannons and opened fire on Sonio.
In an instant, flames soared into the sky, and the roar of artillery echoed throughout the Domain.
However, the high-power shells—which were capable of shattering the Mana-Breaking Blade in a single shot—vanished without a trace before they could even land on Sonio.
“Wait, didn’t we agree that even if the damage wasn’t enough, it would at least do something?”
“It can’t be helped. The opponent’s strength may have already exceeded our predictions. If you want to complain about that, go talk to the Fifth and Sixth Demon Kings. I’m just a middleman.”
the artillery batteries they were using actually originated from the hands of the Fifth and Sixth Demon Kings, who excelled in manufacturing. Although they were prototypes rushed out in a hurry, their power was extraordinary. They were capable of breaching the defenses of any entity above Level 80 that wasn’t specialized in defense. Yet, when fired at Sonio, they were no different from toys.
In truth, these batteries should have possessed even higher performance. Unfortunately, they hadn’t expected that Ai Yue—the person Sonio feared most and whose mere presence kept him from showing his face—would suddenly leave the Demon King Castle. This had forced them to move the plan forward.
But now was not the time for such talk.
The Domain Sonio deployed rapidly eroded Egrette’s Domain. The original night of the full moon and the Crimson Sea of Flowers transformed into a dreamlike vision filled with things that could not exist in reality. It became a phantom realm of endlessly repeating circular staircases and floating cubes where the bottoms were somehow positioned above the tops.
“Welcome to my dream.”
Sonio appeared high in the air at some unknown moment and gave a polite bow to the people below.
In less than a few seconds, Egrette’s Domain was completely replaced by Sonio’s, transforming into his dream.
“Bells and whistles.”
Seeing Sonio’s arrogant display, one of the maids refused to believe it and slapped the side of her battery. Under the enhancement of her skills, the battery—which originally relied on pure mass and kinetic energy to deal damage—was infused with various effects ranging from burning, freezing, and poison, to weakness and blindness.
“Fire!!”
The moment the words left her mouth, the shell, imbued with special magic, flew out at a speed far exceeding the previous shots. With the reinforcement of magic and the technological weapons forged by a Demon King Level powerhouse, even the person firing could not track the shell’s trajectory. It reached Sonio in an instant.
“Oh my, violence is quite naughty—”
Facing a shell that could breach the defenses of those above Level 80, Sonio simply smiled calmly and snapped his fingers.
There was no delay. The shell, which had been streaking forward like a comet in reverse, instantly turned into bubbles. They were no different from the fragile bubbles a child might blow from a bubble gun.
At the same time, the art style of every battery on the field suddenly changed, becoming a messy graffiti style. No matter how the operators tried to activate them, they could only fire colorful streamers.
“What’s happening!?”
“Didn’t I say? This is my dream now. My world.”
Sonio lay back in the air and yawned, completely disregarding the others.
Yet, with just that, the entire space underwent earth-shattering changes according to his will. The sky inverted, the earth twisted, and the sun and moon appeared simultaneously. The clouds and rain turned multicolored, and everyone except Egrette was suddenly dressed in mascot costumes.
‘Can a normal Domain achieve this level of free transformation…?’
Looking at the ever-changing dream Domain, even Egrette found it incomprehensible.
Normally, a Domain was at most a space created by a “specific” part of one’s inner world eroding reality. In other words, it shouldn’t have the effect of being able to freely manipulate everything within the Domain like this.
‘But right now, this Domain is like a fusion of various dreams… Wait, various dreams?’
Suddenly, a logical yet terrifying explanation occurred to Egrette.
“Sonio, could it be that you—!?”
“Oh, it seems the Bat Lady has figured something out—”
Seeing Sonio’s reaction, Egrette’s suspicion was confirmed even without him saying it outright.
“You scum. You actually used the spirits of all the residents in your territory. What do you think a person’s spirit is?”
Since a Domain was the manifestation of one’s heart, or rather, the spirit, it stood to reason that using mental power to strengthen it was far more efficient than using magic power. The reason Sonio possessed such a massive amount of mental power was that he relied on the Demon Race members he dominated.
As the Fourth Demon King, Sonio had not only used dreams to dominate his entire territory, but he had even dominated individuals in other territories, such as the member of the Blood Race Egrette had interrogated previously. He used these people as ammunition packs, forcibly extracting their mental power for his own use. This was also the reason why this Domain was so chaotic.
“My food? But you don’t need to be angry. After all, you will be joining us shortly to become one of my meals.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Egrette felt her consciousness flicker for a moment. The other maids and the Vampire General lost consciousness immediately and collapsed.
“Ugh… what did you do?”
“Hmm… you should ask yourself that…”
Halfway through his sentence, Sonio grinned.
“When did you get the impression that I haven’t done anything?”