The moon was a faint silver disc above the ruined courtyard, its glow barely piercing the haze that settled over the broken stone.
The night felt unusually still, unnaturally so like the world was holding its breath, waiting for something it could neither predict nor control.
In the center of that ancient courtyard stood a single figure: Ness, cloak rustling faintly, his eyes calm yet unreadable. His presence alone seemed to distort the air.
Faint waves, subtle warps, and soft shifts radiated from him like invisible ripples across a silent pond.
This was the pressure of his Domain, the unseen world he commanded.
Across from him, in a half-circle formation, stood the nine Hogates,.renowned across regions as the highest authority of martial order.
Their armor bore marks from past wars, their expressions carved with discipline and pride.
Even still, there was caution in the air. Facing Ness was not like facing any enemy before.
At their front stepped Argent, the 1st Hogate, tall and grim, with a blade that shimmered with a faint crack through its length, the mark of his power Severing.
"Ness of the Domain…" Ardent's voice carried authority. "You attack the Vulgram Empire ,steal the sacred crystal and still cause pain to my comrade. Surrender. You stand no chance against all nine of us."
Ness did not shift, did not blink.
"You came because you fear the unknown. Yet you aim to kill it rather than understand it."
Argent tightened his grip. "We aim to protect the Vulgram Empire."
"Then step forward and prove your conviction." Ness teased them in a low tone
The tension snapped.
Argent moved first, his speed so fast that even the dust beneath his boots struggled to scatter before he blurred past.
His sword descended diagonally, the air itself parting in a clean, unnatural line. Severing wasn't merely cutting objects; it sliced concepts, momentum, force, distance.
But Ness raised his hand slightly.
The blade stopped.
Not on his skin, not on a shield its motion simply ceased, caught in a portion of the world that Ness had decided would no longer acknowledge movement.
A soft distortion glimmered between blade and flesh.
Argent's eyes widened. "Impossible—"
A pulse expanded outward from Ness. It wasn't violent. It wasn't even loud. It was simply absolute.
The ground fractured around Argent, and he was flung back, skidding and carving a shallow trench across the courtyard. He rose quickly, uninjured but shaken.
Wayne, the 3rd Hogate, stepped forward, mercury swirling into the air from vials embedded in his gauntlets. The liquid metal hovered like serpents, twisting and reshaping.
"Don't give him time. Everyone—move!" he shouted.
The battle ignited.
The Hogates charged in synchronization.
Percival, the 2nd Hogate, split into five identical clones, all equally solid, equally determined.
Klaus, the 4th, raised barriers across the battlefield, layered walls of shimmering force that trapped Ness in an ever-shrinking cage
.
Marcel, the 5th, cast portals rapidly, flinging Percival from place to place unpredictably.
Ralph, the 6th, launched a tidal wave of thick, gelatinous slime, attempting to bind Ness.
Dorell, the 7th, shone with radiance, bending beams of light into precise strikes.
Sorell, the 8th, mirrored him in darkness, sending shadows snaking across the field.
And Lancelot, the 9th, summoned crystalline constructs that rose from the ground like giant, reflective spires.
It was a storm, a coordinated, multi-directional assault designed to overwhelm even the strongest adversary.
But Ness simply breathed in.
The air stilled.
Ralph's slime froze mid-air, rippling like a paused ocean wave. Klaus's barriers trembled, threads unraveling. Even Marcel's portals flickered, the edges bending out of shape as Ness quietly asserted control.
"Domain Expansion—Restriction."
The world within five meters around Ness twisted subtly. Time didn't stop, yet motion lost meaning. All attacks slowed, as if the battlefield itself resisted the Hogates' intentions.
Percival's five clones leapt. Ness raised his foot and stepped lightly on the ground.
The clones disintegrated not in violence, but like illusions withdrawn from reality. Percival staggered, spitting out a gasp of shock as he clutched his chest.
"What—what did you do?!"
"Your clones depend on shared existence. I merely dismissed their connection to this space."
Then he appeared in front of Percival without taking a step.
A soft palm strike. Almost gentle.
Percival was thrown backward with a heavy exhale. He hit the courtyard wall, unconscious before he slumped down. His chest rose faintly alive, but weakened.
But above him, Marcel's voice rang out: "Percival! Move!"
Marcel tried opening a portal beneath him to reposition him to safety, but the vortex failed to stabilize.
"Your portals depend on spatial continuity."
Ness turned his gaze. "But this space belongs to me now."
Klaus shouted, "CLOSE RANKS!" and barriers stacked around Percival's position but Ness's Domain pressed once, gently.
The barriers shattered like thin ice.
Percival was flung upward, caught in a compression of pressure that none of the Hogates could intercept fast enough. He fell with a heavy thud, unconscious and unmoving.
He would not rise again.
Marcel clenched his teeth. Argent's sword shook with anger. Ralph's expression hardened.
Wayne whispered, "One down…"
But Ness simply said, "He rests. Do not fall into despair,you all will meet the same fate as him,only the worthy will survive."
The eight remaining Hogates launched a renewed assault.
Wayne's mercury formed a floating sphere, which exploded into hundreds of razor-like droplets.
Klaus erected angled barriers, bouncing the droplets to form a deadly grid. Dorell and Sorell combined light and darkness, forging beams that bent unpredictably.
Argent's Severing slashed lines of absence across the courtyard. Ralph expanded his slime into a lake of binding force.
Lancelot formed crystalline cannons that fired compressed shards.
For a moment, Ness was engulfed.
But then—
"Domain Compression."
The world snapped inward. Everything except Ness collapsed into a tight radius, like reality was being folded. The Hogates staggered, losing footing.
Ness appeared among them, not running, not teleporting simply existing where he wished to.
He touched Ralph's slime construct. The entire mass evaporated into harmless mist.
Ralph gasped. "My slime—how?!"
"Substance that relies on cohesion cannot withstand forced nullification."
Before Ralph could retreat, Ness struck him with a downward palm.
It wasn't a brutal hit, but the distortion of force sent Ralph sprawling. He tried to rise slime armor bubbling around him but his body trembled.
Ness exhaled. "Rest."
Ralph collapsed, unconscious…and then silent.
Dorell shouted his name, voice cracking.
Sorell's shadows writhed in rage.
Argent's sword glowed with harsh intensity.
"Enough!" Argent roared. "How dare you Mick us, treating us like we are the pawns in your game piece!"
He dashed again, Severing carving the courtyard into clean slices of still air.
But Ness met the blade with a single finger.
A pulse. A shift. A twist.
Argent was thrown back again.
Lancelot entered then, crystal armor coating his body. His constructs formed a massive crystalline titan that swung a colossal fist. The impact cratered the courtyard, yet Ness stepped out from the dust without a scratch.
"Crystal responds to pressure. You should know this."
Ness flicked the titan's knee.
The entire structure collapsed, shattering in a waterfall of gleaming fragments.
"Damn you!" Lancelot charged, desperate, but Marcel grabbed him, opening a portal to pull him back.
Only for Ness to place a hand on the portal itself.
It closed instantly, like a door slammed shut.
Marcel froze in disbelief.
"Your ability is remarkable, Knight Marcel. But it depends on pathways. I simply removed them."
Dorell and Sorell stepped forward together light and darkness weaving around them, spiraling upward into a dual beam that roared toward Ness.
Klaus reinforced it with barriers, channeling the energy so it didn't dissipate.
For the first time, Ness closed his eyes.
The beam hit.
A massive flash engulfed the courtyard.
Stone cracked. Air burned. The night trembled.
When the light faded—
Ness still stood.
A faint dome surrounded him, shimmering with impossible geometry the heart of his Domain.
"Beautiful attempt. But light and darkness are elements…
…and I do not exist in them the way you do."
He pushed his palm out.
A shockwave rippled gently.
Dorell was caught off guard lifted off the ground, his light collapsing around him. He hit the wall and slumped, gasping.
Sorell rushed to help him but Ness tapped the ground.
The area beneath Sorell inverted, pulling him down then tossing him sideways. Darkness scattered into harmless motes.
Dorell tried to rise tried to speak but his body gave out.
Sorell shouted, "Dorell!!"
Dorell's eyes fluttered once, then stilled.
Sorell turned toward Ness, fury and grief ripping through him. Shadow surged wildly, uncontrolled.
But Ness raised his hand gently.
"Do not struggle. It will only hurt more."
He pressed down lightly.
Sorell collapsed unconscious, the darkness fading.
Only Argent, Wayne, Klaus, Marcel, and Lancelot remained.
They were bruised, shaken, and sweating but they stood tall.
Argent lifted his sword. "We…we will not retreat."
Wayne nodded. "Even if we can't win…we can still kill you to protect the other empires in the world from a threat."
Klaus steadied his breath. "Barriers…still standing…"
Marcel's portals sputtered but held. "We're not done."
Lancelot summoned crystal blades.
Ness looked at them not with mockery but with respect.
"You stand even after loss. That is admirable.
But my power is not your enemy. Your fear is."
He extended his hand.
"Final Domain;Harmony."
The courtyard softened with a glow. Not light. Not darkness. Something neutral and serene. The remaining Hogates felt their bodies grow heavy not with injury, but with calm.
Argent tried to step forward but stumbled to one knee.
"We…haven't…lost…" he muttered.
Ness approached him.
"You have not lost your honor. That is enough."
With a gentle touch to Argent's forehead, he eased him into unconsciousness. One by one, Wayne, Klaus, Marcel, and Lancelot succumbed not in violence, but peaceful collapse.
When all five were down, Ness stood alone once more.
His Domain faded. The distortions vanished. The night wind returned.
He looked at the fallen Hogates not with satisfaction, but solemn understanding.
"May your paths not end here.
And may the world learn to fear less…
and listen more."
He turned and walked into the night, leaving behind a battlefield that bore the marks of immense power yet not a single drop of unnecessary cruelty.
The courtyard lay silent, illuminated by a gentle moon, the legacy of the fight echoing not through destruction, but through the quiet aftermath of conviction.
The battlefield of the Derngian outskirts was drowned in dust, smoke, and the echo of collapsing stone as the Hydra staggered from the devastating wound Damian had carved across its central neck.
The massive creature trembled, seven heads lifting sluggishly, elemental auras flickering and unstable.
Civilians from the surrounding districts, watching safely from elevated shields and long-distance platforms, stood frozen in collective awe. The entire Derngian Empire's eyes were fixed on one figure:
Damian.
His cloak fluttered in the wind, shadows coiling lightly around his heels as he took a single step forward silent, composed, unshaken by the titanic monster before him.
Behind him, Denis and Newt finally recovered their breath.
Denis wiped sweat from his brow. "He's going again… already?"
Newt scoffed, though there was admiration in his voice. "He doesn't stop. The guy's built different."
The Hydra let out a fractured roar, seven different voices blending into one unstable scream.
Flames sputtered. Water dripped unevenly. The wind head swayed, disoriented. The earth head rasped out a low rumble. The dark and light heads flickered violently, and the poison head slumped with venom dripping uncontrolled.
Damian's single clean slash had damaged all of them.
But the creature still lived.
And it refused to fall.
The fire head attempted to gather one more blast of flame, drawing in breath but before it could finish, Damian blurred forward.
A ripple of darkness surged beneath him as he stepped, vanishing in a blink, reappearing halfway between his allies and the Hydra.
Denis gritted his teeth. "He's closing the gap, back him up!"
"Already on it!" Newt shouted.
With a rapid motion, Denis extended both palms. Metal from the abandoned armored transports scattered across the battlefield shook violently, shredded themselves into shards, and launched into the air.
They spiraled around Damian, forming a rotating shell of glinting blades that followed his movement like trained falcons.
Newt lifted his hand next. A wave of green vapor swept out from him, weaving into Denis's metal barrage.
The poison coated the spinning blades, energizing them with a toxic mist that made their surfaces shimmer dangerously.
"Dark blade or not," Newt muttered, "a little support won't hurt him."
Damian didn't look back, but his voice carried through the dust.
"Good timing."
He stretched his hand outward.
The shadow blade he held pulsed a deep violet, darkness spiraling up its edge in tightening coils.
The air bent around it not violently, but with a quiet pressure that felt heavier than a mountain.
The Hydra recognized the threat.
All seven heads lunged at once.
Fire burst toward him.
Water spiraled like a tidal spear.
Wind slashed downward.
Earth hammered from above.
Darkness surged.
Light erupted.
Poison streamed.
A full combined assault.
But Damian did not slow down.
He lifted his blade.
"Denis."
Metal shards folded instantly forming a wall behind Damian, shielding the civilians.
"Newt."
A wave of poison burst outward, disrupting the wind and water heads' trajectories, buying Damian the sliver of time he needed.
The shadows around Damian expanded like wings.
And he stepped.
A single step.
A deeper darkness swallowed him then he appeared directly beneath the Hydra's massive central neck.
The world froze.
The civilians watching from screens and protective towers leaned forward in disbelief.
Denis and Newt held their breath.
Aaric, perched atop a distant platform, narrowed his eyes in sharp, focused interest.
Damian lowered his body, blade aligned at his hip.
The shadows behind him condensed into a single spiraling column, swirling around the blade like a living storm.
The Hydra realized its mistake too late.
Its heads recoiled not in attack, but in fear.
Damian whispered:
"Fall."
He swung...A perfect arc.
A line of darkness so thin it looked like a slice cut through reality itself.
No explosion, No shockwave....Just silence.
Then the battlefield cracked.
The Hydra's entire central mass split open, from core to tail, bisected in a single, impossibly clean cut.
The seven heads went stiff, elemental auras flickering like dying lanterns. Light and shadow collapsed into nothing, fire extinguished, wind slowed, water stilled.
A final groan rumbled through the valley.
Then the colossal beast fell apart.
Two halves.
Cleanly separated.
Dust rolled outward in slow billows, covering the battlefield in a soft haze.
Silence.
Then....Shouts....Cheers.....Roars.
Across every screen, balcony, tower, and platform of the Derngian Empire, civilians erupted in applause.
The sound traveled like a wave across the land echoing through the vast cities, climbing over rooftops, passing into the sky.
Damian did not turn to look at them.
He simply allowed the shadow blade to dissolve from his hand, fading into thin strands of darkness.
Denis approached breathlessly. "That was… beyond anything I expected."
Newt nodded slowly. "You cut the Hydra… in two. With one strike."
Damian shrugged softly. "It was already weakened."
Both of his teammates stared at him with expressions that said, You're unbelievable.
Behind them, the cheers of the empire only grew louder, rising into a unified chant of victory.
The Hydra was dead.
Damian had ended it.
And the Derngian Empire would remember this day for generations.