Adrian's threads surged across the void, splitting the Demon Emperor's dark devour threads with an ease that should not have been possible inside a devour-domain. The moment they neared the Demon Emperor's chest, he shot sideways in the void with unnatural speed, but Adrian's threads curved with him, adjusting mid-flight, bending their paths without the slightest resistance.
Adrian immediately felt the difference between this confrontation and the one he had with Arcton.
This time, his body remained in human form. He had not invoked the Source Form, he wielded no Source Influence, and he stood inside a domain constructed entirely from the Demon Emperor's devour concept, which should have held absolute rule over every stray essence within it.
But nothing suppressed his Source essence.
He could sense it clearly: every other concept he possessed would crumble under the Demon Emperor's domain. Fire would be crushed, space would shatter, even gravity would bow beneath the weight of devour's authority. It would all be consumed the moment he attempted to invoke them. Yet the Source acted freely, it slipped through the devour rules as if they were mere fabric strands brushing against his skin.
This was the opposite of what happened during Arcton's battle. Arcton's divine domain, forged through merged and unified concepts, had been a higher-tier concept. It was an artificial authority formed by weaving arcane concepts into something greater. Such divine concepts were separated from the pure root of natural rules, detached enough that the Source had struggled to grasp absolute command. Only by invoking Source Form and applying full Source Influence had Adrian been able to override Arcton's authority.
But this devour domain, for all its overwhelming strength, was still fundamentally a pure natural concept, a natural rule.
And Adrian's Source, which was far purer now than when he faced Arcton, had absolute authority over natural concepts.
It was the Origin of all of them, their parent, their beginning. Devour could not suppress its own origin.
The Demon Emperor's roar split the void, enraged not only by Adrian's control but by something deeper; his devour concept had never been resisted like this. Never been made irrelevant, never been rendered powerless.
"You dare!" the Demon Emperor snarled, wings flaring wide as dark essence erupted from every feather, "I have consumed empires! Devoured warlords! You think your parlour trick will—"
And yet, beyond rage, there was a feverish gleam in his eyes. For him, this was no longer simply a battle. It was ecstasy. If he devoured this unknown concept, if he could assimilate this impossible authority, then it would all belong to him.
He no longer cared about Adrian's threads chasing him. With a wide sweep of his hands, he unleashed a massive barrage of devour threads straight toward Adrian, a tidal wave of black hunger that filled the void between them.
But the moment they neared Adrian's body, they halted and then recoiled violently, as though terrified. Even while the Demon Emperor commanded them forward, the threads shuddered and slithered back, refusing to approach.
"What—" The Demon Emperor's voice cracked, "Obey me!"
It was not obedience to the Demon Emperor. It was fear of Adrian.
Adrian watched the threads writhe in the void, hesitating like prey before a predator. He lifted his free hand and simply willed for the devour threads to come.
They obeyed.
The dark threads drifted to him like frightened, desperate children seeking shelter. They curled around his palm gently, submitting without conflict. No force, no influence, no dominance, just pure submission, as though the very concept acknowledged him as its master.
Even the Guardian Spirit froze.
Its golden aura flickered erratically, pulsing with confusion.
It could not comprehend what it was witnessing. To act freely inside another's domain was already a sign of a terrifying concept. But to command the arcane concept of another entity, especially one as powerful as devour, was forbidden by the rules of the universe. Arcane foundations never bowed. Even beings wielding ultimate-tier divine concepts could only partially force obedience after overwhelming the rules with sheer dominance.
But this was not dominance.
This was submission.
The Demon Emperor stared, stunned. He had spent millennia cultivating his devour essence, consumed replicas of himself, devoured warlords, and countless demons to temper it into a core so dense it rivaled divine concepts. Yet now, his own concept had betrayed him, shifting allegiance to Adrian without hesitation.
The sight shook him deeply, but instead of fear, it twisted into madness. A laugh tore from his throat, wild and unhinged, "Haha! This is my perfect anomaly!" he growled, spreading his arms wide as though embracing the impossible, "Yes! Yes! This is what I needed! This is what I have been searching for across millennia!"
Adrian glanced at the dark threads coiling around his fingers, feeling their reluctant worship of his essence. They pulsed with hunger, but that hunger had redirected itself entirely toward him, not as prey, but as something they wanted to serve. He didn't even need Source Influence to command them. His Source purity alone was enough.
His right hand, still extended with Source threads aimed at the Demon Emperor, pulsed with white-grey light, and in a single instant, those threads accelerated, piercing the Demon Emperor's abdomen.
A violent roar tore from the Demon Emperor's throat as his body convulsed. His hands shot down, grasping at the threads embedded in his flesh, attempting to pull them free, but the wound refused to fully heal. Dark essence bubbled from the puncture, evaporating against the Source threads as though the very rules governing his regeneration had been overwritten.
"You think this will stop me?" The Demon Emperor snarled through gritted teeth.
The Demon Emperor unleashed his last resort; his divine domain erupted.
A tidal wave of divine force swept across the void. The devour domain vanished, replaced by a new concept. The Demon Emperor's divine domain swallowed the entire sector in a single instant.
Adrian's Source threads flickered, straining against the sudden shift in authority. The void itself warped, colours bleeding into one another as six distinct essences wove together into something singular and overwhelming.
This domain wasn't the same one Arcton wielded. Adrian could see six natural concepts woven into it: fire, ice, water, earth, wind, and corrosion, fused so perfectly that no boundaries remained. They formed a single harmonious divine concept, stronger and deeper than Arcton's.
The entire sector groaned under the weight of the authority.
Adrian felt it immediately. His Source essence threads dimmed slightly; the domain pressed down on him, not enough to crush him, but enough to resist.
The Demon Emperor laughed triumphantly, "No matter what concept you wield, nothing stands above a divine concept! Inside my domain, you are NOTHING!"
His voice carried absolute conviction, the certainty of someone who had tested this truth against empires and won. His eyes gleamed with renewed confidence as he watched Adrian's threads struggle against his authority.
Adrian didn't reply. He examined the domain with his Source Eyes, watching the intricate weave of rules binding together. The fusion was exquisite, masterful even.
This was exactly the same phenomenon he experienced with Arcton; divine concepts had authority directly on reality, creating or overwriting rules forcibly, so even Source essence felt resistance. The artificial nature of divine concepts, their separation from pure natural law, made them difficult for Source to command without overwhelming force.
He could break it with Source Form, but he wasn't near the Origin Capital. His mana reserves, while vast, were limited out here in the void. He couldn't afford to burn everything recklessly, not when he didn't know what came after this battle.
Instead, he whispered, "It's time to test this."
He invoked his Source Domain.