When Iskara looks around, there's a sudden ripple that goes through reality.

  This is the first time ever she's seen a Domain used against her. A Domain, something belonging to True Diamond experts is now being used by Jacob at Platinum Rank.

  She braces herself, knowing, from her lessons, what a Domain entails.

  A Domain is essentially a battlefield of the soul made manifest.

  It's the highest form of expression of one's own Class, which makes Iskara extremely cautious.

  It is a space where its user becomes akin to a Divinity.

  She watches in mounting dread as the jagged rocks of the plateau dissolve. They are replaced by a landscape of bleached white ribcages and crumbling obsidian pillars. The very molecules of the air grow heavy with the stench of ancient rot and the weight of a thousand forgotten wars.

  But the horror doesn't stop at the environment. Iskara recalls the warnings of her tutors: a Domain is meant to be projected outward because no mortal vessel can contain its raw intensity. Yet, she sees the grey energy surge back toward its source. Jacob isn't just expanding his territory; he is still performing a Reverse Domain Primordial Spell, which seems to be able to empower him further now that he used both.

  The necrotic energy forced into his marrow causes his muscles to broaden and his frame to swell with unnatural strength.

  The tattoos on his face and limbs become whiter, deadlier.

  “You saved the Leader of Dark Champions, yet, you play your strongest cards with me?!” Iskara shouts, baring her claws.

  He looks at Iskara and takes a deep breath.

  The air inside the Domain shudders as Jacob exhales, the breath coming out as a visible mist of grey essence. To Iskara, it feels like the atmosphere itself is bowing to him.

  “Nimirea is an enemy, Iskara,” Jacob says slowly, frowning at her. “You, instead, are a friend. I'm perfectly aware of what it means to try and convert an enemy into a friend. But it's much different when you go the other way.”

  “What do you mean?” Iskara frowns, trying to use her aura to bend the domain away.

  “Betrayal is much, much worse than just being an enemy,” Jacob responds. “There are very few things worse--right now, I can't really think of a single one.”

  Iskara’s instincts scream at her. She lunges, her claws wreathed in a desperate, flickering aura of her own power, but as she strikes, she feels her energy being sucked away. The ribcages protruding from the earth glow with a faint, hungry light.

  Jacob raises a hand, and the white tattoos on his skin flare with blinding intensity. The Reverse Domain is operating at peak capacity. He blocks her punch, locking his hand onto hers.

  “You really don't understand it, do you?” Jacob says, looking down at her. “I don't want you to go. Stop it.”

  Iskara tries backing away but Jacob is relentless. Feeling the resistance, he moves in close and punches her sternum, emptying her lungs of air. The shockwave hits Iskara before the physical blow does. He lets her go and she stumbles back, wheezing, out of air.

  “I will forgive you,” Jacob says. “I promise. I understand why you're behaving like this, Iskara. You don't believe me. But as I've told you, the Headmaster has your back. And so do I. I'm not strong enough to fight your family. I'm not strong enough to fight many people. But one day, I'll be there. And we can get there together. We can share power. We can fight for what's right instead of doing this.”

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Iskara looks at Jacob with hate now, her eyes tearing from the pain.

  “What is this, Jacob?” She spits out.

  “Selfishness.”

  “I don't--”

  Jacob moves too fast for Iskara to follow. The Afflictions on her body are dragging her down because of the Domain. The Domain of Ruin and Bones is clearly enhancing their effect on top of making Jacob stronger--which means he's getting both the effect of The Devil's Engine and the Domain at the same time.

  This is a terrifying power, Iskara thinks. Is this what he got in his other Trial?

  Iskara barely manages to raise her arms in a cross-block when Jacob appears in her blind spot. The impact is deafening.

  Jacob kicks her in the side, rupturing her flesh and sending her flying over the bone-strewn ground.

  “I won't let you throw your life away for a family that views you as a sacrificial pawn,” Jacob says, his voice flat, devoid of the heat of battle. He is already there again, appearing above her as she tries to roll to her feet.

  He delivers a heavy, downward kick. Iskara twists, the ribs of the Domain rising from the ground like a cage to snag her ankles. The terrain itself is working in tandem with his movements. She barely avoids a broken collarbone, the force of his foot hitting the ground creating a localized earthquake that tosses her like a ragdoll.

  “Stop fighting the Domain, Iskara! You're only making the Afflictions worse! Just give up!” Jacob shouts. He isn't even winded somehow. The Devil's Engine is roaring within him, visible as a rhythmic, hellish glow beneath his ribs, cycling the necrotic energy of the Domain through his system in a closed loop.

  Iskara snaps. The humiliation of being handled like a child, combined with the agonizing drain on her mana, pushes her into a frenzy. She ignites her blood, her skin turning a dark, bruised purple as she attempts to force a breakthrough. She lunges with a desperate horizontal swipe, her claws elongating into blades of pure, condensed malice.

  Jacob steps into the strike and catches her wrist, stopping one inch from her face.

  “Stop,” he whispers, his warm breath on her face.

  But that's when Iskara smiles, because Jacob has just noticed that she's just swallowed something.

  A bolt of black lightning shoots from Iskara's body and Jacob jumps back, feeling a devastating power arising from her body.

  * * *

  “What have you done?” Jacob asks, feeling a new power blooming inside Iskara, filling her veins with Mana so thick he can sense it from here.

  “You don't own me,” Iskara says, her voice suddenly doubled. “I'm not yours.”

  Jacob is about to reply when he feels an impending sense of doom and Iskara suddenly moves twice as faster as before. He's barely able to parry the blow with his sword, but her claw leaves a bloody mark on his face.

  He brings his fingers to it, looking at the blood, first, then at her.

  Iskara stands amidst the obsidian dust, her body wreathed in flickering black bolts that crackle with a sound like tearing silk. Her pupils have vanished, replaced by orbs of solid, pulsating shadow. A violent, oily aura erupts from her pores.

  He's felt this power before.

  “This is Asmodeus's power,” Jacob says, seeing Iskara reddish skin turn darker, more purple--and black veins appearing over the previously smooth surface.

  “I am going to destroy my mother,” Iskara says. “And I'm going to do it my way. Not with a spineless coward like you.”

  “You clearly stopped making sense, Iskara,” Jacob says, pointing his sword at her. “But I guess that you've made your choice.”

  “So what, are you finally going to try and kill one of your enemies?” Iskara cackles. “And are you going to start with me?!”

  I have no more powerups, Jacob thinks. This is it. No more aces in my sleeve. Now, if I can layer more Afflictions onto her, just enough for me to use Hellish Reversal now that the energy from the Domain healed me, I can reverse her buffs and...

  Jacob takes a deep breath.

  Iskara made a clear choice, even when he begged her multiple times not to.

  He has said multiple times to himself that if it really came down to this with Nimirea herself, he would kill her. But now that he's in front of Iskara, he feels a deep pain in his bones.

  “Yes,” Jacob says, pointing his sword at her. “I'm going to kill you.”