One became ten.

Each arrow split ten times each, making what would only have been light rain into a storm flood. Each arrow was still purely stable arcane mana as it fell. The Ashen Phantom Devourer reacted quickly as it tried to move away, but the King strained himself to contain the Unique Lifeform.

Not that he had to constrain it for long, as the arrows hit less than a second after becoming visible. The Arrow of the Ambitious Hunter hit the domain and instantly just disappeared as it sank into the Soulshape of the Unique Lifeform. This left the more than four thousand arrows and the many stable arcane bolts to just fall into the domain.

Jake, with blood running from his nose and a toothy grin, acted. The connection with the arrows had never been lost, and it took nothing more than a mental command. Every single arrow crackled with instability as, in an instant, they shifted from pure stability to pure destruction.

And then everything exploded.

From up in the air, Jake saw the entire world flash purple. Even with his high Perception, it took him a second to see again, and what was revealed could only be described as a cataclysm. What had once been a mountain range was now still kind of a mountain range, but with a massive crater in the middle.

However, Jake had no time or attention to spare on observing the environment. He had known that even if this attack went above and beyond his expectations, it would not be enough to kill a peak D-grade Unique Lifeform. And he had been right.

All the ash had been destroyed, but the domain remained. The King had managed to shield himself as he was not the primary target and did not hesitate to engage as the domain stirred. Ash began appearing as a figure assembled itself.

Jake pulled out his bow while flying down and released another barrage of arrows. A wall of ash appeared and blocked them all, but this left an opening as a golden wave cut across the domain and destroyed the assembled being of ash.

Another one appeared, but there was no time to rest. The domain had shrunk by nearly forty percent from that one opening attack, and as Jake released his second attack, the barrier did not manage to be assembled in time. It instead was conjured just after the arrows passed, allowing arcane explosions to destroy even more of the ash.

The neurotoxin was beginning to really kick in. Jake was also certain that every bit of ash now had an even higher cost to being summoned. The Unique Lifeform had also naturally noticed the poison and began eliminating it from its soul.

Oh no, you don’t!

Touch of the Malefic Viper activated as Jake controlled the poison from up in the air. The King also did his part as explosions rocked the domain and golden waves constantly ripped apart the creature. Soon, the Unique Lifeform tried to escape, but Jake slowed it down enough for the King to easily keep up.

Jake followed along as the domain ash moved across the vast mountain range, focusing solely on Touch of the Malefic Viper. With every second, the domain shrank by a little, and the King seemed to only increase the fervor with which he attacked.

After a minute or so of this, the Ashen Phantom Devourer seemed to realize it was actually in trouble. Big trouble.

“Pathetic to require the help of a mere human! An utter embarrassment to call yourself a Unique Lifeform! If you truly think this is enough to-”

“Funny,” the voice of the King echoed out as it interrupted the Devourer. “You sound like me just before this very same human killed me.”

The Unique Lifeform seemed shocked for a moment as Jake felt it stop fighting his poison for a fraction of a second. Yet it quickly collected itself as an odd calmness overtook its form. Jake felt the shift instantly, and a sense of danger appeared, telling him to stay the fuck away from the Devourer.

“I see.”

That was all the Ashen Phantom Devourer said as it stopped completely. The King kept attacking, but Jake rapidly threw him a look and used a weak Gaze to warn him. Just in time too.

Everything warped. Space itself shattered and distorted as the domain collapsed in on itself, releasing a massive wave of energy, sending Jake flying upwards and pushing back the King who had barely managed to get out of the domain.

Then, with the push came a pull. The entire Unique Lifeform was now nothing more than five meters across and looked like a miniature black sun… no. What could happen to a star after it collapsed.

At that moment, the Ashen Phantom Devourer had become what Jake could only describe as a black hole. And as a black hole, it sought to devour everything.

Space itself bent, light refracted, and the mountains surrounding them began cracking and collapsing in the distance. The ground below rose as Jake felt a pull on not only the physical realm but even in the metaphysical one.

Mana, affinities, everything was being pulled in. Jake had to resist it as he flew upwards with all his might, and he even felt the poison be rapidly consumed and devoured as the black hole grew. Gritting his teeth, Jake stopped himself in the air and reached out, his hand glowing green.

Black veins spread up his arm as he infused his hand with even more energy, intensifying the glow. The poison within the black hole got new life as the suction lessened and became more unstable. The black hole was still growing, but it had slowed down.

As Jake considered what to do next, he saw the King move. Rather than retreat, the Unique Lifeform flew forward as his barrier glowed golden. Power revolved around him, and Jake realized what he was about to do.

Without a doubt, this was the trump card of the Ashen Phantom Devourer. It was well-known that all Unique Lifeforms were innately born with one such unique skill. The Devourer had one… and so had the Fallen King.

The King did not stop as he reached the black hole, and Jake helped as he channeled Touch to the extreme. He suddenly heard a crack. A deep scar had been formed on his mask before many smaller cracks and crevices appeared.

Below, Jake saw the King enter the black hole as the mask slipped off his face, falling towards the ground. Falling, because the very moment the King entered the domain of the Ashen Phantom Devourer, the suction stopped.

The world seemed still. Everything that had been floating in the air before had stopped, and Jake felt even his own poison be unable to move. Unable because what it resided within – the Soulshape of the Devourer – shuddered.

Shattered.

An invisible wave erupted from within the black hole. Jake summoned a barrier of stable arcane energy and, to his surprise, managed to entirely block it out, making him realize this was mere remnants of the actual attack.

Jake stared as everything the Devourer was consuming fell down again. Where the black hole had been, a single figure remained as an ivory claw reached out. The shattered mask, still falling, re-assembled in mid-air and was telekinetaclly called over as the King put it back on. In the other hand he held a small black orb that promptly disappeared.

The black hole was gone. The domain was gone. And all Jake felt were broken remnants of what had once been a soul floating in the air before dispersing – a bit of it entering Eternal Hunger, as always.

*You have slain [Ashen Phantom Devourer – lvl 199] – Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level*

*’DING!’ Class: [Avaricious Arcane Hunter] has reached level 195 - Stat points allocated, +10 Free Points*

Jake kept staring. The notification was there, but a hint of doubt still remained in his mind. It felt too… easy?

He began flying down as the King also descended to the ground. The Unique Lifeform landed and sat down as Jake felt the energy fluctuate within the King. He felt weak, far weaker than usual, and looking at the mask on the King and Jake himself, he was indeed damaged on a fundamental level.

“Is it dead?” Jake asked as he landed.

“You unleash an attack capable of destroying an entire region upon a creature that is effectively a living domain, further adding a massive toxic payload to the mayhem you created, and you question its efficiency?” the King scoffed. “The Devourer is dead. The soul was weakened and capable of destruction, so I capitalized on the weakness and went in for the kill.”

Jake considered for a moment before grinning. “Turns out you Unique Lifeforms aren’t all you are hyped up to be.”

The King did not even bother responding to that. “I, too, had to use my trump card and will find myself weakened for a period. I apologize. You will have to deal with the rest of your matters by yourself.”

“That was the plan,” Jake said with a nod.

And he already knew the first matter to deal with. From up in the air, he had spotted a little nahoom rat keeping an eye on the King and the Devourer fighting.

“How unexpected, but not entirely unpredictable,” Ell’Hakan mused to himself the moment he got the message from the servant observing the fight between the two Unique Lifeforms. He had now sent a message that it appeared like someone else had also joined the fight, with the only likely culprit the Malefic’s Chosen.

Needless to say, he could not have an important bout between two Unique Lifeforms going on without keeping a constant eye on it. It was sad he could only get a brief message without any details, but just knowing it was happening was good enough. He did expect a more thorough report from the observer soon, but there was no need to wait for that.

Ell’Hakan had expected the Malefic’s Chosen to prioritize returning to Haven over engaging the Unique Lifeform. That the Ashen Phantom Devourer had yet to defeat this Fallen King was as to be expected, and he didn’t have his servants interfere for a reason. Either Unique Lifeform winning was simply not of particular interest to him, at least not if one won too fast.

The one winning would have to be the Ashen Phantom Devourer, though. With both the Fallen King and the Malefic’s Chosen there, the Unique Lifeform should be pressured, giving Ell’Hakan quite an opportunity if he said so himself. Keeping a Unique Lifeform loyal was difficult, but if he could get it to feel a sense of debt towards him, that would be more than welcome and extremely exploitable.

Now, as said, then he would naturally not allow such a battle to go on without having a method of keeping an eye on it, and in the same vein, he would not allow such a battle to take place without giving him a way to get there.

The house he had constructed was not just for him to reside in while waiting for the Malefic’s Chosen but also created to serve as a small hub for teleportation. Taking out a token, he called for one of the two people stationed in Haven to come over and operate the teleportation circle for him to use. The distance required for the teleportation made it a necessity to have someone on this side.

Ell’Hakan waited as very soon he saw his servant rush towards him. Just before he could begin to gather the energy from the Sun and Moon array, he stopped. Something had suddenly appeared in the plains, looking like a rectangular wall or…

A painting?

Out stepped a figure Ell’Hakan did not immediately recognize, and his servant clearly didn’t either as she continued running. It was only a few seconds later that Ell’Hakan realized who this newcomer was. The Patriarch from the Noboru Clan.

Unexpectedly, a second figure then also appeared out of thin air. A red liquid that Ell’Hakan surmised had to be blood formed a human-looking figure that promptly intercepted the servant. To his surprise, his servant was actually stopped in her tracks as a large wall of blood appeared and pushed her back.

The old man from the Noboru clan didn’t even look back but began wandering through the plains towards Ell’Hakan. He looked relaxed, far more so than he should, and their eyes met as Ell’hakan frowned. He felt the emotions from the man, and they were not as expected.

He felt as if he was staring at a still lake and not a human being. Nevertheless, even if it was so, that didn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things.

Ell’Hakan walked down the steps of his residence towards the old swordsman. Neither had their weapon drawn, and he saw no reason to be the first to do so. His servant dying would be an annoyance, but if push came to shove, the teleporter could still be activated and bring Ell’Hakan to his destination if he was fine with destroying it in the process and having the servant on the other side suffer the backlash.

However, that would put him far away from Haven, allowing the Malefic’s Chosen to potentially retreat and make his way there before Ell’Hakan could. He still had things he wanted to be done here in Haven, and more importantly, it could only be activated in these plains outside of the small city. Besides, even if he lost this one servant to what he guessed was an unknown blood mage, there was another stationed in Haven he could call upon.

Needless to say, something had to be done before that was an option.

“Patriarch of the Noboru clan,” Ell’Hakan spoke. “Your presence here intrigues me. Last I heard, you were dead, but I reckoned something was off about that, considering I haven’t heard back from your killers-to-be.”

Ell’Hakan estimated the human must have spent the last few months recuperating. After the fight during the Treasure Hunt event Earth had undergone, the Sword Saint, as people called him, had been cooped up and injured for several months. The only thing capable of leaving such harm was severe overuse of a boosting skill or soul damage. He guessed it was the overuse of a boosting skill, and it looked like he had to use that boosting skill once more to handle the two servants. If not, why would he not have handled internal matters of his clan?

“I apologize if it inconvenienced you that I killed the two of them,” the old man surprisingly apologized. Not that there was a hint of actual regret in his emotional spectrum. Not a single ripple disturbed the lake.

“They went knowing death was a potential outcome. I do wonder why you have appeared here. Please, do enlighten me? From what I heard, your clan is in shambles and could very much need their Patriarch right now. Some of them have even reached out with interest in an alliance. It is not too late to reconsider,” Ell’hakan said convincingly, trying to throw a rock into the lake.

“A shameful display, and only proof a cleaning of the old clan is required,” the swordsman sighed, for the first time showing a faint hint of disappointment. It disappeared as fast as it had come, but it confirmed the man could not fully control his emotions. No human could. No… no living entity with emotions could fully control them. Not even gods.

Nodding, Ell’hakan believed he should stop wasting time. “Your attempt at buying time is valiant; however, I must disappoint you. While I would love a conversation, I have other, more pressing matters to attend to. I truly hold no interest in you or your clan, and I will give you the choice of leaving now or accepting the consequences of staying.”

“Tell me, Ell’Hakan, was it?” the swordsman asked. “What do you think of this planet? Its lands and its residents?”

“Chaotic but malleable,” Ell’Hakan answered, humoring him for a moment.

“Chaotic… yes, to that, I agree,” the man nodded and smiled. “Secondly, you fought Jake Thayne, the Malefic’s Chosen. What was your assessment of him?”

“Chaotic fits him very adequately too. Powerful, yes, but chaotic. I fail to see the purpose of this line of questioning outside of simply delaying me by piquing my curiosity?”

“I was curious too,” the old human said as he slowly unsheathed a sword. The blade looked simple and unassuming, but Ell’Hakan felt uneasy when he looked at it. “Curious how far I have come. Please allow this old man the honor of your assessment, you who has conquered another world.”

Ell’hakan was about to answer as the lake of emotions rippled and moved. His eyes opened wide as serenity was replaced with pure devotion, and an aura washed through the plains as the old human bent his knees - the mental image of his emotional state replacing a lake with that of a sword.

More than a distraction, Ell’Hakan realized as he took out his trident and got into a defensive position.