The mont the photosynthetic vines began to wither from the Solar Dragon’s body, Kain’s pulse surged with renewed hope.
For the first ti, sothing had stuck.
The thin green and golden veined vines that had once pulsed so steadily around the Solar Dragon’s fra dimd. The once-perfect regrowth of bark-like armoured scabs that would cover and heal any wounds halted. The residual traces of the Verdara inheritance that had fed its regeneration were now completely absent.
Aegis’ abyssal intervention had worked.
Cassian noticed it too.
His narrowed eyes flicked toward the Solar Dragon, and for the first ti during the match, his composure cracked ever so slightly. He said nothing aloud, but his spiritual pressure shifted—less calm, more calculating.
Kain watched him carefully.
’He hasn’t figured it out...’
Cassian seed puzzled, yes, but not alard. There was no shout of foul play, no outraged demand to pause the match. Whatever he suspected, it wasn’t the truth.
Kain smirked grimly.
’Maybe he thinks it’s from my inheritance.’
It made sense. From Cassian’s perspective, the Solar Dragon hadn’t been attacked by anything visibly unusual. The vines had just stopped working, and if anything, it looked like so delayed skill had finally activated in Aegis. A purging effect, perhaps. A cleansing force.
And like most of the privileged elite, Cassian’s assumption betrayed his limited worldview.
Since everything ca to himself so easily, he assud that it must not be that hard for others. Not acknowledging the amount of privilege his position in society brought him.
It was a blind assumption, not unlike a noble believing peasants could simply ’make do’ with what they had since they themselves felt like their basic needs were t— or like a noble who assus that because their household servants (the lowest class of human they’d ever co into contact with) can afford bread, everyone in the kingdom must be well-fed. A flawed perception born of distance from reality.
This perception was naturally wrong.
Cassian didn’t know that Kain hadn’t even begun really delving into the Earth inheritance yet. The raw mory data was still sitting—untouched and incomprehensible—within the World Tree. Kain was relying on the tree to sort and slowly extract the information for him.
He was nowhere near mastering it.
And Serena? She had no World Tree. She was fumbling through her inheritance alone.
It was one of the great ironies of privilege: those with it often failed to see its magnitude.
Cassian had advanced through his own Verdara inheritance rapidly. He assud others had too. It didn’t occur to him that he might simply have had a head start. Better tools. Better support.
Kain’s fingers curled at his sides. ’Let him keep assuming. That misunderstanding might buy us ti.’ Especially since, if he attributes that skill to Kain’s inheritance, he won’t think that this is an ability that only Aegis has.
But ti was sothing Cassian no longer seed interested in giving.
A brief flicker of hesitation passed through his expression, and then he gave the command:
"Release it."
The Solar Dragon reared back, eyes glowing as a radiant sphere of light ford above its head, then burst outward.
Domain.
’Of course’ Kain had held no hope that none of Cassian’s contracts yet had begun to form a domain. Especially, since the lower-ranked Isolde had a contract with a fledgling domain.
Kain braced himself—but he wasn’t the only one who reacted.
Cassian flinched.
Visibly.
Just for a mont.
It was small—blink-and-you-miss-it—but it was there. And for that instant, strange vein-like black marks surfaced across his neck and jaw like cracks in porcelain before fading just as fast.
Kain’s eyes narrowed.
Cassian didn’t seem shocked by the marks. If anything, he looked... resigned.
Then the pressure hit.
The Solar Dragon’s domain shimred into being: a field of blinding golden light that raised the temperature around it and made the air itself feel heavy and sluggish. The heat shimred across the battlefield like a desert at high noon. Every step within the domain felt slower, as though the very ground resisted movent. And within the domain Aegis said he felt as though his connection to the earth elent had been completely cut off.
He felt helpless, as if he was a fish on a chopping block who could not resist...for a second.
But that was it.
After the initial surge, the pressure plateaued and then dipped.
Stronger than the weakest domains, yes. After all, based on the star rating given by the System to asure the potential of the domains Aegis and Bea’s latest evolutions could form, there was a huge difference in the power of domains.
And indeed, Kain had fought and beaten wild 7-star spiritual creatures in the past...he barely even felt the effects of their domains, and their complete domains were less impactful than the fledgling domains of Isolde’s Incubus or Cassian’s Solar Dragon.
Cassian’d Solar Dragon’s domain felt especially powerful...for the brief mont imdiately after it appeared.
But now it was not as overwhelming as Isolde’s Incubus domain had been.
Kain frowned.
It didn’t make sense. The Solar Dragon’s domain was clearly more perfect in form, structure, and completion of its internal laws. One can also tell that the strain on the Solar Dragon to maintain this was a lot less than the strain on Isolde’s Incubus since its internal laws were more perfect. So why was the pressure of this domain weaker?
Cassian didn’t look surprised.
’Is this part of so plan?’
Kain didn’t trust it.
He issued a quick ntal command.
’Aegis, switch targets. Vauleth, go for the Solar Dragon.’
They didn’t hesitate.
Aegis pivoted mid-stride, bursting forward with a heavy charge toward the fused Verdara-Light dragon. Vauleth, already airborne, shifted his trajectory, spiralling down into the newly ford domain. Crimson scales flared as he entered the field, and golden latticework twisted to accommodate his presence.
Kain watched closely. He didn’t just want Aegis to switch targets to begin ’exorcising’ the Verdara inheritance from another opponent, he also wanted to see how Vauleth reacted to this domain.
Vauleth had been unlocking new abilities every ti he was under pressure. The White Dragon’s breath. Then the Black Dragon’s. Was it limited to just those two?
Or could more skills be pulled from a dormant bloodline?
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