"How does it have a domain?" Hildegarde asked stutteringly once they were back on track, moving towards the edge of the platform.
"What do you mean?" Mane wondered. "There are several weapons with domains" he added. Indeed, Mane was right. Although the number of Divine Weapons per world in the True Universe were few, when one considered the total number of weapons present, they would come up with at least several thousands of them. Although domains were skills mostly possessed by gods, when a Divine Weapon was made, there was a 45 percent chance that it would gain a Domain Skill. And the range and limit of this skill varied from Divine Weapon to Divine Weapon. But the point was that it was not rare. So Hildegarde's surprise was unwarranted, at least in Mane's books.
"Your weapon was just born. Usually even if a Domain Skill appears on a Divine Level Weapon, it wouldn't be revealed until the weapon was a few tens of years old. And that was why picking a Divine Level Weapon was a gamble. Otherwise, no one would pick the ones without Domains" Hildegarde clarified, revealing what exactly she meant.
And she was right. No Divine Level Weapon suddenly gained a Domain after birth. The earliest a Divine Weapon gained a skill in the records of history was ten years after birth. One must understand that the birth here refers to the process of bonding with the owner of the weapon. A weapon could be several millions of years old, but if it has never had an owner, then it is considered to be in the fetal stage. It is only upon bonding with a person that it is considered to be born.
Harch was already very young, considering that he had been made only a few months ago. As for how Harch and the other weapons had escaped the confines of Space and Time, saying that they had been summoned by Mane's strong breakthrough was not a good enough reason. But that was not the point. The issue was that Harch had just bonded with Mane. In fact, so recent was their bonding that Mane's Spirit hadn't finished analysing the skills his blade had. Yet it already had a Domain!
"And that isn't all. You actually have a Growth Type Domain," Hildegarde added with a small sigh. Sometimes she felt that Mane really disregarded the extent of power that had been granted him. He had so many overpowered and impressive skills that when a new one joined their ranks, he considered it average. She didn't even think he felt any excitement when he unlocked new skills. Maybe he experienced something like a 'new sneaker high' for about a minute, before reverting to nonchalance and disregard.
"A Growth Type Domain is indeed something extremely rare," Mane nodded. This time he had to agree with Hildegarde. There were two types of Domains made available to Divine Weapons: Growth Type Domains and Fixed Domains.
Fixed Domains were exactly as they sounded. Their features were fixed, and nothing could be done to increase their range or improve their power. Once they fully manifested, what you had was what you had forever.
Growth Types were different. They usually started out weaker than Fixed Domains, but they did surpass them in due time. And the gulf would just keep getting larger and larger. Of course there was a Growth Cap that was in place for each Divine Weapon with this function, and each weapon had a different cap. Some were much higher than normal, and others were much lower than normal. Otherwise they would be capable of indefinite growth.
But Harch wasn't an ordinary Divine Weapon. Technically, it was a Divine Weapon, but it had much more power and potential than even the best Divine Weapons. For starters, although its Domain wasn't the best amongst Divine Weapons, it had the greatest range of a new Domain that Hildegarde had ever seen. And the fact that it was a Pure Chaos Weapon made it even more superior. It couldn't be described as an Origin Divine Artefact because it hadn't been around since the inception of the Universe, but its power rivalled that of Origin Divine Weapons! As for whether it could surpass weapons like Mjolnir and Gungnir, Hildegarde thought it very unlikely. After all, those weapons were truly in leagues of their own.
However, she had clearly disregarded the fact that unlike Mjolnir and Gungnir which were made up of both Uru and Devilstone, Harch's axe head was made entirely out of Devilstone. And the scales of the World Serpent weren't trivial materials either. Added to the fact that it was tempered by the Chaotic Flame, and not its branched flame like the Eternal Flame of Asgard, this did give Harch the potential to surpass Mjolnir and Gungnir in the future!
"Let us speed up," Mane pushed the issue of Harch's abilities to the side. Since his Chief Soul Weapon's abilities were not fully realised, there was no point dwelling on that.
"Yes Mane" Both Aurora and Crystal were more than happy to follow this new command. They were walking too slowly for their liking. And they sought to get out of here as soon as possible.
"Have you thought of how you are going to hide those two?" Hildegarde asked whilst looking at the faces of the Wraith and the Chaos Witch.
"There's no need," Mane smiled whilst shaking his head. Before Hildegarde could ask a follow up question, he gave the reply.
"Crystal is a Spiritualist. She would be able to hide herself from anyone easily. And Aurora is a Wraith, a True Spirit. Only Spiritualists and people with strong spirits should be able to see her. The only reason she was so easily visible was because this is the home of the Watchers. There is no way she can be hidden here. But in the World of the Three Great Races, where the Spirit is neglected so ignorantly, no one would see her. She will be unto the World of the Three Great Races as you are to it – invisible."
"I see," Hildegarde blushed slightly upon hearing Mane's reply. His reply made her feel silly. For this was no complex answer, and it was something she should have known. Since the team had sped up, they were already close to the end of the platform. However, Mane suddenly stopped in his tracks, before turning to face the sky above whilst saying,
"Mane and his small entourage greet the Watchers. Your kindness and generosity has shaken me greatly today, and you have been most gracious. This Supreme shall remember your help for as long as he lives, and when he is strong enough, he will repay this favor."
Although Mane had been tricked by the Watchers, he gained much from them. And that much he was willing to admit. After all, not only had he broken through here and avoided the eyes of the True Universe's Will – which would have announced his presence to the hungry gods seeking his blood – he had met Aurora and Crystal here. Crystal especially was a rare find, for she was an Eternal lost and far from home. He was happy with the plenty he had reaped. So much so that he had chosen to forget that if their plan to screw him over had worked, he would have been in big trouble.
"Supreme Emperor Mane Harbinger"
"One destined to sit on the Allverse Throne"
"We hope you remember your promise today"
The tones of the Watchers were now much kinder, and a bit submissive. And that was because they had witnessed more than one Universe Will appear to congratulate Mane. As the Watchers, they knew of the Allverse. They may not be restricted by one Universe, but they weren't greater than the Allverse. They thought Mane a simple ruler of a Universe. The True Universe may never had experienced that, but other universes had. And the Watchers had seen it all. So Mane was not special in their eyes. But when multiple Universe Wills came to offer their congratulations and announced your presence so boldly to their universes, you couldn't be regarded as just another ruler.
"I will," Mane nodded softly before finally departing the platform with his new team members.
Once they were off the platform, Mane gave the order to speed up, and they did. Soon, they were facing the huge gate Mane had been through before. And though Mane had grown much stronger than he was when he passed through those doors first, he could still feel a great suffocating aura threatening to consume him from behind the gate. It was only after he sealed his spirit and cut his senses off, that he was able to regain his breath. Mane wasn't the only one struggling though.
Crystal had a strong spirit too, so she was in the same situation as Mane. And just like Mane, she felt better after sealing her spirit. Unfortunately Aurora wasn't that lucky. She was a True Spirit, so she didn't really have a real body. It was only her spirit. She couldn't seal that off, for doing so would be killing herself. Because of that she was the most affected.
Her pale face grew even paler as her hands clutched her neck in desperation. Her eyes were clouded and her vision hazy. She could feel herself being swiftly drained.
"Mane Harbinger, beseeches the great Grim Reaper to spare her. For she is but an insignificant soul compared to the great collection of the Grim Reaper himself."
"Oh? Smart boy"