The darkness filled everything he could see. It was more oppressing than a moonless night and more crushing than the black sea. This darkness seemed perfect for exploiting the weaknesses of the psyche.
"A domain? I suppose I should have expected this from a Master-level evil spirit."
Domains were considered the apex of all techniques as they allowed the user to create a world enforcing their self-made rules. Not all domains were of the same strength, but at the same cultivation, those with a domain were usually stronger than those without.
Shui's first plan was to use his heart flame to forcefully break through the domain, but then the darkness was quickly replaced by light and the sounds of a battle entered his ears. In two blinks, Shui found himself in a familiar place. The buildings around him were ruined by blood, rubble and ash, while the people fought with reckless abandon. It was a battle between residents and invaders, with the invaders holding a strong advantage. Everywhere around him was filled with sounds of slaughter, but he couldn't take his eyes off the sight that was a short distance away.
There was a tall and muscular middle-aged man with a hammer in hand, risking his life to fight against the enemy.
"Uncle Bartos..."
If the Primordial Library had been responsible for this, then he wouldn't be able to tell the difference between this and reality. Unfortunately, in addition to the few discrepancies he noticed, he was also unable to interact with what was happening around him. It was all an illusion.
Shui didn't like being toyed with like this, but rather than anger, he only felt disappointment before he gripped Sui in both hands and closed his eyes. While the illusion wasn't very effective, he was still trapped in a domain. A mere illusion spell would have been simple to disable, but a domain was constructed with defined laws, and those laws were connected to the natural world and could receive support from it. Usually to break this sort of domain he would need overwhelming power, a way to damage the domain faster than it could receive support from the world, or to kill the castor. However, Shui could choose a different method.
He used his spiritual sense to grasp the edge of the domain, and then opened his Sage God Eyes to see its internal structure. As this was the first time he tried using the Sage God Eyes in a domain, his mind was hit by an unfamiliar pain, but he endured it and scanned the beautiful, meticulous world revealed by his eyes. He examined the lines and symbols that formed the basis of the domain and was able to discover two crucial connections.
One connection was between the domain and the outside world, while the other was between the domain and himself. Targeting the first connection would have been the most straightforward solution, but even if he could see it, a connection that borrowed the might of the natural world would be too difficult for his current blade to cut. Therefore, he chose to shatter the illusion by severing the domain's connection to himself.
After the scene crumbled to pieces like a broken mirror, Shui was once again surrounded by darkness. From here, with a single swing of his flame-covered blade, the darkness parted.
The destruction of the domain, forced Nathan to cough blood and his condition worsened further.
"How did he break it so quickly?!"
The evil spirit was shocked by the destruction of its domain ability, but it didn't dare slow its feet. It cursed the fact that Nathan forwent getting a flight artifact, but that was just so that it didn't have to think about how much danger it was in. The evil spirit desperately tried to get closer to the city, but Shui found it with his spiritual sense and used mental control to hold it in place. The evil spirit wasn't completely immobilized, but it could now only move at what could be called a snail's pace. At this rate Shui would inevitably catch up, so it made the choice to abandon Nathan's body.
The evil spirit franticly tried to escape the body, but Shui's mental control could target more than physical entities. By using the body as a cage, Shui had made sure that the evil spirit couldn't escape.
"This is the end, evil spirit."
After noticing that Shui had caught up to it, the evil spirit screamed with intense hatred.
"How dare you! Do you know who I am?! I am the founder of your clan, the strongest in our history. I am the progenitor of the Theos clan!"
"Hmph, I don't acknowledge a progenitor that uses his descendant's body like a flesh suit."
The evil spirit shouted in indignation, but Shui felt nothing. It was a shame that his fight with Nathan was cut short, but he was still able to grant him rest. With a diagonal swing, Shui cut through the armour artifact and then stabbed through Nathan's chest.
"Wait! This is still that boy's body. I can bring him back as long as you stay your hand."
"Your lies are useless against me."
Shui could tell that Nathan was a lost cause. Perhaps a few scraps of his soul still existed, but Shui had already seen through Nathan's intent. Regardless of the result of their battle, he was ready to die. Shui didn't know if he hated being under the evil spirit's control or if he wanted to perish, but he had no intention of trampling his courage.
Shui summoned his heart flame through Sui.
"No, no! Stop it! Stop it right this instant! Ahhhh! You fool! You will regret this!!!!!"
On its dying breath, the evil spirit retained a small piece of satisfaction knowing that a spell had been cast on Nathan by his master, which would transfer a mark onto his killer upon his death. However, even that spell was burnt in the flame, leaving it in absolute despair.
"NOOO!!!!!!"
While both the body and the evil spirit burned in the blue blaze, Shui said a simple prayer.
"Rest in Flames. Ahms."
As the body was reduced to ashes, Shui stayed until the very end. He couldn't say he had many fond memories of Nathan, but he was still a member of the Heaven clan, one much better than the traitors who helped bring about its end.
"May you have better luck in the next life."