Demonic Po*nstar System Chapter 803: New Powers

He shifted sideways, and the dark patch mirrored his movement.

Nyx’s hands rose behind him.

"Got it."

The Spatial Drain lunged forward, intercepting the spell's casting thread mid-pull and folding the dark patch’s anchor point into a sideways dimension. The trap detached from the rock beneath Kaiden’s boot, curving away harmlessly into the empty air beside the chokehold’s perimeter. A month prior, she would have completely missed the cast, oblivious to the spell's trajectory until the ground erupted beneath his feet.

The two Wraithstrides entered the kill zone.

Luna vanished.

Crimson lightning meticulously peeled her body from the ground in three distinct trails simultaneously. Each reformed her at a different angle, flanking the lead Wraithstride. The Lunas, wielding crackling crimson Stormblades, struck in unison, and before the Wraithstride could even register the initial impact, simultaneous Calamity detonations erupted through its dorsal plating from every direction.

The creature's body split into four pieces along the fracture lines created by the explosions. The three Lunas then collapsed back into a single form at the kill zone's center, residual lightning trailing behind her in a slow, settling shimmer.

"Whoa, that's epic!"

She exclaimed with delight, her eyes wide and wild.

"I am absolutely ABUSING this power!"

Nyx secured the second Wraithstride.

She remained stationary in her position behind Kaiden. The Spatial Drain extended across twenty meters of open terrain, and the nascent coral haze enveloped the Wraithstride mid-stride, its mana and mass instantly mapped.

The Wraithstride resisted.

Before the fusion, attempting to restrain anything at level-95 would have meant certain death on the spot. The Drain's bypass mechanism shielded her from the immediate backlash, but creature for creature, it was still overwhelmingly powerful. What was held captive between her grip and its form became a battle of wills on a spatial axis. Her hands clenched at her sides. The Wraithstride’s forward momentum halted half a meter before its intended stride, its four eyes fixing on her position past Kaiden’s shoulder, its body straining against the spatial fold she had wrapped around it.

She did not release her hold.

The coral haze tightened infinitesimally, mana already siphoning from the Wraithstride’s body in a thin, steady stream that flowed into her palms, weakening it with each passing second, though far too slowly to achieve a kill on her own. Her arms began to tremble.

"You maniacal gremlin...!" she grunted. "Stop playing around!"

Nyx didn't need to wait for the Storm Valkyrie's assistance. Alice's halo redirected a secondary beam from its primary firing line. The golden light pivoted independently of the violet energy she was already charging for the Veilbinder. This secondary beam streaked across the Cavern like a pencil-thin line, striking Nyx's Wraithstride from above through the dorsal plating between its shoulder blades.

The body Nyx had been restraining buckled under the impact. The spatial fold she had been manipulating collapsed as the creature's resistance ceased. The carcass plummeted to the floor, mana streaming out in a final, thick coral thread that flowed into her hands as the body expired.

Nyx exhaled slowly, her breath shaky.

"Thank you, little sis."

Kaiden advanced on the Veilbinder.

He unleashed his left blade.

The colossal greatsword surged from his off-hand, fully charged with Wrath, and flew in a low, flat arc across the Cavern. Harvested blood ignited along its edge, and the Wrath-detonation met the veil-shield head-on at the fastest closing speed the throw could achieve.

The veil absorbed the blow.

The dark cloth enveloped the impact and muffled the detonation within the layered shield. The greatsword embedded itself halfway through the wrap, stopping there, while the Veilbinder remained upright beneath it, its empty face utterly unharmed.

Alice's halo split open above his head.

"I'll cut him out of the wrap, big brother. Hold him still."

The violet undertone of Radiant Sovereignty had consumed the surface gold, now establishing itself as the dominant resonance of the strike. A column of Pride-anchored Light, edged in violet, bit into the veil-cloth where pre-fusion gold would have simply deflected. The beam anchored into the dark fabric at the point of entry and began to carve outwards, creating a widening corridor. It ripped the layered shield open along a two-meter line.

Through the tear, Kaiden’s impaled greatsword came free. The Blood Monarch’s Gauntlet retracted the blade towards him along a blood-thread that snapped taut between his right palm and the hilt. The greatsword then flew back through the opened veil, returning to his hand.

The Veilbinder was now exposed.

"Now."

Nyx siphoned.

The Spatial Drain reached past Alice’s beam, through the breach in the veil, and drew the Veilbinder’s mana from its body in a thick stream that poured into the coral haze surrounding her hands. The robe sagged. The empty face turned towards Nyx the very instant the body beneath began to falter.

Kaiden plunged his right blade directly into the Veilbinder’s face from twenty meters away.

The projectile accurately struck its target. The being concealed by the concealing shroud possessed no remaining defenses, and the accumulated Wrath charge unleashed its power upon contact. The fabric of the robe ignited with an internal white light, and the entity within dissolved in a silent, explosive burst that consumed the surrounding veil-cloth.

[You have eliminated an invading Veilbinder (Level 108). Gained: 3,780,000 XP. Gained: 1,800 DMP.]

[Companion Elimination: An invading Wraithstride (Level 95) defeated. Gained: 820 DMP.]

[Companion Elimination: An invading Wraithstride (Level 96) defeated. Gained: 840 DMP.]

The Blood Monarch’s Gauntlet emitted a single pulse. Blood harvested from the Veilbinder flowed up Kaiden’s right vambrace, coalescing into a new greatsword within his grasp.

The portal flickered once more.

Five additional figures were already traversing the opening. Two formidable combatants flanked the others, with three Wraithstrides positioned between them. Behind this group, the portal strained as it had for the initial boss monster moments prior, another entity of excessive size forcefully pushing its way through.

Then...

Kaiden performed a check.

[Remaining Phase Time: 01:42:18.]

[Dungeon Territory Secured: 53%. Enemy Units Vanquished: 3%.]

Kaiden reviewed the information twice.

Then a third time, more deliberately, as there had to be an error in the display.

"...Damn it."