The illusion field shattered violently beneath the impact of sovereign flame.

Mist exploded outward in fading strands of shadow. False terrain collapsed like broken mirrors dissolving into dust. The warped echoes that had twisted the battlefield moments earlier vanished one by one, allowing reality to settle back into place with almost painful clarity.

For the first time since the match began, the crowd could finally see the arena properly again.

Thousands of spectators exhaled at once.

The release of tension spread through the colossal stadium like a wave.

Some laughed nervously.

Others wiped sweat from their foreheads, only now realizing how tightly their bodies had remained locked during Shadowfen’s illusion assault.

"He broke the domain field..."

"That fire actually purified the mental interference..."

"How is Skygate still coordinating after that?"

The whispers multiplied rapidly across the audience.

Far above the battlefield, noble observers leaned forward in their seats with sharpened interest while arena scholars hurriedly adjusted recording crystals, desperate to capture every detail of what had just happened.

Because what Aether had done should not have been possible so quickly.

Shadowfen Coven specialized in battlefield control through layered psychological collapse. Most teams required enormous effort merely to survive their illusions long enough to retaliate.

Yet Skygate had not only endured—

They had disrupted the illusion network itself.

But while the audience reacted with shock and excitement, one person on the battlefield remained perfectly calm.

Selene Vaelor.

The captain of Shadowfen Coven stood silently amidst the fading remnants of mist, her silver eyes fixed entirely on Aether.

And slowly—

She smiled.

Not arrogantly.

Not mockingly.

Knowingly.

That subtle expression immediately unsettled several arena elders watching from above.

Because it was not the smile of someone losing control.

It was the smile of someone confirming an expectation.

Beside Aether, the Flame Sovereign Pup growled softly as embers drifted from its paws. The Spirit Fairy hovered near his shoulder, its glow bright but cautious.

Valen cracked his neck loudly nearby while glaring toward Shadowfen’s side of the battlefield.

"I seriously hate fighting illusion users," he muttered. "At least when lightning people try to kill you, they do it honestly."

Liora’s breathing had stabilized, but tension still lingered beneath her calm exterior. Her eyes remained locked on Selene.

"She’s too composed," Liora said quietly.

Aether did not answer immediately.

Because he already understood.

Shadowfen had not revealed their true technique yet.

Selene finally spoke.

"So," she said softly, her voice carrying unnaturally clearly through the silent battlefield, "you can distinguish falsehood from reality."

Her silver eyes narrowed slightly as they studied Aether more carefully.

"Interesting."

There was no hostility in her tone.

Only curiosity.

That alone made her more dangerous.

Then her expression changed completely.

The softness vanished.

What remained was cold focus.

"In that case," Selene continued calmly, "let us test your mind instead."

The atmosphere shifted instantly.

All four Shadowfen beasts moved simultaneously.

The Nightveil Moth spread its massive wings high overhead, releasing dark waves that distorted the surrounding light itself.

The Whispering Shadecat lowered its body into a predatory stance, silver eyes glowing brighter beneath the drifting shadows.

The Mindroot Serpent coiled tightly around streams of black-violet energy spreading beneath the battlefield floor.

And high above them all, the Phantom Crow ascended into the air until it became little more than a shifting silhouette against the arena ceiling.

Then—

All sound vanished.

The crowd stopped mid-cheer.

The wind disappeared.

Even the crackling of energy arrays faded into silence.

A heartbeat later—

Darkness swallowed the battlefield.

Not illusion.

Not mist.

A domain.

The entire arena erupted into alarm.

Arena elders rose from their seats instantly.

"That’s too early!"

"They’re activating a synchronized mental domain already?!"

"Reinforce the spectator barriers immediately!"

High-level runic formations ignited around the stadium in brilliant layers of blue-white light. Massive protective arrays unfolded across the upper sections as officials scrambled to stabilize the environment.

Because synchronized mental domains were extremely dangerous.

Unlike ordinary illusion techniques, domains did not merely distort perception.

They altered emotional response directly.

And if such pressure escaped beyond the battlefield—

Even spectators could suffer lasting mental damage.

From outside the arena, the audience could only see a massive dark sphere enveloping the combat zone entirely.

Nothing inside remained visible clearly anymore.

The crowd’s anxiety spiked instantly.

"What’s happening in there?!"

"I can’t see anything!"

"Can they even fight inside that?!"

"Shadowfen is getting serious now..."

Inside the domain—

The world changed completely.

The sky above the battlefield turned black.

Arena lights dimmed into deep crimson flickers that barely illuminated the surrounding darkness.

The stone beneath their feet cracked apart into endless void-like fractures stretching infinitely into shadow.

Even gravity felt wrong.

But the true horror of the domain was not visual.

It was emotional.

Fear became heavier.

Anger sharpened unnaturally.

Thoughts slowed beneath invisible pressure.

Every negative instinct buried within the mind surfaced more easily.

Valen stopped moving immediately.

His breathing deepened.

Muscles tightened visibly beneath his combat gear.

Slowly—

His eyes turned bloodshot.

Because the domain was not attacking logic.

It attacked instinct.

The Titancrest Fangbear roared beside him, equally affected as hostile impulses flooded through their shared bond.

Suddenly Valen saw movement everywhere.

Enemies surrounded him.

Threats emerged from every direction.

Shadows shifted at the edges of his vision continuously.

Then the whispers came.

Aether abandoned you.

Liora thinks you’re reckless.

You are only useful as brute force.

Valen’s fists trembled violently.

"Shut up..." he growled.

The whispers intensified immediately.

You are being controlled.

Used.

Mocked behind your back.

You slow them down.

His breathing became ragged.

Anger surged violently through his body.

Then Valen roared—

And swung.

The impact exploded outward with terrifying force.

The shockwave tore directly toward Skygate’s own position.

Liora reacted instantly.

The Moondream Hare flickered through silver light, redirecting the attack moments before it struck Aether’s side of the battlefield.

The redirected force shattered enormous sections of reinforced stone instead, sending debris flying across the darkened domain.

"Valen!" Liora shouted sharply.

But his eyes remained unfocused.

He could barely hear her.

The domain amplified aggression beyond reason.

And Shadowfen pressed the advantage immediately.

Selene raised one hand calmly.

"Collapse their formation."

The Whispering Shadecat vanished into shadows.

The Phantom Crow distorted spatial perception again, twisting distance and orientation violently.

Meanwhile the Mindroot Serpent spread streams of mental interference through the battlefield floor itself, allowing the domain’s influence to rise from beneath Skygate’s feet continuously.

Now Skygate was not merely disoriented.

They were turning against themselves.

Liora’s expression tightened for the first time since the tournament began.

The Moondream Hare blinked constantly between positions, desperately stabilizing fragments of reality around them.

But every correction consumed enormous spiritual energy.

Unlike physical combat, mental warfare offered no pause.

No moment to breathe.

No clean exchange of attacks.

Only relentless pressure.

The whispers began targeting her too.

You are too slow.

You cannot maintain them.

Everything depends on you.

And you are failing.

Liora’s breathing became uneven again.

A dangerous sign.

Elsewhere within the collapsing battlefield, Aether remained motionless at the center of the domain.

Golden threads from the Heaven Eye spread endlessly through his vision, dissecting every layer of distortion surrounding them.

But even he recognized something important now.

This domain was far stronger than expected.

Not because of overwhelming raw power.

Because of synchronization.

All four Shadowfen beasts were sharing emotional pressure perfectly through interconnected mental channels.

Every illusion reinforced the others.

Every emotional disruption fed back into the domain itself.

Destroying one illusion would accomplish nothing.

To break the domain—

He needed to disrupt the synchronization network entirely.

Aether’s eyes shifted briefly toward Liora.

No shouting.

No lengthy explanation.

Only calm precision.

"Left side in three seconds."

Liora understood instantly.

By now, they no longer required full communication.

Trust handled the rest.

Three seconds later—

The Phantom Crow distorted space beside Valen again, attempting to redirect his aggression fully toward Skygate’s position.

At the exact same moment—

Liora moved.

The Moondream Hare warped battlefield positioning subtly, shifting the flow of spiritual pressure along the left flank.

And Aether struck.

The Flame Sovereign Pup unleashed a compressed line of sovereign fire directly through the distortion.

Not toward the illusion itself.

Toward the hidden synchronization point concealed behind it.

Impact.

The Phantom Crow screamed violently as flames struck its true body mid-distortion.

The mental domain fluctuated instantly.

Darkness flickered.

The whispers weakened.

Emotional amplification destabilized.

Valen staggered backward, blinking rapidly as awareness partially returned.

"...Why," he muttered hoarsely, "was I trying to punch teammates?"

"No time," Liora replied sharply while maintaining spatial corrections around them.

Across the battlefield, Selene’s composure finally shifted.

"They synchronized inside the domain..."

One of her teammates looked genuinely alarmed.

"That shouldn’t be possible."

Mental domains existed specifically to destroy coordination.

Most teams collapsed into isolated combat within seconds of exposure.

Yet Skygate was adapting.

Worse—

They were adapting quickly.

Then the atmosphere changed again.

The battlefield temperature dropped slightly.

Not physically.

Spiritually.

Deep within Aether’s shadow—

The Fallen Succubus became interested once more.

And this time, her influence spread farther than before.

Crimson-black energy flickered faintly behind Aether’s silhouette.

Only fragments.

Only moments.

But enough.

Several spectators seated near the front rows suddenly stiffened in discomfort, cold dread crawling down their spines without explanation.

Arena elders reacted immediately.

"That presence..."

"Did you feel that?"

"Something just manifested inside the domain."

Even hidden faction observers concealed among the audience narrowed their eyes sharply.

Because what they sensed—

Was not a normal beast.

Inside the battlefield, Shadowfen’s beasts reacted instantly.

The Mindroot Serpent recoiled violently.

The Whispering Shadecat flattened itself against the ground instinctively. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Even the Nightveil Moth’s wings trembled.

Fear.

Pure predator instinct.

Not directed toward the Flame Sovereign Pup.

Toward something hidden deeper.

Aether noticed immediately.

Too many people were sensing it.

The Heaven Eye activated harder.

Golden suppression threads wrapped instantly around the spreading aura, sealing the crimson-black flickers back into shadow before they could fully manifest publicly.

The oppressive sensation vanished.

But not before several important people noticed.

Selene stared at Aether now with visible caution.

"You..."

She stopped herself.

Because even saying it aloud felt dangerous.

Aether moved before Shadowfen could recover fully.

"Liora."

She nodded once.

The Moondream Hare distorted battlefield positioning again, but this time offensively.

The Flame Sovereign Pup condensed sovereign fire into those altered spatial pathways.

The result was terrifying.

Flames emerged from impossible angles.

Shadowfen’s domain control fractured rapidly as fire bypassed their distorted perception entirely.

The Nightveil Moth was struck again.

The Phantom Crow lost altitude.

The Mindroot Serpent’s mental waves destabilized violently.

Then Valen smiled again.

A dangerous smile.

Slow.

Sharp.

"Oh," he said while rolling his shoulders. "I’m awake now."

The Titancrest Fangbear roared thunderously beside him.

This time there was no uncontrolled rage.

No manipulated aggression.

Only purpose.

Valen exploded forward with terrifying momentum.

The battlefield shook beneath every step as he charged directly into Shadowfen’s fractured formation.

Controlled.

Focused.

Guided by Skygate’s coordination once more.

The dark sphere surrounding the battlefield began cracking visibly from the outside.

Spectators roared as flashes of crimson flame and silver distortion burst through the darkness repeatedly like lightning tearing through storm clouds.

Inside the collapsing domain—

Shadowfen Coven’s greatest technique was failing.

Not because Skygate overpowered it through brute force.

But because they adapted faster than expected.

And at the center of that adaptation—

Aether stood calmly amidst the darkness.

Golden eyes reflecting faintly through the fractured domain.

While behind his shadow—

Something ancient and terrifying smiled quietly.