Divine Domain

Down on the ground, the surviving players had all stopped moving.

They looked up at the sky in unison with mouths agape, their expressions a mix of dazed stupor and pure awe.

“H-Holy shit...”

“This entrance effect is absolutely maxed out! So beautiful.”

“Gasp?! Is it just me, or does Her Grace the Goddess look even better than before? Truly the absolute peak of character modeling!”

“Goddess is the best!!!”

“Oh man, I suddenly don't want to be a dragon rider anymore. Is it too late for me to change classes and become a worshiper of the Goddess?”

Halfway through their exclamations, everyone belatedly realized that they couldn't move their hands or feet—they couldn't even lift a finger.

“Great, a forced cutscene, huh?”

“So the world BOSS appeared just to trigger a cinematic! No wonder they gave us such an invincible boss. If it's a story NPC, why didn't you say so earlier?”

“The devs did this on purpose! They intentionally scammed us out of our Resurrection Coins!”

The players frantically trash-talked the developers' twisted sense of humor while keeping their eyes glued to the sky, terrified of missing even a single frame.

Meanwhile, high above, one figure was radiant and holy, while the other was dark and ferocious. The confrontation resembled an oil painting, packed with raw visual impact.

Only Nan Cheng remained remarkably calm. He skillfully turned on the screen recorder at the highest graphical settings, a subtle smirk touching his lips.

Pure profit! He had just secured the ultimate blockbuster footage for his next game review video.

He had even already thought of the title for his next review.

...

Meanwhile, in midair:

“Devilitafil?!! You're actually not dead?! No... that's not right! In the divine war a thousand years ago, I clearly saw you perish with my own eyes! You now are likely nothing more than an ancient remnant forcibly stitched together and awakened by the power of faith from your surviving believers!”

Shock and doubt swirled within Mosator's dark gold slit pupils, but he quickly became utterly certain, as if he had seen through everything.

Iluvia raised an eyebrow at his words.

Well, well, she thought, who would have thought he'd construct a whole excuse for my appearance himself? Perfect, saves me the trouble of explaining.

She chuckled softly, neither confirming nor denying it.

“Mosator, since you're already here—”

Her voice was gentle and serene, yet carried an undeniable air of absolute authority:

“—then stay.”

“As for this True God avatar of yours... I'll take good care of it for now.”

The memories between a True God's avatar and their main body were not synchronized in real time. The main body would only gain the avatar's memories once it returned.

Therefore, Iluvia had to keep Mosator's avatar here today. Of course, she was also eyeing the divine power on his body—after all, it was a grand nourishment for her, and it would be foolish to let it go to waste.

Hearing this, Mosator merely snorted coldly:

“Do you still think you're the Ruler of the Era?”

His massive dragon body lowered slightly into a combat stance, his voice dripping with disdain.

“Perhaps in the previous era, when you were at your peak, I would have feared you.”

“But the current you—”

He paused, adding malicious emphasis:

“—is nothing more than a lingering wreck clinging to life.”

Iluvia was not angry; after all, he wasn't really talking about her true self anyway.

Then, she simply gave a faint smile.

It was a light, subtle smile, like a spring breeze brushing across the surface of a lake.

And then—

Countless holy white particles of light rose from the ground.

Like a swarm of liberated fireflies, they floated up from the woods, the grass, and the crevices in the rocks. They swirled and danced, revitalizing everything in their path—withered blades of grass straightened once more, scorched earth sprouted tender green shoots, and new branches even budded from tree stumps corroded by dark energy.

The sky grew even brighter. The light became warm and soft, like the early six-o'clock morning sun—not glaring, yet bathing the entire world in a pale gold halo.

Iluvia floated at the exact center of this radiance. Her pure white wings slowly unfurled behind her as divine glory rippled around her body, making her appear like the supreme ruler of heaven and earth—sacred and inviolable.

Although she really wanted to ask Mosator about the details of the divine war a thousand years ago, now was clearly not the time. Furthermore, based on what she knew of this Lord of Plague and Calamity from her inherited memories, he wouldn't tell her even if he knew.

Seeing this scene, Mosator's expression darkened.

He knew this was the True God's Divine Domain she had expanded. The moment she acted, she had completely sealed off this space, making it clear she had no intention of letting him leave.

This avatar of his was bound to perish here, but before being thoroughly defeated, he still intended to try fighting back.

After all, having lived for tens of thousands of years, he was no soft target to be pushed around at will.

“Heh, Devilitafil, you're as arrogant as ever.”

With those words, he let out a resounding dragon roar. Dark divine power surged violently around him as the air grew thick with the stench of plague and calamity.

“It was because of this very arrogance that you incited the hostility of all the gods back then—”

“You were like this before, and you're still like this now!”

His voice rang with deep mockery.

Before his words even died away, his massive maw snapped open, and the ferocious dragon head lunged directly at Iluvia—his fangs were his finest weapon!

In an instant, a terrifying suffocating pressure crashed toward her!

On the ground, although the players couldn't move, their mouths were still free:

“Holy shit! It charged right at her!”

“This damn Lord of Plague is so underhanded! Absolutely no sportsmanship!”

“Goddess, watch out!!!”

Yet Iluvia's expression remained unchanged. She simply raised a hand and casually tapped her slender finger in the air:

“Imprison.”

The instant her soft words fell—

—eight massive golden chains shot out from the void in all directions!

Imbued with the absolute law power of the Divine Domain of Light, the eight golden chains locked onto Mosator's limbs, dragon wings, torso, and neck with infallible precision.

In a mere instant, the massive dragon body that had lunged halfway forward was firmly pinned and bound in midair, unable to budge even a fraction of an inch!

Leaving Mosator to roar in impotent fury.

At the same time, he was shocked to discover that his divine power was rapidly draining away! The chains were siphoning his divine power!

“Devilitafil! You dare to plunder divine power so brazenly?! Have you fallen into an evil god as well?!”

But in the next second, he felt his own question was somewhat laughable. After all, from Mosator's perspective, she was merely a fake god forcibly condensed from lingering thoughts and faith, not the true Goddess of Light he had known in the past. How could one speak of falling or corruption? She likely possessed nothing more than the instinct to grow stronger and absorb divine power.

One couldn't blame Mosator for thinking this way, as what appeared here was, after all, merely a True God avatar with only Demigod strength. It was only natural that he couldn't perceive Iluvia's true condition.

“Don't even think about it!”

Feeling the rapid drain of divine power within his body, Mosator immediately began burning his divine power.

Since this avatar was destined to be lost anyway, he wasn't going to let her get a single drop!

As his divine power burned, Mosator's aura began to surge dramatically.

In a single instant, he forcefully shattered the chains.

“Oh?”

Iluvia raised an eyebrow slightly.

She was indeed a little surprised.

She hadn't expected him to burn his divine power right away in a desperate attempt to sink the ship with her.

But in the end... she had been careless.

She had overestimated her control over her Divine Domain and underestimated the resolve of a True God avatar risking everything.

Mosator's expression turned hideous as divine power rapidly circulated through his body.

A terrifying dark glow condensed in his mouth, accompanied by an ominous aura.

It was his plague and calamity divine power.

Iluvia let out a soft sigh. “Why bother?”

It was unclear whether she was speaking to Mosator or to herself.

“Purify.”

As her crisp voice fell, countless pure white flames burst forth on Mosator's massive dragon body! The dark glow accumulating in his mouth came to a sudden halt.

Though the flames appeared soft, they furiously devoured his dark divine power like maggots on bone. Wherever they passed, the aura of plague and calamity was purified into nothingness.

In just a few breaths, his originally solid dragon body became mostly translucent, its surface covered in dense cracks like a shattered mirror, and his aura rapidly withered away.

Mosator was horrified in his heart, clearly having not expected her strength to be so formidable already.

Furthermore, this mastery over Divine Authority power didn't look at all like some fake god forcibly pieced together from lingering thoughts and faith!