The Insurrection of the Inept Hero
Chapter 42: Shadow King Domain

"Shadow King Domain."

Right after Nero spoke these words, the space around him seemed to shatter like glass. His aura expanded and diverged, covering Myran's Cocytus, his domain of ice, at an alarming rate. Eventually, there was nothing but eternal black.

In just a span of two seconds, Myran was standing in nothing but darkness.

He looked down at his body and he couldn't see himself. He could feel his own body, he could also hear his own movements; his senses were working except his vision.

"What just... happened...?" Myran asked as he wandered around in this empty, dark place.

He was confused. Moments ago he just had the situation under control. He had Nero where he needed and he was certain he'd win after using Cocytus, the domain of ice, his ultimate trump card.

"Where is... my domain? I know I laid it out... so where is it?"

Myran crouched and pressed his hand against the floor. However, when he made contact, he felt his hand sink underneath.

"What is going on?"

His hand was tingling and a weird feeling crawled up his arm. He recoiled back and fell down.

"This is... mana, but why is it so... dense? No, I was able to touch it, but my hand went through it! What the-!?"

Myran was in dismay. He was able to feel it; the energy sticking onto his skin. It was so disordered that he could feel it everywhere in his body, but yet it was like it never existed at the same time.

"How can such mana be so chaotic yet refined?"

He began hyperventilating as the energy slowly seeped through his body. The weight of it was light yet so heavy that his senses were going haywire. He felt his arm moving, but then a second later he couldn't feel it anymore. It was then when Myran realized-

"Could this be-?"

"Correct. This... is my domain."

Myran was startled and quickly spun around before receiving a sharp blow to the head. Another blow followed but it was delivered to his back, damaging his ice shell.

"Ough!" Blood came out of his mouth as the strike was delivered.

As he fell, he couldn't stop himself from puking blood.

"What is this... feeling?"

There was an irregular sensation coming from the places in which he was stricken. It took him a while but he figured it out.

"This is... pain... but how?!"

Myran has always lived with the ability to negate pain. He was born with it ever since birth. He never experienced any sort of pain, whether it was emotional or physical. When he was injured, he'd shrug it off as if it never happened, but he was feeling pain, it was his first time and he had no idea how to react.

"Simple."

Nero's voice spoke again but he was nowhere to be seen.

"My domain can do three things. It can negate, absorb, and reverse any sort of attack performed. Not only that, but I can mess around with any mana floating inside my domain. Since every living thing is born with mana inside, this also goes for that as well."

Myran felt a hand touch his shoulder.

"In other words, I control your energy. It is not me that you should be worrying about anymore, it's you. Your own life force is your own enemy."

Nero pat his shoulder and Myran was dumbfounded.

"Go ahead, try it."

He pulled his hand away and Myran quickly turned but Nero was nowhere in view.

"Behind you."

He turned and his vision was restored. When he spotted Nero, he was giving him an amused look. Seeing that, this enraged Myran and he began accumulating mana into the shell on his back.

"Don't get so cocky!!"

When he fired his Frost Bolts at Nero, they seemed to hit but Nero was somehow unaffected.

"Huh?" Myran gasped in confusion.

"Hmm... did you miss?" Nero said as he patted his body down, checking for any damages.

"Tch."

"Hmm, maybe try again."

Myran clenched his teeth and created Steel Threads. At the end of those threads, he created sharp ice blades.

"I won't miss this time, you'll die right here!"

Nero shrugged the statement away and walked forward. When the bladed threads were only a few inches away from hitting him, they suddenly seemed to move out of the way. Then they came back, going after Myran himself.

"Huh?!"

Myran ducked and the threads flew past him. When he focused his attention at the threads, they disappeared.

"Damn it, just die already!"

Creating an ice blade, he swung it at Nero but it was easily blocked.

"Seems you weren't listening. Now, doesn't it feel... cold?"

Myran gulped as he felt his whole body begin to freeze.

"No... how? I'm supposed to be resistant to the cold!"

"Looks like you really didn't listen huh?"

Myran swung his fist which Nero caught. Nero then pulled Myran closer to him and struck him in the stomach with his palm.

POW!

"Awk!"

For his whole life, Myran has never thought this would happen to him. He was the one that was supposed to deal pain to others, not the other way around.

When Myran fell to the ground, he thought Nero was finished, but he was wrong.

"There's still more!"

Another palm strike was dealt to Myran's stomach. The force of his attack was so powerful, it instantly shattered the shell on his back.

Nero continued to thrash Myran with his palm which was now infused with Sage Art energy. After repeatedly pounding Myran in the stomach, he eventually began to deal damage to his organs.

As Myran was being battered like a punching bag, a voice echoed through his head.

"Promise me you'll return home safely..."

It was the voice of his mother, reminding him of the promise he made when he was a child.

A surge of adrenaline rushed through his veins and he roared.

"DAMN YOOOOUUUUU!!!!"

Another blow was dealt to Myran's stomach, but he managed to withstand it.

"I'LL KILL YOU, I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!!"

Myran's left arm which Nero had a hold of began to glow. An icy aura wrapped his hand, signaling the beginning of his counterattack.

"FREEZE!"

"Sure."

Crackle~!

But that went wrong quickly. It wasn't Nero's arm that was frozen but Myran's.

Myran was in terror as he saw his arm encased in his own ice. He couldn't move or feel it. After a few seconds, it eventually felt irritating, something he never felt before. It was too cold, too cold that he was beginning to tear up.

"H-h-how?" He stuttered as Nero began pulling on his arm.

"I believe I did say I can reverse your attacks on you. It's your own fault for not listening closely."

A grim smile appeared on Nero's face as he quickly pulled Myran's arm, ripping it off. When his body finished registering the pain, an agonizing howl emitted from his mouth.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

He fell to the ground as he watched blood spill from his shoulder.

"It hurts, doesn't it? How is it? Doesn't pain feel amazing?"

Myran was in too much pain to respond. All he could do was whimper as the pain seeped through his body.

"Y-you..."

"Hey, I know! How about you use that domain of yours? Ahh, Cocytus, was it? Yeah, go ahead, I'll lend you the required mana too if you need it."

Nero was crouching beside him while holding his detached arm. Myran couldn't do anything but watch in horror as his arm was reattached.

"Go on. Let's see what you got."

Nero lifted Myran up and allowed him to walk. He gulped as he walked away from Nero.

"Come on." Nero urged Myran to perform Cocytus.

'This bastard... how dare he!'

This thought wandered through his mind and a smile appeared on Myran's face again.

'How ignorant... he really thinks he can counter Cocytus? No one that I've fought has ever been able to beat Cocytus, not even my sister! He'll get what's coming!'

As Myran accumulated energy into his hands, he began the incantation.

"Demon Lord from the depths of immortal land of ice, lend me your power... Let me freeze the enemy standing in front of me and I'll give you their soul... I want a scenery of nothing but eternal white... Ice that not even the flames of hell can melt!"

An icy aura began to materialize as Myran shouted.

"Once I call your name, cover this insignificant world in frost! Cocytus!"

A blinding light erupted, covering the dark walls, and a violent breeze of frost flowed through the air. But then the light was covered and everything was gone, once again, leaving nothing but darkness.

Myran stood in shock as his attack had quickly been neutralized.

"I-impossi-"

Snatch!

"Ack!"

Nero appeared and snatched Myran by the neck, lifting him off the ground.

"Impressive, right? Not only can I neutralize attacks, but I can even nullify other domains as well... even if they are stronger than mine."

With a firm grip, he slammed Myran headfirst into the ground and vanished. Myran quickly got up but froze right after.

"In this world, my ability to manipulate darkness and shadows is limitless. This very darkness itself is my shadow. Your shadow... is merely an insect. I've already taken control of you, explaining why you can't seem to move."

Nero appeared in front of him and grabbed the top of his head. Myran yelped as Nero's grip tightened up.

"You better do some serious self-reflection in the afterlife. Of course, I'm talking about hell since heaven wouldn't suit someone like you who offered their loyalty to a demon lord."

With no mercy, his strength instantly increased as a result of his bloodlust.

"Be grateful that I've decided to kill you this way. I was planning on torturing you with my shadow blades, but I'm already running out of mana to keep up this domain."

Myran took one last second to think of what his mother would say if he died like this, but he was too late when Nero's hand crushed his skull before tearing his head from his body, silencing him for eternity.

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