Beyond the Bloodline-Chapter 337: Maelstrom

The thunderous impact sent the ASB’s massive body crashing down into the endless blue ocean below, its head plunging into the water and taking in a few unintentional gulps.

Before it could even lift its head, Jamie pointed his left index finger downward and fired a concentrated beam of azure lightning into the ocean.

The lightning arced across the water, dancing across the ASB’s body, ripping off scales, searing flesh, and drawing out guttural, rage-filled howls of pain.

Then, raising that same left hand, Jamie turned his palm upward and, via his manifested understanding of space, made a declaration.

|Miniature Domain Declaration: Cosmos.|

Here was Jamie, performing the absurd feat of declaring his own Domain within someone else’s, and yet not overwriting or destroying the original Domain.

The moment the miniature ’Cosmos’ formed within his palm, Jamie reached into it with his right hand and plucked out a single celestial body.

A tiny galaxy, pinched between his thumb and index finger.

As he pulled it out, cosmic energy surged into the celestial body, fuelling its rapid expansion until it matched a true galaxy in sheer energy intensity.

Then, in typical Jamie fashion, he hurled the spiralling, energy-infused galaxy like a discus straight at the ASB.

Distance was meaningless. The moment he threw it, it was already there, impacting before dodging could even become a possibility.

The resulting collision unleashed cosmic shockwaves that not only tore through the Domain’s internal barriers but extended beyond, causing the Pinecone Galaxy outside to tremble violently.

Cracks splintered across the star-strewn sky of Lapis’ Domain, drawing a faint frown from Jamie.

’This would be troublesome...’

Clearly, Lapis and Davina’s limit was far lower than he’d hoped.

’Gotta speed up then.’

With that, Jamie turned to face the ASB, vanishing and reappearing right in front of it, both hands gripping his sword as he brought it down in a devastating swing. The pillar of cosmic spatial energy bursting from the blade slammed into the side of the beast’s face.

A thunderous noise erupted, like a dying star releasing its final burst of power, as the ASB’s massive head jerked sideways, tearing through the fabric of space and smashing into the far boundary of the Domain.

By the time the shockwaves from the impact reached his position, Jamie had already reappeared in front of the ASB, sword raised high and descending with another crushing slash.

But the creature countered, its maw opened wide, releasing a potent breath attack that forced Jamie to teleport away. The moment he reappeared, the ASB’s massive tail, already mid-swing before his teleport, crashed into him from the side and sent his body flying, smashing into the endless blue ocean below.

|GRAAAAAAAAOOHHHHAAA!!!!|

The undead beast let out another time-warping roar as its body shrank even further, lunging at Jamie with renewed ferocity. Its mouth glowed ominously as it plunged into the water and unleashed a point-blank energy beam.

Jamie teleported out of the sea just in time, reappearing above and channelling cosmic energy into his sword. The blade extended, and with a wide swing, he deflected the tail that came whipping at him a second later.

But several of the scales that broke off from the impact glowed purple and detonated like miniature stars, the resulting explosion flinging Jamie upward, towards the Domain’s ceiling.

He spun mid-air to stabilise himself, but even as he did, the ASB was already beside him, having moved at a speed that shouldn’t be allowed to its enormous body. With jaws opened wide, it exhaled another catastrophic breath infused with the force of thousands of supernovae.

Jamie swung his sword to the right, releasing a spatial slash that tore through the breath attack and struck the ASB’s head in an instant. The slash sheared away scales, shredded rotting flesh, and destroyed an eye socket, but it didn’t cut any deeper.

The ASB retaliated with another tail strike, the spikes along its length multiplying, each one oozing a different colour of venom or cursed liquid.

But before it could land the blow, a pillar of azure light erupted from the Galaxy Sword. Without hesitation, Jamie brought the blade down in an arc, ignoring the distance as his slash connected with the tail.

The force behind the strike not only deflected the attack, but it also knocked the ASB’s entire body down toward the ocean below.

Mid-fall, it manipulated the space around itself in an attempt to regain altitude, but Jamie snapped his fingers, erasing the very space it tried to manipulate. Then, he slashed again, unleashing another radiant torrent of golden light that blasted the ASB out of the collapsed space and slammed it into the ocean surface.

Massive waves erupted, towering into the sky, and from within those crashing waters, a thick beam of purple light erupted, detonating into countless smaller, faster beams that arced toward Jamie from every direction.

*SNAP!

That was the only sound that followed, as wormholes blinked into existence all around him, each one a depthless void that pulled in and devoured the oncoming destructive lights.

With another time-disrupting roar, the ASB launched itself out of the ocean, the spikes on its tail breaking off and shooting toward Jamie at light speed.

But with a casual wave of his hand, Jamie projected a mass of spatial power that erased the space in front of him—spikes and all—like they’d never existed.

The ASB ascended to the top of the Domain, a deep purple glow forming in its maw. This time, instead of firing a straight beam, it shattered space like glass and let the energy vanish into the crack. A moment later, a new rift opened beside Jamie, and the beam shot out from it, crashing into him in a blinding explosion.

As the blast erupted, the ASB lunged, spinning mid-air and swinging its massive tail down toward the heart of the explosion. But just before it could strike, a pillar of blazing azure light erupted from the centre of the blast and smashed into the tail, nearly severing it on impact.

The smoke cleared, revealing Jamie completely unscathed, his Aspect Armament flickering dangerously above his body.

While the ASB shrieked in pain from its nearly severed tail, Jamie extended his left hand and clenched his fist, surrounding the ASB’s massive body with spatial power.

Then, with a powerful pull and a sweep of his arm, he hurled the beast through the air and slammed it into the far barrier of Lapis’ Domain. Cracks webbed outward from the impact site, but Jamie simply snapped his fingers, and the barrier mended instantly.

Without a pause, Jamie seized the ASB once more and hurled it down toward the ocean below.

The moment it crashed into the water, he released his sword and brought his palms together, rapidly condensing cosmic energy between them.

As he spread his hands apart, the energy was dyed in his signature azure hue, crackling like lightning. He then unleashed it as a blinding torrent, striking the ASB with a devastating blast.

The lightning fused with the ocean water, electrocuting the massive creature as it writhed beneath the surface.

Jamie reached out again to lift it with his spatial power, but just as he pulled it out of the water, jagged spikes erupted from the ASB’s body.

Each spike was infused with Destruction energy and tore through the spatial bindings like they were paper, shattering the invisible grip Jamie had used to lift it in a way that looked like telekinesis.

The instant it broke free, the ASB’s mouth opened once again, this time releasing a beam of destructive energy that didn’t follow a straight path. Instead, it arced outward as the beast rotated its head, unleashing the destructive power in a sweeping wave that warped space and fractured parts of the Domain.

Jamie snapped his fingers, teleporting to avoid the blast, whilst simultaneously restoring the broken segments of the Domain.

Then, he reappeared behind the ASB, his sword already swinging downward.

But the creature spun around with uncanny speed and, from its open maw, unleashed another beam of energy at point-blank range. It collided directly with Jamie’s slash, the two forces meeting in a titanic clash that shattered space and sent both of them flying backwards.

The ASB’s body was knocked back, spinning wildly through the air just like Jamie’s had moments before, until it crashed into the ocean with a thunderous splash. The instant it did, it did, it summoned a massive surge of water, sending it crashing as a tsunami toward Jamie.

However, Jamie simply waved his left palm, erasing the space the water occupied, along with the water itself, before instantly appearing beside the ginormous ASB.

A pillar of azure light erupted from his sword as he swung, slamming the ASB’s head violently to the side. As the creature reeled, Jamie immediately teleported underneath the ASB’s head and unleashed an upward arcing slash.

At the moment of impact, a torrent of cosmic energy burst from his blade, crashing into the ASB’s jaw and snapping its neck upward with force.

Then he reappeared above it, another pillar of cosmic energy erupting from his sword, elongating the blade until it stretched all the way to the ceiling of the Domain.

Jamie tightened his grip, eyes glowing as he activated his Weapon’s Authority.

|Dimensional Severing!|

With that, he swung the massive sword downward with all his might.

The slash tore through the beam the ASB had just fired and crashed into the creature’s head in an explosion of cosmic energy.

Empowered by the Galaxy Sword’s Authority, the attack sliced straight through, cleaving its skull and tearing down its serpentine body, scattering black blood and chunks of rotten flesh in every direction as it split cleanly in two down to the halfway point of its length.

Black blood poured out like rivers as the ASB’s rotten insides were laid bare.

Jamie, heavily breathing, stared down at the creature, watching as the inferno sights in its eyes flickered... and then dimmed into silence.