Chapter 446: The Domain’s Secret

Alexander spotted the barrier in the distance marking the boundary between the militarized zone and the civilian sector of the city. He hoped that crossing into populated territory would halt the Pillar, forcing her to hold back from firing at capacity.

However, noticing his proximity to the civilian perimeter, the Pillar of Flame detonated her power, rocketing forward to cut off Alexander’s path.

"You won’t pass, demon!" screamed the Pillar of Flame, raising a pillar of purple fire.

Realizing he was about to get cornered, Alexander altered his course, diving to the side to evade. The Pillar unleashed a blast of flames that slammed into the flank of his shadow barrier. The thermal impact sent him flying through the air, shattering a portion of his armor.

"She didn’t get weaker, she’s playing with me," muttered Alexander, steadying his stance.

Alexander shifted direction and fled toward another sector. The Pillar retracted her fire domain and gave chase, launching a flurry of attacks, yet the oncoming flames felt weaker once more.

Having confirmed his suspicions, Alexander stopped running, brought himself to a halt upon a metallic structure, and turned to face her.

"So you stopped running, mouse?" mocked the Pillar of Flame, hovering before him with a smile.

"I figured out something about you," whispered Alexander. "How about we test it?"

"No matter what you think you’ve figured out, it won’t be enough," stated the woman, activating her purple fire pillar once more.

Alexander deployed his shadow domain, shifting just enough to stay outside the pillar’s reach. Enraged that she couldn’t pin him down, the woman launched a barrage of fire cannons from within her zone, but the long-range blasts weren’t difficult to dodge when faced head-on.

Seeing her ranged strikes fail to land, the woman grit her teeth and deactivated her fire domain once again.

"So that’s your domain..." observed Alexander, staring at her. "A fire domain. If I’m trapped inside with you, I’m at a disadvantage, but if I keep fleeing, I wonder how long you can handle the strain... Every time you activate it, your deployment speed gets slower."

The Pillar of Flame narrowed her eyes, maintaining a posture.

"Don’t get arrogant, kid," said the Pillar of Flame. "I’m barely getting warmed up."

"I expect nothing less from a Federation Pillar," said Alexander, tightening his posture. "However, I don’t have time to keep playing games. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll take my leave."

Alexander, who had been building up power in his legs throughout the exchange, shot forward toward the horizon. Not satisfied with speed alone, he activated [Shadow Vampire Summon], summoning shadow vampires that mirrored his mana trail and scattered across the urban sky.

Seeing thousands of energy signatures fanning out across the metropolis, the Pillar gritted her teeth in fury. Knowing it was useless to chase an illusion, she pulled a communicator from her dress.

"I have lost the target’s trail," reported the Pillar of Flame in a voice. "Notify the Elders and the other Pillars."

Ending the call, she stowed the device and glared at the city shadows in frustration.

"After this, those bastards won’t let me live it down," muttered the red-haired woman.

Alexander descended into an alley and deactivated his [Lord of the Night] transformation, feeling his shadow armor dissolve into air. Looking down at himself, he noticed his clothes were destroyed from combat. Wasting no time, he scaled the facade of a nearby building and snatched clothes from a line to dress himself before slipping into the service area of a restaurant, hiding within the shadows while the chatter of patrons echoed from the other side of the door.

He pulled the TMC phone from his pocket and dialed Stephen’s number.

"Come on, pick up," muttered Alexander, listening to the ringing tones.

After a few moments, the line connected.

"Alex? Are you okay? What happened to you?" asked Stephen from the other end, his voice laced with concern. "We’ve been trying to locate you. We sent messages to the base to tell you that the Empresses have a deal to propose."

"You abandoned me in The Breach, didn’t tell me how to get back, and it’s my fault I didn’t answer? Fuck you," said Alexander, gripping the phone.

"Take it easy, kid," said Stephen, letting out a sigh. "It was training. We didn’t want you to think it was easy to come and go and give up halfway through. But the last thing we expected was for you to disappear for ten years."

Alexander froze, feeling as if ice water had been dumped over him.

"Wait... what do you mean ten years?" asked Alexander, his voice breaking from shock.

To him, it had been hours. He didn’t know the duration he had spent fighting within the gloom, but he was certain it couldn’t have been more than a few hours.

"Of course it’s been ten years..." said Stephen, pausing as he processed Alex’s reaction. "Wait... don’t tell me you went down to the middle zone of The Breach?"

Alexander remained silent.

"You did... That explains everything," said Stephen in a tone. "The Breach has time dilations; the deeper you go, the differently time advances relative to the outside world. But even so, it shouldn’t be that much—at most, in that zone, it runs ten times faster."

Alexander fell into thought over everything that had transpired down there. Could it be that while I was out of control from the power of darkness, time passed differently than I expected? Did the battles within the gloom drag on for weeks or months without me realizing it?

"But if I was at the mid stage, why was it empty when I returned to the base?" asked Alexander, seeking an explanation.

"We went to search for you at the initial zone several times during the first months," explained Stephen. "But no one expected you to have descended into the lower zone, so we didn’t search for you down there. Due to the war against the Federation, we had to relocate our forces and abandon the base, but we left the information on how to return stored in the main computer."