World Keeper

Chapter 785: House Of Mirrors

Scarlet and Tsubaki faced a terrible challenge in front of themselves. Their opponent had proven capable of devouring other godly beings and obtaining their divine domains, meaning that anyone that they called for backup could potentially be in danger. Worst still, the creature embodied the very concept of speed, transcending all natural limits.

Of the two of them, Tsubaki was by far the fastest, as well as the one with the most intensive combat experience. However, she was unable to follow the movements of the other party with her eyes. Only when she felt the field of divine energy around her being disturbed would she know that she needed to immediately dodge.

If there was anything to be thankful about, it was that the monster had not yet been able to incorporate any abilities from Fafnir’s Sky domain. Otherwise, with the combination of Speed and Sky, it was likely to be a near-impossible fight in the air.

Sadly, calling for help was not an option, even if they did know someone that would be able to surely defeat this foe. That was because the speed of their battle was simply too intense. In order to stand a chance against their foe, they had pushed their minds to their limits, fully unleashing their reaction speed. Actions which would normally take seconds to complete were now occurring faster than the untrained eye could track.

One perfect example of this was Scarlet sweeping her spear through the air while Tsubaki curved her body around it, both striking at the figure of golden mist. If anyone else was watching, it was likely that they would only notice a fierce wind being blown by their rapid movements.

Sadly, the strike failed to connect, the creature reacting to any sense of danger with the same instinct: retreat. Its body flickered backwards hundreds of meters, far outside of the range for their attacks until its back was against the solidified barrier Scarlet had made. If we can’t hit it, we’re never going to kill it! Scarlet called out in mental frustration.

I know. Tsubaki’s response was calm, keeping her eyes focused on the enemy facing them. There were a number of strategies that they could take advantage of against such a simple-minded creature. The problem with them was that they had to try to finish the fight in a single strike, otherwise the creature may adapt with its domains.

For instance, if it disregarded the fight and simply tried to devour them, they would be put in a precarious position while trying to fight back. In order to prevent it from learning these strategies, the fight had to be concluded swiftly. How much can you shrink this space we’re in?

Scarlet’s lips curved upwards at that. Thanks to the book that father gave me, I can compress a space this size into a grain of sand, though it would take time.

Tsubaki gave a small nod, suddenly dashing to the side to avoid another attack, though this one still cut rather deeply into her arm. She relayed her requests while ignoring the pain, Scarlet’s brow furrowing as she considered the plan. I’ll need five seconds, and I won’t be able to move.

Tsubaki’s body went cold when she heard that, as five seconds was more than enough time for this creature to kill either one of them if they were standing still. It hadn’t even taken ten seconds for them to arrive after Fafnir’s distress call, and they had not made it in time to save him. Regardless, Tsubaki forced herself to nod. I’m going to try to borrow power from my Keeper. If it works, that will be your signal.

Scarlet blinked, knowing just how hard it was for Tsubaki to consider relying on the Keeper’s power for a fight. I guess that’s what this has come to…

Tsubaki charged back towards the creature, brandishing her twin daggers in a violent display, meant only to cow the creature into submission. As she did so, she sent out an urgent prayer. My Keeper, I require the use of your godly power to overcome a terrible foe.

Aurivy and I were still watching Elisae, and in my opinion there was a good bit to learn from how Scarlet had taught her. Personally, the only divine laws that I had ever established were to create those tomes of power. Having Scarlet explain how to set up such laws to create a favorable situation with one’s domain was rather eye-opening.

Granted, I was curious where she had run off to so suddenly, but I assumed that there was simply some emergency in Bloodhaven that she had to deal with. That was, until an almost frantically rushed message was transmitted to me less than fifteen seconds later. My Keeper, I require the use of your godly power to overcome a terrible foe.

My eyes went wide, immediately selecting yes. “Switch it to Tsubaki, quick.” I looked at Aurivy, who practically fumbled with the remote to change the channel. I couldn’t remember a point in time when Tsubaki had ever requested my power so openly, especially for combat.

Only half a second passed after Tsubaki sent that request before she felt a channel opening within her divine energy. Warmth flooded her chest at the realization that the Keeper had so readily granted her request, but she had no time to be happy. “What I seek is a maze of mirrors forged of lies!”

Three golden spheres appeared around Tsubaki, each containing a word written in divine script. Light, Mirrors, Illusion, these three words formed the trinity that she had envisioned. Within the space constructed by Scarlet, walls of glass began to erect themselves in all directions, forming cubes no more than five meters wide. Each cube was surrounded on all sides by mirrors, with every wall broken into a dozen sections.

Every mirror formed a portal, leading to another cube in the maze. However, the cube that the portals led to was not the same as the ones that they showed. Instead, there was an illusion placed over every mirror to show a different cube in the set, creating a maze where one could not trust their own senses.

Scarlet stood alone in one cube, Tsubaki in another, and the creature in a third. Like this, they would find it hard-pressed to locate each other’s position. Even Tsubaki did not know which path she should take to find the creature. Thankfully, she had observed that their foe had a problem with their speed… that problem being that it was simply too fast, and did not possess the ability to properly stop and change directions freely.

Such a handicap made this maze the perfect challenge for it, as it could go through a dozen cubes before being able to slow itself down enough to stop. Tsubaki let out a sigh, dismissing her daggers and retrieving her rifle again. While this maze hindered her foe, it did not stop her rifle’s homing ability.

You have your five seconds… just hurry before it finds the way through. Tsubaki said as she looked through the scope, seeing the golden creature standing in one corner of its cube. Its eyes were looking around rapidly, trying to understand what had happened. Its figure flickered, appearing in another cube, but Tsubaki was already locked onto it.

She gathered her divine power in her rifle, pulling the trigger again and again to launch pillars of light through the nearby mirrors, each one taking a different path. These rays shot through the reflective portals, curving again and again to seek out the shortest paths to the creature. In the end, it was struck by five beams at almost the same time, unable to wholly avoid them.

Seeing its health bar dropping, Tsubaki’s smile grew. However, she knew that this would not work forever. As soon as the creature was attacked, it charged straight in the direction that one of the beams had fired from. Had Tsubaki’s attack traveled in a straight line, she would surely have been found by now.

Unfortunately, every time she struck, the creature came closer to the cube that she was firing from. Due to her rifle possessing the trait of ‘taking the shortest path to strike the target’, the creature only had to move one cube at a time, each one guaranteed to bring it closer to her. It was only when it overshot that she was able to make some distance.

After three seconds of firing, Tsubaki had to jump into one of the reflective portals near her. The creature had gotten too close, to the point where it was only one or two portals away from her, going by the number of times the beams had to curve.

As Tsubaki fled to another cube, she suddenly felt the field of divine energy around her being disturbed. Without hesitation, she jumped, one of her feet being severed at the ankle. It found me?! Her eyes went wide, looking at the creature that stopped not that far ahead of her.

The creature seemed fixated on her severed foot, reaching out towards it. It tracked the flow of my divinity… is that a natural ability, or something from its Devouring domain? As she thought about that, she mentally recalled the divine energy within her foot, willing it to attach itself to her again.

If it had her ‘scent’, then jumping through another portal normally would not help her escape. Thus, Tsubaki took a deep breath, creating dozens of illusions that sprang out of her body at once, each one flinging itself into a different portal to take a random path. At the same time, Tsubaki herself picked a portal at random, mixing in with the illusions. Her only hope right now was that the creature was unable to determine which of her bodies was real.

As she was thinking that, she felt three of the illusions being severed at the same time, showing that the creature had fallen for the trick. Realizing this, Tsubaki had a rather bold idea. She created more illusions of herself, throwing them through random portals in an attempt to occupy every cube of this mirror maze. Doing so served two purposes. First, it prevented the creature from following her trail, making it seem like she had gone everywhere.

Secondly, she was able to accurately map out the maze in her mind, knowing where the creature was at all times. I can’t fire again, or it will trace the rays back to me like it did before. She looked towards her rifle in dismay, knowing that she needed to find a way to remodel it for it to be a feasible weapon in divine battles.

Tsubaki mentally counted off the time, realizing that it had only been four seconds. She grit her teeth, feeling illusion after illusion shattering. Had she not formed this maze with the power of a trinity, it was likely that the creature’s raw power and speed would have torn through it long ago.

I’m done. Scarlet said in a tired tone, causing Tsubaki’s eyes to light up. Immediately afterwards, the space around them seemed to shift, both Scarlet and Tsubaki appearing outside of the mirror maze. Scarlet stretched her hand towards the maze, which Tsubaki quickly dispelled. Now that the plan was completed, the maze would only hinder Scarlet’s actions.

Once the maze was shattered, the cubes were… still in place, oddly enough. That was because part of Tsubaki’s request was to separate the space they were fighting in into evenly spaced cubes, and she molded the maze around that request as a smokescreen. Without the mirrors acting as portals, the creature was now trapped in a single cube five meters across.

Its figure flashed, smashing into the walls of its prison again and again while the other cubes fell away. With each one that vanished, the creature’s cube became smaller and smaller, the walls changing from an almost wavy translucent appearance to deep red.

It didn’t take long for the cube to become smaller than the creature’s appearance. At this point, Scarlet’s face looked tense, forcing her divine power into her ki to cause the cube to continue shrinking. Soon after, something audibly cracked, the health bar of the creature rapidly dwindling.

Only when the health bar had fully emptied did Scarlet feel relieved. With a sigh, she dismissed the distorted space, a shockwave of energy rippling out into the world. Although this wave was sudden, it was not strong enough to harm Tsubaki or Scarlet, and would weaken further before reaching the ground.

Tsubaki smiled, knowing that the creature had finally been destroyed. Thank you, my Keeper. She prayed again, willingly forfeiting her control of the Keeper’s domains.