Domains - a special power that only Holy Emperors possess. When you reach this rank, you receive a certain sort of 'enlightenment' that grants you the ability to use this special power known as domains. It's impossible to drag other Holy Emperors into your domain, but anyone below can be. And once they are in your domain...they are essentially fighting in a world where you control everything. The worst part? There's no way out, unless they defeat you, the domain's owner.

Within a domain, there was nothing else but the Holy Emperor and the people trapped within their domain. All evidence of the real world was erased, essentially bringing you into an alternate dimension where the Holy Emperor rules all.

Every Holy Emperor has a different domain, depending on the element they specialize in the most. In this case, we were up against a Shadow Domain, as if it wasn't obvious enough what with the dark energy surrounding us and the woman herself nowhere to be seen.

The first thing I tried was to absorb the domain - with my Chaos power. But unfortunately, it didn't work. My body rejected the mana - it was too powerful for my current level. And since Mei Gui's level follows mine, she obviously couldn't absorb this domain, either.

W-Well, uh...this is quite the predicament.

"Um...is this a domain we're in right now?" Feng Mian asked hesitantly, looking around.

"As much as I hate to say so, yeah," Xiang Peng replied, gritting her teeth. "Xuan Kai, that was a very bad move."

"Yeah, I know...she was hiding her strength. I took a bet, and paid for it," I muttered, frustrated with myself.

"So...what's our next move?" Yu An Yan asked uncertainly.

"Oh, but there is no next move, unfortunately," a female voice cut through our discussion. "I gave you a choice...and you chose to do this."

The voice came from all around us, and I had no way of discerning which direction she was coming from...or at least, that's what she thought.

Third Eye is still functioning here...maybe because it is a spell of an order higher than Holy Emperors can reach? Either way...this may just be our key out of here.

I didn't let it show on the surface that I knew where her real body was, however. If I did, that would ruin the whole plan. Instead, I purposely turned to the opposite direction of where her real body was, just to add on to the act.

"Level One Light Magic - Illuminate!" Qing Yue chanted, generating an orb of light that helped us see our surroundings a little better in this utter darkness. However, the light was meager, and threatened to fade away immediately if Qing Yue stopped putting mana into her spell.

"Oh my~that little bit of light won't help you," the woman said seductively. "Now...who should I take out first? Or perhaps...all of you together, at once?"

My Third Eye picked up on her moving around us.

"Everyone, get in a circle," I ordered, and the nine of us all gathered together with our backs to each other, each facing a different direction to monitor all around us.

She's deciding which one to go for...and it looks like she's settled on her target.

"Mei Gui!" I yelled, signaling that the woman is coming in her direction.

Mei Gui narrowed her gaze, and chanted out loud, just as the woman appeared from within the darkness, attempting to snatch Mei Gui away. "Level Two Light Magic - Divine Blade!"

A bright golden sword arose in front of her, and flew towards the woman, who appeared shocked at the attack. In fact, so shocked that she retreated, back into the shadows. The Divine Blade, upon hitting the darkness, vanished as well.

"Oh my...how interesting. You can sense where I am coming from? How?" the woman giggled.

"I have no obligation to answer that," I replied cryptically.

"Well, no matter, I suppose...though I must admit, I am curious," the woman said. "But...unfortunately, even then, you won't be able to escape from my domain. Your attacks are far too weak to hurt me."

"Wanna bet on that?" Xiang Peng smirked, channeling her mana.

"Hm...an Ancestral Mage, huh?" the mysterious woman murmured. "Sorry, but I'm afraid...even your attacks would do nothing more than tickle me within this domain - my domain."

"Xiang Peng, she's coming for you!" I called out, sensing the woman's movements on my Third Eye. I could afford to keep this ability active for very long periods of time, since I absorbed so much mana from our encounter with the robots yesterday.

"Level Three Sky Magic - Prison of Lightning!" Xiang Peng chanted, timing the spell just right so that the woman ended up trapped within her cage of electricity.

"Ha! How do you like that?!" Xiang Peng demanded, a triumphant look on her face.

The woman, enclosed within this circular prison of lightning, glared at me for a second before shrugging. "Tch...mildly annoying, but still no threat whatsoever."

And saying this, she turned into a cloud of black mist and disappeared from the prison with ease.

"Wha-" Xiang Peng began, slightly surprised at this. However...

"Behind you!" I yelled, but it was too late. A pillar of Shadow energy burst out from the darkness behind Xiang Peng, and struck her directly in the back. She fell to the ground, groaning in pain. The rest of us all backed away from the center, where the pillar was. With one move, the woman had broken our formation, leaving us vulnerable.

"Ngh...damn it, that hurt..." Xiang Peng muttered.

"Oh my~for all that big talk, you are quite the...frail little girl, no?" the mysterious woman's gentle yet seductive voice rang out from all around us once more, taunting Xiang Peng.

"Heh...you just got me by surprise there," Xiang Peng said, wiping blood from her mouth. "You won't get me with the same trick twice."

One attack...one attack was all it took to make an Ancestral Mage, the strongest of us all here (not counting Obsidia's dragon form) collapse, spitting blood. She didn't even chant, either - because she didn't even need to use spells against us. No...she had simply manipulated her domain to her will, causing blasts of Shadow energy to occur at various locations. It was that easy for her, yet so devastating for us. Was this...the power of a Holy Emperor?

"Oh, is that so?" the woman murmured, before I suddenly sensed that she teleported behind Xiang Peng once again, and now that our formation was gone, she made for an easy, isolated target.

A blast of darkness energy shot out from nowhere, but this time, Xiang Peng was ready. She spun around, and met the attack with one of her own.

"Level Three Light Magic - Holy Ray!" she yelled, and a beam of light shot out of her palms, meeting the darkness energy. But to all of our surprise, the beam of light - was pushed back.

The Shadow energy within this woman's domain was far too powerful. Even Level Three Magic was being pushed back.

Damn it...there's nothing we can do here...

[Master, I have a plan,] Mei Gui suddenly said through our telepathic messages.

[You do?]

[Yes...we can detect where that woman is coming from with our Third Eye, because it is Forbidden Magic - an order of magic higher than even Divine Tier spells. Holy Emperors are vulnerable to such power, meaning we can use Forbidden Magic...to break out of this predicament.]

[How though? The only three spells I know are Chaos Mirror, Soul Shackle, and Third Eye - none of them will help us break out of this woman's domain.]

[I will teach you a new spell now, Master...it is risky, and I do not know if your Chaos is pure enough to handle this yet. However...it is our only chance.]

I looked over at Xiang Peng, still struggling to push the Shadow energy back. But at this rate, it was only a matter of time before she couldn't take it anymore. Suddenly, a burst of energy shot out from behind Xiang Peng as well, and threatened to end her right then and there.

But the other girls weren't just sitting around doing nothing, either. Yu An Yan rushed to Xiang Peng's back since she was the closest, and chanted.

"Level Two Fire Magic - Pyroflux!"

Two laser beams of fire shot out of her hands, and met the Shadow energy in force. But like Xiang Peng, she was getting pushed back as well - even faster, since she was using a Level Two spell.

[...Let's do it,] I decided, clenching my fists.

[Understood, Master,] Mei Gui replied, and walked closer to me and took my hands in hers, then closed her eyes. I did the same, while the battle rang out all around us, the woman shooting more bursts of Shadow energy as the girls each struggled to parry them all.

[Listen closely, Master. The spell is a purification one. A spell that erases all, if used to the maximum potential. That is impossible at Master's current stage, but it should suffice to eliminate this domain.]

[What if I accidentally 'erase' one of the girls, or myself?]

[That is impossible, as this spell cannot erase people, but only mana-powered phenomena such as domains.]

[I see...and what is this spell called, so I can use it?]

[The spell's name is...Zero.]

A new determination lighting up my eyes, I calmly let go of Mei Gui's hands, and slammed my palm into the dark ground below to define the location of the spell. And amidst the battles between light and dark going on all around us, I chanted.

"Forbidden Magic - Zero."