Chapter 757: 757

The Beast King noticed the change.

It sensed that Osita had not fully succumbed, that the despair threatening to swallow him had momentarily loosened its grip. Yet it did not react immediately. There was no sudden aggression, no rush to strike while Osita was unsteady.

Instead, it remained where it was.

Standing.

Watching him.

Its attention fixed on Osita as though waiting, to see what he would do now that he had found his footing again.

Osita reached out into empty space, his hand opening as though asking for something that was not there.

The effect was immediate.

Mei and her companions, locked in battle, froze mid-motion. Confusion spread across their faces as their bodies betrayed them. Muscles no longer responded to their will. Limbs moved without command, as if seized by an unseen authority far greater than their own.

Panic surfaced, brief and helpless.

Then, like devout servants answering a silent summons, their bodies obeyed.

Claws drove into their own chests, piercing flesh and bone without hesitation. Another hand rose, fingers digging into their skulls. With terrifying strength, they tore them free. There was no struggle left in them by then only motion, precise and deliberate.

Blood spilled freely.

As if completing a ritual they did not understand, Mei and her companions turned toward Osita. They dropped to one knee in unison, arms extended forward. In their grasp lay their own hearts and skulls, offered outward, steady and reverent, like sacrifices placed before a god.

Osita’s people, who moments ago had been engaged with them, could only stare.

Shock rippled through their ranks. Even seasoned knights faltered, their steps unsteady. Mages, those accustomed to horrors and arcane atrocities felt their stomachs churn violently at the sight. Some looked away too late. Others could not look away at all.

Just a simple, casual gesture from Osita and it was over. Mei and her companions, like a flesh statue, held their heart and head, their bodies finally released from the force that had claimed them.

Osita’s domain is known as "Aethelgard, The Absolute Bastion" a manifestation of osita new reality as a family man, his obsession with the safety of his family lives.

The first thing an intruder sees isn’t a horizon, but the underbelly of a world. Aethelgard is so massive that it curves over the "ground" of the domain like a second sky. It is a brutalist masterpiece of Obsidian representing his demonic, unbreakable core and Silver representing the purity of his devotion to his family.

At the center of this floating world-fortress is a sun-like engine of compressed magical energy, the sum total of Osita’s vast knowledge, burning like a star to keep the lights on for his "children."

Aethelgard works in a way that any entity he deems uninvited or sees as harmful to his family life takes massive psychic and physical damage just by existing within the space. It feels like the weight of a billion tons of stone pressing down. Conversely, his allies receive a massive boost to regeneration and mana recovery.

The domain due to being the manifestation of a father’s hyper-vigilance. Depending on the nature of the threat, the internal geography of the planet-sized fortress shifts to create specific "Counter-Environments.

When a threat is detected, Aethelgard doesn’t just crush them; it swallows them into specialized chambers designed to neutralize their specific "type" of harm.

What happened to Mei and her companions were the effect of those lower than the sixth stage being targeted by the domain.

Within Aethelgard, the "Weight of a Billion Tons" is not just felt by the muscles; it is felt by the Conscience. Osita’s obsession with his family’s safety is so pure and absolute that it manifests as a "Holy Radiance" of the home. When an ordinary being even a powerful warrior or mage enters this space with ill intent, they are struck by a crushing realization: "I am a monster in the presence of a Perfect Protector."

The intruder is flooded with the collective love, anxiety, and protective rage Osita feels for his family.

To the intruder, their own life feels small, dirty, and dangerous.

They begin to view their own presence as a "stain" on the pristine silver and obsidian floors of the fortress.

Because they cannot endure the psychic weight of being "The Enemy" in a place of "Absolute Safety," their survival instinct flips. They decide that the only way to ensure the safety of the "Family" is to remove themselves from the equation.

With a look of ecstatic, terrifying peace, they reach into their own chests. Because the Domain is a higher dimension, the laws of biology are secondary to the Law of the Bastion. They pull out their own still-beating heart and skull without a scream.

They are presenting the "Tools of Life" and the "Tools of Thought" to the Master of the House. It is a silent plea: "I give you my life so that I can no longer be a threat to yours."

These ritualistic sacrifices are not wasted. As the intruder dies, holding their heart out in the middle of a grand obsidian hallway, the silver filigree on the floor rises up like liquid mercury.

It wraps around the offering and the body, pulling it down into the floor. The intruder’s life force is converted into Structural Integrity for the fortress.

The walls of Aethelgard are literally reinforced by the remorse of its enemies. Every new stone in the fortress was once someone who realized they weren’t worthy of breathing the same air as Osita’s kin.

"Take the princess and leave" Osita’s voice came out hoarse, scraped raw by strain and grief.

His people did not hesitate.

They moved as one, crossing the space in seconds, their presence brief and purposeful. None of them acknowledged the Beast King. They reached the princess, lifting her body with practiced care.

At the same moment, Aethelgard responded.

The domain released them.

Space folded inward, then expelled them outward, returning them to the normal world in a single, seamless transition. The oppressive weight vanished instantly. Blue sky appeared overhead, vast and open, almost jarringly peaceful.

Osita’s people froze.

They did not speak. They did not relax. They understood what this meant. A battle of higher dimensions was about to unfold around them, one that would not involve them and one they could not interfere with.

Behind them, Aethelgard sealed itself.

Osita remained.

His gaze settled fully on the Beast King.

Something about the creature was wrong.

Before, it had registered as a fifth-stage entity, dangerous, yes, but fundamentally limited. Now, standing within the Bastion without being crushed, that assessment no longer held. The absence of suppression was unmistakable.

The Beast King had been forced into the sixth stage, pushed beyond its natural limits.

The domain’s failure to weigh it down was proof enough.

Yet the advancement was incomplete.

The Beast King lacked a world-wide domain of its own, unable to impose its reality over others. That absence came at a cost but also with a trade-off. The power that should have been spread outward had instead collapsed inward.

Its spatial talent had intensified.

Space around it felt unstable, resistant in a way that set it apart from lower-stage beings.

The Beast King before him was present and not.

Its vast body existed slightly out of alignment with reality, layered within a different stratum of space. Even within Aethelgard, Osita could not fully touch it. The domain pressed against that warped boundary and simply... slid past, unable to anchor itself to the creature’s true position.

It was here.

And elsewhere.

Osita recognized the technique immediately. He had methods to deal with such spatial displacement, several in fact but none of them needed to be used yet. This was a problem that might still be resolved without violence.

His gaze shifted.

Slowly, deliberately, Osita looked toward the Beast King’s stomach.

In his initial rage, something important had slipped his mind.

"She is still alive, isn’t she?"

The question was calm, but the air tightened around it.

The Beast King smiled.

It was a deeply wrong expression, one that did not belong on such a massive, avian creature. The curve of its beak, the way its many eyes narrowed in something approximating amusement, sent an instinctive sense of revulsion through the space.

Osita exhaled.

A long, controlled breath of relief escaped him, tension easing from his shoulders just enough to matter.

"Why," he asked quietly, "have I drawn the attention of you dark gods? I have never stood against you. I have never sought you out. I only wished to live in peace."

His eyes did not leave the Beast King.

"Why is my peaceful life being disturbed by you?"

The answer did not come from a single mouth.

Five overlapping voices spoke at once, layered and discordant, resonating from within the Beast King’s form. Each voice carried a different tone, yet all spoke the same words.

"We have no quarrel with you." The smile widened.

"We were merely invited out to play."

A pause.

"And you," the voices continued, amused and certain, "are the target of the one who sent the invitation."