The word began to obey his will, and the sand around them fell into a void beneath the group. They had no choice but to run towards the structure.
Evelyn was keeping all the other effects of the domain at bay, but any longer, and she might overload her brain. She needed to keep track of the deadliest effects, but she couldn't do everything at once.
Her stark white spear began to glow as she absorbed the spiritual energy around them.
The tip of the spear started to resemble a crescent moon. Once fully charged, she swiped the blade across the air towards Nabû-Zēr.A sky blue crescent moon, surrounded by a white mist, flowed towards him.
It looked oddly slow, like a fish in a pond. However, it reached the top of the tower in just a few seconds.
Nabû-Zēr was still recovering from Silas's attack, his body slowly reassembling itself. By the time the crescent had reached him, it became a full moon. He had no choice but to tear away bricks from the stairs to guard his body.
The moon collided with the brick, scattering dust around Nabû.
Once the moon dissipated, the spiritual energy surged backwards into Evelyn's body. This way, she would not run out as long as this weapon was in her hands.
"Crush them!" Nabû commanded.
The remaining sand began to form a ball around them. As the sand fell into Simon's hair, he activated his own contract.
Rain poured down on them, causing the sand to lose its consistency as the raindrops pierced the dome. At least to everyone besides Simon, Ezra, and Leo.
With Nabû perceiving this false reality, he let the guard around the sand fall. This gave Ezra an opening to strike it to create an opening.
[Ignition]
Ezra landed a decisive strike against the sand, causing it to melt slightly. Just as the sand began to heat up to its highest temperature, Leo broke through it, allowing the others to pass through.
Once they exited the sphere of sand, Simon activated his other dagger. He created illusions of them bursting out from all sides.
This added to Nabû's confusion, as he caused the ones on the right of him to fall into the void. Of course, this was not the real group, and they had already reached the tower.
"Okay, Simon. Stay with Haruto and protect Silas. Leo, Evelyn, let's go confront that thing."
Ezra, Leo, and Evelyn began to ascend the tower, as Simon, Silas, and Haruto went deeper inside.
Simon led the group into the depths of the tower, calling to Silas as he did so.
"The area of your attacks should be much larger now, right? Just aim straight up, and it should kill him."
Nabû-Zēr had unknowingly removed space for himself to avoid attacks, too. With Simon's plan and Silas's attack range, he had no way of avoiding the attack.
The question now was, what were they going to do about Silas after? He needed to use his skin to create a large enough attack, so how would he be healed?
This planted doubts in Simon's mind, but he knew he would find a solution once the matter called for it.
As they reached the bottom of the building, they were met with a ritual chamber.
There was a large decagon in the middle of the room, and ingredients that Simon could not identify spread at each node.
This ritual did not matter for the time being, as oxygen now existed in this realm due to Evelyn. Then, Simon came to a realization.
She had refused most of the rules of this domain, meaning that the sun above them should be scorching hot!
"Haruto, can those seals nullify Evelyn's spiritual presence just slightly?"
"I think they can, but I'll have to suppress some of her spiritual energy."
"That's fine, she can regenerate it at a fast enough rate. Seal her energy off a little so she doesn't affect the temperature down here."
Haruto was slightly confused, but just as fast as it came, it left. He understood the message and immediately complied.
Silas had understood far sooner than Haruto, running in place to generate as much sweat as possible beforehand.
It was disgusting how much he was sweating, but who cares about cleanliness in times of life or death?
In just a few seconds after the temperature had risen, Silas was sweating buckets.
He stood in the middle of the circle, extending his palm towards the roof. The sweat from his body and the floor swiftly gathered before it, as it began to turn into a bullet as large as a missile.
At the peak of the tower, Nabû-Zēr was anticipating Ezra, Leo, and Evelyn. His main priorities had shifted from Ezra to Evelyn. Besides Silas, she was the main anchor of this operation.
Without her, they would die within seconds from Louge Gas exposure.
Ezra's group soon arrived, and Nabû attacked them immediately. The bricks that had fallen turned into spears, soaring up towards each one of them.
The entity's other eye had opened, the transcription from it shining brighter than usual. Although this could not be read, I will translate it for you.
"All that breathes and all that was within the confines of this universe shall bow to me. Obey, or be unnamed. Name me your king, and I will unmake your fate; pledge me, and I will remake it."
The word "Obey" seemed to shine brighter as the spears finally reached the group. Although they had all effortlessly blocked it, they immediately exploded.
While this seemed like the best course of action, Ezra began to manipulate the flames.
The flames absorbed into the guard of his great sword, and the ones he didn't block were absorbed into Leo's gauntlets.
Once the force was absorbed by Leo, he activated his signature.
[Resonance]
He swung his arm towards Nabû, and the air itself condensed before striking him. This removed his weakness of the need for close-range combat entirely.
"Where are they?!" Nabû-Zēr screamed.
"Shut your mouth and die with your pride!" Leo said.
The group began to rush Nabû again, as they traded blows with him. While one-on-one, they would be easily outmatched — with all of them fighting him at once, they put up an excellent effort.
"ŠĒMUUUUUU!!"