The Hollow Domain fell apart.
Tendrils of life madra crashed down on Lindon, writhing around him, and he screamed in blinding pain as they tore at his lifeline. The Empty Palm burst one in half, then he switched to Blackflame to tear the others apart with dragon’s breath.
As soon as Lindon could breathe again, he tore his void key open.
The key snapped.
The void space still opened, but it would remain hanging there in midair until it eventually faded closed. But Lindon couldn’t worry about closing it. He reached inside, now that there was actual aura to work with, and summoned Wavedancer.
It shot out on flows of aura, and Reigan Shen watched it with amusement over the rim of a goblet he’d refilled.
“What a coincidence,” he said.
A flying sword of his own emerged from nowhere. Lindon didn’t see the portal it had come from. Or had the Monarch kept it in his soulspace?
This one was carved like a dancing flame, and it carried a sense of power and presence no less than Midnight’s.
Wavedancer clashed against it and was struck down, but Lindon called Midnight with wind aura. The trident flew into his hand, and he hurled it at Reigan Shen.
A portal opened up and swallowed the weapon.
“It is only right to return stolen belongings,” Shen said. “I appreciate that you’ve taken good care of it.”
At the far end of the chamber, one of the already-existing golden portals had expanded into a larger form. Lindon was terrified that Tiberian Arelius’ Remnant would emerge, but his earlier theory must have been right: Reigan Shen couldn’t summon it since Lindon had broken the portal.
That, or he didn’t want to waste energy from a Monarch’s Remnant on one Overlord.
A black-armored leg thicker than Lindon’s body emerged from the giant portal, and the aura in the room trembled. Lindon realized that he was about to meet the reason why Reigan Shen had scattered natural treasures everywhere.
Shen pointed to it. “This construct does carry a suite of powerful Ruler techniques, but that’s not the only reason I brought out the natural treasures. No, I simply prefer the light.”
Lindon began drawing in aura of fire and destruction while he Forged Blackflame madra around his left hand.
“You know, this labyrinth should be the perfect environment for you,” Reigan Shen called. “I have a bit of a connection to the Void Icon myself. Not enough to call myself a Void Sage, you understand, and I was a Herald first anyway.”
The armored figure emerged from the giant portal, and Lindon had finally condensed The Dragon Descends around his hand. Claws of red-and-black madra swirled with aura, a miniature version of the Void Dragon’s Dance, and it resonated with Lindon’s authority. Even in his senses as a Sage, this attack was powerful.
He dashed forward with the Burning Cloak, clashing against the armored construct’s fist as it emerged.
Madra detonated, flames sweeping away warped white flesh. The construct stumbled back, missing a hand, but it hadn’t been defeated. Chains of wind aura grabbed at him, and light aura blinded his eyes.
But the last he saw, it was halfway inside the portal.
“Close!” Lindon shouted, and he felt the surrounding aura release.
He fell to the ground, and had to roll out of the way before the smoking front half of the construct landed on him. It had been sliced in half.
“That’s exactly why you shouldn’t use expensive weapons in battle unless absolutely necessary,” Reigan Shen noted. “I have a dozen of those.”
Two more portals bloomed to either side of Lindon. These weren’t Monarch attacks, like Lindon had experienced before, but they were roughly Archlord level.
Lightning blasted at Lindon from one portal as fingers of acidic liquid reached for him from the other.
From the space of his void key, Lindon summoned a shield to block the lightning. For the liquid, he met it with an Empty Palm.
“As I said, this should be the perfect place for you,” the Monarch went on. “Your home turf, as they say. Your den. It’s full of hunger, and you’re not hungry enough.”
Lindon called bombs; explosive single-use constructs he’d created months before. Shining orange-and-red orbs flew at Reigan Shen.
He lifted his chin, and a bright golden marble flew from a pouch at his side. It detonated when it hit Lindon’s bombs, wiping all of Lindon’s constructs away in an instant.
Lindon held nothing back.
Launcher constructs fired from his void space, and they landed on a Forged silver shield that materialized in front of the Monarch. A cannon drifted into Lindon’s hands, and he fired.