Reincarnating As A Prince in the DC Universe

37: Dark Mages Attack 3

…

Aiden's gaze shifted to the darkness mage, who, still kneeling under the pressure, closed his eyes in concentration. As his body blended seamlessly with the surrounding shadows.

The darkness mage's expression brightened with realization, and a smile tugged at his lips. "I see... so this is the flaw," he whispered, his voice now distant as he remained one with the shadows.

The pressure seemed to ease slightly for him as his body shifted, the attribute of his element allowing him to slip past the restrictive boundaries of Aiden's domain, at least for a fleeting moment as he stood up.

For most, the pressure of the domain was enough to neutralize their magic entirely. But as expected, this Archmage wasn't so easily affected.

Aiden had anticipated this.

His domain was powerful, but it wasn't All-powerful. He understood that ordinary mages would be helpless within it, as their magic would be severed from their core.

However, Archmages were different. At their level, their magic wasn't merely an external force, it was a personalized extension of themselves, a force that tied into their very being.

As long as they had mana in their reserves, they could access their abilities, even in this warped pocket of space.

That was the loophole.

Aiden's lips curled into a small smirk. "You're quick, I'll give you that. But it changes nothing. You're still trapped."

The darkness mage, unperturbed, shook his head. "It's true your domain is effective against most, but against us? You've failed to consider that we can still harness our essence, the core of our powers."

Aiden's eyes narrowed. The others are aware now.

The six other Archmages, though initially caught off guard, were now finding their ground. One by one, they drew upon their mana, tapping into their personal connection with their elements, bypassing the spatial constraints of the domain.

Aelindra Thorne, the ice mage, was the first to retaliate.

Her hands glowed icy blue as she pulled the cold from the air itself, twisting it into jagged daggers of ice which she sent flying toward Aiden.

Aiden's smirk remained as he warped the space around the ice projectiles, redirecting them harmlessly to the ground. His domain was still in control, but with their mana untouched, the mages were far from powerless.

Eryndor, the earth mage, grunted and slammed his fist into the ground, and immediately, jagged stone spikes erupted from the earth, rocketing toward Aiden from below.

A moment before they could impale him, Aiden waved his hand, distorting space around them, making the spikes shift and miss their target by inches as he remained standing on the same spot.

"Nice try," Aiden muttered, his voice low. He was impressed, but he knew he still had the advantage. At least, for now. He had just woken up from a three month slumber and needed this much to exercise himself. Before he got them to show everything they had, he didn't even see the need to use magic.

Liora, the wind mage, took advantage of his brief distraction and with a sharp motion, she summoned a powerful vortex of wind around him, spinning into a tornado of razor-sharp wind blades.

Liora's wind vortex howled with intense fury as the twisting cyclone of razor-sharp blades spiraled around Aiden. The air was thick with the sound of the storm, and the ground beneath trembled as the tornado was compressed with him at the centre.

Aiden's eyes narrowed, but he didn't panic. As a wind mage himself, he knew that this attack was literally unblockable…to normal mages that is.

He raised his hand and manipulated the space around him, creating a barrier of distortion that caused the wind blades to bend and twist away, harmlessly dissipating in all directions.

With the threat gone, he took a step forward, folding space beneath his feet to appear behind Liora. "Not bad," he murmured, but as his hand reached for her, a sudden flash of cold pierced through the air as Aelindra's icy spear grazed Aiden's shoulder, the icy chill spreading quickly across his skin. For a split second, it felt like his body was freezing.

He grimaced, but the pain was momentary as his regeneration kicked in to Combat the spreading ice.

Behind him, Eryndor's earthen constructs were already closing in, trying to pin him down with giant boulders and towering stone walls. The Archmages were working together now, each covering the other's weaknesses, coordinating their attacks.

Aiden knew that if they maintained this level of cooperation, they could force him into a corner. His smirk faltered, and his mind raced, calculating his next move.

He had to be smarter.

"I see…" Aiden said, looking over the battlefield. "You're adapting to my domain faster than I thought. But it won't matter."

He raised his hand, and the space around him shimmered as a brief moment of stillness settled over the domain. He was gathering his concentration.

With a single, forceful clench of his right hand, Aiden unleashed a gravitational pulse that pulsated through the domain.

The air itself seemed to collapse inward, warping and buckling under the pressure of the gravity.

The Archmages could still use their magic, but the battle had just shifted. The pressure intensified as Aiden folded the space around the mages, forcing them closer together.

The darkness mage, sensing the tightening grip of Aiden's domain, snarled. "You can bend space, but this is not your realm alone. We are Archmages. We will break through this—"

But before the mage could finish, Aiden took another step forward, his voice calm but full of warning. "You're wrong. This is my domain, and in my domain, you WILL bend to my Will."

Saying that, he increased his hold over the domain as the Force surged, spatial distortions intensified as the mages were pulled toward one point, unable to escape the crushing pull of Aiden's magic.

The space twisted so violently that even their personal elemental cloak began to destabilize, their control faltering. (A/N: I'm thinking of calling it Mana Zone./1\)

The Mages tried to fight back by drawing upon their mana to sustain their mana zone, but Aiden's grip was suffocating. They could feel their magic being compressed, their spells distorting and fracturing before they could manifest.

"I told you," Aiden said coldly, his voice laced with certainty. "You may be Archmages, but you're still limited. You'll never escape my domain. Not without permission."

With a final surge of energy, Aiden folded the space once more, rendering their combined powers useless.

What Aiden did was to fold the space and create a miniature spatial distortion around them. He was not entirely severing their access to magic, but he's making it extremely difficult for them to maintain control over their Mana Zones.

It is this extra layer of mental strain and focus required to maintain their personal mana that forces them into a weakened state. Their magic was there, but the spatial distortions kept tugging at it, constantly threatening to destabilize their mana and make it unusable.

The mages were left suspended in midair, trapped within the confines of Aiden's domain, their mana now inert as they fell to the ground, completely at his mercy.

Aiden exhaled slowly, releasing the pressure. The mages groaned, unable to rise as the effects of his domain remained.

His voice was quiet but firm. "You were never meant to win this." Giving them one last stare, Aiden couldn't comprehend what made the Dark Mages that much of a threat, but since they had dared attack him, there was no way they were leaving here alive.

Looking at them, he couldn't help but think it was a pity. Despite being Seven, only three of them managed to get in on the action.

He could not deny that he held some reservations towards allowing them to get used to the domain. "While I would've loved to engage more with you guys, I'm afraid this is goodbye."

Aiden stretched his hand toward the mages, and the space In Front of them warped as a miniature black hole materialized.

With a snap of his fingers, the mages were drawn toward the singularity, their bodies stretched and crushed beyond recognition by the overwhelming gravity.

"Well, that was underwhelming." Aiden said and deactivated the domain and began walking into the castle, however, just as he stepped in, he felt a wave of chaotic mana rampaging throughout his castle but he wasn't alarmed.

He could still feel his friend's mana signature alongside some other foreign ones. Some were dead with their mana dissipating into nature, some were hanging between life and death and some were still actively moving around.

He could also sense Mira's mana clashing with one of similar magnitude. 'Another Archmage, huh.' he thought and cast an invisibility spell and proceeded to walk in.

This was the best chance to observe Mira in action and see how strong the Spirit Magic he engineered was.

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/1\: Mana Zone will be exclusive to Archmages and Above, i.e Gods and other Energy based beings. In the same manner, Aiden would continue to grow to also suppress their Mana Zone, after all, he's only still in One Star.

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