OP Absorption
Chapter 98: Loser

Chapter 98: Loser

He darted in again, a low feint drawing Dan’s guard down, then exploded upwards with a vicious uppercut aimed square at the Commander’s chin.

Dan tilted his head back just enough, the blow glancing off his jawline rather than connecting cleanly. Still, it rocked him. His eyes narrowed, the fury momentarily replaced by calculation. He stopped swinging wildly.

He planted his feet, crimson energy swirling around him, thickening. He wasn’t attacking. He was waiting. Daring Fin to come closer.

’Uh oh. Trying a different tactic? Turtle defense?’ Fin hesitated for a fraction of a second. Charging into that solid wall of angry red energy felt unwise. But staying back let Dan recover, maybe even pull out another reality-bending sword trick. ’No choice. Got to press the advantage.’

He took a deep breath, condensed the energy tighter around his fists, the crystalline edges sharpening, humming faintly. He launched himself forward, weaving, angling for Dan’s head again.

As he closed the distance, Dan moved. Not an attack. His gauntleted hands slammed together in front of his chest.

FWOOM!

An invisible wave of pure concussive force erupted outwards. It wasn’t the Annihilation Wave from before, not directed energy, but raw kinetic shock. Like being hit by a shockwave point-blank.

Fin felt the air slam into him, stealing his breath, disrupting his attack trajectory. He tumbled backward, managing to twist and land on his feet, but the momentum was broken, his ears ringing.

’Clever bastard. Didn’t expect that.’ He shook his head, trying to clear the ringing.

Dan didn’t follow up immediately. He stood there, hands still loosely clasped, the crimson aura pulsing rhythmically, like a furious heartbeat. "You are persistent," he admitted, his voice calmer now, though still tight with anger. "Agile. Annoying." He lowered his hands slowly. "But you rely entirely on your own energy. Limited."

He took a step forward, the ground seeming to tremble slightly with his passage. "True strength," he continued, raising one gauntleted hand, palm outwards, "comes from dominion. From drawing upon the world itself!"

The crimson aura around him surged, but this time it didn’t just radiate outwards. It seemed to pull. From the trees, from the mossy ground, even from the air itself, faint wisps of ambient mana – tainted, somehow angry – flowed towards Dan, absorbed into his armor, fueling the crimson glow, making it burn even brighter, hotter.

Fin stared. ’He’s... absorbing mana? Like me? But... different. Dirtier.’ It wasn’t the clean drain he used. This felt more like... consumption. Forceful. Like the domain itself was bleeding energy unwillingly.

Dan visibly swelled with power, the dents in his armor seeming less significant under the overwhelming crimson light. His breathing evened out, the fatigue vanishing. "My King grants his faithful the power to command reality," he declared, his voice booming again, filled with renewed confidence. "Can your little parlor tricks compete with that, boy?"

He clenched his fist, and the air around Fin seemed to solidify, crushing inwards. Not physical pressure, but mana itself squeezing, trying to suffocate him, extinguish his aura.

Fin gasped, staggering, the silver-green light flickering violently under the strain. He pushed back, pouring more energy into his defense, but it felt like trying to hold back the tide with his bare hands. Dan wasn’t just fighting him anymore; he was turning Fin’s own domain against him.

’No, no, no! This is my place!’ Rage surged, mixing with desperation. He could feel the domain groaning under Dan’s forced drain, could feel the imbalance. He couldn’t let this guy just... eat his world.

He needed more power. Not just his cores. He needed... everything.

He slammed his fist into the mossy ground, not in anger, but with intent. "Give me strength!" he yelled, not at Dan, but at the ancient trees, the dark earth, the very essence of the dimension around him.

He pushed his will outwards, connecting not just with his own cores, but with the domain itself, the way he had when he first claimed it, when he pictured Meg’s sleeping peacefully, Juliana’s quiet presence.

For a moment, nothing happened. Dan laughed, the crushing pressure intensifying.

Then, the forest answered.

The ground beneath Fin pulsed with a soft, deep green light, echoing the energy of his first core. It flowed up his legs, warm, vital. The ancient trees seemed to hum, their leaves rustling though there was no wind, shedding faint motes of silver light that drifted down, merging with his second core’s energy.

The very air thickened, not with Dan’s oppressive mana, but with a supportive presence, stable, ancient, his.

The silver-green aura around him exploded outwards, effortlessly shattering Dan’s crushing grip. But it wasn’t just silver and green anymore. It was deeper, richer, woven through with threads of earthy brown, shadowy black from the domain’s stone foundations, even faint, abstract patterns mirroring the tapestries back in the throne room. It felt... complete. Unified.

He stood tall, energy swirling around him not as a chaotic storm, but a controlled vortex, perfectly balanced. He felt connected, anchored, drawing power not just from within, but from every rock, every leaf, every shadow of his domain.

Dan stared, his confidence faltering for the first time since removing his helmet. The sheer density of the mana rolling off Fin now... it dwarfed his own crimson aura. It felt less like an opponent and more like... the world itself had decided to fight back.

"What... What is this?" Dan stammered, taking an involuntary step back. "How...?"

Fin looked at his hands, watching the multi-hued energy dance around his fingers. He felt... strong. Not just physically powerful, but rooted. Like he finally understood what it meant to have a domain, not just occupy it.

He looked up at Dan, and this time, his smile held no trace of mockery. Only certainty.

"This," he said, his voice resonating with the quiet power of the domain itself, "is called home field advantage."

The ground around Dan erupted, not sliced by a sword, but grasped by thick, shadowy tendrils formed from the earth and ambient darkness, wrapping around his armored legs, anchoring him in place.

Before he could react or pour crimson energy into breaking free, Fin moved, faster than ever before, a streak of unified domain energy closing the distance instantly.

His fist, wreathed in the swirling power of his entire domain, connected with Dan’s jaw one last time.

The sound wasn’t a crack. It was a thunderclap.

Dan’s head snapped back, his eyes rolled up, and the overwhelming crimson aura winked out like a snuffed candle. His massive form went limp, held upright only by the shadowy tendrils still gripping his legs. Utterly unconscious. Maybe worse.

Fin stood there, breathing slightly heavily, the multi-hued aura slowly receding back into him, leaving only a faint silver-green shimmer. He looked at the defeated Commander, then around at the ravaged clearing, the pulsing dimensional fissure still hanging ominously in the air.

He won. He actually won. Against a monster who could cut space and drain the world. A surge of exhausted triumph washed over him, quickly followed by a wave of dizziness. ’Home field advantage’ took a bit out of him than expected.

"My Lord!" Arachne’s voice, filled with relief, called down from the tree.

He looked up, managing a weak grin. "See? Told you I had it."