Beyond the Bloodline-Chapter 199: The Real Target

**BOOM!!

The impact produced a thunderous sonic boom, accompanied by an omnidirectional shockwave. Jamie teleported out of the shockwave’s path, reappearing on the ground in a side stance with his right arm pulled back, ready for his opponent’s descent. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

**BAM!!!

As Shale plummeted towards the ground, Jamie concluded his combo with a hypersonic uppercut, the sheer speed and power of the blow sending the man flying once more.

Despite being hit consecutively by Jamie, Shale was able to regain his bearings in the air, but not after spitting blood through the gaps in his helmet visor.

Magic power surged from his body and he conjured a sword with it, filling the blade with extinction law energy and releasing a slash towards Jamie.

However, the Hybrid created a wormhole, allowing the slash to enter it before collapsing it, condensing the energy of the wormhole into a single orb in his palm. He infused void power into it and raised his hand, firing it back at the man in the form of a void beam.

The beam of dark blue energy travelled at relativistic speed, so the most Shale could do was attempt to block as the beam blasted him to the ceiling of the dome-shaped barrier he had created.

In his blurry vision, he saw Jamie and Miranda charging at him and for a second, his perception of time slowed.

’Well...I was designed to Kill 1, not both.’

With those thoughts, Shale’s eyes brown eyes glowed with light and Jamie instinctively grabbed Miranda before teleporting away, barely in time to avoid the sphere of Extinction law energy that expanded from the man’s body.

"Tsk..."

Jamie clicked his tongue as Shale’s usage of Extinction Law energy only spelt difficulties for them in their battle.

Just like his Void powers, the law of Extinction was capable of ’making one go extinct’. Fancy words aside, it could erase things, though not as ’Absolutely’ as Void Power did.

Shale landed on the floor, opening his helmet to wipe the blood off his lips and spit out some bloody saliva before looking right at the two Hybrids.

’One needs to go.’

Making that decision, he charged at Jamie and the Hybrid responded by drawing his sword and making a full-powered swing.

Shale conjured a blade with Sword law energy and raised it to meet Jamie’s swing, the resultant collision shattering the ground beneath their feet.

Miranda descended from above, swinging her wolf claws down in a cross slash aimed at Shale’s back, but before they made contact, the man forced Jamie back with a sudden burst of strength.

He spun around, grabbing Miranda’s wrists and halting her attack just inches from his body. Maintaining his momentum, he flung Miranda’s body towards the east, where Tiris had run earlier.

Jamie instinctively held up his hand to create a wormhole to catch her, but before Jamie’s magic power could flow out his arm and leave his body, Shale dashed forward and delivered a slash of Sword Law energy that split Jamie’s arm off at the elbow.

Miranda hurtled through the air and bashed through dozens of trees and buildings, before finally halting her momentum and getting to her feet, while Jamie took distance from Shale, his severed hand flying back and reattaching seamlessly to his body.

Shale watched him with a smug smile, raising his left hand as he posed a question.

"Hey, Westley. Did you know that this barrier is a two-layered one?"

"...huh?"

Jamie let out a dumbfounded noise, and then his brain processed the implications of the man’s words. He turned in Miranda’s direction and summoned his spatial power, but his opponent was faster.

’Activate Inner Layer.’

A beam of light shot from Shale’s left palm, striking the roof of the first dome barrier before spreading out to create a smaller inner dome that trapped him and Jamie inside.

At the edge of this new barrier, Jamie, who was moving through the fabric of space, was forcefully ejected from the spatial channel as the barrier cut off the outside space from the inside.

Simply put, Jamie couldn’t teleport out.

Jamie tried using his Child of Space skill, but it was as if his skill couldn’t detect or perceive the space that existed beyond the barrier.

Without the ability to sense it, he couldn’t control it.

His senses could still lock onto Miranda’s presence and he tried warping her over, but the spatial link failed to connect.

"You can’t teleport, can you?"

Shale’s voice rang out from behind and Jamie turned to face him, seeing the man sport a grin as he stepped closer.

"Of course, you can’t. Unlike the outer barrier which was the result of a spell, this inner barrier was created by an artifact.

A Cosmic Artifact.

A Cosmic Artifact created just for the sole purpose of limiting and partially nullifying the void and spatial powers of Jamie Franklin Westley."

"?!"

Jamie’s eyes widened in shock. This barrier meant anyone else could teleport—anyone except him.

At this point, it’d be stupid of Jamie to think this man was here for Tiris.

’I was his real target all along!’

At his realisation, Jamie’s demeanour shifted. The way he’d fight to protect someone, and the way he’d fight to protect himself were totally different.

He heard Shale talk about partially nullifying spatial powers and tried to access his subspace, and to no one’s surprise...he could NOT.

It wasn’t that his subspace was gone, but he couldn’t distort space to create the entrance for the subspace like normal, and neither could he warp anything directly out of it.

’This is bad...’

As the child of a Wolf Emperor, Jamie had heaven-knows-how-many powerful artifacts inside his subspace, given to him by his parents.

Some of these artifacts could grant immense power in exchange for the user’s life—free power for Jamie, considering his immortality.

In the event he encountered an unbeatable opponent, he planned to use one of said artifacts. However, he never carried them on his person, opting instead to keep them in his subspace where he could instantly summon any needed item.

This strategy had always been wise; holding onto such artifacts while fighting or keeping them in his trouser of jacket pockets was impractical. But now, with his subspace inaccessible, Jamie found himself in a bind.

"That Subspace of yours...saw you pull out a scary sword inside from there to kill a Deity Level 50 once. They focused a lot on sealing that when they created this artifact.

Your ridiculous teleportation, the uncanny ability to hijack other people’s spatial manipulation, and that sphere of void energy you like to flick onto people’s faces. Like you did in Kauron a few days ago."

Shale spoke, listing the few abilities of Jamie he remembered were listed among those that the artifact could nullify.

Just as he said that, there was a massive explosion with the force of a nuclear bomb, followed by a wave of purple flames that surged upwards and covered the entire dome.

However, the barrier held firm without trembling even a single bit.

"Oh...your little girlfriend is quite strong.

A pity; she can’t destroy it no matter how hard she tries. Unless of course, she possesses..."

"...Cosmic energy."

Jamie completed his words with a deep frown on his face, and seeing Jamie’s expression, Shale laughed as he knew that the Hybrid had figured out the implication of this.

"Glad you’re quick on the uptake Westley."

"..."

Cosmic Artifacts had that ’Cosmic’ modifier for a reason. Leaving aside how strong they were or how ridiculously overpowered they could be, the main focus here was the energy required to power them.

Magic Artifacts, were powered by Magic power.

By that logic, it wasn’t hard to guess what powered Cosmic Artifacts. And the fact that this man could activate one, meant he possessed the ability to control the necessary energy.

’He’s a Sub-Cosmic being.’

The minimum requirement to be a cosmic being was the Low-Tier Deity realm, and Shale wasn’t at that level, so he had to be a Sub-Cosmic.

But Jamie’s problems didn’t end there.

Sub-Cosmic beings could manipulate ambient cosmic energy, and this nature effectively gave this man two times the amount of energy Jamie could sense from him.

The amount of ambient cosmic energy a Sub-Cosmic could manipulate was proportional to the amount of innate energy they possessed.

So, if Sub-Cosmic Person A had 100 units of energy, they could manipulate 100 units of ambient cosmic energy, besides their innate reserves. Trying to exceed that limit would hit the person with the same sensations and feelings as an energy-deprived person.

"Let’s see how much of your spatial power is sealed, shall we?"

With those words, Shale stomped his foot on the ground and released a wave of cosmic energy, spreading it omnidirectionally to create a boundary line that delineated a portion of space.

[Bounded Field: Slayer’s Execution Grounds!]

The man’s foot stomp reverberated with an ominous resonance, and the waves of cosmic energy cascading across the ground carved intricate runes and sigils into the earth, forming an elaborate magic pattern.

The Bounded Field began to materialize, with jagged, shadowy tendrils erupting from the etched runes, weaving together to form towering, obsidian-like walls. These walls glimmered with extinction law energy, and their surfaces were adorned with spectral blades pointed at Jamie.

Before the Bounded Field could completely form, Jamie’s body had already moved. In this situation where his spatial powers were partially nullified, he couldn’t afford to let himself get caught in an opponent’s Bounded Field.

This wasn’t like the situation with Laird earlier in the day, so without hesitation, he condensed void power within his palms, though he consumed more energy than normal to fight back against the limiting effect of the barrier.

Shale sensed this and conjured a blade glowing with a spectral light, before charging at Jamie, the ground splintering beneath his feet from the sheer force of his movement.

But Jamie was faster.

[Void Beam: Purgatory (Omnidirectional Variation)].

The condensed orb of void energy exploded and beams of dark blue energy radiated outward from him, tearing through the walls of the Bounded Field at relativistic speeds. The beams’ immense power disrupted the structure of the Bounded Field, causing it to tremble and shatter before it could fully form.

One of the beams struck the charging Shale, sending him hurtling backwards. The man’s protective barriers—those formed from normal energy, cosmic energy, and even his Authority? of Swords—were obliterated in rapid succession.

The first barrier cracked like fragile glass, the second disintegrated into shimmering particles, and the third, which glowed with an almost divine radiance, shattered with a deafening roar.

But despite being broken, they were able to offset some of the void beam’s power.

Shale’s body was thrown through the air, tumbling like a ragdoll. His arms, crossed in front of his chest, trembled like they were hit with a dump truck, and the blunt force knocked the air out of his lungs.

He crashed into the ground with bone-jarring force, skidding across the earth and leaving a trail of destruction in his wake.

’Fuck...his Void power is this strong even while limited? I’m scared to think of the damage I’d have taken if it wasn’t for my suit!’