Legendary Architect of Apocalypse-Chapter 103: Perfect provocation

Zesten stopped just short of the barrier, his fists clenched tightly. He could see the boy clearly, who had facial features similar to Aliath’s, which convinced him that this was indeed someone related to that person.

The sounds from beyond the barrier were muffled, distorted. Even with his heightened senses, he couldn’t hear what the boy was saying, but he could feel the other domain lords approaching.

There were five domain lords, each of them ruling over a certain part of the Shadow Domain where they had established their own cities. Only on rare occasions could more than two of them be seen together. But now, all five were here.

Four domain lords landed next to Zesten one after another, their presence so suffocating that even though they were restricted by the domain, Elias could still feel it.

"Aren’t you going to introduce your friend to us?" one of the domain lords asked, her entire existence covered by a strange mist that made it impossible for anyone to see her.

"It’s not often that we get a guest from the Academy," another domain lord said in a cracking voice, his skin covered in diamond-like scales that felt impenetrable.

The third and fourth domain lords remained silent, as they observed the boy. A sense of familiarity flashed across one’s eyes, as a subtle frown appeared on his forehead.

"He is nothing but a little child from the academy who managed to successfully provoke me. He is my prey, so you should leave," Zesten told the others, trying to dismiss them as quickly as he could.

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Even though he was frustrated about Elias’s attack, he still didn’t want others to know the boy’s identity. He wanted that boy for himself, as he was an important part of his plan.

Meanwhile, Elias had a completely different thought process as he watched the domain lords talk amongst themselves, instead of sending someone out of the domain like he wanted.

"It looks like the provocation isn’t strong enough."

His fingers slowly moved to the trigger, and he pulled it, aiming straight for Zesten’s forehead. He didn’t think that he could kill Zesten with just this, but he had already accounted for failure when he pulled the trigger.

As soon as Zesten finished speaking, his expression darkened and he turned back to Elias, watching something fly towards him, something much smaller than the projectile that had come for him before.

He quickly reached out and brought his hand before his face, catching the bullet between his fingers just as it barely tapped the skin of his forehead.

He lowered his hand and observed the bullet, which seemed to have a similar essence to the fable that was sent to catch the boy. It was the woman who was even somewhat close to him.

His gaze narrowed as he clenched his fist, crushing the bullet within it. He soon saw the other domain lords looking at him strangely.

"How interesting..." The domain lord within the mist mumbled.

Zesten also found their gazes somewhat strange. He slowly raised his hand and touched his forehead. When he looked at his fingers, his expression became grim.

This time, it wasn’t just a minor scratch. He was actually bleeding. The bullet had barely managed to graze his skin, so he wasn’t hurt, but he was still bleeding.

"It managed to hurt me?"

"It managed to hurt him?"

Zesten, Astralious and Elias said at the same time, each looking more surprised than the other.

The sniper rifle was upgraded with only the essence of a mid-tier fable, and a little remnant essence of lighting. He didn’t expect it to actually hurt someone like him. The reason he even attacked, was simply to provoke that person.

"Arghhh!" Zesten’s disbelief slowly turned to raw rage, as he started screaming like a wild beast, flying towards Elias.

Unfortunately, he crashed against the barrier that only restricted the Domain Lords from leaving. But even though the barrier made him feel the pain of being bitten by thousands of poisonous ants, he didn’t stop slamming his fist against the barrier.

It was the second time he had bled in his life. He never thought that he would ever bleed due to a human after the last time when he was much weaker.

After his interaction with Aliath, he had promised himself that he was never going to let another human hurt him. He even went so far as to kill his own father to become the Domain Lord, and an existence much stronger than he used to be.

Despite that, he was bleeding? And that too from a person that was related to Aliath? His mind had almost snapped as he thought about it.

Unfortunately, no matter how much he tried to force his way out of the barrier, he couldn’t do it. He was only pushed back each time.

"Even we couldn’t break free of the barrier. Does he really think he can?" The other domain lords talked amongst themselves, looking at Zesten with pity.

They had never truly considered Zesten as one of them. He was always inferior in their eyes, and he had shown that again by getting hurt like this.

There were only two domain lords that didn’t mock Zesten for getting hurt. They were more focused on Elias, seeing a glimpse in him of another person that had wreaked havoc in this place a long time ago.

Both of them thought of a possibility, but none of them said it out loud. How could there be a coincidence like this?

After failing multiple times, Zesten clenched his fist, punching the ground with all his might, making the entire shadow domain and beyond tremble.

He roared out loud, summoning his strongest followers to the border. And within half an hour, almost the entire upper echelon that served under Zesten arrived at the place, leaving his city completely unprotected.

"I want his head! Or I’ll have all of your heads!" Zesten raged, sending the fables that served under him out of the domain, many of them being strong to the point that they could be compared to a high tier fable on their own.

"That worked a little too well," Elias looked through the scope, and started aiming. The materials were coming to him on their own, to make him stronger.