Reincarnated as a Supernatural Horror Entity 040 - The Domain Shards

Jack cursed. Again. He was getting really tired of cursing. But the universe seed intent on giving him reasons to.

Jasmine Moonlake smirked. Her eyes gleaming with an unsettling light. "Yo, guys! What's up? All of you seed to be a little tied up."

As she greeted them, her body seed to shift. She was... transforming.

"Anyway, you know as Jasmine Moonlake. But that was a deception. Sorry!" Jasmine said gloatingly. She didn't seem sorry at all. "That was not my real na. I am from Night Salvation Organization."

Jasmine kept shifting as she spoke. "So of you might have known of heard of us. Isn't that right, Dr. Crafton? We are quite famous in transcendent circles. The force that will bring balance to this chaotic world, even if it ans pruning a few... overgrown weeds like this church dog."

She kicked the bleeding body of Uthred Payton. "Ah! I seed to also eliminated a few pitiful guys who were too smart for their own good."

Jack gritted his non-existent teeth behind his invisible mask. He had seen that coming. She was the backstabber. But he had underestimated her.

And now, everyone was paralyzed. And she was monologuing like a Saturday morning cartoon villain.

"Jasmine Moonlake was a useful disguise, I'll grant you that." She purred. Her voice was like a silken venom. "But now, the charade is over. I'm more well known as Queen Mirage."

As she spoke, her transformation completed. The pudgy cook lted away. She was replaced by a young woman with a body sculpted for sin. And an arrogant smirk that could curdle milk.

Jack snorted in his mind. Queen Mirage, she called herself. What a cliché na. But it was fitting. She had certainly created a mirage of her true self.

"As so of you might be wondering..." She smiled. "What actually happened? Oh, well. I'll confess. I did arrange so of your... little adventure."

She touched the glowing orb. "The map of the island that started the whole expedition idea. The zombies outside. The activation of the temple's inheritance trial. My arrangent."

Her voice sounded guilt-free as she continued. "I wished it was not this complicated. But the trial needs at least twenty individuals to start. And all of those troubleso things are simply for this."

Queen Mirage held aloft the glowing orb. It was bathing the chamber in an ethereal light. "The Inheritance Orb of the Webmother!"

She paused. A sly smile was playing on her lips. The anticipation was thick enough to cut with a knife. Finally, she began explaining. Her voice was a low purr.

"This orb..." She said. Gesturing dramatically toward the shimring sphere. "... is no re trinket. It's... divine object." She let the words hang in the air. Savoring the weight of them.

"It contains the Webmother's very essence of her divinity, distilled into this one point." She lifted the orb. Her eyes were gleaming.

"This..." She purred. Her voice was now like a venomous caress. "This is the condensed core of the Webmother's understanding. The comprehension of the natural laws within her domains."

Jack ntally rolled his spectral eyes. Laws? Domains? Really? The world had changed into Chinese cultivation story setting now?

"You should know the Webmother very well, shouldn't you, Dr. Crafton? Mr. Drake?" She continued. Oblivious to Jack's inner critique.

"She was known by many nas... Goddess of Mystery. Empress of Mist. Queen of Hunt. Mother of Fortune. Songstress of Illusion. Each domain was a facet of her power."

She stopped. Looking at the paralyzed people with a taunting gaze. "Mystery, Mist, Hunt, Fortune, and Illusion. Five domains of the deity. Five comprehension of the laws."

She tapped her long, elegant finger against the orb's surface. "They are all here, waiting to be claid."

Her smile widened. It was a flash of predatory joy. "And I..." She whispered. Almost to herself. "I am going to take them all."

The glow of the orb was getting brighter.

Jack ntally scread. He was trapped. Helpless. Forced to listen to this villainous exposition. It was agonizing.

Then, just as he was about to lose his spectral mind, a notification popped up.

[CONDENSED LAW OF MYSTERY DISCOVERED!]

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

[WITHIN THE RANGE OF MYSTERY DOMAIN!]

[STATUS EFFECT: PARALYSIS DETECTED!]

[PERMANENT TRAIT: MYSTERIOUS NATURE ADAPTED!]

[NOW POSSESSING THE CHARACTERISTIC OF PARALYSIS IMMUNITY!]

Hell, yeah! Jack was pumped. Finally, a lucky break!

He was freed. The universe, or whatever cosmic force governed these things, had thrown him a life jacket. He could move again.

He watched Queen Mirage closely. She was gloating. Basking in the glow of the orb. And beginning to absorb sothing.

Jack sohow knew it was the Law of Illusion that she absorbed. One of the Webmother's domains. This bitch was about to beco a serious problem.

He had to act. And fast. Forget subtlety. Forget strategy. He was a ghost with a bag of weird abilities. It was ti to unleash them all.

[Mysterious Dream] plus [Mysterious Lullaby] plus [Alraune's Myriad Aromas]!

He channeled every ounce of his spectral energy into the three abilities. He fused them into a concentrated psychic assault.

He didn't know if it would work. But he was betting on the basic principle. That even supervillains had fear. And nightmare.

The air shimred with unseen forces. A wave of mysterious energy slamd into Queen Mirage. It was overloading her senses.

Nightmarish visions flooded her mind. Twisted landscapes. Dark sky. Creepy old house. An old crooked hag. Shadowy creatures.

Accompanying those visions was a discordant symphony. A children song played by lonely sounds from an old violin. With maddening whispers as a background sound.

And, the nasty odors were mixed into the illusion. The sll of decay. Jasmine flowers. Burnt wood. Fresh blood. Rotten eggs. All mixed into one.

The effect was imdiate. She gasped. Her eyes were widened in horror. And her grip on the orb faltered. It slipped from her fingers. Falling towards the stone floor.

The orb shattered into pieces. The chamber was filled with a blinding flash of light as the orb broke into five smaller, glowing shards.

The shards seed sentient. They zipped through the air. Each was drawn to a different individual.

One slamd into Queen Mirage. Awakening her from the nightmare.

Another flew towards Chloe. Engulfing her in a golden glow.

The third struck Lucca. Coating him in a verdant light.

The fourth enveloped Amaranth beside him. Covering her in a swirling, ethereal mist.

And the final shard… was hurtled directly into Jack.

[MYSTERY SHARD DETECTED! FUSION INITIATED!]

Before Jack could process what was happening, there was a roar. Queen Mirage completely recovered from the nightmare. Her face was a mask of rage.

"You! ddling bastard!" She shrieked. Her voice was echoing through the chamber. "Whoever you are! You'll pay for this! I will find you and chop you into pieces!"

With a flick of her wrist, she produced another scroll. A wave of energy washed over the scroll. Burning it completely in a fraction of seconds.

She vanished. Teleporting away in a swirl of dark magic.

Jack barely registered her escape. The Mystery Shard was coursing through him. It was reshaping his spectral form. It felt… good actually. He felt he was about to beco more… mysterious.

He glanced around the chamber. Uthred Payton, the Divine Acolyte, was surprisingly still alive. He was unconscious and still paralyzed. But alive.

The other survivors were also still alive. And paralyzed.

Chloe, Lucca, and Amaranth were not different. They were also still paralyzed. But each was glowing. Bathed in the light of their respective shards.

He didn't need a seer to figure out what was happening. The evil villain's narration from Queen Mirage was enough to make an intelligent deduction.

Chloe was absorbing the golden shard. It was very likely the Shard of Fortune. She did feel like a lucky girl. After this, he should avoid betting anything against her. No doubt this chance would increase her luck to absurd levels.

Lucca was rging with the greenish shard. Obviously, it was the Hunt Shard. It was a little bit... unexpected.

But, he was probably the wildest transcendent in the chamber. Dr. Crafton and Leon Drake seed way too... civilized to acquire it.

And Amaranth... well, she absorbed the white shard. Undoubtedly, it was the Mist Shard. It was not really surprising. It was a natural fit for her mist oriented Primal Sorcery.

...

Suddenly, the chamber began to shake. The ground trembled. And a blinding light erupted from the center of the room. Engulfing everyone.

Jack felt a wrenching sensation. It was a feeling of displacent. As if reality itself was being torn apart. And he was thrown into the other side.

Then, just as quickly as it began, it stopped. The light faded. It was replaced by a thick, swirling mist.

When the mist cleared, they were no longer in the labyrinth. They were back at the campsite. Outside the ruined temple.

The scene was both familiar and horrifying. Tents still stood just like when they built them. The campfire place now held the cold ashes of a dead fire. And the corpses of the zombies they had fought still lay scattered across the ground.

But... there were much fewer survivors now. Many had perished in the labyrinth. Victims of the monsters. Or treachery.

Jack could feel the changes within him. The echoes of the Mystery Shard resonating through his being. The update notifications continued to flood his awareness.

[FUSION COMPLETED!]

[ADJUSTING POWER. EVOLVING THREE SUITABLE TRAITS!]

[ALRAUNE'S MYRIAD AROMAS] INTO [MYSTERIOUS FRAGRANCE]

[BLOODY MARY'S MIRROR WORLD] INTO [MYSTERIOUS MIRROR WORLD]

[DRAUGR'S COMBAT INSTINCT] INTO [MYSTERIOUS SURVIVAL SENSE]

...

[LEVEL UP!]

[AVAILABLE NEW INCARNATION FORM] CHOOSE ONE:

[TRANSCENDENT HUMAN INCARNATION: BABY SACRED DRUID]

[TRANSCENDENT HUMAN INCARNATION: TEENAGE PRIMAL SORCERER]

[TRANSCENDENT HUMAN INCARNATION: YOUNG ELDRITCH WARLOCK]

[TRANSCENDENT HUMAN INCARNATION: PRI STEAMRUNE ENGINEER]

[TRANSCENDENT HUMAN INCARNATION: MIDDLE AGED ACOLYTE]

[TRANSCENDENT HUMAN INCARNATION: OLD MYSTIC SCHOLAR]

'What the hell? So many notifications. Skill Evolutions? And a New Incarnation?' Jack rubbed his invisible eyes with his invisible hands. Did he absorb Fortune Shard by mistake?

He glanced towards Chloe and Amaranth. Like the others, they were stirring. Shaking off the last vestiges of the paralysis.

He didn't have ti for pleasantries. He had a lot of things to check. And, the dawn was coming. Sunlight didn't really affect him. But it gave him a nice excuse to leave.

"I have to go." He whispered to Chloe. His voice was barely audible. "Dawn's coming. Good luck."

Before she could respond, he had taken his invisible spectral body away. Searching for a reflective surface. He needed to check out these new traits in a safe place. Especially the upgraded Mirror World.

He found a small stream nearby. Without hesitation, he activated his [Mysterious Mirror World]. And stepped through it. Into his personal... Mirror Room.