Chapter 203: Emperor's Domain, Activate!

Oclen's body lightly trembled while he looked at where Howard was training.

Part of him couldn't believe it, but he didn't understand what 'it' was that he couldn't understand. How could he be getting so upset about something that he didn't understand? If anything, he should be happy for Howard, but he was grinding his teeth. What the hell was going on?

'I-I'm almost up to the foundation level of understanding domains, and I should be able to completely master one in the next 5 months, but… why? Why do I feel like Howard is getting light years ahead of me. How would I understand that?"

Oclen shook his head and got up and began walking forward. As it had been usual for him lately, his body seemed to have partly a mind of his own, yet he didn't mind it. He was so happy for all the gains he'd been getting. In Arthraku Nation, it often took someone his age 12 years to learn a domain! It was amazing that he could do it in 5 months! He-he shouldn't be feeling so upset.

'Should I kill him?' Oclen looked at Howard and shook his head. 'If I kill him, we'll have to wait four more years, but… do we want to do that?'

'What? What am I even thinking?" Oclen laughed, 'I-I think you need to stop working so hard, Oclen. Maybe sparing with Priscilla would be fun again. Ugh, but why? Why do I want to kill him so bad? Why do I want him to die!"

"Yes! Yes that's it Howard!" Harkel screamed before a gigantic wave of energy sent Oclen flying back. He looked forward, and saw Howard floating in the air before he nearly bit down so hard he broke his teeth.

Deep inside of Oclen, Parlee was going insane!

Howard's domain was definitely a peak domain, if not better than that!

Domains came in many shapes and sizes, but they usually got judged by the amount of Ki Projections. Waxel, for instance, had created the weakest type of domain he could which was called a beginner's domain. From there, there was middling domains, forceful domains, peak domains, and limitless domains!

Howards domain seemed to have already reached the peak level, and he definitely had an understanding of more than one type of Ki, which meant he could create multiple domains! Parlee wanted to rip Howard to shreds, but he couldn't move! Harkel had activated his domain to seal anyone from outside entering! This-this was annoying! He didn't take over Oclens' body, and get this close to unsealing his master, only for someone like Howard to come along and mess with it!

If Howard got to the point of having a limitless domain, he might even be able to reseal the Great Last King because domains in many ways had huge overlaps with arrays! Basically, if Harvard could learn a limitless domain he could probably learn a S rank array, which could once again keep his master at bay!"

Then-then it could take another 1000 years for him to escape from that prison in the mountain! He had to find a way to kill Howard, but he also didn't want to risk all the progess he'd made! Then-then his cover as Oclen would be blown! There had to be something he could do! Something he could do to stop him.

"I know just what to do!" Oclen got up and nodded his head. He was not aware that Parlee was controlling him. "I'll go and get Priscilla. Maybe-maybe if I capture her, Howard will get distracted."

Oclen's body began to transform his arms into the Eighteen eyed Juggernaut's claws while Howard's Ki began to cause the entire mountain to shake. It was so powerful, that Oclen himself had trouble walking in a straight line. Looking down at the ground shake, he began to notice that a streak of blood was running down his mouth.

Why was he biting himself so hard?

"Hmmm, I guess… I guess sparing with them isn't enough? To distract Howard, I need to kill one of them?" Oclen mumbled under his breath. "But who? Which one should die? Monica is really nice, and I know Jenny. I also know Priscilla! Hmm, she's the strongest one, right! Yes, she's the one that could be an obstacle in my future!"

Oclen walked a step forward towards the girls and then shook his head. This-this was the worst situation possible! He-he might just have to let Howard achieve that domain because if the girls became a little bit suspicious he'd be forced to leave this mountain! He bit down harder and started grabbing his face! This-this was so annoying! Why couldn't one of them just approach him!

"What's wrong?" Jenny said with a smile, patting him Oclen on the shoulder. Because of Howard's chaotic energy, he hadn't even noticed her. He turned and and looked into her beautiful brown hair and then down into her gorgeous brown eyes. She was wearing a cute blue jumper today, and seemed extremely worried about him "What's wrong Oclen? You-you're sort of like a brother to me now. If anything is bother, you can talk to me. I was going to be a nurse, remember?"

"Jenny, oh, hehe, you're getting more sneaky by the day. I didn't see you there," Oclen's hand immediately got closed tightly into a ball. He tried to resist the urges surging through his body, but he couldn't! The next moment, his hand lashed out before it ended up around Jenny's neck. He hoisted her in the air and looked towards Howard. What the hell was happening? Nothing made sense?! Finally, a voice seemed to explode from inside of him. He instantly felt like the control of his own body disappeared. 

"Hehehehe! I guess I should've told you!" Oclen spoke without wanting to from the side of his mouth, and suddenly a series of memories returned to him. He-he had someone else in his body! How? How could he be so stupid! He tried his hardest to let go of Jenny, but it wasn't happening! No matter what he did, he only squeezed her harder. "Oclen, haha, good boy! You know how to listen! My name is Parlee, by the way... You remember me right?" Taking a pause, Oclen instantly opened his mouth wider before he screamed with all his might. "Now about this girl. Howard, do you want her to die? Stop your training right now or she's dead!"

"He's almost finished with the array and there is nothing you can do to stop it," Harkel turned his head and looked at Oclen. It really had happened. Someone had really taken over Oclen's body! all his fears about the worst that could've happened to Oclen had just been proven, but he still almost couldn't believe it! 

"Now, whomever you are, put down the girl. I won't let you near him right now, and by the way. this domain is sound proof. Now, Oclen, if you're in there! Try and find a single Ki Heart you can control and use that to let go of Jenny! Do it!"

'Annoying old man!' Parlee thought while he felt Oclen's head somewhat move on its own and look into Jenny's eyes. She was crying so much, and looked so betrayed. It almost made him laugh.

"Please-please Oclen," Jenny begged with tears flowing down her eyes. A palpable sadness coming out of every fiber of her being while she stared forward into Oclen's malevolent features. "Please-please you-you can control whatever that is! You're better than this!"

"Hmph, you deserve to die," Oclen began to squeeze Jenny's neck while her face instantly paled. "Now, damn it, Harkel! You have 10 seconds to warn Howard or I'm crushing this girl's skull! And your loss! Oclen is already gone! I just severed off his last connection to his Ki Hearts, hahaha! This body, is now, forever mine!"

###

At the same time Oclen was walking towards the cavern, and putting aside his book on arrays, Howard was having a series of insights over and over again.

The environment was something that was truly impossible to control, yet it was full of Ki. If he put his ki into the environment, what did this mean? 

When he used Ki Projections, he often times felt like he was in more than one place at once, but that wasn't true. What he was really doing was using the frequencies of the environment at different locations to activate a skill. Yet with domains, it seemed it really was possible to expand outwards into the environment. However, it was terrifying. If he did that, didn't it mean he'd have to let go of his body?

What Howard was experiencing was known as domain resistance, and it was something very common in those trying to make a domain. Domain resistance was frankly a fear to let yourself completely merge your ki with the environment and by doing so gain a minor grasp of it. 

Thinking of it in another way, Howard had been using his arms and legs and feet his entire life, but this path he was talking about required turning away from that and using everything around him like appendages! That meant, realistically, that he could really have 1000 Ghost Arms moving on his command! This was much different than simply transforming Ki into something else, this was literally, letting it become part of him and vise versa!

"Well, I really did say 5 minutes," Howard sighed and shook his head. "The worst that can happen is I fail and die. Hehe, it hasn't been a bad life."

Howard smiled and held up his hands before suddenly all the parts of his domain began to feel like part of his body. The crowns that had been floating around him began to enter into his mind, the swords, the chains, and even the arms.

Boom!

Suddenly, a white light flashed out of Howard before he heard a gut wrenching scream! He'd just mastered the domain! He was done! He finally figured out the Emperor's Domain! HE smiled and looked forward. This should be an extremely happy moment, but then he saw Jenny, bursting with blood from her eyes, while Harkel's orange eyes looked towards him. Why? Why did he look so sad? What? What the hell just happened?

"I'm sorry Howard, I couldn't… I couldn't disturb you."

'Jenny? What? What happened to Jenny?" Howard said with a mixture of shock and disbelief. "Why? Why is she bleeding like that?"

"Haha, because I killed her!" Oclen screamed, "Now, Howard, she can still revive if you come over here and let me kill you! You have ten seconds before her head bursts into bits!"