Epic Of Caterpillar

Chapter 2817 - 2818: The Mysterious Heart

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Mammon quickly conjured a formation of demonic blood energy and placed the core inside, shielding it from external influence.

Then, he grabbed the formation and swallowed it, storing it within his Bloodline Storage, a parallel dimension within his own blood, part of the powers Vampires in this world can develop once they reach his level.

”Was that someone who disappeared? Mother hasnʼt reported anybody though...” he thought. ”Maybe sheʼs keeping it a secret from us, so we donʼt worry. Thatʼs typical of her...”

Mammon rolled his eyes and rushed forward. More Spirit Beasts emerged—some of them occasionally had a person within their core, reminding him of what happened back when Kireina started battling people who had been turned into Spirit Beasts.

Those with people inside were either normal humans infused with demonic energy—likely drug-addicted criminals who consumed too much Euphoria—Werewolves, Vampires, and... Ice Elves or other Ice Races from Genesis.

The ones with human cores were much stronger than the rest. Demonic Spirit Beasts could partially resist his attacks, Werewolves were incredibly fast, Vampires had powerful regeneration, and Ice Races wielded formidable Ice Magic.

However, Mammon is even stronger now. He pierced through them all with ease, devouring their cores and storing them within his Bloodline Storage.

”Iʼll bother asking who they are to Kireina and the rest later... Aha! There you are!”

At long last, after tearing through nearly a hundred Spirit Beasts, Mammon smiled with satisfaction—he had finally found the Core of the Spirit Domain.

The Core resembled a giant, beating heart made of multicolored crystals. It was enormous, the size of a truck, and connected to dozens of massive crystalline arteries that extended throughout the area.

BA DUM!

BA DUM!

BA DUM!

”A Spirit Domain Heart... the Core of this Pocket Dimension!”

Domains—parallel spaces created by the world itself to isolate battles between supernatural beings and protect the surface—were commonplace in this world, and Mammon was well aware of them.

But there were other ways to use such Domains, such as manipulating them to create permanent spaces that remain for an indefinite amount of time.

To achieve that, theyʼre usually modified into Special Domains.

Aside from Divine Beings like Kami, who can create Heavenly Realms, there exists a wide variety of pocket spaces of all kinds.

However, most of them—like the Realm of his mother, the Queen of Vampires, which contained many Modified Domains—were extremely difficult to create.

So what would someone without the power of a being like the Vampire Queen do to create their own personal Domains?

They would modify them using a Special Domain Core—a large materialization of energy that could be anything.

The corpse of a powerful Magic Beast, the soul of a strong Magician, a large and precious Magic Stone... the combinations and methods for creating a Modified Domain were endless, especially when Formation Creation Arts were involved.

But one thing Mammon had wondered for a while was: how did these good-for-nothing Yakuza manage to get their hands on such a powerful Modified Domain?

The answer was simple—they received help from an external force aiming to stir chaos in this world: the Entities of the Spirit Plane.

These entities likely armed weaker factions to destabilize the strong, sowing chaos while spreading and expanding their Spirit Domains across the world, anchoring their Plane into this reality.

Mammon understood these intricacies well. As an Archdemon, he was an expert in invading other worlds and anchoring Hell into them through Demonic Towers.

”Huh, just as I thought... thereʼs someone in there too, huh?”

Mammon crossed his arms, his metallic body gleaming under the light of the beating heart. He noticed a figure inside.

Spirit Entities seemed parasitic in nature. They always required a Vessel to function properly and could manifest even greater power if they were connected to someone born in the Material Plane—this universe.

Thus, the strongest Spirit Beasts were all beings with a ”Core” as their true Vessel, protected by their external spiritual bodies. And this core was made using someone—they resembled a human.

”Tsk, if the core is a person, then it wonʼt be a valuable resource... unless I can refine it and extract the person inside? Though they donʼt seem to match any of the types Iʼve encountered before...”

The person inside didnʼt look like a man or a woman but appeared quite young—around the same age as Frank and his friends.

They werenʼt a Werewolf, a Vampire, a Human with Demonic Energy in their stomach, nor a member of the Ice Race.

They had white skin, but not the pale tone of vampires. Their short hair was slightly metallic, blue with a rainbow sheen, and their long eyelashes matched the same color. The young person wore a white lab coat.

”Who is this?”

As Mammon drew closer, the person inside opened their eyes, revealing irises of blue, yellow, and red. Combined with their long lashes, they looked almost ethereal.

”...”

The young person stared at Mammon, and Mammon smirked.

”Donʼt worry, Iʼm going to save you. But first, let me refine this! I think I could probably secure this entire Domain for myself, then we can work on replacing you with—”

FLASH!

However, as the young personʼs eyes opened, a powerful shockwave surged outward, slamming Mammon with immense force and sending him flying.

”Uaaagh?!”

BOOOM!

He crashed into a dense cluster of spirit crystals, shattering them into tiny fragments. His metallic body—normally incredibly durable—was now bruised.

”W-What the hell was that? Ugh, my head...!” he groaned, clutching his skull. ”T-That was...! Ah, itʼs coming again?!”

TRUUUM!

The same shockwave struck again—an immense, invisible force slammed him into the walls, tearing them apart. A massive crater shaped like a palm began forming where Mammon was being crushed.

”Nnnggh! T-This is Spirit Energy alone...? No, thereʼs something else...! Wait, Iʼve felt this power before...! P-Psychic! Psychic Energy! Youʼre an Esper?!”

”...”

The person inside the crystal glared at Mammon. Their Aura surged—even though they remained immobile within the core, their power was amplified.

RUMBLE!

”Guuaaaaahhh!”

Mammon screamed while he was being crushed. His metallic body bent under the pressure. Even as he resisted, his arms were twisted and crushed like steel rods.

”Nnnggh...! D-Damn it! Whatʼs going on?! Where did you even come from?! Why do those Spirit Plane bastards have someone like you? D-Did they kidnap you? Hey!”

Mammon tried to speak to the young person, but their shimmering eyes and expressionless face didnʼt change.

An immense psychic pressure began drilling into his body.

”D-Damn it! That hurt...! Donʼt underestimate me!”

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