I created my own system-Chapter 333: Dominos

"Remember what?"

He placed a finger against my forehead. And in that instant, images flashed—

A battlefield. A burning temple. A young man kneeling, weeping while holding someone in his arms.

And a single word echoing in the flames: "NO"

Then everything vanished.

I was back at the shrine.

The man was gone.

And the sphere... had left behind another fragment.

Golden. Warm. And pulsing to my heartbeat.

The pov of one of the Apollo inside the ruins of Mahika.

"Are you ready young mage I am about to tell you the tragic story our of the greatest teacher of this sanctuary"

The spirit said, though his eyes were lonely but even so his voice were determined to speak.

"Apollo Lionheart more known to us as Elias was the greatest mage to ever grace this empire. Not only he is verse in magic but also in sword. He combine those two and created a new techniques currently known as magic swordsmanship, though the once made here are a bit different than the once being currently use in the empire. But its creation cement his contribution in the empire. However in my opinion it wasn the spells and technique that made him great but the students he taught that gave life to the knowledge you have right now. However despite all his achievements I think his and our downfall all started when our great teacher brought a kid in one of his travels. According to him this kid was an orphan from a place destroyed by a breakout. He eliminated every demons there but unfortunately he could only save one child that manage to get away due to his parents buying him time to run. That orphan boy was later named, Dominos. I think that tragic past was the reason none of us really thought he could do such experiments."

"Experiments?"

"Yes, we don’t know when it begun but suddenly we found him obsessing over demons, how they are created and how thier anatomy works. He proposed that the demonification process was merely a transformation not a complete erasure of the being’s concious. He theorized that remnants of the creature’s original mind might still linger beneath the monstrous form, buried beneath layers of chaos and pain. To him, demons were just misunderstood beings, victims of nature’s cruel trick. It was worth researching for so some of us even help him with him, but then from demons he switch to magical beast"

Arevano’s figure quiver as if remembering something horrifying.

"You know his question started with innocence ’Do demons truly lose their minds?’ that question seem so ordinary for us. But back then it was probably the fuse that spark his obsession" he gasp his face for a moment as he stop talking then he look at me.

"His experiments on them began, He created test subjects imprisoning weakened magical beasts and forcefully inducing corruption to watch the change. He mapped their brainwaves. He cataloged their screams, every change from how thier behavior morph into a new one, until their flesh no longer the same as before. He wrote records of titled: "Cognitive Response in Early-Stage Demonic Conversion" and "Behavioral Patterns Post-Corruption."

"We should have stop him but some of us was blinded by the results he was showing"

"Wait how about Elias? Don’t tell me he didn’t do anything?"

I asked feeling that if its him he would do something.

"He interfere with the research, even when it was showing results it was later stop by his command"

I couldn’t help but knew the next outcome of this story.

"It wasn’t long until that terrible day arrive I still remember it. That mage experimented something. He created a living fusion of multiple corrupted beasts, its heart bound by spells he modified on his own. That grosteque appearance of demon pulsing with stolen blood. At first we thought it came out of the forest that we are protecting but turns out to be a creation of madness and obsession. He thought he could control it, had caged it, manipulate it to his hardest—until the cage snapped.

It broke free.

It roared upon its freedom and the sky that was bright and beautiful was soon devoured with darkness and corruption. It the air polluting everything it touch. Soon the plants slowly withered some even turn venomous and man eating monster that attack mindlessly. The magical beasts quiely sleeping at thier place were trap to corruption and became demons as well. The turn of events were too fast that even the most powerful mages were left shocked upon seeing the situation. The entire temple was turn upside down with the roar of death coming at us. I saw it all lad, how my home was slowly being tear apart right in front of me. The ancient marble cracked, the runes we draw bled red crying for help, and the protective enchantments became haywire. Screams echoed through once-sacred halls. Firestorms and black tendrils consumed archives older than kingdoms.

And at the midst of all this

Dominos who became the prime student of Elias ignited the fire that completely engulfed us.

He was loved by many of us, cherish by his talent and respected for his dedication.

No one knew he would cause our death, but as he saw us fall one by one

He didn’t run.

He stood in the center of the chaos, drenched in blood, a broken staff in hand, whispering to himself:

’This is necessary... all progress comes with loss...’ He kept repeated that like a broken record. I felt pain as if he is treating this catastrophe as a mere part of his experiments. That we all became part of his test subjects, a tool for his desire.

But then you know lad, when all hope is gone he arrive, our teacher, a Celestial mage of unparalleled power. He finally came aftre his visit in the capital. All the remaining mages felt happy, finally there was hope. With my wave of his staff he defeated the beast that attacked the remaining mages. But then it was too late to save them since the corruption as reach thier body and poison them. For a mage a corruption is dangerous, it wont even turn them into a devil but instead kill them completely. However despite their impending deaths there wasn’t any regret, only a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction for doing what it needs to be done. We are after all the ones that vow to protect the empire.

I too felt happy but then I witnessed the remaining moments of the previous brilliant star of our temple

"My student"

Elias found him there. The man who once praised Dominos’ cleverness now stood with eyes darkened by rage and grief.

"What are you doing!? You’re creating madness, Dominos!"

"Teacher... listen, I can explain—"

"Enough! stop everything. Now!"

But Dominos wouldn’t. Couldn’t. He wanted his teacher to see. To understand. To be proud.

That moment broke them both.

With a final command, the Celestial mage summoned a purging flame an attempt to sterilize the remaining corruption that continue to spread through the temple, the demon was still alive spreading more of his calamity. But not before the Demon released one final pulse of miasma, the corruption draw like curse to those who is still breathing.

And Dominos inhaled it.

His limbs gave out. Darkness clawed into his veins, drowning his thoughts. His body fell forward—but his gaze never left his teacher. Even with death closing in, his expression was one of longing. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

"Teacher... I’ll prove you wrong..."

The celestial mage caught him before he hit the ground, a mix of fury and sorrow carved into his face.

"You little idiot... even in death, you’re still obsessed."

And just like that, Dominos—prodigy, heretic, dreamer, fool—was gone.

Or so the world believed"

Arevano then looked at me, I knew that looked. He was not looking at me as Apollo but as Elias.

"Lad if your words are true then perhaps Dominos found a way to keep himself from forgetting. He was after all a trusted student of Elias. I am certain he revealed a secret that might have help him live up until no"

"A secret?"

"Yes, our teacher trusted him to much, I think that is also the reason why Dominos was very confident he could pulled off the experiment he had in mind"

[If its a secret, could it be...]

"The fragments ye, its probably it"

While Jeremiah and I converse Arevano spoke again.

"Lad you do know whom I was referring to right? The one whom you have been telling me about. The reincarnator in your stories"

I nodded understanding what he meant.

"Yes, his Nero"

Arevano nodded then spoke an information he got from one of the passing soul of his comrade before they pass into the river.

"Dominos some say his soul was consumed in that black pulse. Others claim the fragments of his magic survived, scattered like ash across the ley lines. A few whisper that Dominos still exists—trapped in the fragments of corrupted power he once sought to master.

Whatever the truth, one thing is clear:

The Temple of Magic, my home, Mahika was never rebuilt.

And the name Dominos was struck from every record... except the memories of those he scarred"