This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

Chapter 768: Chapter 768: Reed Vs Isolde: A Battle for Time

The camera feed zoomed in on the Soulreaver Incubus and the announcers began explaining to the lay audience as well that this was a fledgling domain, and how impressive that was at such a young age.

The Incubus’ body pulsed, and with each beat, a wave of perceptual distortion rippled outward. The world seemed to fracture and stabilize periodically, messing with the minds of everyone wishing.

Reality bent and snapped into different focal layers.

And then, the fledgling domain took form.

Domain of Delirium.

A fledgling domain rooted in perception. Or more specifically, messing up perception for all those within it.

Inside the field, perception became a plaything at the will of the caster. Targets that the Incubus didn’t want to acknowledge, just wouldn’t exist. An attacker, an obstacle, an attack they would be completely unable to interact with reality until the Incubus acknowledged their presence.

Alternatively, the incubus could easily make something that didn’t exist seem undeniably real. A wall of flame that can burn a target into smithereens. An enemy clone striking and causing real damage. Within this field, illusions took on a weight of their own—not through sight alone, but by distorting all senses of space, weight, and proximity.

Of course, that would be if this domain was perfect. This is the idealized form of it. But it was still currently far from perfection.

But it was enough.

Enough to stop Balens in the previous match. Balens’ did rely heavily on his own and Serena’s intent and perception. Naturally, the effect of Balens’ wishes became impaired, sometime striking the wrong target or having the wish interpreted in a way Serena didn’t intend. The incubus didn’t even need to fully unveil it fledgling domain to achieve this effect, which is why nobody watching had realized that it was due to a domain. Well, nobody except the 9-star beast tamers watching in the VIP boxes above.

Reed, perhaps due to the synergy between his own gift and his contract, was proving to be a little more difficult, and so the whole domain needed to be unveiled.

The domain stabilized.

And within it—Isolde finally

A ripple of motion to her left. A gravitational distortion. A shoe brushing stone.

Isolde turned. Not fast enough to counter, but fast enough to catch the blur of Reed’s movement.

He faltered.

Not from damage.

From notice.

His expression—normally unreadable—twitched. A flicker of uncertainty passed through his eyes.

His Gift hadn’t failed.

But inside this domain, he was being perceived.

The Incubus groaned, wings trembling. It could release this domain fully for less than 30 seconds max.

Unlike complete domains, fledgling domains are inherently unstable—stitched together by incomplete laws and fragmentary understandings of their governing principles. Where a complete domain operates like a fully forged machine—smooth, perpetual, and energy-efficient—a fledgling one is more like holding together a barely-compressed nuclear reactor with duct tape and sheer force of will. It functions. But only just.

Every moment it remains active drains the spiritual creature maintaining it, because the rules of the domain itself aren’t harmonized with the laws of reality. Instead of reinforcing itself naturally, it has to be forcibly held stable.

It was exactly this reason why the Soulreaver Incubus didn’t activate it earlier in the match, or reveal it full against Serena. And this was also why it could only hold it for 30 seconds at most. A complete domain, by contrast, would be so perfect in its laws that its activation would be seamless—so stable, it could be maintained for hours without fatigue.

The domain shimmered—just barely holding. Sweat beaded on Isolde’s brow.

She took a deep breath. She couldn’t let this hard fought opportunity slip from her grasp.

“I can see you now,” she whispered while staring right at Reed.

Reed lunged.

She sidestepped, deflecting his strike with her palm, redirecting it along the curve of her arm and spinning with the motion to create space.

A minor exchange. No damage either way.

But for the first time in the match—

It was mutual.

And the crowd knew it.

“This is incredible!” the announcer cried. “Isolde has regained perception of Reed Venn! The tides are shifting!”

The other announcer spoke low. “It’s not her doing it. That’s a spiritual domain… a fledgling one. The Incubus had this trump card waiting all along. Perhaps they baited him into approaching Isolde himself.”

But Kain shook his head. Naturally, due to Chewy, he had a far more accurate read on the energy levels of the Incubus.

“No. She was forced into this. He was winning. That domain wasn’t bait or some kind of tactic—it was desperation.”

Still, the field had rebalanced.

The Nullhalo Beetle shrieked and dropped another halo—but this time, the trajectory was tracked. The Harpy twisted midair and intercepted it, slicing it apart with burning talons.

The audience gasped.

The battlefield had been reset.

And for the first time… Reed might be on the backfoot.

His expression changed. It wasn’t panic. But it was close. He darted back and forth within the domain—testing, probing, looking for weak points where perception might fray. But no matter which direction he moved, eyes followed. For the first time, Reed was forced to fight like everyone else. On equal footing. Without the quiet blanket of forgetfulness shielding him from retaliation.

In a sense, he got exactly what he wanted, what he dreamed of. To be seen. But…he could not be happy about it.

And it showed. His movements became more stiff, like an introvert suddenly made the sole focus of the class. Gone was the carefree dancing around Isolde, confident that he wouldn’t be seen.

But the sole comfort was that this shouldn’t last too much longer. He could tell that this domain exposing him was weakening by the second…

It became a battle of time. Could the domain hold long enough for Isolde to press her advantage? Or would it collapse before Isolde could take full advantage of it? Because if her Incubus became completely exhausted due to the use of this domain, he would have the advantage.