The air around us was filled with piercing screams, resonating with a malevolence that carried ill intent. The very atmosphere seemed tainted by this malefic presence, and our ability to move was stripped away. This sinister assault targeted our minds, leaving us immobilised in its grip.
For a brief span, our bodies were locked in place, a two-second interval that Mirrikh exploited with swift and brutal efficiency. In the span of those moments, a multitude of obsidian-hued tentacles erupted from Mirrikh’s form, adorned with enigmatic symbols. These tentacles surged forth with the speed of a tempest, each one exuding an aura suffused with malice. This aura harboured the power to corrode the mind and wreak havoc within the body.
Mirrikh’s four remaining eyes fixed their gaze upon each one of us. With one eye dedicated to each of us, it was as if he could anticipate our every move, leaving us with no opening to exploit. His unrelenting scrutiny rendered distracting or deceiving him nearly impossible.
Just as the tentacles bore down on us, poised to breach our defences and inflict their corrosive influence, a series of ripples distorted the air. Regaining my senses at the precipice of peril, I acted, whisking us away to safety in the nick of time.
As the tentacles struck empty space, we reappeared out of thin air, encircling Mirrikh. In a synchronised display of offence, a barrage of attacks was unleashed upon him. Kabir’s arrows flew through the air, and Kei’s dagger fragmented into countless shards that bore down upon our foe. Through my powers, these projectiles danced through multiple spatial warps in rapid succession, their trajectories shrouded in ambiguity, even for Mirrikh.
Simultaneously, Eugene’s powers came into play, augmenting each projectile with an intensified attraction force towards Mirrikh. This augmentation propelled the projectiles with unprecedented speed, catching our adversary off guard.
Mirrikh struggled to counter the onslaught, his tentacles writhing to intercept the projectiles. Despite his efforts, only half of the barrage was thwarted. The other half struck true, causing Mirrikh to cry out in pain as his body was punctured by numerous small wounds.
The arrows that found their mark transformed into a liquid state, penetrating his form and disrupting his equilibrium. Meanwhile, Kei’s shards were enveloped by white flames, feeding upon his life force and consuming his vitality.
The same fate befell the tentacles that had attempted to thwart our projectiles. These dual effects combined to significantly diminish the once-potent aura emanating from them, causing their size to shrink by half.
Yet our jubilation was short-lived, for a remarkable transformation began to unfold before our eyes. Our hard-fought assault seemed to crumble into insignificance as we gazed upon the profound changes taking place within Mirrikh’s body.
"Wait… He’s regenerating!" Kei’s exclamation rang out as he observed the phenomenon.
In the span of an instant, the wounds that had marred his form, along with the damaged tentacles, were restored to their pristine state. It was as if we were witnessing a miraculous restoration right before us, and a sense of despair clouded our thoughts.
Activating Nelchael’s eyes, I sought anomalies within the sea of sol. Ordinarily, this blessing allowed me to perceive the flow of sunlight coursing through human bodies, illuminating their intricate channels. Yet Mirrikh’s constitution defied this norm. His being was akin to a vast reservoir of condensed water, devoid of the usual channels. Pure and self-harmonising, his sol required no guidance to flow, resonating seamlessly with the ambient sol in the atmosphere.
In that moment, it dawned on me that Mirrikh was not a mere human; he belonged to a distinct species. The overseers transcended humanity, hailing from a realm beyond Earth. Their physicality operated on an entirely different paradigm, granting them an inherent superiority.
"Seems I’ll need to dispose of you one by one," Mirrikh’s maniacal voice reverberated across the surroundings, his words arriving moments after his swift regeneration. The window for launching another salvo of attacks was sealed shut, as his restoration had been executed within the blink of an eye.
As his four eyes shifted in unison, all attention focused on Kabir, whose arrows had dealt the most damage to Mirrikh’s form. Kabir stood as the primary target, his position seized by the overseer’s relentless gaze.
Yet, this shift in attention was the very opening we had been awaiting. With Mirrikh’s focus now monopolised by Kabir, we could execute the plan we had meticulously devised.
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"Wallace, now!" Kei’s urgent cry resounded, though it was swallowed by the fray and unnoticed by Mirrikh, who was wholly engrossed in his duel with Kabir. His four eyes were all on him, scarcely glancing at us.
Simultaneously, distortions rippled through the atmosphere, causing the air to waver and the environment to shift. The six hollow pillars, originally translucent and hosting the fragments, became shrouded in a dense black mist. This mist emerged from the base of the pillars, gradually intensifying into an opaque, inky darkness that seemed to possess an animate quality. It swirled and undulated, akin to an ethereal fog with a mind of its own.
Midst this enshrouding black mist, a contrasting and powerful white radiance emanated, gradually growing in luminosity. It was as if a beacon of pure white light defiantly pierced through the encroaching storm of darkness.
Over time, the black mist began to retreat, gradually unveiling the pillars’ original translucent state. The mist seemed to dissipate before the brilliance of the white light, gradually giving way to its radiance.
Yet Kei’s focus commanded another surge of the black mist, causing it to enshroud the vicinity once more. But the steadfast white beacon persisted, effortlessly dispelling Kei’s mist and ensuring its own dominance.
Our strategy was elegantly simple yet profound—to employ lune to render the fragments impotent. Our revelation was that Luna possessed the remarkable ability to nullify and consume Sol directly.
In light of this insight, we speculated that the Ninth Overseer, Nelchael, had feverishly pursued research on Lune in his final days with a similar objective: to devise a method to wholly neutralise the galaxy of Sol encapsulated within the fragments. This approach promised safety, circumventing the risk of triggering a cataclysmic energy release.
However, accumulating an entire galaxy of lune was a monumental task beyond our means. Our revised plan hinged on inducing a reaction within the condensed sol galaxy contained within the fragments. This reaction would be incited by exposing the sol to lune—a bait offered by Kei’s lune-filled containers, tempting the sol within the fragments to seek equilibrium by interacting with the lune.
"I’m up next!" My voice echoed as I turned my attention towards the six pillars.
In that very moment, the fabric of space itself seemed to fracture within each of the six pillars. An immense suction force surged forth, as if it hungered to engulf anything that dared cross its path. Emerging from these spatial rifts were illusory scenes reminiscent of the cosmos. The vision was akin to outer space, adorned with countless stars and galaxies twinkling in the abyss.
With the capabilities granted by the third phase of my powers, I manipulated the very fabric of space, not merely conjuring ripples to bend reality but creating actual rifts that connected disparate points within the universe. This was how I established a connection to outer space through the cracks in the pillars.
Amid this display, the faint white light originating from the fragment—its ethereal radiance dispelling the enshrouding mist—became attracted towards the space-faring apertures. This was where Eugene’s powers came into play, channelling the sol’s essence towards the rifts I had formed.
The ensuing step of our plan involved a collaboration between Eugene and myself. I initiated rifts within the air, serving as conduits to outer space, while Eugene harnessed his abilities to pull the concentrated sol, lured out of the fragment, into the openings I had generated. The goal was to scatter the sol across the expanse of outer space.
Questions may arise as to whether the immense quantity of sol could have an impact on the vastness of outer space. The answer lies in the fundamental nature of the universe. Outer space, though expansive, is a microcosm within our universe. A galaxy’s worth of sol pales in comparison to the magnitude of the universe. As the sol disperses through space, it simply blends into the cosmic fabric without disruption.
In essence, our strategy was straightforward: the combined efforts of Kei, Eugene, and myself were employed to draw forth the colossal reservoir of sol encased within the fragment. Then, with the collaborative utilisation of rifts, we disseminated this sol into the reaches of outer space, rendering the fragment bereft of its potent contents and devoid of purpose.
"Wait… No!" Mirrikh’s voice rang out, a surprised shout escaping his lips as his attention was abruptly captured by the ongoing process within the six pillars.
Kabir, who had been straining to keep Mirrikh occupied, responded by releasing another barrage of arrows, aiming to stave off our adversary and grant us the crucial time we needed.
I witnessed the developing spectacle via the gift of Nelchael’s eyes. I noticed bright white threads of light materialising from the radiant core of each fragment in the midst of the shrouding black mist that had enshrouded the pillars. This was the sol, drawn in by the all-encompassing black fog that was the lune. It attempted to neutralise the lune, but this lune was really a lure to draw it out.
After they were lured out, these radiant threads of light, almost ethereal in nature, were drawn by some unseen force towards the spatial fissures, gradually dispersing and giving birth to innumerable points of light that adorned the illusory depiction of outer space.
Ordinarily, these threads of sol would remain unseen, their brilliance hidden from the naked eye. However, their current dazzling display—unveiling countless points of light—attested to the vast reservoir of sol contained within the fragments.
Given the magnitude of this process, the fragments would be entirely drained within mere minutes.
"Time is our ally now! We must prevent Mirrikh from reaching the fragments!" My directive was clear, a reminder that we had to guard the heart of the operation against Mirrikh’s intrusion.