Tunde watched Borus’s entire form become armored in silver rune-covered metal, locking on him like a cage, shimmering swirling holes appearing behind him as weapons began to push out of them. Two swords and a projectile-looking weapon, each wreathed in an aura that burned like blue flames, or was that essence fire?, he wasn’t sure.
The artificer raised one finger, pointing at Tunde as he spoke, his voice coming from beneath the helm he wore, blue slits where his eyes should be glowing with power. In his left hand, his rune-covered hammer, and in his right a large gauntlet with a single circular rune that burned bright. Tunde said nothing, Ethra sight illuminating the area around him, his axe burning with a trio of Ethra, aura, and essence flame, the last one still new to him and its uses not defined.
It rattled the artificer, that much he could see, Borus snapped his gauntlet-covered fingers as his dominion took shape, a realm of shimmering metal, locking them in a space cut off from reality proper. Tunde could see the workings of the technique, the underlying lines that wove themselves together to become this realm of metal and soon to be rising metal humanoid forms. He could see them take shape beneath his feet, large flexible metal arms that sought to grab him, to hold him in place while the artificer no doubt crushed him to paste.
Ethra sight [tier 4]
His axe moved, cutting into the metal hands with seamless movements, blasting out of the way as more hands appeared from the air around him, attempting to seize and restrict his movements. The artificer moved in a blink, closing the distance between the both of them in half a second, Tunde already firing void spheres at him. They clashed with the gauntlet of the elder, the spheres detonating on them with raw force, blasting them backward even as the elder swung his hammer giving a loud gong sound as it flowed through the air.
Tunde brought his axe up to deflect it, the attack slamming into it with raw force and blasting him backward, right into the metal wall that became semi-soft, attempting to lock him within itself. Void discs shredded the walls just enough for him to dodge the hammer low that crashed into it with pure force, denting even the walls of the dominion. Tunde was back on the ground, his sight searching for weaknesses in the artificer, trying to see even one step in the future.
They both came out empty.
Dodging the projectile weapon that fired burning blue plasma Ethra at him that scorched the very ground, he realized he was outclassed in every way except for raw speed. The artificer was a Highlord, he had barely managed to take one foot into the realm of a lord, this was not a fair fight in any form or way.
Then again, when had he ever fought a fair fight?.
The artificer stared down at him from above, the floating weapons around him burning with raw power as he spoke.
“You wield that priceless artifact like a day-old calf, your very presence disgusts me,” he said, his voice sounding mechanical from beneath the helm.
“And those eyes”
Tunde for some reason found himself smiling flicking the axe as it burned brighter.
“They see all” he replied the artificer.
Borus had apparently had enough of him speaking as the humanoid forms rose up, silver male creatures with no features, merely a single carved rune on their smooth white faces. They held an assortment of weapons, from knives to swords, axes, and even hammers.
“I will sully myself no further to touch you,” Borus said.
Tunde felt the relic shiver in his hand, a sense of hunger gnawing at him, confusion on his face before realizing when he had felt that same feeling before. Willing the relic to respond to his wish, he watched it dissolve before becoming a spear, black metal with a glowing silver tip.
A true fang.
“Would you look at that?” Tunde said, pointing the tip at the assembled creatures.
“Bring me his head” Borus commanded.
They rushed at him, creatures with the raw strength of lord rank, barrelling at him in silent lethality. Ethra sight went to work, Tunde pitting his sped against them, his spear a burning tipped destroyer that ripped into them, destroying them.
Absorbing them.
Ethra, aura, and essence, all three siphoned as the creatures broke down into ashes around him, Borus realizing just what was happening a bit too late. He was within their midst, a black form of death, gathering black power into his free hand as it trembled with raw force and potency, Tunde touching one of the creatures before releasing it.
The raw force obliterated the creature and any other around it, carving a line straight through the dominion to pound on its metal walls, a concussive blast detonating as it came in contact with it too.
Void touch [tier 4]
Tunde seemed shocked at the raw strength of what had once been his resonance, staring in mute pleasure before turning his gaze back to the artificer who stared at him in silence, floating above him. Nothing remained of the creatures, their very shells that housed the Ethra and essence flame of the artificer were now nothing but ashes that littered the ground. He locked eyes with the artificer even as he felt power growing within him, feeding it to the relic, his body unable to handle the lord rank Ethra that gradually filled his body.
Borus wordlessly raised his hammer.
“Twice you have made me break my word,” he said.
Tunde began to gather void touch into the spear, feeling it tremble as he continued to pour Ethra into the technique, gathering void spheres behind him as well as he saw the artificer prepare a technique with raw Highlord Ethra of metal and plasma. The two interwove themselves as he poured his essence flame into it, the hammer’s head glowing brightly.
Tunde was prepared to release everything he had when Ethra sight pointed something out to him, something little within the burning presence of the artificer he noticed. Unsure, he forced his sight to stare harder, watering as they stung, staring into the bright power that was the artificer. Realization dawned on him as he gripped his spear tighter, letting the power reach a crescendo of raw strength that weighed even him down.
Then Borus released the technique, firing it off as he swung his hammer, smashing into the air in front of him, the raw force shaping projecting itself like a hammer crashing down on him with the strength of a Highlord. Tunde snapped into action in the last minute as the attack clashed with him, his bones cracked, his insides ruptured, his body shaken to his core as his heart struggled to keep him together, blood pouring from his eyes. It seemed to last forever, the attack, the raw agony of plasma and metal attempting to obliterate him from existence.
He endured it, feeling the attack cancel out to reveal a large shield in front of him, glowing, where the spear should be. Borus’s armor had begun to fall off, an astonished look on his face as Tunde fell to his knees, a mad grin on his face, Ethra sight burning ever bright.
“Got you,” he said.
The shield vibrated once, and then spat out a torrent of power, blasting for the artificer who struggled to put up a defense. Raw Ethra, aura, and essence fire, all stolen by Tunde from the attack of Borus, now returned in greater strength bathed the artificer, the dominion around them shattering as it dissolved, bringing them back to reality proper. Tunde could feel his body breaking down as he hurriedly opened his void ring, swallowing anything and everything he could place his hand upon.
Healing elixirs, Ethra elixirs, everything went down his throat as his body began to rapidly heal, tier 4 healing elixirs stolen from Zehra rapidly healing him as he shuddered, the relic returning back to its dormant state, its power spent for the first time ever. He lay on the cold ground for a few seconds, realizing he wasn’t in the clear yet, the rasping noises from the body of the artificer that smelt like melted metal and flesh coming from a few meters ahead of him.
Tunde dragged himself to his feet, robes in tatters, somehow managing to hide his nakedness. He did his best to ignore the pile of ashes that had been elder Joran, making his way to Borus who looked nothing more than a charred piece of wood, black flames still licking his body in tiny forms all around him. His arms were stumps, his golden void ring seated atop a pile that would have been his hand, Tunde picked it up, the artificer coughing black blood, one good eye staring at him.
“How?” he croaked.
Tunde gave no response, nodding to himself as he pocketed the ring. Turning his attention to the artificer, Ethra sight staring at him and his burnt-out body. Borus gave a wheeze of laughter.
“The eyes that see all” he croaked.
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“homunculus” Tunde said.
The artificer had been nothing but another duplicate, a clone, wielding nothing more than borrowed power from its true body that had been deposited into it. Tunde stared down at him and the last vestiges of power within his body, all around him the molten slags of armor and metal along with the lord-tier blades he had been wielding lay looking like scraps.
“They know by now” Borus continued.
“The powers of this world”
“They know of your existence, of all your existences, and they’ll be coming for you” he finished.
Tunde said nothing, staring into the distance as he nodded.
“Found you,” he said.
One fist covered with aura smashed into the skull of Borus that shattered like glass, the homunculus dying, his body absorbing what was left of his Ethra and aura thanks to the relic. He stood straight, walking towards where the ashes of the elder lay, picking up his void ring as well before pocketing it. He went on his knees, bowing, his head on the ground even as he heard the pounding footsteps of people pouring into the training room that looked like a warzone.
“By the hegemons above,” Lady Ryka’s voice said in an audible whisper.
“Thank you,” Tunde said to the ashes, tears streaking down his face.
He got up, turning to them as Draven stepped forward, soot and blood lining his features, a robe in his hands. Wordlessly giving it to Tunde who nodded, putting it on as Isolde spoke from where she stood, lips trembling.
“Is that?” she asked, swallowing nervously, unable to complete the sentence.
Tunde nodded.
“Died to protect me, to protect us,” Tunde said, holding down the rage and pain within him.
Miria appeared, looking worse for wear along with Giselle and Harun, both shocked, not believing what they were witnessing. Lady Ryka was the first to recover, drawing herself together as she turned to Tunde, tears held back in her eyes as she spoke loud and clear.
“Cultivators of house dark fist!” she started.
“Pay your respects to the sacrifices of elder Joran, the blind tiger of Verdan, adept of the house and patriarch immemorial” she ordered.
As one, the assembled cultivators bowed, Tunde spying baron Dale with his guards entering quietly, shock on their faces as they bowed. Tunde realized too late that his aura exuded lord-tier strength as Lady Ryka spoke again.
“Pay your respects to the lord of house dark fist, lord Tunde,” she said.
They bowed again, baron Dale realizing for the first time, eyes scrunched up in confusion. Tunde walked up to them, passing through their midst as he stepped out into the destruction that surrounded him, dead bodies from both sides filling the streets, smoke billowing all around him. What had once been a beautiful place was now left in total destruction, ashes flying in the air.
He said nothing, turning to Harun and Giselle who were behind him.
“Gather those left alive” he started.
“Take them to the stronghold, take stock of what and who we’ve lost”
“And you?” Harun asked.
He cracked his neck.
“I have unfinished business” Tunde replied.
A few words later and he was gone, leaving them with lady Ryka as well.
Tunde made his way across the district, killing off stray creatures he came across with nothing but a slight it, his power more than enough to wipe them out without stressing his body too much.
[notice: body is too weak to handle lord rank Ethra, advance as soon as possible]
He snorted at the message, wondering why his Ark screen was still working when others didn’t. he had confirmed from them, something had happened at Jade Peak, something terrible and related to the revenants. He found himself caught up in a problem, he couldn’t leave the people at black rock alone seeing as he was the strongest person here by two advancement stages, and yet, Elyria could be in trouble at Jade Peak.
The realization that he was about to surpass her was daunting, Tunde slowing down as it sunk in. he shook his head, taking a deep breath as he forged on, following the path his Ethra sight outlined for him till he got to a destroyed building. Grabbing the broken walls of the house and tossing them like stones, he stared at the large metal door embedded into the ground itself, a plain metal thing.
Drawing his fist back, he gathered void touch and slammed it into the door, the Ethra-imbued metal caving as it partially disintegrated. He was flying backward as techniques and imbued weapons flew at him, dodging them with ease before landing, walking to the door, and peering down into the darkness that was illuminated to him, thanks to his sight. Tunde picked up a piece of rock, tossing it into the dark depths.
The moment it touched the ground, an assortment of techniques from runes that blossomed on the wall slammed into its location. Elemental attacks, contained explosions ripped the space apart as Tunde jumped in, landing on the ground without so much as a whisper, staring around him at the large forge room.
In front of him was a large glass reflective cylinder filled with liquid and a humanoid form floating within it in a state of suspended animation. Tables filled with different items, from instruments to bottles of glowing liquids, and maps with weird constructions as well. Tunde walked up to a large chest as his Ark screen pinged.
[void chest found!]
He raised an eyebrow at that, staring at it as his Ethra sight revealed threads of interwoven Ethra around it, no doubt some sort of security technique. Coating his hand with aura, he woke the relic with a thought, stretching his hand out as he willed it to absorb the strands, watching as it effortlessly pulled them off the chest before absorbing them, leaving an impression of irritation on him, it didn’t want to be disturbed it seemed.
Tunde chuckled, opening the chest as raw Ethra and power wafted from its inside, Tunde feeling the raw potency of the items within it. He turned to the cylindrical container where one of the humanoid forms glared at him with malevolent eyes, closing the box as he left it where it sat.
He walked up to the cylinder, staring into the eyes of the bald half-formed man.
“To think, that you weren’t even around with your true body,” Tunde said.
The being that was to become artificer Borus glared at him with impotent rage.
“All this,” Tunde said, waving his hand around.
“Just to cause so much death for one single relic”
“Perhaps this is fate playing out, or perhaps I was lucky, it doesn’t matter at this point,” Tunde said.
He placed one finger on the glass, gathering void touch as the homunculus’s face widened in fear.
“I don’t know where you are, if even your name really is Borus,” he said.
“But want to thank you, for the boons you’ve given me, even if you didn’t mean for them”
“I will grow stronger, I have nothing to lose, you’ve taken everything that I once cherished, but I will find you, artificer Borus”
The void touch began to crack the glass slowly as the barely formed homunculus began to struggle.
“And I will end you, so tell them, tell all your people”
“Tell them the Scion of Alana is back, tell them, the seeker is back” he completed.
The attack completely obliterated the entire cylinder, turning it to nothing but melted glass and steaming water, with no signs of the homunculus in sight. Satisfied, he turned his attention to the box and began to pour out its contents. From tier or grade 4 & 5 fruits and elixirs, to items imbued with elemental strength, all being categorized by his Ark screen.
Exotic meat giving off the strength of tier 4 beasts, body rejuvenating pills, enhancement pills, and even Ethra enhancement pills as well. He was about to start absorbing them when a single item fell out of the box and his Ark screen flared with a message.
[divine core empowerment pill!]
Tunde could feel its power wafting into the air around him, staring at it as his Ark screen continued to write.
[Title: Divine Core Empowerment Pill
Description: The Divine Core Empowerment Pill is a rare and precious elixir coveted by cultivators on the brink of advancing to the esteemed Lord rank. Crafted by master alchemists using the most refined ingredients and ancient techniques, this pill possesses unparalleled potency and efficacy.
However, the Divine Core Empowerment Pill is not without its risks. Its potency can overwhelm those unprepared for its effects, leading to adverse reactions and potential harm if not used with caution. Only cultivators with sufficient strength and cultivation foundation dare to harness the power of this extraordinary elixir on their journey towards mastery.]
Immediately storing it inside his void ring, he continued to ransack the void chest for loot, storing what he could find within his void ring and the other rings he had, a plan already forming within his head. A scroll fell out of the void chest, sealed but weathered, Tunde staring at it as he picked it up, his relic vibrating once, the seal unclasping as if in response to the relic. He was immediately seized by a power that flowed through him, a calm voice echoing in his ears as he stood rigidly, first in terseness and then in submission.
When it was done, the scroll crumbled to nothing, Tunde staring at it as it turned to dust, fists clenched together as they trembled. Tunde exhaled with a shudder before he began arranging items on the ground, looking around him for something. Finding a large cauldron in a corner, he thanked his luck, pouring all the items into it. From elixirs to pills that dissolved rapidly, the liquid growing more potent by the second. He opened his ring, taking out the large jugs of the azure spring water and dumping it inside the cauldron as well.
Taking off his clothes, he took a deep breath, opening his hand as essence flame manifested, the burning black and silver fire illuminating the room a bit more. He let it flow into the water, watching as it began to boil before stepping into it, the scalding liquid immediately beginning to seep into his body. He felt his heart begin to pound, his muscles constricting as his bones began to tingle, first mildly and then with bone-wrenching power.
Agony speared through him, his Ark screen lighting up.
[Notice: void forged tempering art has been initiated!]
[Bones are being tempered!]
It felt like hot metal was being injected into his body, his mouth opened in a wordless scream as the raw potency of the liquid filled him, pushing his body one step closer to perfection.
[Muscles are being tempered!]
They were on fire, stretched and twisted, hammered by a force he couldn’t explain, and yet, he weathered it, drawing as much as he could from the liquid within the cauldron, his teeth gritted together.
[Essence flame is increasing potency of tempering!]
He coughed out black blood, more impurities seeping out of his body as he drained the liquid of the cauldron to the bottom, dregs and little bits and pieces of things used in making them now at the bottom of the cauldron.
[Tempering stage is almost complete]
[Heaven’s crucible is beginning]
This time, the force he had put off before slammed into him from out of nowhere, feeling like reality itself was attempting to crush him from all sides, Tunde weathered it, pushing it back. He wasn’t about to advance to lord rank just yet, not without a second affinity. Gritting his teeth, he willed his body to cancel the advancement, aware that a third time would be worse than this.
[Heaven’s crucible is being rejected; advancement is being canceled!]
[core formation is being canceled!]
Gasping for breath as he shakily got on his feet, he took a deep breath as his screen lit up again.
[Body tempering is now at lord stage!]
[Cultivator is not at lord stage, no core yet!]
[Absence of second affinity detected!]
Tunde waved it away, taking a deep breath as he flexed his body, feeling his Ethra match up to his body’s strength, all that was missing was a second affinity and a core. Glancing around him, he took what remained of the azure spring water, washing himself as he took a spare set of robes he found hanging, the white and blue clothing no doubt belonging to the artificer.
Ransacking what was left of the room, he quietly walked to the main forge table where a stone with a rune lay on it, picking it up as his Ark screen came to life.
[Nexus key: location, jade peak city].