Lying on her back, Princess stared at the infinite whirlpool which covered the sky and concealed the outer space. Around its twisting centre, countless hands stretched from the darkness and consumed everything they touched.
Under her, the floor creaked as twirling lines scrawled across the Library of Knowledge, forming an intricate formation that enveloped the parameter of Elemental Labyrinth. It lit the ground and shone the light towards the sky, clashing against the tide of darkness.
Princess saw lines of light extending skywards, creating an immense outline of the gigantic formation. The Divinity inside it emitted the vast solar flare which turned the gloomy horizon into a dawn of the new day.
In silence, the light merged with the darkness, exploding in soundless booms. They emerged from the void and spread into a shapeless silhouette akin to a celebratory firework.
Inemas stared at the ever-changing firework before shifting his attention to the false Originator. Despite the power of the most impressive formation overloaded by strands of Divinity, the false Originator's presence remained unwavering and indomitable, utterly above everything.
"What do you intend to do, Peritia?" Inemas said.
"Teacher, please watch me. I'll prove that the time you spent mentoring me isn't a waste."
"Fallen Princess, you can't stop the Divine Tribulation. The power of Heaven is beyond your imagination," the God of Light said as he shielded himself from the ever-expanding ray of light.
As the only living being in the sky, he was like a lonely star in the moonless night. The darkness above tried to consume him while the light below tried to assimilate him.
"Teacher, if you don't evacuate now, you'll disappear from the face of the earth, along with the entirety of Elemental Labyrinth."
"Peritia, the Great Races will protect you if you come with me."
Princess closed her eyes and shook her head. The light from the ground pierced her eyelids, revealing an elegant pattern on the sky. It split into an ever-expanding web of Divine Fons, growing into more of itself at its countless endpoint, resembling the root system of a tree.
Inemas sighed and stood in front of Princess, staring at the false Originator and the God of Light, whose silhouette gradually dimmed as his blazing sword deteriorated. Because of his position and power, he had to endure the pressure from the false Originator the most.
"God of Light, are you ready to become a part of history?" Princess said.
"You can't kill me with your punny formation."
"The world will do it for me."
The God of Light frowned as he stared at Inemas. After seeing no movement, he created a burst of intense blue flame around him and broke through the entanglement of the darkness and the light. His Divine Fons crazily rotated around him and ignited a blazing heatwave which devoured everything that attempted to hurt him.
In an instant, he sped towards the centre of Elemental Labyrinth and stood between the false Originator and the gigantic formation. Countless runes generated clouds of Fons around him, forming stacks of auroras which brightened the dark sky.
With the blazing sword in his hand, he channelled his Divinity and slashed downwards. His strike magnified its size until it dwarfed the mountains surrounding Elemental Labyrinth. Its temperature rivalled a solar flare of the sun itself.
As the sword sliced through the air, it heated the surrounding into a crimson shade. The air rapidly expanded and ruptured a creaking noise as space cracked due to the sheer pressure of the strike. At the speed that generated a hurricane, it struck the ground.
Like an ocean of boiling colours, the formation burst into a multitude of bubbles which popped into countless ever-branching symbols. They shot towards the sky like a beacon that attracted everything with its presence. Their blinding light penetrated the horizon and gripped the attention of every living being.
The strike fused into the infinitesimal sphere of condensed energy, absorbing everything around it. The darkness above and the light below plunged into the black hole at the centre of the clash. The God of Light saw space and time distorted around the point of impact.
In the span of the instant which lasted an eternity, the blade he held crumbled under the power of time. It turned into dust and twirled around him before falling into the black hole.
As soon as the perspective of time resumed its flow, the black hole expanded and released the energy it absorbed. It blasted the ground to the sky and pushed the gloomy clouds away. The volcanic heatwave travelled through the ruins and mountains and razed the landscape with flame.
Though the dark horizon vanished and became a bright sky, the heavy pressure of the false Originator remained strong, creating an invisible dome which halted the advancement of the heatwave. Like an impenetrable wall, it blocked the blast and locked it in place.
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Princess opened her eyes and saw only darkness around her. Inemas stood in front of her and shielded her from the heatwave, creating countless shadowy tendrils with his Divinity. The core in his centre of mass seared as his body dimmed.
Despite the fatal injuries, Princess slowly got up on her feet and peered through the darkness into the point of impact. The sea of flame engulfed the disintegrated ruin and rose to the sky, filling the air with endless radioactivity. The God of Light stayed afloat below the false Originator, his body half-torn and smothered.
Below him, a gigantic ravine of the depthless height carved the world in half. The layers of dirt and stones beneath it compressed into molten magma. Its stream distorted the air.
"Fallen Princess, it's my win," the God of Light said. His body rapidly reformed and ignited into a blazing figure. Though the formation could heavily injure him, its power was only so much.
"Teacher, thank you for protecting me." Princess held a crystal orb and placed it on her chest. It gradually merged with the gem in her chest and transferred the power inside it to her.
"Peritia, what are you doing?" Inemas retracted his shadow and retreated from Princess, his eyes fixating on Princess who slowly rose from the ground, propelled by the flow of Fons.
"Diluting the Drop of Eternity into Fons. You're as reckless as usual," the God of Light said and pointed at Princess, conjuring a fireball at his fingertip. "No one can control the power of the Originator. You're killing yourself slowly and painfully. Let me help you."
The fireball shot towards Princess, leaving a trail of kindled air behind it. It clashed with a wall of shadow which shattered into myriad hands. They grouped around the fireball and assimilated it into the darkness.
"Inemas, are you planning to die before your student? You've already exhausted your Divinity."
"Retract the Divine Tribulation, or you won't get to leave."
"We'll see whether or not your friends will arrive before you die with your student."
The God of Light laughed and raised his hand, collecting the flame from the surrounding. The sea of fire below him stretched towards the rotating fireball and merged with it. He condescendingly threw it at Inemas, whose expression remained determined though exhausted.
The fireball melted the shadow and dispersed the darkness, expanding before shifting its flame to deep blue. The Divine Fons in it exuded a golden gleam at the edge of the sphere and burnt thousands of shadowy hands into smithereens.
Inemas exhausted his last bit of Divinity as he failed to evoke his spell, causing the formation around him to implode. A sudden pressure weighed upon his body, its all-encompassing shadow filling the already suffocating atmosphere with distilled terror.
The God of Light froze as his eyes stared at an even greater whirlpool in the sky. A majestic, unfathomable, almighty silhouette descended with countless materialized chains constraining it from fully entering the physical world.
"Why is . . . the Originator here?" Inemas said, his eyes filled with awe and terror. The absolute power in front of him reminded him of his past when he first ascended. Before the Originator, everyone was powerless.
Despite the unending size and presence of the false Originator, it remained meek and insignificant compared to the true Originator. As the true Originator descended, the false Originator gradually dissolved into a sea of Divinity, reabsorbed into the world by the true Originator.
The darkness above dispersed, and the light below dimmed. They became the gentle breeze which traversed across Elementia and broke down the barrier covering Elemental Labyrinth. It extinguished the heatwave and returned the world into its initial state.
In an instant, the collapsed mountains and the burning forests regrew into the splendid scenery, filled with life and Fons.
"Something is wrong," the God of Light said. "The Originator is incomplete."
"You're right. I can only recall a fragment of the Originator," Princess said, her mouth forming a smile, though blood was dripping from it.
Her carapace crumbled into ashes, revealing her pale skin, cracked and torn by the overwhelming Divinity inside the Drop of Eternity. Though she remained standing, her body was trembling and swaying under the gentle breeze, unable to move without breaking down into ashes.
Princess touched her chest and felt the orb creaking. The pressure cracked it into countless rifts, threatening to destroy the foundation of her Fons.
"Fallen Princess, you can't control the Originator."
"If you have time to taunt, come to kill me."
The God of Light sneered but remained cautious. Though he could attempt to kill Inemas and Princess, the threat of the Originator loomed over him. Though fragmented, it could still annihilate him if he dared to act recklessly.
He retrieved his Divinity and congregated his power, forming a layer of golden radiance. It absorbed all Fons and stabilized the surrounding, merging with the world and fixing the damage in the environment.
The Originator was the personification of the world, its power unending and infinite. It only appeared when the balance of all things threatened to collapse and would instantly deal with the anomaly before anything irreversible happened.
Princess closed her eyes and slowly shifted her fingertip, letting the blood drop onto the floor. Her acidic green blood gleamed in golden colour and merged with the formation, filling the dimmed runes with Divinity. They regained their power and spread their brilliance across Elemental Labyrinth.
Inemas watched her action, his expression darkened. He stroked the core in his body and shook his head, his eyes staring at Princess. The shadow beneath him emerged before slowly submerging him into the darkness.
"I'm sorry, Peritia," he said before he disappeared under his shadow, which slowly dispersed into nothingness as the radiance of the formation shone for one last time. "If you meet her, please tell her I'm sorry."
His voice echoed around Princess, but she was too tired to hear anything. As soon as the light touched her body, it pushed her onto the ground and engulfed her mind. She sank and fell from the Library of Knowledge. The leaves and petals and snowflakes emerged around her, accompanying her fall.
From the star-gazing tower, she willingly fell from the dizzy height of the star and stared at the vast starry sky, watching the shooting stars and the moon rotating around her. At the tallest peak of the night, the Originator remained motionless, watching over her little figure with interest.
On its upside-down smooth surface, a blurry feminine figure stood at the middle of all things and smiled at Princess. She reached out to her, but countless chains prevented her.
In a soft, comfortable motion, Princess slowed her descension and gradually floated skywards into the crumbling Shifting Mist. As the formation exploded for one last time, Shifting Mist vanished from the gloomy atmosphere, leaving the God of Light alone, watching the Originator disappeared into nothingness.