The power unleashed by the abyssal crystals transformed into an uncontrollable force, enveloping Zane and Gael in a spiral of excruciating pain. Their meridians and muscles swelled, a sensation of unbearable pressure growing inside them as if their bodies were about to explode at any moment.
Despite the agony, they remained extremely focused and concentrated. Their bodies trembled, muscles writhing, and veins bulging through the skin, tense to the point of becoming visible even under the thick layer of fat. Muffled explosions echoed from their bodies, and blood began to spread across the room.
Death was approaching as a tangible presence they hadn't felt in some time was still present. The chance of victory was practically nonexistent as the power continued to grow in an unstoppable manner. Their minds began to darken rapidly, but amid the agony, their souls radiated deep concentration and willpower.
Inside the space where the only abyssal crystal they used was located, a golden thread radiated from the crystal—a subtle manifestation of the queen's will. Amid the excruciating pain, their determination remained unshaken, refusing to succumb to that will. The fervent hatred within them turned into a flame that kept them alive, and their will was no weaker than that simple golden will.
In the room, Mira immediately opened her eyes upon seeing that bloody scene before her. Her master seemed to be entering a gruesome self-destruction. All clothes, skin, muscles, everything began to burst into blood before her eyes.
Even she could feel death getting closer to them. Anguish took hold, but she had no strength to help. Any movement could interfere and be the trigger for their death; thus, Mira simply watched with her eyes and face completely twisted.
Minutes passed, and they were practically at their last breaths. Around them in the room, it seemed like all the blood and a large amount of flesh had been expelled from their bodies. Even with their will not yielding, this mortal body could no longer endure it. In this hopeless moment, all their bloodline was activated, giving them a final desperate gasp.
Even though any chance of victory didn't seem impossible, they understood what their most powerful weapon was to combat it. Despite their soul powers being complete opposites and appearing as two different individuals, they were not.
All knowledge, wills, and abilities that one possessed, the other shared as well. This weapon was then pushed to its limit.
Gael, alone, controlled the last vestige of energy coming from a single drop of bloodline, keeping his body alive. Then, his entire soul was pushed to the limit. The uncontrolled power emanating from inside the crystal was purely Yin, and he was the Yang. However, it couldn't easily devour him. Zane was the expert in this, but Gael was not far behind in skill. He managed to meticulously balance a part of the Yin with his Yang, buying some time.
During it, Zane focused entirely on analyzing this bizarre occurrence. This power couldn't have come out of nowhere; it was coming from somewhere. With the time bought by Gael, using all his Yin soul, he managed to sense the true cause.
'All this energy is resonating with the black towers. It is feeding on the towers' power to grow stronger!'
Something much larger than they expected was happening on that ascending planet. The queen's will was present, so something related to her was the cause of this strange mutation. Those towers obviously had something to do with it.
'Use everything we have in the new spatial technique! That way, the connection will be severed!' exclaimed Zane.
There was not even ten percent of their QI left. And to completely close the connection from the external world to space, that was not enough. But neither of them hesitated; if there was no QI, the fuel would be the power of their divine souls.
Their consciousness began to cloud rapidly as the entire separated space vibrated violently. Then, a sound reminiscent of glass breaking echoed only between them, and both of their souls were seriously damaged.
But... finally, the external connection feeding that power was severed.
They stopped very close to their consciousness fading away. That power now finally stopped growing, but even though they managed to halt its growth, its level was already too high to be overcome.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Quickly, the entire separated space began to show cracks.
'Our bodies will collapse... in at most five minutes... the drop of blood is losing its energy. What do we have left to use?' Gael said mentally, with a broken and almost powerless voice.
Gael was the most affected. Almost all of his Yang Soul was corrupted or devoured by that power. Zane was slightly better, but it didn't change much.
'The main blood rune has the same type of laws, so it won't be of any use,' Zane thought in a hurry, feeling Gael's intentions clearly.
Gael was clearly calculating how much soul power he had left. And Zane understood that if Gael burned all his Yang Soul, it would elevate his level several times. That Yin power would be suppressed on a large scale with no chance... but Gael would cease to exist.
As for him, having a Yin soul, it was very similar to that power; even if he tried something similar, he wouldn't achieve the same result. Gael was the only one with this weapon.
At this moment, when Zane couldn't think of a solution, he felt a warmth being transferred to his almost completely destroyed meridians. It was a gentle but very weak QI. He realized that the array was forcibly transferring something to them... it was Mira's QI.
Zane felt that she had been looking at them for quite some time, but what could the power of someone with her cultivation do? Well... they could use the mental power and seal the separated space with it. But that would only buy a few extra seconds at most; it was useless. The most impressive part was how Mira managed to do it.
Zane then heard Gael sigh mentally... he already seemed to accept his fate.
Zane stretched his mind to the limit, trying to find some solution... but there was no clear way out. 'If there wasn't something clear, then there must be something hidden.' Zane thought frantically.
'The system should know about all this... but it didn't give us anything that could solve it...'
Then something came to mind. 'Essential Chest... Emperor's Dominion Technique that came inside that box...'
Obviously, he hadn't forgotten about this technique and had already thought about it before. Zane studied this technique together with Gael, and he was sure there was nothing in it that could help in this situation.
'It's just a technique that amplifies your will by affecting people... but it came from the essential chest.'
Zane sighed deeply; Gael was already focused on his soul. In at most five seconds, he would act for the last time and cease to exist... he had to try something.
One might think that Zane would love this chance to get rid of Gael. However, that wasn't the case. That's because without Gael, the Yang part of the soul, Zane would be affected forever. Everything would become many times more difficult, and he would never get as strong as he could. Simply put, taking revenge against the queen without his other half of the soul, Gael's soul, would only be a dream.
Even though he hated Gael, he was still himself. Everything Gael thought and did, he also had those same impulses. The only difference was that he hid all of that and preferred to act differently.
Zane then opened the eyes of the body, and his eyes met with Mira's, who looked extremely worried.
In the next moment, he used the array. And all of Mira's QI was immediately transferred, making her bravely struggle not to faint. At the last moment, she jumped from the bed and clung to their chest and then fainted from exhaustion.
They no longer had any QI available, so Zane took all the little that Mira had. Within the separated space, the one created with the new spatial technique, Zane's dark soul silently invaded. Gael, focused, immediately opened his eyes, bewildered, not knowing what Zane was planning.
Suddenly, Zane's eyes changed as a vast world seemed to be hidden in the depths of his twilight blue eyes. The space around him trembled, and a will coming from a divine emperor covered the entire small world. Even the Yin was covered and momentarily suppressed.
Zane didn't have any other ideas, so he simply tried to use that skill he got from the Essential Box: Medium Emperor's Domination Technique. (Check Chapter 82 for details if you don't remember.)
*CRACK!!!*
The furious Yin power trembled, and that world fragmented, almost completely exploding. That Spatial Technique was good, but it still had limitations.
Zane snorted without much surprise; it was useless as expected. But in the next second, a new fluctuation was felt by him.
Infinite runes from the laws of space covered the entire place, suddenly lighting up. These runes were the foundation of the technique they had to create with their own QI for the inventory to be formed, the Devouring God Spatial Technique. (Check Chapter 81/82 for details of this skill if you don't remember.)
Then, a bluish-gray emerged from within those runes, shining more brightly with each passing second.
Zane watched in astonishment and quickly realized that peculiarity. 'This... this is the power of the Emperor's Dominion Skill... it is resonating with these runes...'
Immediately, Gael entered the space with his mind and stood beside Zane. Gael, upon seeing that, also whispered in astonishment. 'The furious power that was killing us... got completely subdued... for real?'
Zane then had a sudden enlightenment. 'Devouring God Spatial Technique... This is the technique that we used to create this new 'inventory' of ours... and... the Emperor's Domination Skill... Am I wrong, or did these two abilities seem to have fused together?'
Gael nodded, watching all that Yin QI silently returning inside the abyssal crystal. 'The system gave us this seemingly useless Domination technique... but it was called essential.'
Well, it wasn't the skill that had the word 'essential' in the name. Instead, it was the chest's name: 'Essential' Chest. It's just that they couldn't understand why it was essential at that time.
'How could we guess that it should be used like this? We almost died because of this trash system. First of all, I don't even know why and how it happened... it simply did.' Zane exhaled.
Neither Gael nor Zane understood why these two different techniques fused together. How did it then wipe out the queen's power from the crystal? They also couldn't explain it.
The whole world was illuminated by infinite bluish runes resembling stars in the sky. In the end, they managed to completely dominate that overwhelming force. They checked, but the golden thread of will had disappeared as if it had entered the void. There was no sign of anything similar inside any other crystal.
It was then that all the energies in their bodies were exhausted, and they forcibly exited their minds from that place.
Upon opening their eyes, the sight of Mira unconscious, completely clinging to them and entirely red from their blood, made them sigh. Thus, they passed out right there, entering a deep restorative coma.
***
Almost twelve hours later, Zanou woke up, partially recovered. He entered into despair as he felt completely ensnared amid the laws of the earth.
His eyes moved forward, and in the center of the room, he saw the scene that made him petrified.
A completely naked whale, all red and skinless, lying on its back on the floor. And on top of its belly, a little girl equally red with blood, tightly clinging and unconscious...
On her lips, a smile of relief could be seen. 'Oh my god... he... how wild can he be?!' Zanou mentally exclaimed, frightened, feeling that he might be the next meal!