As I leave the A-Class suites and step into the elevator, another pulse of divine energy ripples into my consciousness.

Raven's is even weaker, becoming overshadowed by a bright True Core far away.

If I were in my greater form and released my full perception, I could get a better view of what's happening.

Instead of making my way toward the surface, I press the button to head down toward the labyrinth on the 20th floor, believing this will be a faster way to leave this base deep within the ground.

Many theories race through my mind, but none of them are concrete as the true nature of the silver sword wielder is still a mystery to me.

In my double's memories while I was recovering, I caught a glimpse of the empty entrance hall of this fortress and recalled Raven's words that she would be visiting the Apex Region to pick up a package.

I piece together that she took the white dragon statue for some reason, and the only other clue she mentioned in our short exchange was that she's part of an organization called The Order.

Prior to today, I never knew any other True Cores even existed on this planet, and now they're making themselves known left and right...

The elevator hits the bottom floor, and I waste no time activating my stealth skill and flying forward to dive straight into the glowing green portal at the back of the room.

Less than a second later, I've dungeon-walked to the furthest dungeon to the west in all of the 8 Great Regions I have access to.

I then exit to find myself in the outside world and soar high up into the sky, away from any civilization, before activating my greater form and letting out a pulse of pure True Core perception.

To the west, in the direction the pulses came from, a whole new portion of the world I've never seen before becomes clear.

Past the furthest western portion of the 8 Great Regions, there are enormous barren lands full of large lakes, hundreds of kilometers wide, and vast stretches of forest that rise upon mountains and fall deep into valleys.

Wildlife and dungeons fill these lands, and small self-sufficient civilizations can be seen around a few of the lakes. However, the further I let my sense reach out, the fewer humans I sense.

My mind settles on a portion of dense forest about 500 kilometers in diameter that has no dungeons and not a single wild animal in its vicinity.

A white marble palace comes into my senses, and the imagery of pristine white monster statues lining a walkway to its open front doors comes to the forefront of my mind while freshly obliterated trees surround the white mansion atop a small hill.

Inside, it is hard to sense exactly what is happening, as the entire white structure glows brightly with yellow divine energy, as if it's alive.

I make a split-second decision and propel myself forward toward the structure.

My senses of the woman I just fought are fluctuating and pulsing, and every time they do, her baseline of energy becomes weaker.

This is exactly what I remember my own mind, body, and core experiencing when the wounds ravaging my being were catching up to me.

She seems to have been far tougher than I was if she lasted this long, but it seems the divine energy poison is catching up with her.

Not only that, but there is another True Core present, taking advantage of her weakness.

If our battle in the desert had gone on any longer, we probably would have continued fighting and died together.

Or even more probable, she could have used that extension of her ability that makes portions of her body disappear to wear me down, forcing me to retreat or use abilities that would lead to the first possibility.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Instead, she offered me advice, stuck to her words of not harming my people, and indirectly helped me unlock new levels of power in my True Core after defeating her dragon and using my abilities to their full potential.

If it wasn't a true fight to the death, I wouldn't have been able to push myself to such high limits.

I have no idea who this woman is or what her true intentions are, but I get the gut feeling that saving her will be my only way to learn more about The Order and the awakening of the throne...

Using every high-speed skill, buff, and special perk in my arsenal, I rocket across the skies toward the white mansion.

More pulses of yellow light come out of it, only growing stronger as Raven's grows weaker.

I get the blurry visual of her bloody figure sliding across the entrance of the mansion with limbs missing, then a tall, lanky figure holding her captive at the front entrance of the white mansion, while white threads continue to tether deep into her body.

The closer I get, the more insight into this other True Core's ability I receive. As I watch Raven's arms and legs reconnect to her body and turn to white stone, the unexpected emotion of anger that washes over me confirms I will do whatever I can to save her.

A noble fighter doesn't deserve a fate like this...

For some reason, I can't sense the exact position of this True Core to get a read on his status, but his abilities are like thin spider webs that multiply at will. Whatever they touch is susceptible to being assimilated into an ever-growing collection of these threads that almost have a mind of their own...

As they attempt to seep into her pulsing midsection, where her core burns brightly, they face resistance. As the threads creep up her neck, reality and a state of delusion mix in her mind.

The bright yellow flash of divine light is the last thing she sees.

This is when I pull out my two blades and come rocketing through the front entrance of the mansion without slowing down.

I soar over Raven's head, missing her by millimeters while slicing through the hundreds of white threads connected to all four of her limbs.

There is a hint of resistance, but the amount of divine energy surging through them isn't close to the same amount I have charged up in my blades after fully recovering and not holding back in my strike at all.

Every last one of the strings snaps, and I follow through with my swing to slice the thin lanky man in half vertically, sending crescents of Soul Energy enhanced by my True Core straight through the mansion's floor and deep underground.

The man made of threads breaks into countless pieces, and the entire mansion shudders.

My speed from the flight over still hasn't slowed, so I continue flying forward until I hit the base of the staircases at the back of the room, making the mansion rattle again.

The white marble texture stops moving up Raven's neck and toward her core, but my senses are still on high alert, as I know this isn't over.

There was no presence of a True Core in that manifestation I just cut down.

It was strong, imbued with about the same strength as the bronze dragon, but I feel the majority of this being's energy still coursing through the walls and floors of the mansion itself.

I send out a dense wave of perception, and now I'm able to see inside where I couldn't before.

Every fiber of this place is vibrating with divine threads, and they're all coming from a single point, far at the back of the second floor.

A dense, hot True Core sits at the back of the mansion, but it is hidden behind thousands of layers of thin white webbing, like a hardened marble sphere.

I can't tell exactly who or what's inside, or how strong exactly the core is, but I know this is where all of the danger is coming from.

As soon as my head turns up and toward the source, three more tall men jump down from the second floor with jumbles of white string for a face and arms that spew silky divine webs.

Each one of them has the same amount of divine strength as the single manifestation I cut down before. I'd expect more manifestations to equate to the power being spread thinner, but this isn't the case.

Still, with pure force and the overpowering nature of my attacks, I'm able to jump upward and spin my blades to cut through all three of the manifestations in a single rotation.

As soon as they're sliced through, they too fall to the floor of the mansion like a lifeless jumble of spider's web. Divine energy doesn't even stay imbued in these parts; it seeps back into the floor and walls, traveling to the source.

Following through with my upward slash, I make it to the second floor of the mansion and take in the full view of the dozens of human statues that line the long walkway toward the massive marble ball at its back.

My greater form is large, but the high ceilings in this mansion make it so my full energy body doesn't even reach halfway to the ceiling.

As the light from my burning hot blades illuminates the entire corridor, an even brighter glow pulses from the massive marble at the back of the mansion, and a loud eccentric laugh echoes through my mind, as if direct telepathy is being used.

Then, a voice enters my head too, but it doesn't feel like it's talking to me. It's more like mad rambling.

"Yes... This is it.... The hero arrives. A flaming man comes to save the invisible warrior he knows nothing about, only to burn both of their dreams to ash. In all my years, decades of searching, I've wanted to craft the perfect piece. Day after day, night after night, there was truly no perfect moment in time worth capturing... Until now..."

As his words stop, the two front doors of the mansion swing shut with a bang.

Simultaneously, every one of the human statues turns its head toward me, and their eyes glow bright yellow beneath the hard white exterior.