It was within these moments of Arson’s life that he slowly began to stop believing in the constraints Cultivators taught about the lawful and natural restrictions all living entities experienced.

His perception was slowed making Arson aware of everything close to him. Using his crown as a scythe Arson ran within the interior of the giant robot’s chest. Each movement either to slice or avoid being incinerated by the multiple moving cores that spun wildly through the open space he found himself in.

Bloom and Reaper had gone above and beyond this time, as one blink within the robot’s chest cavity showed Arson robots being obliterated by the dozens only a few hundred yards away from where Arson now cut through an internal arm segment . The beautiful ripples of energy that trailed after his crown made weapon, drank in everything they touched. Streaks like a painted sunset absorbing everything from mana to entire chunks of the robot's interior assembly as Arson cut it apart.

Through the chaos one of the cores collided with Arson’s side, flinging the young man aside hard enough to shift the robot’s mid section through the air even under the pressure brought by Bloom’s sky drop.

Reaper cackled in delight as he caught cores with his bare hands, drinking in the energy in fractions of a blink, while Bloom batted the numerous cores that moved around them in his direction with her wings. A merry giggle ringing through Arson’s ears in an absolute defiance of sound and air waves.

Arson bounced off the side of the robot’s interior, another blink showing him that the mass majority of the gathered robots outside had been pulled toward the carnage of Reaper’s mana lightning explosion. The section of arm Arson sliced fell away before the pressure of the singularity occurring around them all ripped the limb off completely. More of the outside world becoming visible, even as the light offered by the stars and moons of the night sky seemed to become dimmer by the moment.

“Hmmm,” said Anastasia. Arson felt power running through his veins, and the heat of his mana begin to burn at the seal on his palm. He swung at another core, jumping off the wall at his back, slicing through another two cores. All of this, and he was still struck a few more times, literal baseball-sized chunks blown off his body with each involuntary impact.

“Not going to lie, my boy, that was pretty impressive,” said Anastasia. Arson hadn’t even realized that time had started to flow correctly. For the first time since he’d started his second blitz of the giant robot that day, Arson was able to think straight.

He pulled off his mask, and allowed his crown to return to a form more fitting of its regal nature.

“What in the world just happened?” Arson took in his environment, the only piece of the robot to survive the attack was the now misshapen chest that Arson and his Gestalt forms stood in.

“So you created a dimensional pocket using gravity and mana, or should I say your helpers did,” said Anastasia as a start to her explanation.

Arson fell to his knees and the shell of the robot’s chest began to fall apart in chunks, revealing nothing but darkness all around them.

“The pressure forced everything inward, as the explosive and volatile mana pushed everything out,” continued Anastasia. Bloom created a ball of light in her hand formed from a mess of twisting runes, illuminating everything.

“So yeah, I don’t know if you are trapped in here now, or if the exterior walls of condensed trash is thick enough to be an issue.”

Arson was inside what seemed like a perfectly hollowed out orb, trash burned and smashed by heat and pressure to form a blackened crust that they would now have to escape.

“We didn’t die,” said Arson, a small smile on his face until he realized that not only had he failed to keep the demon he needed alive, he failed the first segment of his mother’s challenge, and didn’t even know if Xani was alive, which almost reignited the flames within his core.

“No, you did not die, but a lot of other people did. Aren’t you glad that I sent instructions to your little orphan brigade. They’d all have been in the area looking for you and Xani if I hadn’t,” said Anastasia with a pout that surprised Arson. He couldn’t tell if the AI was messing with him, or if she was truly seeking praise for her actions.

“Do you even need to ask Anna, of course I appreciate you for that.” Arson may not be the type to give compliments or share praise, but in that moment he truly did feel relieved by her choice.

“Fun over?” Arson looked over to Bloom who faced a nodding Reaper.

When did those two become so close?

Arson asked himself the question mentally, not realizing he’d fallen onto his knees in exhaustion. His two Gestalt forms walking toward him as he tried to catch his breath.

“Not just yet. I may need your help getting out of here,” said Arson. The sheen of the blackened shell around him, made him wonder if the robots that had been drawn in were also an ingredient for the black material all around them.

It took Arson longer than he felt it should have to get to his feet, but he finally managed it after a few moments of his additional forms staring him down.

“What we do?” Arson looked over to Bloom and shrugged. Slowly walking on the inside of what Arson felt was the equivalent to an inflated ball, he noticed how his footfalls echoed with a metallic clang, and that his closed eye dominion struggled to show him anything beyond the material.

“That’s strange…” Arson knocked, and watched as sound and pressure reverberated in a ripple throughout the space. Vibration flowing outward from where he’d tapped the surface with his knuckles, made a gentle feeling of warmth permeate through his feet as it passed over his lower half like the splashing waves of a shoreline during low tide.

“Oooh, that was pretty, but you def have a problem, bud,” said Anastasia from his wrist.

"Like what?”

“That material is a type of mana stone that can be found around the cores of suns. There must have been some of it around the area, or used in the robots construction, as there is a lot here,” said Anastasia. Arson glanced at his watch with a furrowed brow, the numerous unasked questions written all over his face.

“Oh, you want to know how you're sparked… right… not even your mother would use this material to build. It absorbs, everything from mana, to motion, unless you find a weak point in the orb, you may actually suffocate before you are able to find a way out,” said Anastasia. Arson looked to Reaper and Bloom, and could tell by their faces, they were as surprised as Arson to be told what he just learned from Anastasia.

“Can Bloom have, Bloom loves magic marbles,” said the beautiful woman with squealing excitement, jumping up and down and clapping. Reaper laughed, nodding in agreement.

“I would also like this containment bubble, boy. Let your oldest pal Reaper use this to make us truly powerful,” offered Reaper. Arson even more confused by those words than anything else he’d heard that day.

“You can use this, for what?” The question left Arson’s lips and Reaper smiled, his pure black features somehow radiant even in the darkness that surrounded them.

“What if I told you that I can help you learn how to teleport with the use of this space?” Arson gestured for Reaper to continue.

“With the help of Bloom and your little AI, I should be able to turn this into a pocket dimension. With enough mana and runes, we should be able to have this area house and generate spacial mana to fuel a teleportation,” said Reaper. Arson looked between Reaper and Bloom, and then Anastasia, all wearing various expressions that made him think on what he was being offered.

Reaper’s only objective was more power, and Arson knew that without a doubt. As long as he grew more powerful, so would Reaper, so the ability to teleport must be something Reaper wanted as badly as Arson. The why of the matter was simple, it was more. And why Reaper wanted the power-up bothered Arson.

Bloom wanted to further understand the languages of magic, and Arson realized then that she most likely couldn’t teleport, because he himself hadn’t gained the pieces to accomplish the feat. The Gestalt form had often met goals in combat and creation that Arson felt he would struggle to complete knowing all the same runes as Bloom did, so also acknowledged how it could be beneficial to her.

Then came Anastasia’s involvement, though he trusted his Runic Library with his life, he also felt the AI’s wants and desires didn’t always align with his own. How she often kept pivotal system-based mechanisms from him. How she often showed him things powerful enough to strip away his consciousness’s ability to function properly and knocked him out.

I may need this, but Jade has offered me a sure thing. Should I even try this, or maybe I should try both…?

Arson thought to himself a moment longer. He considered many things, and eventually made a decision. He would talk to Jade about his failure of her tasks first, then Thinker.

“If Thinker thinks this is a good idea, and my mother helps with the process, then I will consider following through,” said Arson. Reaper frowned but nodded, Bloom excitedly clapping alongside him.

“Wait, before I agree to anything, how exactly are we going to turn this massive pocket into a power source that I can use? This place is huge.”

“Easy, boy, just rip open your soul space and stuff it in there once the teleportation core is completed,” stated Reaper simply. The plan given so obviously flawed that Arson’s mouth fell open in surprise.

“What?”

“Okay, Bloom gets it. Arson soul make big boom,” said Bloom, jumping with even more excitement.

“I don’t think—“

“Okay, I was only a little interested before, but this sounds like fun,” said Anastasia with a smile. The sound of Bloom’s earlier clapping replayed from Arson’s watch, made him roll his eyes. Reaper and Bloom reentered his shadow, speaking conversationally the entire time; Arson pulling a token from his watch's spacial inventory.

“I’d hoped you’d forgotten you had those. You got a lot on your plate these days, buddy, but don’t take that personally I’d have reminded you sooner than I would anyone else,” said Anastasia. The portal materialized, and Arson laughed, knowing how serious the AI was being.

“How much sooner, a day or two?”

“Yeah a few days before a full fortnight. I think there's enough air in here for you to survive that long.”

Arson looked around once more and stepped onto the rooftop of his mother’s villa. A new box popping into his vision to alert him of an achievement.

“New Achievement—“ The words were taken from his mind and stripped from his lips . He stopped reading at the sight of what was now held in the distance in the dump.

*New Achievement” Realm's tallest structure.

The unnamed structure made by system Godling, Sovereign Arson Omni, currently stands as the tallest structure in the realm. This achievement persists for as long as your creation stands, and must be held for a day before the achievement will be broadcasted by a system-recognized entity or under a qualified identification acknowledged by the system for public use. With this comes a realm boon that is coveted by many within the realm, be careful.

One day until boon tribulation. May the towers of Ikarus withstand heaven’s wrath.*

Arson wiped away the notification without reading it. The shock of what he saw before him taking his breath away. He now knew why he’d been unable to sense beyond the dimensional bubble he’d been inside, now looking at what was created outside.

The dimensional pocket’s creation had already been a fluke in its birth, but what it was housed in was absurd beyond belief. Arson stood frozen as his mother walked onto the roof, stepping beside him a moment later.

“How,” asked Arson. Silence the only thing returned.

His mother remained silent, and Xani touched down onto the rooftop, stepping to Arson’s other side.

“How is this even possible?”

Still silence was all that was offered in return.

Arson looked between both women, in hopes for answers that neither one could offer.

“I don’t know, my son.”

“What are we supposed to do with this in our back yard,” asked Arson trying not to panic. A pyramid floated in the center of a scorched circular patch of land. The pure black object made Arson wonder what it could actually be used for, but before his thoughts could run, Xani laughed, her response filling Arson with new fears he hadn’t considered yet.

“I’d say at least the robots can’t use whatever that thing is to build a new and improved version of the one you killed, buddy, but I’m just going to save my breath and say, I don’t know what you did, but I bet we are sparked for this... somehow”

“I need to talk to you, child,” said Jade, the tone of her voice filling Arson with the perception that he’d done something truly wrong this time, even if he didn’t know what he’d done. The gaze in his mother’s eyes more than enough to wake his fight-weary mind, her words taking away any doubts he had when he looked at her then.

“Now.”