Atesh was covered in blood. His bones were sticking out. He looked like a puppet whose strings had been cut. He collapsed from the wall.
He was inside the wizard tower.
"It seems the ancestor found me..."
The Scarlet's family head walked towards Atesh. As he walked towards him. Atesh's bones started to shift. He was covered in water as he started to rapidly heal.
But before he could regain his mobility or reform his will to be able to move. The ancestor started to cast a spell. This wasn't a normal spell. It was the innate rank 4 spell.
Perhaps it was fate or something more sinister.
But the spell was called 'Devour'.
A blackhole formed in the hands of the magus. Atesh wasn't in good condition. He was sucked into the spell's event horizon.
He used his technique as well. But his devour was shattered!
Unlike before. In these types of situations. Atesh's life would flash before his eyes and he would look for an out. He would find some way to survive. But this time... things seemed different.
Sovereign Mind
Time seemed to stop at the moment he was sucked in.
There were some differences between this mages devour and the devour Somnus comprehended. The devour that was consuming him was a spell model that used energy particles. While the one Somnus had learned wasn't a spell at all.
"This person overpowered my devour ability..."
"Sovereign soul isn't useful here. Their soul is on another level. Sovereign will has been dispersed and I don't have enough time to reform it. I feel my body breaking down..."
"Sovereign mind has brought me time. My processing power has become incredible."
"I am lasting on the instant of death."
"But the clock is ticking."
"My body is breaking down into its basic components. Everything, my soul, my spirit, my physical form. My entire existence is being consumed by that spell."
Atesh remembered Path of Somnus: God's Death.
Step 16: Remember ECHO
"Echo... is there a way to survive?"
[ECHO]: There is a small chance of survival.
Time seemed to have stopped completely. His final moments before death seemed to stretch into eternity.
"What method?"
[ECHO]: Calculating past...
[ECHO]: Creation of 'Devour'
"The origin of devour?"
"It was based on sacrifice..."
"Sacrifice! That's it!"
Atesh remembered his declaration and sacrifice of his artifact and source castle.
'I am Visdre Mallaichte. If you are reading this. I am already dead. But I am a symbol. I can never truly die. A symbol of what? I am a master. Dreams are the key. Never underestimate the hidden. There are places I can't go and things I can't do.
The perspective of reality is cursed. There are various laws and secrets. But I have no interest in them for now. I have a plan that requires help.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
These words were never meant to be read. Within them lies my essence. I will soon enter hibernation. This is for my own enlightenment. A risk, a gamble.
Why risk everything? Why push myself to the limit? There is only one reason.
I am Somnus.
The Master of Dreams.'
It was through this sacrifice that he gained the devour ability. He had pushed himself into a scenario where he should've been wiped out. It was then that he did something that would make the abyss reject him.
He devoured the abyss and reconstructed his spirit body.
"I have always been good at putting myself back together..."
Atesh closed his eyes as he became energy particles.
"There is no escaping death."
"My existence is rejected by the abyss because of devour."
"It is as if I am a virus in reality. If I die. I won't even be thrown into the trashcan."
"I am Atesh Sostid. An half-blood elf that is 3,029 years old."
"I am a water sovereign!"
"A future monarch..."
"If the abyss rejects me. What if I remove the part of me that it rejects?"
"My sacrifice led me to losing my golden finger and artifact. I lost my birthright."
"Now I must lose everything I gained from that loss!"
"Esteemed Somnus. Master and Dreamer of Worlds. I sacrifice my comprehension of Devour!"
Atesh felt a simple connection open between him and F554.
Thanks to the time ratio of this universe. 1 year in this universe was one second for F554. Over 3,000 years had passed. But for Visdre. Barely an hour had passed!
[ECHO]: Sacrificing 'Devour'
Visdre felt something happening to him in universe F554. For some reason. His memory of how to use Devour had vanished. He was even forgetting about its existence at all.
Somnus in this universe also felt his memories and understanding of devour vanish.
But as he was the one to perform the ritual. The 'potential' of devour was directly sent to Visdre. The real controller and the recognized hidden existence.
Visdre was still using his mental energy server as the processor despite not getting any feedback for an hour. So time seemed to freeze the moment the connection was opened up.
[ECHO]: Potential gained!
[ECHO]: Transforming potential...
Visdre had looked through thousands of years of memories in an instant and devised a plan to win. The potential from devour became the ingredient for a new ability. The connection to F554 closed.
Time seemed to resume.
But Atesh had already died.
No traces were left.
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Agar Scarlet's POV:
"You say it was an elf?"
"He stole the wizard tower!?"
It is a good thing I happen to be in the mortal realm. I head to where the wizards tower should've been.
"He actually took it with him..."
The secrets of the tower were passed down to Agar. He had also left a soul imprint within. It was easy to locate it. He took to the skies.
"How far did he take it!?"
Eventually, I remotely take back control and use it to teleport to him.
I go on an offensive right away. I beat him to vent my anger at the sheer disrespect. I then use my innate spell to consume him.
"it seems he also has a similar ability. My foundation surpasses his however."
All traces are wiped out.
I look at the destroyed tower.
"At least it isn't fully destroyed. I just need to move it back and repair it."
Agar felt something was wrong.
"He... is alive?"
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Somnus was in the abyss. He looked at his hands that were wearing white gloves. He then realized something important. This was his standard spiritual body!
"It worked!"
"I'm not rejected by the abyss!"
"But... what sort of ability is this?"
A timeline seemed to appear in front of him in the abyss.
"I can rewrite history? This... isn't this even stronger then my..."
All memories of devour had been removed from Somnus's mind.
"Didn't I have some other ability?"
Somnus flipped through the timeline as if he was looking at panels in a comic. But the moment he tried to change reality. He felt a deep resistance.
"It is not rewriting history. It is distorting it."
"There is a lot of limits to this ability right now. But..."
"I died? Who decided that?"
Distort
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Time seemed to resume.
But Atesh had already died.
No traces were left.
But reality started to distort.
A man shrouded in mist appeared. The man looked as if he was a phantom. But he shook his head and looked at his hands. The mist disipated and revealed Atesh!
Despite being in space. He started to talk. He was imbueing distort into his voice.
"You shouldn't have done that." Atesh wasn't even mad. This 'death' had let him go even further. His new ability outclassed whatever he used to have before.
The rank 4 magus felt danger. He directly used Devour again.
"How are you alive?" A voice appeared in Atesh's head.
"Did you really think dying would kill me?"
"..."
The mage flew towards Atesh and went on the offensive again. But Atesh's movements were bizarre. It was as if he was glitching.
Every now and then. It seemed as if he was a man wearing a suit, shrouded in fog. But it all seemed to be an illusion.
Then Agar pierced his hand through his heart. He moved it up through his organs and brain. But the next moment. He realized he had imagined that blow.
The battle went on for a few minutes. But Agar came to a horrifying conclusion.
Every time he won. It would appear as if it was just an illusion. This elf would be in perfect shape and fight him as if nothing had happened.
Atesh was slowly getting the hang of this new ability.
"This ability really suits me!"