Shen used all his speed to get to the Subnode's boundaries. The Cohort's momentary freeze allowed him to get halfway through them before he was forced to fight again.
He killed whoever intercepted him with wide swings of his spear. It was easy. Strength-wise, they were at low tier 7. After disposing of them, he did his utmost to keep running as fast as possible.
Shen did not want to kill another Emissary unless forced to. Alas, the creature was approaching him faster than any other Void Spawn.
Killing Emissaries came with more than a few issues. Being followed forever, or until he killed every Emissary, was only one of them. Another was that whenever an Emissary died, it was reborn brighter than before. The Void analyzed how the Emissary had died and improved the creature to survive similar threats. Considering Emissaries were born at peak tier 10 strength, there would be no killing them with brute force.
So, not only could Shen not kill ten million C-rank Void Spawn before they surpassed his fighting ability, but he also wouldn't be able to kill more than a handful of Emissaries before they were prepared for all his tricks. He might get lucky with a few extra kills, but anything above half a dozen was wishful thinking. He would be facing the strongest C-rank Void Spawn possible—molded to defeat him.
Shen was almost at the outermost layer of enemies when the Emissary caught up.
The creature was now wielding a long sword, which was also covered with defensive black lightning. The weapon was more prolonged than Shen's spear, and the Emissary itself was taller, with longer arms. It had invested in greater reach and a more robust defense.
Even if Shen cut the sword off like he had done to the hammer, the black lightning would take much of his momentum. He wouldn't be able to penetrate the creature's armor even if it didn't try to dodge, which it likely would—and be better at it. Although the weapon was technically part of its body, it was also somewhat separated from it, so cutting into it wouldn't let him use his Absolute Horizon against the Emissary. There was no chance his previous manner of attack would work.
So, Shen didn't even try it; instead, he made the world shake.
He pulled air from around them and threw it at the lightning, then used specific anti-electricity vibrations to make that air vibrate. The lightning could null metaphysical energy and even cut Space itself to a certain extent, but it wasn't as good against matter. Every atom of air it undid was replaced with another, and the vibration touched it.
That black lightning wasn't actual electricity but behaved similarly because the Void mixed with Reality and borrowed parts of it to spawn its creatures. Shen had been taught to counter the lightning with vibration in his elite combat training. The creature would adapt as soon as he did it, entirely throwing the Axioms of Lightning away somehow, but it would give him an opening.
Shen's vibration caused the lightning to flicker out of existence for a split instant. He felt the Emissary in his Absolute Horizon and threw his Will at it, but not shaped as a spear. The creature had also adapted on that front. Its big balloon-like soul-ish form had become a condensed ball that felt like pure steel. Shen split his mental attack into two and crushed the ball between a hammer and an anvil.
The creature exploded again, and he took advantage of the Cohort's pause to leave its enclosure and escape.
Shen soon found out that his estimation had been only slightly off: the Material Possession had covered a region sixty miles wide, not fifty. Everything in that enormous range was clear of any structures. Then came the maze of geometric volumes.
If pursued by regular foes, he might attempt to use the maze against them. However, the Cohort could feel his location no matter what he did. Moreover, he had to find the way ahead with his aura and wasn't strong enough to cut the floating shapes, while the Void Spawn cheated.
The Emissary shared a lightning bolt with the vanguard chasing Shen. They used it to strike against every structure in their way. The geometric shapes blinked out of existence at the slightest touch, and the legion approached unhindered.
Things only got worse as time passed. A few seconds later, the Emissary overtook the Void Spawn closest to Shen. Its peak C-rank speed meant it was only a matter of time before it reached him.
Shen only had half a second of domain usage remaining and did the obvious: used it to kill the Emissary one last time.
He tried the vibrational trick again for good measure. The lightning wasn't affected in the slightest. Moreover, the bolts had gotten even better at nullifying matter. No amount of air could ever touch it without being immediately undone. Likewise, when Shen used his Material Suppression against it, creating Law-enchanted Water to pin the Emissary down, it didn't hinder the creature.
He had been told it wouldn't work but had to try it anyway because he could do a few creative things with his Absolute Horizon if it succeeded. With that option taken from him, the strongest attack he could use against the Emissary was something new his domain-fueled mind had just thought to be possible—and risky. This would be his last Absolute Horizon attack, so he would go all out.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Shen sneaked his Will into that invisible layer of Reality and pushed it against the creature. He found no resistance traversing it or entering the Emissary, just as no living being could resist the invasive thoughts without an Absolute Horizon. He reached the Emissary—
What felt like a sun-sized ball of crimson flames appeared on the edge of his Absolute Horizon. It was moving fast toward Shen. His True Self recoiled at the touch and burned.
The infernals had detected him piercing the veil of Reality's Will and wouldn't accept it.
He tried to pull back, but an irresistible force held his mind and Absolute Horizon in place. There was no resisting that power. It was at least A-rank, a Realization thrown against him from a distant corner of the multiverse, even ignoring the physical restrictions on Nodes and Subnodes. Absolute Horizons were evidently much more than Shen had guessed. His existence was one instant away from being consumed by the fires of hell—or whenever infernals lived.
Shen would've died in any other situation, but he got lucky. The edge of his mind was inside the Emissary, and the ball of fire struck it first. The creature exploded as soon as the Realization entered it. The rebound threw Shen's Will back into himself, and the backslash caused his Absolute Horizon to deactivate.
Thankfully, there was no follow-up attack. He couldn't detect the sun with his Aural Realm. It seemed the infernals were watching but could only get to him before he could react if he sneaked his Will into that unique layer.
Shen kept running but deactivated his domain as it had run its course. His entire self hurt. He felt hot, as if he had swallowed smoke, and could tell something bad would happen the next time he used his domain. He'd be willing to bet the infernal had marked him somehow, maybe even sneaked its Realization into him, but he could do nothing about it now.
At least he was glad he had decided to grow as strong as possible with his domain instead of activating and deactivating it repeatedly. Activating it took a heavier toll on his True Self than keeping it active. He could've activated it for a split second only six times before he couldn't anymore, and he wouldn't have improved as much because his domain would've affected him for considerably less time.
Shen kept running without looking back, but his Aural Realm was still deployed. So, he was shocked when he felt the new Emissary form... then split into two.
He turned to look at it, and the two creatures were precisely the same. One rushed toward Shen, but the other shot its lightning bolts a few feet before itself. They formed a massive vertical line, which then spread into an oval Breach into a corner of the Alliance.
Shen felt Reality screech in pain, and the entire Voided Subnode trembled under heavy stress. Void Spawn weren't supposed to be able to do that. It didn't stop the Emissary.
The other side of the Breach was an endless landscape of fire. A living being floated above it, sitting cross-legged on empty air. The flames below kept trying to reach the infernal, but an invisible force prevented them from touching him.
The infernal was at least five times Shen's height and so thin that his skin was stretched over his skeleton and skull. A crown of eight horns adorned his head, his three eyes were closed, and his four arms rested on his legs. Four fangs, two from his upper teeth and two from the jaw, protruded from his closed mouth. He wore no clothes, but thousands of silvery halos floated horizontally above him, reaching the black skies and beyond. Shen guessed they were needed for him to overwatch the Will layer of Reality.
Shen's aura seeped into that place, and he recognized the creature upon touch. That's the one who had attacked him.
By killing the Emissary with Shen, it had made itself half the Cohort's target. That's not how these things went, but the Void Tide made the Void volatile indeed.
Shen and the infernal were now facing something new and unique. No one could predict what would happen. The most likely result was for the infernal to step into the Voided Subnode through the Breach the Void had conveniently opened for him, kill Shen, step back, and kill the C-rank Cohort. Maybe it would even have worked if the infernal had acted quickly enough. Alas, he slowly opened his eyes, fixating his slitted irises upon Shen, and ignored the weak creatures.
That single gaze almost made Shen's True Self shatter. He guessed the infernal was using the Will layer to attack him. He couldn't detect it without his Absolute Horizon. The infernal could've killed Shen, but it evidently wanted to savor the moment.
Meanwhile, the Emissary stepped through the Breach.
The flames reached for it. They burned the black lightning as if they were nothing, then touched the Emissary. It exploded. Most of the resulting scattering lightning bolts explored the fiery hell and were also destroyed by the flames as they moved. But a few didn't, and they formed into a new Emissary.
Reality shook harder. Cracks appeared all throughout the Voided Subnode. Shen and the second Emissary, coming at him, were frozen in place as Space didn't behave normally. Time seemed to stand still.
Emissaries were limited by the Voided Subnode's rank, but that one had formed in Reality itself. Even so, it should be linked to the Voided Subnode, but there was already an Emissary linked to the Subnode.
The Void Tide was indeed upon the Alliance.
The new Emissary to be born was nothing like usual. Half the Cohort became smoke and was sucked into it as it kept growing. In less than a second, it was fully formed and so tall Shen couldn't perceive it entirely. His aura couldn't even reach its waist.
Void Spawn were larger the stronger they were, and while Emissaries usually ignored the rule, it clearly wasn't the case anymore.
The moment after it formed, the A-rank infernal showed absolute fear for a split instant. He started moving to escape, but it was too late. A shockwave Shen couldn't perceive with his aura, but that visibly broke Spacetime, came from the Emissary. The "battle" was over as soon as the attack reached the infernal and the flames.
Everything on the landscape exploded. The Breach exploded with it. That was the only reason Shen cheated death again.
The Voided Subnode seemed to breathe, its cracks mending slowly. Whatever force had been holding Shen and the Cohort in place was gone. He started running again.
As much as Shen disapproved of the Alliance, he couldn't help but hope the Emissary wouldn't form five million Void Spawn on the other side. The creature was evidently at least A-rank, and Shen wasn't sure the Alliance could resist five million A-rank Void Spawn.
And if it were S-rank...
Bittersweetness filled his body as he was both glad he had released such a foe in the infernals' turf and worried about how many innocents would die before the unique Emissary was destroyed.