!!!!! Pr Credits To Draconis Von BloodTrap & Peter1765
Who Help With SR chapters, Please take the time to rep them for their work :)
Promised Early release, i hope you all enjoy it. i don't have time to look over my pms yet as i have dinner tonight with some friends and then an early turn in for work, but il try my best to answer some comments left in the thread later on while leaving the pms for tomorrow.
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Avrin quickly raised his right hand and Nebula Mist flooded out, causing a barrier to form. The young man’s strikes struck the barrier, causing it to crack with each hit which in turn would release a small pulse of Qi.
“Such a weird ability....you're not using mana? You're not using Qi or are you utilising Equilibrium Force. Are you from the second universe?!“ Avrin, with his hand raised, keeping dark matter channelling into the shield, listened to this lunatic closely, “-Why is he speaking as if I am guilty of something!-”
“You are surely strong, stranger. You should know we who train with Qi love an opportunity to hone and train ourselves!” the young man pushed himself back as he looked at Avrin’s shield with a prideful grin. Of course, he was also lost in thought. “-That shield wouldn't break. I'm still holding back, but… this individual, why do I feel as if I know him?-”
Avrin looked closely at him. He wasn't at full power because of the shift, he couldn't afford to get into an all out brawl with this crazy guy. “I don't have time for this, leave me alone.” Avrin frowned. He had his own questions but he felt he would find out eventually. He began to shoot up towards Seleria which was engulfed by the aura.
As he flew towards it, the young man followed, easily matching his speed. This man utilised Qi to engulf his body in an aura which allowed him to propel wherever he pleased. He spoke out as Avrin looked at him somewhat stunned. “Where are you going? What's the rush? What are you trying to hide? You're obviously up to no good!”
Avrin didn't know why, but this person seemed to tug on his emotions, but he realised something. He ignored him for now and spoke. “You can't see it?” as Avrin said this the young man glanced around curiously. “See what? Are you an idiot? There is nothing to see but the planet below us and endless space. You made me lose track of the Defiled ones if you have an interesting secret about some place here you better spill-”
Unable to finish his words, Avrin punched the young man square in the cheek. The punch itself contained serious strength, yet Avrin still held back. This caught the man off guard and sent him flying. “Piss off already!” Avrin’s eyes narrowed and he was grinning. He got a bit of revenge and sent this buffoon on his way. If he couldn't see Seleria but Avrin could, it must mean that God had put an extra set of protection on it.
“-This is good, it looks like no one but me is able to see Seleria. I can only assume. Maybe, just maybe, those on the Cosmic Entity level are also unable to see it. That would make the most sense. After all, what would be the point in setting this invisibility!-”
“BALANCE!”
Avrin suddenly felt his body freeze for a moment. A shout echoed out and when it did, it stunned him, causing him to be unable to move. He felt his body tremble slightly, yet his eyes could glance around. They focused on a point in the distance from which he felt the surging energy. With his sight, he was able to notice the figure in the distance. It was the young man. His hair had stood on end, emitting an aura like electricity. His pupils were something he recognised although very faintly. This young man’s right eye held a transparent Yin symbol while his left eye contained a transparent Yang symbol.
“-The fragment God's soul?! This loon has it?!-” Avrin was astounded, because he did not expect to meet another Inheritor so early. He was even more shocked than the time when he first found a piece of God essence. How could things turn out like this? He had a very odd feeling that this meeting was not random, but was one that something or a certain someone had had a hand in.
“You damn... catching me off guard like that...” the young man settled down before entering a sort of martial arts stance which seemed to look ridiculous at first, but if one felt the creeping Qi surging around him they would think twice before picking a fight with him. “Burning Qi Fist!...” the young man’s body flickered before he vanished with outstanding speed that Avrin was only barely able to make out.
The young man reappeared in front of Avrin with his right hand in the shape of a palm which closed into a fist pressing seemingly softly against Avrin’s stomach. What followed was a silence before a beam of transparent Qi shot from Avrin’s back, causing the front of his attire around that fist and the patch of attire from where the aura shot off to rip to shreds. Avrin felt his innards ripple and was sent flying like a loose comet. Of course, after taking a beating from Orphelium, this was enough for him to handle.
“-S...such a cheap piece of shit...-” Avrin finally regained his footing within space as he clutched his bruised stomach, feeling the sharp, stinging pain and the lingering Qi in the shape of a fist upon his abdominal muscles. The young man glanced at Avrin with a look of excitement. “Amazing...no one on my level within my universe has ever been able to handle a direct hit like that and not be gravely injured....Then again, I still need to broaden my horizons. You seem to be in a rush to go in this direction, you won't be going anywhere though, not until I get some answers that I'm satisfied with, such as who you are and how you are able to enter the Spectral Domain. You can't possibly have the assistance of a Cosmic Entity like me, could you?”
Avrin felt as if he had been wronged. “-He even has a Cosmic Entity assisting him? With that fragment, no doubt his background is something special. I thought those Cosmic Entities kept to themselves...just who is this degenerate..-”
Avrin relaxed, as he wasn't sure what to do. His best bet would be to burst out and obliterate this individual in one go to conserve as much energy as possible. “Well?” the young man spoke. Avrin didn't reply with an answer he wanted. “How proficient are you with that fragment?” as Avrin spoke these words, the boy’s eyes narrowed, as if this were no longer an interesting situation but rather something dangerous. “You know about my fragment...?! There aren't many who know what the ability looks like. I’ve been under the guise of being considered an Enigma user...but you...aren't...so...simple...forget it... I’ll just beat the answers from you. As for how proficient I am...BALANCE!!”
He roared out again. The same feeling appeared and Avrin felt his body lock up. But this time, he was prepared for it. He saw the young man take the same stance as before as if he were confident Avrin couldn't escape. He vanished, and as he was about to punch Avrin again, something unexpected happened. He felt his own body slow down as if he were being crushed.
“What?!..” he glanced up to see Avrin’s darkened mask with his pupils glowing heavily as traces of blue blood leaked from the open lips of the mask and a smokey aura emitted from his strange pupils.
“Distorting Pulse,” Avrin spoke quietly. This ability was something new, utilising his Phantom Pulse and his current state he could bend the fabric of space and use it to constrict someone, making it extremely hard to move and unless they were much more powerful than him.
“You...what did you...!” Avrin’s body suddenly exploded out with dark matter that engulfed himself entirely as he had broken the balanced lock of the strange fragment the young man wielded. Avrin reached over, clutching the space only a half foot in front of the young man’s chest.
Avrin began to pull back on the spacial fabric, causing it to ripple. As it was pulled back, the young man’s existence was pulled toward it, as if he was being bent with space. He felt as if he was going to have his soul torn out of him and he knew this wasn't going to end well.
“STRIDE BALANCE!!” when the young man shouted this word, Avrin felt as if his body was locked down again as if he weren't allowed to make an unfair move like it wasn't his turn. He saw the young man’s figure explode out as he rushed back nearly twenty meters after Avrin’s Distorting Pulse was broken, though when he rushed into position and turned to look at Avrin his heart quivered.
From this distance, his body was stretched all the way back to where he had just been as if the space Avrin had grabbed didn't abide by his ability as if it were an equal power that followed a different law. “Fucking shit!!” the young man roared out. Avrin simply laughed before letting his grip loosen off the pulled space. “I think you forgot THIS!” watching the space ripple back like a tyrannical force, cracks formed and blew like a shrieking banshee as it slingshotted back to the young man. The force smashed against him, causing his armour to crack. The young man coughed up glowing, transparent blood as he was flung back like a Frisbee several kilometres.
Avrin couldn't enjoy this for long. He shot forward the moment the young man was hit, as it released his ability over Avrin. Avrin knew that if things pressed on he would have to use the God Essence weapons against him considering his lacking of dark matter.
Taking advantage of the situation, Avrin clenched his teeth. He knew he wouldn't be able to make it to Seleria and avoid the young man again, who was recovering as he thought. He sighed and then willed space around him to slowly shift and turn. Small cracks began to appear in space around Avrin before he was seemingly torn into a powdery, glowing ash that spun around in a vortex before reforming. When it reformed, he was back in the main universe, looking into the empty space with neither Seleria nor the young man there.
“What a nasty fellow. Regardless, I know where it is now. I'll recover then bring Ailirion and Tardif with me. I'm sure they are quite eager to see more of our kin.” Avrin used his Divine Step to reappear back within the chamber that was as he had left it.
When he did, the young man who had finally recovered his footing exploded his aura as he tumbled back. His body was shivering as he gasped for air even though his body didn't need it. It showed how fierce Avrin’s attack was. He gave an angered yet stunned look. He looked at Avrin just as he turned into powdery ash that vanished into thin air. He coughed out more of that strange transparent blood with an astounded expression. “B...bending space...that bastard was able to bend space?!!! Is he one of those people Master spoke about?... Impossible...haven't they all perished?...”
He remembered the feeling of Avrin’s attack. It truly was fierce and brought fear to him. It was much more devastating than his own signature move, yet the more he thought about it the more he wanted to fight Avrin again. “Just you wait, you son of a bitch... I'll stalk this fucking place until you reappear... daring to injure the Fourth Imperial Prince of the Shra'zar Dynasty, I'm going to tear you to shreds!!”
Avrin entered the aura that engulfed around Seleria. When he did, he looked around. The space here seemed very stable as if it weren't part of the Spectral Domain, yet Avrin didn't bother to think about this as he knew it was too complicated for him to figure out the method God had used. Right now, he was feeling irritable. He removed the mask from his face and lowered his hood, wiping away the previously blue blood that had become red after leaving his body due to his minor tinkering with particles.
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When Avrin returned, he cleaned up his wounds and began to absorb mana at a fair pace to heal himself. It was much different than his fight with Orphelium. Recovering would be very easy for him now. He soon left the chamber and began to walk down the rocky hall, he felt the presence of several dozen Spectral ants within the chamber where he met Ailirion and the other four. He heard words being exchanged.
“Lord Ailiron...I do not dare judge the Great One's plans...but this is clearly the best course of action...the workers are replaceable...can we truly ease up on ourselves?” one of the Arch Knights spoke in a respectful yet doubting voice. He was one of the others that had not heard Avrin’s words and was a bit reluctant.
Though when he finished, one of the male ants that listened to Avrin before felt a tremor of anger. “Heretic! You're still questioning the Great One's words?” the ant, feeling as if it may get into Avrin and Ailirion’s good books, raised its large serrated long sword that had been forged for it from Tardif and the others and was about to strike the other ant which looked stunned.
“Stop!” Ailirion ordered. But it was too late for him to react. The weapon shot towards the other ant that doubted Avrin. It was also about to raise its weapon but was too slow. “Enough…” Avrin, who had appeared, was just in time as his Phantom Pulse engulfed the ant, freezing it in place as it was unable to budge an inch. Avrin carefully walked into the room holding the mask in his right hand with his appearance exposed to them.
“G...Great One!...I...I was just….” the ant which was frozen but able to speak tried to defend himself, yet he knew if it was in this situation, he was in the wrong. But he felt as if he were right. “He has the right to speak out...he committed nothing that warrants him to die...especially by a fellow kinsmen...do not ever hurt any of your comrades...if he kills any of our kin only then will I permit it...anything else will be handled by Ailiron or me if I am available.”
Avrin released his Phantom Pulse and the ant fell to its knees, bowing towards Avrin. From there, they all began to kneel. “Great One...your meditation was so short, yet it must have been successful? As expected of you.”
Avrin looked outside of the window embedded within the chamber. He ignored Ailirion’s words for now and commented on what he saw. “Good, this is what I wanted. If they all work together with no fear of being punished you will find they will accomplish more, given time. These are my people and your people, there are only so many of us right now, and we need to stick together. Treat their lives as you would your own. I have only ever killed one of our kind and that is only because he sold out our kind for power. Let that be a lesson as to how I want matters judged.”
“Yes, of course!” many of them began to speak in acceptance. The new Arch Knights that he hadn't seen before were confused yet delighted. The four had told them about Avrin and how they had seen him. Right now they had many questions and intentions to gain favour.
“Ailirion, how is Tardif fairing?” Avrin quietly spoke as he leaned against the stone wall and folded his arms. “Also, all of you stop kneeling and resume your matters.” Hearing Avrin’s words, many of the Arch Knights quickly got up and slowly shuffled back. Although a little reluctant because of their curiosity, they didn't dare anger Avrin, as he was the source of everything to them. They quietly began to resume their tasks as they left to check on the matters outside. Ailirion slowly got up and began to speak.
“Great One, that big buffoon has stopped creating Sigil weapons after I told him you had come to check up on us. He demanded that he get to see you as well...following in his stead, those under his command have, well...err...adopted his personality and attitude...there isn't much I can do…they revere him greatly...please punish that stupid thing...” Ailirion seemed to be pleading as if Tardif had caused him great trouble. Of course, Ailirion just wanted to be the follower that was best to Avrin. Tardif was someone he found as a rival to take his position.
“I will go handle it. Also, tonight, you and Tardif will be leaving somewhere with me, so go set who will be in charge in your stead.” With that said, Avrin Divine Stepped away before reappearing within a large open chamber that had several benches and corner where exquisite cushions and the like were set. In that corner sat Tardif, who was sitting cross-legged and gouging himself on Lucent crystals and meat, which was served to him by the ants. They also looked to be eating and enjoying themselves.
“More, more meat and Lucent crystals!!! Brothers and sisters, we will eat and eat until nothing is left, hahahaha!” Tardif seemed to have finally overcome his stutter and excitement could be seen in his eyes as he and the ants around him, which all wore unique attire, laughed and ate.
Avrin, who had appeared and wasn't spotted yet, glanced at this strange scene. He ignored them for now and walked over to a small, neatly set stack of Sigil weapons. He picked one up and looked at it closely. “Not bad,” he spoke before glancing around to see around thirty other stacks consisting of two-hundred Sigil weapons each. Each stack consisted of something different. Five stacks would be long swords, another five would be large glaives and another long war hammers. After that were pole arms, bows, shields and more.
Avrin could see that despite lazing around now, Tardif had been busy and was putting his all into this. “Hey!! Who the hell are you! Get away from that, how dare you!!” one of the thirty ants that were eating and laughing saw Avrin and roared out in anger. He had been a miner but had managed to be chosen by Tardif. After that, his status had reason exponentially. Avrin ignored him and continued. The ant’s shouts caused others to look over and see Avrin doing his own thing. They all began to shout and curse as they got up and rushed towards him.
“What's the damn ruckus?” Tardif, who was eating a large chunk of meat from a creature a group of Spectral ants had hunted a couple of days ago, glanced over to hear the ants cursing at someone touching the Sigil weapons. “-Which bastard is touching my stu--” he remained silent as he glanced over and saw Avrin. He then saw the ants were, in fact, cursing at him. Tardif’s face paled a little as anger surged within him.
He spat out the meat and jumped up in the air like a torrent and slammed his feet down into the ground after having jumped the distance between Avrin and the angry mob of ants. “SHUUUUT UUUUUP!” Tardif roared out loud enough to cause the entire chamber and the walls to shake. Avrin continued to ignore him before standing up and looking at Tardif. “You did a good job with all these, but you cannot be so lazy and take time off because you want to. You have four hours to handle matters in regards to who you want leading Sigil creation. Me, you and Ailirion are going on a trip.” Avrin Divine Stepped away to tour around a bit.
Tardif was stunned by it all. He then glanced at the stunned mob of fifteen ants who glanced at him confused. “Master Tardif, what….what's wrong? Who was that?” the ants were confused. Of course, Tardif’s muscles swelled slightly as he heaved for breath, causing steam to rush out of his nostrils. “You, what's your name? Uhh, Liuto, right? You're in charge until I come back. All of you lazy bastards, BACK TO WOOOORK!!” Tardif then rushed off to go find Avrin, each of his rushed steps causing the ground to shake slightly.
The ants were left stunned and speechless, including the ant named Liuto who looked around confusedly before he cleared his throat and spoke as if he were a bit too kind. “Ok, uhh, everybody, let's do what Master says and get back to work!! Let's go!”
Avrin walked around without bothering to cover his face. He didn't have anything to hide from them, despite the fact that the ants gazed at him strangely. They felt that Avrin was one of them judging by his clothing. The ants had no concept of appearance, they didn't know what was beautiful or handsome. Avrin also felt they should just learn it themselves as beauty was in the eye of the beholder. He himself had never thought about what he would like in a woman, but it wasn't as if he was going to age and die like a normal human. He set his standard that whichever woman would at the very least cause his heart to stir then she would be the standard he set.
“Not like that. If you hold back on using Nebula Mist the pillars are going to be too weak. There is plenty of mana down here, don't worry about wasting it.” Avrin was giving pointers to ants which were building their homes or helpings others build. Of course, when he spoke they all looked at him strangely and whispered a bit. “Who is that?” one ant spoke while another replied. “Maybe he is a new Spectral?” they understood that they were converted and that other creatures could be converted as well, so they just treated it normally.
Avrin held his hands behind his back as he continued to walk. He looked at the sight of all of them working and building. Some structures were built quite badly, it left him frowning a little, but it also made him happy. All in all, they were like infants to him in a sense. They were still ants, but after being converted they were like grandchildren. The pure bloods could be said to be his children and then the ones they convert his grandchildren. Watching them clumsily build like this was making him think they were all somewhat adorable.
He decided to finally show off a little. He let a soft grin appear on his face. He looked quite mischievous, as this was the first time he had shown such a look that contained no malice behind it. The homes these ants built were like caveman homes, no different than their nests. When Avrin raised his right hand and pointed it towards a plot that had a lot of boulders and such that would take up too much time to remove, the Spectral ants having gone for the less troublesome plots felt that was best. Avrin began to form a small a square shape with dots of dark matter a few inches away from his finger. A few of the Spectral ants nearby glanced at him. “What's he doing?” one female ant spoke while a large brawny male ant replied in laughter. “Whatever it is, I don't think it's anything normal. Haha, he must be trying to create some new thing...if it was so easy, we would all be more powerful.”
Whispers of Avrin being strange began to circulate among them. He was truly the odd one out. A young ant, seemingly in its adolescence, walked up to Avrin and spoke. “Uhh, Mister, you're a bit weird. Were you converted properly? What are you doing?” the ant looked at Avrin as if he were strange. Avrin only ‘hmphed’ before the dots in the shape of a cube were flooded with dark matter that formed into a transparent state. Within there was a simple structure he remembered from inside the mountain back on Seleria. The cube shot forward towards that empty plot and when it smacked against the boulder, it didn't bounce. Once it hit the boulder, it seemed to sink in slightly, as if the boulder was bending inwards towards the cube at the source. From there, a vortex formed from within that exact plot.
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Avrin's Inner Workings Status
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Void Stage Type 13 Control Particle Completion0%Void Stage Type 13 Particle Completion0%God Essence WeaponsAstaroth-ScytheLimos-VajraGod Essence EquipmentSarcanus-Armor