“-Incredible I can't believe how perfect this place is for increasing my strength, my control particles have already reached 80% completion whilst my normal particles have reached 20% completion, with the mana amassed in this domain I won't have to worry about the risk of failing to reach type 14 particles.-”
As more mana was sucked into the vortex, Avrin's absorption limit steadily increased with the strength of his particles. Meanwhile blue and purple charges of static were skidding across Limos as well as the rods that siphoned the mana to Avrin formed by Sarcanus.
“-with the mana gathered in this domain I wonder how far I can reach, obligations though truly are a bothersome thing, for now, though I’ll just..-” Avrin blinked as he felt something strange as if the pool of dark matter and mana had suddenly decreased and was being drained even further.
Opening his eyes he gasped in surprise because surrounding the vortex were strange apparitions that seemed transparent with no real physical feature except for the single glowing purple eye on the center of the forehead that had glowing veined lines that stretched around their bodies.
“-what the hell are those things?-” Avrin was at a loss for words as he watched them, but he suddenly came to a realization that these wraith-like creatures were absorbing the mana and even the dark matter that Limos was gathering, Limos was screeching as it was surrounded by those creatures that latched onto it.
Streams of the two energies were being drawn into the glowing purple eyes. “Hey....HEY! THAT’S MINE! YOU VULTURES!!” emitting a heavy phantom pulse every single wraith-like creature was pushed several hundred meters away and space rippled from the change in gravity. However, the creatures did not appear to be harmed at all, they began to gather again and even more began pouring out and started to appear within Avrin's divine sense. They came from asteroids and other celestial bodies but the main point of origin seemed to be a single hollowed out moon.
“My dark matter!!” Avrin wanted to cry out at the unfairness of it all, he removed the rod from the chest plate of Sarcanus and vanished with great speed appearing next to one wraith he glared at it but it seemed to ignore him.
He formed a void sphere in his hand and fired it towards the creature in disgust. But the moment the void sphere neared the wraith it trembled before it was instantly absorbed into the glowing purple eye.
“.....” Avrin backed away a little, he didn't dare to use his hists after seeing what had happened, instead, he thought of another plan. “Astaroth.” the moment the god essence weapon appeared a heavy surge of bloodlust and killing intent seeped out of it engulfing a large portion of the area, this was not unnoticed by the creatures that suddenly glanced at Avrin.
There was an eerie silence for a few seconds that made Avrin's body tense, he quickly got into a defensive stance and moments afterward the creatures shot towards Avrin like stars skimming across the night sky.
Entering a battle stance, Avrin brandished Astaroth with great skill; using the scythe to slash through space cutting several wraiths in half.
However, their bodies simply flew apart for a few moments, before the two halves would give an electrical current that would fuse the two halves back together. After which, the wraith would appear a bit smaller.
Avrin gave a slight grunt as he smirked. “All of you bastards, keep coming, I'm going to take back what you stole from me!” Avrin was not going to let these things go, right now he simply willed Limos to absorb as much as it could from the space. While he fought off these wraiths, he fount it funny that occasionally one of these wraith-like creatures would be a bit too greedy and would get too close to the vortex causing it to be nearly devoured as it's energy was quickly drained after which it would flee for safety.
To Avrin it was like a swarm was attacking him from all sides. Surrounding himself with his phantom pulse, he kept attacking with Astaroth. Meanwhile, the wraith creatures unable to penetrate his defenses, gradually became weaker as they were repeatedly cut in half.
This had lasted for several minutes before they all stopped attacking and simply surrounded Avrin. As he glanced around, he grew a bit nervous as he realized that these creatures numbered not in the thousands but hundreds of thousands and they stared at him with their glowing purple eyes that although strange were oddly familiar. Yet he didn't dare let his guard down especially when a moment later a wraith emitted a deep vocal echo and then the others followed suite.
When hundreds of thousands of these creatures emitted such a chilling sound it was bound to make one tremble. Avrin felt a heavy tinge of danger as the wraith creatures all shot towards one location and began to fuse into a large mass of energy, as this mass of energy grew larger it eventually began to take shape.
Avrin wanted to tell what sort of energy these creatures were made off but it was hard for him to do so, they weren't mana or qi, in fact, the closest thing they resembled was dark matter, a very odd dark matter that wasn't dark matter at all.
“.LIMOS!!” Avrin felt a great very dangerous feeling, Limos suddenly broke out of the vortex before it reappeared in front of Avrin, the moment it did, the creature had formed, Avrin was stunned and nearly afraid of how strong it felt, he could feel how powerful the energy was despite not being able to tell what it was. By Avrin's estimation, this strange wraith-like apparition had an energy mass at the middle supreme deity level. The creature formed from this fusion of hundreds of thousands of wraiths was simply a featureless face that emitted a chilling transparent white aura the face had lips that gave neither smile nor grin, it was simply a straight face, the eyelids were closed, and the most chilling thing was the enormous purple eye on its forehead there were veined lines stretching across the face connected to this eye.
What frightened Avrin the most about this eye was that its pupil was identical to his, it was a double sided “”T”” the eye pulsed for a moment before two sparks of light entered the middle section of the top and bottom of this “”T”” which then began to rotate clockwise, it began to become faster and faster until it formed a full circle from the afterimage it formed. Avrin's dark matter heart began to suddenly beat quickly as if it was warning him of a danger,
Avrin felt that it was not a good idea to be here even though he was planning to use Limos to defend himself. “Fucking shit...” he clenched his teeth before grasping Limos in his hand as well as the rod Sarcanus had formed, the moment he did he froze for a moment before his eyes widened, he quickly focused all of his strength and energy into a divine step despite it being incredibly hard, the spinning “”T”” of the creatures pupil suddenly stopped which caused the surrounding space within the domain to crack somewhat, on the opposite side of the domain within the real space one would notice many cracks and fragments of space forming.
The two specks of energy within both sides of the “”T”” were forced to smash against each other within the middle of the “”T”” causing a tyrannical mass of energy to pulse outward, Avrin was frightened even more so than when he had faced Orphelium, he quickly divine stepped 30,000 kilometers away.
From a distance he could see simply a bright flash before a ray of light that resembled a pulse-like wave of energy shot across space causing it to rip and shred for several hundred thousand kilometers the energy seemed to have a strange effect on space as it caused it to rip and crack, this energy had even struck several asteroids that would disintegrate as if their particles were picked apart and turned into nothingness.
Avrin's lips trembled as he looked at this scene from a distance. “What a frightening power...that thing is more dangerous than Orphelium was when I fought him...if I got hit by that I would have been done for...”
Avrin didn't plan to stay a moment longer as he retreated back to Seleria, his face was pale and beads of sweat were running down it, he had just realized how insignificant he truly was compared to many beings out there, he had no idea what those wraith things were but it was a good thing he had gotten out of there, not only would that strange attack have ended him in one hit he had a very strange feeling that the creature was missing something as if it were injured greatly and not at full power.
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When he returned to Seleria he decided to meditate within the orbit of the planet away from everything, he had a flash of insight especially in regards to the creature’s pupil. “-the same shape as mine, very strange, this is the Spectral domain it's related to my race and only a handful outside of my race can access it, could it be related to someone on the outside or possibly even the Spectrals? That being said, if that thing can do that, then why can’t I! I’ll simply find a way to mimic it! Avrin was not simply just stunned and somewhat afraid but a little thankful, this was because he had learnt a possibly powerful attack from the creature, if something at the supreme deity level had an attack that could outmatch a primordial entity then if he learnt something like that it would benefit him as well against individuals a step above him.
Entering his inner workings whilst still grasping Limos he began to siphon the mana from it into his body, since Limos wasn't in a vortex like state it would be less dangerous for him to grasp it like this.
Back on the planet outside of the Spectral domain, Ilisia and Calomia were sitting within a room, this room was similar to a cell but was quite fancy for one, it showed that the deity who had captured them did not want to rough them up just in case there was a possibility that if they were hurt or injured things would go sour even though he was confident in threatening whoever it was that owned shaded moon.
Ilisia was frowning as she sat huddled up in a corner, ignoring the somewhat lavish seats and food on the table. “Grandma....Mr. Avrin gave us that thing....can't we just use it?...” Calomia was seated next to Ilisia with a book in her hand, she quietly responded. “We don't seem to be in any danger for now....besides it’s better like this...”
Ilisia pouted and raised her head, one could see the dried trails of tears on her face. “How is it better? Mr. Avrin is going to be very worried when we aren't there!” Ilisia felt it was a bad thing to remain here, of course, Calomia simply laughed. “Careless child, when he is worried he will come to look for us...and when he finds us he will definitely punish that man...”
Before Ilisia could respond a voice echoed throughout the room. “Punish me?...hahaha! I truly fail to understand how a mortal is going to fight a deity, do not think this is some fairy tale cooked up in a book for children I am a true mage deity....you should grovel before me and feel proud to be in my presence...even more so that I am being so hospitable to you both!”
The deity who had captured both Ilisia and Calomia was standing outside of the cell with his hands behind his back, it was impossible to see the expression on his face due to the faceplate he wore that resembled an open tome, of course, one could guess by his words that he was looking down on them.
Calomia glanced at him carefully before giving a quiet laugh. “-Artificer consortium...you made a big mistake kidnapping us...-” Calomia was no fool she understood Avrin was not normal and had always been hiding his strength, she herself had a strange background and understood Avrin was hiding a lot more than it seemed. The deity no longer wasted his time and soon left. When he stepped outside of the prison area he trembled slightly and quickly glanced to the side to see another figure, this female figure was dressed in gold and white attire that fitted well to her body, she retained the look of a mage by the robe like attire that also seemed for agile movement, but still kept a feminine charm by revealing a bit of her thighs as well as her fairly well endowed bust to a degree, she also wore a faceplate but this faceplate was not a simple open tome, this tome seemed as if it were alive with strange golden bronze like roses growing out of it emitting a strange light. She took a step forward causing her shoulder length blonde hair to sway slightly as she took a step forward.
The deity with the normal tome took a step back away from here before calling out. “W...what are you doing here Blood Rose!!...” when the spoke out that title the female stopped for a moment before she trembled a little. “You know....I hate that name...” an aura began to slowly seep out of her yet this was not a normal aura, this aura was truly fitting of the 5th universe and was an aura of runes, “Velethia!..” suddenly a voice called out, from the end of the hall the sound of footsteps began to echo, with each footstep taken the mana lights hanging from the walls would dim and then flair up, a male figure began to make his way forward with his arms at his side, he also wore an agile mage like robe but this one was emitting a strange runic light despite also being gold and white.
His tome like face plate was strange as if it were alive, it would show the images of strange runic incantations and often reveal strange images, yet in his presence and to his words Velethia the female, as well as the grand forerunner, didn't dare show disrespect, the grand forerunner, of course, knelt down in respect. “This one greets Vice Magister Elorin...” he quickly showed his greeting, of course, Velethia simply folded her arms while glancing in disgust towards the grand forerunner.
“Tyron it was reported that you captured two individuals yesterday and didn't report it.” the man named Elorin spoke while glancing down at Tyron who was the grand forerunner.
“Indeed...may I ask if something is wrong?...” Tyron spoke carefully and did his best to show no disrespect. Elorin thought for a moment before speaking. “No...nothing wrong...it's just a bit strange that a deity of our great artificer consortium would capture an old lady and a young girl...”
Velethia scoffed for a moment and chuckled before speaking. “Strange?...I’d say it was more towards weird and disgusting...” when her words sounded out Tyron’s face under his faceplate trembled and paled with anger yet he didn't dare say anything, Velethia was a rank above him and Elorin was two ranks about him. “It doesn't matter what his purpose for capturing them are....but do not try to bite off more than you can chew. Tyron your fellow deities aren't stupid, if you have found something valuable to the consortium, then don't you dare use it to gain prestige...you may obtain a bit of title....but the greedy will not be let off easy, in the end you're simply a new deity...speaking to those mortals....to me you're not different than a bug..” Elorin spoke with a casual matter. “Velethia we are leaving, my words have gotten across..” this was because Elorin could tell Tyron was trembling slightly, Velethia glanced down at him before grunting and walking away with Elorin.
Of course, Tyron was clenching his teeth, he was indeed afraid but also angry. “-you fucking bastard....you and this consortium....once I obtain that technique who gives a shit about any of you....I’ll go find a major power and trade it for resources and safety....then we will see if you short sighted mules will dare to harm me!...-”
When Avrin had finished stabilizing his body he returned to the Spectral city and searched around using his divine sense. The dragons within the southern continents sylph forest were chased off because he didn't feel the need to convert them since he felt that there would likely be stronger creatures out there that would make better Spectrals, the dragons of Seleria were too arrogant and haughty, he didn't want any of that as a Spectral.
He also saw that Ailirion was leading a large group of Spectrals to properly make a way down to the dark matter crystal vault area where they could construct a proper structure around it, since Ailirion had been handling this matter Avrin tasked Erebus with bringing together a few Spectrals to prepare more resources that would be taken and prepared for Myra to help the move to the sylph forest,
Kael was handling the situation with organizing the tournament with other Spectrals, the event had caused a great stir as well as increase in Spectrals who wanted to train, this had an effect on Asura who was now very busy with teaching a lot more, this also meant that the more Spectrals who were learning how to fight needed more proper weapons, Eitri who had prepared his things had a bit more time before he and Asura would leave with Avrin, he was helping Tardiff with sigil weapons as well as crafting weaponry for those Spectrals.
As Avrin glanced around the streets lining around the city, he noticed something strange. The only places that seemed like shops were those places that handed out equipment that was forged, apparently Spectrals would place their orders and would then return with a receipt like ticket and pick up their order and leave, there was no currency at all everything was done to help each other out, Avrin liked this method a lot.
It was Spectrals helping Spectrals, but he also worried as to how far this method could go, he pondered that when his race has many millions and even billions of individuals in the future if they reach the first universe how would supply keep up with demand, at the same time he was also a bit cautious about using currency because he understood that although money was good at keeping balance it also bred greed and evil for many individuals, he didn't feel rushed for a solution right now, after all, he understood everything now was temporary even their stay on Seleria.
“--Myra...--” Avrin in the past had been able to use his divine sense to communicate to non spectrals, thanks to his current state the range and clarity was much more powerful. His c.particles were now 95% complete while his normal particles were 45% complete, thinking about the situation still made him bitter. “--Avrin?...where are you?--” Myra was confused as she glanced around but couldn't find him. “--I’m speaking to you using...well let’s just call it divine link for now, I wanted to ask you how you are faring with preparations to move?--”
Myra was silent for a few moments before she replied. “--Syrana is quite mad and a few support her anger but my people, as well as many humans and beastkin, want to move to somewhere with a healthier atmosphere and look so they are greatly in support of it. You know Avrin because of you, Syrana hasn't talked to me after we argued!--”
Avrin frowned a little to himself “--that can't be helped, she is a bit stubborn but I’m sure over time she will forgive and forget, once things are handled Seleria will be restored and there won't be a Spectral left on this planet to worry about, you will all have your home back and without worrying about gods--”
Myra was quite curious in regards to Avrin's words, she pondered for a few moments before speaking. “--tomorrow we will begin sending several groups over to start taking materials over, will your people be helping?--”
“--when you all reach there, you will find many crates filled with what you need, so don't feel the need to overburden yourselves, it would be better to simply take more people and food to eat along the way--” Avrin responded.
Myra soon replied. “--good, that will save a lot of effort. Avrin there is something I've been meaning to ask you.--” Avrin was a little surprised, Myra wasn't ever the type to ask him something out of curiosity without worrying about him bringing destruction. “--what is it?--” he himself was quite curious.
“--what’s...it like out there?...--” Myra’s words held no real reference but Avrin knew what she was talking about “--its...well....it doesn't let your imaginations down, there is a lot to see and experience but there is also a lot of danger.--”
Myra didn't respond but because Avrin's divine sense encompassed the entire planet he could see she was sitting quietly as if she were thinking, after a few moments Avrin retracted his divine sense until it covered just his city.
He was eager to see how his people would expand out in the future but he also pondered about a few things, he understood that the past two inheritors of the dark matter heart were much more powerful than him, he wondered about the meaning of his people, how they were simply to feed him, “-did they ever devour them?...they must have been quite evil-” Avrin wasn't sure what else to think, to devour a race you created would be like devouring your own children which was clearly a case of one being evil.
After pushing the thought aside he divine linked with Eitri and Asura. “The two of you, come to me and bring your things, it’s time to leave, Eitri, I understand you will be quite busy at Shaded Moon, I want you to bring an assistant with you, I apologize for the short notice.”
Avrin was quite pleased with himself, he couldn't wait to return to The Shaded Moon to begin the next phase in his plans, and of course he had no idea that when he returned it would be a situation that would keep him on edge.