Chapter 1,355 – Naruk

Zac’s intuition and Tavza’s understanding of ancient arrays led them straight toward the inner sanctum. With the jammer deactivated, the changes to history had finally grown significant enough that Zac could sense a drain on the memory domain’s Faith Energy. However, the loss was insignificant, hinting at immense reserves to accommodate higher-grade existences.

The hidden underground complex was reinforced with high-grade materials, but they could feel how the battle aboveground was growing more desperate. This was expected, considering their actions had throttled the energy going to the shelter’s suppressive runes.

Beyond the constant tremors, the labyrinth was isolated from the war. There were no guards blocking their approach and no barriers to slow them down. A few nightmares spontaneously appeared because of the overwhelming amount of Hope Energy. A swing or two of [Evolutionary Edge] dealt with them as easily as any normal beast.

They reached the central chamber within a minute. Not even the Pathfinder’s most important place was guarded, nor were there any reinforced doors in their way. Zac wasn’t the least bit happy that things went so smoothly. If something seemed too good to be true, it usually was. His grip on [Verun’s Bite] tightened as they stepped inside.

Zac’s attention was drawn to the huge realmgate waiting at the center. It looked like a well filled with gasoline, its oily patina conveying the myriad Daos that went into the so-called Hope Energy. Countless engraved runes thrumming with Sacrificial Energy kept the gate stable and, to some degree, mitigated the overwhelming Dao coming from the other side.

The carefully arranged scene was very different from the unfettered golden sphere inside the Joyful Gardens, but they shared a critical attribute. They were both realmgates that didn’t rely on the Dao of Space, which coincided with Zac’s suspicions about his enemy. Mox couldn’t use the Void of Space as a hiding spot—it was too easy to enter. The dimensional barriers were much sturdier before the System’s rearrangement of space, but even Zac could open Spatial Tears in the right circumstances.

Only the Voids of incomplete Dao Peaks were completely safe since those spaces were blind spots for both the Heavens and ancient cultivators. That included the imperfection in the Dao of Life that Zac discovered last time. There was undoubtedly a similar dugout inside this realmgate. Zac didn’t even need to enter a state of epiphany to sense the thread of malice leading down the well.

The only thing standing in Zac’s way was the scholarly man standing by the gate, completely unbothered by its unnatural aura. Zac didn’t need to recognize him to know it was Naruk, the Pathfinders’ chief researcher and undoubtedly an agent of Mox. Seeing him in person dispelled any lingering doubts that the researcher was an unwitting accomplice looking for a way out of the Mousetrap.

Naruk had completely fused with Hope Energy to the point Zac couldn’t sense any other spirituality. More damning was the grimoire in his hand. It had the same macabre design as the tome Zac encountered when battling Ching’Ru. The main difference was that its pages had empty eye sockets instead of gaping mouths. The grimoire dripped with blood, and Zac blanched upon realizing a page had just been added.

“The Divine One has awaited your return, Voidwalker,” Naruk said as he slowly turned to face them.

Naruk’s face was a bloody mess of bone, sinew, and pulsating flesh. He’d actually ripped his face off and added it to his grimoire, using his blood to scribble the indecipherable runes on the page. His eyes must have been sacrificed since they were neither inside the book nor left on his face. They had been replaced by near-perfect replicas of the realmgate behind him.

His gaze held boundless madness and terror, turning a glance into an attack that would shatter the minds of weaker Hegemons. Zac’s vision swam and filled with twisted creatures. He had to enter his Void State and actively channel [Soul Guardian] to extract himself. His vision stabilized, but the creatures remained. They were nightmares turned real through the power of Naruk’s belief, possibly extracted from some dark corner of Zac’s mind.

None emitted the weight of an inner world, but three emanated a pressure that eclipsed a conventional Pseudo-Monarch. The others were all at the peak of Hegemony. It was no wonder that Naruk didn’t keep any bodyguards by his side. For one, he was evidently expecting Zac’s arrival. Secondly, he was powerful enough to protect himself.

The lineup of nightmares could pose a threat to most Early Monarchs, not including the danger coming from Naruk himself. Zac had no idea what abilities he and the grimoire wielded. Worse, he was standing right next to the realmgate. There was a decent chance he could draw on its power, maybe even call for backup if things started to look bad.

Boundless Death erupted before Zac could decide on the best approach. Zac turned to a barely recognizable Tavza. She’d replaced high-quality but simple robes with a pitch-black voluminous dress. Dozens of layers flowed for a dozen meters like a gothic gown, their movements resembling deathly waves crashing against the shores.

It had to be a War Regalia made exclusively with materials brought out of the Abyssal Lake. Its profound spirituality made his [Ossuary Bulwark] seem like a piece of garbage, and Tavza had donned at least six accessories of similar quality. Even a pig would turn into a powerhouse with such equipment, and Tavza was no common cultivator.

Her face was covered in the archaic patterns of the Azol Branch like a second set of pathways. Their Abyssal Death felt bottomless, purer than the Abyssal regalia she wore. Zac also spotted a sparse web of thin golden lines hidden among the black. Tavza didn’t have them when Zac saw her Bloodline Tattoos by the Abyssal Pond, and they were undoubtedly connected to the events during his Atavism.

Zac couldn’t tell if they came from the Creation Heart bleeding through or if Tavza’s bloodline had actually been modified by her brush with Chaos. Either way, the golden lines didn’t seem to weaken her growing momentum. This was the first time Zac had seen Tavza at her strongest.

There were no recordings of her fighting during the Intersector War, and the few times she’d acted in his presence, it was through her bloodline or simple manipulation of Miasma. Zac didn’t even know which Daos she practiced. Her low-key personality had subconsciously given Zac the impression that Tavza was somewhat of a non-combat cultivator, like Vai or Boje Zethaya.

Tavza’s current appearance swept that misconception away. Her burgeoning momentum was not the least inferior to Kator with all Miracle Bones and his White Sky Domain active. Her aura even eclipsed the Izh’Rak Reaver’s when three instruments appeared behind her. The two Eonic Seeds might have been roughly equal before the trial, but Tavza had completed her Planeswalker Seal and encountered her own opportunities during the trial.

Zac guessed the constructs were Supreme-quality Array Disks rather than part of a skill. They looked a bit like brooches, with massive crystals encased in a thin band of unfamiliar metals. Both metals and crystals held the unmistakable aura of the Four Laws, surpassing any of the Law-imbued treasures Zac had encountered.

Each crystal also emitted a distinct aura, which finally shed light on Tavza’s path. The An’Azol descendant possessed three Earthly Daos, where the first was a combination of the Peak of the Grand Tapestry and Death. The second was a fusion of Death and Water, no doubt influenced by the Abyssal Lake. The last was Pure Death, and it was this Dao that held the Abyssal Oblivion Zac had sensed over the past day.

All three Daos were Middle Earthly Daos, though the one with Pure Death had a stronger presence. Tavza was either at the cusp of breaking through or augmented the Dao through other means. That would still put her a notch below Kaltosa Lu with his three Middle and one Late Earthly Dao, but Zac was still awed by the accomplishment.

Tavza was only the second person Zac knew who used the same Dao in three different Earthly Daos. The other was Iz Tayn with her multiple aspects of Fire. Such a level of specialization had extreme requirements on one’s comprehension and affinity. It wasn’t as simple as needing three times the number of insights; the difficulty was exponentially higher.

An Earthly Dao was a distinct, cohesive system of understanding. Having three based on Death essentially required levels of comprehension exceeding the scope of Hegemony. Zac couldn’t imagine forming a second Earthly Dao related to any of his three Daos, let alone a third. Catheya was no different. She had two Dao Branches of Ice, one mixed meaning and another pure, but she still planned on fusing all her insights of Ice into a single Earthly Dao.

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In exchange for the greater difficulty, Tavza’s level of specialization undeniably came with certain advantages. Her whole path was unified through a single Dao, creating huge synergies. It was like the stacking effect of Zac’s Titles that had pushed his Strength to almost ridiculous levels. Zac was far behind in terms of synergizing his insights. He didn’t have a single attack that utilized all three of his Earthly Daos. Even if he did, combining three Early Earthly Daos of different directions couldn’t match the depth of a Middle Earthly Dao. He’d be fighting quality with quantity.

That wasn’t necessarily true in Tavza’s case. Zac suspected her specialization naturally awarded her a boost similar to [Spiritual Void]. She was also an Array Master, so her Dao Arrays were undoubtedly far superior to his Dao Molds. Adding Tavza’s Hidden Nodes, Bloodline, and other abilities that further boosted Daos, she might be able to exhibit strength approaching a Peak Earthly Dao.

It was no wonder Tavza remained completely calm as she looked at Naruk and his army. Even if she couldn’t win, she should be able to safely retreat after keeping him occupied for a while.

“Go, rewrite history,” Tavza said as a swirl of Abyssal Death surrounded him.

Different from her Abyssal Mark, this ability was solely meant to isolate hostile energies. The Hope Energy’s corroding influence was reduced by two-thirds, and the realmgate no longer made his head spin. It wouldn’t last long, but every bit counted.