Chapter 1,394 – Overturning Destiny

Zac had finished cleansing his Soul Aperture of corruption only moments ago, and the echoes of madness made a resurgence thanks to Guild Master Marai’s parting words. They brought about a confusing storm that scattered his thoughts, sprouting both deranged and reasonable conjectures. In his current state, there was no telling which was which.

A familiar pressure put a lid on the internal discourse. Zac glanced up in confusion, curious if the incursion of timelines had finally drawn Heaven’s ire. He could tell that, for once, he wasn’t the target of its wrath, though it certainly pointed at Sevona’s island. For better or worse, the presence remained a whisper and seemed reluctant to condense into something greater. Zac doubted he would have noticed if not for his repeated brushes with the Heavens over the years.

“Not good!” Esmeralda suddenly yelped.

Zac blinked, realizing that the Heavens had distracted him from a subdued transformation taking place right before him. While looking the same, Zac suddenly felt that Marai’s corpse was a stygian patchwork of slightly misaligned parts. Together, the pieces created a puzzle cruder than the lowest Corpselord. He couldn’t exactly place the problem, and his Danger Sense failed to provide any clear indications, yet he knew there was a huge problem with the fallen Guild Master.

His companion wasted no time. She grabbed Zac by his collar and flashed away as he grabbed the pouch tied to Marai’s waist. They were already a mile away when an enormous flower of spatially charged corruption erupted from Marai’s body, tearing everything around it to tatters. Zac’s Danger Sense finally caught up to the sudden turns, though they prompted no action.

Esmeralda’s deft movement easily sidestepped the calamitous streaks that lashed out in every direction, giving Zac time to observe the phenomenon. Seeing it didn’t clear his confusion, though the spectacle did subdue the undependable voices in his mind.

The concentration of corruption was almost at the level of the pond that had almost killed him just hours ago. It far surpassed what he’d sensed when Marai was alive, and that wasn’t the only thing wrong with the deadly streaks. Zac even brought out his Warbringer Idol to confirm illusions weren’t playing a prank on his senses. His heart told him that while there was plenty of Illusory Energy, what he was seeing was mostly real.

“What’s going on?” Zac muttered.

There was an issue both in quantity and in how it presented itself. Like when he took down Zorm, most of the fallout from an Inner World’s collapse would occur in subspace. With a newly formed Inner World like Marai’s, there should at most be a somewhat dangerous disturbance that could be used to gain entry.

It would be another matter if Marai had intentionally detonated her Inner World to wreak havoc on her surroundings, but that clearly wasn’t what had happened. Even if the corruption had triggered such a response, where did the rest of the energy come from? There was enough Spatial Energy to make up a dozen Inner Worlds in the beautiful yet deadly eruption.

At the same time, the mayhem didn’t match the energy. Zac had seen similar discharges before, and he could tell the runaway explosion had the potential to swallow most of the island’s core region. Yet it didn’t spread beyond half a mile, and it was dissipating in a way Zac didn’t understand. As far as he could tell, the monstrous accumulation was simply disappearing, like it had been hit by [Void Mountain]’s Dao-annihilating mark.

It looked like the problem would take care of itself. Was the phenomenon some form of post-mortem Heavenly Judgment, or were they safe thanks to the mysterious powers of Sevona’s Hunting Lodge? It was surely connected to the disjointed feeling the energy streaks still gave off. Zac almost felt like the expelled energy came from dozens of different people.

Before Zac could draw any conclusions, a glassy-eyed Idiche flickered past them. While her form was soon hidden by her cloak, there was no mistaking her destination. She’d rushed straight into the shrinking spatial storm. Even if he wanted to, Zac had no way to stop her.

“Don’t tell me she’s planning on looting Marai’s Inner World?” Zac said with alarm.

He’d be lying if the thought hadn’t crossed his mind, but every cell in his body was telling him that would be a costly adventure. What awaited on the other side of those corrupted Spatial Tears wasn’t something that channeling [Void Zone] could deal with.

“That lunatic!” Esmeralda spat, looking as incredulous as Zac felt.

“Can you bring her out?”

“No way.” Esmeralda furiously shook her head. “That’s not a true space any longer. The corruption, the island’s uniqueness, and Heavens knows what else have fused into something beyond my understanding.”

Zac hesitated before standing down. He’d spent some time recovering both Miasma and Void Energy by drawing from his dwindling stock of Void Treasures, but he was far from fully recovered. More to the point, the danger ahead wasn’t an issue of his state. Marai’s death had triggered something unpredictable and dangerous enough to give Esmeralda pause.

“We’ll have to trust Idiche knows what she’s doing, then,” Zac exhaled as he resumed drawing energy from a Miasma Crystal, his mind shifting to other matters. “What the Guild Master said at the end… How could she know? Do you think all the invaders are aware of the situation?”

“Perhaps, at least to some extent,” Esmeralda solemnly nodded. “I think the corruption helps them bend or even transcend the restrictions of the dream.”

“Overturning Destiny… Can it truly be done?” Zac muttered.

Since meeting Janos, it had become increasingly clear that the Limitless Empire’s ambitions were even greater than they originally thought. Before, they’d surmised that the Empire set up this convoluted trial to erase the lingering sin of birthing the System. From there, the hidden remnants of the Empire could gradually emerge to reclaim their lost glory.

Now, it seemed as though they’d managed to put parts of their population in a time capsule powerful enough to hide from the Heavens themselves. If their plan succeeded, the Omnipresence Chamber would open, and actual people would step out of the dream. Zac couldn’t imagine the shockwaves that would sweep across the Multiverse.

“If anyone could do it, it’s the Limitless Empire. However, I doubt too many will have the chance,” Esmeralda said. “Take that crooked mayor we met at the beginning. Even if he survived the collapse of Black Zenith, he would have died long before the Imperial Road was completed. Will that Grand Dream and his companions pay the price for trillions of such lives? Not even the Emperor himself could afford the price.”

Zac nodded in agreement. “Only those who were alive when the grand array was activated have a chance. And perhaps only those living inside the courts and a few safe harbors. The other souls are the sacrifice necessary to open the path.”

“Which begs the question: exactly when was the array activated? When the Courts opened their gates? When the System awoke? Or during the bloody aftermath that followed?” Esmeralda mused before perking up. “That lunatic actually made it out. That ability of hers is something else.”

Zac was equal parts astounded and relieved to see Idiche emerge in one piece, barring a new set of spatial lacerations. She stumbled over to their side before falling over, her sleepwalk transitioning into a proper rest. Zac sensed an ancient aura within her. Her unique bloodline was growing stronger, and it appeared to be taking on some of the island’s unique illusory aura.

Stolen novel; please report.

A sudden flash on the horizon made Zac look up, just in time to see the incomplete magic circle completely collapse.

“Don’t tell me,” Zac laughed, a theory taking form in his mind.

The timing of the sigil’s collapse could be explained if Marai was behind its failed activation. She probably wasn’t strong enough to fight against a whole party and instead opted to steal a critical component of the ritual—an item similar to the dagger. Doing so cost Marai her life, but fate brought that item into Idiche’s hands. By consuming it, the magic circle lost its foundation and broke down.

It was a wild guess, but Zac’s intuition told him he wasn’t too far off the mark. Gleaning the truth wasn’t enough to lift his mood. He’d much rather Marai had survived, and not just to learn how she’d seen through the secrets of the trial. Marai dying meant one of their strongest allies had fallen before they even reached the lodge.

“Should we get goi—” Zac’s voice caught in his throat when a terrifying perception locked in on their location. Worse, Zac recognized it. It was the presence he’d briefly sensed when visiting the other side. Not the powerful guardian hiding in the depths of the fortress, but rather the even greater presence that had been located in the desert island’s center.

“Quick, close that thing!” Esmeralda urged.

The thing in question was the remnants of the spatial explosion. Instead of dissipating like the rest of the storm, the last streaks appeared to be stabilizing. The mix of corruption and space was drawing on the island’s illusory energy, and the resulting concoction couldn’t possibly be anything good. Zac urged his tired body into action, donning his armor for protection while rallying what little Void Energy he’d recovered to form an inscrutable rune on his palm.