Chapter 1,401 – Immortal

Zac lunged at the azure barrier without another word, his axe already in motion. The attack failed to leave so much as a mark, and Zac could sense that striking with [Void Mountain] wouldn’t make much of a difference. The moonlight powering the seal had grown stronger in the blink of an eye, and it had gained a touch of lofty Daos that exceeded Zac’s bloodline’s ability to counter.

Worse, the boost didn’t come from the moonlight still pouring through the large windows on the opposite side of the hall. It was coming from within the Hall of Abundance. The seal prevented Zac from getting a proper look at the situation inside, but it was impossible to miss that the depths were illuminated in blue. There were also traces of the very same perception that had hunted them all the way to the lodge’s doorstep. It was steadily growing stronger, bit by bit encroaching on Sevona’s divinity.

Just moments ago, Zac had felt that the hardest part was done and over with. All invaders except Descartes were out for the count, and he’d successfully opened a gap in the seal to let Esmeralda sneak into the Hall of Abundance. He’d thought the final step was to simply stall while Idiche absorbed the Divine Core, only to realize he’d trapped his two companions with a terrifying foe.

Hearing the name August made the pieces fall into place. The so-called leader of the invasion wasn’t a general or corrupted elder of the Mercurial Courts. The perception that descended into the illusory rivers, who forcibly reached across dimensions to seize Idiche. The moon hanging overhead, even now reaching for the lodge. It was all August, a personification of sin and man’s greed.

August was the name of Sevona’s guard captain in the vision, the very one who dug out her Divine Core from her chest. Zac couldn’t understand why he wanted the Divine Core. Had he lost the one in his own timeline? Or was he simply not satisfied with the one he took? Perhaps he’d joined hands with the corrupted timeline to sweep through the Omnipresence Chamber. He’d get the Divine Cores while the corrupted imperials slaughtered their alter egos.

Either way, this exceedingly powerful existence had managed to infiltrate the lodge with Descartes’ help. Zac suspected that he’d inadvertently lent a helping hand as well. While the invaders could force open a path using moonlight, simply dying would also further their goal. It was a no-win situation where Descartes nudged the scales in his favor.

Kaltosa Lu reached the same conclusion. While Zac struck the azure seal, the Elemental swept his sleeve. The dead and dying cultivators across the hall all stilled at a molecular level. Even their lingering spirituality was frozen by intense chill, while all time was sucked out of their bodies. Finally, Spatial Tears swallowed the bodies before the river of time could drag the corpses back into its waters.

Descartes looked at the proceedings with a mocking smile. “It doesn’t matter. The ritual offering quarry at the hunt’s end is symbolic in nature. The bodies I took out aren’t even the originals. They’re left rotting across the island. With my wish granted, Fate has reached equilibrium. Each candidate has been allowed to send forth their champion. Astora picked Sevona while I joined hands with August.”

Zac’s mind spun as he searched for alternative solutions. If the main entrance was a no-go, then what about the side door? With the lodge’s divinity weakened, he might be able to force his way through. Of course, that would depend on whether Kaltosa Lu was willing to cooperate, and whether he could hold down Descartes.

It was as though Descartes could hear Zac’s thoughts. “You’re free to leave this room and officially end the ceremony. Of course, doing so will leave me no choice but to push the needle in our favor. August left me with more than one safeguard. I suggest you stay for a final hunt. The Fate accumulated in this hall is enough to overturn the Heavens.”

“You’re going against the Empire’s interests siding with that thing,” Zac said.

He couldn’t tell if Descartes was bluffing with his threats. Even if he was, Zac didn’t dare call it. There appeared to be a fraught balance in the tug of war on the other side, and that was while only a fraction of August’s power had reached the Hall of Abundance. Another push and all would be over.

Willing or not, his best option was to play along with Descartes’ game. Zac needed to kill or at least incapacitate Descartes before figuring out a way to help his allies. How Kaltosa Lu would react when only the two of them were left standing in the ring was a problem for later. At least for now, their goals should be aligned.

“Going against the Empire’s interests? How?” Descartes jeered. “You’re deluding yourselves if you think those you just killed are not devout subjects of our Empire. They may have become monsters, but what true citizen isn’t willing to become a monster to further our cause? The very fact that they can enter our side proves that final legitimacy is open to interpretation. Why should I work with the Theomores, who have stubbornly kept the Gift of the First Era to themselves?”

Zac understood that Descartes was buying time, but he still chose to play along. This outside party left Zac feeling a tremendous amount of pressure, and he still didn’t understand how Descartes had recovered his lost arm. It would be nigh impossible to kill Descartes without understanding his path, and getting a glimpse of his origins could provide a critical clue.

It couldn’t be something so simple as regeneration since Descartes’ sleeve and bracer had returned with the regrown flesh. Considering he was sent to the Mercurial Court, he should possess one of its related Daos. If cutting through his arm was an illusion, it was an exceedingly realistic one. Zac hadn’t noticed anything amiss, and he couldn’t find anything suspicious in his memories. Except, if Descartes wielded illusions that could influence his surroundings to such a degree, then Zac would never have noticed the ambush ahead of time.

It could be extraordinary control over space. If he connected the space of his stump and the severed arm just as it was being cut, Descartes might be able to reconnect the spaces and reattach his arm. If this control was taken to an extraordinary level, each cell could be connected with its neighbors through spatial links. That way, he could be cut down at an almost molecular level without actually being wounded.

Or was it time manipulation? Had Descartes rewound time to before his arm was severed? Zac felt this was the least likely of the alternatives. He’d already seen temporal attacks from Kator and Kaltosa Lu. They could only manipulate temporal flow to their advantage. Rewinding time was another matter entirely, and Zac suspected that it would break the rules of causality like Leviala Cartava’s Heavenly Eyes.

“The Theomores grew too conservative after the Emperor gave them control over the Ultom Courts. They wasted the gift, and their understanding of the Ultom Courts isn’t necessarily greater than that of my new helpers. Our grand undertaking is approaching fruition, but the Empire is filled with rot. We were sent here to administer a final test. If Sevona falls, it simply means the Astora girl and the Theomore Clan are unworthy of wielding the Ultom Courts.”

“We? Just who are you?” Zac pressed.

“My identity is irrelevant. I’m but the instrument of a larger design,” Descartes said as an intense Killing Intent gathered in his chest. “I’m more curious about who the two of you are. The Grand Preceptor said that there’s only room for one Flamebearer candidate at each court. I hoped to use this island to seize Astora Theomore’s Fate, but it looks like she had the foresight to stay away.

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“Instead, I track down not one but two other Flamebearers who shouldn’t exist,” Descartes said with a bemused voice. “Oddly enough, someone warned me this might happen. Do you know what his suggestion was?”

“To gracefully back down and leave this opportunity to your betters?” Kaltosa Lu asked with a smile.

“A mere Centigrade Servant dares to talk about betters? I don’t know how you escaped the facility, but I’ll make sure to send back your Primordial Runes,” Descartes sneered, causing a flicker of genuine anger to appear on Kaltosa Lu’s face. Not bothering to hide his disdain, Descartes brought out a paintbrush covered in runes. “He urged me to erase the anomalies. Seizing your destinies will return the trajectories to their natural order. It should also give me a leg up in my next round with Astora Theomore.”

Part of Zac wanted nothing more than to continue the exchange. Descartes obviously possessed extremely valuable information, and not just about Ultom and the First Era. Zac’s earlier suspicion was proven correct: Descartes was a high-ranking disciple from the Imperial Capital far away on the Limitless Expanse. He would know about the Empire’s situation in its final days. He might even know something about Karz’s ultimate end and the Technocrats’ attempt to stop the System’s awakening.

Nevertheless, the clock was ticking, and Descartes was no longer holding back his greed for their Flamebearer seals. His demeanor was almost identical to Kator’s when he rushed for the final seal inside the Centurion Base. Once more, Zac would make sure their schemes came an inch short of fruition.

Zac shot forth like a meteor, opening with a lightning-quick swipe aimed at Descartes’ throat. Black chains dripping with the weight of Death rattled as they rushed to weigh their target down. All the while, two billowing clouds of deathly Miasma filled every corner of the lobby. Zac knew he’d need every advantage he could get, so he activated both [Deathmark] and [Fields of Despair].