Chapter 576 - Broken Balance
As the old couple bowed in respect, the middle-aged man looked at them in silence. In his presence, none of his champions dared to utter a single word. They all knew that, had the aspect of conflict wanted to hear them speak, he would have asked for it.. Yet, he never did-he just observed the two invaders, quietly.
The first one to interrupt this silence was Baal. "High Lord, we were not expecting to be blessed by your presence." He stated after a few painfully long minutes of unnerving quietude. His tone was more respectful than it had ever been before, for he knew a word too many could easily end both his existence, and that of his wife.
Baal's words seemed to fall on deaf ears, yet, right as the deafening silence was about to resume, the lips of Conflict curved into a faint smile. "Little liar.. Of course you did. Not many of his toys, has my brother asked me not to break." Conflict jeered with an arrogant tone. While devoid of any form of respect, his voice was not as overwhelming as his bearing, nor did it hurt the ears of those who heard it. In fact, it sounded much like that of a mortal, who spoke softly, from a distance of a few steps.
Nevertheless, while quiet, these words could be heard throughout the whole universe as clearly as if spoken right next to one's ears.
In front of Conflict's seemingly calm behavior, the old champions of Fate did not dare relax. The two of them had met their high lord in the past, and they knew that calm had two different meanings for a mortal and an aspect of existence. While a mortal would assume calm was a state of mind, for an aspect of existence calm was the lack of an emotional response. They were aware of the fact that the man who stood in front of them was calm not because he was comfortable with their presence, but because they were nothing to him. A thought, a breath, a blink and they would cease to be, never to be part of anyone's thoughts ever again.
Knowing this, Rhea, who was in no state of mind to behave in an overly polite manner, let her husband Baal do the talking. He, aware of the abyss of hostile power they were facing, had steeled himself to never lose his composure, nor relax for a single moment. "High Lord, we are not here on my Lord's request, or the domain's necessity. We came to take care of our personal business."
The smile on Conflict's face deepend. "I hope it is important business. Your lives depend on it." he said, almost as if amused by the words of the old man.
Baal did not share this amusement. Instead, he felt an overwhelming sense of doom looming over his and his wife's heads. The next few words were the last ones the aspect of existence would tolerate. "The most important business of our lives, my lord. We are here for conflict." Baal sighed before slowly closing his eyes. If that was the last moments of his life, he did not wish to spend them looking at his wife being killed in front of his eyes.
While the two expected for their lives to be snuffed, however, that never happened. Instead, they heard a faint voice reach for their ears, declaring, "The only valid reason." This short sentence was the last one spoken, before silence took over once again.
Baal, relieved by learning he had spoken the right words, slowly opened his eyes, and noticed that not only his wife was fine, but that the aspect of existence, as well as his enormous army, had disappeared, leaving them their permission to roam the domain.
For someone who did not require breathing to survive, Baal took a deep breath, which he hoped could help him relax, and maybe allow his hands to stop trembling. "Rhea, you are a better seeker than I am.. Find our target. I don't wish to stay here any longer than necessary." He muttered.
Rhea was in no better state of mind, as she too could feel the pressure the aspect of Conflict brought with him.. Luckily, the anger and anxiousness she could not repress helped her retain a higher level of control, which allowed her to regain her composure faster than her husband could. With a moment's notice she focused on the light within her body, on which she directed the entirety of her consciousness.
As she did so, she immediately noticed that something was wrong.
While the power of fate given by her high lord was still present within her body, it was not part of her whole anymore. Instead, it was now hidden within a thin layer of chaotic and aggressive energy which pushed her consciousness away whenever she attempted to make contact with it.
"I.. I can't. My gift is sealed." The old woman told her husband, who looked at her with confusion.
Surprised by his wife's words Baal made a similar attempt, but with no higher degree of success. "Of course it is." He growled in irritation "Who knows how long it will take us now.." While the fact that two champions of Fate had been left to wander an enemy domain was not completely unheard of, the two had never expected that an aspect of existence could seal Fate's gift with their own power, as that had never happened before.. An interference that could have possibly delayed their mission indefinitely.
"I don't want to give up." Rhea snarled as a pitch-black emotional aura began to ooze out of her skin.
"We are not giving up." Baal responded. He then turned towards the empty space, where his boundless essence could feel the presence of many powerful champions of Conflict, and added, "Come, there has to be a record of the refugees of shattered universes."
—--
"Are you positive this is the place?" Daniel asked a restless Elijah, who kept fiddling nervously with the hem of his blood-stained shirt.
Since Daniel did not make a secret of the fact that he valued Elijah's cooperation more than his life, the latter could help but feel that his future was a grim one. Mercy was not a quality that many of the aspects of existence shared, and that was the reason why Elijah had decided to indulge in his desires quietly, on a scale so small that anyone would hardly notice.
Yet, in his eyes, Daniel was too powerful. Too powerful to escape, too powerful to refuse carrying out his demands, and too powerful to see Elijah's existence as something worth the bother of sparing once his usefulness would inevitably come to an end.
"Yes.. The champions of
onflict are in there.." Elijah acknowledged with a detached tone while pointing at a small asteroid, on which a thousand men in cultivation attires carried the unconscious bodies of several others.
In Elijah's mind the fear of going back to his personal hell had begun to fester, making him numb to his surroundings, as well as the current mission. He was like an exhausted animal, forced to walk and carry its owner's carriage, but aware that what lay at the end of the road is not food and rest, but the butcher's blade.
Irritated by Elijah's state of mind, Daniel forcefully injected a portion of his mental power into his body, but while that helped the former go back to his senses, a clear mind did nothing but accentuate Elijah's understanding of his situation.
Seeing as Daniel could do nothing to lessen Elijah's fear, he gave up trying. "Since we are here, the option should have been updated. Read it to me." He ordered in an attempt to shake the fear-inducing thoughts off of Elijah's mind. Luckily, with the help of Daniel's mental power, the champion of Destiny was finally able to focus.
Once again he focused on his system, and a moment later, a window appeared in his mind. "Rescue the members of Conflict's domain." Elijah read out loud.
Once again irritated by him, Daniel grabbed Elijah by the collar, causing the champion of Destiny to be caught by surprise. "I told you to read the update to me! The next objective!" As the former wielder of one of these systems, Daniel knew perfectly how they worked. Many times before he had followed a system's instructions, and he knew for a fact that they were much more specific than Elijah made them sound.
As he heard Daniel's words, however, instead of going back to read once again, Elijah's brows furrowed and his upper lip twitched, morphing his expression of surprise into one of confusion.
Unwilling to argue with his captor, Elijah pointed his finger at an empty point in space, where a moment later appeared a nut-sized sphere of light formed by Elijah's essence. Once this light was formed, Elijah used his finger as a pen to transcribe the content of the small window that had appeared in his mind, not leaving out a single letter, line, or comma.
While written in Elijah's original language, Daniel could immediately tell that the window of the depraved system was identical to that of the karmic system.. And that if there was a difference he was unaware of, that could have only been in writing.
In just a moment Daniel absorbed Elijah's first memories.. The ones that depicted the times when this monster was but a powerless toddler, who listened to the spoiling words of his noble family and servants who taught him how to read and talk.
Once able to understand Elijah's language, Daniel quickly read through the mission windows, but while he was expecting it to demonstrate the former's incompetence, it left Daniel confused instead. The quest was not as specific as the ones the karmic system used to give Daniel, as many of its details were hidden under question marks and vague indications.
Elijah had guided Daniel the best his system had allowed him to, taking him into the lower domain of Trade, where the larger contingent of champions of Equilibrium had fought and captured the small group of champions of Conflict, before escorting them back onto their own territory.
Seeing as the depraved system lacked the details his system had, Daniel came to the conclusion that more than just the system's nature changed, and that there was nothing either him or Elijah could do but improvise.
Set on rescuing the champions of conflict, Daniel approached the moving asteroid, causing the champions of equilibrium to take notice of their presence. Immediately they reacted, releasing vast amounts of a power that felt frail, yet essential. This power fit the surroundings perfectly, incorporating every other form of power it came in contact with, and oppressing it into submitting to a state of pure equilibrium.
The moment the power of the champions of equilibrium was released, the battle had begun.. With no words being wasted.
Equilibrium's champions, who were all experienced fighters, turned into bolts of light in the blink of an eye, and dashed into space, splitting themselves into different groups. The vanguard, armed with large shields and swords shot in Daniel's direction, ready to deflect the attacker's blows.. Behind them, an infantry composed of spearmen readied themselves to throw bolts of pure space-shattering energy through the small gaps of their companions' defenses, while far in the back archers and gunners sent a constant suppression fire to disturb the opponent's actions.
Each of these cultivators released the power of Equilibrium, which strengthened as the groups made use of their roles and weaponry to form a perfect synergy.
While impressive, this spectacle did not stun Daniel, who, aware that he could not win with his cultivation alone, had no choice but to rely on his powers as an aspect of existence. Luckily, each of these cultivators had done enough to earn vast amounts of karma, be it negative, or positive.. And while his powers could not punish someone with a positive karma, he could at least distract them long enough to kill them with his inferior powers.
With a plan in mind, Daniel immediately tried to take over the specks of golden light that surrounded these cultivators, but quickly realized that something was wrong. His eyes opened wide as he felt the fragments of karma be stuck within the veil of power of equilibrium, which, in a moment's notice, had strengthened to an impossible degree.
"A deity facing mortals.. There is a limit to how broken I'll permit the multiverse's balance to be.." Said a disembodied voice that resounded throughout the whole universe.