The tension of all of my soul ties being dragged through time, combined with the growing internal pressure to refine and contain all of the bright red metallic gel, becomes so immense that every bottleneck in my mental and physical forms shatters.
Every single dim glyph shines bright white and tethers to the energy around it, funneling back to the center of my soul and latching onto every single summoned silver thread folding out from the void.
All three of my cores are pulled together, completely consolidating the energy within them.
There is mana, ether, demonic essence, corruption, high royal vibrations, advanced primordial aura, and the foundation of my very soul uniting as one, each one refining and compounding on each other to simultaneously elevate every single energy form to a higher realm.
The near-infinite bends in space erupt with thousands of times more silver threads than I had moments ago, and the single core in my chest channels and contains the majority of them, while the rest of my body is infused with the overflow.
There is no longer any separation between energy forms, only a single substance flows through it, a fiery red gel fully controlled by white glyphs, with silver threads reacting to every mental fluctuation I desire. It is exactly what I envisioned: the Emperor's Essence.
There are no particles in this dark red metallic liquid; the energy that makes it up is so compressed that it is defying the natural laws of existence. There are millions of particles per Planck length that should be present, and if we were still in the Origin Plane, the pressure of our existence would simply form a black hole larger than the galaxy itself in order to counteract the unnatural collection of energy and laws in our beings.
I watch as Maria's Immortal Core consolidates, and all of her energy forms merge as one beside me.
Even the compacted, duplicated soul energy cores merge and bend inward to fuse with her divine core to trigger the shift.
There are infinite layers of ice making up her being, so perfectly consolidated that it is truly only one single body.
Not a single notification rings in my mind, but I see flickering white, red, and silver letters forming at the bottom of my buffs status, reading: [The Immortal Emperor's Body of Initial Harmonization].
I no longer feel like there is an overwhelming and uncontrollable ocean of energy flowing out of me. Now, I can directly influence and control every last drop of essence.
This, in turn, sends ripples of invisible perception through the membrane.
Not only do I have full confidence in my movements, but the entirety of this dark space becomes clear in my mentally mapped imagery.
The exact laws of direction were unknown to me before because I was still attempting to transcribe them into the rules that govern the lower and upper realms.
If I were to fly straight forward in this abyss for long enough, I would end up right back here where I am floating now.
The same would happen traveling up or down, or in any known direction.
There is a finite amount of space in this membrane, but every single layer of it is folded in on itself to make a directionless void.
With enough mental pressure, with a single step, I could appear in any part of the void I desired.
Yet, there are still anomalies and other powers at play that are preventing such easy travel.
I can clearly see the visceral carvings in this membrane that look like translucent veins, latching onto the folded void. It is the remains of dead soul ties that have fused to the outer walls of this place using pure time and mental energy as a binding agent.
The construct that holds the lower and upper realms in the void has its own indentation of soul ties that allow it to sink into the membrane, and these decaying demonic pulses of light are latching onto this similarity.
What felt like an impossibly tough tendon of gravity before, with no physical form to grab onto, now looks like it is within my ability to manipulate.
It's the first thing I strike my sword down at, severing dozens of these invisible strands pulling time away from the Origin Plane.
There is an extremely heavy resistance, but with the energy surge from my transformation, I manage to break through. The aftereffects are instant, as I feel the acceleration of time connected to my soul ties slow.
Yet, Noctus' yell through the void carries an immense pressure. I feel the countless invisible streams of energy in the membrane pull even tighter to compensate.
"What is the meaning of this? What have you done? I timed everything perfectly. I even peered over the edge of the membrane to confirm it. The system's last Overseer is me... I am the last Emperor... This is impossible."
An enormous portion of the white glyphs and loose soul ties surrounding this demon form an incredibly dense gauntlet around one of his clawed hands, and he thrusts himself forward through the void at me.
I swing upward with my sword again and block his incoming strike, blade to palm.
The membrane itself quivers under the pressure, as both of us stop right where we are with equivalent physical force.
Yet, I feel no fatigue at all. Rather, wielding this much power energizes every single drop of essence in my being. I glow even brighter silver and red, increasing the strength of my swing the longer we stay locked in place.
The Demon's eyes, made of purple essence and fragmented ancient glyphs, open wide in fear as the energy surrounding his arm cracks and slowly becomes overwhelmed.
An explosion of soul ties and demonic glyphs tears through space next as I follow through with my swing, destroying Noctus' hand and half his arm.
He flies backward through the void, while right beside him, an impossibly, and impossibly long, wave of mirror-like ice slices through the membrane beside me.
It severs over a hundred soul ties connected to the Origin Plane and collides with the retreating Demon's head.
Another enormous formation of his remaining loose soul ties and glyphs are used to summon a white protective helmet. Yet, it is not enough to block the full power of the incoming strike.
Another explosion ripples through the membrane as more of his energy is dispersed, and that demonic head is blown apart.
As we both follow after, slicing through soul ties in the void between us, Noctus grows his head and arm back, but the size of his purple body shrinks.
His voice trembles with anger and fear as he yells again, "No- This... this must be another lie. Another façade conjured by that Dragon. He's trapped me in some kind of illusion. That must be it. The Creator's Legacy never had additions for energy binding. My Legacy was meant to be the enhanced version, how could you possibly be this strong...?"
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Author's Note:
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There's custom chapter art for every new daily upload too!
Thanks for reading:)
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