Sparks crackle throughout my entire Immortal Form, and silver threads are continuously siphoned away from my core.
Yet, I feel as though my strength and perception are only growing stronger.
A perfect connection has been formed with the river of silver threads in my blade, and the center of my Immortal Core overlaps with Maria's. As a one-way river of divine energy flows into the depths of this soul weapon, a familiar self-regenerating process summons the lost threads back into my core.
It feels just like the sensation I felt when first entering the membrane, when we still had to break through a realm wave in order to find Noctus.
Even the sparks that radiate off my Immortal Form as demonic energy and mana are colliding like matter and antimatter. They are, in fact, destroying each other to revert back to the state of nothingness they were torn apart from; however, within Maria's void body, the necessary energy can be summoned back into existence as many times as necessary.
That is, as long as it does not leave the angel of darkness it is resting within.
A constant flow of silver threads leaves me, and the golden sparks only increase in frequency. Yet, I do not move any closer to death.
Instead, my energy control and depth of consciousness only grow from the continuous use of power.
This only makes the glowing reflection in the outer realm of void creepers even brighter, as all of the energy within this universe is now resting within my grasp.
I stare down at my sword that has a thin layer of golden glyphs imprinted at its core.
Every single one of its complex laws pulls me to swing it forward, toward the golden dragon floating in the empty space of this universe.
"Was this going to happen all along? Did you always know I would have to fight you in the end?" I yell out as I step closer, with an icy membrane fluctuating around me as I do.
He does not say anything back, only silence returns. I try to read his gaze, but I can only see what I want to see. There is simultaneously nothing, and an influx of memories and emotions from infinite past conversations that have said everything that has already needed to be said.
Even now in our Immortal Forms, he appears as an overwhelming golden dragon, tens of times larger than us.
When the tip of my blade pierces his chest, an echo of telepathy finally comes back.
"This is not fighting. This is what was always meant to be. I will not truly die, and neither will you. We have the opportunity to live on once more."
Even the radiating waves of serene golden light that bounce in through Maria's void barrier are filled with complexity that could extinguish my being with a simple thought.
If Ember wanted to block my sword and stop this from happening right now, it would be entirely possible.
Instinctively, I know that the moment I kill this dragon, my life will end as well. We are undeniably soul-bound through the demon and dragon pact. There is only one known way to work around this barrier, and that is to sacrifice the dragon's essence and line the inner and outer walls of my soul with the glyphs left behind while relinquishing my rights to ever use the system again.
I have witnessed countless demons choose this path, to become the white ethereal beings that roamed the Purple Zone of the Upper Realm.
I've watched many mana-based lifeforms do the same, preserving their consciousness for a few million more years after their demise.
Some had very unique variations, like Noctus, attempting to stop his body from aging while the rest of the galaxy lived on with the use of realm waves. Abby and Seraphel managed to touch the laws of this universe and leave remnants of their souls and ideals behind within an artifact.
Even the collective of past overseers that managed to gather enough silver threads to bind their fate to the Origin Plane for a few hundred million years at a time.
These so-called Immortals still all died out and were forgotten.
No one has ever truly found a way to live forever. It seems to be an impossible task.
That is my thought until the blade in my grasp pierces all the way through Ember's scales, and deep into the depths of his golden Immortal Core.
I feel the same sharp pain rippling throughout my entire being, as though I'm fracturing my own soul.
Yet, from deep within the cracks in our soul-bound lifeforce, I feel the weight of countless lives flooding outward. With it, a single level-up notification turns the very last dark gears in the system up to the surface.
The corners of Ember's mouth turn up to form a toothy grin as we both hit level 10 million, and golden threads start seeping out of his fractured core, through my blade, and into my own Immortal Form.
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Author's Note:
If you're enjoying Dungeon Diver and want to follow Jay on his journey ahead of schedule, check out the Patreon link in my profile bio.
There's custom chapter art for every new daily upload too!
Thanks for reading:)
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