[The Outer Sector: Kingdom of Corzox]
Akelus was flying across the vast stretches of [Corzox], meticulously avoiding every hostile force on the battlefield which included the Rift-Borne, the Invading Races, Demons and the Jotuns.
He discreetly flew away from the invasion, with Xylus resting within his ring.
Hrimulfr was twitching inside a construct, relapsing from shock. A divine white sigil gleamed over his head, which kept flickering into a distorted mobius strip.
"Remember how you got into the [Kingdom of Corzox]?", Adrian spoke with a resolute tone, the group had a covered a substantial distance away from the fight. "We will use a similar approach to trace down a path for the tomb."
"You want me to rip into another spectral strand binding the [Outer-Sector].", Akelus answered as he came to a halt. His eyes gleaming gold, he wanted to find the tomb.
[Pathfinder]
A trail of Gray arrows appeared around him randomly shifting, dissipating and re-forming.
"Not much different from the [Source], is it?.. Just as elusive.", he thought to himself.
"Yes, then we will condition the strand to resonate with our Sovereign's prophecy.", Adrian confirmed. "That should point us towards the general location of the tomb."
Akelus unsheathed the Stygian Blade and with his bare hands he ripped open a fabric of reality, exposing a small tear in the domain of [Corzox]. This unveiled a bundle faintly pulsing spectral strands loosely drifting in space.
"Pick a random strand from the bundle, and plunge the Stygian into it.", Adrian instructed.
Akelus followed, he meticulously separated a single strand from the bundle and precisely pierced the Stygian Blade into the spectral strand, making a clean incision.
The pommel of blade began pulsing softly, as the silver patterns on the Stygian Blade shone with a faint glow.
The spectral strand began to stiffen up, its energy pulsing rapidly. The prophecy mural had begun conditioning and resonating with the strand, reshaping it, minutely altering its structure.
The strand eventually stabilized into a rhythmic oscillation of spectral energy. A stable pulse maintained across the stretch of the strand, as it drifted away from the remaining spectral strands.
The strand formed a loose guide suspended in space, gently waving. Firmly grasping it, Akelus attempted warping into the strand. He was immediately repulsed from it by [The Purge], barring his entry. A single draconian eye glaring at him with spectral fury.
"[The Purge] seems to be aware, it's getting restless.", Akelus mused.
"You are in [The Pioneer's] domain, of course he is aware of you.", Xylus chimed in. "Especially if you have tampered with his realm, you're lucky that he didn't warp you right away."
"Hmmm... No worries, we can simply trail the strand instead.", Akelus sighed, firmly grasping onto the pulsating spectral strand.
Gliding along its length, Akelus streamlined across the vast expanse of [Corzox]. The strand guided them to a sputtering world, desolate and utterly devoid of life. Even the inanimate seemed to dissolve into emptiness. The strand plunged into the background, dispersing mid-way.
"Something is not right.", Adrian mumbled. "This seems like the edge of creation, that is [Oblivion]. The Prophecy shouldn't have led us here."
"Illusion?", Akelus mused.
"Maybe, maybe not.", Adrain replied. "It doesn't seem to be one, at least I don't sense anything beyond the barrier."
"Hrmm...", Akelus frowned, his eyes gleaming gold.
[Pathfinder]-He was looking for a way forward.
A vast horde of grey arrows appeared around him, flickering, distorting and warping. These arrows kept multiplying, while simultaneously getting destroyed endlessly. A single pitch black sigil marked the barrier leading into [Oblivion].
Akelus' sight was shrouded as the arrows began flooding his senses, hammering his synapses. Overwhelmed with sensation and nausea, he flinched and shook himself immediately brushing off the arrows and clearing his sight.
"Huuorh!.. Let's not do that.", Akelus heaved with relief, shaking his head.
"What now? This seems like a dead end.", Akelus asked.
"This doesn't make any sense, but we have to adapt. Don't bother ripping another strand. This probably has got something to do with the barrier itself.", Adrian answered, tapping his temple. "Let me think... Let me think... Do a perimeter sweep."
Akelus traced back surveying the space. He kept moving towards the outer periphery. It wasn't obvious at first, but there was bulbous layer neatly packing the dimension together.
The boundary could only be felt through distortions, and that too were subtle. Akelus conveniently flew through the barrier, which faintly cleared around him.
He hovered for a bit, comparing the external domain with the internal dimension. The realm seemed to be warping into a blank screen, into a canvas with no horizon.
Akelus arched back yet he couldn't find an end to the blank.
"This definitely doesn't seem like an illusion.", he sighed.
"I am more inclined to believe that it's an inlet.", Adrian spoke. "The strand was meant to lead us to the tomb, not the [Source], and here I am detecting neither. This can't be the actual search location, as nothing can exist in Oblivion."
Akelus silently stood rooted, contemplating Adrian's words.
"The [Source] was meant to be located at the edge of [Oblivion] and the tomb was meant to be within the bark, which is the [Outer Sector]. But, this dimension directly leads into [Oblivion].", Adrian continued. "It functions more like a portal, it's not the edge. Creation would cease to exist at the edge, it won't warp into it. It would neither dissolve nor disperse, but simply come to halt."
"Hrmm... So, neither the [Source] nor the tomb would be present here.", Akelus pondered. "But, since the strand led us here, it means that a way forward is present here."
"It's a hunch, but it's also the most likely scenario.", said Adrian. "Traversing further into the dimension would be suicide. But, bending the laws that hold it together is totally feasible. And, if it happens to be an inlet, it would directly lead us to the realm that is imprinted to it."
"We can try unwinding the constraints that maintains the shape of this dimension.", he continued. "I can help you with that. But, we just have to be careful, one wrong move and you might end up unraveling everything around you. The Outer Sector would be able to contain the breach, but the same cannot be told for you. [Oblivion] isn't something to be trifled with."
"Your hunch better be right, Adrian.", Akelus grimaced, as he nimbly approached the distorted boundary.
"The primary laws to focus on here are space and chaos.", Adrian instructed. "I'll help you with premonitions and directions."
Akelus simply nodded in agreement, as he stretched his hands. The arcane patterns on his robes shared a faint glow. He gently brushed his fingers against the faintly distorted barrier. The patterns on his robes began pulsing softly, pouring his Qi into the barrier. He let his Qi run wild within the barrier, like a fluid filling a container.
Adrian firmly held onto a armrest, gently closing his eyes. Focusing his mind, he meticulously plotted the circuit in which Akelus' Qi was flowing. He was charting out a series of pathways within the barrier. Molding it, reshaping it, the barrier slowly began to respond to his presence. He could sense available directions within the barrier, empty spaces and nodes.
"I'll open a path, we will use your energy as a beacon trace down our destination. Follow the path I am opening", He instructed Akelus.
[Pathfinder]-Trace Adrian's path.
An array of sigils appeared across the barrier, plotting the circuit that Adrian was crafting within the barrier.
Akelus promptly directed portions of his Qi through these sigils, effectively filling up the circuit. The barrier faintly wobbled and flickered.
Adrian continued guiding Akelus, burrowing his way through the barrier till he reached the other side. Akelus' Qi didn't come to a halt, neither was it dissolved. It flowed freely without any restrictions.
"I can still feel my Qi.", he said.
"Then it's likely that my hypothesis is right.", Adrian responded. "Try warping through the channel we plotted, this much should be possible."
"Phuuu... Okay.", Akelus heaved nervously, his palms twitching with anticipation. He thrust his palm through the channel, slowly warping into the circuit crafted within the barrier.
His presence trailed behind his Qi, meticulously following its path. It was a short journey, with Akelus getting sucked out from the other end.
Akelus ended up in a realm shrouded with a dense gray fog. He was greeted with a torrential storm of arcane magic erratically sputtering and flowing across the realm in a chaotic manner.
He silently hovered in space, as the dense gray fog engulfed him in its embrace.
******** ******** ********
[The Outer Sector- Kingdom of Corzox]
Meanwhile...
The invasion had reached a mad peak of escalation. The Endless Races of [Yggdrasil] pincered between the [Demon of Pestilence-Aerico] and the Rift-borne forces, had begun to savagely spread across the realm of [Corzox] blindly ravaging everything within sight. Their armies vicious with apathy, brutally draining life and resources from the realm.
Four dragon sentinels, quickly engaged [Aerico] in combat, desperately attempting to contain his onslaught by themselves. Another Dragon Sentinel, Balrog led two battalions of Rift-borne after the savage invaders ravaging [Corzox]. Balrog was still coordinating with the Dragon Sentinels, Genma and Sherpa, keeping the entrance into [Ancestral Planes] secure.
[The Jotun] armada was brutally beaten and battered. The Giant Admirals had lost a considerable segments of their fleets, with the whole armada dwindling in numbers. The bullet formation could be barely maintained. Lothaar's framework was slowly crumbling, but was surprisingly resilient.
Out of the five Giant Admirals, two had already perished, Junmei and Phion. Junmei was slaughtered by the Dragon Sentinel Meliath's legion, while Phion was pincered and bombarded by the Rift-borne battalions. This way the Rift-borne had gained substantial control over the periphery and internal structure of the formation.
[Halibaard] still aboard [Skjolio], still having mad faith in his prophecies. [Lothaar] was getting brutally cornered by Meliath, with his ship dauntlessly leading the charge. [Goro] desperately held onto his dear life, he was the one keeping the armada together. Going out of his way to secure and protect stray fleets and ships, maintaining the [Jotun] numbers as well as he could.
Few of the stronger factions within the Endless Races of [Yggdrasil] attempted to closely trailed behind [The Jotun] armada. They were deliberately picked off by the Rift-borne army but were not wiped out. Constant pressure was maintained on them forcing them to continue trailing behind [The Jotuns].
And thus, the balance of the race to the [Source] was maintained. It became a cesspool of blood, conflict and slaughter. It was only a matter of time before the invaders began killing one another. Every faction desperately holding the one down, like crabs in a pit.
The Rift-borne army slowly and meticulously chipping at the invaders, reducing their numbers in gradual fashion. Maintaining a steady martial pressure on the invading factions, but ensuring that they didn't the main point of focus for the conflict.
Instead the invaders were focused on suppressing [The Jotuns] who were presumed to be the closest ones in the race.
"Ha Ha HRRAAGGH!!!", [Aerico] let out a gluttonous roar, his bulging body riddled with mouths jiggling in brute force, as he rolled around in madness and his mouths flapping with ecstasy. He kept consuming and puking everything within his range, invaders and Rift-borne alike.
The environment around him had turned into a bubbling cesspit of grime, rot, blood and corpses. The invading were desperately trying to escape [Aerico's] grasp, but were getting brutally getting slaughtered by the Rift-borne.
"I don't like the way you are using me.", Aerico grumbled with a bloated tone, meekly glaring at the four Dragon Sentinels hovering above him. "But I can sympathize, desperate times call for desperate measures, he he he he..."
He had playful malicious glint in his eyes as he lunged at the sentinels. His bulbous body streaked through the space, slowly contracting his body. His mouths puking out everything he had consumed in the form of razor sharp pressure beams.
Aerico invoked his innate nature:
[Infestation]-
[Aerico's] rotund physique got toned down, as his body became slimmer and slimmer. His loose skin hanging by his bones, his countless mouths wheezing out spores. The cesspit around him began mutating, spawning and resurrecting accursed and grotesque creatures, doused and oveerwhelmed with pain and madness. The very air around him became pungent.
The Dragon Sentinels immediately backed out, with their instincts flaring danger. They set up arcane constructs defending themselves from the cloud of spores. But, [Aerico] didn't give them a chance. He meticulously controlled the spores to trail after the Sentinels.
The sigil of Blue eyes doused in shadows hovered like a halo behind the Dragon Sentinels, providing them resistance towards the spores, warding off [Aerico's] infestation.
Looking at his spores being thwarted by the spectral sigil doused in shadows, [Aerico] gritted his mouths in fury, with his skin flapping in motion.
"[THE BLASTED PURGE], YOU BLOODY CLOUD!!!", [Aerico] roared and spat. "THIS CREATION HAS FORGOTTEN YOU, YOU INSUFFERABLE OUTCAST!!! [YGGDRASIL] HATES YOU, YOU FALLEN PARIAH!!!"
But then his face twisted into a malevolent and insane smile:
"He he he ha ha HA!!!, But don't you worry pariah.", Aerico cursed at [The Purge] with disdain.
"[HELL] will love you, [HELL] will tame you, [HELL] WILL RIP YOU TO SHREDS, HA HA HA!!!"
The Dragon Sentinels contorted with hate and disgust, seeing a demon insult their legacy like this. Completely morphing into robust and powerful Dragons, they rained [Aerico] with arcane fire, ice, void, darkness, they blasted [Aerico] with whatever power they could muster.
The aftermath of their attacks completely devastated the area, purging everything in the wake of their Draconian wrath.
[Aerico] lay at the center of the crater, wheezing with exhaustion and pain. But, his burning look of ecstasy grew even more intense. He callously sucked in the cesspit of madness and destruction around him, quickly healing himself.
"So desperate, he he he. It's almost cute.", his mouths gleamed with a bright smile, then the smile suddenly drooped. "But alas, your fun ends now."
And, just as he said, [Gaki] came flying into the [Kingdom of Corzox] along with his bodies. Crashing hard on the ground below, visibly beaten and exhausted.
"|| Why are you wasting your time here?, you fool!!! ||", [Gaki] whispered furiously. "|| You should have chased after [The Jotuns]. Hraaa... Why do I even trust you with anything? ||"
"Huh?", Aerico was visibly startled. But then, suddenly-
BOOM!!!
The barrier protecting [Corzox] cracked apart, pieces of it dispersing. Out from the opening, flew in Varcielle and [Hermes], viciously ripping at each other. It looked like a clouded cluster of dragons shrouded in Golden light.
[Aerico] was shook at the sight of [Hermes] just straight up brutally pummeling Varcielle.
"|| What are you still doing here?, moron. !!", [Gaki] coughed, as he got up to fight again.
"|| Run... ||"
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