Nico — burned, drenched in blood, and wounded — suddenly dashed away from the fight. Covering his retreat, Shaman dove down in a feint attack, its four wings obscuring him from sight. Changing Star, dodging a swipe of one of the Terror's many hands, warily watched him. Her longsword stretched like an extension of her arm to protect herself.
Leaping down into a gap that led to the level below, the tall Sleeper shouted:
"Distract it for three minutes before collapsing the floor!"
Landing on the coral in a roll that still made his bones shiver, Nico hopped to his feet and tossed the [Severed Vertebra] to the ground, bringing his glaive down on it with as much force as he could muster. The floor indented. The bone cracked and split cleanly down the middle.
As the two halves fell apart and revealed the interior, he saw… nothing. There wasn't some magic hidden inside, and it wasn't even hollow.
Just bone.
Then, it began to dissolve into sparks.
[Your Memory has been destroyed.]
'Was I… wrong?'
He lifted his glaive, his eyes involuntarily widening.
The sparks were dispersing at a slower speed than normal, but his glaive moved just fine. For a second, he thought he had slowed down time, but, well, that was much too fantastical for such a comparatively weak Memory. The sounds of the combat above him were slowed too, and that much wasn't possible from anything merely Ascended.
Instead, there was a far simpler answer.
'I'm just moving faster.'
His entire body was now operating at a speed much greater than normal. Organs, blood, and flesh were fed essence by the destroyed relic, creating the illusion of slowed time.
Wasting none, Nico sat on the floor and crossed his legs. The [Sacrificial Sight] manifested itself, and within his body all three of his soul roots motioned towards one core. Once they wrapped around the entire glowing orb of energy, he began.
In order to rebuild his core, he needed to destroy it, and in order to do that… squeeze. Attacking himself with his own Dormant Ability, he involuntarily shuddered. His skin lined with cold sweat. Beneath his closed lids and blindfold, vibrant azure light flickered faintly.
Viciously tightening around the blue heart, the soul roots began to break down Nico's Beast Core. Cracks snaked across the shimmering surface, each one followed by a pang of agony that stole his breath away. His stance faltered, and he dropped to his hands and knees, writhing.
The vice strained further, and then…
His heart shattered into a million pieces.
'Ah…'
Completely forgoing any motor control, Nico collapsed, felt his consciousness slip away from the present, and become one with his roots. Working feverishly, they coiled into a spherical mass similar in size to his former core, collecting each broken fragment of essence before they dispersed.
'Just…'
His thoughts failed him, but his one purpose remained.
Assimilate.
Create.
Awaken.
Guided by that will, his essence spun, faster and faster, cycling a whirlpool within his self-implemented cage. Speed increased exponentially by his Ascended Memory, the broken shards fused together, each combination flashing with blinding light.
The vortex churned. A transformative change took place as the liquid light funneled into one point, creating a single bead of essence. Awakened Essence.
Its speed increased. The next bead formed. Moments later, the next, and the next after that three more. Each revolution increased its rate. Before long, hundreds crowded the ensnared sphere, and Nico's body was in a world of pain.
The act of controlling essence with such haste wasn't easy. In fact, it was the hardest thing he had ever done. Blue blood leaked from the corners of his lips, and his gauntlets were unconsciously digging into the coral. After just tearing apart one core, his body was screaming in the agony of forming another so fast.
But he wasn't done.
The last part — the most important one — remained.
Fuse it all.
Head spinning, Nico pulled the shimmering beads through space, letting them flow into a gentle river. Then, he looped them in on themselves, gradually hastening their speed until once again there was a violent well of light. Slamming into each other, the condensed beads began to fuse, more and more, and when only one remained…
…the Spell spoke, its voice completely unexpected and painfully loud:
[You have received an Aspect Legacy, Architect of Being.]
***
Nephis gasped in agony as an impossibly tough crimson hand raked her side, carving armor and flesh easily. A lone gash, deep and wide, was left behind by its mutilated fingers, only to be licked at by her flames moments later.
Behind her, crashing into the floor after having been swatted away by the Terror, was Nico's Devil. By now a dozen different holes had penetrated its wings, and two its chest. Many miracles had kept it alive and flying, but it was on its last leg. One of its soul cores was completely gone, the other was damaged beyond repair, and a pair of wings were twisted at a gruesome angle. It was only a matter of time before it perished.
The state of the creature within was indiscernible to Nephis, but she suspected it was at the very least reeling. Soul damage wasn't something to be avoided so easily. Especially not the Terror's penetrating light.
Raising her sword in the air, Nephis empowered it with her flames and attempted to draw the attention of its relentless attacks.
Slowly, she circled around it, dodging each beam, and avoiding the growing number of holes that dotted the floor. The Devil opted to simply thrash around, leaping off and throwing itself against the floor.
'Time's up,' she thought, backing away slowly.
From a distance, the Terror was surrounded by a loose circle of collapsed, broken floor. Due to the lack of structural integrity and the Fallen being's weight, everything within was going to come crashing down to the level below.
Gradually, it began to realize what was happening, but before it could attempt to move, Nephis plunged her sword into one of the last splintering sections before her.
The floor instantly collapsed.
The Terror, damned, fell, shrieking and preparing an attack for whatever might be awaiting below.
A dust cloud rose on impact, and a shockwave reverberated through the entire tower. The sunbeams discharged, annihilating the scattered shroud and anything that would've been nearby.
Only… there was nothing. No perpetrator was revealed, and its attack harmlessly dissipated, a vague distortion descending in the air above it.
Then, it cleared.
Nephis's eyes widened.
A dark figure was falling atop the Crimson Terror, and he was wielding the same glaive as before. Except this time, when he struck, it sank in deep. So deep, in fact, that when it disappeared up to the hilt, the white light burning in the thousand haunted faces flickered dangerously.
A shriek like none before reverberated in her bones.
Before Nico could be disintegrated, the Devil's battered body swept down, carrying him away.
The young man's voice fought over the agonized scream as he yelled:
"Changing Star, distract it! I destroyed one of its cores and damaged the half-formed one! All it will take is three more before the rest collapse!"
Heart pumping, Nephis brandished her sword and lunged down, landing in a roll.
Like that, they slowly beat down the former Terror. While it was technically still creating new cores, the process was long and arduous, and the unfathomable being was receiving more harm than benefit. The endless stream of soul essence was dissipating.
It wasn't long before it lost another one, its anguished cries bleeding into the crimson walls.
Then, in the assault that cost it the last one, Nico's Devil was skewered clean through, and its host body slumped over, dead. Nephis was unsure whether or not the summon was truly dead, but Nico didn't miss a beat, plunging his glaive down one last time to reap the Nameless Sun's life.