'Each Worm is a bizarre shape, but they possess miraculous powers. They are the embodiment of one or more fundamental Laws. To wield one is to manipulate the underlying rules of reality itself, to perform extraordinary feats…'
The tale was ubiquitous, known even to wastrels like the original Cayan.
Memories of 'Dominators' also clarified. This wasn't a book title, but a title itself—for those who could harness Entropy Worms and wield their power! Someone like Barton, manifesting fiery fists, was a Dominator. Dominators were ranked in nine Ranks, each with Low, Mid, and High Tiers. First-Rank was the weakest, yet superhuman; beyond the Sixth-Rank, they were called God-Sovereigns, near-godlike); and the Ninth-Rank was the legendary apex, titled God-Kings, possessing world-altering might, though only ten were said to have existed throughout history, as if each era could only bear one supreme ruler.
Barton was merely a Low or Mid Second-Rank Dominator, yet the power of his Inferno Fist was terrifying. Cayan felt it could shatter stone. Without this film, his second life would have been brutally short.
"What are you gawkin' at!" Barton yelled, breathing heavily after several failed punches, turning on his stunned lackeys. "Help me! Wear this shell down!"
"B-boss," one stammered, "you're a Second-Rank Dominator. We're just First. The gap's too big. If you can't…"
"Idiots!" Barton roared, throwing another punch. "The brat's a barely-awakened, Low-Tier First-Rank waste)! No combat experience! Even with a top-tier Worm, the Source Force fueling it will run dry! This shield's like a cup with no spring! It won't last! Attack together! Drain it faster!"
The other three reluctantly joined in. The scarred man stabbed repeatedly with his shortsword. Another pummeled with his fists. The third picked up rocks and hurled them. Under the relentless assault, the light film rippled continuously. It held, but Cayan could sense its glow dimming, ever so slightly.
"Damn nobles get all the luck!"
"Break this shell! The goodies inside are ours!"
"I'm sick of this wretched place! After this, we find a city and live rich!"
Barton cursed and encouraged between attacks, eyes bloodshot, driven utterly mad by his desire for wealth and power.
Cayan's heart sank. The film was strong, but clearly not permanent. Once it faded, facing four vicious Dominators while gravely wounded meant certain death. The shadow of death fell over him again, clearer and colder than before.
Just as despair began to take root, another change occurred.
The light sphere that had drifted from the depths of the ruins phased through the chamber wall, ignoring it completely. It hovered silently in the air, emitting a soft, pure light, like a curious observer.
Cayan (the Qin Yi part of him) stared wide-eyed. This defied all physics he knew, another stark reminder—this was no longer his familiar world.
The four attackers were also stunned by the sudden intrusion, halting their assault to gape at the sphere.
"W-what is that?" the scarred man's voice trembled with a mix of fear and greed. "An Entropy Worm? Never seen one like it… Could it be… a higher-rank Worm?"
A higher-rank Worm! The words were a magic spell, igniting an even fiercer greedy flame in Barton's eyes. Power! Greater power! The temptation was irresistible.
"Grab it!" Barton roared almost instinctively, lunging to seize the sphere.
But the next moment—
HUM
An indescribable, starry-vast, sky-crushing pressure/aura) erupted from the sphere! It filled the chamber like a physical weight, immense and terrifying!
"Gack!"
Barton and his three lackeys didn't even have time to scream properly. They were slammed face-first into the cold, filthy stone floor as if by an invisible mountain! Their cheeks were crushed against the ground, limbs twisted at unnatural angles, unable to move a single finger. Their eyes bulged with ultimate terror, bloodshot, throats making choked, gurgling sounds as if they'd be ground into paste by the sheer pressure the next instant!
Cayan, however, felt no pressure at all. The terrifying aura seemed to consciously flow around him. He stared in shock at the unimaginable scene. Four men who moments ago were intent on killing him were now pinned like insects, utterly helpless.
The sphere's light began to stretch and morph, gradually outlining a tall, humanoid figure of light. It had no clear features, but the masculine silhouette) was discernible, poised with an ancient, imperturbable authority.
The light figure turned slightly towards Cayan. Though it had no eyes, Cayan felt intensely "seen."
A calm voice, bearing the weight of endless ages, spoke directly into Cayan's mind, not through the air:
"You have arrived at last."
Cayan froze, wrestling with pain and shock. "You… know me?" He was certain neither Qin Yi's nor Cayan's memories held such a terrifying, mysterious presence.
The light figure seemed to emit a faint, almost imperceptible sigh. "Do not be alarmed. You are a Transgressor, are you not? From another world, now inhabiting this vessel."
Cayan's face went deathly pale! His greatest secret, moments old, something he hadn't fully accepted himself, laid bare! Sheer terror gripped him.
But the figure's next words pulled him back from the brink: "Be at ease. For… I, too, was a Transgressor."
Also a Transgressor? Cayan could scarcely believe his ears. In this completely alien, perilous world, he had encountered a 'fellow traveler'? A complex mix of emotions surged—shock, confusion, and a thread of desperate hope.
"Elder… who are you? Where are you from?" Cayan's voice was still hoarse, but held a note of unconscious expectation.
"The name I bore in my previous life… is long lost to the river of time," the figure's voice held a trace of distant memory. "But the beings of this world knew me as—the God-Forger King."
God-Forger King?!