Alem Amari, the Albino Mystic, ignored it all: the rain, the charging Mass Monster Warrior before him, and the metallic stench of the Asura Dreadnought. His entire consciousness was focused on one insurmountable task: connecting the localized evil of the Dreadnought's Iku core to the boundless, obliterating pressure of The Thrum—the deepest layer of Aye's base, where the unbearable weight of collective sin resided.
He was performing the most dangerous act of the Mystic Role: asking Aye for a favor involving the essence of creation and annihilation. His Blue Aura flared violently, not with the gentle flow of Ase, but with the focused, piercing intensity of faith.
The Dreadnought is an infection drawing life from the land, Alem's mind transmitted across the Ase network, resonating with the very bare consciousness of the stone and deep earth beneath Middle Earth. It violates Ubuntu. It violates the continuity of Creation.
He forced his mind, his Dapabie, to grasp the concept of the Dreadnought's core—a physical manifestation of condensed entropy. He visualized it as a piece of concentrated sin, something that Chi would immediately place in the Thrum. He was simply utilizing the established, predictable sequence of Creation: sin is removed to the Thrum.
The Cosmic Response
Idan Odogwu, meanwhile, was a storm of focused Martial Arts and Yellow Aura Durability, holding the line against the Rakshasha Asuras. The moment Alem's focus intensified, Idan felt a strange vibration beneath his Silhouette skin—a negative pull, a suction that was not of gravity but of erasure.
The Rakshasha Asuras, who possessed enough sanity to be tactical, felt it too. They shrieked, a sound of absolute terror that cut through the torrent. Their Iku energy, which normally fueled their speed and murderous joy, began to stutter and weaken.
The Asura Dreadnought itself started to sink.
Alem's eyes flew open, his gaze fixed on the machine's central housing. He saw, not with his eyes, but with the certainty of Se-ipunnu, that he had succeeded. The deepest layer of the earth had recognized the condensed Iku as an anomaly—a sin that did not belong to the surface world.
The Thrum responded by momentarily applying a fraction of its impossible pressure to the anomaly.
Annihilation
The effect was instantaneous and absolute.
The Iku core did not explode; it imploded. It was not destroyed; it was obliterated into oblivion.
The physical shell of the Dreadnought, made of dark iron and bone, was crushed like parchment into a dense, non-existent singularity of matter. The sound was not a noise, but a vacuum—a deep, resonant thrum that rattled the foundations of the terrarium.
Iku was annihilated, and with it, the primary source of the Asuras' morale and power.
The nearby Rakshasha Asuras dropped their weapons. They weren't dead, but they were spiritually broken. Cut off from their entropic power source, they were left with only their desperate, animalistic programming.
"It is done!" Alem gasped, falling back onto the muddy ground, his Blue Aura flickering down to a candle flame. "The core is gone. The Dreadnought is in the Thrum."
The Warrior's Reckoning
Idan, however, was in the thick of the melee. The collapsing Dreadnought had created a momentary distraction, but the remaining Rakshasha Asuras were still dangerous, driven by raw instinct and their snake-like inability to feel empathy.
One Rakshasha Asura, realizing its power was failing, lunged at Omari, who was busy trying to pull Alem to safety.
Idan reacted instantly. He could have used the Shield of Durability to block, but the sight of his defenseless friend triggered a pure, self-sacrificial moment of Ubuntu. He dropped the Yellow Aura shield, using the brief moment of Sasa to channel his energy into his body.
He launched himself forward, not using a weapon, but using the explosive power of his Boxing training. He caught the Asura mid-leap, his massive arm delivering a thunderous gorilla-style uppercut. The force of the blow was so immense, so focused on pure physical strength, that the Asura was launched into the air, its jaw shattered.
Idan stood over Omari and the collapsed Alem, his massive chest heaving. He had saved them without the spear, without the shield, relying only on the strength his Makoma had provided for the Warrior Role...
Omari knelt by Alem, checking the Mystic's pulse. "The cost was great, Alem, but the favor was granted."
The silver rain was beginning to ease. The tide of Asuras was broken. They had won the immediate battle, but the energy drain was immense, and the political fallout of a successful Mystic intervention would be severe.