The Knight had ample time to mull over the dangerous effects of the thing it had done, when the whisper interrupted.
In summary, the Knight mixed its soul with that of the void being, then it eradicated it. Then tried pulling it from oblivion. Once it had been pulled back, the Knight reformed the section of its soul to complete it. Then the resulting ripple forced the surrounding area to temporarily become nothing. But this nothing did not have the will of the thing in the void; it had the will of the Beginning and End.
Basically, the thing that makes that nothing feel different is who's will it obeys. As such if the terrible existence – the thing in the void – was a void lord, and every piece of void is primarily its own, only to be claimed by those of the void. This nothing was then owned by the void lord – the Beginning and End.
This is also why it had a varied effect. The thing the knights and guards were staring at, was the nothing that has the will of the Beginning and End – basically a void claimed by it. Soon the Will reformed it back into something. Even though all nothing is part of the one in the void, everything in existence is still of the will of the Beginning and End.
The only reason souls and other similar things can be sent to oblivion and/or once again become part of the void, is because they have their own wills. The reason the Knight was out of sorts is that all of its will was spent on holding the will of the void being it had faced from surfacing and claiming its piece, then the Knight absorbed this piece into its territory.
This was similar to normal eradication. Usually, the Knight turns the eradicated souls into special material – except the divine spirit.
The nature of the Knights soul is what made this possible, and why it is such a vile stain on the order of existence. For in all three planes of existence, no soul such as this is to be. The Will of Wisdom being its blueprint, it reformed it.
This thing took too much energy to be used effectively in battle. There is also the fact that the Knight cannot mix enough to eradicate completely.
Usually if a mock soul fights a mock soul, the battle is like battle of normal beings. The only difference is that the victor removes the will of the opponent and absorbs their nothingness to increase its internal nothing. Then by absorbing its void, it increases its external nothingness.
But the Knight would do the same thing in battle, but it had wanted a way to do something else. The Knight could fight a void being and defeat it normally, but the Knight wanted something else from this whole thing, which the whisper was delighted to introduce the fruits of this achievement on que.
New skill detected: [Willruption] – 500 slaughter points consumed. Skill grants the ability to interact with wills…
Then it proceeded to give a full in-depth analysis.
The Knight had actually figured out that injuring a void being was something it was capable of being a void being. But while thinking over how to do this, it stumbled upon an idea. The core of every single void being is the will that holds its internal void together. This is why the Knight had its will.
So, what do you think is a step above just physical damage? The ability to touch the core of a being's existence – its will to be. Whether it be something or nothing. The Knight came upon this because it had fought Avarice and realised to be able to face off against the void lords, it needed to interrupt with the will.
The Knight starred upon its palm. And the air above it. Trying to do what it had done was near impossible, after all, it was a feat only void lords, the void itself, and the Beginning and End. The Knight was really pushing the boundary of its powers.
That was okay though, because it did not need to do it again. Being able to touch will is like [Soul Touch]. It was like the Knight could aim its hits at the will not the nothingness itself, but what subjugates it. Like his fists were covered with a toxic poison that only affects wills.
It did not make it any stronger, just a more ferocious being to go against. The difference between facing a dog and the same dog with rabies.
'I really want to fight Avarice again… On second thought, maybe I should unseal my second seal first…'
Night had already begun, and yet the void did not come back. The Knight knew that the darkness that is the void is summoned by the void lord it is with, such as the Knight – even though the Knight can still use it during day. The Knight knew that this meant that the void lord had just not chosen to come back for tonight.
The Knight did not want to undo the void armament – since this meant slumber – this is why it left its substitution there. This just left the Knight to experiment with the new skill.
The Knight walked to a tree, not one from the woods of Elleria, a normal one. Then it touched it and tried to eradicate the Will inside. The Knights fingers cramped and began being crushed inward by a rushing wave of will. The Knight then stopped. It seems trying to eradicate will of the Beginning and End takes way more than just the skill, even just a section. This meant it would have to try it out in battle.
It then activated another aspect of its [Daunting] power, and just eradicated the entire tree, adding just a fraction of a void unit too small to even feel. This it already knew, eradicating a truly powerful soul is one void unit, but even the hundred-kilometre Ellerian sapling is still just not enough. Eradicating less substantial things like objects or weak souls is just a miniscule void unit, it had just done it because it could.
During the second day of the Voids no show, the Knight teleported away searching for rogue monsters. There was no dungeon nearby, it had already been conquered by someone from the void, this is even why the void lord is here. Thus, no monsters were being drawn towards it. The nightly darkness had also scared off most of them. Even with it not showing for two nights, they did not dare approach.
Searching using its army helped, because the Knight found one.
You have encountered a level 78 monster, Sijk. Type-hunter.
The Knight would have had a gleaming grin if its corpse was not so mutilated.
It then began the assault by going invisible, it did not help. Hunter type monsters have unparallelled senses, one's going beyond vision.
It grabbed the Knights hand in its fangs.
It was a wild cat type beast, that had deranged into a monster. The sphinx had white fur, that had randomly arranged hair fibres that look like dead grass.
The Knight then stopped on its paw, and instead of blood, it crumbled like sand. The Knight had never seen an elemental type of beast. The sand then crawled and rejoined. This was the trend with elementals. The Knight looked at the fur on the back.
'That really is dead grass.'
The Knight then pulled out the [Roaring Hammer]. Then did the opposite of impact and focused all the void armament away from the arms, to limit the impact of the blow.
With the swing of the hammer, it was sent flying. Then while it was piling up to reform its body, the Knight loomed above it. Then its palm begat a faint sparkly blue glow, then it shifted and became an indescribable iridescence. Then the Knight grabbed into its soul. It then pulled out something.
It was a writhing flame, that looked like a swarm of insects fighting. It also looked like a red paste, one that had faces screaming in sorrow. The Knight then crushed it in its hands. Then the grass on the monsters back became alive, a lush green, filled with the vibrance of life. A garden was coming back to life, all the while like snow fur vanished.
The sandy skin now looked like the fertile fields of the farm before new life grew from it.
You have encountered a level 78 beast, Sphinx. Type-Elemental.
What the Knight had pulled out was the sick will of madness.
Then a thump sounded as the cold lifeless body collapsed to the floor. It had no will; thus, it could not be. The beautiful body then became a sandhill, covered with uprooted plants. The red sludge then vanished. Soon, the soul faded to the Realms. This was the first time it had actually killed something instead of eradicating it or taking possession. Even the Whisper did not announce the acquiring of the soul.
'I guess taking the will of the living just kills them and I don't even get anything. I guess it truly is what it was made for – a skill to use against those of the void.'
The Knight was not done though, so it continued to find monster straggles and see the true extent of this skill. Now the Knight was even capable of seeing wills within beings. As it turned out, there is a central will, then there are a plethora of others, varied in number, scale and size.
Taking any other except the main one does not kill the being. Some wills are fragile, some are sturdy. Their network can collapse when one is taken. The Knight is even able to consume wills, but they do nothing. The Will of wisdom just eradicates them.
The will of madness is so imposing that once it takes root, it eventually becomes the main will, uprooting the rest. And without it they cannot be. For sturdier wills, it takes more damage to dislodge them from the soul.
There is some parts the Knight cannot touch or even see. The wills that dwell deeper within. The will that brought about their existences, like the will of the Beginning and End.
Long story short – wills are varied and they are like viruses.
After another monster collapsed, and the Knight collected its soul, while it was still alive, the third night came to pass. The void had still not come. The Knight had to rejoin the army.
'Mugaw must be having some unforeseen problems right about now. Serves that bastard right. He cost me five of my best soldiers, and for once he can't hear me.'
The Knight then turned to face the woods, the same feeling again, but it just ignored it.
The Knight watched as they began circling Mugaw. Then the Knight waited until Solace cleared the crowd. Then the Knight appeared, as massive as ever, but having shrunk. It was still too soon to release the void armament. The problem is that the longer it waited, the worse the slumber – it had already been three days active.
The Knight was only five metres, this was because it had released most of the armament, only keeping the 10 original units activive, once gone it would revert back to four. This allowed it to shrink while still keeping itself from knocking out for a little while longer. And with this much, the minimum, the slumber time increase rate decreased.
They all looked up in wonder.
"I think I will go ahead and prepare myself for battle."
"What are you talking about?" said Adriel.
"I will stand guard for the darkness; it might appear out of nowhere. I'll guard from the outside the buildings."
With a defeated look on her face, she said, "Just shrink already. You're too big."
Zoldi came over took one glance and started laughing. "You can't, can you?"
As she laughed, the other knight Bachelors came over. Fetching asked, "You feel more powerful like this – would this be your trump card?"
Callen, "That would be ridiculous."
"It is – to a degree. Not the size though. Once my power is activated, I can't be any smaller than this."
Poli stopped by as well since no-one needed healing or restoration. "I heard from knight Bachelor Sizuil (The one who was at Maroon city with Vice) that you used to be three metres, then when she saw you at the tournament you were four, now you're five – is it a growth spurt by any chance."
Zoldi, "Wait, are you telling me this will be your new size?"
"No, no, I will shrink back, but if I do now, I might be out of commission for a few months."
Igal thought back to the training time, "So, is this why you held back when we were training?"
"Yes. There is permanent growth, this one is temporary, until I have time to rest. The power to knock out ratio is off balance…"
This made the Knight think of something – if it is off balance, then does this mean that if balance is restored, it could do it indefinitely? This thought was interrupted by the continued quarrying from the knight Bachelors.
"Wait, does this mean you can get even bigger?" asked Karen, the enthusiasm lighting her face up.
Instead of explaining, the Knight just grew to ten metres. It looked down on them. It did not know how to react to all this exited atmosphere.
'Why can't the war just resume? Dead bodies are easier company.'
Dorus, "Guys, Paladin Solace is calling. You too, the camp buildings are big enough."