Defiance of the Fall

A profound and singular Chaos was born, bringing with it a gift of tumultuous clarity that transcended time and space. Last time, Zac was able to harmonize with the Calamity within the Perennial Vastness, exposing its true nature and purpose. Today, his mind was stretched even further, making him catch a glimpse of a potential future. Zac could almost touch it—the illusory, yet-formed tapestry representing the broken Peak of Chaos.

If he could just reach a bit further, he could—

Zac quickly guarded his heart and turned his sight away from the magical transformations in his chest. The allure of a perfected Dao was no less than the Sangha's promise or the insidious whispers of the remnants. Zac was painfully aware he was far from qualified to grasp those concepts at his current level. If nothing else, he would put himself in direct competition with both the System and the Heavens if he wanted to take the Dao of Chaos for himself.

Just approaching one of the seventeen peaks provided a unique vantage, even when he stayed in the shallows. The improved Glimpse of Chaos brought him closer to the Heavenly Dao, allowing him to understand what his benefactors meant before. Zac could sense changes in the tapestries of Creation and Oblivion. Authority that had been arrogated and monopolized for untold years was being relinquished.

This rotting dam of ancient wood had finally succumbed after Zac came along, allowing the water to flow into the tributaries on the other side. It wouldn't immediately mend the cracks covering the Peak of Chaos, but it would make the System's job easier. A stabbing pain forced Zac to retract his consciousness, and he realized streaks of Chaos-filled blood poured down his nose and ears.

Observing the Heavenly Secrets didn't come without a price. If he'd let his mind linger, his soul would most likely have shattered.

After retracting his consciousness to the mortal plane, Zac's vantage point remained extraordinary. The roiling clouds above acted as a bridge, allowing him to see whatever they covered. The clouds covered even more ground than he'd anticipated. They stretched well into the Zurbor sector, far beyond the planet they set off from.

Thousands of worlds had been drowned in darkness, and the animosity was so palpable that the planets trembled. The Kan'Tanu must be wondering whether final judgment had arrived, whether Karma had finally caught up to their ways. Thankfully, his subordinates had returned and closed the battlefronts hours ago.

In the other direction, the heavenly clouds dug deep into the outer rims of the Imperial Graveyard. Zac could see the cracks appearing on the endless line of repeating towers. They were the pillars of the Great Wall of Resolution, the impassable barrier that could hold off even Late Monarchs. It was impassable no longer, with the sections in the immediate vicinity flickering precariously.

It just needed a final push, and the fortress in the wall's center was the key. The Chapter of Carnal Resolution's headquarters was the main node and controller of the wall. So long as it was suppressed and isolated, the wall would lose most of its power. The pillars would crumble when losing their protection, and a gap would be opened until someone mended the weakness.

The Kan'Tanu were already an unorthodox faction that flaunted the Law of Balance with their sacrifice-based cultivation, making them an enemy of the Heavens and the System alike. However, the Heavens could be avoided, and the System wouldn't directly act against unorthodox factions without proper justifications. It would rather use them as training devices, just like in the intersector war.

So factions like the Kan'Tanu were safe from retribution, though they had to deal with fiercer tribulations and heart demons. Zac had set out to shatter this frail balance. Justification could be engineered, and light could be shed on those who hid in the darkness. The only problem was that the fortress was more than a week's travel from their current location, which was pushing it even for the boundless clouds.

Zac still had his misgivings about the Sindris Clan, but they were undeniably the best suited to solve this issue. The Sindris would infiltrate the stronghold, fanning the flames with Dao of Technology. It would draw the System's attention, which would likely result in the Heavens also descending.

The Sindris Clan had clearly gone above and beyond with their task. Zac couldn't sense exactly what was going on, but the gathering of Heavenly Wrath was almost as strong over the Chapter of Carnal Resolution as his immediate vicinity. Blinding shields and Guardian Treasures surpassing anything Zac had seen tried to resist a rain of pitch-black lightning.

It was a one-sided slaughter. Let alone suppressed, Zac wouldn't be surprised if the whole Chapter was erased from existence. Levying a permanent, devastating blow to the Chapter of Carnal Resolution was part of his best-case scenario. A significant portion of the Kan'Tanu's elites were gathered in that area. Taking them out should drastically lessen the pressure Zecia faced, allowing them to hold on a while longer. It would also reduce the dangers they'd face in the Imperial Graveyard.

None of that mattered if he didn't succeed in the next step of his plan. The scene of his immediate surroundings was no different than the ones the cultists faced far in the distance. The roiling cloud and their slow-moving arcs of annihilation were almost enough to make Zac's mind shut down from despair.

The oppression was so overwhelming that Zac wondered if his plan would even have worked without the extra ingredients that went into the Glimpse of Chaos. Zac's fifth and final fusion was different from previous rounds in multiple ways. It contained far more energy and Dao than ever before, and being split between two bodies did nothing to dilute the depths of the truths they held.

The him who got the fourth pieces from the Calamity would have been grievously wounded, possibly even crippled, by the formation process alone. Even the fourth creation had almost left him crippled, causing a lot of headaches during his core formation. And that was after immediately extracting the glimpse from his chest. However, it wasn't wrong to say Zac had changed even more than the glimpse since then.

His Draugr bloodline had awakened, and he'd taken another step forward with his Void Vajra Constitution. His Branches of Kalpataru and Pale Seal had also taken another leap forward, advancing them to Peak Branches with solid foundations to begin looking at Earthly Daos. Just as importantly, his pathways were greatly reinforced, and a Cosmic Core supported his cultivation.

The fused Remnant Energies that were far beyond what an E-grade cultivator could withstand only put him under strain, and his insights allowed him to exert a semblance of control. There was no need for him to release this treasure and expose it to storms outside. The glimpse would stay with him until the System upheld balance and gave him what he needed.

Zac moved in perfect sync, and his two bodies looked like puppets connected to the same strings. Yet, when influenced by Chaos, they moved in opposite directions. His human half appeared above the Yphelion. Almost no time had passed since his mind returned from A'Zu's and Be'Zi's side, and Sendor's barrier was still almost fully extinguished.

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The close proximity to the Cosmic Vessel allowed Zac to reconnect with the internal systems. Zac's heart burned with fury upon realizing more than a dozen of his non-combat crew were dead. Most of his sealbearers had been knocked unconscious, seemingly by the resurrection of the monks and their Dharmic world.

Kruta sat in a pool of blood, the scorched corpse of one of the Revenants by his side. The other was contained by Ogras and Joanna, who seemed to have resisted the Heart World's influence with sheer force of will. No one was moving, and not just because Zac felt his mind move dozens of times faster than usual.

They had their hands full resisting the impressions and Daos that had seeped through the special dampeners installed throughout the Yphelion. They were only meant to resist the [Epiclesis Bell], but it had become a saving grace when the Buddha was born.

Zac snorted as he sensed the anomaly in one of the compartments. This wasn't the time to clean the slate. Sendor's protective bubble broke just as Zac appeared, and the old Realm Spirit left a final warning before dissipating.

'Be careful of the balance. The price of abiding creatures of a foreign sky is steeper than you realize.'

Zac took the warning to heart. Zac didn't understand exactly what Sendor was saying, but it wasn't hard to understand the gist of it. Sendor knew about his deals with the System, where he traded Chaos for favors. He also seemed to understand what the entity was, and that things were more complicated than Zac expected.

Still, could it compare to the Karmic Debt the System owed after Zac released the Flawed Authority? Zac refused to believe that was the case, and he extracted a sliver of the Chaos from his chest. The mote was dragged into a skill, and Zac groaned with pain when a sprawling jungle rose to enclose the Yphelion.

Zac wasn't deluded enough to think that [Apex Jungle] could withstand the crushing pressure that had exhausted Sendor's protective mark in seconds, let alone block the incoming bolts intent on erasing the whole quadrant. It was him marking his territory while displaying his determination.

The jungle looked decidedly different than normal. It was constantly shifting, looking like something conjured from a nightmare. Zac had no control over the alien trees that sprouted and disappeared, but he was still connected to the skill.

Zac looked at the roiling clouds in defiance, daring the Heavens to strike his domain. He was ready to fill any tree about to be struck by the pitch-black lightning with pieces from the glimpse. This was the only way he could think of that would let him protect the whole vessel and his crew within.

"Time to pay up."

The System's presence pressed down on him, and Zac felt some of its ruthless determination turn toward him. This was the angriest it had been since the Technocrat base, when Zac rejected its mission and focused on saving Kenzie instead. It wasn't even about about holding the glimpse hostage.

It was about preventing a cleansing wave of destruction from sweeping through the region. Sendor's warning echoed in the back of Zac's mind, but he refused to back down when the lives of his followers were on the line. Thankfully, the System relented, and a golden barrier appeared in a flash of light.

Zac exhaled in relief, even if his job wasn't finished. He could tell the protection would only last as long as his Chaos-formed skill. He furiously held onto the unstable connection while urging his other half forward. The sooner he wrapped things up, the sooner they could leave.

While one side became a sentinel standing guard over the Yphelion, the other moved through the collapsing corridor of Void. The fusion skill had left a meter-wide gap in reality, but such an aberration was doomed to quickly collapse. The oceans of Creation and Oblivion couldn't rebuff the dimensional pressure, and Zac's route to the bell was quickly becoming a death trap.

The mountain in his Soul Aperture descended, and he infused himself with the Bloodline Talent. His Chaotic Aura receded, triggering a warning thunderclap from the System. Zac paid it no heed, more focused on the transcendent feeling as his speed skyrocketed. Using Chaos Energy already let him move at a frantic pace by ignoring the logic of linear space. Activating his Bloodline Talent took it one step further.

He'd become one with the Void in a more palpable way since upgrading [Void Mountain]. He could feel the whole scar left from [Void Divide] like it was part of his body, and a slight push moved him through hidden paths that placed him right before the crumbling [Epiclesis Bell].

A rippling curtain of devilish energy fought against a sea of even darker lightning. Zac's mouth curved upward as he entered the gauntlet, seeing the end of his suffering in the clash. He only needed to let go, and it would all be over. He'd reached the end of his journey, and his heart sang with bliss over finally reaping the rewards. The storm of joyful sacrifice suddenly crumbled under Zac's staunch resistance and the protection of Chaos. Not even the entity's heretical madness could tame the Dao of Chaos.

Chaos rejected form, order, and definition, making it almost impossible to corrupt. The return of clarity brought agony, and Zac realized he'd already lost chunks of his body to errant streaks of annihilation. The power that had left Uona trembling with despair couldn't deal with the Heavenly judgment imposed on the foreign creature that had hidden inside the bell all this time.

The madness was already creeping back, the darkness seemingly attracted by Zac's clarity of mind. Zac knew he couldn't win a war of attrition with the entity, even if he somehow found a way to resist the lightning. The Glimpse of Chaos might hold a corner of a Peak Dao, but the glimpse's energy was at Half-step C-grade at best.

Surviving a moment was enough, and Zac didn't even have to voice his demand. Streams of golden lightning formed something like a Faraday Cage, fully separating him from the mayhem outside. The black arcs of annihilation were rebuffed as they tried to weasel their way through. They weren't exhausted, though, and they refused to give up. More and more gathered, becoming a second layer of protection against the entity's corroding influence.

The protection allowed Zac to gain his bearings, and he honed in on the [Epiclesis Bell] in the heart of the storm. The curtain of evil energies couldn't safeguard its sanctuary. Streaks of lightning pushed deeper and deeper in search of its target. The ancient metal that had survived countless years was rapidly crumbling under the relentless attacks.

Each clash completely disintegrated a piece of metal or a sliver of energy. The annihilation was absolute in a way that even eclipsed the Dao of Oblivion. Seeing the carnage made Zac's heart clench. Zac may have held back far longer than he wanted after the bell descended, but he'd never forgotten his goal of saving Vilari.

Zac had hated himself, or rather the loss of agency his lacking strength caused. Every breath wasted delayed Vilari's rescue and lowered her chances of survival. There was no telling what kind of effects a rampaging entity would have on its captive. Zac wouldn't wait a second longer, desperately holding onto the hope that it wasn't too late.

The System's protection had infuriated the Heavens, just like when it intervened during Zac's breakthrough. The Heavens were adamant to mete out punishment, and it actually seemed to have found a loophole. Streaks of purplish-black lightning formed a thin band of light in the curtain of crackling darkness.

It was the second strike of his tribulation, which had been belayed when he cracked open the bell. Only now, it absorbed slivers of the punitive lightninging, growing darker and darker as it approached. The System's protection wouldn't prevent the tribulation. It was a separate matter and something unavoidable.

Zac ignored the incoming tribulation, diving toward the fiercely guarded crack he'd opened up with [Void Divide]. The golden arcs of lightning flickered precariously as Zac entered the heart of the conflict. They held, and Zac was soon right in front of the crack. It was impossible to see anything inside, nor were there any hints of Vilari or her aura.

'Welcome, Chaosbringer,' a laughing voice emerged from the darkness. 'Is this what you envisioned? Does it live up to the desires in your heart?'

The rumblings of the collapsing oceans of Creation and Oblivion were cut off, as was the more immediate clamor of the entity's war against the Heavens. There was only suffocating darkness and an intense aura of wrongness.

'Of course, a hero needs to save the damsel to fulfill his destiny,' the voice taunted, coming from every direction. 'Only, what if the hero's quest was misguided? Where his hasty actions brought everything crumbling down? How would he feel, knowing he'd ruined everything with his own hands? Ignorance is the greatest of evils.'