Defiance of the Fall

Zac was almost certain the cultivator who left the immense scar was the equivalent of an early Autarch in the pre-system era. He simply didn't think it possible for a Divine Monarch to leave such an indelible mark. At the same time, the attack couldn't have come from anything higher than an early B-grade cultivator.

The fortress was undeniably much stronger than any weapon system he'd seen in Zecia, but it should still be a C-grade construction. Anything stronger than an Early Autarch wouldn't just have left it in a crippled state. Not even dust would have remained if it had faced the wrath of a Supremacy.

The fortress's sad state wasn't a result of the endless war of expansion the Limitless Empire fought, judging by the sentiment instilled into the attack. It was retribution during the earliest days of the Dark Ages.

The System's birth had instantly wiped out the whole upper echelon of the Limitless Empire. The emperor, his court, and his powerful generals became the fuel that kickstarted their creation. What followed was a million-year epoch where the Dao was shrouded, and almost all energy was stolen.

This period didn't arrive in a day or two. Not even the System could drain the whole Multiverse that quickly. However, it was impossible to miss the signs, and it didn't take long for the ancient forces to pinpoint the culprit. Some, like Sendor and the current imperial clans, figured out ways to seal themselves or hide away, waiting for the Dao to recover.

Others went mad and targeted the perpetrator. Factions who'd cowered in fear of Emperor Limitless and his armies tore through the dimensional barriers and descended on the Limitless Empire. Nothing was spared during that crusade, and the once-glorious empire was almost completely erased from history. This fortress was likely a target of that punitive expedition and had somehow survived through a stroke of chance.

Zac's musings were abruptly swept away as his mind screamed of lethal danger. He didn't need [Inborn Predator] to pinpoint the source. A spire covered in crackling runes and metal prongs was coming alive, and it had locked in on their position. It felt like being stared down by a Primordial Beast, and the intent was so palpable that even the Mavai Chieftain noticed.

"Shit! Incoming—" Ra'Klid screamed as a lance of crackling lighting shot toward them.

The attack was almost as powerful as the pillar of ice Catheya's master once used to save his life, and it moved nearly as fast. Zac tried to move out of the way, only to find small lightning runes sealing his movement. His horror only mounted upon realizing his bloodline was utterly incapable of extinguishing them. Out of better options, Zac turned to the illusory seal hidden in the depths of his body.

It was a huge blow to expend the life-saving grace Sendor left him before the trial started. It was his absolute fallback for situations that not even his bloodline or remnants could remedy. It was so valuable he'd even gone with his untested [Origin Revolution] against the deathsworn.

Certainly, that was partly because Sendor had indicated his unwillingness to kill participants, getting his fate entangled with Ultom and the factions that contended for its ownership. Most likely, the mark was something like an absolute defense, and there was not much point blocking the deathsworn's War Array if he remained trapped in the Edict of Solitude. When Sendor's protection expired, he'd be back at square one.

Just as Zac was about to activate the brand, he felt the familiar aura of Ultom ripple forth. The screaming danger was immediately reduced to a susurrus, and the lightning bolt twisted like a snake. It created a wide berth around Zac's location before disappearing into the spatial storm. Zac exhaled and slowly retracted his Mental Energy.

"Uh," the demon hesitated while rapidly blinking to adjust his eyes. "Never mind. About time we caught a lucky break."

Zac grunted in agreement despite knowing it was more than just luck. His eyes shifted to the Spatial Ring on his left hand, and he took out a small token. The [Court Cycle Token] looked no different than usual, but Zac was almost certain it had saved their lives. Nothing else in the ring could have produced that unmistakable aura.

The fortress actually accepted the token as proper identification. The realization added a layer of safety inside the crumbling realm and clearly hinted its purpose within the real trial. Would each cycle increase his credentials inside the Left Imperial Palace?

Still, Zac knew that staying in the air was to tempt fate. You couldn't rely on proper documentation when the fortress was in such bad shape. But where should they go?

Zac's main concerns were Emily and the Acheron Company. Emily's situation was undoubtedly precarious, but his army also faced great danger. It wasn't just the elite Kan'Tanu army to worry about. He had been schemed against by the Seventh Heaven, and only someone high up in the alliance could have arranged his army to join four infiltrated factions.

His heart gnawed with worry, but there was no way to reach or even contact his people. Returning the way he came was out of the question, and he couldn't spot any of those safe pathways leading out. There was no telling where he'd appear even if he found one. The battle for the fortress spanned a whole solar system, so he might not even end up on the same planet as his army.

Now that it had come to this, he'd have to trust in his people's capabilities and focus on the fortress. Dossin's mission might have been a sham, but the war for the fortress and its treasures was very real. The ancient arrays were not the only things wreaking havoc on the ground. Fierce battles between cultivators were taking place throughout the city.

A quick sweep indicated hundreds of people were already here, an even mix of Alliance forces and Kan'Tanu. There were undoubtedly even more inside the structures themselves. None dared to take to the sky, though, and for good reason. Every second came with the risk of being hit by an ancient War Array, and only the ground seemed to provide a semblance of safety.

There was little order as far as Zac could see. Each side had erected a few temporary camps, but the vast majority were roaming the streets alone or in small groups. Capturing the fortress or even stopping the War Arrays had taken a back seat to the hunt for treasure.

It was easy to see why. The dense Killing Intent seeping from the large wound couldn't hide the fact that the crumbling Mystic Realm was filled with incredible amounts of ambient energy. It even surpassed the general environment in Kavista, whether in density or Dao. The fortress must have been locked in stasis to maintain such an environment after so many years. Or perhaps it had entered a powerful temporal field where millions of years passed on the outside for every year inside.

The ambient energy wasn't the only thing worthy of note. Zac could feel a weak pull of fate from almost every direction. It was the treasure sense awarded by his immense pool of Luck, which was further augmented by his [Lucky Beads]. It wasn't often he felt such a strong calling. Years of exploration in the Perennial Vastness had only elicited such a feeling a few dozen times.

Meanwhile, the fortress contained so many treasures it all blended into a halo of opportunity. Zac wouldn't be surprised if even normal cultivators could vaguely sense the phenomenon at a subconscious level. Zac made his decision and set out, following the enormous scar toward the fortress's center. It was the most chaotic and fiercely contested part of the fortress, but it was only there he could accomplish his goals.

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A lofty tower occupied the inner core, reaching at least a dozen times taller than any other structure. The juxtaposition made Zac think of his visit to the Tower of Eternity. Both had a huge tower surrounded by a circular city. He even felt they were designed based on the same set of principles. Perhaps it was to be expected since they were built by the same faction.

Obviously, this tower was nowhere near the reality-bending height of the real thing. Still, its tip was not far from touching the turbulent clouds, and Zac suspected it might actually reach it soon. Not because the realm was shrinking but because the humongous building wasn't static.

It was slowly spinning and looked like it was rising from the ground. The theory was corroborated by the fact that only the uppermost third was struck by the sword strike. Interestingly, even that section had only been damaged rather than destroyed. The tower was clearly built with sturdier materials and outfitted with stronger defenses. If the fortress had a main control, it was definitely in there.

Zac had no idea why the tower was rising, but it couldn't be good. Both the fortress and its Mystic Realm were barely hanging on. Any big move could disturb the fragile balance, and there was no telling how things would shake out.

He didn't manage to fly more than a second before the dread of being targeted by an array returned. The feeling quickly passed, allowing Zac to breathe out in relief. The token had dispersed the threat much faster now that it was hidden beneath one of his bracers. Still, Zac's nerves were drawn taut as he tore through the sky.

Targeted destruction was only one of the dangers of flight. It was like all the realm's energy and intent were drawn toward the tower, forming a slow-moving cyclone of pure power. The closer they got, the more unstable the air became. Meanwhile, random waves of destruction tore through the sky, leaving errant bursts that would turn most Hegemons to ash.

Ra'Klid's eyes were wide with terror as Zac navigated the increasingly deadly environment. Landing would be much safer, but Zac suspected something beyond the arrays was preventing the people below from briefly taking to the sky. No one was even jumping over buildings to save time or avoid dangerous regions. His instincts told him that the closer they got to the tower before landing, the better.

Finally, Zac knew his shortcut had been exhausted. He felt a looming threat from the tower itself, and it didn't go away. It wouldn't tolerate his airborne approach any further, so he landed between two structures that blocked vision to the central tower. Zac felt a weak ripple just before landing, and his eyes widened in alarm.

Ra'Klid had already slumped to the ground, but he yelped with shock upon being dragged away by Vivi. It was just in time as three energy bundles appeared from a nearby house. The air was shredded for dozens of meters around them as they released a deadly pulse. Zac knew blindly fleeing might land them in even bigger trouble, so he put himself before Ra'Klid and held out the token.

The three bundles froze briefly before returning to where they came from, soundlessly moving through the wall. Neither Zac nor Ra'Klid dared move for ten seconds, but it looked like they had given up. Zac sighed and flashed to a secluded culvert.

"Thank you, Lord. For everything," Ra'Klid said as he warily looked around.

"Don't mention it," Zac said. "It was me who dragged you into this mess. I expected someone would target us sooner or later, but I didn't expect to run into such a strong squad right out the gate."

"Outsiders?" the demon asked and got an affirmative nod. "What should we do?"

"For now, let's just take a breather and recover," Zac said.

Ra'Klid looked like he'd received an imperial pardon and slumped onto the ground like the air had gone out. Zac wasn't much better off. Urgency and adrenaline had carried him through the series of near-death experiences, but the state of his body had finally caught up to him.

The stump beneath his leg was the most gruesome. Luckily, dying from blood loss was almost impossible with his Vitality, and he had already sealed the wound with energy. His missing ear and surrounding skin looked grisly, but it was ultimately a cosmetic wound. It wasn't much worse than the lacerations and burns that covered his body. It hurt like hell, but it wouldn't affect his effective strength.

The real dangers were all within. The lesser of the two was the foreign Dao causing trouble. A small amount corresponded to the Deathsworn's War Array, while most came from the chaotic crossing. The problem was halfway solved, thanks to repeatedly flushing his body with Void Energy. His Hidden Nodes and Daos were already dealing with the remains, and his body would be cleansed within an hour or two.

Zac was more worried that [Immutability of Eoz] was still running. It had already dealt with the lingering threats from his battle with the Hexmaster, and Zac couldn't feel anything else wrong with his body. Had the Imperials done something without his notice, like marking him in case their ambush failed? If so, he was likely dealing with a tracking brand.

Unfortunately, Zac couldn't find it, no matter how hard he looked. You really couldn't underestimate people from the Multiverse Heartlands. Even their underlings were so terrifying. Thankfully, [Immutability of Eoz] could sense the problem, meaning the mark would be dealt with sooner or later.

Zac ate a cleansing tonic just in case before turning his vision to his left shoulder. The fallout wasn't as bad as he'd feared. The Skill Fractal was destroyed as he'd expected, but the surrounding pathways only sported some light damage.

The explosion on his shoulder wasn't an accident. He'd known the risks when engraving a defective fractal, so he'd installed a pressure valve that'd go off if the fractal failed to contain the energy. It meant far less energy entering the actual skill, but the small edge wouldn't even have formed without it.

The need for a stronger ace had loomed in the back of Zac's mind for a while. The [Annihilation Sphere] and, to a lesser degree, [Origin Mark] had been his fallbacks since the Tower of Eternity. They let him turn things around whenever he found himself at the edge of ruin. Unfortunately, they were increasingly coming up short.

The strength of the remnants was still enough to deal with his opponents, but the delivery method was simply too crude. His battle with Valsa had acted as a proof-of-concept for the path forward, but he needed a solution that wouldn't harm his Dao Molds. It would have taken years for his Inexorable Mold to recover if not for Sendor reverting the damage.

Zac had been working on a permanent solution every chance he got, even using the weak wisps of inspiration from his [Court Cycle Token] to speed up the process. Unfortunately, he ran out of time and was forced to settle for what he had. He'd felt that the frontlines were too dangerous without powering up first. And since his attempt to make Haro battle-ready failed, he could only turn to his incomplete blueprints.

The gambit saved his life but also harmed his long-term goals. Engraving a Skill Fractal on your body was like getting a tattoo. You couldn't just engrave, remove, and reform them willy-nilly. The original Pathways of [Cyclic Strike] had already been transformed, or rather scarred, by repeatedly using the remnants. Forcibly redrawing the imperfect pathways had left an even deeper mark.

It would be decades before he could make any significant modifications again, and that was only thanks to his unusually malleable constitution. Most cultivators couldn't even replace Skill Fractals once, which meant each skill represented a permanent choice. You either kept the skill or closed the slot.

Zac shook his head. That was a problem for later. For now, it gave him a faster and deadlier method to use the remnant's refined energy. Next time, the fractal might even survive, and the delivery wouldn't need him to stall so long.

After all, it wasn't designed to use Void Energy.

The idea for [Origin Revolution] was to combine an Evolutionary Dao Braid with Creation, Cosmic, and Divine Energy. Adding Void Energy based on his experimental stance had made it incredibly unstable. Less than 20% of the energy had reached the conjured edge, and Zac failed to contain even that into a stable blade.

Adding Void Energy this time made sense since the spatial cage relied on concepts beyond his understanding. It felt similar to the Orom World, and only Chaos had worked against that restriction. However, using Void would probably make the skills less effective in most scenarios. It also required him to drain the Void Mountain since he couldn't independently form the Voids of Life or Death.

It would take a few months to reform the broken skill. Zac's shoulder was like a radioactive hotspot after the experiment, and he would have to let it cool down naturally before working on the fractals. Thankfully, the fractal on his right side was fine. Zac glanced at the tower in the distance. He had a nagging suspicion it would be needed soon enough.

Before then, he needed to make some preparations.