Defiance of the Fall

A different-looking cave greeted Zac when he came to. He almost jumped out of his skin from having one of the satellites take up half of his vision, and it took a moment to realize it was dead. It was covered in cracks, lying just outside a final barrier. Zac inspected the nearby walls, finding no point of egress.

The walls were covered in hairline cracks, but the explosion also seemed to have compressed the manor’s outer shell further. The fault lines would eventually lead to a breach. Until then, there was no escape. The cave was almost completely drained of energy. What hadn’t gone into the final clash had been sucked into countless spatial tears.

No new energy poured out of the walls. The [Seven Leap Array] had collapsed, and its twisting gate was gone. The array abruptly shutting off like that would no doubt trigger a huge backlash onto the Dipper Mountains. Could the Hidden Earth Abode endure such a surge in its current state? Zac wasn’t sure, and it wasn’t the only threat they faced.

Zac urgently awoke his companions while the aftershocks settled, exposing the rest of the manor. It was a mess. The remnant sandstorm was kept in a constant state of frenzy by a lingering spatial storm—the aftermath of multiple Monarchs succumbing. The base hadn’t come out unscathed either. Only one of the satellites remained afloat, and it was an empty husk unable to threaten anyone.

The mountains and manor were intact, though they had stopped spinning. Zac didn’t know if it was good or bad news that he couldn’t really sense the Void Treasure. Was the manor still keeping it in check, or was it silently going out of control without anyone noticing? There were no signs of Vitrus or the ill-fated miners. Unfortunately, the most troublesome character remained.

“How is this possible?” Kalir whispered when a charred but very much alive Ivar emerged from the explosion’s epicenter. Zac had no idea if he referred to Ivar hiding his cultivation or surviving the mayhem.

“Surprised?” Ivar said with a bloody grin as he floated closer, glancing at Zac. "Crazy enough for you, kid?"

“Vitrus’s final protection won’t last long after his death. Is Ivar with you?” Kalir whispered, raising his voice when Zac slightly shook his head. “Are you General Percival’s agent? The Whitecrest Consortia will more than match whatever you’re paid. And as you heard, Lord Wendimar’s ancestors are en route.”

Zac looked at the cracks still covering the Guild Master’s arm, knowing he was neither with the military nor a competing family. It was gone by now, but Zac had seen Void Energy devour his flesh and Dao. Ivar Serpico was related to Daoist Hidden Earth.

Zac’s heart clenched. This was exactly what he’d feared after seeing Ivar Serpico kill the first Monarch with a burst of incredibly sharp Void Energy. Zac’s bloodline was indistinguishable to outsiders, and his use of Void Energy stayed hidden since getting [Void Mountain]. Except, he’d only tested those theories on normal cultivators, and things clearly didn’t work the same when facing another Void Cultivator.

Zac suddenly recalled Ivar’s shock upon first seeing him. The Guild Master had actually noticed something right at the beginning and played ignorant. He hadn’t brought him here to act as a witness. He planned on getting his hands on two Heritages at once.

“What’s the Lowest Plane? Are you a descendant of Hidden Earth?” Zac asked, ignoring Kalir’s suspicious look. He was more concerned about why he couldn’t sense Ivar’s Void if he could see Zac’s. Was it because of the Inverse Peak? “We meant no harm. We thought the lineage was broken.”

Ivar didn’t seem to mind the act. If anything, he looked like a villain, happy to finally reveal their master plan. “My great-grandfather was a distant clan member of Ancestor Hidden Earth. He found our branch after dealing with his enemies. He planned on turning us into the new main branch, except things took a turn.”

“Using the Lowest Plane to take out a Divine Herald took a toll,” Zac surmised.

“Our inheritance is clearly different from yours. Even Master’s inheritance is unstable, let alone our incomplete version. He had to leave before—"

Zac only listened with one ear, his mind occupied by plotting a new course of action. Besides, it was easy to put together the pieces. Ivar was a descendant, and after Hidden Earth disappeared, he followed a trail leading to the Dipper Mountains. Hiding his true identity, he created a mining association to scour the depths for the Hidden Earth Abode.

Ivar’s motivations why didn’t matter so much as what happened in the original timeline. A hidden Monarch wouldn’t let himself be used as a minesweeper after his minions had died out. Was he forced to attack before Kalir even installed the shunts? If so, his ambush would have triggered a fully-powered [Stoneseed Cardinal Array].

Maybe the whole expedition was eradicated back then, leaving the Void Treasure to destabilize on its own. Or had Ivar pulled through like this time? The explosion that claimed the Dipper Mountains could have stemmed from Ivar’s failure to take control of the base. It obviously didn’t treat him as an ally.

Avoiding conflict would get them into the abode quicker. Even a distant relative might have valuable inside information on the manor’s defenses. He could pretend not to have the Void Heritage on him and let himself get captured. Although, Zac wasn’t sure he could avert disaster and deal with this crafty old man at the same time.

If Zac wanted to nip the problem in the bud, now was the time. Ivar should originally have been a Middle Monarch, where repeated use of Void Energy had left his inner world unstable. The explosion had fully pushed him down to Early Monarchy, and drawing from the Void again might destabilize his Inner World altogether. Still, a starved camel is bigger than a horse. Even a wounded Monarch was a force to be reckoned with.

Zac set aside his misgivings. Every second he waited made the situation more fraught with danger. With no choice clearly better, he’d follow his heart. Ivar had proven himself powerful, patient, and treacherous. He needed to go.

‘Attack!’

Ogras didn’t need an early warning. He’d been primed for action since waking up, and a sea of shadows flooded the cave’s lower half as a jungle sprouted from nowhere. It was lucky he’d activated the domain skill with Void Energy, as a pang of danger arrived right when Zac chose to act. Zac dragged a surprised Kalir into a tree, appearing on the cave’s opposite side just as the broken satellite exploded without warning.

The conflagration tore through Vitrus’s final barrier like it was paper and reduced the [Seven Leaps Array] manor to rubble. As expected, Ivar never planned on bringing Zac away. He needed some time to arm the broken [Cardinal Stoneseed Array]. Zac threw the Whitecrest scion toward another building as [Arcadian Crusade] filled him with new levels of power. If Kalir still died, he could only blame his bad luck.

While surprised his ambush failed, Ivar smoothly shifted to Plan B. Dozens of small stone idols sprung up around the forest, each transmitting the weight of Ivar’s Inner World. A tremendous pressure bore down on the jungle. Zac’s attribute pool did little, and the resilience from his Eoz Hidden Nodes only bought a fraction of a second before two-thirds of the forest crumbled.

This was the chasm between Hegemony and Monarchy, something a Half-step Monarch couldn’t hope to emulate. No matter how strong Zac’s skills were, could they survive a world pressing down on them? Thankfully, the pressure was spread across a large area, allowing Zac to keep moving. He forcibly held onto [Apex Jungle], regrowing new trees to replace those he lost. It was a futile struggle, but it kept the skill active long enough to trigger the second half of the skill.

Having destroyed so many trees, the whole forest filled with beast spirits echoing Zac’s Evolutionary Path. Born from death, they became nature’s avengers. Hundreds of axelights rushed toward Ivar from every direction, the shadows beneath them dislodging to double the number of attacks. Ivar sneered with derision, doing nothing to block the attacks. And why should he?

The attacks disappeared the second they reached Ivar’s side. It wasn’t the work of the Void. Ivar had moved the attacks into his Inner World. This was the second issue of facing a Monarch. A Half-step could only add a weakened version of worldly pressure, but they couldn’t actually use their Inner Worlds.

Monarchs were humanoid Mystic Realms, and their immediate surroundings were part of their domain. Hostile skills could be dragged in and suppressed, futilely hitting air or empty patches of land. Of course, the approach wasn’t completely without risk. An Inner World could only welcome so much punishment before it was damaged, especially when badly wounded like Ivar. Dragging unknown abilities into your world also had the risk of backfiring. There were all kinds of methods in the Multiverse, and a seemingly harmless skill could hide lethal threats.

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Zac was undeterred by Ivar effortlessly dealing with his opening salvo. He’d wanted to confirm Ivar still dared draw upon his Inner World and glean information from its fluctuations. Zac’s right arm was a blur as he rushed closer, sending out dozens of fractal blades holding far more energy than the bestial axelights before.

[Evolutionary Edge] was the second skill he’d upgraded in preparation for the expedition. Zac didn’t pick it for a specific reason; it was simply the only one Zac had time for. Late D-grade skills were incredibly complex, and upgrading [Empyrean Aegis] had taken over five days. It left half a day to recover his Mental Energy and two more to deal with [Evolutionary Edge].

Even so, there was truth to the flavor text of the skills predecessor—there is greatness in simplicity. [Arcadian Crusade] drastically increased Zac’s energy circulation. With [Evolutionary Edge]’s simple patterns and low requirements, he’d become a mobile turret. Dozens of attacks were launched every second, each taking full advantage of his newly upgraded core and the power of his Evolutionary Dao Mold.

In addition, an unnoticeable rune appeared atop some of the axelights, their presence hidden by a sea of dancing shadows. The much stronger fractal blades fared no better against Ivar’s absolute protection. Just as they disappeared, a ruthless shadow blade shot toward the back of Ivar’s head. Ivar’s calm expression shifted and a stone wall appeared to block it instead of whisking it away. Ogras emerged from the blade, disappearing before Ivar could retaliate.

A Monarch could drag strangers into their Inner Worlds, though they could resist, provided the power disparity wasn’t too big. It was a rare strategy that came with significant risks, especially with weaker Monarchs who had less control over their world. A motivated Hegemon could cause considerable damage if allowed to attack from within, which was exactly Ogras’s plan. However, his trick didn’t work on Ivar.

Two nauseating blasts of light rocked the cave just as the demon disappeared. He’d left two talismans filled with his Dao of Illusions when disengaging, turning them into flashbangs. Zac sent a mental command right when they went off, and Ivar’s face paled when dozens of massive explosions rocked in his inner world, courtesy of [Conformation of Supremacy]’s explosive brands.

While not enough to do Ivar in, it worsened his internal wounds. Zac had no plans of stopping there. A perfectly timed burst of fractal blades and shadow spears reached Ivar at that moment, forcing him to conjure a barrier of stone. Zac flashed forward with [Skystriker], delivering a salvo of herculean swings to create a crack in the wall.

More shadows flooded into the breach, but an enraged roar forced both Zac and Ogras to back away. Hundreds of small golems had climbed out of the ground, each with a distinct aura. They released a calamitous hailstorm of stone and metal. The whole cave was turned into a deathtrap, forcing the duo to focus on defense.

The ability didn’t actually use much more energy than [Apex Jungle] would after stepping into Late D-grade, proving the limitation to Ivar’s heritage and abilities. However, the thousands of projectiles were imbued with the weight of his world, adding a power vector as strong as infusing Dao.

Zac welcomed the added danger. Ivar liberally drawing from his Inner World would exacerbate his wounds, moving him closer toward ruin’s edge. The crux was staying alive until they could give him the final push.

A sudden, pressing scream of danger without a source forced Zac to act on instinct. He drew Void of Death from [Spiritual Void] and fused it with the strings of Defiant War and Reborn Life coursing through his spiritual body. Zac’s perception shifted from emulating his Evolutionary Technique’s ultimate state, and he swore with alarm.

Ignoring the dangers, Zac lunged at Ogras. The demon was surprised to see a blood-drenched Zac appearing from a blind spot to drag him out of the way. If they were a moment slower, a black diamond-shaped rock would have punched through his head.

Ogras was much better at avoiding attacks than Zac, and he’d sparred with Zac in his current state more than once. Even so, Ogras couldn’t fully anticipate attacks imbued with Void Energy, and there were dozens of such projectiles hidden within the storm. Some of the Golems were spitting out stone shards holding Hidden Earth energy while those holding Dao hid their movement.

The Hidden Earth attacks weren’t quite as mystical as his movements when channeling the Void, but even Zac had a hard time discerning their trajectories without stepping into that state himself. They also blocked some of the unique paths only accessible when moving outside of Heaven’s purview, leading to Zac’s wretched state. He’d been forced to take three direct hits to reach his companion in time.

Zac already had some understanding of Hidden Earth’s heritage. Ivar hadn’t been lying when he said their heritage wasn’t stable. They borrowed a power beyond their control, where each use would exact a price. New Void-leaking cracks were opening across Ivar’s throat as he drew from the taboo source, yet he kept going.

Happy to see Ivar harm himself, Zac maintained the status quo. He kept their wounds to a minimum while both kept sending attacks Ivar’s way. Then, the pressure skyrocketed as the hundreds of golems began emitting the weight of Ivar’s inner world. Their auras superimposed, putting Zac under even greater strain.

Moving had already been a chore before, and the golden cyclones in Zac’s cells already spun dangerously fast while he cranked [Adamance of Eoz] to self-harming levels. He was rapidly burning through his Vigor, and it was barely enough to hold on. Then, countless spears joined the hailstorm. [Empyrean Aegis] hadn’t come off cooldown from its previous use, and nothing else Zac had could block so many attacks. [Void Zone] erupted, erasing Dao from their surroundings.

The normal attacks were weakened, and those imbued by Hidden Earth Energy completely collapsed. They relied on a delicate balance between the Inverse Peak and the Void. With the former suppressed by [Void Zone], the controlled destruction turned into an unscheduled collapse. It opened the Void’s hidden trajectories, giving Zac a brief stay of execution.

Zac knew it was a losing battle. The firepower of a Monarch was too great, and Ivar wasn’t holding anything back. The Monarch knew he was playing with fire, but so what? This was a fight to the death. There was no point in worrying about backlashes while your enemy was alive. Just when Zac considered using [Arcadia’s Judgment] to force Ivar’s energy consumption to even deadlier levels, a slender hand appeared in the air.

Pointing toward Ivar’s head, countless sigils poured out of its index finger. The similarities to Vitrus’s final attack were evident in both appearance and strength, yet held a grace hinting at deeper concepts. Zac didn’t need to look back to know Kalir had activated a protective mark left by his clan, and he also knew their opportunity had arrived.

Ivar, looking more and more like Zac after he’d activated his unstable Chaos Blast against the Qriz’Ul Goblin King, was prepared for an ambush. His aura burgeoned as an ancient clay urn appeared over his head. Its mouth looked like the gate to another world, and a world of Inverse Earth poured out of it. Tumbling mountains tore into pristine order falling like snow, the two sides canceling each other.

‘Do it!’

Ogras had been waiting for this moment, and his twisting tentacles appeared from his robes as he drew from his Shifting Dreamgeist heritage. Runes left by countless shadow spears awakened to drag the Monarch into an illusion of the Grey World. The Heavens had already opened without making a peep, exposing a glimpse of Arcadia.

Paradise’s unforgiving gaze locked onto the sinner, and judgment cascaded down with speed only possible with [Force of the Void]. Meanwhile, two streaks of Life and Conflict tore through the hailstorm, taking advantage of the murky haze in Ivar’s eyes. Ogras was only able to pull the Monarch into an illusion for a fraction of a second. That was often all it took.

The golems had briefly stalled, allowing the twin streaks of [Rapturous Beginning] to unfurl without the suppression of Ivar’s Inner World. Zac’s two ultimate attacks reached their target at the same time, mimicking Zac’s finishing blow against the Technocrat captain. A supremely condensed spear of darkness joined in just moments later—the same attack that almost killed the shadow crocodile last time.

Ivar was drowned by ultimate strikes coming from every direction, and the cave heaved from eruptions almost at the same level as the earlier clash. Even the slumbering Hidden Earth Abode sensed the threat and started drawing from an unknown energy source to activate a protective barrier.

Overcoming all odds, Ivar pulled through again. Arcadia’s blade and Evolution’s demarcation were twisted and crushed by a fierce swirl of Void Energy. Zac had expected as much and was already on his way. The chaos drowned Verun’s bestial roar as Zac forced his way into the mayhem, its edge gleaming with boundless possibilities.

A wild-eyed Ivar stood in the heart of the storm. He was struggling to hold up his left palm, on which a gate had opened. A mix of Void and Inverse Dao far more chaotic than the Hidden Earth Energy poured out of it, pushing back the assault on all fronts. The barrier of chaotic energies didn’t deter Zac.

The Shards of Creation had already transferred large amounts of Creation Energy into the fractal on Zac’s shoulder, and an iridescent blade holding a shadow of Void cut straight through the barrier. His [Origin Revolution] may still be imperfect, but his unstable fusion between Dao and Void far surpassed what the Hidden Earth Heritage could achieve. The blade cut through the curtain like butter.

Enduring the streaks of chaotic energy burrowing into his body, Zac forced the blade of Creation through Ivar’s head and torso. Finally, he deposited the dangerous payload inside Ivar’s Inner World before it collapsed. Zac didn’t get the chance to follow up on the strike. [Arcadia’s Judgment]’s timer had just run out, and a wave of weakness left him exposed to a stoneclad fist. It smashed into Zac with enough force to break three ribs, throwing him far away.

Zac cursed upon seeing Ivar flee toward the Hidden Earth Abode with only pieces of his body remaining. The madman was still holding on somehow, still spewing chaotic energies from his hand. The shroud paved a path while blocking Ogras’s attempt to finish the job. As expected, even a wounded Monarch wouldn’t go down without a fight.

Just as Zac resumed his pursuit, a massive drain of faith indicated a drastic shift in the memory domain’s course of history. It far surpassed the effect of their intense battle. Zac glanced at the ceiling and took out the Wendimar Clan Leader’s seal. The sigil was vibrating, even trying to escape Zac’s grasp.

Since things had reached this point, Zac might as well take another gamble. Zac gripped it tighter and infused it with an urgent message.

‘If you want to save the Dipper Mountains and rekindle Clan Wendimar’s Fate, seal my location right now!’