Defiance of the Fall

Zac's soul was back, bringing with it its priceless cargo. The [Chaos Cipher] was diverted into the subspace of [Purity of the Void] to protect it from the upcoming storm. Zac only had time to slightly refine the plan in his mind before time resumed. Heavens drummed in warning as motion and chaos replaced stillness.

The already pressured cage groaned from an outside strain as two towering presences descended at full force. The System had already honed in on the region when he'd taken out the remnants. It was now joined by the ancient Heavens that were out for blood. The immense bone cage had become a pebble in a storm without end. The overbearing scene left Zac wondering if Heaven's descent had spread across the whole deadzone.

The canopy of sealing bars snapped when golden and purple clouds pushed down with the weight of the cosmos. Space twisted and frayed, forming angry red scars dripping down like bloody rain. Even the Laws were coming undone as the arid spirituality of the frontier found itself pressured by forces beyond what they could sustain.

Zac stood in the middle of it all, his two bodies side by side. Layers of unprecedented power coursed through his pathways, where the ferocious might of an Earthly Dao was the least tyrannical source. The vast amounts of Creation and Oblivion overshadowed its glory. After all, it wasn't these Daos that had advanced to the next stage. It was his Branch of the War Axe that had crossed the threshold.

He'd already been pushing against the bottleneck since the [Eternal Crusade], and his recent experience let him overcome it early. Conflict held a central role in his Daos of Evolution and Inexorability, and having his mind connected with the Spark of Creation and the Heart of Oblivion greatly furthered his insights into the nature of their obsessive struggle. Later, confirming his understanding of Creation and Oblivion provided the final push he needed.

Zac's personal Dao of War had been born, a Dao of ceaseless, unrepentant struggle. Whether it was breaking free from the chains of fate or taking control over your destiny, you needed an indomitable will and the courage to face any threats or opposition. Even if that put you against the Heavens themselves. So he did nothing to hide his transformation, willingly accepting his role as a harbinger of Chaos and the eye of the storm.

Sendor's translucent avatar smiled and disappeared. He followed Zac's previous request by forming a protective barrier around the Yphelion, leaving Zac fully exposed to the four Autarchs. He was no larger than a speck of dust when facing four domains connected with the Heavens and even smaller when compared to the ever-expanding clouds filled with hunger and wrath. And yet, there was no fear in his heart.

He was no longer prey or prize to be fought over. He was the predator. Zac felt like a sun before flickering flames, holding the power to repaint reality in any shade he desired. His mind was still awash by the crystallization of his path, and the powers of Evolution and Inexorability harmonized with the streaks of perfected Oblivion and Creation.

The Heavens roared as Zac's Dao was put on full display. Arcs of sanguine lightning rained down to put his conviction to the test. The bone cage was in the way, becoming a lightning rod for the Heavenly Wrath. Everything happened too fast. The tribulation had already begun the moment time resumed, and the Reaver had inadvertently been dragged into Zac's tribulation.

Interfering with someone else's tribulation was to go against the Laws, a cardinal sin in the eyes of the Heavens. The power inside the clouds skyrocketed when the embodiment of heavenly punishment sensed a high-grade blockade hampered its mission, and the cage instantly crumbled. Red destruction spread like a wave, and the Heavenly Wrath only grew more intense when it encountered the Dharmic world that had formed a separate microcosm within its domain.

The four Autarchs had already paused their battle upon seeing Zac take out the remnants. Even then, they hadn't been prepared for the impossibly quick turn-around, where they were faced with a deadly punishment from above. It gave Zac the brief window he needed to take charge of the situation.

Five remnants floated in each body, having taken up key positions in his pathways. It was most likely the first step of their planned takeover. The calamitous items should have been bereft of any tainted will by now, but that wasn't the case for Zac. He could feel a frantic yet unyielding consciousness spread between the five.

It wasn't a mistake caused by an imperfect Atavism. Rather, it was the result of his counterattack at the end. He'd stolen a piece of the remnants' tapestries. It was unavoidable that it would come with some corruption attached. Luckily, these slivers of consciousness were different from the ones before. They were rootless after the connection between the remnants and the tapestry had been severed.

That didn't mean it was impossible to connect to their origin. They would never get the chance. The remnants that were supposed to be going haywire with their huge accumulation of energy were like weak kittens before a far superior source of their existence. It was the threads of spirituality imparted by Be'Zi and A'zu.

They didn't just rebuff the dangerous energies in the air; they also dealt the remnants a critical blow without trying. The remnants' last threads of will were like moths to the flame after being faced with such pure and powerful exhibits of their Dao. Malevolent desire was twisted and reborn, torn apart just like how the Spark had terrorized its surroundings for uncountable years. The will inside the splinters faded away, eroded by the powerful aura of Oblivion.

At that moment, two bolts of crackling lightning crashed into his head, and Zac was flooded by boundless destruction. Zac was simultaneously relieved and disappointed. The tribulation's power was enough to make most Hegemons' hair stand on end, but it was well within reason. There were no hints of Law in the crackling lightning coursing through his body, and its intensity was nowhere near the levels of the unhinged resistance he faced when forming his core.

Zac was still exploring the rules of his being targeted by the Four Desolates, and it appeared as though Earthly Daos were spared. Zac had somewhat expected as much, considering they had no relationship with the Void. It meant the danger he'd face was negligible, but it also meant he'd missed out on additional rounds of Law tempering.

The tribulation had grown stronger by half to punish Zac for outside interference—one of the reasons Tribulations were rarely used as a weapon against one's enemies. It didn't change much. Zac realized he'd developed a natural resistance to Heavenly Lightning after being repeatedly reforged and tempered by the Four Desolates. His body alone was enough to withstand the first bolt.

He only used his Void Energy to seal off the two streaks of B-grade force, as them coming in contact with the Heavenly Lightning risked attracting the terrifying punishment the Autarchs suffered. He did the same for the entrance to the Shrine in his lungs, even if Esmeralda already had set up layers of defenses to tide the storm outside.

The mayhem surrounding the four Autarchs was blinding. His two measly bolts were nothing before the sea of lightning. They came from everywhere, pouring out by the thousands from the sanguine scars in reality. The annihilation within the bolts was far beyond anything he'd seen as well, to the point they reminded Zac of the desolate nothingness beyond the Void Mountain.

Zac wouldn't be surprised if the whole deadzone could sense the energy fluctuations now that the cage was broken. The Eidolon abandoned her crystalline form, once more fusing with the Reaver like when they emerged from the [Epiclesis Bell]. The combination of impervious skeletal armor and unbreakable spirit formed an impenetrable defense against the onslaught. Even then, Zac couldn't imagine they'd come out unscathed.

The monks managed to avoid being directly targeted. Furious lightning descended on the Heart World instead, and Zac was almost dragged into another hallucination to witness a civilization's end and their conclusion of Karma. The denizens of the simulated world would take on the punishment in the Arhats' stead, though doing so would have to cause some damage to their hearts.

The tribulation swept through Zac's bodies like a storm, and the remnants were not spared. The few remaining motes of stubborn obsession were purified by Heavenly Dao, nipping the latent threat in the bud. One thorny issue cropped up the moment time resumed, and Zac refused to let new problems replace the old.

The monks had sacrificed their world, while the Undead emissaries had completely sealed their auras after discarding their protective measures. They might still be in the System's crosshairs, but they shouldn't be targeted by a second bolt. Before that, he needed to make his move.

The chaos had gone far beyond what he had originally planned with the unwelcome introduction of these infiltrators, but it didn't matter now that things had reached this point. Fate and Dao were aligning with his will. Who was qualified to control the chaos but him? Giving the Autarchs no time to adapt after being targeted by Heavenly Wrath, Zac unleashed the full force of his borrowed power.

Zac had initially planned on using the energy with the special fractals on his back. However, he was still in a devilish state of enlightenment, and it was as though the imparted energy was sentient. It told him he could use it for something greater. Something spectacular.

[Verun's Bite] fell, and [Death's Duality] rose. His swings embodied the dualistic beauty of his Dao, where his axes moved in perfect harmony. Each side activated a skill fractal that complemented one another. Life and Conflict entered one, Death and Conflict the other. So did all three energies his Cosmic Core could produce.

Finally, the streaks of borrowed power were added, one in each fractal. They had the power to vastly overwhelm everything else, yet they were content in following Zac's lead. They even helped fill in the gaps in Dao and theory, bringing his skills to new heights. A [Rapturous Beginning] formed and was joined by a [Sonorous End].

Two primal forces augmented by A'Zu's authoritative conception were born in the wake of [Verun's Bite]. A mirrored version shaped by Be'Zi's tranquil desolation appeared by its side, and the two forces joined in unholy matrimony. A deafening crack shook the Cosmos, and Zac suddenly felt like his two bodies stood in different dimensions.

An unbridgeable gap had been carved in reality, stretching further than Zac could see. The meter-wide scar even stretched for dozens of miles behind him, and that was nothing compared to its reach in the intended direction. The attack was instant and unstoppable, severing lingering Dharmic Will and Deathly furor. Even the Heavens were torn apart, creating a gap in the roiling clouds.

Zac hadn't planned on using his most recent skill today, but he'd felt destiny urging him on. It would be a huge missed opportunity if he didn't test his new fusion skill in this state. The [Void Divide] before him may as well have been a blueprint for the future.

The divide was just the start. Each side of the boundary was reinforced by the energy of a Fourth-step Autarch. Wherever they touched, change followed. The Daos of A'Zu and Be'Zi supplanted Samsara, becoming the utmost expression of destruction and rebirth. The two Arhats were subsumed by a sea of Oblivion, like two wayward souls falling into the Styx River.

The Undead Autarchs fared no better. They'd been swallowed by a primordial soup of Creation, becoming the target of its boundless drive for reinvention. Zac's vision was split between these two opposing realities. In the middle was the utmost demarcation, the unpassable chasm of delineation. Even the Dao had been cut, leaving only the Void. Or rather, the Void and one more thing.

Space cracked, exposing a crumbling [Epiclesis Bell]. The Undead Autarchs had already shifted their focus to the Arhats before, lessening the pressure it faced. The moment the spectral cultivator retreated into the Reaver's body, the heretical bell had decisively torn through space to get away before it was discovered. How could Zac let it leave just like that?

[Void Divide] had cleanly cut off a section of the bell, severing the final formation while opening a large incision across its body. The fusion skill had severed its escape route and power, yet it felt more dangerous than ever. A boundlessly evil aura radiated from the shrouded interiors. The entity had been exposed, and the reaction was instantaneous.

A fury unlike anything Zac had ever felt before pushed down on the world. He'd thought he was enemy number one after cultivating the Void, but his previous breakthrough was nothing compared to the anger Zac could feel from the Heavens right now. The System was no better. The impartial, almost disinterested presence had gained a ruthless determination that could cut steel and sever bone.

No billowing surges of Kill Energy poured into Zac's body after unleashing [Void Divide]. Autarchs were ultimately almost impossible to kill. He might have succeeded if he targeted one of them, but what was the point? He wouldn't gain anything from it. The energy used in the skill came from an outside source, making it no different than using an Array or a Cosmic Vessel in the System's eyes.

Targeting the bell instead had accomplished his main goal, and the Autarchs were by no means out of the woods. Between the tribulation and being swallowed by the mirrored worlds of Oblivion and Creation, they would be on their last legs. Meanwhile, the heavenly clouds had turned pitch-black, exuding a tremendous desire for destruction.

It was like the entity's mere presence had tainted everything in its vicinity, and the Heavens were ready to burn down it all to ensure nothing remained. The Autarchs were already put under scrutiny by the System by sneaking into a sealed region. The Undead Autarchs had the worst of it. They'd actually snuck into the sector through the bell, and Zac saw how a shroud of utter darkness descended on them.

With the entity exposed, the System would likely hunt them down to the ends of the earth. Since they dared target the bell in the first place, they likely had some fallback. Whether it would work in the current chaotic circumstances depended on their luck. It didn't look good for them since they hadn't even managed to extricate themselves from the roiling sea of Creation yet.

Zac didn't have time to worry about his enemies' fate. He wasn't spared from the malignant attention from the sky, knowing neither he nor his companions were any safer. Even his tribulation had been hijacked by a greater wave of destruction as pitch-black lightning began raining down from the sky. It wasn't Tribulation Lightning. It was the Heavens going to war, unleashing pure extinction. He didn't have much time.

The last tendrils of B-grade power became accelerant for the tremendous amounts of energy still coursing through his body. The B-grade impartment was mostly expended, but Zac had intentionally avoided using any of the energy released by the remnants. With the addition of the Grand Dao he'd stolen, they held stronger and more profound energy than ever before.

The last streak of A'Zu's might pushed half the Creation into his Draugr body, using his Soul Aperture as passage. Meanwhile, half of the Oblivion was corralled to his human side through his Specialty Core. Each body finally held an even mix of each, and Zac rallied his exhausted mind to drag the rampaging energies into the fractals on his shoulders before they could clash.

With the lingering will of the remnants gone, there was no concerted resistance. And as soon as the process started, it looked no different than the previous times he formed a Glimpse of Chaos. Only this time, he was doing it in both bodies. The energy might have been insufficient if it had been his second or third attempt. With five remnants, a piece of Grand Dao, and the last scraps of B-grade power, the situation was the opposite.

An unprecedented Glimpse of Chaos was born, and a hint of extreme desire appeared in the darkness. Zac smiled, knowing he'd seized a path to Life in this sea of Death.