Defiance of the Fall

The cultist captain had conjured an enormous domain resembling a gladiatorial ring made from flesh. It emitted the unmistakable weight of an Inner World, giving it a weight and power no Hegemon could emulate. It wasn't at the level of the real thing, not even a frontier Monarch's, but it was far beyond what Zac had personally experienced when sparring with Pavina.

Countless beasts poured from a dozen portals lining the coliseum. Zac initially thought them part of a skill because of their sheer numbers and matching energy fluctuations. However, he quickly realized they were actual, real beasts implanted with a Heart Curse. Or rather, they seemed to carry a piece of the Black Heart Cultist's curse inside their bodies.

All of them were Beast Kings, and they drew power from the coliseum through their curse, though it seemed to push them into a frenzied state. Oddly enough, the beasts came in all shapes and sizes. It was different from most beastmasters who, like Ibtep, focused on a specific type of beast to nurture. The only things that unified the motley pack were the nasty wounds covering their bodies and the dense stench of blood they emitted.

It made Zac think of the rituals to raise Remoulded and Reincarnators. Was the Half-Step Monarch doing the same with these creatures? Pitting thousands of beasts against each other inside World Rings, keeping whoever came out ahead? Raising the requisite number of Remoulded beasts had to cost a fortune, not to mention the time. Then again, was that a problem for a faction like the Black Heart Sect?

The beastmaster was no slouch himself. His aura was steady and refined, resembling the old generals Zac had encountered over the past years. The captain was undoubtedly thousands of years old, not another youth forcibly raised through the ranks. Like the pugilist, the beastmaster fought with his hands, albeit in a completely different manner. He'd entered a bestial transformation, only his aura and appearance made him seem more like a devil.

He was over six meters tall and had a hunched, bulky build. Six jagged horns adorned his head, and glistening scales had replaced his skin. His hands were oversized even for his stature, with claws the size of short swords. His aura held the familiar brutality of the wild, where the main Dao came from the Peak of Nature. It was a direction Zac had courted before deciding to cultivate Pure Life.

The ferocious swipes and bites weren't enough to suppress Kator. If anything, the Half-Step monarch couldn't keep up with the reaver's aggression. He was a force of nature that kept pushing forward, happy to trade blows for blows thanks to his extremely tough defenses. Chunks of flesh were constantly ripped off from the bestial captain's body as Kator sought an opening to finish the job.

However, the power of a Half-step Monarch couldn't be ignored, especially not one from a powerful faction like the Black Heart Sect. If Kator relied on superior defenses, then the cultist relied on superior regeneration. He was an unkillable alpha lording over his pack, with wounds rapidly closing and scabbing over.

Kator was caught between a rock and a hard place, failing to seize a significant advantage against the Half-step cultist while reinforcements continuously joined the fray. His skeleton armor was durable, but he had no choice but to exert some effort to thin the beasts before they overwhelmed him. Zac was well aware of how detrimental that was to an infighter relying on their Technique. The momentum kept getting reset, making it incredibly difficult to move the battle in their favor.

Adding insult to injury, every beast Kator killed made the beastmaster stronger. The curses inside the animals didn't try to target Kator, instead returning to their origin. Zac even guessed the infusions were what allowed the beastmaster to recover his wounds as quickly as Kator could leave them. The Black Heart beastmaster's personal strength was another difference from other beastmasters Zac had encountered.

Most lived and died with their beast, literally. Verana was a poignant example of that. Her companions had fallen one after another during the months of bitter struggle on the frontlines. Finally, Verana's last companion was too exhausted to protect her when an assassin struck, ending her journey at Peak E-grade. Let alone Verana, most of the Tel-Eladar warriors who'd joined his ranks had shared a similar fate. Beasts were simply targets that stood out unless there were enough of them to form a tide.

The Black Heart cultist's path was more balanced that way, provided you were willing to sacrifice your companions. The beast tide could counter a large number of enemies, and their strength could be resorbed if facing a strong enemy.

Kator did what he could to revert the tide. The enormous warbeast wrought from bone that he'd summoned in his battle with the Arhat was already out. However, it was already on its last legs from holding off the Black Heart leader's strongest beast. Another spatial crack had appeared close to the coliseum, from which the tentacles of the curse-implanted Void Beast had emerged.

The task of dealing with the beast overflow had fallen into Ogras's lap, preventing him from helping the others. With his flag still occupied by the struggling clumps of cultists, he had his hands full. Even then, the occasional beast had managed to slip through the cracks, and Zac could see both corpses and still fighting animals all over.

Zac never stopped moving as he took in the chaotic scene. He'd shot out of the spatial tear like a bullet, cramming a set of Healing and Soldier Pills into his mouth as he made a slight adjustment to his direction. He descended right upon Kruta's targets, chains and axe at the ready. The orc was covered in cauterized wounds, though he'd clearly given as good as he'd gotten.

Molten scrap from dozens of broken swords floated all around him while one of the cultists had their arm replaced by scorched tendrils. Zac's state wasn't much better. His whole body was covered in wounds and Ichor after breaking out of the dreamscape, and he'd used up all his cooldown skills except [Sonorous End].

Zac knew it wouldn't do him much good. The skill wasn't very strong on its own, barely qualifying to be considered a High-quality skill. Only by using it with [Rapturous Beginning] could it bring out its true power, and Zac had no intention of bringing out his human half again unless absolutely necessary. The two Black Heart cultists weren't worthy of exposing that card, even if one of them was a Late Hegemon.

The Black Heart Cultists were shocked to see Zac arrive and not their two Peak D-grade combatants. They clearly understood the implications, and Zac felt the fluctuations of Heart Curses being fully activated. The Late Hegemon's face paled as he summoned eight enormous swords by sacrificing longevity while his companion activated a treasure to form a sturdy barrier.

It was too little too late. Zac's mere presence had upended the balance, and a few swings left huge cracks in the hastily erected shield. Kruta went from losing ground to tearing through the Sword Array when Zac forced the duo to redirect more than half the attacks his way. The shield soon couldn't endure Zac's wrath and shattered.

The longevity-imbued swords didn't even get the chance to showcase their might before [Death's Duality] tore through the Black Heart cultist's head. The second cultist fell at the same time, held aloft by the burning sword impaling his chest. His body turned into a human torch from the immense heat stored in Kruta's weapon.

Warning of the dangers of the Heart Curses proved unnecessary. The sinister tendrils couldn't even get close to the flame armor covering Kruta's body. Kruta nodded and set off, heading toward Rhuger, who was on his last legs. Zac flew in a different direction to help Ra'Klid, who had already lost an arm and a leg. It didn't slow him down much as he furiously hacked at his opponents with a beastcrafted axe covered in golden sigils.

Zac wasn't overly worried about the Mavai Chieftain's state, either. Between the second seal under his belt, Zac's support, and the resources of his whole tribe, Ra'Klid had already elevated the Mavai heritage to new heights. He'd mainly focus on their Life-attuned bloodline, unearthing its potential while inventing new techniques based on its power. While replicating Zac's rapid recovery with Creation Energy was still beyond him, regrowing limbs in short order was well within Ra'Klid's abilities.

Ra'Klid's focus on Vitality and Life made him an enduring tanker at the cost of lethality. He'd barely left any wounds on his opponents so far, opting for a defensive war until backup arrived. None of the targets were Black Heart cultists and fell in no time after Zac arrived. Kruta had similarly wrapped up the battle on his end, freeing yet another combatant.

The Kan'Tanu understood how close to disaster they were. The warriors had been content at maintaining the status quo, expecting their Half-Step captain and two Peak Hegemons to clean up the battlefield as soon as they'd dealt with the enemies on their end. Instead, their side was the one being routed.

Rare treasures and longevity were thrown out without a care. How could the sealbearers of the Atwood Empire lose out in a battle of wealth? Zac's people had accrued mountains of Merit by following him from one battle to another all this time, and the Alliance Treasury was filled with life-saving treasures.

The Half-Step Monarch tried to help, activating more gates to unleash a tide of beasts on the area. Most of them weren't even implanted with a Heart Curse. Zac guessed they were future batches of beasts who hadn't gone through whatever training process the beastmaster used. Ogras was like a living domain, trying what he could to contain the deluge. Kator followed suit, and a boisterous laugh echoed through the region as the reaver activated his temporal quagmire. It wouldn't last long while contending with a domain empowered by a nascent Inner World. It didn't have to.

Space and order utterly collapsed from the immense forces unleashed. It looked like a constellation of newborn suns had appeared in the calm belt. Not that it could be called that any longer. The Imperial Graveyard had noticed the battle. Streams of resentment had detached from the huge wall, and more came seeping through the dimensional cracks spread everywhere.

Chaos was fine with Zac—it even gave him a home-field advantage. The Kan'Tanu's desperate resistance didn't amount to anything. Zac moved through the battlefield like the Grim Reaper, harvesting lives left and right. Each time, one of his subordinates was freed up and joined Ogras to deal with the beast tide.

In less than a minute, only the Monarch and his minions remained. The whole crew descended on the coliseum like a pack of hungry wolves, and the portals became nothing but Kill Energy dispensaries. The Half-step Monarch clearly understood the gravity of his situation, and a huge sigil appeared in the middle of the coliseum.

"Back away!" Zac shouted just before a huge energy pillar lit up the sky.

It was covered in red floating runes, and its appearance made Zac remember the pillar he'd accidentally summoned inside the Void Star. The pillar back then had been filled with the energy of the lost plane, but this one seemed to be filled with blood and resentment.

The beam didn't last long. When it faded, the hundreds of beasts kings were nothing but husks. Even the coliseum was withered while its gates had crumbled. All the blood and energy had been siphoned off to the captain, who now was as large as a beast king.

The cultist's aura was unstable yet incredibly powerful. He turned into a blur before anyone could react, and Zac doubled over when it felt like his soul had been torn apart. Meanwhile, a huge wound had opened up in his gut, courtesy of [Solidarity Link]. The Monarch had actually managed to pierce Kator's warbones by expending a chunk of his accumulated power, which doubled as a mental attack since a reaver's soul was stored in their bones.

Zac's vision was swimming, but he knew he had to move. Zac urgently entered the fray, focusing solely on suppression through his Inexorable Stance and [Inexorable Subjugation]. His swings were designed to worsen the instability of forcibly absorbing so many beasts, continuously interrupting skill activations.

Kator was clearly holding onto a bellyful of anger after being wounded and took it all out on the cultist. The brutality in his swings reached new heights, and the cultist had no more beasts to use for recovery. And with Zac binding him down, much of the advantage he'd gained through his drain was countered.

Ultimately, two hands couldn't win against four, especially not with the bombardment of a dozen sealbearers at a distance. Zac sensed how his energy fluctuations grew erratic, and his eyes widened in alarm. He was planning on self-detonating. With this much stockpiled energy, he'd blow them all to kingdom come.

"Not a chance!" Kator guffawed as he rushed forth while Zac restrained the target with everything he had.

Three of Alea's chains snapped, unable to cross so many stages. The sacrifice paid off. It created enough of a window for a temporally accelerated Kator to squeeze past the cultist's defenses and slam his bone shield into the cultist's midsection.

Zac briefly saw an incredibly complex rune appear on the shield before his mind screamed of danger. A huge hole was punched open right through the cultist's chest, almost taking Zac with it. Zac couldn't tell whether it was a skill, Bloodline Talent, or Miracle Bone. He only knew he'd have lost his left arm if he'd been even slightly slower in backing away.

One of [Love's Bond]'s chains hadn't been as quick, adding a set of deep cracks. They would heal soon enough, but the scene left Zac fuming. A flustered Jaol spoke through the communicator, preventing Zac from giving the reaver a piece of his mind.

'Danger! Come back!'

Jaol's warning only barely preceded terrifying energy fluctuation seeping through the spatial tear from which the Void Beast's tentacle came. Ominous cracks leaking tremendous amounts of energy were rapidly spreading across the oversized appendage. Even space was bulging upward as the small fractures spread throughout the battlefield rapidly expanded.

Zac swore and disappeared in a puff of Abyssal darkness, with half of the group similarly escaping in streaks of light or spatial ripples. The other half were swallowed by shadows and whisked away by Ogras as they made a beeline for the Yphelion. Their ship was already flying away using the subsidiary thrusters, and for good reason.

Space finally couldn't take it any longer. A region a dozen miles across burst just after Zac entered the Yphelion's protective shielding, creating another bloody pillar far larger than the one before. The blast wasn't even directed at them, but the shockwave was enough to leave Zac alarmed.

"Defensive talismans!" Zac shouted, and over a dozen D-grade barriers appeared outside the Yphelion's overdrafted shields.

The barriers broke one after another. Thankfully, it was enough to endure most of the onslaught, saving the Cosmic Vessel from having to endure yet another calamity.

"Is it dead?" Zac spoke into the commicator. With the Half-step Monarch, he got the stream of Kill Energy to confirm. He wasn't as sure with the Void Beast.

'It's dead, but I'm afraid there's bad news,' Jaol answered. 'There was a very powerful, artificial, signal mixed into the energy fluctuation of the self-destruction. It should have been able to travel very far in subspace.'

"A dead man's switch?" Zac frowned. "We need to leave. What's the status of the engines?"

'It's the same,' Galau answered from another channel. 'I've barely got the general energy system up and running after overloading it with the cannons. The engines still need the better part of an hour.'

"Keep working at it. Let us know if there's anything we can do to help," Zac sighed before taking out two treasures from his Spatial Ring and swallowing them.

"Good job, everyone," Zac said. "Unfortunately, it seems the captain used his pet to send out a message. Rest up; we might have to fight again sooner than we'd like."

"I knew our journey went too smoothly the past weeks," Ogras muttered as he dragged a streak of sweaty hair out of his eyes.

"You call that smooth?" Emily said with a raised brow.

"I do when this guy's involved."

One by one, the sealbearers teleported back onto the Yphelion. A few stayed on a bit longer, Kator one among them.

"Are you okay?" Zac asked, glancing at the large crack in the reaver's midsection that exposed the pitch-black sinewy muscles behind.

"It'll take more than this to do me in," Kator guffawed before waving his scepter at Zac. "Why? Do you feel this is your opportunity to strike?"

"Not at all. I'm happy you're in such good spirits," Zac calmly said as roiling clouds began gathering above, already crackling with angry, red lightning. "I'm hoping you can share some of the burden of what comes next."