Defiance of the Fall C.1222: Balance Upheld

The simple taunts wouldn't normally have fazed Zac in the slightest, even with the great pressure he was under. However, the entity's words were laced with hidden barbs of malevolence. The completely foreign magic tried to form seeds of artificial Heart Demons while fomenting a schism in his mind. Each attack held the potential for corruption and possession.

The subtle attack would have posed a real threat if the circumstances were different. The entity was nowhere near as carefree as it wanted to appear. It had fused with the [Epiclesis Bell] to survive under a hostile sky, and damaging the bell meant damaging the creature. With the heretical bell almost completely gone, the entity was already on its last legs. The Heavens were adding insult to injury, erasing its existence layer by layer.

The bell's isolating properties were almost gone, too weak to even sever the link with Zac's other half. Sensing his location and the differences in time flow indicated he'd been dragged into an illusion rather than subspace. The System's protection remained around his real body, and only a fraction of the evil energies managed to pass through the lightning cage.

A wave of nothingness spread through the darkness, causing the evil domain to turn sluggish. Zac's answer to the entity was a call to war, which began by activating [Void Zone]. The bloodline talent was immediately followed by launching a third of his skills using [Force of the Void]. He was holding nothing back, using his Void Emperor bloodline to its fullest.

A miasmic shroud reeking of antiquity poured into the bell, and the darkness of the Abyss fought for supremacy through [Deathmark]. The two domains reached beyond his nullification sphere, while [Indomitable] and [Profane Exponents] erected new layers of defenses within. Zac also activated three rings on his fingers, causing a significant chunk of his core's Miasma to be drained.

Finally, Zac threw out a pitch-back crystal, which shattered and unleashed a sea of Miasma and Death-attuned Mental Energy. Zac was throwing everything at the oppressive darkness, and it was nowhere near enough to put him on even ground with the heretical creature. The entity's imminent demise didn't change the fact it was an existence as old as the System. Zac's actions were only enough to briefly contest its domain.

Soul Sense and scouting rings pierced the curtain, scanning every corner of the crumbling bell. Zac almost cried with relief upon sensing the familiar spiritual fluctuations. He disappeared in a puff of Abyssal haze, using [Abyssal Drive] to follow the signal to Vilari's location. She didn't react to his sudden appearance.

Vilari was caught in a trance-like state, her soul almost fully drained to combat an onslaught of darkness. Scanning her insides made Zac reel. Everything, from her organs to her pathways, was covered in a murky patina of evil. Her situation was awfully similar to Zac's after being dragged to the tapestries of Oblivion and Creation. She had been forced to retreat over and over and was left defending the final bastion of her being with the last of her strength.

"You came," Vilari smiled, her eyes briefly opening.

"Of course. Always," Zac said, knowing she'd already fallen unconscious again.

Zac forcibly calmed down, recapturing the turbulent ball of Chaos in his chest that had momentarily slipped out of his grasp upon seeing Vilari's plight. Calming down also let him grasp the situation more clearly. The entity's influence was still limited to a surface infiltration. The patina hadn't seeped into the depths of Vilari's cells, soul, or Cosmic Core. The attack must have started recently, considering how quickly Vilari was losing ground.

The situation was bad but not irredeemable, though the System didn't share his outlook. The lightning cage buckled when he drew closer, intent to strike down Vilari like she was part of the invasion of foreign Dao. Zac was infuriated and immediately absorbed a number of Chaos Motes to mark his conviction, almost buckling under the pain it caused.

"If you kill her, I won't just keep the Chaos for myself," Zac growled. "I'll tear down the Peak of Chaos with my own two hands."

'How fierce,' the entity laughed. 'I pray you won't come to regret your choice.'

Zac kept ignoring the voice, afraid that entertaining its antics was part of its unfamiliar skill. He reached forward, gingerly grasping Vilari's hand when the lightning cage parted. Zac quickly dragged her to his side, his mind screaming of immediate danger.

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A final, cackling laugh shook Zac to his very core, just before the darkness shattered in an explosion that ruptured Zac's eardrums. The entity had chosen to detonate itself and the bell in a final act of joyful sacrifice. Zac desperately held on, shielding Vilari's unmoving body in a tight embrace. The protective band of lightning crumbled, and the Void couldn't withstand the incoming onslaught.

Just as they were about to be swallowed, a steely sun bloomed with Zac and Vilari in the middle. A million eyes opened and closed across its surface, their chaotic stares eroding the wave of madness before they could reach. Zac only managed to see the twisted beauty and mad grandeur of his chaos-infused [Eye of Desolation] for a brief moment before the cage shattered. Thankfully, that brief resistance was enough for another cage of golden lightning to appear.

It wasn't just the entity that had shattered the protective bands and destabilized Zac's skill. It was helped by a streak of dark red, taking up the vanguard of an army of angry black lightning bolts filled with erasure. The Tribulation Lightning targeting his Draugr body had finally caught up when his human side had almost finished dealing with his half.

There was no time to weigh the risks. Zac only saw the solution he sought hidden within the tribulation bearing down on him. Zac lifted the Mentalist at the last moment, seemingly using her as a shield while flooding her with Void and Chaos. A furious clap of thunder answered, and the lightning grew in intensity by half. Vilari had been deemed interfering with the tribulation, increasing the punishment for them both.

Zac's heart hammered with worry, but it was the best solution he could think of. He'd planned on the System cleansing her as part of their trade, but its limit was letting her live while she remained steeped in sin. Sendor's warning had come back to haunt him, and it was up to him to find a solution.

It wasn't a problem his bloodline could solve. [Void Zone] and [Void Mountain] couldn't discern friend from foe, and Vilari would die from having her Daos suppressed long before Zac could strangle the stubborn energy.

The Chaos Energy was a possible fallback, but it was a last-ditch solution if all else failed. He could barely control it within his body. If he infused Vilari, there was no way to tell what would happen. The most suitable candidate was the black lightning, which was exceptionally efficient at rooting out the entity's aura. However, it was too overbearing, to the point it erased pieces of his body after lightly grazing him.

But what if it were diluted by tribulation lightning? It was still pushing the boundaries of what Vilari could be expected to endure, but it gave her a shot at survival. Any wounds or missing limbs could be fixed later with some of his leftover Creation Energy.

Barriers infused with Zac's upgraded Daos and a sliver of Chaos safeguarded Vilari's Core as the crackling lightning tore through every inch of her body. Zac faced an even greater punishment, though it still wasn't enough to push him over the edge. He let it rampage through his body, focusing on Vilari instead.

Zac tried to direct the tribulation to target the web of corruption, but it buckled at his interference. Manipulating his Mental Energy and Dao inside Vilari's body without harming her was incredibly difficult in her fragile state, and Tribulation Lightning was already something that approached being uncontrollable.

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Luckily, the black streaks of annihilation remembered their prime purpose. They took charge of the red tribulation, targeting the entity's mark on Vilari's soul and pathways. Zac furiously flooded her with soothing energy from his Branch of the Pale Seal while using slivers of Creation to mend whatever was broken.

The lightning was soon exhausted before finishing the job. There was simply too much buildup for one round of diluted lightning to cleanse it all.

"Please, help her!" Zac shouted.

His words fell on deaf ears, though Zac could tell the System's hostility had noticeably been reduced by removing more than half of the sinister patina. Zac wildly looked up, hoping to see a third bolt to provide another round of cleansing. Even if a little remained at that point, it should be enough to overcome the immediate threat.

Instead of a final arc of dark-red judgment, Zac was greeted by a full dimensional collapse. The region had already been teetering at the brink of collapse after enduring a series of clashes beyond its limit. Entity's death was the straw that broke the camel's back.

A tsunami of evil tore apart the fabric of reality, swallowing the remains of the oceans created by Zac's fusion skills. The entity knew it couldn't win against the Heavens and that Zac was under the System's protection, so it had chosen to at least bring down the others who had participated in its demise.

The Autarchs were still struggling in the heart of the domains of Creation and Oblivion. Their grand auras were already unstable after being forced to resist the deadly combination of an attack powered by Middle B-grade energy and Heavenly Judgment. They had been forced to rely on their Inner Worlds to survive, which was a dangerous gambit on the frontier.

Zac didn't understand the exact mechanics, but there were reasons beyond lacking resources that B-grade cultivators and above avoided the regions as much as possible. The might of their Inner Worlds had kept them alive until now, but it now worked against them. Their resistance had turned them into dimensional faultlines, and the entity pushed them off the cliff.

The chaotic mix of powers was pulled into two blindingly powerful singularities. Zac couldn't imagine anything surviving that madness, but the Autarchs weren't ready to go down without a fight. A six-armed Buddha, even larger than the previous one, appeared in the heart of the storm, holding back against collapse. The giant grasped the singularity between his hands, and Zac briefly felt it looked like a seed of rebirth.

Cracks immediately appeared on its hands, and golden flesh grew pustules. Even the benevolent gaze gained a malevolent sheen as the entity's corrosion spread through the construct. The undead infiltrators fared no better. A mind-bending maze made from thousands of complex arrays crumbled, and the four ivory sentinels the Reaver conjured weren't able to uphold the dimensional integrity.

'Blessings,' the monk from before sighed, his voice reaching the depths of Zac's heart. 'Balance is upheld. Benefactor, remember our discussion. The Sangha's doors are always open for those willing to listen.'

A blinding flash of light overwhelmed all senses except for the sixth sense of his Luck. A scream of danger let Zac ready himself for the final tribulation bolt that struck him at the most inopportune time. The final bolt was far more powerful, and it held even more streaks of annihilation. Zac released his hold on [Void Heart], which pounced with voracious glee.

The Hidden Node drastically reduced the pressure Zac faced, allowing him to fully focus on dealing with Vilari's situation. And yet, Zac felt the situation go out of control. The fierce lightning bucked at being used as a tool, and Vilari's already precarious state was rapidly worsening through the brutal cleanse.

It was at that time that Vilari's soul erupted with a tremendous wave of desolate will. It flooded her body, shaking loose the taint and throwing it into the crackling pyre. Zac switched from leading to following, supporting her actions as best as he could.

The mayhem within gradually calmed, as did the chaos around them. Zac blinked a few times and looked around, even if it was superfluous. He could feel the familiar environment of the Void of Space, hiding beneath the raging waves of the energies that had fallen through the cracks with him. Zac shook his head and turned to Vilari.

After the final round of purification, there was no corruption left. It wasn't just Zac's diagnosis. The golden lightning that had kept them alive through the collapse had gone from overt hostility to the System's default mode of indifference. The worst had passed, though Vilari had clearly overdrafted her already exhausted soul to finish the job.

The Yphelion was kept safe through the upheavals, though it had been dragged into the Void with everything else in the area. The Cosmic Vessel wasn't designed to travel the Void of Space, but it wouldn't have to if everything worked out.

An impatient clap of thunder showed how the System was running out of patience. The pitch-black heavenly clouds had followed them into the Void, and millions of black arcs of annihilation were still swimming about like vengeful snakes in search of prey. All energy that had been deposited in the region was targeted, and it didn't look like the judgment would end before every speck was dealt with.

Heaven's attention on Zac had drastically lessened after the tribulation was over and Vilari was cleansed. It didn't mean he was spared, but he was only a D-grade cultivator in a sea of higher-grade energy. He was a low-priority target, and Zac used that to his advantage. He turned into a streak of Abyssal Darkness, carrying Vilari through a labyrinth of safe pockets.

The confusing nature of the Void of Space couldn't stump Zac any longer. It may as well have been his backyard, a testament to his efforts since he was deposited in the Void during the Eventide Asura's ascent. It took no time to navigate back to the Cosmic Vessel, where his other half was already waiting with a box in each hand.

One held a small vial of purple liquid that made Zac's Soul Cores shudder with hunger. The other was a pill covered in dense engravings. Zac placed the pill in Vilari's mouth and gently guided its medicinal energies to the most damaged sections of her body. Meanwhile, his human side opened her eyes, dripped two drops of the purple liquid into each eye, and used the Branch of Pale Seal to guide it into her Soul Aperture.

The treasures were the top-tier elixirs he'd prepared for Vilari. It was almost a given she'd be in a bad state after a year of captivity, and a plethora of treasures and arrays had already been prepared. Zac looked for a spark of consciousness in her eyes but soon shook his head in defeat. A proper reunion would have to wait.

"Please help her," Zac said, this time not talking to the System.

He activated the Yphelion's Teleportation Array to place her in the medical ward.

"I'll do what I can," Catheya assured from the other side as she hurried to Vilari's side.

Catheya didn't have much knowledge of medicine, but the doctors were all unconscious or dead. Catheya could also seal Vilari in ice in case she noticed something was wrong. At least it wouldn't be a repeat of Alea's situation. Vilari's soul was only damaged and overtaxed, but it had shown no hint of collapse. Zac's real worry was whether the experience had damaged her in a less visible way.

A stabbing pain brought Zac back to the present. The tribulation had come and gone without causing any real problems. The issue was the Glimpses of Chaos. He'd held onto them far longer than ever before, even using skills with them as fuel. Enduring the streaks of annihilation damaged his pathways, and his soul was approaching dangerous levels after forcibly containing the glimpses for so long.

It was time to let go. The jungle around the Yphelion collapsed as Zac finally lost control over the skill. The System didn't make a move.

"Get us out of here, and we're even," Zac said with a hoarse voice.

The answer came in the form of a lighting pillar hundreds of meters wide, large enough to consume him and the Yphelion whole. Zac's eyes were wide with alarm, his heart suddenly full of horror and doubt. The System couldn't be done with him after he'd released the Flawed Authority, right? What about its schemes for his bloodline to mature?

"You—!"

Zac's furious roar was cut short when he realized the System hadn't actually decided to smite him. The pillar of lightning was painful, but not like the black eradication. The Heavenly lightning almost felt gentle as it swept through his body, seemingly performing a final check. The same thing was happening to his crew and even the Yphelion.

The next moment, they were back in the deadzone, only an hour's distance from their original position, judging by the immense cloud of darkness. There was still black lightning all around, but it seemed to avoid the Yphelion after it had been annealed by the System. It didn't appear to be a temporary protection, either.

Zac looked down at his vessel, barely recognizing it. It had received a complete overhaul by the pillar of lightning. The basic features were still there, though elevated, following concepts far beyond Zac's comprehension. It couldn't even be considered a Creator Vessel any longer. It felt more like a Natural Treasure born from the cosmos.

Uncovering its transformation would have to wait. Zac teleported into an empty corridor and instructed the Yphelion to set off, using every method in its arsenal to increase its speed. The black lightning had become a protective cover, and they needed to use it to cover as much ground as possible before any outside parties caught up.

Zac's human form disappeared in a puff of spatial energy, having returned to the Shrine of Kanba.

'You lunatic!' a deflated Esmeralda signed inside.

The toad was so exhausted that she had turned grey, and the vats on her back were completely empty. Protecting the shrine had taken its toll, even with Zac doing his best to shield it.

"I'm sorry," Zac sighed. "You saw how it was outside. Things far exceeded my expectations."

'Isn't that always the case with you?' Esmeralda said with a wronged expression.

"Well," Zac coughed. "At least it's over now."

'Not quite,' Esmeralda said, her eyes serious. 'I can't help you.'

"Don't worry; I can handle it," Zac said with a determined expression. "It's time Kator and I had a heart-to-heart."