Chapter 1047: Reawakening Of Power
Noah slowly stood up while helping Feris to her feet. There was a frown on his face as he glanced at the floor beneath them. This floating island was made from a strange fusion of both stone and this black material that was cold to the touch.
It resonated with the fragment hung around Feris’s neck. The pulsing of light as though a heartbeat was linked to it.
The island itself felt like it was slowly breathing with the pulses of light.
Was this island alive? He wasn’t sure.
Not only that... but the atmosphere in this place felt off. It wasn’t quite oppressive like the Abyss nor was it clear like the surface. It felt... off.
Noah couldn’t quite put his finger on the feeling but he didn’t want to find out more.
Tobi tried to use his Sigil abilities but paused when he noticed the difficulty he wasn’t having in bringing out his power. It wasn’t to the point of suppression but more so a feeling of sluggishness.
Rika did the same but her barriers were weaker than usual.
"Captain, come here and take a look at this." Yama called out.
Noah made his way over while giving Feris a brief glance. She seemed to be burning this view into her mind.
"This black material next to the purple crystal. It seems stupidly hard and conducts energy well." Bringing out a knife, Yama stabbed the material a few times as Noah furrowed his brows.
As mentioned, it was durable just like the purple crystal. There was not a single scratch even after stabbing it with the knife reinforced by Abyssal energy.
Folding his arms, Noah was silent for a moment before looking around them.
"Doesn’t seem like we can get out the way we came in." He mumbled, looking up at the strange Void sky.
"Sh*t f*ck, do we have to go deeper?" Tobi clenched his teeth before letting out a sigh.
"Does it look like we have a choice?" Rika pursed her lips, sitting down on a piece of debris as she rested her chin on her palm.
None of them could fly and the only path available to them was to go deeper into this realm. By this point, it was either that or sit here and starve.
Rather than waiting for their deaths, she would rather trying something. Anything.
Her gaze flicked to Feris.
Now that they were in the strange realm, the aura around Feris seemed to have changed. She felt... calm? It was hard to say. There was something different about her that Rika couldn’t explain. Her breathing was steady, her posture was straight without signs of fatigue.
The lethargy she carried is completely gone and there was a spark of life in her eyes.
Feris felt ’alive’.
Yet before she could call it into question, Rika felt a chill down her spine.
The fear that dominated the mind when something stares at them from an unknown location.
Noah slowly drew his blade, making sure not to make any rapid movements that might startle whatever was circling them.
"Yama, Tobi, cover each other’s back and protect Rika. There’s an island to my left, we’ll jump down on my signal. Just run like hell." Noah ordered. Even if the new arrival was harmless, he wasn’t going to take the chance.
Exhaling softly, he pulled Feris to his side.
She didn’t react, her focus was somewhere else entirely.
But at least she wasn’t fighting against him.
Then, from behind the silhouette of a floating island, a dark silhouette slightly appeared.
The creature, if he could even call it that, didn’t resemble anything organic.
It hovered in the air with its body being composed of jagged black shards orbiting a strange triangular core. Fragments drifted like broken pieces of a shattered star and housed in the centre of the triangle was its ’heart’. A black singularity spinning while bands of red arched around it like ribbons.
Strange tendril like appendages extended from beneath its body, its movements slow like that of a jelly fish hovering in the water.
Light seemed to distort around the creature as rocks would bend in unnatural ways.
"What the hell is that?" Tobi whispered, unwilling to even entertain the idea of fighting back.
The creature had no eyes yet the party felt as though it was staring at them. It tilted slightly, rotating to face the group.
Its ’heart’ shifted like a strange pupil, constricting and expanding once it saw Feris.
And within that ’heart’ a pulse of energy rippled out.
"Eh?" Feris snapped her head towards the creature.
The fragment around her neck pulsed violently in response to its ’call’.
*Badum...
*BADUM...
*BADUM!!!
Each beat would get stronger as it was now undeniable. That was the sound of a heartbeat.
Whatever Feris had stolen from the site years ago, it was a fragment of a heart.
Sensing the resonance, the creature started to shift as the shards around it trembled. Beneath it, the tendrils started to tremble before unfurling outwards.
"RUN!" Noah shouted, turning around and sprinting while the others did the same.
*BANG!!!
Behind them, streaks of energy slammed into the island, destroying the spot they were in mere moments ago.
Jumping through the Void, Noah noticed the gravity being slightly different as they fell towards the next island.
Behind them, the beast followed slowly. It didn’t run, it didn’t rush. It simply hovered while keeping its eye on the group.
While Noah was fleeing with Feris on her back, her eyes were also locked onto the strange beast.
The two were stuck in a staring contest as she saw a tear appear before the beast.
Space ripped apart to accommodate its body.
Then, as it floated through the portal...
"ARGH!!!"
A cry echoed out from the front as Yama had thrown Tobi away from the danger.
Yama’s left arm was disfigured from the strange tendrils weaving through his flesh and from the portal, the beast appeared in front of the party.
Without hesitation, he cut off his left arm and activated his Sigils.
Lightning crackled before transforming into blades that lunged after the beast.
Yet strange metal shields appeared around it, blocking the strikes.
"Yama!" Tobi shouted, his shock quickly turning into rage. But before he could strike, Rika acted first. Her barrier appeared around Yama’s arm as bone and flesh started to regrow. Blood trickled down her nose and Tobi understood his role right now was not to attack.
But rather to protect Rika so that Yama could recover from the damage.
Noah quickly jumped into the air while still carrying Feris and summoned a greatsword.
*BANG!!!
Slamming into the beast’s shield, the creature was flung away as he winced from the strike.
The feedback of his sword clashing against the shield sent vibrations through his arm, almost making him drop his weapon.
Without saying anything, the group turned and prepared to run once more but the sound of their clash seemed to have attracted beasts from afar.
They could see silouettes flickering through the Void, rushing towards their position.
"We can’t fight them all." Noah exhaled softly. Just from that strike alone told him that killing one would be an issue never mind the several that were rushing towards their location.
Distorted shapes that seemed to be of the same species as the one they fought just now.
Creasing his brows, Noah led the way as he quickly looked for a path of escape.
There were plenty of islands and crystalline structures for them to run on but nothing that could serve as cover or a way out.
And running forever wasn’t an option either...
Clenching his teeth, Noah understood that their best hope was to find a spot to defend. A location that’ll let him fight them all one by one rather than all at once.
But with their strange powers of space, it was hard to find a battlefield that could use the terrain as defence.
’What if they can break the crystals? They seem to be made from the same thing.’ He worried.
Behind him, Tobi supported Yama as his arm was still being regrown. Rika was struggling, finding it hard to focus while being on the run.
"Sorry, I’ll need to drop you for a bit." Noah quickly apologised as he let go of Feris, allowing Tobi to catch her in a panic.
Holding his breath, flames erupted from Noah’s blade as he twisted his upper body, unleashing a devastating slash in the air in front of him.
*CLANG!!!
His blade was stopped as he struck a beast just as it was about to appear in the air before them.
His weapon wrapped in its tendrils that refused to budge.
Letting go of his weapon, Noah pressed his palm against the beast’s chest and activated his Sigil.
*BANG!!!
Energy slammed into its chest as a deep palm print could be seen with the creature now falling towards the depths of the Void.
While Noah and the others were fighting off the approaching horde, Feris’s eyes tracked the beast that was falling.
Strangely... it felt like she could hear it speak.
Directly into her mind.
Claim the Void relic.
Retrieve the heart.
These commands echoed repeatedly as Feris clenched her fist. They were trying to take the fragment away from her.
And not only that... But this fragment was indeed the heart and an important aspect of this realm.
If so, then would she find the thing she was missing here? The emptiness in her chest.
Her fingers tightened around the crystal.
Her gaze drifted to Noah and the others.
Their struggle as the beasts refused to let them flee.
How many times has she sat back and watched as the others do everything now? She could still remember it.
The night of their escape.
That sensation of energy coursing through her body as she killed the guard blocking their way.
Right now... That familiar sensation was making itself known.
Feris could feel herself resonating with the fragment, with this realm.
The strange purple energy seeping into her body from the air around them.
And captured in her eyes...
Was the method these beasts used to manipulate the Void.
