Alm took a deep breath and sighed, feeling as though that saber was directly connected to him. It was an energy connection; they were one, yet he could also sense the subtle existence of celestial laws intertwined with them.
The soul of the weapon now seemed to be part of him. Alm could feel everything the saber felt or thought; however, it was like a curious child, still learning. ’Sir, let me go all out,’ Vorion spoke mentally, with confidence.
Alm nodded, perfectly understanding the saber’s intentions. Unlike Liumi, who could control herself and use power three times, Vorion could only attack with full force.
The saber ignited... or rather, it was as if the mouth of a primordial demonic beast had opened, and a powerful devouring force was sucking all the light from the world.
The entire surroundings darkened, as if everyone had fallen into an abyss. The saber disappeared, creating a domain. ’Abyss of the Soul,’ Alm murmured mentally, naming this move.
A vast area several meters wide was covered in a strange darkness. From above, the winged figure recoiled and narrowed its eyes; it couldn’t see or sense anything inside. The senses of all enemies within were clouded; they didn’t know up from down and couldn’t perceive anything at all, all frozen in stunned silence.
The dying body of that human closed its eyes. Alm and Vorion were completely focused on the domain. Suddenly, only the left eye of the figure opened. In it, a celestial light emerged. The human moved his hand, a spatial rune glowed on his chest; suddenly, everyone enveloped by the Abyss of the Soul felt a tremor spread through their bodies.
’Abyss of the Soul... a strange name, but fitting,’ Bruno murmured, clenching the hilt of Fides, which was embedded in the ground with cracks spreading in all directions.
In the next moment, Fides began pulsating in celestial blue. On the third pulse, the muffled sound of something breaking came from it. The breakthrough happened, then the human’s body split, with half in a completely black aura, and the other in a white and pure aura.
Bruno took a deep breath, feeling the connection with Fides. This was probably an advantage that only the two of them could achieve in all universes. Alm was fully focused on the domain and connected with his weapon; while Bruno was active separately, doing the same with his.
It was as if two entities were fighting separately and using two terrifying powers simultaneously. But... they weren’t two entities, they were one. And thanks to a person they had been suppressing for some time; they had learned to unite completely, in every sense.
’Let’s go, Fides. He created the dark abyss; we will create faith and hope. For hope to exist, the inner sanctum of each must be cultivated like a sanctuary,’ Bruno murmured, and the colossal blade of the sword trembled.
If Vorion had the intelligence of a curious child, Fides was like a newborn who had not yet learned to speak fully. But despite everything, for him it was much easier to advance and use this power. Bruno had gained vast knowledge of the power of faith, which was the foundation of the weapon, and the two had already developed a technique together when they fled that demon sect in the divine world. (Chapter 406)
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At the time, the technique was developed and used to break the demon’s blockade, using the power of faith. After that, they never used it again, but now it seemed perfect to be refined.
’Inner Sanctuary,’ Bruno spoke, and the Yang of his soul surged. Now, that technique reflected his inner self, and they didn’t need to use the power of faith directly.
At that moment, the human’s right eye opened. Now, one of his eyes was as black as the abyss, while the other shone with the purity of a sacred sanctuary. The dark abyss and the resplendent light merged, manifesting on the back of that human a golden wheel, in the center of which Yin and Yang began to rotate.
Suddenly, the domain expanded in all directions. The winged figure above and all those outside widened their eyes and tried to flee, but the expansion speed was extreme and engulfed them in seconds. Suddenly, their minds and souls seemed invaded, and their will evaporated, leaving them standing, completely enveloped.
Alm and Bruno, along with Fides and Vorion, created a joint technique that was impossible to exist. It didn’t depend on Qi, laws, or anything else. It was a union of Yin and Yang, something Alm and Bruno had learned to do by being connected through tattoos. Now, they had expanded this to another level.
It was as if everyone connected to these two poles of life: the abyss and hope, suffering and happiness. These were experiences that all forms of life went through, no matter who they were; if you weren’t suffering now, it was because you would suffer soon. However, happiness and hope always sprouted amidst the chaos, for those resilient enough. It was like a wheel that turned, and these cycles constantly changed.
These cycles were guided by the karma each accumulated during life. Karma basically meant action, and each choice was a seed planted; later it would grow, and the individual had to reap its fruits. For some reason, the Will of Heaven manipulated these fruits for everyone to experience their flavors; until the queen broke this cycle. In some Earth cultures, this was called the Wheel of Samsara.
This domain had no offensive power, but everyone inside it was completely enveloped, and their consciousness lost the external connection that dominated them. Alm and Bruno felt the potential of this move; with this in hand, the queen’s basic domain would be completely nullified. If they weren’t a hero or an Empyrean, they could now easily nullify all this; and maybe go further...
’Interesting,’ Alm said lightly. The two felt that strange manifestation swirling on their backs and connected the legends of the Wheel of Samsara they knew on Earth.
’How about Karmic Domain?’ Bruno named the dual move, and Alm just snorted, not caring.
The entire battlefield, then that whole closed world was covered and dominated by them. But, the two did not celebrate this discovery. This domain would last a short time, and these enemies were not ordinary cultivators, dominated from birth by the queen’s celestial mark. A hero directly dominated them with his power.
Alm and Bruno felt a mortal danger over their heads. The next second, a subtle golden power lit up in all the enemies. Alm and Bruno saw this and smiled sarcastically. They felt the hero’s will manifesting, fortunately it was just the hero and not the queen.
But...
At that instant, the whole world seemed to vibrate, and infinite golden runes covered all directions. It was as if a golden net was stretching across the entire horizon. Alm and Bruno didn’t even need to look back. The exit, which they couldn’t reach before, was now completely closed. Even if they killed all the enemies, they couldn’t leave anymore.
’The heroes sensed the events and directly triggered their power,’ Alm said dryly.
Bruno sighed. ’The heroes created and maintained this place. Now the sneaky mission has completely collapsed. We’ve gained some breathing time, but we’re sealed, and the heroes are on their way.’
The feeling of danger was clear as day, but they could tell, through experience, that they still had some time. This place was in the underworld; the heroes must be in some universe and couldn’t arrive immediately. Maybe they had just a few minutes.
’If the system put us here, there must be a way. Completing the mission is the only way out I can imagine right now,’ Alm reflected coldly and nodded to Liumi, who approached his side with eyes full of admiration.
’To obtain the fruit of the tree, we need to make it grow first... the Genesis Fruit... that’s the fruit that spread plant and natural life throughout the universe,’ Bruno said, thinking about the mission description. ’In the beginning of the universe, the laws of chaos existed everywhere and gave rise to everything. The obvious path we imagined was to obtain much of that law and try to make the seed turn into a tree. But the obvious isn’t always the true path.’
’We no longer have that option. We don’t have the laws of chaos, but we have something created with it; our sprout of chaos. We have a strange seed and a ’plant’ already slightly grown. Where the hell is the logic, I don’t know, but we have to make these things complete and merge...’ Alm stopped midway, realizing something. ’...merge.’
’Chaotic Refinement!’ Bruno quickly exclaimed, surprised.
Indeed, it wasn’t a logic easily perceived at first; no one would think of it so quickly. The seed was incomplete, meant to be just a minimal remnant of what the true primordial seed should be. But the complete seed emerged amidst the chaos laws at the beginning of everything. What caused it to emerge, something random? No, the heavenly laws manipulated it to become a tree and spread its fruits and seeds.
They didn’t have the power to create something like that. But by coincidence, they already had something similarly partially formed. Both realized now; the technique they gained after saving the missionary Mihkriel in the underworld was likely inspired by this primordial tree. (Chapter 371)
They received his memories, but even he himself didn’t know it. He united the celestial power he received with several other techniques, creating the Celestial Chaos Seed Technique. But that alone would never be complete. Chaotic Refinement, created based on the Forge God’s technique, was the only thing possible to complete his technique.
’Well, we have no time or other ideas. Let’s go with this,’ Alm spat and focused entirely on the inventory.
The seed and the chaos bud approached each other. Then, using the bud’s own power, the seed turned into particles; then it shattered itself. A grayish mist formed and then began to slowly merge.
Alm and Bruno focused to the extreme. They used all the knowledge from Mihkriel’s technique and everything they had discovered about the law of chaos. No cultivator could claim to know this law well, but even a small step in it always created extreme power.
It took a minute. Then Alm and Bruno felt an extreme mortal danger. The heroes were close.
Two minutes...
Suddenly, throughout the underworld, the laws seemed to stir. Something unbelievable was born in that moment, and all powerful existences felt a change.
In the inventory, Alm and Bruno took a deep breath. They finished, they succeeded. Before them, the chaos bud now seemed to radiate a complete physical presence. Then they felt the whole inventory change, as if it were now a mini-universe. The consequences of this change were difficult to imagine now.
Then... that bud began to grow before their eyes. Leaves emerged, many flourished; it grew and grew... until a tree pulsating mystically, just two meters tall, appeared.
Bruno sighed. ’Is this the primordial tree? It looks simple... well, nature is simple and functional. Now, how are we going to make the fruit appear?’
CRACK!
Before the two could start thinking of an answer, a sound of cracking rang out. They turned around and saw space distort towards the entrance. A channel was emerging... they were coming.
’Damn, we have seconds now to act or it’s the end.’ Bruno spoke dryly.