Volten stood as an overwhelming presence in the sky, his body cloaked in scales of pure, crackling orange lightning.
He was no longer the sect master who had spent millennia at the precipice of a new realm of power. Now, he had broken free from the chains of the gods, and his newfound strength rippled through the skies.
Yuan Zhen, twisted by the abyss and fueled by the power he had stolen from his own disciples, bared his fangs in a grotesque smile. His once-golden robes were now charred black and fused to his body, his sunfire aura corrupted beyond recognition.
The abyss had granted him power with this forbidden spell to drain the life of his own charges, but it had also warped him into something even more monstrous.
"I will not be defeated by some pretender to godhood!" Yuan roared, his voice reverberating across the battlefield. His sunfire surged around him, the twisted red flames licking at the sky as he summoned all of the abyss-tainted energy within him.
Volten’s eyes narrowed, the reptilian slits glowing with an intense light. His fists crackled with his Defiance Lightning, the power of his new form surging through him. "You’ve already lost, Yuan. You sacrificed your people and your soul for this power. You’re nothing but a puppet of the Abyss."
Yuan snarled, his claws igniting with abyssal sunfire as he lunged at Volten, the sky tearing apart in the wake of his attack.
But Volten was faster. His body became a blur of lightning as he weaved around Yuan’s assault, his movements graceful yet filled with deadly precision.
In the blink of an eye, Volten countered, his orange lightning covered fist smashing into Yuan’s chest with the force of a thunderclap. The abyssal sunfire around Yuan flickered, and for a moment, the sky was filled with a blinding orange light as Volten’s Defiance Lightning coursed through his enemy’s body.
Yuan staggered, his form flickering like a flame caught in the wind, but his madness only grew. "I will consume everything!" he screamed, raising both arms to the sky.
The energy of the last few remaining sunfire disciples, now fully drained, surged toward him, their bodies crumbling into ash as Yuan absorbed their last vestiges of power.
His form swelled, growing larger by the second. His claws elongated, his body stretching grotesquely as the abyss took more and more of him.
~~~
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Below, Lassim could feel the ground tremble as the two titans clashed above.
But his focus remained on the portals. He had to close them before more demons poured through. The remnants of the Sun Sect’s disciples-turned-demons were being vaporized by Volten’s lightning, but the larger abyssal forces still pushed through the remaining portals, and they were growing stronger.
Lassim’s body moved on instinct, his [Tempest Steps] carrying him through the rubble of the battlefield.
His spirit sense was attuned to the presence of the portals, the threads of space around them warping as more abyssal energy seeped through. There were 4 left. He just needed to close 4 more.
"[Lassim, the two portals to the north are stabilizing and growing faster!]" Zaphy’s voice rang in his mind, her energy buzzing through his body. "[We need to focus on them first!]"
Lassim nodded, his grip tightening around his halberd as he sprinted toward the nearest portal. His heart pounded in his chest, every muscle in his body burning with exhaustion, but he couldn’t stop. The sect depended on him.
As he approached the first portal, his eyes locked onto the twisted figures of two abyssal demons stepping through. They were larger than the others, their bodies wreathed in dark flames, their eyes glowing with a predatory hunger. But Lassim had faced worse. Even the last Lieutenant was ten times more intimidating and stronger
"[Now, Mari!]" Lassim called out mentally.
The air around him shimmered as Marinelle’s power surged to the surface through their growing bond. A massive wave of water burst forth from his halberd, slamming into the demons with the force of a crashing tide.
The creatures howled in pain as the water engulfed them, their corrupted flames sputtering out as the abyssal energy was smothered by Marinelle’s overwhelming presence.
Lassim didn’t waste a second. With the demons momentarily stunned, he raised his halberd high, the blade crackling with void energy as he focused on the portal. His spatial sense honing in on the threads that held it open.
He channeled his energy directly into the weapon, his will manifesting through the blade. With a swift, precise slash, he severed the threads, the portal flickering as it began to collapse in on itself.
But as he moved to sever the final thread, the portal pulsed violently, and from its depths, a strange and twisted figure emerged.
It was not a hulking beast or a brute of raw power like the others. This creature was smaller, more slender, its body twisting and shifting as it stepped through the portal.
Its skin was a mottled purple and black, its limbs long and spindly, ending in sharp, clawed fingers that seemed to phase in and out of reality. Its head was featureless, save for a single glowing eye in the center of its forehead that pulsed with an eerie light.
The creature’s movements were erratic, its body flickering in and out of view as if it existed in multiple places at once. It glided across the ground, its limbs bending at impossible angles as it closed the distance between itself and Lassim.
"Ahh… the harbinger," the demon hissed, its voice echoing unnaturally as if it was speaking from all around him. "I’ve been told about you. My master gave me visions to let me see how you work. How you… move. We’re quite similar, but you’re still a child… I am something far beyond your understanding."
Lassim’s grip tightened on his halberd briefly. This demon was quite different from any others he’d seen so far. It did look somewhat reminiscent of the beholder he met in the Myriad Spirit sect’s trial ground, but its aura was suffocating, and its movements were quite dizzying, as if it was untethered from the normal rules of space and time.
"[Lassim, this thing... it’s like it’s moving through the void! Could it be one of those creatures that Khaalseru scared us with when we were practicing?]" Zaphy’s voice rang out in his mind, her usual excitement now laced with concern. "[Be careful, brother!]"
The creature’s single eye fixed on Lassim, and he felt a strange pressure building around him, as if the very air was closing in. It was manipulating space, distorting the fabric of reality in a way that made it difficult for him to move, let alone teleport.
"You play with space like a newborn," the demon hissed, its voice grating against Lassim’s mind. "But I… I am one with the void. You cannot escape me, one of the abyss’ voidlings."
Without warning, the creature lunged, its body flickering as it phased in and out of sight and stretched oddly like a long string of a noodle before arriving at its destination.
Lassim barely had time to react, his [Aegis] activating instinctively to block the attack. The demon’s claws raked across his ice barrier, the impact sending a shockwave of distorted energy through the air.
Lassim staggered back as the barrier shattered into tiny shards and particles. The destabilizing energy made his body tremble.
"Zaphy! Mari! I need help!" Lassim shouted, his mind racing as he tried to steady himself.
"[I’m here, brother!]" Zaphyrella’s voice rang out, her energy surging through him.
A bolt of lightning shot down from the sky, guided by Zaphy’s control, and struck the demon square in the chest.
But instead of disintegrating like the other demons, the creature simply flickered, its body phasing out of existence for a brief moment before reappearing unharmed.
"You~ can’t~ touch~ me~," the demon purred in a sing-songy manner, its voice filled with sadistic glee. "I am beyond you!"
Lassim grit his teeth, frustration building as he struggled to find an opening.
The demon was fast, intelligent, and its control over space was far more advanced than his own. This was a being and creature that was somehow native to the void, and based on what he’d heard from the Lieutenant before its death, it was probably from a universe already conquered by the abyss sometime in the past.
But he couldn’t give up. Not now. There were still four portals left, and each moment that passed, he felt the threads of space trying to solidify them as permanent gateways to the Abyss. He couldn’t allow that to happen.
Lassim took a deep breath, focusing his energy. His progenitor marks pulsed as his halberd shimmered with void energy, the air around him distorting slightly.
If the demon was using space to slip between attacks, then Lassim would turn that very element against it. He would make space unreliable for him too, twisting it even more—something even the demon hopefully couldn’t control and fix.
As his spirit sense reached out and his progenitor marks lit up his eyes further, he became acutely aware of the fabric of reality in the immediate surroundings.
He could feel the subtle pulses as the demon phased in and out, exploiting the spatial threads. But space wasn’t a fixed point—it was constantly shifting, bending as objects and their own gravities affected it. And Lassim could exploit that to bend it too.
With a surge of determination, he focused on the area around the demon. His halberd pulsed as he did forty seemingly random [Thrust]s in a flash and tore at the fabric of space, distorting it in the whole area.
The demon flickered, momentarily thrown off by the sudden change in the air. It attempted to phase out of Lassim’s reach as a final [Thrust] made its way towards him, but something was off.
The creature’s movement became sluggish as if the very space it used to escape had become uncooperative.
Lassim could sense the frustration building in the creature. Good. Now he had the opening he needed.
He lunged forward, aiming his halberd at the demon’s exposed side. The demon snarled, flickering again as it tried to phase out, but the warped space worked against it. Lassim’s blade bit into its side, dark blood spraying across the ground as the demon recoiled.
"You think you can twist space in front of me?" the demon growled, its voice guttural and strained. "You think that will save you?"
Lassim didn’t respond. He wasn’t going to waste energy on words. The threads of space were fraying, distorting, and if he kept the pressure on, the demon wouldn’t be able to maintain its phasing ability.
The demon lashed out, its claws aimed at Lassim’s throat, but he sidestepped, warping the space around himself to create a thin buffer of distorted reality. The demon’s attack faltered, the claws scraping past him as it misjudged the distance. It was like it’s whole sense of depth perception had been reliant on its innate space wielding abilities and now, without that, it was becoming clumsy.
The demon hesitated, its movements jerky and disoriented. It tried again to phase, but Lassim had already anticipated its move.
With a sharp twist of his halberd, he sliced through the space around the demon, creating a ripple effect that caused the creature’s body to momentarily shimmer—locked in place, unable to escape.
Lassim didn’t waste the opportunity. He raised his halberd, void energy crackling along its edge, and slashed downward. The blade cut through the demon’s torso, and a burst of dark blood erupted as the creature let out a guttural, pained roar.
The demon stumbled, its body flickering violently as it tried to maintain control of its phasing, but it was no use. The spatial disruptions Lassim had created were too strong. The creature was trapped.
"You…" the demon hissed, its voice thick with rage.
With a final, swift motion, Lassim drove his halberd into the demon’s chest, the void energy surging through the blade as it pierced the creature’s heart.
The demon’s body convulsed, its form unraveling as the space around it collapsed in on itself. Within moments, the creature’s body dissolved into nothingness, leaving only a dark, oozing pool where it had stood.
Lassim took a step back, as he watched the last of the demon’s essence fade into the air. The spatial distortions around him began to settle, but the portal still loomed nearby, pulsing with corrupted energy.
Without hesitation, he raised his halberd again, focusing on the portal’s threads. With a precise, [Slash], he severed the remaining connections, and the portal flickered before collapsing inward, vanishing into the void.
Three more….