Chapter 505: A Balance of Powers
The instant that heart appeared before Wang Yu, he sensed a presence he remembered all too well: the breath of the deep. That chaos, that distortion—such intensity was rare even within the void. At least, in the surface layers he frequented, nothing like it existed.
He had encountered this kind of distorted turbulence only twice before. Once was when he had been weak—when he fell straight into the Void and, before being fished out, brushed against that chaotic force that could not touch him. The other time was in the depths of the Endless Sea, in that region that destroyed and renewed itself once every day. That colossal octopus's entire form seethed with the same aura.
The void energy coiling around this heart felt nearly identical: a thing born of the depths of the void, whose existence alone projected void essence into the surrounding space.
"How does something like this manifest in the material realm...? The closer an existence is to the depths, the more heavily it should be suppressed by matter. Yet the Utopia has never shown the ability to wield the void to this degree..."
From Skyborne City, Icarus observed the massive heart emerging below, the data scrolling across the instruments forcing a sharp intake of breath from him. Just how much of their power had the Utopia hidden?
"Maybe the specialized environment they created was meant precisely for this purpose," Astartes replied.
A moment later, Icarus realized the machine spirit was likely correct. He would have reached the same conclusion soon enough, but Astartes had beat him to it.
"Exactly. Look at the chains wrapped around the heart. Their composition—you recognize it, don't you? It's identical to what we detected inside those special environments the Utopia built."
Murmuring to himself, Icarus began operating the World Anchor, one of the few systems accessible only to him and Astarte. If they intended to oppose an entity from the depths, the Anchor had to be fully engaged.
Then came a thunderous boom. The immense heart burst free from the sea of mud. Anything that stood in its way was distorted by a corrupting force. Dry sand drifted down around it, unchanged by wetlands, muck, or brine. With its emergence came an expanding field that surged violently across the landscape.
The boundary between matter and Void blurred, not in the sense of a crude, jagged void rift, but rather a seamless projection of the void imposed naturally upon the material world. It recreated an environment similar to the nodes the Utopia had forged.
The entire Alliance was swallowed within this field. Wang Yu's sweeping veil of concealment over the allied forces was scoured away instantly; the Lady of the Night's divine authority meant nothing before this deeper, purer void energy. This was conflict at the level of intrinsic existence.
As the domain descended, it immediately began stripping nearby wizards of their influence over the void. The heart stood as the core of this void domain; it commanded all void energy in reach.
"Just like that giant octopus beneath the Endless Sea..." Wang Yu muttered. "Wonder if the Lady of the Night's power will be safe. But I doubt it can penetrate my Chariot."
Staring at the expanding field, he divided the power of the night he wielded in two. One portion wrapped around himself as he activated the Chariot's Void Engine at a level stronger than ever before; the other, he passed to Avia.
A faint sound rippled through the air as the space around him distorted. Avia was preparing to act with the power of the night.
Across the Alliance lines, the wizards quickly sensed their power being stripped away. But just as Wang Yu had expected, the Alliance had prepared contingency plans with Skyborne City. The inability to control void energy—and thereby to guard themselves from the Ashen Wastes' combustive energy—was a scenario they had prepared for.
A metallic crash reverberated through Skyborne City as the World Anchor descended, driven down by alchemical machinery. Even in the open material realm, though nothing seemed to bar its way, its metal frame groaned, twisting under an invisible resistance.
The reactor filled the mechanism with power in a roar of energy, allowing the Anchor to smash past the resistance. It plunged into the void and immediately triggered a counter-field, one that collided directly with the heart's domain.
The two forces clashed, canceling each other out. The battlefield's space returned to a tenuous equilibrium.
"The Anchor can descend about halfway further," Astartes reported. "We can increase its output and still stay within safe limits. Doing so will tilt the field back toward the material plane, suppressing the heart's power."
"That won't be necessary," Icarus replied. "It would strain the Anchor and weaken our wizards' access to the void. For now, all we need is to prevent defeat. We'll wait before unleashing the Anchor's true power."
Icarus answered Astartes calmly. A counter-offensive sounded appealing on paper, but its efficacy remained uncertain. Who could say whether the heart had revealed its full strength? Damaging the World Anchor would be a loss beyond what they could handle.
"I understand. Then... shall we coordinate with the coalition and launch a full-scale barrage?"
Astartes projected a series of operational matrices before Icarus.
"Yes. Release them. If we can contend on equal footing under these conditions, then we'll be fine for the moment. Do you think the Utopia has more power hidden away?"
Icarus's mental energy manifested as fingers that tapped swiftly across the luminous control panel. He summoned every war engine Skyborne City had prepared for this battle—every weapon forged for this exact moment, meant to be unleashed without regard for loss or cost.
"No idea. But why ask a machine spirit like me? My database doesn't contain enough information to support any meaningful analysis of the Utopia."
Astartes responded absently as it followed Icarus's commands and deployed the weapons one by one. Most residential structures on Skyborne City had already been inverted underground, and the scholars had all moved into the city's inner and upper layers to operate and monitor various systems.
"Why not? I'd prefer something with a little more emotional intelligence. At least say something to boost my morale. You were created by Master Merlin. You have a mind of your own. You could stand to offer a judgment or two, couldn't you?"
Icarus smiled faintly. The battlefield feed shone across his face. Great artillery unfurled from the city's underbelly launched blazing beams so bright they washed his features in white light.
"You, a commander, need morale? Shouldn't you be thinking about how to bolster the morale of your subordinates instead?"
Astartes threw out a retort while manipulating the city's defenses. It extended the armor plates outward, lifting a massive one-way magic shield and projecting it an extreme distance ahead. It crashed down at the frontlines, blocking an explosive blast that had erupted from the heart's fissures, saving the Alliance's legendary knights as they charged forward.
"Don't forget, I wasn't ever a commander before any of this. I was merely the chair of one of Skyborne City's academies. I hold this post now only because circumstances forced it upon me. If anything, I'm more scholar than leader. The only reason I'm standing here at all is Wang Yu. So yes, perhaps I do need a little morale to help me make the right calls."
Icarus laughed again. The battle outside grew ever fiercer. The fighting spirit of the legendary knights interlinked to form a battle-array of unprecedented strength. They manifested a spear that clashed against the heart's chains. After a single breathtaking moment, the heart's void-charged strike shattered as the chains detonated into fragments.
"As I thought. The power knights forge via fighting spirit, parallel to the void but distinct from it, is unaffected by conflicts between different layers of void energy."
"You're still joking at a time like this? Fine. If you truly need morale, let me give you a comforting answer: the Utopia likely has nothing else on par with this heart."
Astartes seemed rather perplexed, as if it truly could not comprehend why Icarus insisted on such a pointless answer.
"Is that so? Then we have a sliver of hope. If they had more creations of this level, we'd stand no chance."
Icarus seemed unexpectedly delighted by Astartes' response.
"Did my answer really help? Hah. That mindset... I suppose you truly are qualified for this post beyond your association with that monster of a man."
Meanwhile, a sharp pulse erupted beside Wang Yu, who stood atop a massive boulder staring at the distant heart. Space buckled around him. Distorted structures attempted to fuse and reshape themselves, only to collapse into scattered fragments.
"A fully distorted structure... It's beyond the influence of the Gate of Phases. But this spellcasting method is derived from the Gate of Phases itself."
Sulla appeared far off in the distance, smiling at Wang Yu as he turned in silence.
Dispelling the chaotic energy left behind from Sulla and Avia's earlier clash with a casual wave, Wang Yu spoke up.
"I've been waiting for you."
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