Published at 10th of December 2024 12:12 am

Chapter 1263: An Inch

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Had he forgotten the grandeur of Ultom’s gift over the decade since he last claimed a seal? Or was this the difference from completing the picture and confirming his fate with the Flameseeking trial? There were five lines of enlightenment currently hovering in his soul compared to the three he’d seized during the previous rounds.

Neither seemed able to fully explain the profound clarity Zac felt, and he realized it was the sole benefit of his desperate situation. Void Emperor or not, Zac was still a mortal who found the answers to his path by walking the razor edge between life and death. It was no different now than during the first years of his journey when he seized the means to survive in the heat of battle.

It was almost impossible to advance mid-battle as you rose through the grades, as his current predicament proved, but Zac still accumulated most of his insights when he had his back against the wall. Currently, Zac’s mind was forced into that primal state of survival which let him break the chains of his mortality. Zac was in a much better state than when he grabbed the third piece in the Ensolus Ruins if you looked at it from that vantage.

Not only that, but his theoretical foundations were lightyears ahead of when he sought solutions for his Cosmic Core. The Four Laws were a distant concept he’d only heard mentioned in passing. Today, his body was reborn in their image, and echoes of the Four Desolates could still be found in every corner of his body. It gave him a more memorable lesson on the nature of Laws than centuries of meditation could.

Zac even felt closer to grasping the nature of Destiny through the conflict between the Tribulation and Imperial Faith. Seeing the faded bolt of lightning slowly inch closer let Zac grasp the corner of an important clue about the Eternal and the plans of Laondio Evrodok. He reluctantly put it aside, stifling the whispers of clarity to figure out his next step.

A decade’s worth of struggle was dragged through the filter of purpose as Zac scanned his body through a new set of eyes. He had his goals, and Ultom would show the way. Void and Dao coursed through his bodies, which exhibited the very limits of their constitutions to endure the combined threat of Kator and the tribulation. Zac briefly stopped at the [Solidarity Link] and the hourglass upholding its connection before moving on, his heart growing calmer as answers came to questions he hadn’t even thought to ask.

Zac followed the paths of destruction carved by the lightning across his limbs and torso. He saw golden hurricanes stubbornly blowing new Life into withered cells and Abyssal ponds sealing damage with Death. Compelled by reasons unknown, Zac strained his consciousness, delving deeper than ever before. A fierce resistance eventually pushed him back, though only after Zac caught a glimpse of the realities beyond.

Moving to his Quantum Space, Zac took in the devastation with sorrow. The second tribulation hadn’t caused as large a loss as the ignition and getting his core under control, but Zac had still lost over 15% of his core. That didn’t account for the energy he’d used to channel his skills. The surviving debris being tempered by the Four Desolates wasn’t much use either, considering he’d have to add new materials as part of the upgrade process. The added imperfections would undo whatever benefits he saw now.

There was a small silver lining to the loss. The temporary space where core upgrades takes place had been drowned in Law. A fundamental transformation was taking place, and Zac felt a familiar aura through a few of the scorched cracks. Zac’s mind shook, and the last piece clicked into place. Was it possible?

Zac’s biggest regret was wasting the singular opportunity of his final epiphany on survival instead of progress. He now believed they were one and the same. Following the spark of brilliance, hundreds of impressions emerged from the depths of his subconscious. Even sealed memories and experiences that his mind had failed to retain came crashing back one after another.

The underpinning truths he’d seen in the Eternal’s eyes and Starclad’s sun merged with Rava’s lessons. The vast grandeur of the Void Mountain was contrasted with five motes of Chaos. The defining moments in his life all came together, ending with two seas clashing against each other.

Zac heard Laondio’s sigh echo in his mind. It felt so clear he almost believed the Limitless Emperor had returned and that Zac wasn’t just recalling the final bolt of the Tribulation Throne. It had urged him to pick a side—Imperial Faith or Cosmic Destiny. He didn’t understand exactly what he’d done back then by choosing a path of his own.

Not even the five shimmering lights in his mind could answer that question, but the road he’d picked no longer felt shrouded by an opaque mist. With the past being filled in, the route to the future became more solid. Each impression became a brick on the bridge stretching into the darkness.

Dao, Law, Destiny. Body, Heart, Soul. There was no superior or subordinate. Everything was connected, reliant on each other.

[Void Vajra Sublimation] was dissected and contrasted with his memory of Eoz, along with the pieces of Draugr Heritage he’d been given. Even the chapters of [Stellar Dominion] he’d deduced while stuck in the Polaris Vault added to give enduring stability and growth. The fusion was contrasted and correlated with the [Thousand Lights Chapter] and the Order of the Empyrean Chalice’s Heart-nurturing methods.

Zac knew he was being greedy, grasping for everything at once. At the same time, that kind of ambition was the only way to open up his Void Road. Like Chaos, some things could only materialize when conditions were perfect. The answer he sought couldn’t miss a single aspect, at least not at this stage. Unfortunately, that meant he wouldn’t find a complete answer today. He’d need hundreds, perhaps thousands of streaks to combine the many threads with his lacking foundations and time.

Four lights were barely enough to find the direction he needed to walk. The fifth would add nothing, as Zac needed Ultom to provide something else. He pulled with all his might, and the final streak of unblemished truth was dragged out of his Soul Aperture and into his Draugr body. It was crushed and spread, with its unfathomable light pouring into the innumerable suns hidden in his cells.

With the final light of Ultom consumed, Zac’s mind began to settle. Zac knew the next second would decide everything as time gradually resumed its pace—life or death, genius or insanity. The third bolt crossed the last stretch of its journey, and furious lightning entered a competition with the boundless white over who could destroy Zac’s body the fastest.

Zac furiously held on, both to his structural integrity and the far-reaching idea that had just been born—the unifying method that was the sum of his existence. The miniature suns were key to his survival. Swallowing one of Ultom’s streaks had let them be born anew, turning them into blinding floodlights that kept his body anchored in the storm.

Using the profound stability, Zac extended his will into the sigil imparted by the System, connecting him with the dying network of Imperial Faith. He pulled with every fiber in his being, and a series of vortices opened throughout the Centurion base. They ignored vast distances and spatial instability to consume left-over treasures and Imperial Faith, just like when he advanced his bloodline.

Zac wasn’t finished there. Hundreds of small gashes appeared throughout his body that gobbled up chunks of Law-empowered lightning. He could have done the same with his cells, except that would only harm him. The sense of rejection was instantaneous. Zac felt like a pressure cooker about to blow as lightning, faith, and all tumultuous mix of energies began leaking from his cells.

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They came from the depths of the Abyssal Ponds, from the bottom of his golden hurricanes. He would already have exploded if not for the suns keeping everything together, but Zac felt himself quickly approaching his limit. There was no other way. He needed to use his bloodline as a strainer to combine a discordant mix of concepts and bind them to his mission.

Kator didn’t back down this time, despite the third tribulation having already fallen. The hand extended toward the now-gone seal clenched into a fist imbued with the fury and hopelessness of Kator’s situation. It dug into the column of lightning surrounding Zac and used Killing Intent and madness to reach his head. Zac narrowly dodged, feeling a burning sting as the fist tore up his skin along the left side of his face.

Zac’s vision doubled when the bulky reaver followed up on his swing by brutally bashing his plated head into Zac’s. Zac’s nose was broken and almost pushed into his head. He used the sharp pain to clear his head, and a screaming warning of danger focused Zac’s elevated state even further. Kator had taken out another Temporal Chamber, intent to encase them both.

Kator would likely die from the backlash of stepping out of time at this juncture. Zac definitely would. And yet, Zac didn’t try to extract himself from the vise-like embrace Kator had caught him in. Zac took the melded Dao, Law, and Destiny, circulating it in accordance with the pattern he’d traded for four streaks of enlightenment.

Suddenly, it was like his two bodies were one, a four-armed deva which each formed a distinct mudra. The Heavens and Earth connected, and Zac was the bridge. The chaos paused. Even the roiling sky grew quiet, holding off its desire for destruction. The cosmos became a silent witness to the primordial aura that stirred. The true aura of the Void Emperor was on full display and in defiance of the Heavens and the trajectories it enforced.

Zac saw a version of himself standing beyond the curtain, on the other side of the mirror. He reached out his hand, and the Void reached back. The mirror shattered, giving birth to a singularity. Dao collapsed, Law unraveled, and Destiny was rewritten. A vortex crackling with lightning and burning with the flames of destiny opened, and the two enemies locked in a deadly embrace fell into the darkness.

The White Sky faded, having lost its connection with its controller. It was like the cosmos released the breath it’d held, and bones rained down when the hurricane lost its momentum. Zac observed everything from his position atop the Core Formation Array, enduring the sense of weakness as he waited for the connection to be reestablished.

He glanced at a hidden corner of reality, snorting when it grew hollow. It looked like his audience had seen enough.

“You—” Ogras whispered as he appeared next to Zac’s human half.

The demon was covered in wounds flickering with shadows, his aura weak but stable. It looked like he was trying to reform his missing flesh by turning wounds into illusions, except the hostile Dao fiercely resisted. Emily was in an even worse state; holding onto the control room’s walls, she leaned out to see if everything was okay.

“It’s fine, for now. There’s one more.” Zac nodded at the sky, taking out another handful of pills and treasures.

Figuring out a path forward didn’t magically solve all his problems, and he couldn’t just sit around waiting for the Quantum Link to stabilize. The Heavens had recovered from its stunned silence and was already roaring in fury over having its punishment dragged out of its domain. Zac needed to perform what field repairs he could to prepare for the fourth and final bolt.

“Another one? Since when—” Ogras muttered in confusion before shaking his head. “Never mind. This dimension is about to go up in a big way. Galau is coordinating with Carl and Jaol to pick everyone up. What about you? The reaver?”

“He won’t be joining us,” Zac said, his eyes steely with determination as the connection was reestablished.

In a space beyond space, a heated exchange had resumed. Zac furiously swung his axe against a faltering Kator who leaked corruption and Dao like a sieve. The collisions created muted sounds like they were fighting underwater, and the sense of looking at the Dao from outside strengthened that impression.

The reality was far more complicated. Swirling clouds of Void-touched energies and enough rubble to rebuild civilization floated all around them. It was the hidden Void Realm he’d always known existed yet hadn’t managed to find until today. And for good reason. Zac knew it was too early, yet he’d forcibly opened a path to a realm that shouldn’t exist.

The Void Realm’s current appearance was materialized with Destiny and stabilized through Law. It also relied on the temporary space for his core formation. This realm would last until his breakthrough was over at the longest, most likely failing much sooner than that. After that, it would return to its original inaccessible state. Before that, Zac needed to wrap things up.

Kator had first lost the seal, then his ace, as the White Sky failed to follow him into the Void Realm. The Temporal Chamber he’d tried to erect as a last-ditch effort had collapsed before it could stabilize. He’d even lost his connection with the Heavens, causing him to lose the war against the Four Desolates. Even the Dead Dao of the Lost Plane abandoned the ship as whole bones became pitch-black before disappearing.

Zac fared much better. Using the tribulation to stabilize the Void Realm had allowed him to avoid more than half the punishment. The remainder was being handled by his human half, who had begun using [Void Mountain]‘s imprint to erase swathes of lightning. There was no reason not to, as significant amounts of Void Energy poured into his Draugr body from the surroundings. Was this how it felt to be a cultivator?

Against all odds, Kator fought tooth and nail, not giving an inch. Ultimately, his determination couldn’t overcome his fate. His temporally accelerated swing stalled when a section of his right shoulder disappeared. Kator tried to recover with a shield slam, except his pivot was preempted by Alea’s constrictive bondage.

Zac saw his chance and took it. [Death’s Duality] descended, bringing with it the inexorable finality embodied by his path. The anthracite edge bit into Kator’s shoulder right where he’d lost a battle against the Four Desolates. A pang of pain was transmitted through his bond with Alea. Tearing into Kator’s body, she was also forced to face the heavenly wrath lodged within. Alea’s pain dispelled any lingering hesitation, and Zac pushed even harder.

A distorted snap echoed through the realm as Kator was split in two. Zac’s axe had carved a diagonal line running right through his bones, Cosmic Core, and the central nervous system that controlled the sinewy muscles hidden within the bone plating. Huge amounts of energy poured into the darkness, along with errant arcs of confused lightning.

Kator’s bones faded, and Zac felt his aura rapidly dwindle. Being bisected wasn’t necessarily the end of a battle when it came to Hegemons—many could survive with much less. That wasn’t the case with Kator. His soul had essentially been split in two when his bone carapace was destroyed, and he could no longer mount a resistance against the Laws. The battle was over.

Zac felt a band of agony matching Kator’s wound, a final gift from the harried [Solidarity Link]. Zac furiously fought back with his bloodlines and the Void while turning to the hourglass. Knowing it was time, Zac rallied his bloodline once more. He’d exhausted most of the starlight already, but there was barely enough to form a small vortex above Esmeralda’s treasure.

The hourglass was gone the next moment, and Zac felt a flicker of time in the distance when it was deposited in a random corner of the Void Realm. Zac let it be, focusing on the [Solidarity Link] as it unraveled before his very eyes. At the very last moment, he infused the crumbling sigil with [Void Mountain], blocking a final shockwave. The sigil was gone, and Zac’s suffering immediately began decreasing.

Esmeralda’s treasure, if you could call it that, had wound back time repeatedly. Even then, echoes of the damage refused to be fully erased. Between transferring the Four Desolates and Kator’s repeated attempts at severing the connection, the link had been living on borrowed time for a while. The dying reaver sighed, and Zac turned to Kator with a complex gaze.

“Don’t look at me like that, Draugr. I don’t need your pity,” Kator wheezed, his voice hollow as pieces of him disappeared.

“You should have cleared your head when I gave you the chance. The situation was still salvageable,” Zac said.

“Tell yourself that if it makes you feel better,” Kator snickered. “In your heart of hearts, you should know better. We’ve been moving toward this moment since we met. There can’t be two tigers on the mountain. Your very existence is poison to my path. I don’t know why. The only way to avoid this outcome would be for one of us to take a step back, to make concessions to our nature. This is the answer we chose.”

“Our grudge is our own. I won’t hold it against the White Sky Phalanx as long as they do the same,” Zac sighed.

“What do I care? I’m no one’s pawn. I lived for my dream until the end,” Kator said. He stretched out his hand toward the sky, his last words barely a whisper as he collapsed. “Only an inch from overcoming the current.”

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