Defiance of the Fall

Zac's roar shook the forest as he lunged at the Hexmaster using only the physical strength in his body. It looked like he was trying to deal with the familiar threat before worrying about the newcomer, but reality quickly proved that theory wrong. A huge axe emitting an archaic air had already appeared above the swordmaster without warning, immediately going in for the kill.

Its utter lack of Cosmic Energy made it easy to mistake the axe for an apparition, but the force it contained was very real. The saber master quickly caught on, but there were no real defenses against the instant and untraceable peril that Zac's Void Energy represented. The E-grade skill still packed plenty of power, but it required strict conditions to ever reach a Middle Hegemon.

Void Energy's instant activation completely side-stepped these limitations. The axe was right upon its target the moment it appeared, and the huge sigil in the sky delayed his response. A resounding crash shook the forest as the oversized axe hit its mark. The already strained [Apex Jungle] could hold on no longer, and the remaining trees dissipated into golden smoke.

The tumultuous scene far overshadowed Zac's own actions, especially since he had completely stopped circulating Cosmic Energy. His turbid aura, bereft of any signs of skill activations, gave the illusion that the huge attack came from somewhere else, and Zac planned to make the most of that fact.

Zac reached the Hexmaster's fingerstorm the moment [Arcadia's Judgment] struck. The impervious wall had endured dozens of strikes from [Apex Jungle] and even more from [Primal Edict]. Throwing yourself against it with your own body was tantamount to suicide, or so the Hexmaster thought. [Verun's Bite] lit up with radiant luster without so much as a flicker of Cosmic Energy, carving a huge hole in the churning wall of flesh.

A surprised but fierce face stared back at Zac as he squeezed inside, but the cultist's response died in its cradle when the cocoon was cut off from the Heavens. Zac had activated [Void Zone] the instant he confirmed the three-armed Hexmaster was within range. The swirling fingers didn't dissipate as Zac had hoped. Instead, they lost their luster and slowed down to a crawl.

The energy inside the Hexmaster was momentarily interrupted before resuming at a reduced pace. It might have been enough to disrupt the three daggers, though Zac could no longer observe the situation outside after his jungle collapsed. Of course, he knew the chances of [Void Zone] dealing with the knives weren't great.

His E-grade Bloodline Ability simply lacked the punch to shut down the incredible amounts of energy coursing through a Middle Hegemon's pathways. Its use was downgraded from nullification to suppression against foes at this level. That was more than enough. It had never been a lack of firepower that prevented Zac from dealing with his enemy. It was the Hexmaster's varied means of survival and uncanny instincts that had foiled him at every turn.

Now, they were once more face to face, and [Verun's Bite] was already descending. It dug into flesh, cleanly severing two of the remaining arms before continuing into the Hexmaster's chest. It differed from Zac's normal approach that went straight for the head, but the cultist had the uncanny ability to sacrifice arms for power and survival.

Rampant Dao wreaked havoc within the oversized humanoid. Zac even added a flood of his Branch of the Pale Seal to create a war within the cultist's body. At that moment, the ground heaved, almost throwing Zac off his feet. It was the second half of [Arcadia's Judgment] going off in conjunction with his melee attack. It was the finale of his lightning-quick blitz aimed at taking out two troublesome opponents at once.

So where was the Kill Energy?

Zac lamented that [Arcadian Crusade] had failed to activate because of the knives' interference, but there was nothing to do. His gambit had failed to kill either elite, and he could only deal with the cards he'd been dealt. The Hexmaster was closest, so he would start with him. The man had already sacrificed his final arm to survive Zac's attack, but the technique accomplished little more than field repairs because of lacking offerings and being operated within [Void Zone].

A second swing followed up on the first, but the Hexmaster let loose a desperate wail as his belly exploded. Zac was mentally prepared to fight off the high-quality Heart Curse of an elite reincarnator, only to find the demonic Hexmaster to shoot out like a cannon. It wasn't because of a Heart Curse. The lunatic had sacrificed most of his organs to escape Zac's grasp.

The gory explosion was subdued like it took place underwater, and it left a trail of tainted blood. It burrowed into Zac's skin as he pursued, but he barely noticed it. The blood was a mix of corrupted energy and a living curse, and the combination triggered no less than three of his Hidden Nodes.

Zac's target may have escaped, but he was an arrow at the end of its flight. It was a miracle the Hexmaster was even alive, especially considering that Zac's Daos were still destroying what little remained within his body. It was unlikely he could even channel his energy in such a state, but Zac didn't want to give his opponent more time to develop new schemes. He'd been surprised enough by this fight.

However, an erratic aura behind gave him pause. A region over one hundred meters across was utterly demolished, with a large scar digging deep into the ground and innumerable jagged stalagmites reaching for the sky. There was even a spot of nothingness at its center, confirming Zac's hunch his attack had damaged space. And in the middle of it all, an unkempt figure unsteadily got to his feet.

Normally, he would have risked opening a spatial fracture within his body when launching such a powerful skill where space was already exhausted beyond its breaking point. Today, his Void Energy had proven its use in another way. Skills activated with Void Energy appeared instantly in a way Zac still couldn't explain, but it didn't involve any energy within his body.

It was a shame that even a spatial collapse failed to do in the saber master. Zac had to admit, whatever method the Chapter of Hallowed Flesh used to temper their bodies was very impressive. Of course, the warrior wasn't like the ancient protector from Zac's Dao Vision all those years ago. He couldn't just shatter spatial tears with his body, especially not after taking a hit from [Arcadia's Judgment] head-on.

The newcomer's state was better than the Hexmaster's, but that wasn't saying much. He was missing both saber and right arm, and it looked like a beast had taken a large bite out of his torso. The wound teemed with spatial energy and ancient Dao, confirming it was the result of the spatial fracture. Should he swap targets? The Hexmaster might actually die even if left alone, but this guy would not.

'I got it!'

Emily looked like a comet crashing into the beleaguered Saber Master, who barely managed to block two fiery tomahawks aimed at his head. Zac gave a brief warning about the spatial decay before continuing his pursuit. The body-tempering reincarnator was undeniably stronger than Emily, but he'd be lucky to exert even a third of his power in his current state. Emily should be able to stall him while Zac wrapped things up with the other target.

Zac had briefly stopped when the Saber Master reemerged, but that time was more than recovered thanks to a crackling tomahawk entering his body. Emily had already upgraded her buffing skill, where the Lightning-aspected version improved one's speed. Part of it was a simple buff to one's Dexterity, while the other half was slightly harder to explain.

Warm arcs of harmless lightning cycled through Zac's limbs, invigorating his cells and filling them with vigor. It triggered his body in a way that provided a comprehensive boost to his speed. The effect felt similar to the benefits of awakening one's constitution, like how his Draugr heritage had made his skin more durable and provided resistance to all sorts of ailments.

Emily's buff obviously wasn't permanent like a constitution. It lasted a minute, which was more than enough for Zac's needs. No forest remained, but [Primal Edict] was still running just fine. Boundless vines intercepted and bogged down the Hexmaster as he escaped toward the Kan'Tanu's lines, and groups of E-grade soldiers added insult to injury.

It only took two seconds for Zac to close in on his target, at which point a tremendous surge of Kill Energy almost made Zac give up on his chase. His first guess was that the terrible wounds had done the Hexmaster in, but Zac realized he was still hanging on. The only other possible source of such a huge influx was the Saber Master. He must have drastically underestimated Emily's capabilities and made a deadly mistake.

Zac was extremely curious about how Emily had taken out her opponent at such record speed, but there were more pressing matters. A familiar aura was already brewing within the Hexmaster's chest. He was planning to go out with a bang, and there was no telling what terrifying methods a true member of Tripartite Truth used.

There were more than just himself to worry about. Half the soldiers who had entered his domain had died, most of them to the cursed fingers. However, there were still many soldiers nearby who had no way to counter a large-scale curse fueled by life force. Zac moved like the wind, reactivating [Void Zone] when he reached his target. It temporarily quelled the rising force within the cultist's chest, and Zac quickly followed up with two rapid slashes.

One shattered the Cosmic Core, and the other tore into the emerging Heart Curse. Zac was about to lob off the avatar's head for good measure, but a scream of danger made him activate [Skystriker] with Void Energy. A powerful pull from within the Kan'Tanu's chest almost managed to hold him in place—the Hexmaster's parting gift.

Zac felt like he was being sucked into a black hole, but the combination of [Void Zone], the lightning axe, and his movement skill's piercing momentum allowed him to break the hold. It was just in time, as the three bloody daggers collided right at Zac's previous location. The daggers shattered, releasing a shockwave of resentment that ground everything within a hundred meters to dust.

Zac barely got out of the way in time. The Hexmaster's broken body wasn't so lucky. It was utterly destroyed, reduced to a bloody pulp filled with sinister energy. Resentment and remnant curses mixed, resulting in a hurricane roaring with the anguish of a thousand souls. Zac felt like his head had been split in two, and his vision turned dark as he lost control of his flight.

Blood poured down his nose as Zac crawled back to his feet, but his splitting headache quickly dissipated. His wretched state wasn't because of the wail but the pebbles left in his soul. They had exploded when the daggers were detonated, attacking his soul from within. Luckily, it only had the strength to give Zac's soul a painful shock, a small price to pay to take out such an annoying enemy.

No! Where was the confirmation?!

Zac furiously looked around, realizing he'd been had once more. However, a second surge of Kill Energy let him breathe out in relief. Zac flew to a patch free of vines nearby and was surprised to find Ra'Klid standing with axe in hand over an unfamiliar corpse. The face was different, but the dissipating aura confirmed it was his enemy. The Hexmaster had somehow sacrificed his body and Heart Curse to escape with a clone, but it had left him teetering at the brink of death.

Ra'Klid had been at the right place at the right time, finishing the job once and for all.

"Can't believe I failed to kill him after all that work," Zac muttered as he landed next to Ra'Klid. "Good job."

"Just wrapping things up for you, my Lord," the demon grinned. "Damn, I wish I wasn't level capped."

Zac was about to ask about Ra'Klid's men, but Emily's sudden appearance derailed his thoughts.

"Are you okay? What happened?"

"Oh, nothing much," Emily grinned. "I remembered I had a little Technocrat toy left from my days in the Wild West. Good thing about those trinkets is that they don't emit Cosmic Energy. So I dropped it by that guy's feet just before he punched me. He really did me a solid flinging me away since the whole region shattered the next second."

"You," Zac said with a wry smile. "Be careful about using those—"

Zac's voice caught in his throat because a radiant light suddenly emerged from the Hexmaster's mangled chest. It wasn't a remnant Heart Curse or trap, yet Zac's heart lurched as he threw a glass sphere into the ground. It shattered, prompting the region to be shrouded in a dense haze that could isolate most energies. The Hexmaster might not have booby-trapped his body, but what he left behind represented a far greater danger in the middle of a high-grade battlefield.

After all, who could resist the call of an unclaimed Ourter Court Seal?

The nearby vines writhed with excitement, and it looked like they barely contained an innate desire to consume the seal. The impartment of Ultom was undoubtedly the greatest fertilizer, but Zac knew the truths within weren't meant for him. One wrong move and they'd all be reduced to ash. Zac and Emily warily backed away out of fear of triggering the Starfall Court's seal.

The seal would disintegrate most people upon contact, but that didn't mean it was willing to remain hidden among vines and smoke. A beam of utmost truth illuminated the whole area, making it impossible to miss. Zac looked at the scene with mixed emotions, having seen it many times before.

The display was nowhere near the scope of the terrifying pillar of corruption he accidentally conjured back in the Void Star. However, it easily surpassed what they experienced when encountering seals on the graded battlefronts. It wasn't that this seal was of higher quality but that it had sensed more acceptable candidates in the surroundings.

They'd long since figured out a thing or two about seizing seals from the bodies of others. Or rather, the Undead Empire had performed a series of experiments and shared some of the findings. First of all, becoming ownerless didn't mean that just anyone could pick them up. The only one guaranteed success seemed to be the sealbearer's killer, provided they were under 100 years of age. Others risked the same treatment as the scout who'd tried to snatch Zac's first seal.

The first rule was a small loophole, where people like Zac could let his chosen land the finishing blow on a known sealbearer. Meanwhile, it wasn't exactly clear how the seal chose among the rest. Some would feel an inexplicable attraction, but that didn't mean they were guaranteed to avoid getting dusted.

To make things more confusing, Tavza had reported a few of her subordinates seizing seals without feeling its call. It was truly a matter of fate, and fate's machinations weren't easily exposed. People like Ventus might have some means of estimating success or failure, but Zac hadn't found a method to open a safe line of communication with the Numerologist.

Lastly, and most pertinent to their current situation, seals wanted to be captured. They would release increasingly powerful fluctuations in an attempt to attract candidates from further and further away. And the more people it approved of nearby, the stronger the display. Zac knew that his obscuration sphere couldn't completely hide its call, and other methods had proven similarly fruitless.

In a perfect world, Zac would have sealed it away while going over his options, but that was the biggest taboo. Trapping a seal in an array or treasure would immediately trigger a deadly pulse.

"This..." a hoarse voice whispered, and Zac saw Ra'Klid look at the floating lines with a burning gaze.

Zac gave it a thought before nodding. "Take it."

The Mavai Chieftain landing the killing blow meant he could safely take it, and the unusual circumstances strongly indicated Ra'Klid had a natural affinity with the Starfall Court. If not for fate's meddling, how else would a Peak E-grade cultivator land a killing blow on a Middle D-grade Reincarnator from the Chapter of Tripartite Truth?

Besides, who better exemplified the title 'Reignender of Ultom' than Ra'Klid, a man who killed his own father to end his reign?

The demon understood they couldn't leave such a treasure unattended for long, and he quickly moved back toward the corpse. However, Ra'Klid froze when Zac suddenly appeared before him, grabbing something that had shot out from the haze.

"So you really couldn't hold yourself back," Zac sighed as he discarded the throwing dagger aimed at Ra'Klid's throat.

"You knew?"

"I had my suspicions from the beginning, but I only learned the truth recently," Zac said with a shake of his head. "It's a shame. Regardless of your motives, you've been a great asset since we arrived."

"If you're so grateful, why not cede this opportunity to me?"

With those words, Tussar emerged from the mists.