Reality twisted with Moxâs descent. The statue grew beyond the bounds of the hidden pocket within the Void, eclipsing the size of most worlds. Zac could no longer see the Ancientâs head through a haze of fell Karma. It was undoubtedly for the best. What he was forced to witness was already bad enough to push him to the edge.
Moxâs arms had multiplied from eight to countless appendages. Just like the statue, a purgatory filled with tormented souls hung from each one. Some were blazing suns filled with the spirituality of billions of lives; others had withered beyond salvation. The trapped beings came in all shapes and sizes, and the only thing unifying them was a shared suffering that transcended Zacâs comprehension.
The torture had a clear purpose. The lower half of Moxâs body was submerged in a lake of such anguish that
[Soul Guardian]
immediately crumbled from its reflection. Drops of tainted longevity were slowly extracted from the purgatories to replenish the lakeâs loss. Madness and torment were used to scrub the captives of everything except their longevity and providence.
It was also obvious that the Mousetrap wasnât Moxâs only avenue of infiltrating the Left Imperial Expanse. Six of the purgatories differed from the rest. Zac could feel the Imperial Faith trapped within. They were each held aloft by three hands, and they were covered in extremely complex patterns. These purgatories also werenât stripped of their essence. Instead, Mox was personally infusing something.
The Hope Energy considered salvation by the Pathfinders was nothing but the unclean runoff from the process, carrying some of Moxâs accumulated sin. Each drop was a clear and blatant subversion of the Laws, and the overwhelming fell Karma was proof. Moxâs evil was different from Jalachâs. The latterâs joyful sacrifice seemed part of his path, while Moxâs malevolence was the result of extreme deviancy into heretical practices.
While the madness wasnât necessarily part of her original Dao, it now permeated her very existence. Knowing how long Mox had relied on such a ghoulish method of prolonging her life, her Heavenly Territory had probably been corrupted long ago. Zac had a feeling that her scheme to offload her Karma onto the Limitless Empire wasnât just about avoiding Heavenâs pursuit. It was as much a way to salvage her soul before she lost her final threads of sanity.
The realization didnât stir any feelings of sympathy, and it certainly didnât help with his predicament. A glimpse was enough to overwhelm his Soul Defenses and any protection brought by the Void. The collective madness of countless civilizations was so far beyond what Zac could endure that there was no point in fighting it. He was nothing but a bug caught in the storm, and he could feel every part of him being corrupted with horrifying speed.
Zac didnât think heâd actually been transported to Moxâs domain. The scene was a reflection of Moxâs consciousness when it descended onto the statue. However, there was no sign of the path he came from, and he could barely move under the overwhelming pressure. There was only one thing he could do. The
[Nine Courts Token]
appeared in one hand and the
[Fuxi Mountain Gate]
in the other.
âLaondio Evrodok! Iâm Karzâs descendant! I need help!â Zac croaked before escaping into the
[Fuxi Mountain Gate]
.
The lethal attention of the mad god was replaced by the Void and a sea of burning Imperial Faith. It gave Zacâs mind much-needed stability after being exposed to Moxâs profane path, and oily residue filled with corruption poured out of his skin to be incinerated by the Empireâs flames. The succor was destined to be short-lived.
The
[Fuxi Mountain Gate]
remained incomplete, and it began rejecting his presence the moment he appeared. Zac resisted with all his might while repeatedly invoking Emperor Limitless, Roan, the Hollow Courtâs Margrave, or anyone whoâd be willing to listen. This wasnât the time to worry about the implications of calling on Laondio and Karz during a time they were alive.
Zac was ejected long before he could recover, and it turned out his desperate gambit was more than a delay of the inevitable. Moxâs true form and her lake of evil were gone, and Zac was back in the hidden hollow with Naruk and the statue. His Danger Sense had gone from indicating certain death to grave danger, and the statueâs presence had weakened by more than half.
It was impossible to say whether it was name-dropping Emperor Limitless or something about the
[Fuxi Mountain Gate]
that made Mox back down. The Void Treasure was evidently much better equipped to resist her aura than Roanâs token. It was fine apart from its golden script of Imperial Faith being weakened by half.
It was still too early to celebrate. Moxâs presence remained in the shadows, and her brief descent had triggered unwelcome changes to the hidden realm. The ambient Hope Energy had skyrocketed, and it carried a hint of Moxâs true madness. Worse, there was still no sign of the exit or his Law-infused doorstopper, and Zac could feel that the dimensional integrity was much stronger than before.
Opening a new exit would be difficult, if not impossible. Mox had added a second layer of isolation, and she would pounce after confirming the coast was clear. Zac refused to let the desperate situation break his spirit. The fact that he was still alive proved there was hope, and her short descent came with a huge drain on the memory domainâs Imperial Faith.
Moxâs seal seemed to somewhat stabilize the spatial pocket, except it wasnât nearly as effective as when Roan kept Tamâs memory going by infusing more faith. Come to think of it, that could be the real reason why Mox suddenly backed down. Even if Mox didnât know she was part of a simulation, she might have sensed that her prey would escape her grasp if she persisted. Someone like Mox must have extraordinary intuition to have survived all these years.
There was still a chance his calls for reinforcements would be answered, but Zac couldnât put his life in the hands of others at this point. His gaze turned to the statue, knowing it was the key to survival. If he could break it, the seal on space should disappear. Even if it didnât, it might force a proper descent that pushed the memory over the edge. No matter where he ended up after the memory domain collapsed, it had to beat his current circumstances.
Zac resisted the urge to unleash a Void-activated
[Arcadiaâs Judgment]
at the platform. If he wanted to destroy the altar, he first needed to deal with its priest. Narukâs discarnate soul was as strong as a Monarch, and he had covered his deity in a radiant barrier while Zac was hiding inside his Void Treasure. It looked extremely sturdy, and the consequences of wasting his finisher were too high. He needed to create an opening.
There was no time to make a detailed plan. The Hope Energy alone was a threat to his life, and Zac could already feel madness stir. He shot forth as a haze of spores filled the chamber, but Zacâs face fell upon sensing Narukâs powerful consciousness rush toward him through the skillâs spiritual link. Recalling his battle with ChingâRu, Zac quickly cut off the connection to
[Primal Edict]
. Any slower, and his Soul and possibly Cosmic Core would have been infiltrated.
If one skill was vulnerable, all of them were. It didnât matter to near-instant skills like
[Evolutionary Edge]
or
[Skystriker]
, but
[Apex Jungle]
and
[Conformation of Supremacy]
were out. Bringing out Verun for support was out of the question. The environment was even deadlier to the Tool Spirit Zac.
[Empyrean Aegis]
and
[Arcadian Crusade]
could still be brought out, if only for a short moment.
Zac was essentially fighting with one arm tied behind his back, which didnât stop his advance.
[Void Mountain]
and
[Spiritual Void]
joined forces to fill his body with Void of Death. Adding
[Void Zone]
already working at maximum capacity, the drain on Void Energy and Void Vigor was significant. Zac could only bear the cost as he unleashed an opening salvo of
[Evolutionary Edge]
.
The blades moved so fast they looked like flashes of lightning, yet Naruk effortlessly blocked them all with his eight arms. His hands werenât damaged in the slightest, but Zac noted that his miniature purgatories had dimmed somewhat. The effect was negligible but provided vital information. Naruk borrowed power from the worlds, which in turn drew sustenance from the statue.
Zac hoped that didnât mean he had to drain all three to win, and there was only one way to find out. Naruk couldnât remain unruffled when Zac crashed into him like a rampaging bull. Zac fought with the violent ferocity that only existed at the edge of Life and Death. His intense desire to live became his greatest weapon against Moxâs influence, and his desperation infected Haro through
[Adaptive Symbiosis]
.
The young vine almost went mad but thankfully remembered his training. It ceded control, and two wills harmonized into a singular purposeâthe struggle for survival. Vines reeking of bloodlust unrelentingly targeted the faded worlds while
[Verunâs Bite]
became a dizzying blur that tried to take a bite out of Narukâs illusory body.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
The brutal assault quickly forced the discarnate soul into a passive state. Zac chose that moment to suddenly integrate the Void of Death into his attacks, and his movements shifted in inexplicable ways. Zac was still slapped so hard he broke a rib when he tried to slip past the priest, and his following tests yielded similar results. Naruk could actually see through his Void-imbued technique.
As disappointing as it was, it was within Zacâs expectations after learning Mox had some understanding of the Void. The good news was that Naruk couldnât use the situation to his advantage. The soul didnât seem to possess any skills, and his combat techniques werenât nearly as refined as Zacâs.
He was simply keeping himself above water by relying on superior speed and boundless energy reserves. That wasnât to say he wasnât attacking. Naruk didnât stop his attempts at infiltration after failing with
[Primal Edict]
. Countless threads of evil were burrowed into Zacâs mind in an attempt to claim his soul.
The grimoire was left with the clone outside, robbing the threads of their ability to move through the void. It allowed Zac to erect a barrier forged from indomitable will and Void, but it was still a losing battle. The strength of Narukâs soul was terrifying on its own, and it was bolstered by Moxâs madness.
Zac was barely holding on, but maintaining the status quo wasnât sustainable. [Void Zone] couldnât protect his body from the boundless Hope Energy much longer. His situation wasnât much better than the souls trapped in Moxâs purgatories. He was being refined, and Naruk simply needed to hold out until the process was finished.
There was no obvious route to a quick conclusion. Naruk wasnât like elementals or spectral cultivators who had some form of nuclei. The discarnate soul was much like IzhâRak Reavers, whose souls were spread through Warbones. That was both their greatest strength and weakness, and Zac had no choice but to approach Naruk the same way. The priestâs body and soul were one and the same, so any piece destroyed was a permanent loss.
At least that was how it was supposed to go. Zac manipulated the pace of their duel into repeatedly trading blows. He endured palms filled with madness to let Verun take a bite out of his enemy, only to see Narukâs worlds supplement the lost spirituality. Naruk was actually grafting pieces of trapped souls into his own to retain peak condition. Fusing souls like that should have driven him insane, yet he just kept fighting without missing a beat.
Zac didnât give up on the strategy despite its apparent futility. While Naruk was able to repair his soul, his worlds werenât able to restock on souls at the speed they were lost. As they grew dimmer, so did the barrier protecting Moxâs statue. Zac understood that the problem wasnât his approach; he simply needed to deal more damage.
With death breathing down his neck, Zac pushed beyond his limits to overturn his fate and open a road to survival. Soon, the only thing in his head was the desire for more speed, higher precision, and greater lethality. The Evolutionary Stanceâs cycle of constant reinvention moved faster and faster as desperation pushed Zac toward perfection.
Narukâs worlds were quickly dragged toward an early twilight. And with the corrupted priest being forced to divert more effort to prevent chunks of his soul from being ripped away, the attacks on Zacâs soul lessened. Zac barely noticed. Heâd fully embraced evolutionâs hunger as a way to stave off insanity. It filled his whole being to the point he could feel fateâs shackles slowing him down.
Zac railed against his limitations, doing everything he could to overcome the lock on his potential. His instincts told him that infusing evolutionâs struggle into his movements wasnât enough. He needed to fully embody the essence of his Evolutionary Stance to bring out the full extent of his power. The realization made something click, and Zac was no longer a cultivator battling his enemy. He was a primal force, unpredictable and unrelenting.
A bestial roar shook the subspace. Zac couldnât tell whether it came from him or
[Verunâs Bite]
. He was consumed by the beauty of his swing as it snuck by Nerukâs faltering defenses. The impressions and memories that Mox had tried to destroy were imbued into his axe, giving its edge the ability to cut through anything.
Two of the worlds floating behind Neruk directly crumbled to keep his bisected body together. Even so, the priestâs spirituality grew dimmer as evolutionâs sharp fangs ripped through his body. Naruk had lost a quarter of his soul in one go. It wasnât enough to bring the duel to an end, but Narukâs death was never Zacâs goal.
The darkness of the Void lit up with Arcadiaâs splendor. Its majestic aura of holy judgment dispersed the madness and suppressed Moxâs false hope. Meanwhile, the dense patterns of
[Arcadian Crusade]
appeared across Zacâs skin, filling his mind with the roars of war and his body with enough power to overturn the Heavens.
Arcadiaâs blade burned with finality as it descended on the platform, giving the priest no time to exploit Zacâs skills. Judgment appeared before the statue in the blink of an eye, just when its protections were at their weakest. Unknowingly, Naruk had been moved more than a hundred meters away by Zacâs onslaught. After suffering the consequences of Zacâs epiphany, the spirit didnât have the luxury to properly maintain the statueâs shield.
What remained of the barrier couldnât possibly withstand Zacâs strongest finisher empowered by his berserking skill. However, Naruk lived up to his role as a chosen zealot. His last two worlds exploded with Sacrificial Dao, and the spirit winked out of existence. The next moment, Zac felt Narukâs soul appear on the barrier. Heâd sacrificed himself to empower the shield.
[Arcadiaâs Judgment]
crashed into the shield, and the realm was painted in blinding gold. Zac was almost knocked out cold by the wails of a million souls being reduced to ash. After seeing Moxâs domain, he knew his attack was an act of kindness. Nevertheless, the cacophony confirmed his fear.
His strike was only enough to leave a shallow scar on the statue. The barrier was all but destroyed, but there was no sign of a second descent. Zac knew he had to keep going, so he activated
[Empyrean Aegis]
. This time, the wooden wheel stayed in place. There was nothing to interrupt its disruptive pulse, and Zac needed to channel all the skillâs energy to create a protective cocoon.
The gateway to Arcadia had closed after Mox successfully endured its punishment, but the attack had created deadly shockwaves. Zac relied equally on his defenses and the Voidâs hidden pathways to make it to the statue before its defenses could recover. When he arrived, his body already churned with monstrous power.
Zac had already put away his weapon, and Haro had retreated into his ring. There was no point in them enduring the rampaging forces coursing through him. Zac's left arm glowed with opalescent splendor filled with possibility; his right was a desolate black hole. Cracks spread across Zac's torso to channel even more power from the fractals.
There was no refinement, no sign of
[Extinction Event]
or
[Origin Revolutions]
. When dealing with a supreme existence, Zac needed to bring out an equally supreme force. Only Chaos could create the miracle he needed. And yet, Chaos eluded him. Zac desperately tried to fuse the two opposing forces, but he couldnât actually push his hands together.
Zac suddenly saw the answer in the energies about to disintegrate his arms. It was too orderly. Ironically, his increased understanding of Chaos had limited his potential. The delineated Dao of Creation and Oblivion were originally free from the influence of Man. When forced to mix with the cosmos, they were no longer pure. As such, they couldnât return to their origin.
Zacâs eyes hardened. If the energies didnât want to play ball, heâd simply force them to. Zac extracted the last of his Void Energy reserves while
[Spiritual Void]
squeezed out a concept heâd never used beforeâthe Void of Conflict. The stream of attuned Void neither entered the imploding forces of
[Extinction Event]
or
[Origin Revolution]
âs opalescent swirl. It filled the gap between the two, replacing the unbridgeable delineation with the absence of struggle.
The Void of Conflict became a conceptual vacuum, effectively bringing the two forces together. Yin and Yang fused, and Primordial Chaos was born. Zac could vaguely hear the sound of shattering chains as he found the answer heâd sought in the Chaos of his making. His Evolutionary Path was the combination of purposeful design and random chance. Such a paradoxical fusion was only possible through the inheritance of Chaos. If he wanted to push his Technique to the point where even fate could be severed, he needed to infuse Primordial Chaos.
An urgent scream of danger pulled Zac out from the swamp of alluring truths. The Void of Conflict had only brought the two sides together. It wasnât nearly enough to create a stable product. The ball of chaos was rapidly spiraling out of control, becoming as much a threat to Zac as to Mox. He desperately tried to hold onto the madness heâd birthed as he pushed it into the statue.
The last remnants of Narukâs broken soul were snuffed out, and the churning ball of Chaos directly entered Moxâs chest. For a brief moment, there was only silence. Then, deep, chaos-filled cracks spread across the statue. Three arms directly exploded, and Zac was more than happy to be flung away by the shockwave. Heâd delivered the payload, and his Danger Sense was going insane.
Chaos was the antithesis of uniformity and direction, so the ball of Chaos instinctively railed against being caged inside the statue. The cracks across the statue quickly spread, releasing deadly waves in every direction. The vast amounts of unstable Hope Energy were the perfect fuel to perpetuate Chaos, and a storm of uncertainty swept through the hidden realm.
The statue bore the brunt of the damage, but Zac didnât fare much better. The backlash wasnât as bad as when he smashed together the Origin Mark and Annihilation Sphere during his fight with the QrizâUl Goblin. Heâd made tremendous improvements in every aspect of his cultivation since. The problem was that he was absolutely spent, and there was nothing left to shield him from the growing storm.
Zac didnât even have the energy to overcome the
[Fuxi Mountain Gate]
âs rejection. The only thing he could do was stubbornly hold on while reality unraveled. He prayed the statue would explode before he did, and that it would damage the subspace enough for him to slip out. That didnât happen. The statue suddenly stabilized, and boundless madness poured out of its wounds.
Mox had returned with double the fury, and not even Chaos could withstand her wrath. Mox rejected the memory domainâs efforts to bring an end to the scenario, and Zac was brought back to Moxâs sanctuary. He immediately realized the memory was being forcibly kept going by igniting the trapped souls of the Empireâs subjects.
Zac knew it was over, but seeing the special purgatories collapse brought him some comfort. Mox had been forced to sacrifice all her stolen faith just to deal with him. Even if he lost, heâd ruined the plans of an undying Supremacy. That had to count for something, right? It was at that moment a gravelly voice echoed through the Void, and the madness was cleansed by a surging tide of devout Faith.
âThis fertile land is the Empireâs domain.â