The sudden appearance of a system window took Roley by surprise. He had never seen anything like it. It didn’t follow his eyes, nor did time stop to allow him to examine it, it was just there, in his mind, like an extremely clear thought. Unfortunately, the urgency of the situation did not allow him to go into an in depth analysis of the system, so he focused on reading its content.
A few moments later, Roley was left with more questions than answers. The system window depicted his desired goal, and even gave a time limit and a reward, but it did not give a method to achieve them. With confusion Roley turned to ask Dewah about whether he was missing something, but before his thoughts could turn into coherent sentences, a second window appeared in his mind.
Roley quickly read through the text written in this smaller, yet fuller window, and finally, he started to understand. His questions were answered in full, and that was also the case for the longest standing ones.
As Roley reveled in his amazement, the now separate consciousness that inhabited his mind started to become restless. “So, what are you waiting for? Come on.” Dewah said with irritation. He could not stand the sight of someone taking away his system.. It did not matter that he had been the one giving it to him. He felt like a husband, who had to smile and wave as his former wife trotted away with half of his hard earned money after a rough divorce.. He wanted it to end.
His words were able to catch Roley’s attention, but as he thought the latter would agree, the young man said with a matter-of-fact tone, “Don’t you remember what is waiting outside? I need to make a plan before I leave this place.”
A loud scoffing sound resounded in Roley’s mind. “Why are you so slow at understanding? Just ask for one!” Dewah said in exasperation.
“Right..” Roley whispered with a hint of embarrassment. He then once again focused on his new system.
—–
Outside of Roley’s personal hell, the battlefield had changed drastically. Only a few moments had passed, yet the once valiant armies of cultivators and elementals that fought for their survival, were now stuck in space. Each soldier floated unconscious, producing copious amounts of horrific power in the area that surrounded them.
While his champions prepared to begin the universe’s large-scale invasion, Horror was basking in the brown-colored power. Each small orb of it increased his power by a minuscule amount, yet, in the number it was currently being produced, the increase was staggering.
Submerged by this magnificent feeling, the monstrous young man was relaxing, keeping his eyes closed as the existential essence fell into the dried up puddle that was his power, turning it into a swamp, a lake, and then an ocean. This feeling, as an aspect of existence, was the one he loved the most. The source of his deepest enjoyment. The feeling of fresh new horrific power being added to his weakened body, strengthening him back to his original nigh-omnipotent state of being.
This feeling was part of the reason why he took part in the horde’s conquests. It was like a drug, and every universe he invaded alongside his domain was his next fix. As he reached the peak of this pleasure, however, the aspect of Horror felt something odd. A portion of the newly formed horrific power had been suddenly erased.
When he opened his eyes, Horror immediately noticed what had happened. The cultivator he had taken interest in before, had woken up.. And with a lack of fear strong enough to eradicate whichever amount of existential power being stuck in his personal nightmare had caused him to produce.
Yet, something else was at play. As he looked at the young man who had just freed himself from his powers, he felt the nature of another aspect of existence in him. One that was just as old as he was, and that he hated deeply. The power of Destiny.
Shocked by the sudden change, the aspect of Horror reached forward in an attempt to catch the young man in between his fingers, but right before his enlarged hand could get a hold of him, the space surrounding him began to morph, blurring his appearance. Moments later, he had disappeared.
While finally upset, Horror did not panic.
Teleporting couldn’t have possibly been enough to escape from an aspect of existence, and sure enough, Roley was instantly found out the moment he reappeared, just outside the bubble of solid space that surrounded the interdimensional portal, not showing any signs of fear as he plunged the light blue field.
In Roley’s eyes was a golden hue, one the aspect of Horror had seen before more than once in the champions of Destiny he had slaughtered. As he recognized its nature, anger began to emerge from within. How could he have not realized what Roley was? How could he have been duped like that.. He wondered as he immediately extended his finger towards the young man.
A second brown-colored light appeared on his blood-colored fingertip. The same that had exploded outwards, trapping the entirety of the battlefield inside their own personal nightmares. This time, however, the power seemed incomparably stronger than before.. Refined, and condensed into a much smaller core that, like a thunderbolt, shot in Roley’s direction.
The existential power of horror had nothing to do with the power of space, so as this ray of brown-colored light came in contact with the field of stable space, it went through without interference, landing squarely on Roley’s chest. Yet, as the power within this light tried to once again drag Roley into his worst nightmare, the small transparent bead he was holding began to vibrate. It was the primordial treasure of spatial essence.
The small orb was acting like an anchor, keeping Roley from falling to Horror’s powers. It vibrated with the same intensity Horror’s power weighed on Roley’s existence, threatening to shatter at any given moment.. But it held strong. The primordial power it exhibited was so pure, that no matter how powerful Horror could become, his attack would land on it like a small hammer onto a planet. A power that did not have consciousness, and passively withstood any form of abuse, for its existence was absolute, and the foundation of the multiverse. That was space.
Soon the ray of brown light lost its momentum, and disappeared, leaving Roley free from its wickedness and shocking his attacker.
Roley, however, did not relish in this small win. Instead, he focused his attention towards the small glass-like orb he was carrying. His eyes started to glow much more brightly, releasing a distinctive power that only Horror himself could perceive. A stench that did nothing but chip away at his patience.
As Horror thought of all the ways he knew to destroy Roley once and for all, however, something odd happened. The small orb of spatial essence had started to glow of a bright white light, as if it had become incandescent. Then, it slowly started to sink into the young man’s palm.
As the orb entered Roley’s palm, its power seemed to struggle against the primordial elements already present within his body, yet with time, it started to get acclimatized.. As if finally accepting to become part of the whole.
Seeing this, the aspect of Horror barked out an order. One that could be heard across the entire multiverse, and that reached the ears of every champion present. “Stop him.” He commanded, unbothered with acting himself.
Hearing these two words, the billions of champions reacted as if under a spell. Any form of organization fell apart, as each and every one of them disappeared in a flash, and shot through space in Roley’s direction. Billions of entities that almost at the same time pierced through the edges of the light-blue protective bubble, and headed for the prize kill.
As if out of a horror story, the horde swarmed the stable space, almost filling it in a dark gray color.
In just a few seconds, the most excited of Horror’s champions came upon the seemingly distracted young man, who was standing with his eyes closed, focusing entirely on merging the small orb of primordial power into his body. With unprecedented power he swung his door-sized serrated blade, bringing it down on Roley’s head in hope to split him vertically.
p-a-n-d-a-n-0-v-e-l、(c)om Yet, as the edge of the sword was about to touch him, its shape began to morph, alongside with the space that surrounded it.
The morphing of the wicked greatsword seemed to follow Roley’s body shape, as it magically grazed his silhouette, never coming closer than an inch.
After him, a second champion of Horror arrived. His hand, not much dissimilar from an eagle’s foot, came clawing at Roley’s chest. Its sharp talons cut through air like a set of razors, and yet, just as they were about to find their target, they kept going. The small space between the sharp ends of his talons and the young man’s bare chest was less than an inch, but for the champion of Horror, it felt like he could extend his arm forever, and never touch him. Between the two, he truly felt like there was an infinite space.
Uncountable attacks followed the first two, almost turning the execution into a competition between the champions of Horror’s domain, attracting each member into it. The prize was the chance to please their lord.. A rare opportunity they only came upon once every several millions years.
More and more of these monstrous creatures dove into the stable space, hoping to be the ones to finally succeed, but then, when almost all of them had joined in, something changed.
Around the light blue orb of stable space started to appear a web of golden runes, which encompassed it completely. It was the formation the Elementalist had weakened, and the aspect of Horror had broken.
Unaware of the formation’s appearance, Horror observed it with curiosity. There was no reason for him to act, for the idea that he could have been in any danger was not only remote to him, but nonexistent. So he stood there, and watched as rows and rows of runes turned into a complex pattern.
Yet, even he reacted to what happened next.
As the formation reformed, tens of thousands of spatial treasures appeared above the runes’ junctions. Noticing this, Horror extended his arm forward, in hope to disturb the process, but it was too late. Each spatial treasure fell in place, lodging itself in between the rows of runic inscriptions, and in just a moment, a yellowish barrier formed, trapping the entirety of the horde inside.
Horror’s enlarged arm, now large enough to grip a star in between its fingers, finally clashed against the massive formation, destroying it to bits, and releasing his uncountable subjects.
But it was too late.
The billions of champions he had groomed into being perfect bringers of horror had been shock frozen in space. Their bodies, organs, spirits, and even minds had been locked, causing their instant death. In but a moment, the aspect of Horror had lost the vast majority of an army that had taken millions of years to build.
Among the billions of bodies that now littered the bubble of stable space, however, one being was still doing perfectly fine. One whose connection to the element of space went beyond normal, and primordial in nature. A connection that had allowed him to be unaffected by the changes of space, and that included the formation he had restored.
Roley stood there, quietly, surrounded by uncountable bodies and just as much power of Death, that slowly emerged from each body, strengthening an aspect of existence that lived somewhere far away from the conflict.
On his face was a challenging smile, a manipulative one he was not afraid the aspect of Horror could see.
