White Royal Palace, Finite Nebula core.
A long robe hung loosely on White King as his white hair fluttered. His right hand calmly dabbed onto the dark golden void crystal.
Bam!!
The glass cracked then shattered with the sound of an explosion. Countless pieces of glass scattered and disseminated into sparkling white powder, firing in all directions with the pressure of the force field.
With a sound of a click, his palm penetrated sharply inside the crystal.
At the same time, a pure large resistance force blocked White King's palm which instantly decreased the penetrating speed and halting it within the crystal.
"Mm?" White complicated line patterns emerged on the skin of White King's right arm. On it were various symbolic characters with a scent of holiness. These white glowing symbolic lines seemed to have increased the strength of his palm.
The Distortive Power erupted from the palm of his hand and met head-on with the Confinement Power.
Two forces of power rules collided with no sight of an exaggerated explosion. The measure of their attribute concept was absolute and wouldn't change based on its capacity. They didn't have the concept of quantity but rather a form of an attribute.
The two forces of concept diminished all together and disappeared without a trace.
This was unpredicted whether by White King or Garen.
The attribute concept of Shadow Dragon and White were at the same height.
Clang!!
The palm of White King ricocheted out of the crystal. He took a step back and cradled his right hand. He was slightly surprised as he looked at the void crystal in front of him.
"What attribute is this?"
He instinctively felt that the concept of this attribute was no more inferior than his distortion and Regent Level that surpassed Perpetual Motioners in the concept of attributes. Without this, it would depend on the individual actual combat strength.
At this stage, the true telling of victory would be first to measure between attributes and second, at circumstances of equal attributes would be the actual killing power of the true form.
Seeing White King blocked successfully, Garen's nerves simmered down.
"If your distortion is absolute to chaos then the confinement here is absolute to frozen stillness."
White King frowned, extended his hand and pressed on the crystal once again.
This time, a large white ring appeared behind him. This ring seemed to be built by white jade. It looked sacred with carvings of complicated patterns and sculpture of flora and fauna.
"Crush space," White King's palm imprinted on the surface of the crystal and a distortive attribute different from before wildly surged.
This was purely the attribute of a distortive dimension without the accessorial distortion that aimed only at space. This sort of Distortive Power reached a terrifying level in a blink of an eye.
Buzz!!!
The contact this time burst open a slight distortive yet transparent force field between his palm and the crystal.
The surface of the crystal was sighted with strings of cracks but these cracks quickly disappeared.
Compared to the previous casual attempt, this was a demonstration of White King's powers. The high density of the attribute concept did not destroy the dark golden crystal. It went without saying what this represented.
"Who would have thought..." The White King retrieved his hand and had a complicated look on his face, "Who would have thought that you'd use the attribute of foreign objects to bypass this checkpoint and covertly protect yourself."
However, doubt still lingered in his face.
"But with this sort of absolute confinement, you have not grasped the attribute concept. Even if you succeed, you would lock yourself tighter in. What is the point of this?"
To him, Garen's series of actions did not pose too big of a threat. For Garen to seal himself in, he had to avoid fated battle to the death, but wasn't this equivalent to suicide?
"What do you think... Perhaps I am only begrudging...?" Garen's voice started to shift on and off. The dark golden crystal repeated a round of extreme dark energy absorption. The confinement concept increased and even Garen's voice could not be transmitted as it went on and off. Even if he grasped a part of the confinement attribute, he still received a severe interference.
"Begrudging?" White King stared coldly at Garen. It was a long pause.
The two of them exchanged glances without anyone giving in.
It was long until White King turned and left.
He built Garen a prison. He didn't think that Garen would in turn, make the prison even more secure to the point that he as a creator could not even open it.
"A meaningless struggle. You are so, so are humans," White King's voice was heard from afar.
Garen's lips pursed into a smile in the crystal.
"Is it really... meaning though?"
He stared at White King's receding figure and knew that he finally retained his life from this world's strongest existence.
The three strongest giant void beasts of the Endor civilization were the most mysterious Shadow Dragon who held the confinement attribute. Although it wasn't him who personally yielded, it was enough to passively keep him alive.
"So the first stage of the plan is finally executed. On to the second stage... Since history has determined the new Red King to kill White King, the only thing I should do is..."
Garen looked at almost-collapsing Shadow Dragon boundary point. He slowly closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.
The confinement power of the void crystal increasingly built; getting more terrifying and heavier by the minute.
It was the third day since Garen closed his eyes.
With a clang from the crystal, its entirety emitted plain white cold air, spreading to the outside world.
The small half of White Royal Palace island territory was shadowed by the cold air. Although the Distortive Power was quick to vanquish, but since the ejection of cold air, the dark golden crystal had completely turned transparent. It embodied the finest of glass without a hint of impurity.
White King didn't seem to be bothered by Garen's series of actions. Too many things happened in over a hundred years and each of them were beyond his control.
The twelve Golden Merit Blue Princes each had their own ax to grind and was only suppressed by his authority and power. There seemed to be a new development in unison battle. This change brought about distance to the original general trend.
******
"Lon..."
"Lon..."
"It's me... Lonnie..."
Calling after calling, a familiar voice lingered continuously by Baylon's ear.
She saw herself standing in an empty city. A silvery-white city. Empty, still, cold. She could not see one soul in there. It was a dead city.
Right in front, walked a blurred figure of a man. He wore an outfit that she was familiar with. He lightly trod over, closing in and taking her hand.
The man's face was a blur with an obscure dark fog.
He held her hand and made a turn, taking steps forward.
It was most peculiar as she saw her body from the neck down travel ahead with him. Her head remained where it was as she quietly watched her body leave with the man, further and further away.
"Lonnie..." The voice was heard again.
Baylon heard the voice again. A familiar voice.
She felt a pair of coarse hands wrapping around her head and then placed in one's embrace.
"Who...?"
She opened her mouth to ask.
"You can see me," a gentle voice of a man was heard.
Baylon struggled to lift her head, in an attempt to look at the person holding her head. Who was the owner of that voice?
Beep beep beep... Beep beep beep...
Suddenly, the sound of an ear-pearling alarm exploded in her ear.
Her eyes opened with a pop. Baylon got up from the bed. Her entire body was full of sweat.
Hu... Hu...
She gasped for air as she was short of breath. She lowered her head and held her face. That was when she realized her face was wet. She was unsure whether it was sweat or tears.
"What is this dream?"
She turned over and got down from bed. Her white pajamas were drenched all over. She walked to the washroom to strip off her clothes and turned on the heater valve, letting the hot water flushed over her from head to toe.
Ring...
Suddenly, her phone rang.
Baylon stretched her arm on the white-tiled wall and poked a few times. Instantly, a semi-transparent screen appeared in mid-air in front of her. On it was a projection of a blonde with two ponytails.
"Lin, where did you agree to meet with Clint?" A woman shouted without reserve.
"Oh, Duoduo. What are you asking this for?" Baylon casually rubbed her wet long mane and brushed it to the back of her head.
"Just tell me already. It's fine if he doesn't care about me, but his wife just had a newborn. Can't he spend a little time with her?!" Duoduo was in rage. "He just runs around. He's a grown up now yet he acts like a child!"
Duoduo was Clint's wife. They both had a daughter. They had been married for thirty years. Between them, Clint was married while White Winter had a relationship but was hurt and now had turned into a decadent bearded uncle. He was an instructor at a rookie educational team.
It was only Baylon herself who kept away from the sentimental department.
"Relax, we'll be back soon. You know how Clint is. It's going to be alright," she comforted. Duoduo wasn't just Clint's wife, she was also her best friend.
"I'm not opposed of you handling tasks but would it hurt to let me know prior to missions! What's with leaving behind my back!?" Duoduo was still seeing red but could comprehend that the position Clint and the rest were in. Work task should always place first.
"The departing date is today. We'll be back about twenty-five days later. Don't worry, it will be as before, nothing major," Baylon softly replied.
They were positioned at a special department and needed to be kept secret from family members as well so Duoduo was not aware of the dangers of their work. She thought that it was a gathering intel mission for some sort of safety task force. She wasn't clear on the details.
"That's fine then. He's always like this. I have to look for you to learn what's going on," Duoduo vented. "Alright now, Ling is up. I have to take a look."
"Alright, go ahead," Baylon nodded and cut off communications.
With the splashing sounds of the shower, her thoughts drifted back to the earlier peculiar dream.
"Really... How long has it been since I last dreamed?" Shaking her head, she put aside the ridiculous thoughts. Intercepting the Scarlet Mourning Hall leader's movement was happening in the afternoon.
The Scarlet Mourning Hall was a surly organization under Chinande. Perhaps she would be able to obtain news regarding Garen.