Chapter 824: Culmination
Leyara passed through the barrier shielding the outer hall, and she was immediately greeted by a vast silence. Her steps, her breath, the basic sound of existence was swallowed by the void, leaving only a blanket silence. It wasn’t uncomfortable – rather the opposite. It felt like returning to the womb, and even her thoughts were being muted into a susurrus.
Her master would chide her for giving in to the nothingness, so Leyara soundlessly put her hands together in the Emptiness Mudra and channeled her cultivation technique. Her hazy cognition congealed, turning immovable, a polished stone sitting in the middle of a river. While she was part of the Void, she was distinct from it. Refined by it.
She walked inside, space and distance feeling indistinct because of the lack of sound to accompany her actions. She held onto her seal as she moved forward. Hundreds of inky black crystals floated in the air around her, each one silently humming in tune with the chamber. Today, a squall of Drikvirs had come over from the gardens, most likely attracted by the Void Pristess’ Dao.
They were like silken bands of light, flickering in and out of this dimension as they danced around the Void Stones, their source lighting up the usually shrouded hall. A smile spread across Leyara’s face as she saw the naughty little critters, but she didn’t dare wave one over out of fear she’d lose her concentration.
She wasn’t in any mood to face the Tranquil Wall and recite scriptures so soon after returning. So she turned her gaze away, heading toward the exit at the other end. There would be time to play with the animals that made the Void Monastery their home later.
Her master sat at the same place she did when Leyara left on her mission. The same place she had been sitting since long before Leyara’s great-grandmother was born. Leyara could barely sense her master’s presence even when standing right in front of her, she was so utterly in tune with the Void.
Perala Janodrok wore the same long white robes as always, its engraved hems spreading out like a lotus flower around her sitting position. Her features were made indistinct by the veil of darkness that shrouded her, but Leyara knew she was beautiful, extremely so. Why else would those old toads be so obsessed with her? There were more female Monarchs to court if you just wanted a diplomatic alliance.
Seeing her master’s lonesome back as she gazed at the hovering scar in front of her made Leyara’s heart clench with sorrow. How long would she sit here in solitude, missing out on the joys of life? To guard a promise so long forgotten? But Leyara hurriedly wiped away the sorrowful expression as her master turned to her direction, and a radiant smile bloomed on her face instead.
“You’re back,” Perala smiled, waving her disciple to come closer.
The universe came crashing back with Perala’s voice, the white noise of reality suddenly so loud it was unbearable. But like a rising tide, the stillness returned the moment Perala was finished speaking. Her voice was the Void, and when it existed, the surrounding stillness could not. How would a river exist in the ocean?
“You have made progress in your comprehension.”
Leyara opened her mouth with expectation, but only silence emerged from her throat, her words unable to take shape. Her face scrunched up with annoyance before she jumped into her master’s embrace.
“It is still too early for you to break the void,” Perala said with a shake of her head as she caressed Leyara’s head, her smile slowly fading. “Work hard. We are entering a turbulent age.”
‘I think I’m getting closer,’ Leyara answered in her mind. ‘I felt something condense.’
“I’m sure,” Perala nodded as Leyara sat down in front of her. “How was it?”
‘Dalos performed the 81 rites, but there was no response. We traveled the planes for over a year, but there we were no clues to the disturbance. If the anomalies are related to the Void Star itself, it is hidden well. Or at least beyond our capabilities to understand,’ Leyara conveyed with a shake of her head. ‘The only sign of abnormalities was the unusual number of beasts.’
“Tides are forming?” Perala hummed, not looking too bothered.
Leyara shrugged in response, not too sure. The number of beasts was a bit more than usual, but it was yet not at the level of a tide. And even if one emerged, so what of it? They arrived every few centuries as the population strove to purify their bloodlines. It was a win-win situation, where the beasts rid themselves of weakness and the monastery’s subordinate factions gained some wealth and experience.
“What about you? What did your heart say?” Perala asked.
Leyara hesitated for a while, not immediately answering. She had felt something, but she was afraid she had imagined it.
“Do not doubt your instincts, child. Your ability in this regard is unique, even surpassing what I am capable of,” Perala said.
‘It felt happy,’ Leyara eventually said. ‘Expectant.’
“Happy and expectant?” Perala slowly muttered, her eyes giving no clue what she was thinking. “I understand. How is your progress?”
‘I managed to form my second Dao Branch during the mission,’ Leyara grinned.
“Good child. Your comprehension has always been at the forefront in this sector,” Perala smiled. “Unfortunately, you are a bit inexperienced in other aspects, and I cannot help but worry. I have set up a training session for you. To shore up your foundations and prepare yourself. You need to reach Hegemony within 15 years.”
The fourth seal was aptly the one that released Death who would plague the earth with war and famine. At first, Zac had been a bit confused since the imagery seemed a bit at odds with his Dao, but he eventually understood that there were two parts to the simile. The first component was naturally Death, the thing hidden inside the seal.
Secondly, it was the Seal itself, just like how his Fragment of the Coffin had worked; hardness containing rot. The seal was clearly sturdy beyond compare since it was able to restrain death itself until it was released. This restraining power was central to his path and his technique. Finally, the Dao pointed toward the next stage of this peak – the seventh seal. When the seventh seal broke, even the Heavens would be silenced as the end of days arrived; the Apocalypse.
Oblivion.
The gain in attributes mirrored his Branch of the Kalpataru perfectly, which wasn’t much of a surprise considering the two were one half of a whole. The difference was that his Life-attuned branch focused on Vitality and provided Dexterity to represent the changing nature in Evolutionary Stance, while the Branch of the Pale Seal provided Strength and focused Endurance.
This time, he had lost a bit of Intelligence to reach this balanced state, but it wasn’t like Zac was using that attribute too much anyway.
Zac appeared in Samsara’s Edge two days later, and he immediately set course for Kaldor’s castle. Everything that needed to be dealt with had been accomplished. His impurities had been purified, his Daos and Techniques were stable. Entering seclusion for the last three months wouldn’t bring any benefit.
It would only rob him of his momentum, so Zac chose to strike while the iron was hot. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t afraid, but there was also a part of him that was burning with excitement. The opportunity to duel with a master at the precipice of confirming his Dao, to experience the vantage of a peak expert from an A-grade faction.
That kind of opportunity simply didn’t exist in the Zecia Sector.
So it was with a somewhat tumultuous heart he stepped through the gates of the Izh’Rak Reaver’s castle.
“You’re early,” Kaldor’s voice immediately echoed out through the castle, and Zac could actually hear an unmistakable tinge of excitement to match his own.
“It was time,” Zac said with a serious expression.
“Interesting, interesting,” a gruff laugh echoed out as the gates slowly opened.
Out from the darkness, Kaldor walked, and it felt like the whole Orom World trembled from his mere presence. The prison brand was obviously unable to restrain the grandeur of this warrior’s path, and Zac felt like he had been punched in his gut by the unmasked aggression. This was a true warrior, one born through battle and hardships, there were no two ways about it.
Kaldor stood around two meters tall, just like Zac, but Zac knew that Kaldor’s real height should be between three and five meters. He was simply restrained by the spatial manipulations of the Orom. Come to think of it, Three Virtues was the only one whose size was different from the norm. Why hadn’t Zac reflected on that before? Was it yet another mental manipulation from the monk’s side?
Zac shook his head, returning his focus to his adversary. His build was slim, almost looking emaciated, but it emitted a supremely brutal pressure. Greatest’s blood-drenched aura was just a shadow of what Zac felt right now, and Zac’s own killing intent was nothing but a drop in the ocean. Kaldor’s build might be scrawny for a human, but Kaldor definitely didn’t look human.
After all, he was a skeleton.
Or rather, Kaldor looked like he wore full-body bone armor beneath a tattered vest and loose-fitting pants. However, those bones weren’t a Spirit Tool or forged equipment. They were Kaldor’s true exoskeleton, a unique feature of the reavers. Not a single inch of his flesh was exposed, not even his eyes. Not that Izh’Rak Reavers had eyes in the same sense as humans did.
It was rather three gemlike bones embedded in his skull, one in the middle of his forehead and two almost at the edges of his face, forming a wide triangle that provided surround-vision from what he’d heard. In addition, there were just two small holes for a nose and a thin unmoving line for a mouth.
This odd appearance only scratched the surface of the reavers. For example, while reavers had flesh, they didn’t have organs. They had muscle and sinew. Supremely condensed muscles that turned them into unstoppable forces of nature.
They didn’t even have brains as their consciousness was spread through their bones rather than in their head. Thousands upon thousands of small runes covered Kaldor’s skull and arms, and Zac knew that the same was true for his whole body. It wasn’t something Kaldor had done himself, but rather a natural progression of their bodies.
You could say that the warlike Reavers were all body cultivators, but they cultivated their bones rather than their flesh. They needed no Spirit Tools or defensive equipment. They were the equipment. Their bones surpassed almost anything at their grade in durability thanks to their unique body tempering arts, making them extremely difficult to kill.
The bones also gained various abilities as their ranks grew. At D-grade, for example, they finally awakened their Warbones, which Kaldor thankfully wouldn’t use in this duel. It was an inherent transformation ability that was a mix of skills like [Vanguard of Undeath] and the activation of War Regalia, the energy-consuming equipment only Hegemons and higher could use.
Durable, powerful, and bloodthirsty. The war-hungry armies of the Izh’Reavers were the scourge of the neighboring empires of the Undead Empire.
In a sense, the Izh’Rak Reavers seemed to be more in line with Zac’s own build than Draugr were, but he was still thankful that he had been implanted with Draugr genes than reaver genes. He felt that the difference between a being that was something like a mix of insect and skeleton and a human was too great a bridge to pass.
Zac tried to figure out what kind of technique Kaldor used, but his lazy stance gave no indication of what to expect. This was the one thing Pavina had refused to help with, and no one else seemed to know either. Or perhaps they feared to spread Kaldor’s secrets, considering he held the right to kill people in the Orom World.
“Well then,” Kaldor said as his mouth and nose disappeared, leaving a smooth surface without any weakness. “Show me why you’re worthy of the Path of Oblivion.”