Chapter 573

Chapter 573

The further I'm pushed upward, the more purple tendrils of divine energy I see flowing out from a single point.

It all flows from it, seamlessly creating the edges of this massive sky that angles downward to form the dome-shaped world I'm currently floating in.

My eyes widen as the purple light gets brighter and brighter, then the blue hand of the giant finally stops moving upward.

The air is cool up here, and clouds are being blown around in slow circles by a light breeze.

The wind whistles softly, but there is no other sound at all.

I just stare up in awe for a full minute before finally taking a few deep breaths and taking an airstep upward away from the enormous base of the giant's blue hand that still protrudes from the endless dark blue void.

As I airstep, yellow threads from my divine energy are left behind in the open air, but they fade away and fall into the deep blue darkness below as I continue upward.

My gaze is locked on the purple shimmering dot in the sky that gets larger and larger.

It takes a few minutes before the bottom of what looks like a semi-transparent crystal circular platform comes into view.

I'm looking at it from the bottom and can tell that whatever is making this bright purple glow is above it and shining its light over its edges.

I'm expecting the platform to get larger and larger the more I airstep upward, just like everything else recently, and end up being enormous beyond my comprehension. However, this isn't the case.

Once I arrive high enough in the air, I see the floating glass-like structure's other side.

It's flat, glossy, and reflective just like its bottom. To my surprise, floating above it in its center is a bright purple stone.

It has glossy edges and gives off an ethereal feeling unlike anything I've felt this past month.

It feels magnitudes more powerful and omniscient than the enormous blue giant below me, but also gives off the feeling of being frail and helpless at the same time.

My mind bends trying to figure out if I were to touch it, would I die instantly from coming in contact with god-like power, or would it shatter into pieces like a delicate plate of porcelain.

It slowly spins, sending out a steady rate of purple shimmering tendrils upward to connect and create the outer limits of this entire realm.

I witness reality being weaved into existence before me by countless bright strands of light.

My eyes stay open in awe, and I float about 100 meters away from the platform for minutes, taking in the glory of it all.

I'm completely entranced in the light until an unfamiliar woman's voice echoes through my mind.

"Welcome. It is my honor to have you here. I would have never predicted a human would be soul bonded with the Fallen One."

Her voice is soothing; it feels as if every word that enters my mind warms my body and unconsciously makes me smile.

However, despite the warmth entering my body and mind, my gaze stays sharp, and I realize that I'm being brought closer to the crystal platform in the sky.

I attempt to airstep away to keep my distance, but it is the same immovable force that brings me closer, exactly the same as I felt within the cyan and blue transport orbs on my way up.

In a matter of seconds, I'm brought down to stand on the outer edge of the circular platform in the sky, now up close and personal with the enormous purple stone that rotates and continues to weave reality in front of my eyes.

I take a deep breath, thinking of all the questions racing through my mind, but only muster out a simple reply.

"Who- Or what are you? Why did you bring me here?"

I look over my shoulders, but my gaze gravitates back to the beautiful purple gem before me.

A few seconds pass, but the woman's voice echoes through my mind again.

"You may call me Celia. I know humans like to put a name to things they talk to..."

The purple gem glows brightly, and more strands than usual start to flow from it and reach out in my direction.

"Let's finish this up and get back to work. We're sending these Apex Region weaklings back to the association with nothing, just what they deserve."

She smirks while Dane finishes off Callum with a barrage of wind blades too, removing him from the construct in seconds.

The two of them begin to walk over in the direction of Nat while she attempts to make some kind of agreement to go their separate ways. They haven't come to their final decision yet, but an all out fight it could go either way and both are aware of this.

If Trax goes all out against the three of them, there will certainly be some casualties, it's just unknown which side it will be.

Calling it a draw, and continuing to collect fragments will give everyone a chance to prosper in the long run.

However, this doesn't put out the flame of anger that erupts in Trax's eyes.

He pulls a red core from his item box and swallows it without hesitation and yells.

"None of you are worthy! I said it from the start! Where are those two Bedrock Region scum? I still need to give them a piece of my mind! I'll never make a deal with lesser regions. Veridian, Bedrock, Talton, Silca; all of you... you need to know your place!"

His eyes burst with the red divine threads from the core he consumed, and dangerously massive crimson bolts of lightning erupt from his body.

Nat yells at the others to stay back as she dodges one of the bolts by a hair.

Dane and Marcie stay back like she says, but it appears this is just an attempt at self-sacrifice to let them live.

Another dark red bolt of lightning comes out of Trax's body coupled with a ravenous yell, headed straight toward Nat.

My eyes open wide looking at the recording when I see that she also eats one of the red fragments to counteract this direct hit that she has no chance of dodging.

I still feel Nat safe and sound in my Rising Emperor's domain, and from what I can tell this battle happened over a week ago... She must have won... but I'm eager to find out how.

An immaculate ball of fire erupts from Nat's body, all strengthened by millions of crimson Divine threads just like Trax.

Unlike him, her eyes are still sharp moments after eating the gem.

The constant exposure to the energy while healing her teammates has given her body more resistance to the strands.

The battle of raw uncontrollable lightning power against refined and focused flames begins and ends almost instantly.

Nat repeatedly slashes through Trax's defenses and dodges the rogue bolts of electricity.

The entire battlefield they stand on bends of reality altering force, but in a few seconds the victor is clear.

Trax is sent flying off the cliffside coughing on his own blood as the effects of the gem wear off while Nat stands silently to watch.

Her fragment's power wears off soon after too, and she collapses to the ground while drinking self-regeneration potions to try and speed up the healing.

A grin is plastered on my face as the recording speeds up more and the following days of rest and recovery follow as they continue to farm fragments nearby and are unbothered by any other teams.

Even while more images of other teams and applicants fighting rush across the screens made of purple divine threads, my mind still focuses and makes a mental note of exactly where Trax fell off that cliff.

I'm certain he wasn't killed by Nat's final move. On top of that, I didn't see any other images of Trax after the fact. I'm going to make it a mission to search that cliffside if I ever make it down there to make sure the job is done.

More and more time passes on the recordings, then finally the images of Ember and I pushing as high as we can into the sky through the green serpent's aura appear in full view.

We fly higher and higher until the point where I vividly remember Ember outlining a plan that we will follow out.

He flaps his wings to move in front of me, and my gaze is locked on this screen as I'll finally get to see what his attack actually did.

The woman's hands gracefully move in the air to move purple threads and disperse every playing video feed except for the one I'm watching closely.

It shows a bright golden and silver light in Ember's chest shimmer violently and expand. Watching it after the fact, all of the odd mental effects that kept my gaze away from the mysterious energy are not activated. Now, I'm able to see this all play out exactly as it happened.