Chapter 854 Soul Link

'How long has it been since I felt helpless?' thought Arthur, staring at the fallen creature being struck by the countless mana bolts. 'It has to be… the moment I got my arm torn off.'

The monster screeched as it spread its wings far, instantly cutting the distance between them. Its claws reached toward Zonas Mantra, but a mana bolt struck its chest at that moment. It was sent flying by the overwhelming mana while Adam seemed at leisure.

"I can maintain this for a long time, but that monster isn't going to die," said Adam as he turned toward Arthur. "You said that you needed to leave this place, right?"

"I do," Arthur said while staring at the creature. "Even if we defeated that monster, we must find a way out too."

"We have to survive this first," said Adam with a frown. "The monster is… getting bigger."

"I see, I see," said the monster with a crazed look as black saliva fell from its mouth. "The creator has lost his ability to use the mana of creation. That means… I am invincible now."

"What the hell is happening to this man?" asked Zonas with fear as the humanoid monster grew larger, its limbs and wings growing at a visible rate. Cracking bones could be heard, while the screeches never stopped.

"Nameless is trying to summon an Ender through him," said Arthur with a frown. "If he succeeds, then the mana won't be enough anymore. Fallen beings are a hundred times weaker than Enders. However, the downside is… the death of the vessel."

"Noah…" muttered Zonas Mantra with complex feelings. "I still believe you deserve to be in this prison, but I never thought you would sell your soul to the corrupted."

"The emperor sold his soul too, so, of course, his puppy would follow," said Arthur as he watched the fallen being transform. "Mana won't be able to stop it anymore, so we need to run."

"You are the creator, right? Can't you teleport us out of this place?" Zonas Mantra frowned. Arthur simply shook his head and raised his hand to show them his rune.

"First, my teleportation can happen across the spatial fabric, not spatial dimensions. I would need to create a tunnel that leads to our original space-time, but that's not possible with my current abilities. My runes are unstable, and such a risk might only send half of our bodies."

"…not how I imagined to die," said Adam with a frown as he raised his hands together and pressed his fists against each other. "I don't know what to do anymore other than to fight that creature."

A giant sphere of mana appeared to cover his hand before it started growing. It reached the size of a car before Adam raised it above his head and then hurled it toward the sky. The mana whistled before it struck the evolving ender, making it screech.

"I know what to do, but I need time," Arthur said before staring at Zonas. "Can I trust you to protect my body while I'm gone, Zonas Mantra?"

"I will lay down my life if needed."

"I have no doubts about that."

Arthur then closed his eyes, allowing his focus to shift toward his sea of consciousness. Soon, he found himself standing in the same desert, which had been split into two.

His sea of consciousness has always been a desert, but it was neighbored by a wasteland filled with colorless lightning. In the desert side was still the chained giant, but the clouds around it had turned black.

"You return," said the giant as it shifted its golden eyes toward him. "I must say that I'm not happy about the roommate you gave me, given our history."

"You should have told me about his existence to begin with. But, unfortunately, I had no choice but to seal him here," said Arthur to the King as cries of wrath echoed from a distance. "I guess it's hard to sleep now."

"I keep remembering my last battle against Eragon because of these cries. It shook the heavens and, in the end, killed us both. But, in the chaos, our souls seemed entangled before the Scholar Guardian reincarnated both of us."

"Did he know?"

"His decision was different from mine, so I wouldn't know what he wanted. I still have no idea what he desires since he has always been selfish."

"And has chosen a selfish vessel, too," said Arthur with a frown. "In either case, we need to find a solution. I cannot use the mana of creation with Eragon's powers hindering them."

"You have become a hybrid yourself, the moment that you awakened Eragon. It has been inevitable, but only a matter of time before your second awakening. Not all awakenings make us stronger."

"I know that first hand," said Arthur while remembering Diana. All awakenings she had cursed her with a fate worse than the one before. In the end, his father uses her as another pawn to make Arthur obtain the knowledge of Gaia.

As he remembered that, his sea of consciousness started shaking. The colorless lightning struck its every corner as the wrath in Arthur's heart grew bigger. The dark cloud hindering the giant also increased in size.

"You must remain serene, or the powers of Gaia will not work," said King Arthur to him as his eyes squinted. "You must know I received her powers because I sacrificed my emotions to the Spirits King. However, Eragon's wrath has changed that, making you unfit to use her powers."

"And how is this my fault?" Arthur glared at him. "What fate awaits me if the two powers contradicting each other exist within me? How can I use both of them without losing my mind?"

"If I knew the answer, we wouldn't be here. But, unfortunately, I have seen things like this before, and while our powers create harmony, there are exceptions."

"…you are fucking useless, then."

"We forget one thing," said King Arthur as he stared at Arthur. "I am the emotionless creator, and Eragon is the wrathful breaker. Our souls should have destroyed each other. So, how do we exist together now?"

"…what is your point, almighty creator?" asked Arthur with a frown. "Are you saying something is keeping the two of you together?"

"Not something… but someone," said King Arthur while staring at Arthur. "The moment you went to Alka and suffered the spiritual attack, Nameless sought a piece of you that could make two things coexist: a hybrid. How does death coexist with life? How does fire coexist with ice?"

"Enough with the riddles, I must…" said Arthur with rage before he realized what the creator was talking about. If the creator could harmonize with anything, it would have worked with Eragon. Nameless coveted his powers to create a vessel that could withstand his forces: for life to coexist with death. "How does fire coexist with ice?"

"You should have realized it, too," said the giant with a frown while staring at him with a newfound interest. "Eragon and I cannot coexist nor give the power to coexist. The answer is something that we all overlooked."

"…the answer is me," muttered Arthur with realization, but it soon faded into unimportance. "However, even if I could harmonize, how does that help me?"

"I have never gained the powers to make two things coexist, despite being opposite natures. You might be the first human to achieve such a feat, even compared to the creator and breaker."

Arthur was silent because, for the first time in his life, he felt that he was more than just a human who stumbled upon a greater strength. He wasn't the creator or the breaker, but someone else he never tried to figure out.

Greatest Harmony was the plant's name that enabled Diana to recover from her opposing abilities. However, from what Arthur heard, no one has been able to make it grow. It was an herb of legends, but Arthur succeeded in making it grow.

What if the plant grew, but the effect was caused by something different, which Arthur gave to Diana because of his damaged soul? What if the truth was as this giant told him, and he was the answer for their coexistence?

"The Scholar Guardian chose you to be the one inheriting both of our abilities, so it might have been by design. Otherwise, such a coincidence for three souls to meet, where one is a soul link, is far too abysmal."

"A Soul Link," Arthur repeated before taking a deep breath. "Tell me, how do I activate it? How do I make use of both of your abilities?"

"The answer is not with me, but with Eragon," said the giant as it shifted its eyes toward the distant mountains. "You must go over there and talk to him or seal him again if you can. However, I doubt either would work."

"…I hate this job, which I never asked for," said Arthur before turning into the distance. "I should prepare my ears."