While the Origin King had heard of instances where it took an entire battalion's worth of energy to seal the strength of some gods, Mane was no god. And though he had been weakened greatly, his power should have been more than enough to hold down Mane's power and still come to his aid. After all, though he sensed a powerful Wielding Manual from Mane's spirit, the boy wasn't strong enough to go against him. But then again, Mane wasn't the only one the Origin King had to be worried about. For there was another.
"Cronos," the Origin King frowned as he skipped past a few bullets conjured by Crystal.
Cronos – a name that caused as much dread as Odin's popped into his mind as the Origin King explored the limits of his movement techniques without the power of space. He hadn't forgotten that for some reason Cronos was stuck in there with the boy. And though he had been able to trap the Selfish Titan King in his illusion as well, it took twice the amount of energy he used on Mane to achieve such glorious mettle. It had taken a huge chunk of his power, and a few wounds to his soul to put Cronos in such a situation. If not for that, Odin alone wouldn't have been enough to contain his soul and Mane wouldn't have been the nail that sunk his mighty soul ship.
"If he is interfering, then this is a bit tricky," Ancestor Origin frowned and jumped back, avoiding another torrent of bullets that shattered the ground he formerly stood on like it was Swiss cheese. His mind wondered the plains of wisdom and understanding, seeking for a solution to his current conundrum. For he needed Space. He needed his baby back.
As one pondered the difficulties of his present mission, another sought to rouse the dormant Supreme to take charge. Back in Mane's Soul Scape, the injured Supreme sat before the Selfish Titan King with his hands bound. His injury had weakened him greatly, and with his Wielding Manual shackled, he had no control of his Soul Space.
His hands were chained by his own strength. For his power rebelled when he displayed his incompetence and lack of authority by losing to the Origin King. And the regular tremble to his Soul Space sought to remind him of his failure.
"You were careless," Cronos stated plainly with his buttocks stuck to his throne. It was his only comfort in this empty place.
"Elemental Harmony shouldn't have been enough to put you down like this. But you were stupid. And you ended up doing the one thing we always advise that you never do." Cronos condemned the young Supreme. He wasn't going to comfort a failure. He was no guardian. If he wanted to be a babysitter, he would have cared for Zeus when he was born.
"You mixed up Glows and Breaths like they were of the same origin. You combined them like such a path was of no consequence. But how could it not be?"
"Mixing Glows and Breaths together is not like conjuring a cocktail. For the worst a cocktail can do is to give you a stomach ache or upset your precious tongue. Is mixing Glows and Breaths like mixing a cocktail then?"
"No no no. Mixing Glows and Breaths together is like adding one inflammable element to another. If you aren't careful, the product will blow up in your face."
Whether it was mixing Glows or mixing Breaths – or even doing both – a wielder had to be careful in how he/she did it. Glows had to complement one another. And the same could be said about Breaths. This wasn't common knowledge because most of the time Breaths and Glows belonging to one person complemented each another. After all, Glows were born from the wielder's bloodline and Breaths from the wielder's comprehensive thoughts. And people usually thought in one pattern. But the thing was, it wasn't always this way.
Until recently, Mane was one of those whose Breaths and Glows complemented each other wonderfully well. Although there were a few Glows that clashed with each other – Takeover and Endless Wave – that was hardly an issue. For one developed without the permission of the other. And since they didn't have a stack effect, Mane didn't ever think of blending the two. Besides, from their descriptions, the two couldn't be used together. Mane was careless this time. Elemental Harmony was a power so rare that even the Origin King had only seen it a few times in his long life. This power forced elements into servitude and treated them like slaves. But that didn't mean that it could blend well with all other Edict based skills. It was the exact opposite.
"Using something like Elemental Harmony with Takeover is like lighting a powder keg. Once one of the skills is removed, you will pay a grave price. Losing your strength for a while is a minor issue. The greater cost is that you wouldn't be able to use or even feel Edict for a few months. " Cronos explained coolly. Then again, he was always cool.
"I assume your masters didn't tell you this because they never saw something like this coming. After all, you hadn't awakened Elemental Harmony when you were with them. But what can I expect when one of my sons is their head? Foresight has never been the strong suit of the boys I birthed. And those idiots never thought to learn from the girls." Cronos sighed pretentiously. Any sane person could feel that the Selfish Titan King just didn't care. Whilst highlighting the incompetence of Mane's teachers, Cronos didn't forget to rebuke the one who was naïve enough to get himself into this mess.
"A wielder must always try his skills before using them in battle. You are a fool for not abiding by this. Then again, you have had most things come easy to you. So you have grown naïve, little kid." Cronos mumbled and then stood up from his chair. The throne vanished into the air like smoke riding the wind, leaving the one whose rule over time in his era was undisputed to wander the Soul Scape of the Supreme with the air of superiority he always had.
"Can you see it?" Cronos walked before Mane with a gaze that spoke little of his emotions. The thoughts of the one who formerly ruled over time after the death of the Origin King were kept to himself. But even if they weren't, the Supreme with his head bowed so low wasn't the one to see it.
"Your body has been weakened and every second that passes you lose some vitality," Cronos didn't care about the lack of a response. With steps measured by the trembling gasps of the land he had received much peace from, he walked around the Supreme. His calm gaze had no fixed point, littering the land and all in it with the arrogance of a ruler.
"Your own manual rebels against you. For the Supreme is not allowed even a second of weakness."
The manual for Supremes was an amazing one and many would kill for it if they could use it. But just like every creature and every Peter, it had a flaw. And that flaw was the user. Supremes were born talented and had the entire universe at their feet. And that was reflected in everything that they did. Their walk was one of arrogance and their strides taken with the strength of a god who oversaw all things. And the Supreme Manual expected nothing less. Any situation in which the Supreme showed some weakness was construed as a display of his/her lack of worth to the manual. And in such situations, it will rebel, leading to several internal injuries and losses. Mane was experiencing this right now.
Though his connection to Edict remained, he wasn't able to use it. And to his manual, this was an act of weakness. For the young Supreme had fallen to the talons of the Origin King. So it displayed its dissatisfaction with its own rebellion. It declared Mane as unworthy and thrashed everything it could find. His soul, his mind and body struggled to hold on as several injuries were wrought by the unsatisfied manual which had now deemed the young Supreme as an outcast. It ruled him out as the Supreme and sought to cleanse this blemish from the world personally.
"And your soul breaks apart every second you stay here," Cronos finally stopped walking. He bent his unbent knees and bowed his unbowed head to gaze at the broken Supreme more clearly.
"Yet you sit here lifelessly, like all has been lost," Cronos scoffed with disdain. His eyes were filled with the scorn of a superior man and though his expression still remained hazy, it was no brainer that his lips would be restricted to a disapproving frown.
"Has it not?" Mane raised his head to reveal a pained expression.
Though he had lost a few battles before, none had been like this one. And though he wasn't capable of truly dying in this world, if the Origin King took over his body while consigning his soul to eternal damnation within himself, he would technically be dead. But that didn't bother the young Supreme as much as it did to leave all those he loved behind. He didn't care about his loss. He gave not an iota of emotion to his death. He disregarded that death would mean he would be failing his mission. No! All these things didn't matter. They did before. But now they were nothing but shadows that were subject to the whims of the light. They were irrelevant. But the light wasn't.
Dan
Ashera
Daisy
Rose
Lam
Lily
And most importantly Sunflower
How was he to leave these people behind? And how was he to live without the sun that brightened his dull life on this planet. The painful departure he had envisioned would only happen several years from now was happening now. And as it dawned on him that he wouldn't see any of these people again, he realised how ill-prepared he was for this moment.