'I hope this works out in my favour, or else I'd have wasted my Godly essence for nothing...', he thought with tears in his eyes.
Taking his time, he inscribed the necessary runes before connecting them with a series of trapezoid sections, all within the bounds of two different circles, one that was originally circled around Raven, and the other, that separated the sections from the runes to come.
Having finished the interior of the array, the main character moved onto the exterior, drawing up runes with each passing moment. As more time passed, the further he advanced, creating an array that was more intricate and complex than any other that has been featured on this book.
Although from start to finish, it had taken him two whole hours, he still had a way to go. Wiping off tears from the corner of his eye, he thought, 'Now for the main event...'
With that, he prepared himself before executing a hand seal which activated the array, causing it to pulsate with a bright golden light. Dimming, the array took a second before shining again, this time causing a massive quake to spread from the array, disturbing the entirety of the After Realm.
This disturbance died down when the shining array dimmed but was strengthened when the array lit up again.
And with the sounding of the tenth quake, the light dimmed as usual, only this time, it didn't shine again, instead it stayed dim. An unnerving silence echoing throughout the realm.
*BA-THUMP*
*BA‐THUMP*
Suddenly, a heartbeat sounded.
Tracing the heartbeat back to its source, the main character stared at Raven's hands while letting a devious smile. It was neither him, nor Raven, who were the owners of the heartbeat. Instead, it was the gourd-shaped crystal, the "Realm Core" as he had called it.
*BA-THUMP*
*BA-THUMP*
The heartbeat sounded again, prompting the main character to execute a series of hand seals, each hand seal lighting up a rune from the countless that made up the array. As the rune lit up, that same rune also appeared on the surface of the crystal. Although it's appearance didn't have any adverse effect on the core, it still made its heartbeat sound a little faster. With every seal that was made, another rune would light up, making it seem as though the day had passed and now the stars were revealing themselves. The heartbeat becoming faster and faster with every appearance of a rune.
Soon, more and more of the runes covered the core, each rune either moving away or shrinking in size to accommodate the addition of the next. Once the main character made the last hand seal, imprinting the last of the runes on the crystal, the entirety of the array beamed with a pillar of light that penetrated through the scenic skies above. From the distance, It looked as if the heavens were calling forth their chosen.
Surprisingly, Raven was oblivious to all this as she seemed impervious to that light whilst the crystal in her hands sizzled, its hard exterior slowly being sheared away, the runes on its surface speeding up the process.
The main character on the other hand, couldn't stand the heat emanating from the large pillar of light, forcing him to back away into the distance.
'Unlike her, I don't have the protection of the realm core... Granted I could summon the Atlas, quite frankly I cannot be bothered to use it on something as silly as this...'
Regardless of that though, he kept a keen eye on both Raven and the core, even going as far as merging his senses with the Atlas, making use of his makeshift spirit sense.
*BA-THUMP*BA-THUMP*BA-THUMP*BA-THUMP*BA-THUMP*BA-THUMP*
*CRACK*
A crack formed on the crystal, unleashing a powerful surge of energy. The energy spread-out for miles, passing through the main character and making him want to vomit blood. Thankfully though, before actual damage was done, his Godly essence instantly dispelled the energy that invaded his body.
*CRACK*
Before the realm could recover, another crack was heard, causing a shockwave to spread throughout the realm, this time even the air shook as if the whole realm had been tossed around like some snow globe. Fortunately, this time, the energy wave hadn't affected the main character as it had done in the beginning. This time, the God essence didn't even wait for the energy to invade his body, as it let out its presence in a shield-like manner, deflecting the energy away from the main character.
*CRACK*
*CRACK*
It seemed like the crystal had reached its limit as another crack was heard coming from the core.
*CRACK*
Another crack was heard,
*CRACK*
and another crack was heard,
*CRACK*
and another crack was heard, before finally the cracks circled around the crystal and met, cleanly separating the crystal into several different parts.
Finally free, whatever was on the inside exploded with energy, destroying all that was around it except for Raven. Neither the grass under her feet nor the earth remained, having been devoured by the rampaging burst of energy that had been discharged.. With the broken shards of the crystal having been blasted away, a white swirly mound of tendrils like living energy could be seen swirling around before turning its attention to Raven.
Its presence gave of a dangerous vibe, yet it slowly swirly around Raven as if it was but a child.
Having made enough observations, the swirly thing floated towards the woman before standing afloat in front of her face, looking at it in wonder before slowly moving towards her agape mouth*she wasn't scared or anything, she was just cultivating...*, and entering her body through it.
Feeling the foreign entity invading her body, Raven unconsciously retaliated by moving her internal qi towards it, in hops of resisting it. What she didn't know though was that, as soon as her internal qi made contact with the energy, it was devoured, causing there to be some backlash on Raven, causing her internal damage.
Shocked by the pain, Raven awoke from her cultivation, only to find her internal qi being devoured by a foreign energy.
'WTF is happening?!!!' she though as she did her best to resist, unfortunately though, all attempts at resistance were futile as they were simply eaten away. And before she could get her bearings together, it was already too late. The swarming mass if energy had made its way down to her dantian. Sensing that the resistance spurred from that place, the energy wrapped around the dantian before devouring it like a hungry snake!
That was followed by a deafening scream coming from Raven, before her voice abruptly cut off. Dropping the umbrella that hovered besides her body, once covering half of her face... her full face was revealed. Revealed to be that of a gorgeous woman with white, sparkly eyes that gleamed like the stars.