As my pulse of perception creeps into the center of the Dark Continent, the cylindrical pillar that grows out from the depths of the abyss becomes visible to me.
The clouds part in the sky to reveal the structure as it seemingly materializes from thin air into existence, climbing higher into the sky.
My divine energy-enhanced vision can see the obsidian black outer barrier of this tower crystal clear, but even with my new Mythic Grade All-Seeing Eye activated, I can't see within it.
The mysterious black pillar shooting up from the abyss is made from a material unknown to me, but with qualities that seem familiar.
From this distance, it's hard to say exactly what it is, but it has very similar characteristics to the black stone of Monk's pyramid back in Sector 1.
The pillar materializes higher and higher into the sky, so high that it eventually reaches too far for my senses to reach.
I watch the abyss swell and flow rapidly like an ocean during a storm, and the eerie sensation that rippled through me from the 3rd surge keeps repeating in my mind.
The fact that my clash with this other True Core at such scale has triggered this event becomes very clear, but what exactly that pillar is raises tons of theories to race through my mind.
Both Ember and the Lich King have stated in the past that the abyss is where the Throne will awaken, but what exactly that means I'm still very much in the dark.
The visions of past memories from Celia, the purple-cored being in her last minutes of life, showed me the aftereffects of what happens if a Demon is to claim that throne, but that doesn't explain much about what happens before it's claimed and most importantly how to claim it...
I don't know if this is normal, or if my interference has changed the trajectory of this world's future.
So many questions are left unanswered as I turn my attention away from the ominous black pillar and stare back into the hazel eyes of the silver-sworded assassin whose blades I'm still clashing with hundreds of kilometers above a crater in the desert.
However, the sight before me now is almost as shocking.
For the first time in our entire battle, the woman's expression changes.
Instead of continuing to attack me relentlessly without any emotion or sign of letting up, the sword user's eyes are filled with shock as well.
The odd sensation of fear, anticipation, confusion, and excitement ripple out of her, and I feel the telepathy link that I've been trying to send out to her for the past hour finally connect.
Her voice echoes through, but it doesn't sound like she's aware we've even linked; it is more of an inner thought seeping out in a moment of great stress.
"This is too soon..."
Her pupils shrink, and her intense battle instincts, overwhelming aura, and urge to kill me completely disappear.
For some reason, she's done fighting me.
This doesn't mean I'm taking any chances, so in this moment, I overpower her left arm's blade and aim my right directly toward her core.
This moment of hesitation has decided the fight.
I don't hold back while the tip of my Flame Emperor's blade pierces the center of her chest, but an unexpected reaction occurs.
Unlike every other time I tried to do this move in our hundreds of past clashes, when she would usually spin her body just enough to make my blade plunge through her shoulder while her blade punctures me; this time, my blade meets no resistance and pierces right through her chest.
I would be satisfied with this result; however, in the area where I'd pierced her, there's no longer any flesh in its place.
There is just a circle of open sky.
From her core outward, the fair-skinned, well-endowed, long-haired woman disappears before me, dodging my deadly strike in a very unique way.
My All-Seeing Eye can still vaguely pick up her presence in front of me, and my blade is definitely sitting in the center of her chest, but for some reason, I can tell she's not injured.
The barely visible shimmering figure of the woman steps back a few dozen meters to fully disappear from my senses as I pull my sword away and get back into a fighting stance.
I'm sure I hit her... but at the same time, my eyes and all my senses have seemed to deceive me. It's like she slipped away into a divine pocket dimension, being right where my blade struck, but dodging it in a direction that I'm not able to shift my attack into.
Instead of attacking again, I hear the woman's voice echo in my head.
"That was an admirable strike. If I was distracted by the throne's awakening for even a tenth of a second longer, maybe you would have won this duel."
Over 100 meters away, the woman materializes into existence, showing herself to me, and there isn't a gaping hole in her chest as I would have imagined.
She still has both of her silver swords up in a battle stance as well, but there is no urge to strike at me rippling through her anymore. I wouldn't have believed her next words if I couldn't read emotions so perfectly.
"Let us call it a draw. While you were my favorite fighting opponent I've ever faced, I've lost interest in killing you."
She powers down her greater form and just reveals her plain armored body riddled with yellow divine slashes from our battle, then turns her head in the direction of the massive black pillar thousands of kilometers away.
"Maybe the urge will return when greater stakes are on the line. I think it's only fair we save a duel like this until the world itself is the prize."
She shrugs and lets out a sigh, letting the thin smile that I witnessed on her face while mid-battle return to the corners of her upturned lips.
"One of us killing the other now would be quite the waste. Don't you agree?"
Then she turns back to me, pointing her sharp eyes at my greater form without any fear that I'll take advantage of this moment again and go in for the kill.
I'm shocked at this turn of events; the ruthless, emotionless warrior only battling for the thrill of the fight seemingly becoming uninterested in battling me anymore is the last thing I was expecting to happen.
She coughs up blood, and the glowing yellow wounds on her body leak the crimson liquid as well as she waits for a response.
This halt in battle for even just a few seconds has given my own mind and muscles enough time to rest and let the adrenaline begin fading, and waves of fatigue and extreme pain start to enter my psyche.
I grit my teeth but cough up blood too, as the majority of my injuries will take a long time to heal. Attacks tethered with True Core divine threads are not the same as mere mana alone.
I respond while pulling out a teleport crystal from my storage to let it float nearby me just in case, and power down my own greater form to conserve energy.
"A draw it is..."
As I shrink down to human size, she looks down into the crater below us, then back up to me and locks eyes with me.
"You killed my dragon. But I don't really care—it was property of the Central Branch anyway... They will be wondering what happened here today."
There's a long pause before she speaks again.
"It would be in your best interest to act like you're dead. Unless you want more True Cores coming to kill you before the doors to challenge the throne open."
My eyes widen, as the way she's describing the throne is a bit different than the cryptic guesses I've received from three entities in the past.
I want to ask her a million questions, but the dripping blood from her wounds and the look in her eyes makes me believe she doesn't have time to educate her enemies for no reason.
I pull out a pile of mythic-grade regeneration potions from my storage, and use telekinesis to slowly levitate them toward her, making sure it doesn't come off as a threat.
"These may aid your healing process... Maybe in exchange, you could tell me more about the throne... what do you mean by the doors to challenge it will open? What exactly did we just trigger?"
She suspiciously looks at the half dozen green potions in front of her and doesn't take a hand off her swords until she coughs up blood again and is forced to do something about her wounds.
The woman drinks one while I watch and hold the other five up next to her with my heart racing in my chest.
The bleeding from her open wounds slows down a little, and some color in her face returns, but the woman is still extremely injured.
So am I—even while using this healing skill during the entire battle and now, my own wounds have only recently stopped gushing blood.
She gladly accepts the 5 other potions into an item box and responds.
"You are not a council member of the Order, unfortunately, I cannot divulge our secrets. The only piece of advice I would share with you is, if another True Core approaches your land, try a different greeting. I don't think many other members will take your instinct to kill on sight as lightly as I have."
She smirks, and turns toward the Northwest. A direction that would send her flying through Sector 3 and up into the 8 Great Nations if she flew straight, so I'm a bit confused when she speaks up again and her body begins to disappear from reality into the divine pocket dimension I can't sense.
"Consider us an alliance. I won't attack your people, and I have faith you will not attack mine. I'm well aware you were the one who defeated Mr. Freeman, so I will leave the 8 Great Regions alone as well. I'm just headed to the Apex Region to pick up a package, no one will know I'm there."
I raise an eyebrow, and reactivate my greater form as in the back of my mind, the fear of a sneak attack is still a possibility.
As she disappears completely from my senses, she says a final message through our telepathy link instead of out loud.
"I'm Raven. If you would like to speak again before the doors open, come visit me in the heart of my Region with your stealth ability activated. Until then, it's best you play dead, as if you lost this fight."
—
A red-haired man with a bright matching beard nervously watches a silver device on his white marble table. It pulses with yellow and white light as one of the crystals on it has shown increased activity higher than ever before over the last hour.
News of one of their high-level labyrinths linked to the dragon that Raven uses as transportation, mysteriously disappearing, doesn't sit quite right with the old man either. It means the dragon has been defeated, and the pulsing light means Raven is using her True Core's full power repeatedly.
Eventually, the blinking and flashing of her crystal begins to settle down and fall back to its resting state. However, right as it does, three major surges ripple through the central world headquarters of the Association, causing massive dungeon breaks all over the capital Region.
Vice Central Director, Mr. Redgrave, ignores the surges and patiently waits for any news from his receiver.
There are plenty of higher-ups and A-Class hunters that can handle surge protocol, they don't need him to directly send the order.
Minutes after the third surge ripples through his luxury suite, the silver device on his center table finally makes a sound.
"Raven here, giving an update on the 8 Great Region's Leader Disappearance. It is true that Mr. Freeman was killed. I battled the source of the problem, but seemed to have created a bigger one..."
Mr. Redgrave immediately reaches for his transmission device and yells through it.
"You killed him, right? This Flame Emperor isn't the bigger problem you're talking about, is it?"
He anxiously looks down at the transmission device while silence fills the room for almost half a minute.
There are three other True Cores visible on the crystal panel other than Raven and Redgrave. The other 4 crystals all seem to be normal yellow cores that don't shine as bright; they look similar to Mr. Freeman's crystal before it went dark.
Then Raven replies, and her bright stone flickers.
"No, he isn't the problem. It's the fact that the throne's final stage of awakening was triggered from our clash. We have far less time than we thought. The doors will be opening soon. The originator's text has led us this far. Many of us have waited decades—our entire lives—for this moment..."
There's silence on the line again.
Inside Mr. Redgrave's suite, his eyes widen and an excited yet devious smile shapes onto his face as he presses his crystal down and replies.
"Excellent, Raven. Excellent. You have done well. I hope we do not have to meet each other once the trials begin."
He clicks his device off and begins pacing around his room.
Meanwhile, Raven flies through the skies with her divine stealth skill activated, and the only other voice responding in the transmission is the same heavy breathing man with a bright True Core crystal shining on the device.
Raven clicks her device to cut off the annoying repetitive noise.
"I didn't forget about your offer, get your 200 fragments ready. Your white dragon artifact will be delivered shortly."
The breathing noise ceases, and the transmission channel goes silent.
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