"So, they still know that name this far out? Interesting..."
Ember looks at me with a pondering gaze, then continues.
"I've already told you who I am in this conversation. My comments about the source should have explained everything. So, it seems all I can say is what you know up to this point. Yes, the throne is an artifact created by one of the divine beasts, used mostly for the ascension of demons to bring them to the next realm, the green core state."
Ember waits, and I nod in reply.
"Yes, I'm aware of this fact."
He grins.
"Good. And I'm sure you're aware there's a disparity between the simple silver threads in the throne and the golden light in my core. All I can say is there's a step above, and I wouldn't be down here if I hadn't—"
The golden light blinds my senses again, but I'm satisfied that my thoughts about the throne have been confirmed as true. I won't be able to ask him more about this name, but I can still learn more.
"So, the divine beast, are they on this world? Or in the demonic realm? It's one of those overseers like the Lich King, right?"
Ember nods, and a ripple of sadness comes from him again as he realizes I don't remember the second half of his statement. But he replies.
"They are definitely not on this world, nor are they in the demonic realm. I don't know the creator's identity for certain; they might be affiliated with the 5 great families you speak of. But an artifact of this magnitude cannot be crafted by a mere reincarnation of a divine beast. It is certainly one that is still alive and at the peak of its power."
He turns in the direction of the black tower, thousands of kilometers away, then looks back at me, his gaze deep.
"That is a problem for another day. This is an artifact crafted for descendants to easily conquer many worlds. You have to focus on the one world we're trying to save right now."
I stay silent and nod, coming back down to reality and looking at the situation at hand.
"Alright, speaking of artifacts, one last question then..."
I point to the black cube that slowly rotates around me as its center of gravity.
"You called this an amplifier. How can I make use of it? Ever since I walked into its tomb, it hasn't said a word to me..."
Ember chuckles.
"Really? An amplifier that can hold a conversation? It must be a strong one. What was its desire?"
I think for a moment.
"It watched many of its people leave this world behind. I believe its desire was to save humanity."
Ember nods, staring off toward the throne again, then back to me.
"That's a pretty good one. But I'm as in the dark as you are on what powers it might grant. It will activate once it's necessary—or maybe not at all. What you witnessed while meeting it may have been the last of its power. Again, amplifiers are all unique, especially ones from the originators era, there's nothing you can do now but wait and see."
I touch the cube as it comes my way, and it bounces back, changing its orbital direction without making a sound. Then, I turn to Abby and float backward.
"Well, I guess that's that. Ember is right. It's time you two practice and get used to your new levels of power. We don't have much time left."
I back up, and both of them hover in the air, exchanging words for a few seconds before Abby pulls out her two blood-bonded daggers. A bright green aura glows around her, while the yellow threads from her core tether around it, and space begins to bend as she prepares to fight.
Ember stands still with his arms crossed while she powers up, then gets into a fighting stance, releasing a small amount of divine energy from his invisible barrier.
He matches her output, feeling and looking like a newly awakened yellow core from here.
They both fly forward, and their spar begins.
Ember calmly blocks her attacks with his bare hands, and they fly all over the sky, giving off flashes of yellow and green light.
Every few dozen exchanges make Abby's control over her new power much more concentrated and deadly.
Just like Maria, she hasn't had the chance to have a good fight going all out since long before she even started wielding divine energy.
After over a hundred exchanges, she begins sending spears of earth magic imbued with divine threads Ember's way, and the fight reaches the next level.
Instead of just blocking with his palms, Ember shoots dark flames shimmering with yellow threads at each of the speared attacks, disintegrating them on the spot and dodging others while still clashing fist to dagger with Abby's main attacks.
A full ten minutes at this basic level pass, and I watch Abby's speed and precision of strikes increase more and more.
Ember keeps a cool and unchanging expression the whole time but yells out loud after one of their exchanges.
"Come on, let's bring this up a notch. What do you say?"
He lets more of his aura leak out, bringing him to the level of a mid- to high-level yellow core, similar to that of the old Apex Region Director. Even from a distance, it's clear Abby is affected by the overwhelming aura.
That is, until she activates her ranked-up buff, and her entire body turns green, while the yellow core in her chest continues to glow and spread throughout her body.
Instantly, she seems fine and flies forward, unaffected by the pressure tens of times greater than her own.
Ember grins, raising an eyebrow while preparing to block her incoming attack.
At the last moment, centimeters before they collide, I watch portions of her body return to their natural state, and she's able to land hits on Ember's fists; but they're nowhere near strong enough to do damage.
Ember strikes back, but his fist pushes right through her body like it's not even there, despite the clear difference in strength.
Abby uses this moment of surprise to spin around to Ember's back and release another earth-imbued crescent, but millimeters before impact, Ember spins around and blocks this too. He counters again, but when his fist makes contact with her stomach, it phases through like nothing is there.
Both lunge back, and Ember laughs, releasing the full aura of his True Core.
"It's really the same power! The Immortal Form while still holding a Yellow core, quite impressive. Use that new buff Jay granted you. I want to see everything you've got!"
As his True Core's aura ripples out, and they're only a hundred or so meters apart in the sky, Abby can feel that if she's too close, she'll be knocked out from the pressure, and any exposed limbs or body parts would be shredded by the pressure alone. Releasing her buff to attack would not be a good idea.
Moments later, Abby replies to this challenge by opening up her status interface and pulling the full 1% of stats from over 6.1 million links of loyalty.
Her entire body glows bright green, and her aura grows, giving off an immense amount of mana control and stat-based power.
However, I don't feel the same eerie sensation I did when Maria accessed these stats.
Instead of staring into the abyss of a Soul Energy Core, Abby feels inviting and warm. However, the raw strength coming off her is definitely intense.
They both fly toward each other again without exchanging another word, and bright green and yellow light ripples through the entire Dark Continent, just like the spar between Maria and Raven hours ago.
Right before each hit, Abby is able to deactivate small portions of her body and blood-bonded weapons to attack with; and Ember goes purely on the defensive.
Her exposed areas easily fend off Ember's domineering True Core's aura, and I smile as her attacks become faster and faster, aiming for fatal blows, while Ember keeps upping the pace to help her learn.
Another ten minutes pass as the exchanges become so fast, they near the speed and gravity waves I felt while facing off against the low-level True Core Bronze Dragon.
Abby's mana-rich aura ripples through the air, and I feel the same warm, calming sensation pass through me as she pulls mana from the surroundings and forms massive spears of stone to surround Ember, changing up her fighting style.
Some of the immense pillars reach hundreds of meters long, and they fly forward at varying speeds while she severs her links with them to focus on flying forward with daggers in hand, using the village-sized stones as distractions.
Ember replies to this barrage with ease, sending larger and larger waves of divine flames her way, disintegrating some of the spears and punching through others while simultaneously blocking her close-up attacks.
He yells out loud again.
"Not bad, a newly awakened yellow core fighting a True Core. No matter how many buffs are active, it's a feat that's basically impossible. Let's see if that physique still holds up now."
As he spins out of the way of one of her close-range attacks, he sends a kick flying toward her side. But to both Ember's and my surprise, his leg phases right through her like a hologram, and she counters, sending him flying backward with an aura of surprise and excitement bursting from him.
Red and black scales form all over his body, and his feet and hands turn to claws. A long, pointed tail emerges from his back, and the pressure from his True Core grows even higher, nearly matching Raven's. Then, he flies forward with an excited look on his face.
His movement speed is slightly faster than Abby's now, and his pressure is overwhelming. However, once he makes contact with Abby's body again, and it phases through with no resistance at all, his excitement only grows more.
Abby tries to counter, and Ember allows it to hit his right arm.
Her dagger bounces off without leaving a single scratch, but when Ember strikes back again, his left set of claws fall deep into her green body and don't leave a mark either.
Another five minutes of back-and-forth exchanges follow.
Ember's hybrid form and Abby's full power pulling 1% of stats are nearly equal when it comes to speed and technique accuracy; however, the raw strength differs.
While I'm not sure Maria could keep up with these fast-paced exchanges, I am sure the full power of her Ice Goddess' blue sword could have left a mark on Ember.
That being said, the more yellow and green flashes of light that go by, the more intrigued I become with Abby's near-invincible defenses.
I watch with a proud look across my face from about a kilometer away, high above them, while they continue to spar, becoming faster and stronger with every strike that passes.
Now, not even counting myself, I have four teammates I am positive can hold their own against True Cores. With the rate at which my links of loyalty are growing, we'll at least double the amount of stats to pull from sometime tomorrow.
However, the scorching heat of those divine flames surrounding central keep resurfacing in the back of my mind, making me wonder if all of this is enough.
–
As another half an hour passes, and the two of them continue practicing at Abby's full power, my senses wander outward, routinely surveying the Dark Continent and eight Great Regions. Suddenly, I see something very odd emerging from the receding abyss.
In the center of the Dark Continent, over the last few days as the black mist flows back toward the tower, many abandoned villages and ruined cities have been revealed.
Some were pillaged by rogue hunters and bandits, while others were destroyed by the demonic beasts that roamed within the demonic energy of the abyss.
None of these beasts dared to step outside the darkness, as the air in this mana-rich world is harmful to pure demonic energy-born creatures.
But now, for the first time, I see a sliver of space giving off odd readings right on the edge of the abyss near Sector 1, about 700 kilometers from Valor City.
I wouldn't have noticed it at all, except for the fact that my senses picked up a large number of gravity wells emerging from seemingly nowhere. Their numbers continue to grow at a rapid rate.
So, I focus all of my perception in that direction now to see what the disturbance might be. My eyes widen as a large demonic rift, over 10 meters high, floating above the desert comes into view.
Many demons with bright red divine cores glowing in their chests step out onto the sand, lighting up the night with their crimson divine light. They're dressed in full black armor, long swords and shields in hand, and emit a dangerous and unique aura of killing intent.
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Author's Note:
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Thanks for reading:)
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