In light of the Rift fire Crisis, various powers unaffiliated or affiliated to the once prosperous Dynasties and Empires appeared claiming various names as they vied for the space opened up by the destruction of the two major powers who lost control of their lands.
A good majority of the risen powers were those of Noble or Royal status, claiming to be the new Empire, establishing new Dynasties forthwith only to fall against other foes claiming the same, fighting amongst each other as others circled like sharks, biting into each other in a dangerous feeding frenzy until only the strongest amongst the fishes became sharks in the water, swimming against the blood of the fallen.
The Nobles and Royals lucky and witty enough to survive until the end of the feeding frenzy established their territories, becoming new Kingdoms, Empires, Dynasties, Republics and various other things as they laid claim to the territories the Starmarked Dynasty and Starborn Empire once controlled.
But to the small minority of powers that were not of Noble and Royal status and were instead individuals or groups of people opportunistic enough to take the opportunity presented to them on a silver platter, they formed the first coalition of peasantry, becoming what was known today as Corporations and Private Groups.
These Privatized Groups collectively known as the Corporations were filled with talented individuals of all kinds, becoming examples to be followed by many as the new technology born in light of the Riftfire conflict known as Aether tech was exploited for its many gains to replace their once noble leaders.
In other words, Miners became the Aetherion Union, Forgers became the Ironflame Arsenal, Merchants became the Void Expanse Syndicate, Crafters became the Skyspire Guild, Mercenaries became the Eclipse Vanguard, Doctors became the Star Charity, Bandits the Rift Raiders, Explorers the Skyfarers Coalition, Scientists the Astromancers Consortium, Researchers the Luminal Pact, Hunters the Void Guard and so on and so forth.
Of course, these were just the frontier names as in reality, a good majority of all these privatized groups were actually made up of several leaders who, through the magic of democratic prowess and a centralized voting system, opposed the Nobles turned Royals who vehemently tried to use their newfound kingships on them, forming two major factions who were soon joined by the third faction.
This faction was known as Religion and became especially prominent since one specific being made it known that they were the ones who unleashed the power of the void unto them making the Universe aware of the Godly power that these beings held.
These beings were known as the Celestial Architects, godly beings tasked with the management of the universe and the ability to do so.
The Architect of the Void was one of such beings who particularly disliked humanity for piercing the Astral Veil one to many times, and the monsters of the void were the punishments it had laid down in result of it.
And thus, the religion that followed such a being were… not nice to put it nicely.
A bright purple light lit up a basement.
"—dedicate this offering of flesh to the one who shall bring the Great Erasure."
Figures cloaked in black with highlights in purple were in a ring as they surrounded an altar, surrounded further by Monsters of the Void that were currently sedated by the loss of the void which provided them the energy to survive.
But despite the fact that they were surrounded by such beings who would tear apart any who crossed them without a second thought in their unthinking minds, the cultists who worshipped the Architect of the Void ignored them all in favor of chanting crazily.
"The Great Erasure!"
"The Great Erasure!"
"The Great Erasure!"
Chants filled the basement as a particularly prominent cultist known as the High Priest stood beside the altar, identified by the three purple eyes adorning their hood as they raised a serrated knife.
"Oh Great Narx! Herald of the Void! Guardian of the Great Architect I call upon thee!"
A maddened laugh left the High Priests mouth as a pair of crazed eyes glistened from underneath the hood as they stabbed the coiled knife into the body of an unmoving child.
"Descend onto this worthy sacrifice gazed upon by the void and make your will manifest!"
Twitching as the knife entered their body, the purple haired and malnourished looking child's mouth and eyes opened wide in pain as the void monsters around them began to twitch, black wisps whipping at their surroundings.
"Yes! Yes! Yes!"
Cackling madly, blood leaked from the wound and dripped onto the altar where they were funneled into several carvings deep into the stone, drawing a bloody pentagram on the ground, several glyphs shining unnaturally as the runes written in blood began to burn purple.
"Awaken oh Guardian! The Great Narx! The Void's Herald!"
Child twitching and straining against their chains, purple light shone from within the child, large black tentacles sprouting from the pentagram as they grabbed the surrounding Void monsters, swallowing them whole and in the process erasing the bodies of any cultists unlucky enough to stand in their way.
Literally splitting the cultists apart from their very atoms, there wasn't that much left of them as they stood in the way of the tentacles.
But despite witnessing such carnage to the point that it seemed as if they never even existed in the first place, the surrounding cultists didn't show any fear or remorse for such an act, instead showing relief and envy towards the ones who were struck by the tentacles.
It made sense however when one considered their belief that the great erasure is the state of being that everything shall eventually end up.
"Not that I agree with that belief of course, if everyone's erased who would be able to admire my handsome visage?"
"What!? Who are you!?"
A man as pale as the moon appeared besides the altar, gently rubbing the child's head who's expression relaxed considerably as the High Priest shouted in surprise at the man's appearance.
From his gait to the fact that he was now caressing the child's head as if lulling them to sleep, it was as if he had always been there.
Blood flow stagnating as the knife that was stuck into his chest was removed, the wound healed visible to the naked eye as a pair of pale eyes scanned the gathering shocked by the appearance of a pale man unaffiliated to them and not wearing the coat of the Void.
"To answer your previous question… Oh why am I even talking to someone even uglier than a beast?" Rubbing his chin, the High Priest narrowed their eyes from beneath their hood, tightening their grip around the knife.
"…I don't know who you are you Heretic who refuses erasure, but I shall grant you the voids blessing."
Immediately moving to stab the pale man with a speed that formed the very wind itself into a blade, the pale man gently waved his hand in response, a star white wave pushing the knife away in response.
And to no one's knowledge, the moment the void monsters that had initially gathered behind the cultists staring angrily at the white haired man disappeared upon making contact with the white wave.
Well, all but the High Priest with three eyes.
Frowning underneath their hood, the fanatics voice leaked out angrily as they immediately bounced backwards, staring warily at the pale man who continued to stroke the boys head.
"An expert Weaver of at least the 5th needle who knows banishment… Troublesome, but nothing much in front of the Void's blessing." Crouching low, the rest of the fanatics upon hearing the High Priests words immediately bristled like a porcupine, channeling their own blessings granted to them by the void.
"See, this is why I say you are uglier than beasts."
The pale man sighed, his platinum white fingers dancing lightly in the air as several shells immediately began to collide against each other, introducing characteristics to each other as they formed a weave in a near instant.
"Even a beautiful child should know that Banishment isn't the only weave I know."
Watching the High Priest disappear for a brief moment before appearing behind him with a jagged blood covered dagger, dark clumps of void ate at the air as he swung.
Pale white shield manifesting around it, the blade instantly pierced the shell, sinking into its surface as if was a lake of water, black void dispersing the Aether like wisps of steam.
And seeing this, the High Priests widened in fear. "No, you're not just an expert Weaver!"
"I think that's its really obvious, but you ugly beasts can think whatever you want."
A light smile covering his face, the pale man brought the both of his hands together, forming a pale white orb in between them, pulsing platinum as it did so.
Widening his eyes, the High Priest immediately coated their body in the void, consuming everything it touched including himself as the air itself seemed to become supercharged with energy.
"Because it's the last thing you'll be able to think."
Various cultists with good instincts instantly felt something off, instinctively pulling up their veils made of void no matter the damage done to their bodies.
These were the lucky ones as the pale white curtain that pushed even the void itself away allowed it to end their lives swiftly.
Those who weren't coated by the void however…
Pained screams filled the air as the very air itself, supercharged with Aether instantly began to wreak havoc everywhere they went, tearing apart anything in their way.
And since the followers of the void were in the way…
Millions of holes instantly appeared on their bodies as their nerves were torn apart by the very molecules of air itself.
Electrical signals only briefly sending a message of extreme pain before any sensation towards that nerve was erased, the Followers of the Void were erased just as they wanted, with a few seconds of brief clarity allowing them to understand what was happening.
But after that, there was no such peace.
Erasing everything in their path, the basement where the meeting of the void was held in was covered in millions of tiny scars in the hard dark stone, a material known for it's inability to conduct anything well and it's hardness.
But now, that material usually built as shields or pieces of armor was now being torn apart as easy as an axe on wood.
Strangely enough however, only three things were left untouched in this room rendered into a blender of all that was living and non living.
One of these things was the pale man admiring the chaos as he watched all of the blood, catalysts, sacrifices and glyph formations be torn apart by the 7th Needle weave Supercharge.
The other thing was a child protected by an 8th Needle weave Omnidirectional Stellar Shield.
The final thing was surprising however.
"Ugh, Architect damn it, you monster."
Instead of the High Priest surviving the 7th Needle weave, one of the many Heretic believers that had attended this hidden meeting survived, one of the should be many semi mortals that have fallen deep.
"How surprising you ugly thing, to think you survived a weave meant to get rid of ugly things such as you."
Soft eyes which were directed at the child transformed into a disdainful glare that seemed to see the figure in front of him as nothing more than an insect to squash, the pale man raised his hand, instantly shelling a weave and sending it forth.
Instantly slapping it away, a black hand revealed itself causing the pale man's eyes to turn into narrow slits.
Groaning and cracking their back, the lone believer stared at their tattered and broken robe before grabbing it, and ripping it off of themselves.
"It's no use keeping this trash thing on now that's broken."
Revealing a pair of untouched skin underneath the robe, a woman rolled her shoulders in relief as she grunted, a black gooey substance clung at her body and covered almost every inch of it.
Purple tendril like hair writhing on her head, three eyes opened themselves on her head, purple light leaking out of it as purple flecks speckling the black goo began to glow.
"So then Pale King, why do you insist on getting in my way all of the time?"
Smiling lightly, the pale king raised a stalwart middle finger to the woman with purple hair.
"Because today's a special day that you just can't seem to help on ruining you despicable cockroach."
Forcing an incredibly fake looking smile on their doll like face, the woman giggled darkly. "Well you certainly seemed to make a habit in ruining all of my preparations."
"It isn't just this meeting I busted you know? I made sure to kill every single person in all four locations, this is just the fifth." Grinning even wider, the smile on the woman's face seemed to split her face in half causing the Pale man to frown.
"How strange that an ugly thing like you can laugh even when I destroyed all of your efforts."
"Heh, no, it's not that I doubt you destroyed all five points, but ever since you last succeeded where I failed, I've made more plans." Sneering, they raised their hand and revealed a black and purple stone in the palm of their hand causing the pale King's eyes to widen.
"No-!"
"Yes you dull Glorptid!"
Laughing madly, they crushed the black purple speckled stone in their hand, instantly releasing a noxious and destructive black gas being released as they did so, eating at everything and anything that it touched.
But it wasn't just a localized occurrence as the moment that her fist had broken the stone into several gaseous fragments, as if a resonance event has occurred, any other similar stones nearby instantly broke apart into Energy of the Void.
From small trinkets smuggled in from the outside and sold as black market products, to hidden stones hidden amongst the many storerooms, within houses, within buildings, within people, and within the walls themselves.
Screeches soon following after as naturally spawned Voidlings appeared, the very fabric of space and time warped around the areas where miniature void zones appeared.
And as if that wasn't enough.
In a small hidden room stuck behind several layers of glyphs, runes and various other security measures, a black stone lied.
And since the Pale man didn't specialize in Warding…
It didn't keep out the resonance event and immediately exploded into a cloud of black and purple, exploding outwards and destroying the top of the celestial tower in an explosion of purple fire.
The Pale man's face paled even further as messages became tumbling in through his watcher Weaves set all over the city, various creatures of the Void wreaking havoc on the citizens as they sought to consume everything to fill the empty hole within.
"And Pale King."
Sneering widely, the woman returned the middle finger directed at her "I made sure to leave something to entertain you." Stepping backwards, the woman let her back fall towards the ground, causing the pale man to open his eyes wide.
"No!"
Grinning dangerously, a black void suddenly opened up behind her falling body and swallowed it whole, the last thing he could see being the gift that the damned witch left behind.
Hurriedly bringing out the 8th Needle Aegis and balancing himself, the Pale man wiped the sweat from his forehead as he stared at the monster in front.
---
An hour after the Nihilistic Followers of the Void gave the entire city a big present in the form of an earlier erasure from this place of existence.
The problem was, that although some followed the Voided's Nihilistic views, that didn't mean that everyone would willingly go get erased as they struggled against the Voidd monsters permeating the city in all sorts of shapes and sizes.
One notable example being the existence of Ester hurriedly sacrificing everything around him to but just some more time for Eva to pull out the conversion code that they learnt because they were forced to.
And currently, the situation wasn't the best.
The Void was made of an extremely volatile type of Aether called Void Aether.
This made the Void extremely destructive to anything it touched, basically disintegrating everything it touched by substituting its own mass to erase anything else's mass if one wasn't quick enough to break the shell holding it together.
And as someone who was made up of a lot of said mass, Ester was fighting for his life.
Kicking off against the ground and circling around the giant being swinging its fists wantonly, anything that appeared in its path was turned into a smattering of flying wood chips.
Muscles flinching as his right arm received the equivalent of several needles being stabbed into his flesh, Ester bit his lip as his broken bones pressed against his chest.
Observing the large flailing giant, Ester moved his legs to the side and twisted his torso to dodge the fist thrown at his chest.
Black fist erasing the wooden floorboards of where he once was, Ester felt a chill crawl down his spine as he hurriedly made more distance between them.
"How much Longer Eva!?" Shouting loudly Ester flicked his wrist grabbing what remained of a chair out of the ground.
"30 more seconds!"
Sweat beading on her forehead as she hurriedly scribed all of the necessary glyphs onto a large metal bolt, Eva shouted in reply causing Ester to curse in response as the demon charged at him.
"Hurry up damn it!"
"I'm trying to!"
Slipping into its thrown arm, he immediately slipped between its legs before it could even react leaving a long trail of five scratch marks.
Leaving scratches on the inside of its legs, black sludge fell onto the ground sizzling loudly as he grimaced at the sight of his fine metal nails corroding in real time.
'Better not use it for anything less important than the heart then.'
Twisting around to dodge the blind swipe at his head, Ester felt beat against his throat as he stared at the angered void monster, listing down all the facts that he had observed.
It was strong, terrifyingly so, already having tested its strength, it was a miracle that he even had a chest to begin with as it easily broke wood.
But thankfully, for whatever reason, the monster of the void was exceptionally inept in a fight as it telegraphed nearly all of its moves before straightforwardly executing them.
The danger behind the attacks however were very real as evidenced by the blood leaking from his lips.
"Ester! I finished it!"
Immediately perking up his ears, he briefly sent a glance towards his step sister only to feel the hairs on the back of his neck to rise up in response.
"GROAR!!!"
Charging at Ester with arms outstretched, a multitude of thoughts immediately sprung up into his mind as he stared at the charging black purple eyed behemoth.
Four clawed fingers sprouting from its palms and arcing towards his head, Ester held no doubt that they would be strong enough to crush his head like a firemelon as they stayed splayed out to receive Ester within their deathly embrace.
Immediately realizing that he wouldn't be able to live this is he didn't sacrifice something, Ester immediately made a decision reminiscent to the one that he had made 10 years ago at the tender age of 8.
Sacrifice his left arm.
Running to the right arm, he thrust five spiked fingers at the gigantic palm, preparing for the pain of his life as he instinctively grit his teeth.
And honestly speaking?
It was so much worse than he had remembered.
Flesh and skin tearing as the portions of metal built into his skin ripped apart, Ester nearly jolted as the leather belts dug into his flesh.
But in the end, instead of having his skull turn into the front page of the newspaper, he instead was just left with a slightly bigger wound.
Falling against the ground, Ester clutched his bleeding shoulder, the Void monster colliding against the wall where it roared in agony due to the large portion of its head removed in the head on collision.
Rolling against the ground, Ester bit his lip and groaned internally as blood leaked out of his fingers.
"!" Freezing at the sight of red blood appearing at his left shoulder, Eva's face paled significantly. "Ester!"
"I'm fine! Throw it!"
"Damn it!" Instantly breaking out of her spell with the shout leaving Ester's throat, Eva grit her teeth, her hands shaking as she immediately got into a throwing stance.
"This is for Ester you damned monster!"
Tossing the metal bolt covered in so many glyphs that it was near impossible to see a surface that hadn't been carved out, Ester watched with bated breath as the bolt arced towards the monster that had just turned around and was attempting to make a second pass.
But instead of doing so, the moment that the bolt touched even a sliver of its skin, the glyphs on its metallic surface instantly reacted.
Star Sigils symbolizing purification were powered by the kinetic forces of a meteor sigil, interlinked by a nebulous sigil and reinforced with a planetary sigil instantly worked in tandem, as the unique combination taught to them began the conversion process.
Golden light emanating from the bolt, the void monster instantly reacted, a terrible scream of pain and terror leaking out of its throat as the golden light began to disassemble the very energy it was made up of.
Black eradicated by white, Ester watched in awe as the gigantic monster that had torn off his arm was being visibly erased by the light
And as he watched it happen, Ester recalled the words spoken to him by the mentor that had forced the glyph scheme for void conversion into their minds.
There is no better sight in the world compared to watching the void get converted into pure Aether once more, oh how I wish we had a small voidling so that I could show you.
Watching in awe as the Void monster was slowly torn piece by piece by the near blinding light, Ester couldn't take his eyes off of the miniature star tearing apart the Void Demon.
Especially when it completely disappeared, consuming the metal bolt with it, and leaving behind what little remained of the Void demon after experiencing the Void Conversion scheme.
And nothing, NOTHING, could survive with half of its body removed, especially without the organs meant to sustain it and the head meant to control it.
And the void demon proved it not a moment later as the instant the Void Demon Died, it turned into the same destructive sludge the voidlings had turned into upon receiving a force that killed them.
Melting slowly into the earth, leaving a deep hole in it, Ester let out a sigh of relief that he didn't even know he was holding, all the energy left his limbs causing him to collapse on the dirty wooden floor riddled with several holes from their battle.
In hindsight, calling it a battle may have been an overstatement as the only damage Ester really did to it was scratch its inner thigh, and even then it did more harm to him than to it as he lost an arm.
On that note.
'Architects above that hurts.'
Adrenaline pumping through his veins seeping away slowly, the pain which it held back instantly started clamoring in his brain.
Multiple burns from the black sludge pulsing with pain, Ester took in two deep laborious breaths before regretting it immensely as his bones pushed against his chest.
And his left shoulder wasn't doing him any favors as the exposed wounds begin to pulse with lots of pain.
*Shuffle
Strenuously turning his tired head towards the source of the sound, Ester watched Eva crawl towards him on her hands and knees, blood having retreated from her face, making it paler than usual.
"Ester!"
Colliding against his chest head on, a small stream of tears leaked out of her eyes upon confirming that his heart still beat and his lungs still breathed. "You idiot!"
Wrapping her arms around his chest, she immediately stuffed her face into it.
"Ack! Ow ow ow! Eva! I'm still hurt here!" Hurriedly trying to push Eva away as his broken bones aimed to become concave, he immediately paused as a whisper no louder than a mouse entered his ears.
"I thought you died like mom and dad."
"Ah" A small voice left his mouth as he instantly paused his movements 'well that's just unfair.'
Letting up on the force put into pushing her away, as if sensing the reluctant defense he was putting up, she buried her face into his chest.
Awkwardly placing his hand onto her head as tears soaked his shirt, Ester stared at the ceiling all the while rubbing her head of brown hair.
---
After some time of this minor event, Eva could be seen awkwardly bandaging Ester's upper body covered in wounds, failing to rub away the tear marks on her face as she used some mildly clean and untouched clothes alongside some cold water.
Running the cold water on his body and washing away the grime clinging to his wounds he flinched slightly as Eva tightly bound his shoulders.
"Hey Eva…"
"…Yes?"
Staring directly into her face, Ester found a strange disconnect from the wild tiger of a step sister he once knew with the sad wet cat in front of him.
"…You're like a wet cat."
"!" Instantly bristling, Eva's face flushed red as she immediately began violently slapping his back. "Why. You. Little!"
Bursting into a chuckle as he felt her hearty slaps against his back, Ester laughed to himself.
"Yeah, this is the Eva I know."
"!"
Flushing an even deeper shade of crimson, Eva began to put more force into her strikes due to the embarrassment currently running wild within her soul
So much stronger were those strikes filled with embarrassment that Ester flinched.
"Hey Eva, you can stop now."
"…"
"Eva?"
"…"
"Hey Eva! It's starting to hurt a lot!"
"…"
"You can stop now!"
>:(
"EVA!!!"
>:)
+++
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