Defiance of the Fall

Zac gasped as he found himself back in his body, his mind a confused mess. Witnessing the monstrous power contained within Eoz's body was almost enough to destroy his mind. The Draugr Progenitor's hand, especially, beggared comprehension. It was like a corner of the Heavens taken physical form, holding the limits of Dao. Its splendor had pushed everything aside, subverting reality and bending it to his will.

The scene itself wasn't the only thing that left him reeling. It had felt too real. Was it really a Bloodline Vision?

For a moment, it almost felt like he'd been connected with Eoz the same way he was with his human half, though the other side was so powerful it had overwhelmed Zac's sense of self. Still, it hadn't felt like he'd been shown a vision of Eoz by the shores. He had lived it, and the powerful eruption of Temporal chaos just before his mind was overwhelmed strongly indicated this idea was more than a wild theory.

But was something like this even possible? Could he really connect with Eoz when separated by billions of years? Or was it just his mind making sense of the impartment?

Eoz had been aware his race was about to face an extinction event, though only Zac knew the System's birth was the cause. A million years was normally not a very long time for a Supremacy, but it was essentially a death sentence when you removed all energy and Dao. Doubly so for the Undead, who relied on Miasma to survive. Zecia couldn't even sustain a thousand Monarchs, or a single Autarch for that matter. Zac could only imagine how much energy a Supremacy used daily to power their territories.

It wouldn't be weird if Eoz had opted to leave behind something in the Abyssal Lake, intended for whatever descendant that would one day return. This inheritance was then triggered when he finally touched the true Abyssal Lake with his mental thread, and the powerful intent left behind had been enough to distort Zac's mind.

It was the most rational explanation, but Zac wasn't convinced. His guts told him he'd become part of a temporal paradox made possible by Eoz's unfathomable power.

He'd taken advantage of his identity as a descendant of the lost branch of Eoz for years, but actually being connected to the founding progenitor left Zac reeling. What if he disapproved of Zac's way of going about things? Would he reach into the future once more and slap him to death?

There was no time to untangle this mess. He'd already realized the film between lake and pond had been breached, and torrential amounts of pristine Abyssal Energy surged from the depths. It was far beyond what he could possibly endure, so Zac decisively chose to cut his losses and run for his life.

It was too late.

The Abyss exerted an inescapable pull, and Zac found himself dragged toward the divider. Zac panicked, feeling the bottomless chasm waiting below. If he let himself get pulled down, it was game over. The only solace was that the rapidly accumulating Abyssal Energies would erase his mind long before he was crushed.

Zac didn't care if the Monarchs above somehow spied on him. He still activated [Void Zone] to give himself a fighting chance against the grip of the Abyss. However, how could an E-grade Bloodline Talent match up to the Abyssal Lake? The nullification zone didn't even get the chance to deploy before it was destroyed. Yet Zac lost a third of his accumulated Void Energy in that fraction of a second.

Not even his hidden ace could get him out of this mess, and Zac despaired upon finding his skills unusable because of the immense energies storming his body. Yet Zac didn't give up, and he furiously swam against the current, his Hidden Nodes burning with purpose to give him power. In his desperation, it almost felt like [Adamance of Eoz] held an inexhaustible font of strength.

His bloodline burned as he fought back, and Zac was elated to find that his desperation seemed to increase his resistance against the surrounding Abyssal Energy. Sadly, it was only a small comfort considering he was still being flooded by unbearable amounts of Abyssal Energy. His cells and [Void Heart] were already overrun, and he found it increasingly difficult to hold onto his self while inching away from the divider.

The tug of war only lasted a few seconds before Zac sensed another terrifying surge below. It wasn't that the Abyssal Lake had come charging with redoubled efforts—not only, anyway. He could sense that the incoming blob of Abyssal Energy was of unbelievable purity, but there was something else mixed within. Three presences, two of which were familiar to him.

Eoz and Azol.

The third presence held the echoes of fate and the stars, which undoubtedly meant the third upper bloodline was represented too. Zac didn't get to inspect the incoming thing more closely before something burrowed into his body, pushing all the Abyssal Energy away. Zac shuddered in relief, knowing just how close he'd been to getting overwhelmed.

Zac soon felt the presence of Eoz burning in his chest, spreading through every part of his body. He couldn't see a thing in the inky-black waters, but he could feel lines of power being drawn on his skin. They were very similar to the patterns he drew on himself when practicing [Void Vajra Sublimation], but their appearance made Zac think of the young boy he'd seen in the vision.

He could tell the pattern covering his body was far more complex than the young boy's, and its effect was immediate. The pull from the Abyss was gone, and it almost felt like the surging currents had split to form a sealed pocket. A pocket that was continuously dragging Abyssal Energy perfectly in tune with his body.

It didn't take long to figure out the source was the mysterious patterns. It had adopted a far more direct approach than Zac's from before. He'd slowly searched for the optimal section of the Abyssal Pond to better harmonize, but the pattern directly drew over what he needed and pushed away anything else. The energy density had already increased manifold after he breached the film, but now it was at least only energy perfect for the bloodline of Eoz.

That didn't mean he was safe.

The overwhelming amounts of Abyssal Energy being dragged into his body by the runes had become a tribulation no less deadly than the one that had almost done him in during his ascent to Hegemony. The vortices in his cells were soon overrun, drenched in a darkness deeper than black. Every part of him was broken down and reformed. Not even his soul was spared when the Abyss flooded his deathly Soul Spiral with monstrous amounts of energy and truth.

The pain was so bad Zac's mind tried to shut down as a protective measure, but he staunchly held on. Because his instincts told him this was an opportunity he just needed to survive to receive a gift from Eoz. He wasn't exactly sure why the actual inheritance had taken a while to appear after the Bloodline Vision, but the current situation was clearly related.

He didn't believe Eoz was out to hurt him. The impartment might have been miscalibrated after being sent through time or left dormant in the Abyssal Lake for so long. But with every second he endured, he felt himself moving closer to a mysterious rebirth. The vortices in his cells gradually became solid, looking like miniature copies of the Abyssal Pond.

They still retained the voracious pull of his Void Emperor bloodline, but they also emitted the bottomless darkness of the Abyssal Lake. It was like two pictures were overlapping, moving closer and closer to perfection. Then, just like when the Abyssal Pond fully awakened, the ponds in his cells suddenly gave off a far more tangible aura.

The intangible chain snapped, and the whole pond shook as his body exerted a tremendous pull that almost overwhelmed the runes on his body. An oppressive darkness within his body was rapidly growing, exuding the suffocating intractability of death. However, Zac didn't get the chance to celebrate his breakthrough or register the changes happening to his body because it had triggered something else.

Flowers of truth sprouted in the fertile soil of his awakened bloodline. For a moment, Zac found it difficult to make sense of the fragmented storm of impressions squeezing into his mind. He saw a large number of scenes shrouded in darkness, from enormous castles to broken weapons of war that shocked Zac to his very core. He saw the mysterious obelisk from the previous bloodline vision and felt a harrowing call from within.

Zac even saw a few fragmented scenes from above the surface. Two godlike Draugr standing atop a spire almost as tall as the Tower of Eternity, one wielding Fate and the other the Underworld. Around them was an almost endless city weighed down by eons of stagnation. Other fragments weren't scenes or memories at all. They were insights into the Abyss, pieces of a puzzle leading to something extraordinary. It all gelled into a singular whole when his body had drunk its fill, and it all surged into his Soul Aperture.

It was suddenly like the truth of the Abyss had been laid bare, filling Zac with boundless comprehension and understanding. Zac vaguely realized that Eoz had given him a similar opportunity as Yrial, a Dao impartment. However, Eoz's gift wasn't forceful. It wasn't trying to lead Zac down someone else's path, but freely let him look at the whole tapestry of Abyss without being overwhelmed. It had let him enter a mysterious state of absolute clarity and stability.

Zac was overwhelmed by the generosity. Yrial had already explained the price of these kinds of impartments, and this was a complete, perfected Dao. Something like this could have harmed the Eoz's foundations, especially if he forced it through the River of Time. Zac definitely wouldn't let such a gift go to waste, and he searched for the parts of the tapestry that rang true with his path.

Even a small corner of Eoz's Grand Dao could illuminate his own path, saving him decades of hard work. Zac even felt that the more of the tapestry he comprehended, the better his body harmonized with his bloodline. His physical body felt incredibly distant when faced with the immensity of Eoz's Dao, but he could vaguely sense that his body had begun a second round of absorption. It was now rapidly advancing toward the next stage.

Time lost all meaning, but a spatial shake eventually startled him awake. Zac was filled with a sense of loss when the Grand Dao dispersed and became one with the Abyssal Lake. Just as Zac was about to lose the connection, a powerful voice echoed in his mind.

'Child, I don't know how you came to be or how our fates crossed. Some of the mysteries of the Abyss elude us to this day.

I can tell my branch is not represented among the stars in your era, but that's the natural order. Impermanence is law for all subjugated by the Terminus Seals.

Your Heaven is foreign to me, and much of what I know is no longer relevant. But sensing my kin from within the Abyssal Lake was a precious gift in troubling times, so I tried to return the favor.

There is no need to look to the past for direction. Perhaps it's for the best if our names are forgotten. We never wanted our identities to become shackles for our descendants or for the lake to become their prison. We rose from the depths in search of something more. Our origin can give context, but it cannot lead the way.

Remember, the essence of my bloodline is purpose. I originally thought my calling could be found beyond the stars at the limits of power, but I only ever found true purpose in our descendants. The answers that had eluded me until then suddenly became clear. Power for power's sake is hollow. Only when fighting for something greater than yourself can you excavate the true power hidden within your personal Abyss.'

It was Eoz, and each word of his was infused with endless meaning, somehow surpassing the tapestry Zac had been observing for the past days. When Eoz was finished, his presence was gone, and the clarity was gone with him. Zac's memory of the tapestry immediately grew blurry, but he was surprised to find Eoz's parting words condense into a sealed impartment much like his [Cosmic Forge].

Unfortunately, it seemed completely inert, not providing Zac with any clues to its contents. Zac shook his head, knowing he couldn't be greedy. He was still in a muddled state, and the huge amounts of energy around him made it difficult to sense the situation within his body. But Zac knew he'd made off like a bandit. Even if the seed turned out to be nothing, he'd gained far more than he could possibly have expected.

But you had to be alive to enjoy the results of your harvest. Zac's danger sense indicated in no uncertain terms that he didn't have much time. The spatial fluctuations grew more chaotic by the second, and he was lucky if he had one minute before the inky waters were dragged back into the Abyss. He wouldn't be surprised if his meddling with the barrier made the pond's closing far more unpredictable.

Zac burned with urgency as he began swimming toward the surface, only now realizing he could actually see. The oppressive darkness was still there, but his Draugr vision had somehow shifted, providing him a unique advantage in these inky waters. His sight was still nowhere near as clear as in his Bloodline Visions, but it let him maneuver much easier. Perhaps it got better with every stage you awakened.

The Abyssal Lake was unwilling to let him go now that Eoz's protection was gone. Zac felt a sense of déjà vu as he forced his way upward. The experience was just like his first bloodline vision when Eoz emerged from the depths. Determination and conviction burned in Zac's chest, filling him with limitless power and intractability.

Those carrying Eoz's bloodline couldn't be bound or stopped. Like Zac, Eoz was always forging ahead, breaking through any resistance. The ichor in Zac's veins burned, allowing him to drastically increase his speed. Zac could tell the pull on him was even greater than before the impartment, but it only felt like a small inconvenience right now.

The chaos around him only grew worse, and Zac said a silent prayer for the other Draugr inside the waters. He tried scanning the surroundings in case he could help someone out, but he couldn't see a single one. Perhaps his actions had made the others leery of stepping inside.

Zac's all-out effort soon let him shoot out of the waters like a rocket, where a confusing storm of impressions greeted him. It wasn't just the link to his human body being restored. Even more so, it was his own experience. He'd sensed he'd undergone a dramatic transformation inside the water, but he only started to realize the extent now.

He first put aside the memories from his human half to focus on the most pressing matters. The situation inside his body wasn't the only one that had drastically changed. A chaotic scene greeted his return, with the whole cave on the brink of collapse. The huge array around the pond had been flooded, and the mark of the Abyss had replaced everything else. Even now, he found himself standing to his knees in Abyssal Water.

The black waters were quickly receding at least, and Zac felt the connection with the Abyssal Lake break a moment later. The Abyssal Pond was still there, but it had become rootless. Zac guessed it would retain its efficacy for a few days, though the Abyssal Energy wouldn't be replenished. Zac didn't care about that. He was more worried about something else, and he wildly looked around.

Zac only breathed out in relief upon seeing his axe embedded in the ceiling, with six chains dangling toward the pond. Alea would definitely have been in the splash zone if the Abyssal Pond erupted, but it looked like she'd retreated in time.

'Are you okay?' Zac asked as he flew up and extracted [Love's Bond]. 'I'm sorry, I didn't expect things to go out of control.'

Zac shuddered at the thought of Alea being suddenly submerged by the Abyssal Waters. He knew all too well how dangerous that was. Even worse, she could have been dragged into the depths, and Zac knew there was no way he'd been able to find her if that happened.

'Well, I did. Isn't that always the case with you? I knew you were up to no good the second I felt the ripples on the surface,' Alea laughed. 'I'm fine, but I'll have to focus on digesting all these energies and impressions for a while. The pond spat out quite a bit of it.'

Alea then cut the connection and returned to her necklace form. Zac could tell she hadn't entered a slumber as she did between their talks in the E-grade. It was more like she'd secluded herself to focus on her cultivation. Zac could still call on her, but that would be like someone barging into his Cultivation Cave while he was in the middle of a cultivation session.

Besides, Alea wasn't the only one in urgent need of digesting their insights. Zac didn't bother with the group of Draugr approaching as he flew down to one of the dry spots, where he threw out an isolation array. He'd been given a small window of opportunity, and fate was urging him on.

Everything was in place for him to take the next step. It was time to form his first Late-stage Dao Branch.

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