Chapter 640: Ryun |
Pierce Through
Ryun kept his attention on the world around him. His skill had long ago reached the point where his perception was probably the most powerful thing about him. And as he had grown in power, the senses of his skill had only been enhanced by those of his Soul and being. When his Authority was spread through other Essence he had a complete perception of anything his being touched. His skill only served to sharpen that sense to the point that there was very little that slipped his notice unless he was not looking on purpose.
It was how he had noticed what was happening from so far away. His mass, his Authority spread through all layers of the Real Realm and the Essences within it when he expanded himself. He could feel the connections of each Essence to their native Plane, he could feel the boundary between the Real Realm and all those other Planes.
Whatever the Exalted Empire was doing was somehow impacting those boundaries directly. He didn’t know how something like that was possible. Even his End Aspect had a hard time touching the boundaries as they weren’t made out of Essence. Otherwise, he would’ve been tearing open the planes every time he used his power.
How the Exalted Empire was doing this was less important than the consequences of it. Their dogma resented the Infinite Realm; they believed that it cost them the ability to master the universe around them through knowledge alone. Ryun understood how they thought that, and in a way, it was true. In the previous iteration of the Universe, natural laws were immutable, unchanging. To learn the secrets of the universe meant that you had a grasp on them and could manipulate them. The Infinite Realm was shaped by Soul and Will. Every Soul that touched a Plane, utilized its power, shaped it by its belief and understanding. Even an understanding that was wrong could influence and change an Aspect. And if a stronger will came along, it could completely shift the parameters of how an Aspect functioned. A single individual could take a plane and shape it to their will, create a Way, establish a set of rules for an Aspect. And Ryun was fairly certain that even an establishment of a Way could be contested if someone with a greater will came along.
There was no learning the secrets of the universe anymore, no laws that couldn’t be bent or altered. The basis of the Exalted Empire’s entire doctrine was flawed. It could not survive in the Infinite Realm.
Ryun had always thought that their blind adherence to it was a mistake, despite their success. He had always thought that eventually they would understand their folly and turn away from their rigid belief. Their faith and reliance on tools, on creations, and technology wasn’t against what the Framework offered. If they had embraced the Framework, they could’ve made their technology stronger. Instead… this.
It didn’t take a genius to realize what they were trying to do. Attacking the boundaries between the Planes could have only one outcome. Somehow they intended to sever the link between the Planes and their Essences by unleashing it all into a single Plane. Ryun assumed that they believed that would somehow make the Aspects become unchanging, as they were in the previous iterations. Except… They had to know that what they were doing would be catastrophic.
There was no way in which breaking down even a single boundary didn’t result in a cataclysmic level of destruction on the scale of the entire Infinite Realm. There were rules with how Essences interacted with each other, but the Planes were the core repositories of the meanings of those Essences, filled with an infinite amount of those Essences. What would happen if the Plane of Fire suddenly spilled into the Real Realm? The core idea of that Aspect? Would everything suddenly combust? Or would nothing happen at all? Fire was change, Essence turning from one state to another, it generated Heat and Light, it required fuel, it wasn’t like the Plane of Fire was filled with flames, it was the meaning of what that Essence represented.
For them to actually clash directly… Ryun couldn’t imagine what that would do to the Infinite Realm. What he was certain about was that new rules would be established.
It was foolish to believe that the Exalted Empire’s people would somehow be spared of the devastation. So either they had protections in place that they believed would be able to survive, or… or they didn’t care. Were willing to sacrifice for the future where their belief was true.
Even to Ryun, all of this seemed insane, and that was saying something. For a moment he debated going and talking with the Dealmaker, but if there had been no intervention so far, then he had to assume doing this wasn’t against the rules. Or it just couldn’t interfere.
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The effect was getting stronger, rippling out of the center of the dome before him and spreading across the Infinite Realm. It was quickly reaching a crescendo, and Ryun knew that they didn’t have the time to wait any longer. The Exalted Empire wouldn’t have started this if they thought that they could be interrupted. Their attacks, the entire war, it was all just a means to distract those powerful enough to be able to interfere.
Ryun turned his attention to his bonds. “Are they all in?”
“Just about,” Selia answered.
Ryun grimaced. “No time, whoever is in, is it. Close the gate.”
He felt Selia send him a reluctant agreement a moment later and Ryun felt her reach through their bond and use his perk to close his gate. Ryun dropped to the ground, with Erdania following behind.
The moment he touched ground, he opened up the gate leading to his territory. Selia stepped out; she wore her armor, a bit bulkier across her midsection, but if he didn’t know that she was pregnant, he probably wouldn’t have noticed. He felt an almost overpowering need to send her back home, where she would be safe, but he squashed it immediately. She could protect herself, and… he doubted that anywhere in the world was safe right now. He would rather have her here, where she could help.
Berion walked out of Ryun’s territory next, followed by Zach and Nahamassa.
There were no greetings nor any explanations. Selia had probably informed them of what was happening, but even if she hadn’t, the effect was probably noticeable for more people now. Ryun didn’t waste any time, instead he spoke.
“Can you break that dome?” Ryun asked the minotaur.
Berion’s eyes were already on it. Ryun could sense his power expanding out of him, inspecting the dome barrier.
“This… it’s Ra’azel’s work,” Berion whispered. “But the power… I… maybe? Not quickly either way.”
Ryun narrowed his eyes; warriors were spilling out of the portal, arranging themselves and taking positions around them. Familiar faces were among them, but Ryun didn’t pay his attention to them.
Zacharia stepped forward. “I can see it, what they are doing,” his eyes had a blank look to them, as if he wasn’t actually seeing anything, yet seeing everything. “The ripples have a rhythm, they aren’t targeting every boundary at the same time. They want them down in a specific order.”
Ryun’s expression darkened, but then he let it go. Their disagreement didn’t matter now. Zach had come to Selia’s aid, and Ryun wasn’t going to forget that. He could feel the weight of Zach’s connection with the Plane of Knowledge, but his attention was caught by the Exalted Empire’s folly. Ryun had to refocus him.
“Zacharia,” Ryun started. “The dome, can you help Berion get through.”
Zach blinked, his eyes then focused on the dome, his willpower rising. “I see… the flaws in it, if one can call them that. I… don’t know if it will be enough.”
“It might be,” Berion said, his sights still on the dome. “Maybe I can open a small way through, for a short while. A second perhaps. But that might make it harder to tear the entire thing down after. Ra’azel is fond of adapting. If I pierce the dome it will react.”
Ryun looked through the dome at the armies and defenses assembled within. He could only barely perceive them; his eyesight showed him a muddled ocean of Essence grains. All his senses were muffled within the dome; that he could even penetrate them was a credit to his personal power.
Ryun looked around, there were barely a few thousand of his Sect’s warriors around. And they were wholly unprepared for this. Of their powerhouses, there was only a handful present.
Ryun turned to the others next to him. “Do it, we need to try and interrupt them. Ereclaw, Nahamassa, Erdania, and I will go in. The rest of you get ready for when Berion can bring it fully down.”
No one argued with his decision, not like there was any reason to. Zacharia would need to help Berion take the dome down so that the rest could come in. Selia and Anrosh were needed to organize the sect and protect them because as soon as that dome was down everyone would turn on them.
For the inside team, he picked Ereclaw and Nahamassa because they could avoid the enemy and strike from the shadows. Erdania was the sturdiest of them and could survive whatever they threw at her. And Ryun was similar in that he could survive, but he could also spread himself and cause a massive amount of damage in a short amount of time.
Selia nodded. “I’ll start organizing our armies and reach out to our allies… maybe to everybody. Once the dome is down Berion can start ferrying them here.”
“Agreed,” Ryun said, then turned to Berion. “Begin.”
Berion glanced at Zach and they moved closer to the dome, while Ryun and the rest of the team took positions just next to it. Ryun looked at the others next to him. “Ignore the defenders, strike and do as much damage to whatever it is that is doing this. Try to take it down, that is the priority.”
Ryun pulled his being and compressed his density into a single vessel to make it easier to pass through quickly once the way was open. He felt Zach’s Qi flow out of him and into Berion, passing knowledge to him through. “There, do you see?” Zach whispered.
“I do,” Berion said, his own power rising. The Aspect of Space twisted around him. “Get ready. Now!”
His power surged and struck the barrier, making it ripple; then a gash, barely large enough for a single person to pass through, appeared on its surface. Naha flashed through in the form of a shadow, followed by Ereclaw who shimmered. Erdania and Ryun followed. Ryun came through last, and just as he was about to pass through the barrier, it flared and closed, cutting off his right leg just below the knee. He grimaced, but his being was already healing, restoring itself; he shifted some of his density and recreated his leg, though the lost mass was still regenerating.
Nahamassa and Ereclaw vanished even before Ryun had entered, but the defenders already had their full attention on them, and already they opened fire.
Erdania grew, her power pulsing out of her as gravity bent and shielded them from attacks, her form growing taller and taller until she was the size of a mountain.
“I’ll draw their fire, you deal with that thing,” Erdania sent. There was no need for her to clarify what that thing was; the blazing of power at the center was almost all that he could sense inside of the dome.
Ryun didn’t waste any more time. He moved.