Defiance of the Fall Chapter 1405: Sevona yet not Sevona

Zac grumbled while eyeing his new environment, “Couldn’t you have given me a pillow too? That’s the least a benevolent master ought to do.”

The Hall of Abundance looked completely different now. Gone was the suspended moon, swapped out for a peaceful starry night overhead. No signs remained of the dimensional rift or August himself. Idiche hovered in the spot where the Divine Core had once dangled, her eyelids shut in deep meditation. Her power waves were nearing Late C-grade levels, infused with plenty of Sevona’s divine essence. Astonishingly, Idiche had leaped an entire major grade in just half a day, and her presence kept rising steadily.

“How’s she doing?” Zac inquired softly.

“Looks steady enough. She gained control fast once you sealed that portal,” Esmeralda breathed out. “Won’t be long now.”

Zac needed a second to read the jumble of feelings on Esmeralda’s face, and even longer to grasp why they were there. Esmeralda gazed at the meditating Idiche with envy and yearning. It had nothing to do with the Vice Guild Leader snagging the trial’s top prize, a relic carrying a Stellar Wanderer’s essence. In a way, Idiche was reverting to her roots, turning into the Goddess Sevona.

Wasn’t that exactly what Esmeralda had journeyed so far to achieve? She was basically seeing another claim the life she craved.

“We’re nearly done. I’d be shocked if this mission doesn’t bump me straight to Inner Disciple. Plus, we’ve racked up tons of Potentiality already,” Zac reassured her.

He wasn’t stretching the truth. His Disciple Token now showed 29,171 points, a huge jump from before, and Zac suspected a last reward would hit when Idiche wrapped up her change. There could even be extra perks for him once everything calmed down.

“Yeah, yeah,” Esmeralda agreed with a nod, then tossed him the [Fuxi Mountain Gate]. “Take this—don’t forget your head-smasher.”

The surge likely aided the [Fuxi Mountain Gate] in mending some wounds. Yet, the Void Treasure had also gulped down vast energies from the Peaks of Fantasy and Continuum. A tempest swirled inside its inner space, snapping Zac’s Mental Threads before he could probe further. Zac doubted the platform was ruined—August lacked the chops for that—but accessing it would take time.

Zac hurled the tiny mountain into [Purity of the Void] to calm it, then spotted a message from his human side waiting. They’d exited Saṃghāta and returned to the Hollow Chasm’s edges. Surprises popped up near the way out, but Tavza managed them fine. Not set to push onward yet, they’d set up a fresh hideaway on the shelf.

The spirit brush was tamed, and Ogras seemed quite fond of it. Zac wasn’t taken aback. The enchanted brush struck him as a Spirit Tool blending Order and Illusions. It didn’t perfectly match the demon’s Daos, but Zac’s weapon style wasn’t standard anyway. The brush packed serious punch, and not all needed lifelong bonds with their gear.

Even if Ogras couldn’t unleash its full might, it’d boost him strongly until Peak Hegemony. Beyond that, he could trade it for a better fit. Mismatched spirituality often proved a plus. Plenty of cultivators grabbed tools that filled gaps in their paths on purpose.

The top update was the holy flames extending to his other body, keeping his forms in sync. Zac shared details of his side’s events, telling them to hunker down another day. The chase lingered, and August might still pull a desperate move.

“What went down with that gloomy guy? Did he and the Centigrade Elemental wipe each other out like we wanted? I saw nothing when I peeked at the entrance before?” Esmeralda questioned, snapping Zac from his reverie.

“Pretty much,” Zac grinned before recounting the wild four-way clash.

“So that Continuum surge I felt was the Elemental fleeing in defeat. Good for him, after trying to snatch my—ahem—Potentiality,” Esmeralda chuckled. “Must’ve been the Pryer’s shielding formations, like the seals Old Man Sendor put on you. Hope he behaves now that it’s wrecked.”

“Fingers crossed,” Zac concurred.

“And that wise guy rushed here just to perish? He should’ve stuck to the gondola as planned,” Esmeralda snorted.

“I figure Descartes pulled him out early,” Zac replied.

Descartes’ prior warning still stuck with him. Someone had tipped him off about more Flamebearers showing up. Zac initially pegged it as the tainted intruders or maybe the Sangha. Lately, he suspected Xiphos sent it. The Enkindling Sage basically used Descartes to probe the “specters,” his term for true trial participants. Activating the genuine Empyrean Chalice had unveiled the enigmas Xiphos hunted—and beyond.

“Don’t beat yourself up over his death. The Limitless Empire hit the absolute top for a reason. Its folks were way too eager to toss their lives aside. How could regular groups with their crooked leaders and infighting keep up?” Esmeralda eyed Zac sideways. “And now you’re part of it.”

“I see myself more as a hired outsider,” Zac quipped with a crooked grin.

“The gig you signed on for is dead serious, and you’ve got plenty of ancient foes after you already,” Esmeralda noted before brightening. “Fitting for my student. If a bunch of Supremacies aren’t badmouthing you, are you even kicking? Just keep dodging, keep grabbing loot, and the rest sorts itself.”

“Speaking of, spot anything while scouting?” Zac probed.

“Not a scrap of treasure remains in this cursed spot,” Esmeralda griped, her face turning sour.

Zac exhaled heavily. If Esmeralda claimed the lodge held nothing worthwhile now, it didn’t. He’d pinned hopes on extra prizes at the hunt’s close. The Potentiality was hard-won, and Xiphos’ boon hardly counted as a real gain.

“Least no more foes lurk,” Zac said, soothing himself as much as the sulky toad.

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“If any did, they’re trapped out there,” Esmeralda added. “The lodge sealed shut right after you passed out. No blue glow leaks through the cracks anymore.”

“Here’s hoping it’s allies on the far side,” Zac pondered.

“Whoever they are, they’re probably glued to the entrance. Bet they’re itching to learn what’s going on inside,” Esmeralda giggled.

Quiet fell over the Hall of Abundance as they turned to healing. Beyond the persistent lump, Zac mended quicker than anticipated. Xiphos’s lingering gift explained some, but Idiche’s soothing glow nourished better than any array Zac had tried.

Two hours passed before Idiche started emitting rhythmic waves of raw divinity. Her shift neared completion. Esmeralda’s gaze sparkled with eagerness as she glanced upward.

“A goddess rising again… Bet she’s got treasures hidden, right?”

“Worst case, we can have her whip up some fine illusions,” Zac murmured, nodding at his C-grade [Mercurial Sack].

Esmeralda had noted no tribulations or roiling skies during Idiche’s prior breakthroughs, and none hit now. Still, it soon became clear the smooth ascent would cap with a dazzling finale. The surge from Idiche’s form soon drove Zac and Esmeralda into the corridor as golden radiance flooded the Hall of Abundance.

Suddenly, a massive surge shattered Zac’s focus, funneling the chamber’s divinity skyward. Idiche unleashed a colossal column of timeless might upward. It dwarfed the earlier moonlight ray, saturating the twenty-meter ceiling entirely.

A ring of runes, faintly like the invasion’s vast arrays, formed overhead. They linked with the beam in some manner, though what occurred outside stayed hidden. In Zac’s vicinity, only the stench of rot lifted away.

The ray persisted a solid ten minutes before vanishing. Idiche came back into view.

Her dual energies had merged into a flawless unity drawing from both origins. Hitting perfect harmony pushed Idiche to Monarchy’s peak, though she missed an Autarch’s cosmic weight.

Honestly, Zac anticipated bigger. A Divine Monarch paled against August’s might, akin to a late-stage Autarch. But she’d only just stirred, her base boosted by profound Ancient Arcana remnants. Idiche’s ascent might continue unabated.

“The space... it’s fortified now,” Esmeralda murmured, inhaling deeply. “No one’s ripping open gates anytime soon.”

Zac let out a relieved breath, certain the danger was truly gone. Even leftover foes on the isle couldn’t touch Idiche like this. The idea of Sevona blasting destruction across her domain to wipe August’s rebellion made Zac question his own safety.

“Maybe we should...” Zac trailed off, but escape was impossible now.

Idiche’s eyes had opened, fixed on them. No anger or divine wrath showed—welcome signs—yet Zac’s gut twisted as he reentered the Hall of Abundance. Little remained recognizable in this Idiche. Her look, stance, even facial traits—all transformed. Without aura echoes, Zac wouldn’t have pegged her as their former ally.

“Idiche or Sevona—what do I call you?” Zac asked cautiously, approaching.

“Neither. I am both,” Idiche replied, her gaze shimmering with cosmic starlight.

“Helpful,” Esmeralda whispered sarcastically.

Idiche smiled, and the Hall of Abundance shifted to a new vista. They stood in Aylen Gan, heart of Sevona’s Divine Kingdom, right in the garden from the vision’s start. But now they were truly there, not mere observers, and company joined them.

Besides Esmeralda and the Sevona-who-wasn’t-quite, an unknown humanoid race member appeared. She radiated a fresh cultivator’s vibe, barely E-grade. Differences aside, the place and her official robes marked her as Sevona.

“Long ago, a girl lost her parents to illness,” Idiche narrated, the strange being unmoved. She stared blankly at the stars. “She took up her role amid a deadly plague crisis. The girl fought tirelessly to shield her folk and earned saintly praise.

“The blight got contained eventually, but rivals eyed the kingdom’s frailty. The girl confronted them boldly, aware victory brought fresh trials. When duties overwhelmed, she’d retreat here to gaze at the stars,” Idiche continued, mimicking the young Sevona’s stance.

“One night, the stars gazed down.”

Zac inhaled sharply as two stars swelled into vast eyes spanning the heavens. They held entire worlds and realities beyond grasp. Piercing all time, they embodied unfathomable omniscience no mortal could touch. This was the gaze from time’s dawn, Ancient Arcana’s notice.

Idiche lingered beside him, meeting the stare wordlessly until it dissolved. “The Transcendent One had come back from beyond. For unknown reasons, it focused on a tiny realm and its youthful leader. Their eyes locked, altering Sevona eternally.”

Idiche sighed, approaching to stroke Sevona’s hair. “Yet Sevona never truly reborn. No goddess reincarnated through her subjects in a Divine Kingdom. Sevona’s realm knew splendor, then long decline. After two hundred thousand years, an expanding empire toppled it.”

“Then how...?” Zac couldn’t finish.

“A Stellar Wanderer beheld and etched Sevona’s tale. Her realm endured in a mind seeing all fates. Later, wanderers cast off forms to forge the Heavenly Dao’s vault. Their eternal recollections anchored the Ultom Courts, sustaining it through endless Eras.”

Idiche sighed again, swapping the serene garden for the ruined plane’s turmoil. Warped remnants and endless insanity assaulted Zac until Idiche raised a shield guarding them.

“Stellar Wanderers aren’t forever. Memories frayed and were shed to safeguard the courts. They drifted alone.”

At that, a vast fissure split the revolting chaos, ejecting a continent-sized chunk of the Lost Plane. It shattered into myriad shards. The scene zeroed on one corrupted chunk tumbling through reality’s rifts until it neared a known continent.

“Certain memories drifted to the Left Imperial Expanse,” Idiche explained, her starry gaze heavy with grief. “Sevona’s echo merged with the Peregrine Ocean, upending old schemes. Unrelated dormant spirits got pulled in, compelled to act out alien parts. Each sacrificial loop amplified the dim memory’s strength, twisting it further.

They returned to the Hall of Abundance instantly.

“You broke the loop. Sevona’s recollections and being are now fused with mine. I won’t let them harm my fellow disciples anymore,” Idiche vowed.

“Sevona but not quite,” Zac murmured.

No surprise the vision’s August and Sevona differed so from their current shows of force. The August they battled stemmed from a Stellar Wanderer’s persistent recall, nourished by endless memory lanterns.

This truth also marked Sevona’s echo as a chaotic element in the Omnipresence Chamber. Beyond corrupting the Grand Array massively, devouring souls warped the memories. Zac eyed Idiche, figuring she was just the newest in endless “rebirths.” With each turn, the scripted world strayed more from fact.

At last, that ruinous loop ended, thanks to outsiders stirring fresh currents.

Idiche glanced skyward once more. “Poor August. Sevona’s truest protector etched as her killer... The cosmos jests cruelly.”

Silence lingered a full minute before an eager cough shattered it.

“Fine, whatever. Name yourself Sevona or Lemonade, doesn’t matter, but remember we busted our backs to get you here?” Esmeralda grumbled. “As an mighty ancient Goddess, time to hand out rewards.”

“Er…” Zac uttered, easing only at Idiche’s smile. “What she said.”