Defiance of the Fall Chapter 1414: Avīci

Zac’s cries died within the void—not his own, but the infinite abyss of agony residing in the sea of anthracite flames encompassing him. His very essence was ablaze, and his Dao Heart burned alongside it. A life’s worth of memories ignited, threatening to consume his history entirely. Zac feared even his personal Void would not escape, as the flames had seamlessly spread to his counterpart.

He teetered on the edge of begging for relief. Sacrificing a piece of himself to dampen the torment felt like a bargain, yet he knew it was a fantasy. The fires of Avīci were not designed for destruction. Their silent, cruel nature strictly prohibited the mercy of death.

These fiery lakes were a purgatory built to penalize the transgressions of any interloper. It pushed the limits of endurance, offering nothing but the faint hope of a distant reprieve.

Escape from the Eighth Hell was functionally impossible. It exerted absolute command, surpassing the domain of an Autarch where their Dao manifests as Law. Neither Zac’s Hidden Nodes nor his Bloodline Talents could mitigate the pressure, much less cease it. This was a tribulation requiring absolute confrontation; there were no shortcuts to be found.

Caught in his addled mental state, Zac couldn't even confirm whether he was progressing. The environment had remained identical for an eternity. He suspected the uncertainty was a deliberate facet of the trial—not knowing if the guiding resonance in the distance was true or if he was merely wandering in circles.

A lapse in resolve would unravel everything. One retreat would send him tumbling back to the starting plateau, and standing still yielded the same result. This awareness turned every stride into a grueling internal conflict against his own faltering spirit.

He could not endure defeat again. This was his third attempt. The first had been a reconnaissance mission to learn the rules of Avīci, and the second was a failure. Zac knew he lacked the strength to return through the realmgate a fourth time. He had to succeed, regardless of the toll it demanded.

The only respite from Avīci’s purgatory was to ascend. When his limits were reached, Zac would thrust himself from the floor, soaring above the inferno and the ceiling of black mist that acted like a lid. The agony subsided as he was pelted by ashen rain. Every droplet exacted a heavy tribute.

The rain carried a Dao of Death that felt more hollow and terrifying than even his bloodline’s voracious hunger. It fed ravenously on its surroundings, and Zac was the only victim available. This Perfected Death didn't seek energy or vitality; it was a destiny-consuming force that devoured his very providence.

No Hegemon could withstand its influence. Zac quickly triggered the seal on his left palm, sacrificing another’s destiny to preserve his own. The rain drained 50 Imperial Merit for every second he hovered above the clouds—a price he paid gladly. He inhaled deeply, finding calm while suspended above the gloom.

Scanning the landscape, Zac searched for any clue that he was advancing. Avīci offered no signs, only the faint pull of life calling from the distance. The view remained unchanged from his previous breaks.

The burning sea and its cloud cover extended to the horizon. Dark mounds protruded from the mist far away, but Zac lacked the strength to investigate them. They deviated from his path, and with his survival already precarious, detours were not an option.

The lethal rain drenched the entire domain, vanishing into the mist to fuel the barrier between Heavens and Earth. The clouds above stayed unnaturally motionless. Closer inspection revealed the clouds were composed of countless incinerated giants, suspended head-down.

These inverted figures held immense, stagnant strength, yet they were hollow—void of Destiny, devoid of past or future. Trapped in a cycle of Pure Death, their blood was vaporized into the rain. Fearing he would join their ranks if his Destiny reserves failed, Zac averted his gaze and plunged back into the purgatory.

He lost track of time in the cycle of agony and brief, costly relief. He entered a catatonic state, his existence narrowing to the singular focus of reaching that distant light. It was a war of the will, waged countless times, until finally, he took a step that reached the end.

There was no warning. One moment, he writhed in the flames; the next, he was cradled in a cocoon of Perfected Death. It cleansed his suffering, replacing the turmoil with a profound, warming clarity. It mirrored the blessing of the Fertile Earth he had known before.

Remnants of Imperial Faith remained, but they were eclipsed by a cyclic force originating from the lower planes. It transmuted anguish into insight, delirium into truth. Having been tempered in the fires of the Eighth Hell, the cocoon fractured, and Zac looked toward the sky from the cavern floor.

The glimpse of the high Heavens made Zac feel like a frog in a well. He had battled spirits, concepts, and forces beyond understanding. For four months, he had danced on the edge of oblivion—and he had triumphed.

Zac had reached the core of the Left Imperial Expanse, reborn from the cocoon. All his impressions merged into a single understanding: the time had come. He surveyed his surroundings, finding no space to seclude himself.

The base of the Hollow Chasm was merely fifty meters wide. The surrounding walls glittered with impassable energies from the Inverse Peak; attempting to scale them would likely drop him into the Lower Planes. Burrowing was thwarted by a floor of gray marble pulsating with Law-based fluctuations.

Greed and frustration fought within him. Those fools of the Hollow Court had paved the site with Peak C-grade stone infused with Law. Still, he couldn't curse them; that same floor had provided the nourishing energy that propelled his recent breakthrough.

He realized he wasn't alone. Surprisingly, he was the last to arrive. Tavza sat across the plateau, her body etched with bloodline markings far more intricate than when he last saw her at the Abyssal Pond. She was meditating, the aura of a recent breakthrough radiating from her. Nearby, a shadowy cocoon indicated Ogras had also arrived, still submerged in the sublimation of death. Zac wondered how they had outpaced him, given his unwavering endurance.

His questions would have to wait. His momentum was peaking, and he could not afford to delay his breakthrough. His other half was ready. Zac deployed array disks for privacy, but they shattered upon contact with the plateau's intense energy. He realized why Tavza was meditating in the open.

He would proceed without protection or miss his window. He chose the former, consuming three boxes of Dao Treasures. Their power surged into his Soul Aperture, coalescing around his waiting Dao Apparition.

The plateau reacted to his presence, providing fuel far purer than any Dao Fruit. His Earthly Dao of Defiant War surged, and a distant rumble signaled the coming storm. The sky darkened as Zac pushed forward, though the wrath of Heaven felt curiously distant.

The Hollow Chasm seemed to distort the distance between Heaven and Earth, acting as an unintentional aid to the tribulation. It was even more potent than the tower at the Centurion Base. Zac frowned as a bolt of red lightning illuminated the chasm.

He would have appreciated the aid were this a breakthrough to Peak Hegemony. But his current advancement was a standard Dao breakthrough within the System's domain—it shouldn't have triggered a tribulation at all, save for his cultivation of two other Boundless Daos that were tied to his Earthly Dao. He had faced these dual-natured tribulations before; this was merely a snack for his [Void Heart]. As the first bolt grazed his forehead, leaving only a mark, he saw someone was trying to steal his thunder.

Zac sighed and decided to experiment. His human form crossed into a memory wind before the second bolt struck, while he unleashed the full force of his [Void Heart]. The second and third bolts hit, but they were seized and consumed by the Void before they could harm him.

They served only to anneal his Dao before being devoured. With no signs of the Four Desolates, the sky cleared, seemingly reluctant to concede the fight.

Zac examined his hands. This breakthrough, which he had chased for months and poured over 7,000 Imperial Merit into, had finally arrived with an ease that felt surreal.

Tavza’s gaze snapped toward him, pulling him back to reality. He offered a silent nod before settling down. Tavza was occupied, and Ogras was not to be disturbed. With nothing better to do, Zac opened his status screen.

Name Zachary Atwood

Level 224

Class [D-Arcane] Evolutionary Precursor

Race [D] Human - Void Emperor (Corrupted)

Alignment [Zecia] Atwood Empire – Viscount of Conquest

Titles [...] Peakmender, Exalted Destiny, Atavistic Defier, Valiant Viscount, Cosmic Entity

Limited Titles Tower of Eternity Sector All-Star - 14th, Equanimity, The Final Twilight - 1st, Gates of Rebirth, Void Road, Chosen of the Empyrean Chalice

Dao Earthly Dao of Defiant War - Middle, Earthly Dao of Reborn Life - Middle, Earthly Dao of Sealed Death - Middle

Core [D] Evolutionary Core

Strength 465598 [Increase: 256%. Efficiency: 567%]

Dexterity 223459 [Increase: 196%. Efficiency: 363%]

Endurance 253289 [Increase: 226%. Efficiency: 594%]

Vitality 297524 [Increase: 240%. Efficiency: 643%]

Intelligence 49928 [Increase: 176%. Efficiency: 363%]

Wisdom 115665 [Increase: 179%. Efficiency: 381%]

Luck 2217 [Increase: 219%. Efficiency: 488%]

Free Points 0

Nexus Coins [D] 87 831 997

[Earthly Dao of Defiant War (Middle): All attributes +100, Strength +30000, Dexterity +13000, Wisdom +4000. Effectiveness of Strength +30%.]

A smile graced his lips. He had done it. The expenditures at the Mercurial Court had been fruitful, helping to refine his techniques to the Late Integration stage. The bias toward Strength in his attribute boost was unexpected, yet logical; defiance against the Heavens was more a matter of indomitable will and physical might than pure intellectual deduction.

His style of pointing an axe at Supremacies was hardly 'wise' in the traditional sense. If the System counted his defiant nature as weaponized ignorance, so be it. His balance remained intact.

The tangible combat benefits were far more important. His defiant Dao integrated seamlessly with his existing skills, making him far more durable in a clash. Combined with [Adamance of Eoz] and [Conviction of Eoz], he could now withstand superior forces for longer than ever before.

With this third Earthly Dao mastered, his preparations were complete. The Pill Toxins were easily purged by the tribulation lightning, and the [Void Heart] was refining the final details of his blueprint.

His experiment inside the memory wind was a total success. He was prepared to ascend to Peak Hegemony.

His only regret was his soul cultivation. While [Void Emperor Apotheosis] had accelerated his progress, he remained short of perfecting the fourth layer of the [Nine Reincarnation Manual]. He simply lacked the time; his efforts had been consumed by gathering materials and surviving the Left Imperial Expanse.

He would need all the Mental Energy possible for his final Core Ignition, but his soul was currently his weakest link. Thankfully, there was time left, and he held enough Potentiality to finalize his goals at the Mercurial Court before aiming for Monarchy and beyond.