Endless Debt Chapter 1392 - 5: Rending Reality_2

If he hadn’t seen its formation process with his own eyes, Bologue would definitely have taken this for a sphere cast from gold, its gleaming surface reflecting one blurred face after another.

"Begin compression!"

Mamo shouted, and at his command, the Garden’s output power surged sharply.

Arcs of electricity struck the Ethereal Ball again and again like forging hammers beating on steel; with every impact, the Ethereal Ball shrank slightly, as if the energy inside it were being evaporated.

Bologue had seen a similar scene inside Raymond Gaudent; this wasn’t evaporation, but compression.

The Garden was attempting to constrain the Ethereal Ball, forcing it to compress and concentrate even further, and then...collapse.

Boom—

One of the restraining metal spikes couldn’t bear such immense energy; it burst and warped, and in the layered electric rings gathering around it, a gap appeared as a result.

Deprived of pressure, the Ethereal Ball immediately flared with a dazzling halo, as if about to break free of the Garden’s restraints.

At that moment, the power of the Seeker of Glory flared abruptly; Mamo’s hunched figure actually heaved up the fallen restraining metal spike in one motion, and as he set it upright again, he used his own Seeker of Glory power to replace the machinery in suppressing the Ethereal Ball.

An energy storm descended in an instant. Bologue lowered his center of gravity and thus managed not to be knocked over by the howling shockwave. When he raised his head and tried to see what was happening, the Ethereal Ball had already been completely compressed, under the terrifying constraining field, into a single brilliant golden point of light.

Collapse.

The golden point of light vanished. It was as if it had punched a hole through the Material Realm, and beyond that hole lay a world forged from pure energy.

The Ethereal Realm.

"You did it..."

As Bologue murmured in awe, the collapse point twisted into a warped passage leading into the Ethereal Realm, and in an instant, a massive surge of Ether flooded from the Ethereal Realm into the Material Realm.

The passage was not stable. The vortex that had pierced the Material Realm spun violently, metal screamed along one restraining spike after another, and immediately afterward a booming tremor came from overhead.

Several massive cables overheated and melted; explosions of blinding firelight burst and fell from the sky.

Mamo knew full well that this attempt had reached its limit; all he could do was helplessly draw back the Ether. The machines gradually subsided, and the constraining field came to a halt.

The rapidly spinning vortex passage completely collapsed after lasting a little over ten seconds. The link between the Material Realm and the Ethereal Realm was severed, and it dissolved into a fine, pattering rain of golden droplets that fell across the ground.

The high-energy reaction vanished, the noise-saturated Garden fell silent as well, and Bologue felt the eerie sense of emptiness around him fade. He had just taken a step forward when a chain of explosions erupted all around.

The overloaded machinery failed one after another; huge cables snapped and dangled down, and the floor and Dome shook continuously, as though the entire Garden were about to cave in.

But Mamo and the others were remarkably calm in their response, as if already accustomed to such a scene. Bologue could hardly imagine how many similar attempts they had carried out during this period.

"How long did the passage remain stably open this time?"

Amid the fading echoes of explosions, Mamo asked in utter exhaustion. He was already an old man; using the power of a Seeker of Glory in this way took no small toll on him.

"Seventeen seconds."

Belli glanced at the data panel and gave a precise figure.

Mamo nodded in affirmation. "Not bad. At least we’ve broken fifteen seconds."

The usually docile Furyas began to move. Working with the other staff, they set about extinguishing fires and repairing equipment. A few followed right behind Mamo, constantly recording everything he said, along with one critical datum after another.

The remaining ones jogged over to the iron chairs on the high platform. With practiced ease, they lifted the Promoters lying in them onto stretchers and then carried them to the Border Sanatorium. Under Mamo’s mad research drive, the staff’s Promotion had instead become secondary.

After issuing a flurry of orders, Mamo finally noticed Bologue’s presence. "What are you doing here?"

Bologue didn’t answer his question, but countered, "Is this knowledge obtained from inside Raymond Gaudent?"

"Part of it," Mamo paused for a moment. "King Solomon created a point of overlap between the Ethereal Realm and the Material Realm inside the Golden Palace. We’re trying to replicate that feat."

"Any results?"

"As you can see."

Mamo raised his hand in a gesture toward the ravaged high platform. "We can already create a briefly stable passage."

"But that’s still not enough," Bologue said.

"I know."

This time Mamo fell silent for a moment. He collected his thoughts, then went on, "And through this we’ve also figured out what will happen to this world if the Ether concentration continues to rise after it reaches its peak."

Bologue recalled the recent gathering and collapse of Ether; he had been mentally prepared for that scene.

During their escape from Raymond Gaudent, all the data Bologue and Aimou had been carrying were burned away in the subsequent flare of radiance. Fortunately, Aimou had an excellent memory; relying on the self-upgrades and optimizations of an Alchemy Puppet, she had etched most of that knowledge firmly into her mind.

Combined with the various later recollections of the two of them, the Sublimation Furnace Core had gradually traced out several research trajectories, and what Bologue had just witnessed was one of the short-term results.

"When the Ether concentration reaches its peak, if you keep forcing it upward, the excess Ether will accumulate together, mutually attracting and entangling, its Energy Level growing ever more terrifying, until it collapses in on itself."

Mamo explained what had just occurred, then suddenly asked, "Do you still remember what I told you before about the relationship between the Material Realm and the Ethereal Realm?"