The greedy threads of the sigils activated beneath him, a sudden, irresistible weight on his entire body. A sharp, acrid scent proliferated, followed closely by the atonal whine of some immense thing just beyond his perception. In a flash of terrible syncopation, he felt the chitinous creatures that scraped along the bottom of that horrid place. The one he'd plunged into when he first entered the Archon's Domain.
Let go, Felix...
Let us innnnnnnnn
But then it was gone, and Felix fell to his knees. The ground burned, scorching his trousers, and the pressure threatened to crush him to the earth. Something sank into him, less like fingers and more like the raking claws of an uncaring giant; within his core, his very soul, something was taken.
In his Manasight, everything around him was yellow-red, a vapor so thick it felt almost solid. Yet from within him, his Fire Within detected a similar radiance that was yanked from his channels. It was agony similar to the ravages Essence took upon his pathways, and it just kept going. It felt like his soul was vomiting up every bad decision he'd ever made in his life. It burned and stabbed at his core, splashing from Felix before soaking into the array beneath his knees.
Like...calls to like, Felix managed. Profane Mana...how'd it get...inside me?
But then he saw it, as more was seized and ripped free. The yellow-red Mana had somehow dwelled among the Primordial Essence, masked by the crimson corruption so thoroughly he had never sensed it. His Manasight, now fully cognisant, felt only hate and spite and an unbridled fury as it scoured his channels and spat out into the world.
That fury, he panted before another wave of fouled Mana spewed from his skin. It wasn't...it wasn't the Essence at all.
It was the Archon.
The arrays dimmed beneath him. Felix collapsed. He'd fought so long against the pull of it that his muscles seized the moment it disappeared. His Health, Stamina, and Mana had all taken a big hit; none were above half. Felix flared his Meditation and focused on recovery. Essence burned, enough that he was going to have to take another bite before long.
Ah, quite a lot, rumbled the Sphere. Its voice shook the space between Felixs bones even from a distance. As expected of our great progenitor.
"Our Father-Master has seeded this realm with all the tools we need to complete our Trial," Skeleton intoned. "It is only on us to make proper use of them!"
Felix turned back to them and saw a curious thing: the three Arcids, so different in dimensions, standing before a floating, shifting polyhedral of familiar energy. Yellow-red Profane energy, stolen from him andhe looked aroundstolen from all around him. From sixty feet away, he could feel a coiled malice within it. Carefully, Felix leveraged himself back to his feet.
"The Fiend lives!" Mud announced. He almost sounded impressed before he noticed something else. "As do the abominations...That is unexpected."
Around them, Felix could sense the amassed Revenants and Ghouls recovering. Their Spirits felt confused and angry, but the flavor of the emotion was strangely muted. Toothless, almost.
"Something else animates them," Skeleton hissed. "Something ancient."
"Irrelevant," Sphere boomed. The massive Arcid rolled forward, until its stubby arm rested atop the shifting shape of energy. "They will not survive the next."
His resource pools slowly ticked back up, and Felix felt better than before. Clearer. More calm. Pit chirruped curiously, but Felix hadn't the time. He squared himself against the Arcids, ready for violence.
"Oho! The Fiend has changed his mind! No longer the prey!" Mud laughed, a little too boisterously. "He wishes to play the predator!" With a curt gesture, a tiny portion of the gathered power zipped into the three of them. Their metallic bodies were limned with a fiery light, almost blindingly so, and Felix gasped. To his Voracious Eye, they rose from High Journeyman to High Adept in a span of seconds.
Below them, the array relit, but this time it formed a series of four, interconnected script circles. Where they overlapped was where the Profane energy hovered.
"They are all prey, baring their false fangs," Skeleton said, her thin hand joining Sphere and Mud's above the energy. Power hummed in the air. Felix charged.
Unfettered Volition!
Reign of Vellus!
Before his kinetic lightning could reach them, the energy surged into the array. A cascading wave of violent, angry, hateful power flooded the earth, sweeping over and through Felix like a relentless tide. His charge was stymied, his body lifted and thrown backward. He hit the front ranks of charging Revenants and tumbled through them as they were all tossed by hurricane force winds. Felix saw a mad collection of scales, claws, and white-enameled armor all pitched into one another.
"Authority is wasted on you mortals," the three Arcids shrieked in unison. The three of them raised their other hand up, pointing at the Broodmother. Power diverted from the array at their feet. "None of you deserve such power!"
Another surge built, a wave so powerful that Felix could feel its screaming edge.
"We shall remove the temptation."