Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty Two – 222Felix had no time for anything except to brace himself. The multicolored wave impacted his core space and was met with violence. The System's power struck the build-up of Primordial energy like a hammer meeting an anvil, and Felix was iron between.
Buzzing Dissonance met angelic Harmony, and a light show of Essence and Mana burst all around him. He was in the center of an explosion, and each conflagration sent mounting agony stampeding through his Aspects. Body, Mind, Spirit all quaked and tumbled from the collision, so hard that Felix was nearly tossed out of his own core space. But tooth and talon, he held on. His Willpower wasmy godover 1300 points, and only by flaring it did he retain his consciousness in the mad cacophony.
The wave rode up onto an invisible wall around his core space. It roared, building and building, neither stopping nor relenting. The wall flashed a deep, dark crimson while a million different lights glimmered from the liquid light. Each time it flashed, the walland Felixquivered.
His universe shook.
Powerful tremors as the undifferentiated Mana flashed and the dome of Essence crackled back. Beasts of two masters, they raged against one another in all directions. Buzzing interrupted a frenetic song, atonal notes undercutting the melodic majesty of the Grand Harmony.
Felix and Pit, joined together, weathered the pain and disorientation that subsumed them. They cast out their Affinities and Perceptions, each looking for a way out. With crystal certainty, Felix knew that if the clash continued, it would kill them both.
The dome of dark power splintered further.
The Maw existed for thousands of years! And other Primordials too, according to Harn. Felix pushed his Mind, collecting and tossing aside recollections and ideas as fast as he could come up with them. How did they existUGH!without being destroyed by the System?
A wave of light and crippling nausea assaulted him in unison. Pit squawked, as if surprised. Before the both of them a stream of blue boxes appeared, one after the other. His notifications, suppressed near the end of his fight, opened without his permission. Felix couldn't stop them.
Ravenous Tithe is level 70!
Deep Mind is level 56
Meditation is level 54
Bastion of Will is level 68
Cloudstep is level 28!
Fire Within is level 65!
Influence of the Wisp is level 44!
Mantle of the Long Night is level 40!
Shadow Whip is level 40!
Stone Shaping is level 49!
Armored Skin is level 61!
Song of Absolution is level 65!
Make An Entrance is level 43!
Negotiation is level 15!
Exploration is level 44!
Arrow of Perdition is level 31!
Apprentice Tier!
+10% STR, VIT, DEX
Oathbinding is level 34!
Apprentice Tier!
+5 to INT, VIT, END
Felix screamed through clenched teeth as his Aspects trembled; Body, Mind, or Spirit attuned to each of his Skills. Each notification that charged through his consciousness was a white hot bar of agony as a ray of fluid light streamed inward. It struck his blue-white core and ricocheted up into the newly formed Primordial core before boomeranging back out. This time, it was colored gold, blue, and a deep dark crimson that was nearly black. It rushed outward, in seventeen flows, each one spearing one of his leveling Skills. The patterns of light, etched into his core space, flared with new power; each grew into tumultuous orbs of incandescent light.
Slower, the notifications still kept coming. As the next arrived before him, Felix felt his Mind and Spirit quiver in unison. Before he could question it, the blue box pealed in triumph.
Voracious Eye is level 48!
...
Voracious Eye is level 51!
Journeyman Tier!
You Gain:
+5% PER
+5% AFI
+...
Multiple Essence Sources Detected During Formation!
Choose An Essence Mote!
This again!
Literally dozens of Essence Motes appeared before him. They clung to the rim of his Primordial ring, shimmering but somehow prevented from being devoured by the hungry abyss below. Felix's Eye picked out [Essence of the Sun], two [Essence of the Stalwart Faith], even [Essence of Hearthstone Flame], the last an Essence Mote he'd garnered before. They clearly belonged to the Inquisitors he'd defeated; had he stolen the Essences they'd used to Temper themselves?
More light speared into his dark cosmos, each finding their way into his twin rings. More power washed in and out, spitting against the Primordial Essence in the air. Felix bit down his scream. He had to move faster. He scanned his Eye over the Essence Motes, noting their rarities more than anything else. The ones taken from the Inquisitors were either Rare or Uncommon, not worth considering. With a flex of his Will, he cast them both into the depths of his abyss.
*RUMBLE*
His cosmos shook with tiny tremors, almost imperceptible compared to the clash of Essence and Mana on the outside. But something felt different.
Felix shook his head.
[Essence of Rectification] and [Essence of Captive Struggle] were both cast aside, their Epic rarities paling before their source. Both pulsed with yellow-red power, the Archon's own energies coursing through them. Felix hurled them fast into the abyss, unwilling to even toy with their consideration.
*RUMBLE*