"No!!" Seer yelled, gaining her voice back again. But it was too late. The link she held over the abominations in the dark depths of the chasm snapped. The connection to the Soul Sanctum’s oldest secrets simply ceded over to the young man standing right beside her.

The Error Bearer!

There was no doubt about it. He was the one.

How had he done it? When had he even entered the dome? How had he got so close to her without her knowledge? Her? The Transcendent Fragment Holder of Precognition?

It was only at the last second she had sensed his presence. How had she not noticed someone standing that close to her?

Her thoughts were in a jumble, but she quickly reoriented herself. Regret could come later. There were more pressing concerns right now.

The trembling beneath their feet became terribly violent. It wasn’t just a shake of the earth anymore. It was a rhythmic, bone breaking vibration as the abominations broke free of their holds. They were charging up the chasm with a hunger that had been suppressed for centuries. The same abominations that were now controlled by the Error Bearer.

Kill! Seer’s thoughts turned vicious and decisive. I just have to kill him!

She, more than anyone, knew of the Error Bearer’s goal. Her Precognition had allowed her to see what he wanted to do. He wished to exterminate all Transcendents. He wished to wipe them from the face of the earth, ending their reign forever.

Such a person could not be allowed to wield such abominations.

Even if she was going to sacrifice herself, she needed to end him here and now!

She dashed forward in a burst, activating the full might of her third eye that allowed her to dominate any fight by seeing every move ahead of time.

The Error Bearer still had that small smile on his face the whole time, but his smile faltered a bit after seeing her charge towards him. He seemed surprised she chose to attack rather than escape.

"Wrong choice," he muttered, then rushed forward to meet her head on.

A left hook coated with a trace of his power, Seer saw his move before he made it, and she reacted accordingly, leaning her body out of the way ahead of time. While her body twisted through the air, she reached into the storage of her soul and pulled out a Calamity Grade soul blade.

It morphed into existence in an instant, its short, inky black form letting out an eerie cry that sent the surrounding temperatures plummeting in an instant.

By all Ossuarist standards, this was a terrifying soul mass. Just from the thick bloodlust and viciousness radiating from it, it had surely reaped a lot of lives during its lifetime as an artifact.

But this time, its target was not just anyone. It was the Error Bearer himself.

"Disappointing."

A voice came like a phantom from Seer’s right side, shocking her thoroughly.

How did—

A hand suddenly grabbed her by the throat, cutting off her shocked thoughts midway.

The incoming fist of the Error Bearer that she had projected never came, instead that image disappeared like a phantom and he was now holding her up by her neck, with an unamused look on his face.

How did he do it! Seer struggled against his vice-grip, choking. She tossed her soul weapon at his head decisively. It was a last ditch effort to gain some leverage and force him to let go. But he didn’t even move.

In the short split second before the blade reached his face, it dematerialized entirely from existence, a rapid disintegration right from the tip to the hilt.

What was that?! Seer was frantic now. The terrible recoil of losing a bound soul mass trembled within her soul, sending waves of pain that worsened her situation even more.

She could barely think at this point, her vision blurring and her ears ringing. Amid everything, she seemed to hear the Error Bearer muttering to himself, or perhaps it was to her. He was saying something about "how weak the Transcendents of the current era were" and "why she thought she could defeat him with just that."

By some saving grace, just as she felt her life slipping out of her... just as she reached the edge between life and death, she felt her body slam into something. Air rushed rapidly into her lungs again and she was able to breathe. She gasped in mouthfuls raggedly, and her vision and hearing slowly returned to her.

I’m alive! She looked at her surroundings. She was on the ground, and the earth was sending violent jolts through her body as the abominations continued their climb.

What’s happening? she thought through her daze as she tried to quickly come to her bearings. But her body felt heavy and slow.

Where’s the Error Bearer? A deep fear chilled her heart at the thought of that young man. Never in her life, or in any of her many lives, had she felt so helpless. He had manhandled her like she was a child. She couldn’t even muster her soul energy after he had grabbed her by the throat. It was as if his very presence had silenced her power.

Everything had happened so fast. In fact, with the exception of Sanguis and the Harvester Cult girl, no one would have been able to keep up with what had transpired and ended so quickly.

The entire exchange had taken less than a few breaths. Every step of the fight had been a failure of her foresight — Her charge. The Error Bearer meeting her head on. Him allowing her to think she had predicted his move. Him making her call out her best Calamity Grade Soul Mass just so he could destroy it. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Everything had been engineered so perfectly.

No. That was the wrong word...

The Error Bearer had simply reacted to every one of her moves. He had predicted her actions naturally, without any sort of precognition at all.

That was what terrified Seer the most as she lay in the dirt. He had analyzed her capabilities to such an extent in such a short timespan. He had deciphered that she depended on a vast array of terrifying soul masses to dominate close combat in conjunction with her precognitive abilities.

Facing someone as powerful as him, he had known she would bring out her best card. In fact, he had counted on it.

He had deceived her precognition and destroyed one of her most powerful soul masses, causing a soul backlash that rendered her immobile in an instant, all within a few breaths.