Seer was already trying to decipher her motives. She was a scryer by nature, even if her powers were currently suppressed by the presence of the man at the chasm.

The Error Bearer turned. His glowing green eyes went cold as the Harvester Cult girl neared him. There was no warmth in his gaze, only a clinical assessment of her movement.

Just as the girl was about to reach him, her hands shaped like claws for an attack targeting his head directly, she suddenly screamed and killed her momentum, pivoting to change directions rapidly as if shying away from a blistering inferno.

What happened? Seer watched the conflict with deep interest. She wanted to know the mechanics of his defense. She thought to use her third eye but discarded the idea immediately.

Aside from the danger of drawing attention to herself, she had also suffered terribly from using it not too long ago. Her eye still throbbed with a dull, steady pain that warned her against a second attempt.

She continued to observe with her eyes alone. They were still very adept on their own. At least much more than anyone else on this battlefield, with the sole exception of the Error Bearer, of course.

With those eyes trained on the clash, she noticed something.

At that moment when the Harvester Cult girl shied away and changed directions, her hand had begun to dematerialize. The skin at the tip of her fingers closest to the Error Bearer was simply vanishing.

It had been rapid, a silent erasure of matter. The Harvester Cult girl had reacted with decisive speed to stop it from spreading further up her arm. That was the only thing that saved her at that moment. She had sensed the danger before it consumed her.

That is the same attack that devoured my soul mass... Seer realized.

When it had been used against her, she had thought it to be some sort of passive defense or a shield that the Error Bearer maintained. But now that she had seen it used from a distance, she realized it was nothing of the sort.

That’s not a passive ability at all! Seer’s eyes widened, her hair standing on its end as she suddenly began scanning the surroundings frantically.

All around her and all around the entire battlefield, tiny, microscopic things filled the air. They were tinier than spores, yet they were everywhere. They touched every single thing, including her own body and the ground beneath her.

She had failed to notice them at all until this very moment. She reckoned no one else had even noticed either, aside from that Harvester Cult girl who just came to the realization now.

These tiny things were soul masses. They were the Error Bearer’s soul masses. An army of trillions — a collective consciousness that occupied every inch of the air.

Is this how he was able to enter the dome? Seer thought. The more she found out, the more she realized just how leery their plan had even been. This hadn’t been a fight at all. He could have ended every single person on this battlefield right from the onset if he’d wanted to.

He hadn’t even needed the soul declaration chant from her either. He had just simply done it, likely with the goal of seeing what the Ossuary had in store within the Sanctum. He wanted to see their best move before he broke them.

Seer sighed. She fell to her back on the ground and closed her eyes. The weight of her failure was heavy, but the weight of the truth was even heavier.

From this point onwards, it was useless to do anything. If she was to die, the Error Bearer would kill her. If not, then she would be thankful for the mercy. Either way, everything within a five to ten mile radius was fully within his control. It was futile to try anything. He was the master of this space.

Seer smiled where she lay. It was refreshing in a way to finally let go of the burden of fighting. The battle was still raging between the abomination and the massive wolf. Anything could kill her where she was, but she wasn’t worried. She had cast away all of that since she had realized the truth of it all.

Even as she heard the Harvester Cult girl continue to shriek and try attacking the Error Bearer, Seer didn’t flinch. Even as she heard them exchange words in the distance, she didn’t react. She lay there like a corpse, waiting for the battle to settle.

She stayed that way until she heard the Error Bearer chuckle with a peculiar tone. He spoke, and his voice was clear despite the distance:

"Why haven’t you used Error yet? Your attacks haven’t even got past my soul mass, yet you keep attacking in the same way? At this rate Syf will devour the chaos creature you so badly want before you can reach her..."

The wind carried his words to her, and finally, Seer’s eyes snapped open in curiosity.

"Haven’t you stolen some aspect of it yet?" he chuckled. His tone turned curious, almost mocking. "Ah... Or are you not able to?"

The question hung in the tremor filled air. The raging of the abomination and Syf still ongoing in the background.

Stolen? What are they talking about? Seer’s eyes sought the scene in intrigue. It seemed this was much deeper than she had thought.

.

.

.

Finn’s POV

I guess I’m spot-on, Finn thought amusedly as he saw the conflict under the fury in Sue’s eyes. He could only guess at the exact mechanism of how she stole or copied Transcendent abilities, but he was now certain she hadn’t been able to copy any aspect of his Error yet.

That’s rather disappointing...

Over the course of the entire journey from Stratus, Finn had made sure to use his abilities here and there. He had intentionally left breadcrumbs of his power for her to try and steal.

Even if Sue was being wary of him finding out how her ability worked, presented with such an open opportunity, she should have still been able to copy or steal some aspect of his ability.

Sigh. That puts a damper on some of my plans... Finn lamented internally. I guess I’ll have to improvise then. I was hoping for a bit more variety in this test.