On the Path of Eternal Strength.-Chapter 80 - 78 The Fraction of a Primordial
From the height at which Narka kept the Qi spheres suspended, the park of the Veil revealed itself as an open wound that still did not comprehend its own devastation. The cracks crossed the terrain in deep lines that extended beyond what was visible, and the trees, reduced to charred structures and scattered fragments, no longer offered shade nor recognizable form. The fractured ground exhaled a residual spiritual heat that did not belong to life, but to rupture, and it was in the midst of that deformed landscape where figures that had not previously been exposed began to be distinguished. Among the fissures emerged deformed humanoid bodies, elongated torsos and twisted limbs at unnatural angles, faces frozen in expressions that were neither pain nor rest, but something in between that seemed to have been trapped between both states. From their corpses emanated a dark, dense, and uncontrolled spiritual energy, which did not ascend toward the sky of the Veil, but instead spilled over the ground like an intangible substance, crawling through the fractures and accumulating in low whirlpools that saturated the environment with an unhealthy presence.
Sebastián observed that manifestation with steady red eyes, the tornado spinning in his irises without stopping. The pressure of the Crimson Baptism was still active within him, but now it vibrated with a different nuance, as if it recognized in that dark energy a deformed echo of something that should not exist in equilibrium. Narka’s voice reached his mind through the spheres, transmitted through Qi telepathy to avoid interference in a saturated environment. “Malignant spirits. Residues dragged by the rupture. The explosion exposed them.” There was no alarm in the tone of the ancient being, only acknowledgment. The dark energy continued expanding across the ground, forming an irregular layer that seemed to seek direction without finding it.
It was then that the pillar reacted.
The column of dark energy crossed by veins of liquid moon increased its intensity without prior warning. Its glow was not conventional luminosity, but spiritual density concentrated to the limit of what was bearable. The vibration of the air changed, and in a sudden yet perfectly aligned movement, the dark energy emanating from the corpses was torn from the ground as if an invisible force claimed it. The shadow whirlpools rose in compressed spirals toward the pillar, and the deformed bodies were left empty, stripped of the emanation that surrounded them. The absorption was total; no dispersed residue remained. The energy ascended through the vertical column and began to condense behind it, in the region partially concealed by the pillar itself.
First an imprecise silhouette appeared, then defined contours that outlined themselves with a precision foreign to any improvisation. From the convergence of that energy emerged a gigantic butterfly, approximately thirty meters in length, whose central body extended stylized and elegant, yet visually fractured between perfection and deterioration, as if absolute harmony coexisted with cracks that did not weaken, but emphasized its incomprehensible nature. Six pairs of translucent wings remained folded against its structure, and across their surface spectral patterns unfolded that shifted with the vibration of the pillar, reflecting nuances that did not correspond to any identifiable human spectrum. Long antennae floated like filaments of black light, undulating in the motionless air of the Veil. The face was a white mask without expression, smooth and absolute, incapable of reflecting discernible emotion.
The torso of the manifestation remained aligned with the height where the cocoon had been, behind the pillar that continued rising without interruption toward the undefined sky. It did not descend nor advance. It did not need to. Its mere presence compressed the surrounding space with a pressure more refined than that of the previous explosion. Sebastián felt how the Veil adjusted its geometry to sustain that existence; the horizon seemed to tighten, and the cracks in the ground vibrated with a more ordered rhythm, as if they were reconfiguring under a newly imposed hierarchy. Narka, even while elevating the spheres with absolute control, kept his golden eyes fixed on the manifestation, understanding that the difference between them was not only of power, but of ontological category.
Then, without haste or audible warning, the butterfly opened its six pairs of wings.
The movement was slow, deliberate, and at the exact instant the wings reached their full extension, a ring of energy was released from the torso, perfectly circular, of the same dark color crossed by veins of liquid moon that characterized the pillar. It was not a chaotic explosion, but a clean and precise circumference that began to expand at a constant speed. As the ring advanced, the space of the Veil distorted in its wake; the air rippled as if it were malleable matter, the horizon curved into tense arcs and the cracks in the ground stretched and compressed in patterns that defied previous stability. The ring did not lose intensity as it expanded; on the contrary, its contour consolidated, reinforcing its presence with a sharpness that turned every meter traveled into a declaration of supremacy.
The regions of the park that the ring reached were pierced without visible clamor, but with immediate structural consequences: the terrain vibrated with relentless precision, and the geometry of the Veil seemed to readjust around the expanding circumference. Beyond the park, the ring continued its advance across the continent of the Veil, growing in diameter without diluting its essence, widening its radius until it encompassed expanses that escaped Sebastián’s direct sight. From the height of the spheres, the young man observed how the circular line became a moving horizon, a luminous boundary that traversed the spiritual land as if it were measuring its extension.
Narka raised the spheres even higher upon realizing that the radius would reach their position if he did not increase the altitude. His Qi remained stable, although the effort was evident in the intensity of the red veins running across his shell. Sebastián felt how the Crimson Baptism within his soul vibrated with a new resonance, not as a challenge, but as recognition of a superior magnitude that did not need to demonstrate violence to assert dominance. The ring continued expanding, its edge distorting space as it grew, and the continent of the Veil remained beneath the growing shadow of that perfect circumference that still showed no visible limit.
The ring was no longer visible from the devastated park. It had surpassed the central region of the continent of the Veil and continued expanding with the same precision with which it had been released. It did not descend, it did not ascend; it maintained the exact height from which it was born, thirty meters above the ground, advancing like a moving frontier that did not curve by accident but by dominion. The space before it did not explode nor burn; it simply yielded. The reflected constructions of the city —translucent towers, spectral avenues, bridges of suspended energy— decomposed in silence when the edge touched them. No rubble remained. Only an empty, clean plain, devoid of structure. The Veil did not scream; it was corrected.
Beneath the physical world, in hidden levels that had never appeared on public maps, several facilities sealed for decades registered the anomaly from the instant the pillar appeared at the continental center. When the distortion reached the urban perimeter of the Veil, the readings saturated without equipment rupture. Men and women dressed in sober suits remained motionless before energy panels. Some wore ocular implants, others compact exoskeletons integrated beneath formal fabric. No one shouted. No one ran. One of the screens displayed the curvature of space advancing like a perfect edge. “Confirmed,” said a neutral voice. There was no order to attack. Only observation. The scale surpassed any direct intervention without superior authorization.
In zones where the urban reflection gave way to open fields of the Veil, creatures wounded by the previous pressure of the pillar barely managed to turn their heads when the line reached them. Two-headed tigers, beasts with segmented torsos and multiple eyes, remained motionless when the edge touched them. There was no blood, there was no impact. The energy that kept them cohesive ceased to sustain itself. Malignant spirits that had been unearthed by the previous spiritual earthquake dispersed like broken mist at the instant of contact. The expansion did not seek; it did not pursue. It simply advanced.
In more distant rural regions, figures in robes floated at low altitude, sustaining stable circles of energy beneath their feet. They did not raise barriers. They extended their senses. The edge passed beneath them, at the established height, without deviating. The sky of the Veil above their heads curved briefly, as if the firmament had been tightened with an invisible cord, and then continued its altered form. Farther still, in mountains and forests, warriors training with swords or fists halted their movement only long enough to observe the line crossing the horizon. They did not flee. Nor did they challenge it. They understood that it did not respond to combat.
At the top of the mountain where the Temple of the Thousand Sealed Promises stood, the courtyard remained open to the distorted sky. Kael Ardom was seated in an upright posture, ceremonial white robe unmoving, deep blue gaze fixed on the altered firmament. The ring did not descend upon the dojo; it maintained its trajectory at the original height, crossing the air of the Veil above the region. The vault curved over the temple like a suspended wave, but it did not touch the structure. Kael did not rise. He did not project aura. There was no gesture of defiance. Only lucid observation. The temple was not tested; it was only measured.
When the expansion reached the continental limit, the sea of the Veil vibrated from the surface downward. The ring did not submerge; it crossed over the water maintaining its fixed height, but the depth responded with concentric waves that descended into forgotten zones. In a submerged cavern where eroded columns sustained a sunken temple, ten humanoid silhouettes remained in a circle. They had no face nor clear definition; they were densities that absorbed the surrounding light. When the descending vibration reached them, one of the shadows slightly inclined its head. “The source must be considered,” said a voice that alternated tones without fixing age nor gender. “Prepare reconnaissance team.” There was no debate. The other silhouettes nodded with a slight displacement of density. The decision remained suspended like a mandate without emotion.
Meanwhile, on the surface of the sea, the growing radius progressively intercepted the seven islands that surrounded the continent. They were not aligned; they were arranged in an irregular arc around the central territory. As the circumference expanded, each island was reached by the edge at different moments, according to its relative position. Where contact occurred, the structures of the Veil upon those islands decomposed with the same relentless cleanliness. There was no deviation in the trajectory. The expansion did not seek islands; it simply reached them when its radius included them.
It was then that a figure appeared floating in one of the peripheral sectors, exactly at the point where the edge was about to continue beyond the last island. It wore a uniform dark robe, of severe cut, with symbols engraved both in the fabric and in the closed mask that covered its face. Only the eyes were visible, and in them fractal runes reorganized themselves without pause, geometric patterns that expressed no emotion. Dark gauntlets covered its hands. On the chest, an insignia formed by three runes in a triangle emitted a faint glow. It radiated no hostility. Nor reverence. Its presence was functional.
When the edge of the ring reached its position, the figure raised one finger. The contact was minimal, precise. There was no spectacular clash. The point of intersection began to fragment into tiny particles that dispersed like luminous dust and extinguished themselves in the air of the Veil. The expansion did not retreat; it was annulled in that specific sector. The rest of the radius continued its course in the non-intervened zones until it gradually stabilized in regions already measured. The figure spoke, and its voice changed timbre in each syllable, alternating between boy, woman, man, and girl without fixing identity. “Northern sector secured. Confirm statuses.” Seconds later, three other voices identical in variation responded from invisible points of the plane: “South secured.” “West secured.” “East secured.” There was no emotion. Only verification.
The figure remained motionless for one more instant, observing the point where the energy had been disintegrated, and then disappeared without visible transition. The sea of the Veil recovered an altered stillness. Over the continent, the regions already crossed remained empty, measured, redefined. In the distance, behind the still-active pillar, the gigantic butterfly kept its wings extended with absolute calm, without pursuing, without correcting the contained sector. The manifestation had not been defeated; a fraction of its expansion had been limited. The continent, far from being defenseless, had revealed layers of vigilance that did not respond to chaos but to silent protocols. And in the sky of the Veil, the column continued rising, immutable. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢
The Qi spheres began to descend with a controlled softness that contrasted with the suspended violence around the pillar. Narka did not reduce the protection immediately; he modulated the density of the brown casing crossed by light orange flashes while he analyzed the constant pressure radiated by the manifestation of the Elazria. Sebastián remained standing inside the sphere, his gaze fixed on the elevated cocoon where Valentina floated wrapped in dark energy streaked with veins similar to liquid moon. The air of the Veil remained compressed. It was not a physical weight; it was an imposed hierarchy. When they touched the ground of the circle of cracked tiles, Sebastián spoke without taking his eyes off the cocoon. “Withdraw the Qi.” Narka barely turned his golden eye toward him. He did not argue. The sphere opened and dissipated like mist absorbed by the plane itself.
The pressure returned immediately. Sebastián felt how the spiritual density descended upon his body like an inverse tide attempting to sink him from within. His knees gave way a centimeter, no more. His jaw tightened. The air did not fail him, but each breath became heavier. He did not ask for help. He had requested it. It was his decision. A few meters away, the pillar continued rising with absolute indifference, the manifestation of the Elazria behind it, torso aligned with the cocoon, wings extended with a calm that did not need to impose itself to dominate.
Sebastián closed his eyes for an instant and activated the technique. Above his head the reddish seven-pointed star manifested, each vertex outlined with geometric precision, and at its center a dark vortex began to spin with a depth that reflected no light. The spiritual energy compressing the surroundings was drawn toward the vortex with a low, almost imperceptible sound, like a continuous whisper forcing its way through the pressure. The impact did not disappear, but it changed in nature. The force attempting to crush him began to flow into the technique, feeding the Crimson Baptism that pulsed within his soul. The pain did not extinguish; it transformed into fuel.
Sebastián’s skin tightened under the strain. The marked veins in his arms darkened slightly as the Crimson Baptism absorbed the diverted energy. The process was violent. Each spiritual pulse torn from the surroundings scraped his consciousness with memories that did not belong to him, echoes of ancient suffering, but the vortex crushed them before they could anchor. The star began to vibrate. Fine cracks ran across one of the vertices. The manifestation of the Elazria did not move. There was no recognition. Only superior existence.
Sebastián opened his eyes. The first star was at its limit. Without withdrawing the technique, he concentrated part of the already absorbed energy and forced the creation of a second manifestation over the first. Another reddish star emerged, slightly fainter at first, but with the same dark vortex at its center. The two began to spin in imperfect synchrony, diverting a greater volume of pressure toward the Core of the Inverted Origin. The core responded with an internal pulse that stabilized the flow, redistributing the Qi that had been consumed when activating the first technique. Sebastián’s breathing became more controlled. The pain remained, but now it was channeled.
Narka descended from his lateral position to stand before him in his full form, black and gray mineral plates reflecting the light of the pillar, incandescent red veins glowing with contained intensity. “According to the analysis,” he said in a deep voice that resonated across the fractured ground, “we cannot intervene in the cocoon.” Sebastián kept his gaze fixed on the energetic mass that enveloped Valentina. “Destroy it?” he asked, without hope in the term. “Impossible,” Narka replied. “That is the difference in power. Even being only a manifestation of the Elazria, it is beyond our range.”
Sebastián did not look away. “Not destroy,” he corrected in a lower voice. “Accelerate. If we withdraw energy, if we drain the flow that sustains it... is it possible?” Narka’s silence lasted barely a heartbeat. “Possible,” he finally admitted. “But complex. Painful. Only you can absorb that energy without disintegrating immediately.” Sebastián nodded without dramatics. “Then help me reach the pillar.”
Narka released Qi that adhered to Sebastián’s body like a second skin. It was not a rigid barrier, but a protective layer that cushioned the spiritual abrasion. He lifted him a few centimeters off the ground and they advanced toward the pillar. As they approached, the pressure increased in direct proportion to the proximity. The two stars above Sebastián’s head vibrated with growing intensity, absorbing as much as they could. When they were a centimeter from the edge of the pillar, Sebastián confirmed something unsettling: the manifestation of the Elazria was not paying attention to them. There was no hostility. There was no defense. They were irrelevant on its scale.
Narka withdrew his Qi. Sebastián extended his hand. The contact was immediate and absolute. The concentrated energy burned his skin as if he had touched molten metal. The flesh carbonized on the surface of his palm in a fraction of a second. The smell of seared tissue mixed with the spiritual vibration. His regeneration attempted to activate immediately, cells reconstituting under the influence of body cultivation, but the flow of the pillar burned the renewed skin again at the very instant it emerged. It was a cycle of simultaneous destruction and regeneration.
Sebastián did not withdraw his hand. Teeth clenched, eyes open without blinking, he forced Vacío, sin fin to intensify its suction. The energy of the pillar began to divert toward the two vortices, entering like compressed torrents that roared in silence within his consciousness. The Crimson Baptism responded with a deep pulse, absorbing the violence of the flow and transforming it into internal potency. The Core of the Inverted Origin redistributed the Qi, stabilizing the process to avoid immediate collapse. Each second was an act of will. The skin continued burning. The regeneration continued failing and trying again. The pain was not a scream; it was a constant line crossing his nervous system like an incandescent thread.
Narka observed without intervening. He knew that any excess of external Qi would break the precarious balance Sebastián was building. The ground beneath them cracked more deeply from the spiritual tension. The two stars began to stabilize their rotation, absorbing with greater efficiency. The pressure of the surroundings decreased by barely a degree, enough for Sebastián to straighten fully without his knees threatening to give way.
“If we accelerate the draining,” Sebastián said with a hoarse but firm voice, “the cocoon’s process will advance faster.” Narka inclined his head. “And the cost will fall upon you.” Sebastián did not respond. It was not a discussion. It was an accepted fact.
The energy of the pillar flowed with greater violence when he increased the absorption. The first star cracked again at two vertices, but the second compensated for the imbalance. The Core of the Inverted Origin pulsed strongly, transforming part of the torrent into usable Qi and redirecting the rest toward the Crimson Baptism. Sebastián felt how his soul was scraped by the continuous contact, as if invisible layers were being polished with a rough stone. Even so, he held his hand against the pillar. There was no space for hesitation.
The manifestation of the Elazria remained motionless, wings open, white mask without expression. The cocoon showed no immediate visible reaction. The process was not explosive; it was slow, lethal. Sebastián breathed more deeply when he noticed that the pressure was no longer increasing. It remained constant, but now it had direction. The energy that had previously crushed him was being channeled into his interior. It was not total control. It was strategic survival.
His palm was a continuous battlefield between combustion and regeneration. The pain ceased to be an isolated stimulus and became a state. Even so, he did not release. The double star above his head rotated like a forced constellation, absorbing what no human should touch. Narka remained firm at his side, solid presence, witness to the attempt to alter a process that surpassed his scale. And in the midst of the pillar that rose toward the undefined, Sebastián began to devour the spiritual energy with a determination that asked for neither permission nor recognition, aware that accelerating the destiny of the cocoon might be the only way to influence that which they could not destroy.
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END OF Chapter 78
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