Defiance of the Fall Chapter 1407: Perfection

Describing his core as Peak Quality felt like an understatement. A flawless blend of gold, black, and steel formed without any trace of discord. Zac might not have recognized it as a mortal's Cosmic Core if it wasn't his own, and circulating his energy revealed a clear improvement in both recovery speed and flow efficiency. No obstacles or rough patches impeded the process anymore.

A twinge of sorrow hit Zac right after that first wave of awe, as he understood he'd need to shatter this masterpiece. Why hadn't he pushed himself more, reaching Peak Hegemony prior to the pursuit? He shook off the foolish notion with a head shake. Aside from it being impossible, the [Peregrine Almond] lacked the potency to mend a freshly advanced core—not in the manner Zac had progressed.

“How long was I out?” Zac inquired, scanning his surroundings.

“Not long, about ten minutes,” Esmeralda replied.

Zac nodded in response before offering a bow to Idiche.

“I’m at a loss for words. Your gift is incredibly generous.”

“It’s what you’ve earned,” Idiche responded.

“Well, what about me?” Esmeralda chimed in, extending her hands like a kid begging for treats.

“I haven’t overlooked you,” Idiche assured her, then spread her arms wide in a sweeping motion. “For serving as my Dao Guardian so nobly, I bequeath you my lodge.”

“WHAT?! This grimy, rundown shack?!” Esmeralda roared, stamping her feet in rage. “Hand over half that sphere! No, scrap that—even some scraps beat claiming this wreck.”

“I’m sorry, but that’s impossible. The Divine Core has merged with me now.” Idiche chuckled softly. “And don’t dismiss this so-called shack. Though it’s weathered over time, it remains the heart of a memory surviving from the First Era. It’ll assist in housing the artifact you desire, enabling a steadier assimilation.”

“Don’t you require this location?” Zac questioned.

“I…” Idiche paused, her gaze lifting to the heavens. “I bear a duty to fulfill. The sect sacrificed immensely to create me. My master requires my vigilance, to safeguard their offering.”

If the earlier vision hadn’t confirmed it, Idiche’s awareness of the Mercurial Court’s plight was evident. Her foresight included fragments beyond the recollections. Zac couldn’t pinpoint the sacrifice she mentioned, but it tied to the Mercurial Court’s secret objective.

Esmeralda’s prior comment lingered in Zac’s thoughts as he observed Idiche’s resolute face. The devotion to the Limitless Empire surpassed anything he’d witnessed before. Even the corruption-riddled invaders showed a warped but intense allegiance to the Empire. The conflict in Zecia would’ve unfolded far differently if its major powers held even a sliver of such commitment.

Zac sensed this marked their farewell.

“Is there more we can offer you?” Zac pressed.

“An investigation will follow. Marai perished as a hero, not a betrayer,” Idiche stated.

“Naturally,” Zac consented promptly.

“Farewell,” Idiche wished, transforming into a radiant beam brighter than her awakening. As it ascended skyward, her words resonated in his thoughts.

Idiche’s voice abruptly resounded in Zac’s mind.

Life Chart? Zac was clueless about its meaning or how Idiche detected his encounter with the Eternal via eye contact. He had no chance to consult Esmeralda either. The entire Hall of Abundance started to shimmer as Idiche’s residual divinity infused the structure, igniting the ceiling’s circular array for the last time.

The hunting lodge rapidly faded from solidity, dissolving into luminous streaks drawn to Esmeralda. It vanished in an instant, replaced by a thick golden haze. Zac spotted a tiny wooden edifice materializing in one of Esmeralda’s cauldrons before it sank into the thick fluid. He kept his expression neutral, averting his eyes.

Dozens of perceptions, each surpassing his own, targeted them immediately after. The sensation was deeply unsettling, but Zac stayed composed as the golden fog cleared. A cold seeped up his legs moments later. The lodge’s stone tiles had disappeared, leaving him ankle-deep in clear, crystalline water.

The site of the lodge had become a shallow pool over desert sands. Zac still detected faint corruption underfoot, far milder than before. The pool extended to about the seventh ring lake, while the core area otherwise resembled its prior state.

No azure moon or skyborne arrays remained visible. With numerous mountain streams feeding rainwater into the pool, it was inevitable the core zone would soon form a flooded valley. Nature was restoring balance, yet the isle seemed destined for human intervention.

Zac inclined his head toward the hovering Monarchs. He wasn’t as poised as he appeared, and Esmeralda swiftly withdrew into the [Shrine of Kanba]. Two factors prevented a frantic flight. First, Idiche’s vision depicted him arriving safely at his disciple abode. Second, these arrivals bore a distinct badge on their attire, marking them as Enforcement Hall operatives.

“Everit Draom of the Imperial Magistrate salutes the honored experts,” Zac declared, observing the formation flags some clutched.

He figured the crisis had eased, but Sevona’s isle harbored ongoing risks. The barrier between realms was thinner and perhaps torn here. Idiche’s task undoubtedly involved mending this flaw, though she couldn’t cover every spot. The Mercurial Court would deploy interim seals at vulnerable points pending a lasting fix.

“Everit Draom of the Imperial Magistrate?” A Late Monarch descended slowly, nodding as he approached. “Did you exit the lodge?”

“Yes,” Zac confirmed with a nod.

“By yourself?”

“The others are deceased or vanished,” Zac replied, scowling as a probe invaded his form.

The enforcer offered no apology for the intrusion. He extended his palm, summoning Zac’s Disciple Token into his hold. His stern facade held firm, but he gave a subtle nod post-examination.

“Everything checks out, yet we require your account of the island events,” the Monarch announced.

Another voice interrupted just as Zac prepared to comply, and Astora Theomore materialized nearby.

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“I wish to attend the debriefing.”

“Your Highness,” Zac greeted with a bow.

“Master Draom… I wasn’t anticipating your presence here,” Astora Theomore remarked, her astonishment plain.

“Didn’t Your Highness receive my note?” Zac queried, puzzled by her response.

“I did. I just presumed…” Astora trailed off.

Esmeralda snickered from inside the shrine.

“Uh-huh,” Zac uttered, face unchanging.

The Monarch consented after brief consideration and erected a provisional shelter. He ushered Zac within, accompanied by Astora and two chosen Monarchs. Zac surmised they wanted varied questioners to detect potential spies among them. For the following twenty minutes, Zac recounted the incidents—or a tailored rendition.

He boldly shifted blame wherever feasible, even toward Astora seated across from him. After all, the princess had dispatched him to the chain initially. He began with discovering the slain spy and their signet, followed by Idiche’s capture. Above all, Zac ensured Kaltosa Lu bore the fault for Descartes’ demise.

Though Descartes had journeyed to the Mercurial Courts to rival Astora Theomore for Flamebearer status, he remained a true noble from the capital. Zac had zero desire to tangle in such complications or risk the Mercurial Court summoning a tribal elder for deeper probes.

“You claim Descartes Belial is deceased?” the chief enforcer probed, as the group exchanged grave glances.

“I can’t confirm it. I merely kept him occupied. My strikes barely scratched him. He regenerated instantly,” Zac explained. “But the other one seemed convinced.”

“The Centigrade Elemental?” another Enforcer verified.

Zac affirmed with a nod. “He mentioned his grandfather crafted a tailored toxin against their lineage. The Elemental claimed a token from Descartes’s corpse, linked to the courts somehow.”

“And afterward?”

“He attempted to slay me next, that madman. He ignored my alliance with Her Highness against this scourge. You ought to handle him before he strikes again. Luckily, the Enkindling Sage from the Order of the Empyrean Chalice stepped in,” Zac exhaled, pausing theatrically before adding, “It seems I’m now their Holy Son. Unsure how that impacts my other roles.”

“You? A Holy Son?” Astora voiced doubtfully. Yet her face lit with shock upon producing a sacred item. It blazed with the Empyrean Chalice’s fire upon nearing Zac. “How could this be…”

The enforcers’ rigid countenances softened into what might pass for warmth. Partly why Zac revealed his title. Having embraced the role formally, he intended to leverage it.

On Idiche’s evolution, Zac described harnessing the echoes of Xiphos’s offering and the Empyrean Chalice’s might to seal the rift. Holy Son aside, Zac had no intention of unveiling the [Fuxi Mountain Gate].

The enforcers concluded soon thereafter. As Zac perceived, they cared little for the lodge’s intimate particulars. Like him, they shied from meddling where volatile groups like Founding Families and Templar Orders clashed. Once verifying Idiche’s ascension and the arrays’ sites, they departed the enclosure.

“What’s next?” Zac murmured once secluded with Astora.

“The Mercurial Court’s leaders have abandoned their non-intervention stance. They’ll soon launch a sect-spanning purge of spies. This isle will be locked down by the Enforcement Hall. Given the fragile space, they’ll encase it entirely in crystal,” Astora detailed. “Future incursions will cost the invaders far more.”

“But it’s not resolved?” Zac probed, noting Astora’s frustration.

“No… It’s…” Astora wavered. “Honestly, I sense something’s amiss. I’m extinguishing blazes without grasping their source, and all seem bent on concealing the facts.”

“We remain mere pawns for now,” Zac grinned. “At least you grasp more than me.”

“Do I?”

“Absolutely. I’ve been occupied hacking with my axe and surviving.” Zac grew uneasy at the sharpening focus in Astora’s gaze and pivoted topics. “Regardless, this Descartes getting slain benefits Your Highness greatly. He arrived to stir chaos, it seems. Serves him right for scorning the Theomore Dynasty.”

Astora’s look turned peculiar. “To imagine the Grand Preceptor erring so gravely. Or is this a larger scheme...?”

“Grand Preceptor? From the reactions earlier, I take it Descartes held significance? I thought him another rogue cultivator, given the foul auras he radiated,” Zac feigned innocence.

Astora merely shot him a chastising glance without exposing the pretense. “That depravity you detected enabled the Belial Tribe’s rise as an Imperial Bloodline. The Belial Devils might be the sole race flourishing in what others deem cursed lands. While we wage endless war against Earthly Taint buildup, the Belial Tribe absorbs those flaws to fuel their power.”

“Hold on, they cultivate using Earthly Taint?” Zac burst out, truly taken aback by the formidable trait.

His own tolerance for Earthly Taint was already a boon, yet paled against those fiends. Post-System, it wouldn’t matter much, but in the Limitless Empire’s era, it must’ve been phenomenal. Undoubtedly, vast zones brimmed with lethal Earthly Taint, where entry alone harmed cultivation. Useless to most, they’d let Belial Devils claim elite sites unchallenged.

Astora nodded faintly to affirm. “The more they consumed, the mightier they became, with no apparent bound. Their corrupted essence also serves as a potent arms against ancient lineages. Beings spawned from fractured Daos bear fatal flaws etched into their core. The Belial Tribe exploits those voids, infusing them with their frenzy.”

“So the Centigrade Elemental’s ancestor…” Zac prodded.

“The Belial Tribe has bolstered the empire immensely by pursuing Primordial and elder races. It’s reasonable to think the Centigrade Elementals were their import,” Astora agreed.

“Such a formidable lineage,” Zac murmured.

“Their might demands a toll; Belial Devils aren’t shielded from the insanity they foster. Many spiraled into madness before notable deeds,” Astora elaborated. “Unclear if the Emperor or a tribal originator devised the cure. In a night, they transformed into erudites. They confined the devils within their cores. Harmonizing structure and turmoil, law and disorder, they ascended beyond prior peaks.

“They embody cultured academics and savage predators, based on which aspect they unleash. They possess sixteen variants of external Avatars, like the Lucent Scholar Avatar you clashed with. Ordinarily, they shouldn’t endure as you depicted. The Grand Preceptor likely tilted the balance toward their clan’s strengths.”

Zac pondered with a nod. It was easy to see why the Belial Tribe chased fresh prospects so fiercely. In ways, they’d suffer most from the System’s advent. Imperial lands were purging taint from key hubs, and the Belial Tribe’s tainted sanctuaries would face System cleansing. To persist in cultivation, they’d venture beyond borders, distancing from power centers.

In truth, their motives held scant appeal for Zac. Encounters with them seemed improbable. Even if more arrived in the Left Imperial Expanse, Mercurial Courts entry was barred. Moreover, post-[Second Singularity] theft, Zac wouldn’t reuse Everit Draom’s identity if it branded him a fugitive.

More captivating was how the Belial Tribe’s way echoed Yselio Tobrial’s—or vice versa. The Seven Heavens started as obscure groups, ascending via plundering their old overlords’ relics. Did the Tobrial Dynasty snag Belial legacies during defection? Lacking the blood, Tobrials still pursued the duality path.

“Is it fine sharing all this with me?” Zac wondered.

“As you noted, Descartes Belial’s end aids the Theomore Dynasty and myself. You merit knowing the context and whom you’ve unintentionally crossed.”

“Not me, not me,” Zac hastened. “Like I mentioned, I was scarcely engaged. More an observer, truly.”

“I suspect that befalls you often. That you inevitably land amid tempests.”

“Blend of chance and misfortune,” Zac shrugged.

“Certainly.”

Zac relented and shifted topics anew. “I must enter seclusion before heading back. It could span a year or longer.”

Astora nodded, unsurprised. She’d likely deem it strange if a Hegemon skipped isolation after such trials. Standard cultivation for Late Hegemons could stretch years, so retreats post-battles to the death were standard. Be it mending concealed injuries or absorbing fresh realizations, isolation from the outer world was essential.

“Then I’ll depart, barring other matters?” Zac rose to exit.

“Perhaps,” Astora replied. “Ultom. Care to learn more?”