Ripple

Zach flew forward, wind pushing him as fast as it possibly could. Yet he never got closer to his target. Ra’azel was in the process of turning away, but every time he did, he somehow turned back to look at Zach again.

It had taken Zach only a few moments to realize that something was wrong. He moved but didn’t cross any distance. He could still feel Time around him, and yet…

When Zach had first flown towards Ra’azel, evading the device that he threw at him, he felt it trigger. But he was unsure what it had done. Now it was obvious that it had done something significant.

He closed his eyes and sank into the Plane of Time, manifesting himself on the River of Time, and found what was wrong. He wasn’t on the wave, the front of the River anymore. He was trapped in a whirlpool, constantly circling in on itself, trapped in a loop of Time. The whirlpool itself was moving forward with the river, but something was keeping it inside of a closed circle. Time captured and forced to loop somehow.

Zach didn’t know how Ra’azel had done it, yet he could instinctively feel that it didn’t break any rules that Zach had put in place when he formed the Way.

The loop had trapped him, but the Time outside of it was still moving, even the loop itself was moving forward. He just couldn’t interact with anything outside of it.

He focused, and gathered his will, prepared to break his way out.

Nahamassa attacked from the Shadows, her power singing inside of her, her Image shrouding her. She sharpened her will and struck when the yeti’s back was turned, when his attention was occupied.

It didn’t go as she had planned. Light blasted her, it banished the Shadows. She felt it like a physical blow, and immediately she realized that something was wrong. The Light was what made the Shadows, but this… It was a light that passed through other Essence, that banished all Shadow.

She was forced back, her entire being narrowed down into a single Shadow created by her Image. The Light hounded her, then the lances of it started hitting her. Her Image broke, and she changed, shifting into another form. Her power wasn’t just related to Shadow.

She was surrounded, forced into a cage made out of solid light. And from above the constructs continued to fire.

The lances still hurt her as she tried to get away, but there was no escape from it. She felt an oppressive field pressuring her Soul, constricting her, it was hard to use powers.

And then she was trapped, caught in a prison made out of light.

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The sky broke apart as Ra’azel used a skill that resonated with the world. A skill that Selia knew.

Anatalien’s power flowed from his hands and the boundary of Sky above them shattered, all of Selia’s defenses broke on impact from the force coming at them from above.

She saw Eratemus and Nayra shelter behind his formations, and Erdania stepped close to Selia to cover her.

The force of the strike cracked the floating mountain, breaking pieces of it away. The town nearby was caught in the attack too. Then, Selia felt Space twist, and the entire piece of the floating island that contained the town disappeared.

Before Selia could even process that, she felt the entire thing starting to fall out of the sky. New constructs appeared in the air and started raining fire on top of them all.

Eratemus struggled to keep himself and Nayra safe. His Death Essence had run out, and with it Nayra’s invulnerability. His formations were breaking, every shield shattering as the yeti’s attacks landed on top of them.

Zenker’s Image thrummed around them, shifting from landscape to landscape, attempting to find something that he had explored that could aid with what they were facing.

Soon, the last shield failed, and Zenker took the hits on his body. His armor was one of the best that he could craft, but its formations were already drained from the fight.

Ra’azel was far more overwhelming of an opponent than what Eratemus had expected. He saw him drawing runes above them, and new attacks joined in what his constructs threw out. It was like he was fighting against an infinitely versatile army.

For a moment, Eratemus considered using his Grand Teleport formation to bring his main body. It was capable of utilizing more of his Cultivation power, like his Evolved Form. And together with Nayra he was certain that they could overcome him.

And yet, he was afraid. Afraid of the unknown, of things that Ra’azel might have in reserve. He hesitated.

Berion watched the fight from afar, and saw the overwhelming power that Ra’azel demonstrated. He was a terrifying monster, looming over everything and everyone. His constructs seemed to be never ending. His use of runes was subtle, he didn’t overextend himself and spend his Soul like how he had taught the others.

No, he relied more on his tools, keeping the might of his Soul for reserve, or only for moments where it would have the most impact.

When Ra’azel unleashed the power that cracked the island, Berion saw the danger immediately. It shook him out of his reverie, it made him to act.

The town below, still filled with people that were just caught in between these titans. The thing that they had come here to escape.

Again, their lives were at the mercy of others. And even though their attackers had tried to move the fight away from them, Ra’azel didn’t care at all.

Berion moved, his power spreading through Space. First he wrapped his will and power around every person still in the fortress, and teleported them to the town.

Then, he reached out with Separate Space he surrounded the town with his power, and with |I Carve Space| he drew a series of rune all around the town, fortifying his grip on it. A moment later he teleported away, taking the town with him. Taking the people to safety and away from the madness that infected those with too much power at their disposal.

Everything had turned bad so fast. The yeti started to overwhelm them, Zacharia and Nahamassa were somehow neutralized, and the rest of them couldn’t gain any ground.

Then Selia felt it. Through her diminished link with Ryun came a fraction of his wrath. A thousand times greater than it had been before, when he had nearly lost himself. She couldn’t feel much else, his Soul was imbued with Oblivion, it made their link lesser.

And then even that small link she had winked out. A ripple expanded outward from the tip of the mountain. The world lost its color and Selia felt her Soul crying out, though she didn’t know why. Effects flashed above them. The hole that Ra’azel had made in the world fade in and out of existence. One moment it was there, the next it was as if it had never been there in the first place.

Things around them turned… weird.

And then, Ra’azel’s attacks stopped. He shook his head, bending over. His hand was clutching at his chest.

Something was wrong, and Selia knew that Ryun was the cause.