Chapter 1222: Balance Upheld
The simple taunts wouldn't normally have fazed Zac in the slightest, even with the great pressure he was under. However, the entity's words were laced with hidden barbs of malevolence. The completely foreign magic tried to form seeds of artificial Heart Demons while fomenting a schism in his mind. Each attack held the potential for corruption and possession.
The subtle attack would have posed a real threat if the circumstances were different. The entity was nowhere near as carefree as it wanted to appear. It had fused with the [Epiclesis Bell] to survive under a hostile sky, and damaging the bell meant damaging the creature. With the heretical bell almost completely gone, the entity was already on its last legs. The Heavens were adding insult to injury, erasing its existence layer by layer.
The bell's isolating properties were almost gone, too weak to even sever the link with Zac's other half. Sensing his location and the differences in time flow indicated he'd been dragged into an illusion rather than subspace. The System's protection remained around his real body, and only a fraction of the evil energies managed to pass through the lightning cage.
A wave of nothingness spread through the darkness, causing the evil domain to turn sluggish. Zac's answer to the entity was a call to war, which began by activating [Void Zone]. The bloodline talent was immediately followed by launching a third of his skills using [Force of the Void]. He was holding nothing back, using his Void Emperor bloodline to its fullest.
A miasmic shroud reeking of antiquity poured into the bell, and the darkness of the Abyss fought for supremacy through [Deathmark]. The two domains reached beyond his nullification sphere, while [Indomitable] and [Profane Exponents] erected new layers of defenses within. Zac also activated three rings on his fingers, causing a significant chunk of his core's Miasma to be drained.
Finally, Zac threw out a pitch-back crystal, which shattered and unleashed a sea of Miasma and Death-attuned Mental Energy. Zac was throwing everything at the oppressive darkness, and it was nowhere near enough to put him on even ground with the heretical creature. The entity's imminent demise didn't change the fact it was an existence as old as the System. Zac's actions were only enough to briefly contest its domain.
Soul Sense and scouting rings pierced the curtain, scanning every corner of the crumbling bell. Zac almost cried with relief upon sensing the familiar spiritual fluctuations. He disappeared in a puff of Abyssal haze, using [Abyssal Drive] to follow the signal to Vilari's location. She didn't react to his sudden appearance.
Vilari was caught in a trance-like state, her soul almost fully drained to combat an onslaught of darkness. Scanning her insides made Zac reel. Everything, from her organs to her pathways, was covered in a murky patina of evil. Her situation was awfully similar to Zac's after being dragged to the tapestries of Oblivion and Creation. She had been forced to retreat over and over and was left defending the final bastion of her being with the last of her strength.
"You came," Vilari smiled, her eyes briefly opening.