Chapter 1226: Fallout
A burnt chip of a shattered bone floated through the vastness of space. It was so innocuous that even the lingering streaks of annihilation ignored its voyage as it sailed further and further from the epicenter. Suddenly, it slowed down, as though trapped by a sinkhole. Space rippled and it was gone.
The shard continued through a slipstream between the folds of reality, using the broken, forgotten roads of a bygone age. Soon, it emerged in a different corner of space. Aquamarine halos of utmost power emerged from its depths one after another. Each was a seal undone, and together, they formed an intricate maze maze that obscured the chip from Heaven's scrutiny.
The broken bone grew beneath the protective canopy. What was lacking was made whole, and a figure with barely constrained power soon stood in the labyrinth's heart. Tendrils of evil danced across plates of unyielding bone, making the Dao shiver with discontent. Waves of Mental Energy emerged, dragging the wayward streaks back into the shell.
It wasn't enough. The Heavens had picked up the scent, and it was narrowing down on his position.
"Interesting, interesting."
He glanced in the direction of the abandoned sector, peering through the veil. Such an unusual convergence of fate. It was the greatest of sorrows that he'd only get to witness the opening act. The rumbles grew more urgent, and the hulking skeleton began twitching.
"That's enough of you."
Radiant lights of Dharmic will joined the Miasmic Array Structure. It severed the last tethers connecting him to the Heavens, and four inner worlds darkened. Two of them even began fading. Stopping a Heart's death was outside his ability. He muttered an ancient chant, and six hundred spikes attached the crumbling worlds to the others.
"So you were just Heart Puppets all along. I should have figured. Your kin is more slippery than anyone," he muttered with annoyance, tapping the runes engraved on his chest. "Well, real or not, you'll have to do."