Ebony's Fable

Ebony was wearing a makeshift T-shirt, comfy long pants, and the giant's boot he had received as a wedding gift. No Dusk. No Icicle. No robe. No gravity cube.

With a total of under 300 people, Ebony conjured hundreds of bodies to expedite the process. Letting all the free Numbers help to hop from ice sculpture to sculpture. The intruders weren't trapped in confusion, and most of them took his hand shaking as an attack. They responded with violence.

But when every single one of them had their weapons sheathed. Allowing a body of Ebony to be within arm's reach, they already lost the initiative. He disarmed most of them, while still forcing a handshake.

A couple of them had good hand-to-hand combat skills. Clear proof of a Tier 4 hand-to-hand mastery, and they had weapons which was likely their main close combat choice of arms. Ebony wasn't the only one with both weapon and unarmed masteries after all. However, all of them felt like their arms were brand new to their bodies when they tried to finesse themselves to not shake his hands.

'They're not even faster than I am.' He was so used to being physically weaker and slower to people of the same evolutionary rank that this was fresh.

More than a few people enhanced themselves with mana hastily. Ebony found out that they can't hurt him and just continued his handshaking attempts while learning all their styles. Xin was a good training partner, but for the path of the formless and why he felt that his Art had changed so much, he needed variety. 'At least they can provide some entertainment this way.'

Staying unaugmented, the axe generated sparks when he parried it with the back of his fist.

'My mana purity allows me to push Repository even further. I should buy some defensive mana augmentation skills for reference.'

Now that they were faster than him, he was forced to push more Shades and conjurations out. An army of his figures slowly surrounded his opponents.

The mages were in a tough spot; they shouldn't have allowed him to get so close.

Not wanting to waste time, he focused his Will into his overflowing essence. His Martial and Simulative Aura.

Then he looked them all in the eye, one by one. Even those with good instincts or danger sense who closed their eyes weren't able to dodge eye contact with a Flicker of his around them. The conjurations and shades move towards a central location. The ice mana returned to his bracelet, the shades recombined with his unmoving body.

With all of them locked in watching how he would fight them now that he had some data on their close combat and their mana movement. Ebony mentally manipulated this aura of his. He felt that he had a good handle on it. As targets that had clear hostile intent, they were served with currently unlimited amount of simulations.

"What are you waiting for?" His wife's voice was heard as she stepped towards him. The rest of the entourage trailed along.

"They can break free anytime!" Tower Head Sylvarith Dawnweave swept his arms horizontally with his flowing robed sleeves and clicked his tongue in disagreement.

Ebony blinked and every single one of them with Sequester of hundreds of millions of mana burst into a sealed state. They continued to be a recipient of his aura for the mental stun. Good targets for his new manipulation were never too much to ask for.

"Path of the Formless? Your family's butler, head of the Eclipse Guards isn't that deep in is he?" Duke Truewater muttered to Navin.

"Yes. He's part of the Shi Clan."

"I see…"

Ebony didn't ask them anything, Duke Truewater dropped the conversation right after Navin introduced that he was part of the Shi Clan. As if that explained everything. To be fair, they probably knew Shi Ling, and she was also a martial artist. Her art wasn't exactly focused on the Path of the Formless but all of them were technically on it. Shi Ling's close combat style had a form, a pattern to it but also flexible to any opposing art.

That was to say, it was similar to Ebony's Art. He should've been purely on the Formless, but his skill showed that he still had a form. Still had patterns for a more experienced martial artist to figure out and break down. The only issue was that he wasn't surrounded by many, or any of these 'more experienced' people.

Ebony didn't crowd around the statue like the rest of them. Despite what Oplot said, he hadn't even let his mana senses get close to the Angel's statue.

Who knew what She was capable of?

He didn't know what power they borrowed in the past, but now that he knew about Concepts and Laws. It was quite obvious.

There was a limited amount of a certain type of Concept. Wouldn't it make perfect sense that an Angel of say, a God of Wind could borrow the ability to use more of this power?

Of course, this was merely a conjecture of his, but he doubted he was far off the mark.

What if the Angel was particularly close or well-liked by their God? Would they then receive a greater allowance of borrowed power for a lower or no price at all?

There was no reason for him to test higher beings right now when he wasn't even the strongest King around.

Knowing the Xengs, it was highly unlikely that the Shi, Ning or even the unknown Wen Saints were Angels. They probably carved their own paths, have their own Concepts and Laws and not gifted or allowed to control.

It was said that every 3rd Gen Xeng and above could fend off almost any Saint challengers, including all the non-combatants. 'Any' Saint challengers included Angels, but those might be out of the non-combatant's abilities to handle. The Shi and Ning Clan combatants of the 3rd Gen such as Shi Qiang, can even survive and drag a battle against Mythical creatures. This was basically public information for Eidolon. Known feats that people spread.

As a force, the Xengs weren't all that scary. There were just too few of them.

In those Superclusters, many forces, such as the Wandering Celestial Monastery, have multiple Demi-Gods. Although this Monastery was a bit of an oddity, it was unknown which God they served.

However, while the Xengs as a force weren't that scary, their individuals were mostly feared. Just the Cosmic Tyrant alone made people veer off.

However, numerous civilisations and races don't use Eidolon. Or are in the dark about such a small group without any Angels or Archangels. Religious groups wouldn't even bother with such a faithless group.

Oplot held no such concerns. As the son of a pair of Demi-Gods, and directly smashed the fragile statue into smithereens with a light rap on the knuckles. Like Ebony, Oplot was born on Earth and had the benefit of most of his Potential seeping to his soul, but he had more and still had a sizable Potential in the rest of his baseline. He was as unafraid of the Angel as Lure was unafraid of the Wandering Celestial Monastery.

The Wandering Celestial Monastery was a local force. Local, as in this Supercluster. But they were not afraid of forces from other Superclusters, such as Lure. They were just based here, didn't mean they were any weaker or stronger.

"Let's go, our objective is to repel Lure's highest-ranking members and dissuade strengthened invasion." Navin took the role of the leader.

Ebony probably wasn't the only one who noticed the disappearance of all the Emperor-ranked invaders across the Continent. It was right after he woke up and took Vittale City back.

He'd never even seen the shadow of a Soul Puppet. Only a couple of stranglers of the Demons could be found at an overrun town, but not a single human Emperor was seen. It was as if they all dipped and ran.

Forget Emperors, there weren't even stronger Kings left behind.

As confident as he was, there was no chance they all left because he woke up. Something else made their members retreat or gather. Hence, it was a little suspicious that this portal was hardly guarded. It shouldn't even take another two weeks before Ebony's Turtle Fort and the Painter of Animation's clones took back every town and city. Which was odd considering the forcefulness they come in with.

Even if Elcra was caught off guard, it wasn't like they had Kings placed in every City. Lure could easily retake Cities with a few of them, since even the Painter of Animation wasn't everywhere at once.

However, Ebony was also aware that they had no reason to occupy cities. They reaped souls or kept cities down to wait for the Soul Puppets to reap the souls. They didn't technically need any land when their objective was the people, the souls. They've already achieved it to a degree.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

This event was likely enough to help Navin push for greater centralisation. He'd proven that his barrier over Tidal was impeccable even in the face of multiple Emperor-ranked invaders.

Their briefing earlier had them thinking their enemy was consolidating some level of teamwork for a direct breakthrough into Tidal. Literal billions of souls for them to reap. Not only billions of people, but there were also easily hundreds of millions of tamed monsters. Horse-race monsters that pulled carriages and avian travel companions were abundant in Tidal.

The new train system was amazingly popular for slightly well-off civilians to travel to other parts of the massive city that one may never visit, but not so much for the poorer civilians. At the current rate, the Empire wouldn't earn back the investment to build its slightly magical metroline for 2 centuries.

Thinking about that, Ebony recalled that he could bring his wife out for her first train ride. They supposedly hired multiple chefs from outside Elcra for their train's menu.

"No fault for running away when your lives are at stake. It is but the nature of living creatures." Tower head Sylvarith Dawnweave uttered after looking at his serious countenance.

"Were you thinking of surprising me with something?" His wife seemed annoyed by the very thought that this panicky Elf thought that her husband was wondering how to retreat if they faced a tough opponent. He had been lost in thought about a train ride, not the Angel coming after Oplot destroyed her statue.

'I don't believe she can't read minds....' She just knew him really well, along with her foresight and emotion-detecting skill.

Ebony once again noticed that his wife still had black hair. It just seemed like an indicator that there would be no interesting fight, but he didn't let his guard down. Her foresight had already proven to have failed against the stealth armoured fighter. Yet, he couldn't bring himself to get her into combat mode to be on the safe side. In any case, she was training to match her mental states so that her danger sense was just as high in either state, and her reaction speed shouldn't be lower.

The moment they stepped past the portal into Lacuna Expanse, they were enveloped in a foreign Will. Xin's Intent protected her from the adverse effects. Oplot glowed a golden hue, and he merely put his fingers to his chin to analyse the adverse effect. Navin and Kaowe were covered in an arcane barrier, and the Ebony even sensed the Will falter back and not touch them. Was the Will cursed because it tried to hurt the arcane barrier around them? Likely so, and it even worked.

The Painter of Animation had no visible effects taken or removed. She was a painted clone and had no soul.

Duke Truewater flinched before surrounding himself in extremely dense water. Using dense, fortified water mana to override the mana in the space to disrupt the Will. He wasn't able to manipulate Will consciously, but Ebony could feel that the human mage was almost capable of manipulating Will. Making him soon to be the third public Domain or fourth order mages of the Empire. It didn't mean much, Ebony was certain there were a few more human Domain mages within Tidal that were not known to the public. They just stayed home, built a small Domain around their home, just like Ebony and never did anything or went out.

Hermits studying magic. Probably about to die of old age any day now.

Many more may be hidden in the noble families, but he didn't find any before. Excluding the Elves, of course. Perhaps if he tried doing a thorough scan on Tidal, he could sniff everyone of them out now.

Their Will, while weak, was stable, and they clearly had supremely efficient and precise control. Making their small Domains very specific despite their weak Wills. Still, it was like trying to power a 50kW fan with a 300W battery. Hence, the small size of their domains also made them especially strong within them. By his estimation, he was sure they had proper Domains and not a budding one like his.

Then again, that didn't mean their domains were any stronger.

Anyhow, Ebony clearly sensed that this Domain directly affected his soul. It wasn't a direct attack, but it was leeching at the edges of their souls. He could not sense other people's souls, so he could only tell that his own was tugged at, but that was the extent of it.

From Xin's non-reaction, she was unaffected.

Entras retreated, "I'll guard the door!" Looks like he had no way to protect his soul and returned to Elcra immediately.

Ebony felt Tower Head Sylvarith Dawnweave extend his flimsy Will outward to overtake the Will's space around here and push the soul Domain back. It worked, and a bubble of space now under his control was set up.

These people clearly succeeded in bringing more of the Saint's influence over here compared to beyond the portal.

There was no one in sight. No statue in sight. But the reaches of Her Domain were proof that all of them were already spotted. Setting up a claim over space with his own Domain probably had Tower Head Sylvarith Dawnweave marked.

Ebony maintained his Will coverage around himself only. It emulated Intent usage, but Will was weaker than Intent in self-empowerment by a large degree.

The Painter of Animation took her brush out and splattered the large brush head onto the dead grass. The brush had thick liquid mana that changed colour. Liquid mana paint.

She brought the dead environment back to life. The grass turned green again. The wilted trees stood back up, more energetic than ever as their roots burst out and pushed their trunks up before they began walking around.

Then the winds picked up. A cloud formed…with a face?

They watched curiously as the King and Emperor of the Empire also didn't know what the Painter of Animation was capable of. An army of trees, Wind and Cloud Elementals was drawn into existence.

"I would like to say that having your personal army is illegal in the Empire." Duke Truewater joked.

'Those Elementals are alive but also not. Animation is temporary, but it's as good as the real thing.' Ebony had an itch. Elementals were known to be some of the strongest living beings on basically every Worldcore. However, even with his network, they were rare. He'd fought one type himself and knew they were basically fully optimised for their element.

He fought a hybrid elemental. These were pure Wind and Cloud Elementals, some of the rarest to find in the wild. Earth Elementals were common enough; the Dwarves knew how to track the birth of an Earth Elemental and kill it before it grew into any measure of strength to collapse the underground dwarven society.

Only 'forbidden' lands like the Glades had Elementals that could grow without being slaughtered before they evolved too far. That meant the Dwarves had to kill Elementals within weeks or a month of their birth. Elementals were one of the living beings that didn't need parents. They were born naturally but usually only in regions where their elements were abundant. So far, a total of zero occurrences of an Elemental being born directly in a city or any populated area on Elcra. However, Elementals being born anywhere, anytime was a common occurrence on higher-ranked Worldcores.

When the Worldcores or the elements were sufficient, they could go from Unclassed to Emperor in a single day or less. Thankfully for the Empire, that wasn't the case. Civilisation might not be a thing if a fire elemental gets born in someone's home and goes from Unclassed to Grandmaster in seconds.

'If I get a bunch of ice mana….would an elemental form inside my body?' He asked himself a silly question. It was highly unlikely. His soul was in place. There surely were easier locations for an Elemental to birth naturally.

In any case, the Wind Elemental was an unseen threat of unknown proportions. He couldn't see or sense it through mana perception. He could sense the vibrational movements but the Wind Elemental mixed with the natural winds and didn't produce any violent movements until they were on the offensive. They were literally in the air. How should he fight that?

Physical attacks seemed pointless even with Will. Xin's Intent would help cut the spirit, maybe the soul of the Elemental. She also had wind mana affinity and could sense a living creature within the winds.

As for freezing….was he supposed to make cold air?

'I suppose I can technically freeze air.' Ebony found something new to test. He conjured a small ice jar and tested if he could solidify air. Could his flames push temperatures to absolute zero? He shouldn't be far off, not when he could seal a person and their state almost perfectly. At least in the physical sense, reaching absolute zero wasn't a dream.

The test result was reached incredibly fast. It's not like he didn't already know how his ice and flames affected air. At normal pressure, it was liquid, but he could easily compress it into a slurry. With sufficient volume, he could make a block of air not quite solid but close enough. Should he really need it, he could store a few bars of nearly solid air in his body. This was old news when his previous lungs stored a liquified version. The mental strength needed to compress it wasn't even high.

In the magical sense, it was definitely possible to go below that. What did that usually mean? It usually meant ice, or cold freezing more than physical energy. The soul for example, would not freeze at absolute zero. It wouldn't even feel temperatures and would not be affected by cold or heat.

This was where Ebony was completely stumped. His flames could make something go to absolute zero, but no amount of cold property added had helped in producing any effects of cold known to go into the magical territory. No amount of mana was changing this fact either. Ebony even read a book on the stages of cold below the physical cold, so it wasn't like he had no knowledge of the effects to look out for to measure his success in doing so.

After physical absolute zero was cognitive frost, spirit chill, vital frost and more in that order, but possible to be skipped with direct skills.

The Cloud Elemental did not arouse much interest from him. He could probably freeze it with ease, and kicking or slicing clouds didn't sound exciting. Putting it into a gravitational vortex might be the simplest way to go about it, and it was likely his first choice against the Wind Elemental as well.

The Painter of Animation painted in silence, her silence was proof that her clone-type skill wasn't all that great. While she was doing that, Ebony had already found a few hotspots with his scouting. Sleeping Demon camp with over 30 Emperors, a third of them had stronger auras than the Power Demon. Two were particularly blinding.

'Still…not quite Boiler Knight class auras. Maybe around Master Caden Ignatius' aura.' Auras could be deceiving, but unless they had skills to augment or modify, it was generally a much better gauge of strength than level or evolutionary stage. Master Caden Ignatius was one of his Number's teachers on Cinderash, and he remembered one of the first few Emperors he faced with.

He could do this the boring way. Toss the Numbers at them, lock down a dome of gravity and ice to constantly weaken. Then tire them out. He didn't even need to fight himself. As long as he kept his lockdown secure, they weren't going anywhere, and they would tire sooner or later no matter how fast or how capable they were at destroying moving ice sculptures. With him present, it wasn't like his Numbers had to fear Will loss or memory loss either.

Without Dusk, his ability to lock them down within a small space was far from optimal and probably impossible with the Demon's individual strengths. To contain them within an extremely small space would be easier, but chances were, they would spread out hundreds of kilometres apart should a battle start. Practically all were 'mountain-splitting' levels of physical strength, and that might not even be all, considering their active skills.

Lacuna Expanse wasn't that weak of a 'world'. The soil was one thing; the atmosphere itself was thicker. It could provide a home for Emperor-ranked creatures, it would be able to handle a few fights of that level without much trouble.

Whether or not Lacuna Expanse was used to people around these Demon's strength was a different question. Ebony did not want to let his curiosity search for 'what happens should a World Dungeon be dug to its core, would it have a core like a planet?'

The pair of Elves addressed that issue first and foremost with their Manifestation of Natural Preservation spell.