Chapter 367: It Depends
Seth’s mind was a mess of chaos, blood in his heart surged in reverse, as a mind-splitting headache hit, so badly Seth almost lost consciousness for a minute.
The backlash, hitting him before he was prepared to handle it and this little glimpse made him scared.
Just a moment of letting everything go left his soul in such a horrid state and he couldn’t imagine how much worse it would be when it finally came.
Fortunately a surge of origin energy surged out of his soul mending the damages with a single wave.
Seth’s mind returned to his pseudo clarity state, where he could at least muster thoughts, and that was all he needed, his will blazed, as his eyes snapped back into focus.
"It only happened because I allowed it!" this chant was powerful and surging with cold clarity, his mind snapping back into peace, his blood flow relieving his heart of all stress, as his surging energy subsided.
It was at this point he finally came to, and the first thing he noticed was the glowing hot elephant in the room.
Flaring out with cancerous surges of mutation levels...
"A portal? When did that appear?" he muttered in confusion, feeling Uriel’s presence galloping to his side.
"Are you back? I had a feeling your state was self-inflicted..." Uriel commented as he gave a relaxed glance toward his friend by his side.
Seth chuckled, scratching the back of his head, muttering lightly, "Don’t mind me, I was lost in doubt for a bit."
Uriel nodded and didn’t push, not everything had to be said or explained all the time.
Uriel’s glance remained fixed on his friend for a second, gesturing towards the pulsating plasmatic being in the distance, rending reality and binding the space with another dimension.
Seth’s eyes flickered cold, as his gaze washed down on Zoan’s new form, causing a great surge in the surrounding energy.
And he felt it, the familiar feel of a variant’s will merging with their essence filling the air...
And only Seth here understood this just wasn’t any random variant, no, this was a being which had a dense concentration of fortune so much so it tried to link with his...
Though he rejected the attempt violently, he could feel the overwhelming flow still trying to form a connection with him and it provoked an intense surge of aversion.
"So this was what the east termed a Dao Heart." Seth muttered, thinking hard about his decision.
He never imagined a mental influence could affect his being so thoroughly, to him this was a new experience.
"I’ll have her..." Seth announced coldly as the plasma form of Zoan writhed and struggled in agony, thick plasma bolts striking the area around her, promising to turn any evolver near, regardless of rank, into a carbonized corpse.
Hence why the soldiers did not dare go near, this wild energy wasn’t restrained by ranks, just like the sun didn’t need to evolve to turn an awakened into cinders.
Seth let out a brief sigh before he let out an order, "Change of plans, I’ll be taking this beast away from sight to prevent friendly fire, and you guys shouldn’t focus on finding me but instead locate the others... if there are any."
Seth’s voice echoed, his last words causing the soldiers’ hearts to waver, but in the end they all saluted with Uriel, Lukas and Dorian giving him a silent nod.
"Alright now that’s sett-" Seth was cut off suddenly by a weak voice....
Elder Lenny, "But... what about us? We truly meant no harm..." his pitiful voice reached Seth, causing him to pause and turn back to take a glance at the old man...
"We understand this," he replied with a gentle nod, "The choice remains with you, go with them or try to head back to wherever you are from all on your own..." the tone of Seth dropping as he spoke.
And the crew understood instantly, Zoan was their only measure of protection in this goddamned place, and now she was in chaos, the force of providence she passively released that sheltered the crew from wind and rain began to crumble.
And the abyssal essence surged in a revolting stream, slowly converging on their frames and the protection began to become thinner.
They were not helping it, it was already too late, they had agreed to move with Zoan and that came with consequences, consequences they had to swallow without shifting blame.
And now they understood they weren’t in a situation where options existed, cause one path was sure death, the other was capture.
Sighing their expressions suddenly became resigned.
And Seth nodded, accepting their decision, he waved his hands and let out a stack of hides from the four-eyed monkey.
A few of the hides blazing with a terrifyingly dark force more condensed, they were hides skinned out of the corpses of the defiled.
"Here you guys should have this, it should help with the debuff effect of the zone... I hope." Seth informed them.
And he didn’t need to say anything more, as the group rushed forward the eleven newcomers were handed weaker coats they could handle.
The pelts were enough to go around everyone present...
And the moment they donned the hides they realized their presence which was already in a state of stealth suddenly becoming dimensions harder to detect.
And even better the debuff effect of the corruption force subsided immensely, almost as though they were now recognized as one with the corrupted.
Eyes widened in wonder, if Seth had such a miraculous object, why didn’t he give it out earlier?
After all, just this relief could make their chances of survival countless times higher.
Seth felt the questioning gazes settling on him, and he remained unmoved, turning around he began to move towards the chaotic plasma storm.
And then he felt someone hold his hands from behind... Seth froze feeling the unexpected contact.
And he turned his head only to see the culprit to be a skinny kid, not one of his own but a member of the newcomers.
The boy shivered and trembled feeling the pressure of Seth’s gaze but he still mustered the capacity to speak despite being under immense strain.
"Please don’t kill her..." he managed to croak...
And Seth, frowning, shrugged the skinny guy’s arm off his shoulder, turning back to focus on the commotion of light and blistering space ahead...
And he let out a two worded reply. "It depends."
And before his voice finished echoing, a surge of will swelled from his frame, swallowing the void of space containing both him and the blister of reality in the distance and vanished into the wind.