Instead of single waves of killing intent only targeting my body doubles, and moving for me last, these red and purple streaks of energy burst out in all directions and fill the entire central domain.
All of our doubles are destroyed instantly, and the killing intent even latches onto the ambient Primordial aura in the air, not allowing it to move. As much as I want to retract it back into my main body, it's pinned down in place, frozen and disconnected from my senses.
"Stop playing around! If you have the Originator's Amplifier, and the Creator's Legacy, then why have you come to this place unprepared? If you found that tomb, you must have read the same text that I have, and in full, not just the copied version the Overseer provided."
These are the last words I feel echoing through my mind as too many streaks of dangerous aura pour into both of our real bodies. Original content can be found at novｅlfire.net
I've learned how to block against these mental attacks with my corruption pretty well, but after the first few hits, some of the attacks begin seeping through.
My mind and full attention can't focus on anything else. I cannot form new doubles to change our position, I have to endure and think of a different way out.
When dozens of these mental attacks hit, the ringing in my ears returns, and once hundreds and even thousands start colliding with my mind from all sides, I get hit with the same shock as I did the first time I was struck.
Temporary blindness hits me. I can't perceive anything at all around me, and even my summoned glyphs go dull and start sinking back inward toward my soul.
It feels like I'm being forced to sleep, and there's nothing I can do about it.
I can't even perceive the passage of time while I fall unconscious.
The only thing I can feel is the fast inhale, as my eyes open wide, it feels like all I did was blink. However, millions more worlds have linked to my system in the outer settlements, so I know at least half a second has passed.
Maria flashes out of her daze at the same time.
I try to feel through the pathways of Primordial Aura, grab her wrist, and Shadowstep us away.
However, the moment of lag between the triggering of this skill and its activation is too long.
Two of the Demon's Daggers are within range, and we can do nothing to stop them.
I watch the elegant curved blades float toward us, like reality around me is slowing down. My mind is perceiving their movement, but my body isn't fast enough to stop it. In fact, a warm feeling ripples through the air, even giving off a sense that this is meant to be. That same beautiful feeling makes all of my senses go haywire.
Then, both of us get a dagger pierced through our necks and lifted into the air.
My activation of any system-based skills goes away, and all of my glyphs go dark too.
An invisible aura floods through my body, and I can't help but think of two other times I've felt something similar to this.
The first being any time I touched Originator artifacts back on the human world, they would block out mana-based system activity to a certain extent. The second being in the Ravine, when we were too weak to push our wills out through a high-quality ether shielding array.
It actually doesn't feel painful, I just feel cold, and disconnected. The only thing I can feel or see is Maria next to me, and our corruption and Source Resin are the only things still functioning in our bodies.
Her Arch Angel Form still holds, and my Sacred Body keeps its form as well, but I can't move a muscle. We're both dragged upward and back closer to the stump of the Tree to face the Demon that's captured us.
The journey from deep within the forest back to this Family Head only takes a few seconds, and there is a third flying dagger tracking right behind our heads. It gives off the beautiful ripples of aura as well.
When I see the Royal Family Head's outline come into view this time, it's actually far easier to perceive now that I'm not trying to view it with extra layers.
I can see its pure form, in terms of Primordial Aura alone, like a vibrant Rainbow Demon is standing before us.
"Tell me! Why have you caused such chaos? Even in your mortal bodies, you could have waited far longer. There was no need to target the Royal Family this early and force my hand to trigger the seal. What is your game? What have you read that I have not?"
I'm still in a daze, and the ripples of Primordial Aura that move around this Demon get brighter and brighter in this strange new sense I'm tapping into.
In fact, I can even start to see the ripples in the air, tracking where the Demon's voice is moving, and finally understand how it's making words sound in my head.
Neither of us speak, and this only causes the Demon to grow more angry.
Tens of thousands of red and purple bolts of killing intent flare out again, but they just flow through us without any damage done.
We've been pinned to a strange plane of existence with these daggers, making it so physical attacks like these, without Primordial Aura as their base, do absolutely nothing to us. It is extremely eye-opening. I feel like every microsecond that passes, I'm learning exponentially more about how Primordial Aura actually works.
"Maybe I should just kill you here. I have a technique to extract soul weapons after a system user's death, even if they don't take it out. It's like I'm talking to a pair of corpses already..." he says. But when I watch the ripples that come out of my eyes, head, horns, and even spine in a few areas, I can tell this is a bluff. Moments ago I would have been terrified, but for some reason, I know he's lying.
I turn my eyes over to Maria. We cannot communicate through the system, or even through our souls, but she can read my eyes, and I can read hers back.
When we straighten our gaze to the Demon again, it even grits its teeth in anger.
I watch the waves of energy coming off of its body become more and more intense, and every single fluctuation makes my comprehension rise.
The third dagger floats around from our back and begins to waver in between us, pointing back and forth, rippling outward with the same exact aura. Now, with all distractions gone, it feels like I'm staring into the real fabric of reality.
Every time in the past when I looked deep into mana constructs, or divine threads holding the zones together, or even very recently figuring out how to wield high-quality glyphs, they all seem like simple concepts that happen to exist in the reality I'm seeing now.
When I look at the edge of this blade, and feel the dagger in my throat holding every fiber of my being hostage, one last memory clicks into place.
I feel Maria shivering beside me as she realizes it too.
This is the same sensation we felt going to that space when coming in contact with the Void Creeper who presented us with the Creator's Legacy. The film on the outside of that reality, outside of space, it wavered just like these daggers.