The six of them said nothing for a long mont.
None of them needed to. The presence still forcing itself through the fracture above was eloquent enough on its own, and every second spent on words was a second that thing used to root itself further into this world.
It was the woman of flas who spoke first.
"There is no need for to tell you what must be done. For better or worse, it is our only option." Her voice was calm but solemn, a solemnity that every one of them felt.
They were the six most powerful beings of the human kingdoms, the pillars that had kept their race alive from the mont the Age of Gods had co to its end. In terms of raw strength they didn’t co close to the beings of that era, but for the current age they were more than sufficient. That said, if there was one thing none of them could ever hope to face alone, it was the threat of the Hollow.
Unlike the Age of Gods, in the current era the Hollow threat had been small, almost nonexistent, and had remained so for centuries. Yet recently there had been several appearances, with the current one being the most severe by far.
The six kingdoms were not allies. On the contrary, they were in constant conflict, small or large, but if there was one thing every one of them was more than willing to collaborate on, it was the threat from the abyss, the Hollow. That was what had brought the other five rulers here, and it was also why they had gotten to work imdiately rather than debating how much aid to offer and what to expect in return.
Their elental manifestations were solidifying, and soon their true forms began to erge. They were no longer living avatars of their elents, but themselves, in flesh and bone, standing there in person. One of the many advantages of being a Paragon.
Hearing her words, none of them said anything. They simply nodded. Every one of them had already been thinking the sa thing, and given the situation there wasn’t much else their minds could settle on.
"Who volunteers?" asked the young-faced man who had arrived on the bolt of lightning, his voice young in sound but fooling no one present.
"I will. I am the strongest among us, and my affinity with the other elents is the best." said the short-haired woman who had erged from the flas.
She was one of the most powerful Paragons of the human race, if not the strongest. Still far from matching the existence currently forcing its way through the fracture above, but formidable nonetheless.
No one said a word. Everyone knew she was genuinely the best choice.
"That formation has not been used in centuries," said the King of Solren. "None of us has ever activated it in a real engagent."
"I know."
"The synchronization required between six Concept Cores is—"
"I know," she said again, and this ti her tone closed the subject entirely.
The King of Solren looked at her for a mont. Then he exhaled slowly through his nose and said nothing more. She was right. They all knew it. The formation in question had been designed precisely for situations like this one, created during the Age of Gods.
It had never been used in earnest. Not by this generation, not by the previous one. But the principles behind it were written into the most restricted archives of every kingdom, passed down not as history but as instruction.
Just in case.
They wasted no more ti on discussion. The six of them imdiately took their positions, forming five points in the shape of a pentagon with the woman at the center. At once, each of the six drew a drop of essence from within themselves and infused it with the energy of their Concept Core.
And the formation ignited.
It was not light in any conventional sense. It was six different energies finding one another across the space between six bodies, threading together with a tension that was almost audible, a resonance that built slowly and then all at once as the connections locked into place. Earth, fla, wood, water, lightning, wind, six concepts converging on a single point, each one contributing sothing that alone would have been formidable, and together becoming sothing else entirely.
The woman at the center received it all.
For a mont her expression tightened, the strain visible in the set of her jaw, the stillness of her hands. Then sothing settled behind her eyes, and the energy that had poured into her stopped resisting and beca hers.
She raised her gaze toward the fracture.
A fla suddenly blood in her right hand.
At first glance it resembled ordinary fire, yet countless colors flowed beneath its surface, shifting endlessly like sothing struggling to settle into a single form. The air around it twisted under the pressure it radiated, unstable and impossibly dense.
It was no longer re fla.
***
The rubble was everywhere.
Thick slabs of stone, shattered roots as wide as tree trunks, compressed earth that had once ford the walls and floor of a space that no longer existed in any recognizable form. The collapse had been total, and what remained was a darkness so complete it had a texture to it, the kind that presses against the eyes and makes them work for nothing.
Evan was alive.
He had confird that within the first few seconds, running a quick internal check the way he had learned to do every ti a situation deteriorated fast. No broken bones. A deep cut along his left forearm where a slab had caught him on the way down, already clotting. A bruised rib, maybe two, that made breathing at full depth sothing he was choosing not to do for the mont. His mana pathways were still intact. His body was functional.
He was also completely, thoroughly buried.
’haa... I’m really starting to hate this city,’ he thought, unable to ignore how the situation had grown worse with every passing second since his arrival.
So much for exploring the world. His very first destination had brought him to this, buried under what might have been half a mountain of rubble. What would the next one bring, a guaranteed death?
He didn’t want to think about it. Not right now, not when he had no idea how much earth was sitting above him and getting out was the only thing that mattered.
That thing was still in his hand.
He hadn’t dropped it during the collapse, hadn’t even registered that he was still holding it until the dust had settled and he’d finished his damage assessnt. It was still beating. Slow, wet, steady, completely indifferent to everything that had just happened, as if the destruction of the laboratory and the collapse of an ancient stump above it were simply not relevant to whatever it was doing.
He stared at it in the dark.
’Just what the hell is this thing?’
He hadn’t expected an answer. He certainly hadn’t expected one in the very next second, but the heart that had been beating steadily until that mont began to vibrate, and soon its entire surface was covered in an intense light.
Evan barely had ti to register what was happening before the light surged without warning and exploded outward, washing over everything.
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