Divine Apostasy Book 12 - Chapter 40

Chapter 40

“The ring is created with Soul Power,” Overlord said. “Harmony is the key to making your super portal work while passing through the earth, but you can’t keep the harmonies coherent after a certain distance. That is where Spirit comes in.”

Overlord pointed at the projected ring and eight equidistant points glowed around the circumference. “If you place Scarecrow Aspect clones around the circumference you can use them to manage the harmonies.”

Ruwen frowned. “Clones can’t channel magic. I can’t launch a Soul attack with one or cast a Spirit based spell.”

“That’s a discussion for another time, because I think we could solve those issues, because I can access your Spirit and Soul and I bet chakra will work for me as well once you figure it out. Harmony is the only thing I can’t figure out yet.”

“You aren’t a Minion. You’re like me. I don’t think the comparison is valid. Plus, doesn’t the fact you can’t work with Harmony provide even more evidence that this won’t work.”

“Just the opposite,” Overlord said, “because you aren’t channeling Harmony out of some well within yourself, we don’t need to figure out that issue yet. All you’re doing is using your knowledge, Willpower, and your innate sense of universal balance to affect the world around you. Your Multitasking skill will allow you to utilize however many clones you require. They’ll provide the view you need to control the distant harmonies.”

“We’ll try it, but I think Willpower is another well of power that sits somewhere in my mind.”

“Maybe, but it acts at a greater distance. When you dimensionally fold space to teleport it’s your Will that anchors the other side and folds the space in between.”

Ruwen hadn’t considered that before, and it seemed like a big deal. The Destruction Realm used Will like a weapon on the surroundings, and now Overlord had pointed out Ruwen used Will to manipulate the environment here in the Material Realm. Did Willpower also work in the Creation Realm?

Ruwen placed a hand on Overlord’s shoulder. “Thanks, buddy. That was insightful. Even if this fails, it doesn’t change that fact. And the only reason I think of things faster is because I have more experiences to reference. I think you’re rapidly catching up with me, which is why you made these connections. I wonder if Harmony will respond to you once you’re out here in the Material Realm.”

“I wonder the same thing.”

Ruwen didn’t waste any time. He created a thousand-foot diameter circle with Soul Power and then tapped his Scarecrow Aspect to generate thirty-two clones spaced every ninety-eight feet around the circle’s circumference. Using Divine Domain, he hovered three hundred feet above the ring and focused on a random clone.

The Aspect clones responded to Ruwen’s thoughts as if he used his own body. It was why he could use them to fight so effectively if needed. Now though, instead of throwing a punch, he activated his Harmonic abilities while using the clone’s vision.

The clone’s surroundings shifted into familiar harmonic combinations, and Ruwen attempted to combine two bundles of chords. Pumice at the clone’s feet twisted into the lava below which bubbled violently before calming to reveal small chunks of obsidian.

Using Harmony through the clone hadn’t felt any different. “Overlord, you’re a genius.”

“I know.”

Tapping Multitask, Ruwen took control of the thirty-two clones. He faced them all toward the center and then turned them to the left until each could see the back of the clone in front of them. Each clone now had responsibility for the ninety-eight feet between itself and the next clone.

Ruwen wrapped each section or the soul ring with braided harmonies, reinforcing the durability of the circle. Then he generated the five gate runes for the distant moon in the center, and the portal formed.

This time when Ruwen willed the portal downward, it easily slid through the lava and hard ground, transferring the contents to the moon above and leaving a thousand-foot-wide hole ten feet deep. The clones and portal had served their purpose, and he dismissed them.

“This is a big deal,” Ruwen said to Overlord. “Thank you.”

“Glad I could contribute,” Overlord said before disappearing.

Ruwen only had one idea to transport magma from deep underground to the moon, and it would destroy everything for miles around including animals and people. He had a plan to address this issue but the soul portal currently transporting the eruption to the moon would interfere.

 Creating Scarecrow Aspect clones around the portal transporting the eruption to the moon, Ruwen reinforced the ring with Harmony and pushed it fifty feet underground. The lava nearest the hole dripped down, striking the back of the portal, but the ring held. It only needed to last another minute.

Ruwen ascended a thousand feet into the sky and Survey confirmed the horizon lay thirty-five miles away. He accessed his level four Soul and created a ring seventy miles in diameter with a circumference of just under one point two million feet. Eleven thousand six hundred clones appeared, spaced evenly around the circle, and his new core provided all the Spirit instantly.

The local animals had fled from the eruption, but the nearby ones couldn’t have made it thirty-five miles away. In addition, he didn’t have time to look for people. His solution would inconvenience and confuse the animals and humans, and likely kill a lot of fish, but he didn’t have any other solutions. At least this idea gave them a chance of surviving while the moon was certain death.

Ruwen climbed to four thousand feet. Mist and clouds obscured his view of the soul ring, and he clapped his hands, creating a massive pressure wave that spread outward, taking the clouds with it. He turned in a circle, looking for the best option for his plan.

Focusing on a spot near the horizon seventy miles away, Ruwen used the Architect Role to get the gate runes and then shifted the height upward by fifteen feet. Then he transferred those runes to the soul circle below and felt the portal snap into place.

Ruwen paused. He’d never tried controlling so many clones at the same time. While the basic harmonic flows would be the same for each, environmental factors would require small adjustments to the chords and surrounding notes. He couldn’t just replicate the exact harmonies everywhere.

The Multitasking skill was a method of perfected context switching. It allowed a person to rapidly move from task to task without the normal time required to reorient your thoughts. With Ruwen’s mental strength and speed he could control ten times the number of clones below and it would appear to an outsider that the clones acted together instantly.

Multitasking had always been sufficient, but Overlord had opened Ruwen’s eyes to new possibilities. He could project Harmony through his clones which increased the reach of his most powerful magic. Combined with a level four Soul and a new advanced core what would stop him from duplicating this to move a country, or an ocean, or even a planet. In the future, his mind, of all things, might limit his capabilities if he didn’t find a more efficient version of Multitasking. That was a problem for another day, however.

Ruwen reinforced the soul ring with harmonic flows, switching between the clones at an insane pace. The soul ring hovered ten feet off the ground, silently waiting. It had sliced through the jungle trees making everything the same height. He confirmed the gate runes were correct and willed the portal down and into the ground a few feet.

Everything halfway to the horizon disappeared only leaving the back of the portal visible. Ruwen’s Divine hearing detected the crash of jungle, foliage, and rivers being displaced as he shifted everything seventy miles and out of harm’s way.

Ruwen wiped away the current gate runes and replaced them with the moon’s location. He dismissed the smaller ring he’d placed underground, and the erupting lava surged to the surface. His seventy-mile-wide soul ring worked as intended though, and the lava disappeared into the portal.

The critical part of the plan had arrived, and Ruwen cycled quickly around the clones confirming everything one more time. Then he willed the seventy-mile-wide portal downward toward the magma chamber a hundred miles below.

Ruwen moved slowly at first, but within a few seconds he’d increased his speed to three hundred miles per hour. He followed the ring down using his Divine Domain and monitored the clones with Multitasking.

A vacuum formed behind Ruwen, and he used a version of the level six Worker spell Fresh Air to backfill his path which allowed him to increase his speed to a thousand miles per hour. The harmonic flows to stabilize the ring took more and more effort as his velocity grew and his Mental Energy dropped for the first time. He definitely needed a more efficient method for this if he wanted to do anything massive.

At six thousand miles per hour, the drain on Ruwen’s Mental Energy became significant enough that he held that speed. After thirty seconds he tapped Last Breath enough to react when the magma chamber entered Survey’s range.

Ruwen slowed quickly as his Mental Energy sharply dropped. This near the magma chamber, the immense pressure constantly tried to rip the soul portal apart. The harmonies to support the ring structure had become thick braided chords and he wondered if starting with a smaller portal would’ve been better. That would take longer, though, and he really wanted to get on with his chakra quest.

Vast amounts of poisonous gas and magma surged into the seventy-mile portal, but the pressure hadn’t decreased all that much, which made Ruwen think this might take longer than he wanted.

Ruwen Blinked past his portal and into the magma chamber. The liquified rock seared his skin but his Demigod Fortified body remained unharmed. He dove deeper into the magma chamber while keeping most of his focus on the portal ring’s structure.

Twenty miles down, Ruwen stopped. He didn’t want to get too deep as the point was to remove all the pressure that had gathered at the top of the chamber.

Ruwen floated in a burning sea of orange and red. It reminded him of his days on Shelly when he’d follow Xavier into various stars. Ruwen could never get very far as his body Fortification hadn’t yet been sufficient to follow Xavier into the star’s center. The colors had been like this though, vivid and intense.

Ruwen used his Divine Domain to push the surrounding magma away until he hovered in a sphere one thousand feet across. He created a soul ring, wrapped it with dense harmonies, and added the gate runes for the moon. Then he willed the new portal out of his sphere and into the magma. It lasted for over a minute before the environment broke down the portal’s structure.

Encouraged, Ruwen created another and then another, until hundreds of the portals were pushing through the surrounding magma powered by his Will. He teleported to another location and this time pushed himself to create thousands, the portals forming with the speed of his thoughts.

The main portal remained at the top of the magma chamber ensuring nothing reached the surface, while Ruwen did with quantity what size couldn’t accomplish quickly.

Ten minutes later the pressure inside the chamber had decreased considerably, and Ruwen calculated it wasn’t a danger any longer. Plus, he’d almost used up all his Mental Energy.

Ruwen dismissed the massive portal and allowed the magma to carry him along as it surged toward the surface. Instead of navigating narrow routes, the magma now had an immense seventy-mile channel, and this robbed the magma of considerable force. The danger of an exploding plume of gas, ash, and lava had disappeared.

Where a semi-dormant volcano had stood, a new lava lake would exist. Seventy miles of molten rock. Ruwen wished none of this had happened, but he’d learned a very valuable ability, and he hadn’t killed everyone on the planet in the process. Now he could finish that chakra quest.

Ruwen hung his head as an obvious outcome only now struck him. The third chakra gem had been in or under the volcano, and that mountain was no longer on the planet.

Level four Soul energy ignited around Ruwen as he took his frustration out on the surrounding magma. In the sudden emptiness around him, he created a soul portal with familiar gate runes and stepped through.