Divine Apostasy Book 11 - Chapter 36

Chapter 36

Ruin now had an abundance of energy around his core, and he didn’t hesitate to use it.

Three thousand arm-sized icicles appeared a thousand feet above and they fell as one.

The leader of the Screechlings, still hiding behind the mass of followers, warned the beasts and they tried to scatter.

Ruin created a plate armored Minion he called Fallen Lord. This modified Fallen Hero spell had the same black armor as the normal apparitions, with the addition of red scars across the chest and arms, as if some dreadful creature had mauled the surface. It also had far more Armor Class and Health Points than normal Minions. The dark red slashes across the armor stood out in this monochrome Realm.

In Ruin’s human body he’d found the Destruction Realm destroyed any mental connections he created. Now in his Saraph body, he formed a link with the Fallen Lord Minion in front of him. Both the Minion and the connection to it had formed from Destruction essence and they were both unaffected by the Destruction Realms normally destructive behavior.

Sivart joined Overlord and Uruziel.

Ruin spoke to them. “I’m starting to understand some of the basics. Spirit is like a neutral energy. Destruction essence is like Spirit except it has a negative charge. This Minion and the connection my Saraph body created to it are unaffected by the Realm. My only worry—”

Overlord interrupted. “You’re worried if the Minions are safe for us to inhabit and if traversing that connection might cause harm.”

Ruin nodded.

The falling icicles wouldn’t harm the Screechlings directly, their Divine level bodies would prevent that, but Ruin hadn’t intended that, he wanted to delay them a bit while he worked through a few final issues.

Ruin tapped the roiling energy surrounding his core and fire erupted around the Screechlings. The creatures were surprised at first and then mocked him with whistles and clicks as once again his magic hadn’t harmed them.

With Arcangel hearing Ruin detected when the sizzling stopped and most of the falling icicles had turned into steam. He canceled the fire and then pulled the energy from the air, yanking it violently from the entire area.

The steam instantly condensed and then froze, coating eighty percent of the Screechlings, who fell from the sky like rain.

Sivart spoke up. “When I traveled through the Tower roots I didn’t take any damage.”

“I don’t think those roots are part of the Destruction Realm,” Ruin responded. “I think the towers themselves are outside of time.”

“Why is that?” Uruziel asked.

Ruin kept his focus on the Screechlings as they smashed into the ground, unable to fly with wings covered in frost or frozen entirely. “Varthon might have lied to me, but he mentioned our Universe runs at a vastly increased temporal speed. This was another layer of protection for us. To keep us out of the normal flow of time in the Outerverse.”

“Ah,” Uruziel said. “And you interacted fine with the palace guardian.”

“Right. I didn’t see any actual people, and what I fought was some type of construct according to Deryssa, but the fact that even happened makes me positive those towers and their roots are special and not part of the Destruction Realm.”

“Well,” Overlord said staring intently at the Fallen Lord, “that just leaves one way—”

Overlord stopped speaking abruptly and then the Fallen Lord Minion spoke.

“To know for sure,” Overlord said from the Minion.

Uruziel glared at the construct. “Darkness take me, Overlord! You can’t be so irresponsible! It’s your life you’re risking.”

Ruin felt Overlord connect to the Destruction Core and another Minion appeared.

The Risen Queen stood in stark contrast to Overlord’s Fallen Lord. The Risen Queen wore a long white dress and a halo of light hovered over her head. Red hair hung almost to her waist in a complicated braid. The Risen Queen looked exactly like Uruziel, as if Overlord had spent years carefully sculpting each feature and painting every freckle.

“Come on in, the water’s fine,” Overlord said.

Uruziel disappeared from Ruin’s vision and the Risen Queen punched Overlord in his armored shoulder. “Reckless fool,” Uruziel muttered.

Sivart created a dragon Minon and the bamboo armored form he used to fly on it. A moment later he’d disappeared from Ruin’s vision as well.

“You guys are safe in there?” Ruin asked.

“It’s not comfortable,” Overlord said, “and I wouldn’t want to get trapped in here, but yeah, it’s safe. And yes, we’ve already tested the emergency retreat. It works just fine.”

Uruziel placed a hand on Ruin’s shoulder and frowned as she had to stretch. She pulled from Ruin’s core and all the Minions grew by thirty percent as she readjusted their size to match his Saraph body.

“That’s better,” Uruziel said. “We can talk in more detail later about how your core works. The important thing to manage is the rate the essence packets strike your core. Every time they do, they release more essence packets. Your Meridians trap some of those packets as they go through their own reactions, but that is temporary. If too many essence packets are released their collisions will create so many new packets the process rises exponentially and something bad will happen.”

“Bad?” Ruin asked.

“Probably an explosion. Or maybe you’ll melt from the inside out. Perhaps you’ll—”

Ruin held up a hand interrupting Uruziel. “I understand. How do I control it. Slow my Core Velocity I assume?”

“Yes or use the excess packets to remove them from flying around your center. There are probably more sophisticated methods. I’ll talk to Deryssa about it after play time is over.”

“Thanks.”

Ruin confirmed the chaos in his center hadn’t gotten worse. He found it hard to believe such turmoil could result in anything productive, but the proof filled him. The violent collisions around his core and Meridians provided a mass of highly energetic bundles.

Uruziel and Overlord dashed toward the mass of fallen Screechlings who remained on the ground. As they ran, twenty additional Fallen Hero Minions appeared behind them as Overlord created a small army for himself.

Probably sensing the additions to Ruin’s team, the dungeon responded, and he detected vibrations from underground.

Incoming from below, Ruin told everyone. Take care and work together, these are Divine tier creatures and those Minions won’t last long.

Overlord went to work as all kinds of specialized Minions materialized across the battlefield. Catapult Minions launched Sentry Minions high into the air and rows of Archery Minions joined spear ones. Ruin sensed Uruziel utilizing his core as she experimented in real time, improving the Minions to make them more durable against the Divine beasts.

Ruin cast Angelic Field Guardian and twelve clones appeared. They wore the Scarecrow Aspect but now matched his new height and build including his four wings. Each of them had twenty-five percent of his Armor Class and Health, which would make them durable even against these foes.

Overlord took control of the clones and sent them sprinting in different directions to scout and observe.

Ruin spread his four wings and leaped into the air. It was time to fight, and he increased his Core Velocity to provide enough energy for his friends. Now that Uruziel had explained the reasoning behind the chaos in his center, he sensed the rise and fall of pressure as the essence packets struck his center. It didn’t take long to balance Core Velocity with these sensations and keep everything in a steady state.

Destruction energy seeped out of Ruin’s center and into his Saraph body and for the first time he didn’t reject the joyous feelings it produced. This form could never replace his human body, but that didn’t mean it was worthless. Rami was right to encourage acceptance of himself like this until a solution to return to his human body was found.

With those thoughts, the world around Ruin shifted. It didn’t compare to Harmony, but everything around him seemed closer, easier to touch. It felt like the difference between wearing boots and going barefoot.

Ruin climbed until he hovered far above the battle. Sivart had created eleven more dragons with riders and the air had turned into a mass of talons and teeth.

A lone Screechling noticed Ruin and beat its wings frantically to reach him. The new connected sensation he felt for his surroundings included this beast, but it contained something else, too. The beast had come within thirty feet when he finally recognized the feeling.

Feelings actually. A combination of hunger, greed, power, and domination.

As soon as Ruin focused on the sensation his Will lashed out and ripped the bat-like creature apart. What had been a beast now existed as a minced and pulverized cloud of blood and flesh. The surge of Will had originated from his core, and it preceded to pull destruction essence from the bloody mist and funnel it to his core.

Ruin severed the connection in horror as a Notification filled his vision.

Harvesting dungeon resources is forbidden!

This is your only warning.

Ruin had wondered how those in the Destruction Realm Harvested to create their cores. In the Material Realm a Harvester yanked the Spiritual energy out of an entity leaving them a crippled husk or possibly dead.

This Realm didn’t seem to care about Spiritual energy, and instead, consumed the body itself.