10/9 15:09 (Autumn, Night, Mysterious Island)
Sider wearily stood up, her frame trembling in a mix of pain and exaustion, but she had enough time to recover, especially with it being night at the moment, turning towards the thing that appeared, or to be more precise the thing that was no longer concealed, upon the death of the Drake.
After all while this place was not strickly speaking a Dungeon, it still functioned as one, needing a possible way to connect not only to the Dungeon itself but also to the World of Gaea to help the Cycle of Souls be as efficient as it could possibly be, her eyes meeting the gate that led deeper in, towards the source of this maddening mix of Miasma and Qi.
She stabilized herself, her body and mind having already recovered as much as it could from the stress her transformation caused without her being able to actually rest, moving towards her final stop for this damned island, her False Domain opening fully to help examine her own Foundation and making sure the strain would not negatively affect it and herself long-term.
Once certain, she coated her body in a dense layer of Earth-Attribute Mana, isolating herself from the outside and more specifically from the Fake-Qi around her, a somewhat-extreme measure considering how the one in the air did not try to invade her body at all, sure, but a measure that she didn't hesitate any in taking.
She breathed in deeply a couple of times before moving in, opening the gate fully and immediately almost being trampled by a wave of Fake-Qi, barely able to stay on her feet, her barrier flickering slightly at the impact before she stubborly stepped forward, walking through the so dense it was almost liquid wave of Qi with some difficulties, step after step moving deeper in.
The pressure increased rapidly while Sid advanced, immediately pushing her Innate Skill "Enhancement: Physicality" to the limit as she burned Essence to gain more and more power, her steps gaining certainty as she crossed the gate fully, bearing the weight of the Miasmic Qi that was being emanated by a shining gem identical in shape to a Dungeon Core, even if an intense purple one instead of being their natural clear color.
The Werewolf stilled, her gaze beholding as she saw Mana and Vital Energy being absorbed from the Core, fusing together before integrating themselves into it and being transformed into Fake-Qi, her attention unable to move from it at all, her Qi Sense immediately concentrating on it with wide eyes upon finding a small amount of real, natural Qi at its center.
She stepped forward before stopping, almost silent whispering sounding from within her head, a desire to take it for her own to study to help her Clan advance, maybe even enough for an Immortal to rise from them.
Step after step she neared the crystal, her silver eyes glazing over slightly more as she progressed, her hands rising almost without her imput, her barrier slowly starting to fade as she barely remembered to maintain it in the face of ever increasing pressure, her gaze remaining fixed to it alone.
She was only three meters away from it before stopping entirely, rivers of blood flowing from her mouth, her feet stopping immediately as a long spear of Lightning-Attribute Mana impaled her in place through her stomach, her eyes reacquiring lucidity at once as she breathed in and out deeply a couple of times.
She did not hesitate, a ray of Terran Lightning falling upon the Core immediately, shattering it in an instant, before a rain of Terran Lightning bolts destroyed the whole room, her wide silver eyes shining murderously in the dark, her killing intent clear in her snarl.
Her attacks didn't slow for a whole ten minutes, until even the Fake-Qi contained within the room was dispersed as much as it could, leaving herself panting heavily, her senses stretched out fully to seek any of its remains and moving away once she was sure that nothing of it remained in existence, trembling slightly.
"I hate this." She wispered to herself, hating both the fact that she needed to destroy the Core whose study could have helped her whole clan greatly and also her own weakness that led her to even now desiring it, knowing well that it was amplifying her own greed and desires.
Her way was free of any obstacles, her mind too unfocused and distracted to think about the reason behind such a convenient factor as she smashed her way through various walls, finally seeing the sky again, her mind recieving a shock once she saw that it was no longer night but instead day, confirming that the mass amount of Fake-Qi mixed with regular Qi had the additional feature of distorting the time of the separated room holding the Core.
Her eyes, until then stuck to the sky distracted, saw some signs of movements downwards, her breathing stopping as she beholded the enormous Being that appeared before her, far beyond this island's beach, the completely silent body belonging to the Leviathan that she would never be able to forget, the liquid turning into ice before giving way to luminous blue scales, six bright green eyes observing her despite their distance.
The Werewolf stepped back briefly before forcefully calming down, keeping their eyes meeting, shivers traveling her body at once before she started to move towards the gigantic, shark-like Guardian, her steps hurriedly leading her towards them, unwilling to make them wait anymore than she absolutely needed to, forcefully suppressing all of her emotional stress at once, at least for a little while longer.
Sider stopped at the beach, her head held low with only her eyes indirectly looking at the Divine Beast, their eyes flashing before a wave of Will fell upon her at once as carefully as an enormous Titan holding in his arms a small and fragile yet ever so precious glass sculpture.
In a blink the Werewolf's Vital Energy and Mana were fully restored, her wounds immediately healed and her fatigue immediately erased, her mental stress being carefully left alone for her to deal with safely by herself, her eyes seeing how she was currently back in her boat before turning back to the enormous body of the Leviathan.
Before she could react any further, the Leviathan expanded their Will fully, the World briefly shaking for an instant before a mountain erupted from the sea bed immediately, bursting into flames and exploding outwards and then inwards, forming an enormous firestorm high in the sky, rocks melting into lava before it collapsted back, liquid stones joining with solid flames, metals, glass and gems joining together as one to form a living mountain, its enormous mass falling from the air only to stop an inch above the sea, their heat perfectly contained within their body, the size involved rendering the black-haired one incapable to even properly view them.
Sider stepped back in her boat, her eyes opening wide but this was far from the end of all of it, the sky being completely covered by clouds from horizon to horizon, casting everything into darkness, lightning bolts hundred of meters wide and pieces of sharpened hail dozens of meters wide fell down at immense speeds, sharp winds capable of ripping her apart moving chaotically with enough strenght and speed that it could bodily pick her up and smash her into pieces.
Sider fell to her knees, her eyes incapable to as the clouds, hail and lightning bolts joined together in a vast storm that, despite its immense destructive power, the surface of the sea and even the boat itself remaining still despite its immense might, expanding and constricting until only a vast cumulus remained, floating in mid-air, flashing with lightning bolts that exploded violently around it.
After a couple of seconds that felt more like centuries later, the cloud dispersed, leaving behind the third member of the Guardians, a long, vauely Humanoid figure covered in crystal-like growths shining brightly in all colors, countless long feathered wings covering its body as it floated there, somehow both still and in constant movement before a mist rose between them to hide the flying Guardian.
The sound of a drop falling upon Sider's bridge distracted Sider, leading her to turn towards the wood and seeing a lot of new red stains, the covering of the Ziz being the only reason that this more recent drop woke her up, rising an hand to her face and feeling the blood currently covering her, coming from both her nose and her eyes, the sight of the Ziz too much for her to manage.
Sider turned towards the Leviathan, meeting their reassuring eyes, a wave of Will healing her again before, after a brief pause, a second wave fell upon her, both as a sort of additional apology for the damage that their Sibling caused her without caring about it and to also reward her for her efforts, the most that the Werewolf could safely handle recieving at once.
*Sider recieves the Innate Skill "Enhancement: Soul" E.
A mist rose from the sea shore covered the black-haired one's view in an instant, teleporting her far away from the island, sure, but still near enough to let her see what the three Guardians would soon do as an additional prize, the inspiration for how she could grow even further in the future.
Under the astonished gaze of the Cultivator, the three Guardians preparing before unleashing their Will in their entirety, concentrating around all traces of both the island itself and each trace of Fake-Qi present before both time and space stopped entirely, the whole island and some of the sea around it twisted in a single, small point before it was erased utterly under their Will, not so much destroyed or turned into energy or sent to another time, space or even World but simply and utterly turned to nothing, the sea around behaving as if the island never even existed.
A mist rose around Sider before vanishing, the Werewolf finding herself in a much different place, her ship moving back towards her original destination, having been moved even further on that if she simply didn't meet either the Leviathan or even the Abomination itself.
The Cultivator opened and closed her hands a couple of times, her eyes shining in a mix of admiration and fear at the pinnacle of power, understanding at once that even where she to become an Immortal such would not let her reach them, before desire devoured both of the feelings, reigniting her ambition and want for growth as she vowed to herself to reach that height, concentrating immediately on restarting her training, starting from what she saw in the last moment.
"Lord Leviathan is known to masquerade as a Person, both being taught by and teaching us across the ages. They let me see that last event for a reason." She told herself, half genuinely believing it and half merely wanting really hard to believe in it, starting by trying to learn from the last spectacle she admired, her Vital Energy and Mana starting to cover her body together, thanks to her newest Skill being able to retain stability and unknowingly to her starting to work towards obtaining what a certain Lunarian possessed, the Innate version of the Skill "Unleash Aura", the much lesser variant of the Guardians' Will.
All the while her boat safely traveled towards her destination.
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