Defiance of the Fall

Zac first noticed that the Yphelion's upgraded integration of Life and Death had gone much further than expected inside his cultivation chamber. It had triggered a hunch, but he didn't even get the chance to investigate before Galau approached him with the same idea. He'd been pouring over the Yphelion's schematics and blueprints when the eye appeared, and he'd successfully seized the final seal for himself.

Having the Yphelion in the back of his mind while awash with Ultom's clarity had triggered a notion there was something different about the ship beyond the obvious. Confirming the hunch had proven surprisingly hard to confirm, but it looked like Galau had finally uncovered the secrets.

The reborn Yphelion was actually an attuned Cosmic Vessel.

Galau was probably right about its rarity if what Karunthel said about such crafts was true. Relying on other Daos than the Dao of Space to create a Cosmic Vessel was incredibly difficult. Just creating normal Cosmic Vessels was a rare skillset, which was why Zac had become such a hot commodity with his shipyard.

An Attuned Vessel was out of the question. It required far greater skill and deeper understanding, to the point it was impossible to find on the frontier. Even if a craftsman capable of such a feat appeared, he wouldn't be able to gather the necessary materials. An Attuned Vessel was hundreds of times more expensive than a normal Cosmic Vessel of the same grade.

They were rare even in the Multiverse Heartlands, which was no surprise considering the awful price-to-performance ratio. The only way they'd encounter one on the frontier was if the outsiders had brought it.

"It's really an attuned ship," Zac sighed with amazement, feeling like he'd won the jackpot. "We're traveling using the Daos of Life and Death now?"

Attuned Vessels did have certain advantages that could warrant the usurious price tag. For one, they weren't Spatial Treasures, so they could be stowed in a Spatial Ring without needing to turn off the main arrays. Zac wasn't sure if that was the case with the Yphelion, though, since it appeared to be a hybrid vessel.

They were also extremely suitable for exploring inhospitable regions, providing the attunement matched. A fire-attuned ship could freely travel and possibly draw power from fiery environments that would burn normal vessels to a crisp. The aspect that was most important for Zac was that they weren't as susceptible to spatial turbulence as a normal Cosmic Vessel.

The whole Imperial Graveyard was like a labyrinth because of the spatial instability and the dimensions being all twisted in a knot. Only a few pathways were safe, and shifting dimension was only possible at certain spots. They might be able to cut straight through the chaos by utilizing Yphelion's other elements to find an alternative route.

It could save them a huge amount of time, and it would make traveling through the Eternal Storm far more convenient.

"Well, no. Those systems are completely inert. They aren't even connected to the main propulsion system," Galau said, dashing Zac's hopes.

"Can you turn them on?" Zac asked, unwilling to give up.

"I've gotten pretty good at tampering with arrays. I think I can bypass the restrictions and activate it," Galau said. "The problem is, I'm not exactly sure what these new modules do or how to operate them."

"If they're not connected and their function is uncertain, how do you even know this is a real attuned vessel?" Zac said helplessly. "It might just be a weapon."

"No, it's propulsion; I'm sure of that much, at least," Galau said and took out two Array Disks. "You might have better luck figuring it out."

Zac scanned the disks, and his eyes glazed over from the incredibly complex patterns. He couldn't make heads or tails of their purpose. He focused on the disk copying a Death-attuned system, almost feeling as though it was something else that was masquerading as the Dao of Death. More likely, it was a completely different branch than the one Zac followed.

The Peak of Chaos had pitifully few pure Daos to its name. Especially compared to Peaks such as Conflict and the Grand Tapestry, both of which had thousands. Even the more compact Peak of Continuum had over a dozen. The Daos Time and Space were the equivalent of Creation and Oblivion, each with a handful of subordinate Daos.

The seventeen Dao Peaks didn't cover an equal domain of the Heavens, but Chaos wouldn't be called a peak without holding significant sway. Part of it was explained with the 'three produces all things,' how Life and Death branched toward all other peaks to form mixed-meaning Daos. Even on their own, the Daos of Life and Death were among the broader Daos, holding a larger number of interpretations than most.

However, Zac felt he should have understood the patterns on the Array Disk if the arrays simply held a different aspect of his Daos. Something else had to be mixed in with enough skill that Zac couldn't tell where the Daos of Life and Death ended, and the other Dao began. Suspecting that it was the Dao of Space didn't help, at least not without an aura to observe. That was impossible since the array disk was just a copy of a much larger system.

"Uh, well. It's Life and Death, alright," Zac coughed, slightly embarrassed he couldn't provide any useful insights. "The only thing I can intuit is that it should drain a huge amount of energy. I don't think it can be used continuously."

"That makes sense since the Yphelion retains the old propulsion system," Galau said. "Rather than fusing the two concepts, it might be more of an overdrive for escape or pushing through dangerous regions."

"How do we unlock it?"

"I think this might be connected to you," Galau said. "Perhaps if you advance to Late or Peak Hegemony? Or maybe your Daos need to reach a certain stage."

"Your guess is as good as any. Prepare a bypass, just in case. Better to roll the dice than accept death if we find ourselves with our backs against the wall," Zac said.

"I'm on it. Who knows? The Main Array might unlock the control features or enter auto-pilot if the hidden modules have been activated," Galau said, clearly giddy at the prospect of experimenting.

"Be careful. On that subject, what about the bomb?"

"That's…" Galau sighed. "It's a tricky one. I have a few ideas, but none I'd dare bet my life on. I have confirmed it's equipped with a Scanning Array. The skeleton is able to observe any changes to its surroundings. It might be connected to a trigger. Draining the bomb of energy, as you mentioned, won't work. It'll only unleash the payload inside."

Zac had already planned out a few contingencies depending on how things played out. None were viable unless they also figured out how to defuse Kator's safeguard. Zac was unwilling to sacrifice the Yphelion to get rid of the reaver, and confirming that the ship had become an Attuned Vessel only made him more reluctant.

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The more they looked into Kator's safeguard, the more obvious it became that Kator had done his homework based on the spar where Zac used [Void Zone]. If they were dealing with a deadly array, Zac could have nullified it and stowed the bomb in a Spatial Ring. The sealed spatial rift inside the device made that plan impossible, and there was no way he could exhaust it with [Void Mountain].

"Don't rush, and don't get discovered," Zac sighed. "We still have time."

Zac spent the next twenty minutes going through the Yphelion's exact specifications. The ship hadn't gained any new features except the two unidentified modules, one each for Life and Death. The Yphelion wasn't like Zac, able to fuse Life and Death with the help of the Void. However, the two modules seemed to have a connection. Whether that meant they should be used together was difficult to tell.

They also went over Galau's ideas to deal with the bomb, where Zac threw the plans against Esmeralda to see what stuck. Her comments provided Galau with new ideas to pursue, and he left with an excited gleam in his eyes.

The meeting was over just in time. Zac had to rush back to his quarters after a deep thud shook his chest. Zac quickly formed a barrier around the [Solidarity Link]. Esmeralda's blocker hadn't been customized for the seal yet, so he couldn't actually do anything to the link. The barrier was intended to keep the lightning away since Zac was afraid it would damage the connection and trigger a backlash.

The cleansing storm swept through his body, burrowing into the depths of his cells and Soul Aperture to purify the toxins along with a surprising amount of hidden sequela. Much of the impurities seemed to stem from the raw energy baths he'd used to accelerate his leveling speed. It was a shame the link couldn't transfer Pill Toxins. Zac wouldn't have minded gunking up Kator before purifying himself.

Zac was well acquainted with the process by now, and the tribulation for his first Earthly Dao had been quite gentle. The only real problem was the streaks of annihilation hidden inside the bolts, but [Void Heart] hadn't eaten any of those. Zac expected that he'd face harsher punishment with his next Earthly Daos, though.

After all, his Dao of Conflict was included in the Heavenly Path, the System's range of incorporated Daos. The only reason he had to face the tribulation was that his other two Daos made his Dao of Conflict guilty by association. Zac stayed in his chamber after wrapping up the purification.

His human half emerged through a spatial ripple, taking the chance to stretch his legs and practice his techniques. Zac observed himself from the sidelines as he cycled through a series of swings. They followed the same pattern as his previous spar, except he countered Kator's advance with the Evolutionary Stance. Instead of suffocating the temporal quagmire with Inexorable Death, he fought to sweep it away with the winds of change of his Evolutionary Stance.

It eventually became too disorienting to observe himself while practicing his technique, so his Draugr half closed his eyes and sealed his Soul Sense. Only his Evolutionary Path was left in the chamber. He flitted back and forth among the crystals, reliving the experience to find the points of improvement. Eventually, he reached the endpoint of the sparring session, but Zac kept moving.

The illusory mountain in his soul descended, prompting a subtle transformation to his aura. The Void mixed with Life and Conflict as he activated his bloodline talent. Initially, the only difference was that Zac's aura became harder to discern. It would provide a small advantage in a heated battle where each side predicted their opponent's movements by observing their spiritual fluctuations.

Then, [Spiritual Void] shuddered and released a stream of Void Death from storage. It fused with the Void Energy spread through his body, giving it the required flavor. There was no need to push or force things at that stage. Divine Energy and Conflict-attuned Cosmic Energy fused with Void Death like they were long-lost siblings.

Zac disappeared, unleashing another set of swings. The integration of Void felt far more natural than what he used against Kator during their first duel. Zac kept going for half an hour, at which point he released his other body's senses mid-swing. He continued for another four seconds before the doubled vantages made him lose the integrated state. The spirituality crumbled, becoming ugly and mundane.

Still nothing. Zac grunted in annoyance as he looked down at [Verun's Bite]. He couldn't figure out what was going on.

Refining the Void-imbued version of his techniques was a top priority now that he had a steady source of Void Death and Void Life. The element of surprise it brought to any in-fight eclipsed even [Void Zone]. He'd tried it against Ogras and Joanna over the past days. The Void-imbued strikes had taken them completely by surprise, and they had floundered longer than Kator while trying to adapt.

So far, they hadn't managed to find a proper counter. Ogras described the experience as being forced to ignore every instinct that kept him alive, and Joanna's only way to keep going was to fight reactively and give up any attempts at attacking. It completely clashed with her fierce combat style, so it wasn't much different than losing.

Only, Zac couldn't see what made the Void-imbued swings so special. It was like he had a blind spot, where the 'impossible' attacks looked no different than his normal Dao-imbued techniques. He'd hoped to observe himself as a third party to get a better sense of the Voids of Life and Death and how they fit with his technique.

That plan was a wash, and his attempts to record himself didn't work either. It was like the Void couldn't be captured. Other observers could tell something odd was going on, but it was impossible for his companions to understand or put to words. The Void being so difficult to dissect wasn't the end of the world. He could still progress and comprehend by feeling the changes in his body, and the difficulties in pinpointing what he was doing would help keep his secrets protected.

Zac switched to practicing the Inexorable Stance, once more going through the spar while adding the Void of Life. He only got halfway through when his communicator buzzed with a high-priority message. Zac sighed with defeat and stopped. His annoyance disappeared when he realized it wasn't another anomaly to deal with.

Any thoughts of practice were thrown into the back of his mind. His human body returned to the Shrine of Kanba, and he disappeared, even using [Abyssal Drive] to reach the ward as fast as humanly possible. Anticipation and fear went hand in hand as Zac stepped inside, finding Vilari sitting up in her bed.

"You're awake!" Zac said as he rushed to her side.

Vilari had remained stable but unconscious since he extracted her from the [Epiclesis Bell]. Seeing her sitting upright without any signs of madness in her eyes was a huge weight off his shoulders, partly alleviating the intense guilt he'd felt for years. However, the smile on Zac's face grew strained as he saw the helpless look in Vilari's eyes.

"Could you give us a moment?" Zac said to the Revenant doctor staying by the side.

"Of course."

Zac set up a series of barriers and sealed the ward before speaking again.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"I'm sorry. It looks like I overestimated myself and fell to temptation."

"Temptation?" Zac frowned. "I'm sure the lightning thoroughly purified you."

"It did. Unfortunately, I partook in Jalach's forbidden fruit long before that," Vilari said, gently smiling upon seeing the fury and guilt on Zac's face. "I'm the only one to blame. I knew I shouldn't have practiced it, but I began coveting power. I studied it over and over, thinking I'd removed all the traps. It was all a ruse to trick me into becoming his disciple."

"Jalach? I'm sorry. If I only was faster—"

"No," Vilari said. "This was a tribulation I had to face if I wanted to perfect my path. His words and gifts held sinister intent, but he might be the only one in possession of the complete version of my heritage. Only, the price is proving steeper than I expected."

"Whatever happened, we'll deal with it together," Zac said as he sat down next to her. "At least the thing's dead and buried."

"Dead? No." Vilari shook her head. "He knew he was being led toward a trap, so he cut off his tail to throw off the pursuit. With the [Epiclesis Bell] gone, he's on borrowed time."

Zac connected the strings. "He's forcing you to solve his problem."

"There's a treasure related to the origin of my inheritance inside my trial. It should be in the Anima Court, but he's not sure. It'll allow him to gain recognition from our Heavens and stop its pursuit," Vilari explained. "I'm hoping it can solve my predicament too."

It was clear Vilari didn't hold much hope for that solution. The Entity wouldn't be stupid enough to coerce Vilari with a threat that could be solved with the item she was sent to fetch. She'd have to trade the treasure for the antidote. The other option was to reject the Entity at the cost of her life.

"We'll add it to the list," Zac smiled. "We're already planning on looting one outer court, so what's another?"

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