City of Sin

Book 9, 16

Breath Of The World

Richard’s eyes flickered as he constantly switched between the Field of Truth and his normal vision. He could see traces of enormous astral explosions every time, making it obvious that Sharon had engaged in an earth-shattering battle here. She had gone all-out, but her opponent seemed to be unusually strong as well. Their battle had completely destroyed this plane!

Just who could push her so far? He saw traces of dense chaotic energy all around. It looked to be from a chaotic creature of some sort, but when he checked the energy he found that it was far more complicated than most laws he had experience with. This one was close to the fundamental laws of the very void!

Such power! His body went dead-cold in an instant. If her opponent was what he thought it was, Sharon’s chances of survival weren’t high. Even if she was trying to flee from the creature, the fundamental laws of the void were something that even a powerful abyssal lord couldn’t touch!

Apeiron floated over to Richard’s side, noticing his pale face and trembling body before following his gaze. She froze the moment she saw that golden strand of hair as well, her own body starting to tremble as she stuttered out, “She... She... Did she...”

Richard shook his head slowly, “There might... still be a chance?”

He wasn’t able to convince even himself with that sentence.

The Empress suddenly leapt away, grabbing something the size of a normal desk before rushing back. It turned out to be a massive scale, and from the size one could imagine just how large the owner themselves were. Richard silently took it off her hands and flicked it three times, using his laws to check for resonance.

Order and neutrality both left deep holes, while chaos merely made a small dent. Richard was currently strong enough to pierce through a legendary shield with such a flick, but he couldn’t even penetrate this piece of scale! He squinted, voice growing hoarse, “Chaos beast.”

Apeiron shuddered and fell silent. She had heard of chaos beasts, even seen one from afar. They were the ultimate calamity in the Outlands, with nobody able to survive an encounter. What little understanding humans had of these creatures came from other races, but if one truly had set its sights on Sharon, she likely wouldn’t have survived. Judging from the scene, Sharon wounding the thing was already unbelievable, but it was far from enough.

Richard’s eyes swept across the battle, the traces left behind indicating that this beast was nearly ten thousand metres long. Sharon had used her portal explosions more than a dozen times, but they had limited damage on a creature of such size. This was the limitation of a spatial explosion; the damage it dealt to an individual was minimal when the enemy was tough and/or large. His own blue flames or Disintegrator would have a much better effect.

It was hard to tell how much time had passed since the battle; the traces left behind were no longer complete. Both Sharon and the chaos beast had impacted the laws of the surroundings greatly, which impacted the Field of Truth which relied on those to be somewhat stable.

Apeiron stood by the side in a daze. Although her hands were bathed in the blood of countless powerhouses, that didn’t help the current situation in the slightest. The only thing she could do was stand there helplessly.

Moments later, Richard’s expression shifted and he teleported a few hundred kilometres away. There was another blue mark here that landed on his hand, but his face fell as he realised it was left behind after Sharon fought with the beast.

“What?” Apeiron rushed over to his side in a second.

“I’m not sure, but be prepared to fight. Let’s go over and take a look.” He grabbed her and teleported to the point the mark was leading him to, only reaching it after a dozen or so portals. This was the end of the battle.

There was nothing on this battlefield except a huge black hole, spinning ever so slowly. However, Apeiron stared at it for a while before being struck by a realisation, “That thing was a portal!”

Richard’s eyes narrowed, “This was their last strike, and it pierced through space to form a passage... I’m going to go in and take a look, wait here!”

“What? No! You’re insane!” Apeiron yelled.

“Didn’t you go through the portal of order too? There’s no difference.”

“Of course there’s a difference! Stop, or...” her sentence trailed off, the words refusing to come out of her mouth.

Richard took off all of his spatial equipment, passing them to Apeiron, “If I don’t make it back, help me return these. Take care of my family if you can, I’ll give you my demiplane and Sharon’s.”

Wrath immediately filled her face, “WHAT’S THE FUCKING POINT WITHOUT YOU TWO?”

“I’ll come back,” Richard smiled, flying towards the black hole before she could raise any more objections.

Apeiron went still, watching like she was a statue. A short while later, she cupped a hand over her mouth and suppressed her sobs, two streams of hot liquid rolling down her cheeks. This feeling was extremely foreign to her, one that she had never expected. Even when she had left for the Outlands in anger, she hadn’t felt this.

She couldn’t find a reason for her sadness. It wasn’t because of Richard or Sharon themselves. She couldn’t deny the fact that Sharon was deadly attractive, but her love wasn’t that deep. It was more a combination of the two of them; their relationship made her see things that she had stopped believing in.

The Eternal Vortex continued to spin as always. This was the breath of the world, where chaos and order met. Old laws could be annihilated at any time, and new ones were always birthed. However, all of those couldn’t compare to the partially formed black hole in front of her right now. She stood there quietly, holding onto the ring and bangle Richard had given her.

Once the passage completely turned into a black hole, Richard wouldn’t be able to make it back anymore. When that time came, she wasn’t sure what she’d do. She considered fulfilling his request, but the more time passed she felt like just throwing herself into the black hole and killing herself.

She felt tired, tired and fed up. Anyone in this world who piqued the slightest of interest in her seemed to end up dead or worse. She couldn’t care less about Richard’s last wishes; why would those things matter to a dead man?

As the black hole continued to grow stronger and stronger, the fire in Apeiron’s eyes gradually died out. Eventually the strength drained from her hands and she released her palm, the ring and bangle falling out. Something clicked within her as she floated up, flying towards the black hole with increasing speed. As she got close, she closed her eyes and relaxed for the last nap of her life.

“YOU FUCKING...” She suddenly felt a pair of strong arms encircling her, dragging her out from the darkness. The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was Richard’s angry face. Grabbing the ring and bangle that were also drawn in, he roared like a beast, “TELEPORT!”

This was an extremely dangerous action. Using a divine spell to teleport required massive amounts of energy, and Richard’s aura was extremely frail. His body started tearing apart as the portal formed before them, but he seemed to ignore the blood streaming out of his body as he hugged Apeiron and dashed within. Strands of black gas rushed out from the black hole, attempting to wind around Richard’s ankles right before he entered the portal, but he disappeared just before they could get to him.

The portal exploded shortly afterwards, turning into a ball of fire in mid-air. Scalded by the flames, the black energy curled up and yelped like a crying baby before returning to the black hole.

...

Thousands of kilometres away, Richard and Apeiron crashed out of the other end of the portal. Without even bothering to take care of his wounds, he drew furiously in the air with his hands and established another massive portal before going in. The very next moment, the two of them fell onto his demiplane with a thud.

Richard wanted to sit up, but his energy was completely exhausted and he fell back to the ground once more. The fall tugged on his injuries, his face twisting in agony and pain as more blood started flowing from his wounds. Taking a moment to catch his breath and begin healing, he turned to Apeiron and raged, “Didn’t I ask you to wait?! What the fuck were you doing? I was counting on you to help me escape! Damn it, if I hadn’t worked on a portal spell recently, we would’ve been—”

His growls were suddenly silenced as Apeiron pounced on him, locking lips to seal away the rest of his tirade.