2312.Hole

Divine Architect floated through the void. It was unclear whether she was dead or alive, but King Elbas didn't drop his guard.

King Elbas felt weakness making its way inside his mind. The drawbacks of the fake quasi-rank 10 state were no joking matter. His very world had suffered severe injuries, but he couldn't retreat to fix the damage just yet.

The giant mirror remained in its distant spot, but its functions appeared dormant. King Elbas studied it, but he couldn't find any ability in the making.

The same went for the scanners around the mirror. They spun due to their lingering momentum, but they weren't doing anything special. They even started to separate due to the absence of orders or control over them.

Everything seemed to point out in the direction of King Elbas' victory, but he knew that the battle couldn't have ended already. He felt that in his very existence. Divine Architect would be a disappointment otherwise.

A dim light eventually came out of Divine Architect's crystal eyes. The radiance lasted only for a second, but it returned stronger than ever right afterward.

The maimed crystal body released screeching noises as its arms and legs began to bend and move. Divine Architect's iconic aura also came out, but no portals appeared as that domain unfolded.

Divine Architect's eyes went dark when she regained complete control of her body. Her detailed face remained aloof as she inspected the damage caused by King Elbas. A regular expert would show some surprise, but she appeared devoid of emotions in her current state.

"Impressive," Divine Architect announced when her inspection ended. "Truly impressive."

"You can sound calm as much as you want," King Elbas stated. "It won't change the truth. I know that I've surpassed your expectations."

"You really did," Divine Architect admitted, "In multiple fields even. Your peak power is far higher than I expected, and the same goes for your energy consumption. You improved."

King Elbas snorted, but he knew that Divine Architect had spoken the truth. His fake quasi-rank 10 state was an incredible technique, but the final battle didn't give him the time to achieve complete control over it.

The margins of error were also quite vast. King Elbas had created a level of power that rank 9 experts couldn't reach. It was only normal for the technique to be partially wild.

Nevertheless, King Elbas had smoothened out his use of the fake quasi-rank 10 state after the last battles. That was also his first time pushing the technique to its utmost limits. Divine Architect wasn't to blame for failing to evaluate his full potential. She lacked the numbers to calculate that prowess.

"It's a pity your world has yet to reach the peak," Divine Architect continued while pointing at the hole in her chest.

"I would have killed you without resorting to my technique in that case," King Elbas responded.

"No," Divine Architect corrected. "Sure, you wouldn't have given me the chance to study you, but killing me is too much. I would have simply fought seriously from the very beginning."

The hidden meaning behind Divine Architect's statement was quite evident, but King Elbas didn't address it. He used that silent moment to patch up his world and prepare it for the imminent exchange.

Divine Architect's eyes flashed with white light. She seemed to have noticed something, but she also decided to ignore the matter. Instead, she waved her hand to make the mirror and the scanners fly back to her.

The mirror took its spot behind Divine Architect and aligned its center with the hole in her chest. Meanwhile, the scanners started to rotate around her without performing any specific functions.

"The mirror is an unlimited energy source," King Elbas pointed out, "But it can't heal you. Its output of energy has obvious limits."

"I don't need to be lectured about my creations," Divine Architect declared. "I know exactly how much energy my mirror can produce, and I'm also aware of the complicated composition of my body. Why do you think I praised you?"

"What do you have in mind then?" King Elbas directly asked in an attempt to prolong that conversation.

"I don't blame you for your ignorance," Divine Architect exclaimed. "I didn't give out my real abilities during our exchanges, but you have proven yourself worthy of them."

"Don't overestimate yourself," King Elbas snorted. "You won't trick me. I know that you can only have two or three trump cards able to deal with me."

King Elbas' assumption was far from unfounded. His statement used the very limits of the ninth rank and added them to Divine Architect's incredible talent.

"Only one actually," Divine Architect revealed. "Well, one or infinite. It can be both and more depending on how the universe feels."

The announcement filled King Elbas' mind with deep fear. Divine Architect had yet to do anything, but King Elbas knew that she wasn't resorting to lies. She had mentioned the universe. The imminent exchange had to feature something unfathomable.

"The higher plane is usually unsuitable for this," Divine Architect explained, "But this battle has destroyed enough of its space-time array. It's possible to create a direct connection with the universe even here."

The giant mirror retreated, and the scanners left Divine Architect to spin in a seemingly random spot at her side. Energy left her crystal figure and her item to add power to her rotating tools, and King Elbas remained speechless when he tried to calculate it.

Divine Architect was merely pointing at her scanners, but the energy released by her body was immense. King Elbas guessed that she had melted many of her material to provide that powerful fuel, and the absence of portals only added value to his idea.

The scanners slowly turned into blinding items that accelerated to create a bright circle hovering in the middle of the void. Their speed increased as Divine Architect added more energy to their structure, and the space inside them started to bend.

The event was quite hard to see. Divine Architect wasn't affecting the space-time array of the higher plane. The final battle had already shattered it. Instead, she was targeting the very void in an attempt to reach distant parts of the universe.

King Elbas' astonishment increased as the process continued. He slowly understood the nature of Divine Architect's technique, and that realization almost affected his sanity. He couldn't believe his eyes as they kept staring at the churning space among the bright circle.

"Creating is like breathing for me," Divine Architect revealed. "I have mastered every inscription school that has ever existed, and I've even invented many of them. Yet, I also have innate inclinations."

"You gazed at higher worlds," King Elbas whispered.

"That was an immature inclination," Divine Architect explained. "The ability to look at superior forms of existence is indeed worthy of praises, but it couldn't be my final stage."

The scanners started to release a humming noise once their speed reached critical heights. The space-time array of the void also began to break to reveal deeper parts of the universe.

An unfathomable force seeped through the bright circle once the hole in the void became big enough. King Elbas didn't need to inspect it to know what it was, but his full attention remained glued to the event.

An immense stream of information flowed through King Elbas' mind, but he felt forced to shut his senses after a while. The knowledge contained in that unfathomable energy was too deep for his centers of power. It actually hurt to try to understand it.

"You can understand me, can't you?" Divine Architect asked. "We both are inscription masters unsatisfied with the ninth rank. The higher levels have always been our targets. That's why we created techniques to seize them."

"You can't hope to control something like that," King Elbas declared.

"I won't," Divine Architect uttered. "I'll only point at you and wait for your death."