1484 Everything that can go wrong...
As the remains of Zahara's echo scattered away, Varian's tense shoulders loosened and he expanded his senses.
And the very next moment, his relaxed shoulders tensed again, his body turning
stiff and alert.
Their battle ended up breaking the barriers that were supposed to keep it all hidden and let the aura leak.
Since this was border region, the anamoly was quickly percieved. It was even taken quite seriously.
That's why, a bunch of rank 9 auras were fast approaching this location.
"Hey, Logos." Varian said in a tired voice.
[Yes, Host?]
"Fuck you." He spat in a tone of resignation. To be honest, he didn't even have the energy to curse properly.
[It's funny.]
Varian's expression distorted at the composed and elegant voice of the system.
"What is?"
[When you think of the word 'fuck', you associate it with sexual activity. But when I hear it from you, all I can think of is how fate keeps screwing you. My sympathies to you, dear host.]
"Your mo—"
[Host, I come from the Primordial God, yet I am not their child. I have no parents for you to curse at. No genealogy to insult. Spare your energy.]
"…Okay." Varian rubbed his eyebrows and beganto evoke his connection with Hortus.
It's a bit far away but the channel should open shortly.
He'd be able to escape and everything would be fine.
[If I am being positive, I could call it being optimistic. If negative, delusional. Realistically, though, I call it being naive. Host, are you just deliberately trying to ignore what you already realized?]
Logos' voice was soft, sweet but the words were unsettling.
Gritting his teeth, Varian urged the connection to open.
Unfortunately, since Hortus had just remodelled, it was taking a bit longer than normal to establish the channel.
A powerful wave of perception enveloped him. Then, a deep voice instructed in an emotionless tone.
"Intruder detected. Incapacitate and proceed to interrogration."
"Roger."
"Roger."
"Roger."
Three rank 9 auras erupted, lighting up the dark space in the colors of blue, golden and yellow.
Three well-practiced Order fields approached Varian at a breakneck speed.
Due to the slivers, he was able to understand the 'rules' embedded in them despite his lower rank.
[Aura Inside The Body Becomes Immobile]
[Restriction Of Bodily Movement]
[Instinct Of Self-Preserval Halts]
With the first attack, any chances of him going for an offensive or defensive would be destroyed.
With the second, he'd be rendered from even fleeing.
And with the third, both his will and instinct to resist would cease, making him a puppet against the enemies.
Interestingly, all the three rules were designed to have the greatest impact for the least cost.
Only the aura inside his body was targetted instead of the entire region. Only his bodily movement was restricted, but his body itself could continue its other functions without problem. And finally, only one instinct was removed instead of messing with a lot of other things.
Even though he's far weaker than any of them, these warriors still choose the most cost-effective method to deal with him.
'Experienced powerhouses on the battlefield.'
Varian concluded.
Indeed they were. Just like Palarians had the old kings and queens in the army, these men and women were once kings and queens of their kingdoms.
Perhaps not as strong as the current Pala King, but they're formidable forces nonetheless.
Varian showed great calm as the fields—order power manifested in the form of an expanding spherical domain—
approached him.
As they were about to reach him, the space behind him cracked like a broken mirror and he jumped back.
"Bye."
As they turned distant in his vision, a smile of relief plastered itself on Varian's face.
The space channel began to close and the four lights in his vision began to be blocked by the gray space.
'Four?'
Varian's eyebrows jumped and the next second, a beam of bright white light blasted the closing space cracks.
The space channel, starting from his current location all the way to Hortus, was ripped apart.
Varian thanked the stars for not getting injured in that attack.
'I must be lucky.'
And he ran his space power to the fullest, aiming for a way out.
But then it came. The white field power. This time, instead of brute forcing its way through, it was in the form of a carefully constructed rule.
[Space will grow chaotic]
With it came the three modified attacks.
[Space will grow fragile]
[Living beings in the vicinity will act as a low pressure point]
[The pressure difference will widen]
'Damn it!'
A disastrous space storm brewed out of nowhere and engulfed Varian before he could even react.
The tornado nearly ripped him into pieces in a matter of seconds.
'Block! Block!'
The power of space-time formed a shield around Varian's body, blocking the harsh and unforgiving space particles crashing against him.
But it's only a matter of time before he'd be exhausted and grinded to dust.
Confirming his fears, the tornado began to shrink, exerting more and more pressure on him.
On the outside, the power of order continued to increase, manipulating the chaotic tornado to push him to death.
Everything around him was now gray and chaotic, like inside a real tornado but a hundred times worse.
'I can't survive like this.'
Varian decided to risk an instant death for a chance of survival than survive a few more seconds to meet a certain death.
'One,'
The power of slivers acted on the tornado, quietly embedding a new rule using 'Order' and disrupting the existing rules with 'Chaos'.
'Two,'
The power of life, death and soul concentrated themselves on his brain and heart, maximizing protection.
Rather than getting his whole body destroyed and dying, Varian choose to preserve at least two parts, increasing his chances of remaining alive.
'Three.'
The power of space-time fired him at the tornado.
'Order' worked simultaneously, weaking the specific part of the space tornado he's about to hit.
Boom!
Varian blasted out of the tornado, most of his body missing, save for a head and hand.
The chaotic space-time sucked him away and everything went dark.
