Chapter 327: Orders from the Loom

Lucifer was floating above the platform made of the solidified starfire. The new power of True Divine was still a challenge to get used to; every movement was unavoidably heavier than he expected it to be. Just making a single knife from the Crimson Genesis resulted in a weapon that had density and conceptual weight behind it, making the air around it slightly thinner.

Aeloria observed him from a distance, arms crossed tightly against her chest. "Again," she said. "You are still forcing the power, Lucifer. It is an attribute, not a projectile. There is nothing to be wound up for."

Lucifer dispelled the knife and started forming another. This time the process was noticeably faster and smoother, producing a construct that had weight in its very design and was, therefore, more complicated to shape. He moved in a short combat sequence, making the Umbral Throne expand on his will and swallow the local starfire with the darkness that came with it. Inside the sheltered space, his senses grew sharper than before.

"Better," murmured Aeloria. "Now collapse the domain and transition to the Blood Mandate with the remaining constructs. I want to see you maintain the power through the shift."

He did as he was told, collapsing the domain inwards and dismissing the blood constructs to reshape them in the middle of the attack, canceling them all with a simple word. The transition between the manifestations of his power was not entirely smooth, but it was noticeably more comfortable than before. Aeloria approached him, analyzing the results.

"External pressures are intensifying. I am not going to waste any time on a steady transition. Your training now is going to be at full power until a new level manifests. There will be no resting points, only full output."

Lucifer nodded once she had finished. He did not question what she meant by external pressures, seeing as he barely knew what exactly they even were. Aeloria was not the type to give vague answers, after all.

With a simple motion, she commanded the platform to change and expand. It reshaped itself into a large battlefield of shifting formations of hostile target dummies that were made of the compressed starfire and resistant to his attacks. "Begin," said Aeloria.

Lucifer was already in motion.

In the Apex Spire of the Eternal Loom, Vaelor was staring at the projection that showed the remnants of the recent battle. The aftereffects of the engagement still lingered in the spectral display, termination energy mixed in with the erasure, the afterglow of the Reaver’s core being pulled out with the final blow, and the messy aftermath of the event that followed. The Loom’s inner workings reacted to the massive disturbance that happened inside the sealed space, sending out tremors of pressure across the higher realms of existence.

Lirian, the lesser god who served as Vaelor’s assistant, waited for him to finish watching the replay in silence.

"Send the Personal Elites," said Vaelor.

Lirian’s light construct flared in protest. "Elder? The Personal Elites are meant to be tasked only in the most dire circumstances, and even then-"

"I am well aware of what their status means," said Vaelor, turning his head to regard the anxious figure with a flat stare. "I want them deployed regardless. Simplicity is their virtue, after all. Their orders are straightforward: enter the sealed space and systematically dismantle its major sites. Leave enough for Aeloria to notice."

Lirian hesitated for a moment before asking, "Is that not excessive? We already have Selene on site with Korrath’s core, and she has reported a noticeable power increase. The Personal Elites being deployed alongside her would trigger the annihilation protocol. Would you not consider that a waste of resources? We could have extracted Korrath’s body ourselves if we knew she would survive the engagement."

Vaelor tilted his head to the side slightly, and the temperature in the Spire dropped noticeably. "It does not matter," he said quietly. "Korrath is dead either way. One sealed garden was enough to kill one of my Reavers and cripple the second one with a single shot from his auxiliary thrusters. That one has been left to stagnate for far too long, and this is an opportunity to finally end it. Destruction will be inevitable, and she will have no choice but to come out of hiding to stop it. That is why I want the Personal Elites deployed at full scale. I want the first detachment to reach the outer walls of the sealed space before the end of the next cycle."

Lirian bowed his head in silent understanding. "And Selene? What will her orders be?"

"You will tell her yourself," said Vaelor, watching the last few seconds of the replay before turning back to the battlefield. "Issue the deployment order. I want the first detachment of the Personal Elites to reach the sealed domain before the next cycle finishes."

Lirian’s form flickered once more before he vanished. Once he was gone, Vaelor stared blankly at the last remnants of the battle.

Meanwhile, back in the starfire domain, Lucifer’s training was beginning to gain real momentum.

Aeloria was constantly adapting his field of battle, introducing new elements of pressure to increase his output and force him to cycle his manifestations of power faster than before. Knives of Crimson Genesis were forming and breaking against the ever-changing targets, darkness swallowing the space only to be dispelled by the new wave of enemies taking their place. Blood constructs were struggling desperately to impose their conceptual weight on the battlefield, only for the domain to resist them with equal force. His Origin Pulse left afterimages long after it had finished executing its function. His sweat would have been visible if it could even appear in the first place; at True Divine, the body did not process physical exertion the same way anymore. Instead, he could feel the heat behind his ribs, where his Divine Blood Core was struggling to keep up with the continuous output.

"Stop separating the abilities in your mind," said Aeloria. "At this level, they are not separate manifestations anymore; they are your power’s different expressions. You were not cycling between them but struggling to use one after another. Stop thinking of them as separate and overlap them instead."

Lucifer overlapped the two manifestations of his power. Darkness and blood constructs formed at the same time, their conceptual weight pressing down on the battlefield. An additional spoken mandate reinforced the domain, and the pulse of Origin Pulse sent the combined weight of everything forward, slamming into the nearest formation of targets. The space around them actually rippled under the force of the attack.

Aeloria gave a satisfied nod. "Acceptable. Again. Higher output."

Lucifer pushed himself once more.

Elsewhere, in the space between realities, the deployment orders for the Personal Elites were beginning to take shape. Vaelor’s inner agents were preparing to transfer the might of the Personal Elites across the Loom, where they would begin their work of removal and dismantling inside the sealed space. Their arrival would not be instantaneous, but soon enough, the pressure on the domain would grow exponentially. Even now, out at the edges of the system, Selene had already begun to sense the shift in the Loom’s balance.

The pressure on Aeloria’s domain had just increased several times over.

Lucifer, who was still unaware of what was happening, was still struggling to cope with the sudden changes to his battlefield. The manifestation of power that Aeloria had taught him felt suddenly heavier than he expected it to be. But instead, he pushed through it, trying to meet her expectations.