Chapter 666 The New And The Old

In all of its mystical prophetic nature, Instinct's reaction had come a step too late. 

By the time he had warned his allies, the seemingly harmless bead of colored glass had already left Daniel's grip, shot in their direction at a speed that left no room for explanations. All he could do, in what little time he had, was to instinctively dive to the ground and yell, "DODGE!"

He had failed to see this coming, and not for a lack of attention. His power allowed him to make use of the quality of instinct in its every form. He could dodge any attack with his eyes closed, guess one's mood with a simple glimpse of their face, and direct himself through countless problems with what those who knew nothing of him would call a 'spectacularly fortuitous series of lucky guesses.'

But guessing was all he could do, and doing so accurately required two things. Context and a detail to base his guesses on. He could not simply perceive any information of any topic at any time, he needed a topic to speak of, and a base detail which he could evolve into a useful guess. An example of this was Roley's warning to Daniel. The casual and almost accidental tap of the former's foot against the latter's, which to the eyes of anyone else could have passed as a sign of boredom, but to him, its meaning was as clear as spoken language.

Daniel's attack, however, had come without either. He had simply attacked, leaving the naked man to react on instinct. His body dove to the side of the room, while his mouth spoke words his brain had not come around to processing yet. Without his mystical instincts, the aspects of Order and Sentience, who now stood alone in the trajectory of this small bead, had no time to follow his example, and were forced to react how they saw fit instead.

The first to react was the aspect of Sentience, who had obviously taken Instinct's previous warning more seriously by preparing for an attack. His brush instantly moved on the path of the bead of primordial mana, then brushed a circle of blue existential power of sentience, forming a large barrier that covered both him and his armored companion.

"No! Dodge!!" Instinct yelled once again before his body could even touch the ground, but once again, it was too late. As the sphere came in contact with the blue barrier its surface instantly cracked, unleashing rays of white and black light. Then, destruction ensued.

The shattering of the bead had been followed by the appearance of a blinding light, a glow of such intensity that it could have put the implosion of the biggest stars to shame. Its rays disintegrated anything that stood in their path. The cold stone, the enormous pillars and the tall cavernous ceiling all fell, unable to so much as hinder the power which continued its path of destruction until there was nothing left to destroy.

Eventually the light began to dim, uncovering a dozen figures that occupied the same material space they had occupied a minute back, but all looking completely different.

The one in the worst condition was the aspect of Deceit. The blast had disintegrated his physical body, leaving behind nothing more than a large cloud of fine gray-colored power. The sheep that had followed him, or whichever beast was hiding under sheep skin, had also perished. Disintegrated by the power of Roley's attack.

He was one of two low tier aspects of existence, but unlike Sacrifice who had the home advantage, Deceit had far less influence at his disposal within this universe. Far from enough to protect himself. Yet, despite the loss of his body, his power did not disappear. Instead, the dusty cloud started to converge and condense into a humanoid shape, forming a new body for its owner.

This body, however, was not that of the tall and reliable politician he had previously presented himself as, but that of a hideous humanoid creature. A gray-skinned imp with large leathery wings, a bulging belly, and limbs of little more than skin and bone. Under a pair of small horns, his large beady eyes bulged, showing as much shock as its wide mouth.

Relieved that he managed to survive the attack, Deceit used his new body to look around, and assess the damage, only stopping once his eyes came upon the figure of Sacrifice, who stood quietly within a half-destroyed cylinder of blood-like power. His eyes and mouth were wide open in an expression of sheer horror. "What in the world was that?.." He muttered to himself. 

Higher in their ranks were the aspects of Control and Authority, once of a dignified demeanor that would have turned heads among scores of mortal bachelors, now shattered by the countless burns and cuts that covered their bodies. They heaved and panted while shroud in leaves of different shades of green, which lingered around their bodies as if possessed by the children of a tornado.

*Cough* "What in High Lord Fate's name was that?" Control asked the creature to her left. A silhouette of cold and dark power, locked in place in its pseudo-humanoid form by the constant zapping of lightning that still lingered on him. The black robe Fear had used to cover his spectral form had not survived the attack, but thanks to his spectral body, he was able to avoid most of the damage, only suffering damage from the two elements that could harm him, the essences of lightning and darkness.

"That wasn't the power of Karma." Said the gigantic aspect of war with a deep voice. The many primordial powers within Roley's attack, as they coursed through his body, had disrupted his concentration, causing his body to go back to his original form. That of a thirty feet tall bronze-skinned barbarian with muscles harder than stone. His skin was also covered in soot, and minor wounds and burns, but other than some damages to the already meager pieces of clothing he wore, he appeared to be fine. 

His hand was carrying his battleaxe, which he immediately pointed towards where Karma and his followers had been sitting. There, he found a large transparent box of golden power, inside which the three remained unscathed. The detail that stuck to his mind, however, was the satisfied grin present on Daniel's face. 

"Sorry, I do not plan on letting you kill me." Daniel said.

"You do not have a choice!" Responded a familiar voice from behind the smoky remnants of Roley's attack. It pierced across loose elemental power and distorted space, reaching Daniel's ears just as Order's large body charged ahead while wielding a greatsword shroud in endless white flames. His once spotless clear armor had now been partially melted, and covered in charred marks. All but a circle in the middle of his chest piece where the barrier hastily erected by Sentience had protected him from direct contact with the bead of primordial mana. 

His charge was almost instantaneous, leaving Daniel just enough time to create a weapon of his own power before Order's greatsword came slashing down upon him, cutting through the same barrier Roley's attack had been unable to put a dent on with extreme ease, and continuing onto his spear.

The two weapons clashed, sending sparks of white and gold flying in every direction, but then, Daniel's pupils constricted. Beside him, the naked figure of Instinct had appeared in silence, with hands gloved in phantom claws twice the size of his real nails. Before he could react, the claws had flashed past his side, forming three bloody gashes that ran perpendicular to his ribs.

To hurt the most, however, was the trail of shattered space that Instinct's claws left behind. Shards that ground and cut Daniel's flesh from the inside.

After letting out a pained growl, Daniel threw a kick fueled with the power of karma forward, striking Order squarely on the clean part of his breastplate, sending him flying for miles before he could finally stop. Once rid of him, Daniel immediately turned towards the aspect of Instinct with spear in hand. His arms turned into a blur as the spear was thrust forward thousands of times in a single moment.

But, alas, Instinct did not retreat. He observed the incoming flurry of attack, and instead of trying to protect himself, he closed his eyes. His head snapped to the side, avoiding the fist thrust, then his left arm rose, causing Daniel's spear to strike the air in between his chest and arm, once again missing its mark. And that was only the beginning.

Each attack was thrown faster than the other, for Daniel meant to at least harm Instinct before Order and Sentience could join the fray, but no matter how many attacks he sent in his direction, none of them ever even brushed the man's skin. Instinct's reactions were so accurate that, had Daniel not known about his nature, he would have believed he had somehow been hypnotized into missing on purpose.

Despite the thousands of exchanges, the bout only lasted a few seconds, after which Daniel once again felt the charge of Order. A new spear formed in his free hand as he prepared to fight both at one time, but then, a pair of hands gently landed onto the sides of his head. "There is no need.. Go to sleep. You have done enough." Sentience whispered in Daniel's ears as his bluish power attached itself to Daniel's consciousness, bringing a debilitating sense of drowsiness.

Daniel's mind became sluggish, too weak to react to the sharp pain that had appeared just underneath his shoulder, where his arm had just been severed in a clean swipe that left behind milky flames that tirelessly fought against the chaotic nature within Daniel's existence, too slow avoid the obnoxiously accurate attacks of Instinct, and most importantly, too relaxed to awaken from the deadly grasp of Sentience's power.

His consciousness began to slip away, like that of an old man at the end of its natural life, taken from a state of deep sleep to join countless others in the underworld.. but then, his eyes regained focus. Their golden hue glowing of impossible brilliance as his body released a sky full of golden lights.

"Something is wrong.." Instinct said while backing away a few steps. "Get away from him!" he then told the gentleman who was holding Daniel's head in between his own hands. But once again, he was too late.

The golden power within Daniel's body surged, using the bridge created by Sentience's hands to invade his body. Unspeakable pain forced Sentience to immediately retract his hands, but he wasn't quick enough. With a snap of his arms Daniel's hands wrapped around Sentience's wrists, repairing the bridge for more of his power to pour into him. "AAAH" the man in the blue robe screamed as the golden lights fought his own existential power, using his body like a battlefield. Each clash corroding, burning and cutting the man from inside.

Seeing the tremendous suffering the aspect of Sentience was feeling, Order once again swung his sword at Daniel. This time, however, the blade did not pierce skin, as the impact was cushioned by what felt like an indestructible barrier. His failed attempt, however, did not discourage him from trying again. He fed unspeakable power to his swords, eager to break Daniel's defenses, but before his weapon could once again clash the golden barrier, the hand of the young man that had accompanied Daniel had appeared in front of him, a second sphere of colored glass embedded into its palm.

The crucial warning had never come, for Instinct had been too busy freeing Sentience from his dire situation the only way his instincts had told him how, cutting both of Sentience's arms off to break contact between the two. 

In the little time he had, Order could only bring his sword up against Roley's attack before a second blast washed over his body.

"War! Fear! Control! Join us in dealing with Karma." The injured aspect of Sentience ordered while being dragged away, "The rest of you kill his companion!" 

As he carried his injured companion to safety, Instinct could not help but feel a sense of dread when facing Daniel. His body emanated a power that did not belong to a guest of another aspect's domain, and even if he had the ability to store power indefinitely, how could a small pool of accumulated power compete with the oceans formed by millions of years of rain?

For a moment, as Daniel stood as a statue of gold, the naked man thought against his instincts that maybe, just maybe, they could not defeat this foe.

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