Defiance of the Fall

Sendor had thankfully come through . Zac didn’t know how , but the arrays prepared by the Perennial Vastness melted the treasures without damaging their essence . The Nucleus Arrays were custom designed for these two treasures and the patterns he’d added . He essentially had a Supremacy personally overseeing the process , ensuring this first step would work without a hitch .

No energy leaked from the materials , and they weren’t fluctuating dangerously , either . The arrays he’d engraved had fused with the material itself , creating a stable structure that could be molded .

The glowing blob from the Warstone] looked like heated steel , emitting an aura somewhere between its original Dao of War and his Branch of the War Axe .

The Calamity Core] was a sphere of heated glass . Life and Death almost formed a Yin-Yang symbol , except for the missing dots . The two sides were in perfect balance in energy , aura , and Dao , which was why he picked the Calamity Core] over two separate Supreme treasures .

Of course , the balance didn’t mean the elements had fused , and stability was only a relative concept regarding Life and Death . The Nucleus Array had forced them together , and it remained an unstable union without the Void to keep the peace . There was a mutual rejection within the treasure , but it was within his expectations .

Zac dragged the two materials over with telekinesis as he disrobed to leave his chest bare . The tattoo on his belly was still there , ready to receive more materials . The main array had a similar function , but the tattoo was better as it was slightly faster . His skin rippled as the Calamity Core] entered his body . The Warstone] would soon follow , but he needed to complete the next step separately . Zac dragged the molten glass into his core , where the perfected Life and Death waited .

The molten treasure was a voracious black hole when it came in contact with the energies sealed inside the Hollow Core] . Vast amounts of Life entered the golden half of the glowing sphere , while the Quantum Death entered the black one . The sense of rejection was rapidly weakening as more and more energy entered .

That’s it! - Zac shouted .

This was exactly what he wanted to see . He’d been somewhat confident in his plan after seeing the Chaos Motes successfully split , but it was still a huge load off his shoulders to see the Calamity Core] stabilize . The twinned crystal was as stable as the Warstone] when two-thirds of the accumulated Dao had been absorbed .

Still , Zac crammed another two Chaos Motes’ worth of perfected truth into the Supreme treasure , ensuring it would stay stable even longer . The energy inside the Hollow Core] was fully drained except for lingering pieces of Conflict he hadn’t managed to prevent the Duplicity Core from absorbing .

The Warstone] entered the Hollow Core] the second that process was done , joining the Calamity Core] . Simultaneously , Zac released the floodgates in his mind , letting a storm of Dao emerge from his Spiritual Void] while the axe-wielding Dao Avatar was squeezed for over three-quarters of its accumulated truth .

The War-attuned treasure already contained significantly more energy than the Calamity Core] thanks to being left on the array until it couldn’t withstand it any longer . Still , it wasn’t a match to the Calamity Core] after it swallowed the four Chaos Motes . This was a second infusion to reach equilibrium between the three forces .

Zac shifted his attention to the platform beneath him . A nudge activated its main feature , and the whole thing came alive . The array started to absorb the vast amounts of energy provided by the Dao Tapestries , using it as fuel . An uncomfortable pressure built in his body , but he ignored the discomfort as he ensured none of his Hidden Nodes triggered .

A gleaming , three-colored sphere surrounded the Duplicity Core , releasing immense gravitational waves into the core . Seeing the Duplicity Core was fine , Zac sent out over twenty strings of Mental Energy . They entered the sphere , where they were transformed . They were still spiritual , but the array gave them physical characteristics , allowing them to interact with the materials .

Their function was similar to robotic surgical instruments sometimes used before the Integration . It was night and day compared to the Mortal Core Formation methods he’d found in Zecia . Those techniques pretty much took the base materials and put them under great pressure , squeezing them into a shape resembling a blueprint .

It took little time to get used to the transformation since it was ultimately his Mental Energy . The only problem was that his control was a bit clumsy due to the damage across his body .