Chapter 1143: Distant Omens

The situation that Alice wanted to avoid the most.

A direct combat with the one known as Oth’Zeruun.

The major idol who could manipulate reality and threatens the very safety of their world.

Now that things had reached this point, Alice had no choice but to fight!

It’s no longer a case of whether or not she wanted to do it but rather she HAD to do it.

Oth’Zeruun grinned, his fingers traced the canvas of reality and flicked.

A myriad of worlds shifted around Alice from burning mountains and frozen oceans.

Yet no matter what, her face was calm.

A focus state where she observed the world around her and countered at the perfect moment.

Golden flames burned in her eyes.

The world wasn’t observed with simply the sense of sight.

No, she saw deeper.

She saw the hidden attacks buried by the scenery.

"Leon, Helena, this might feel a bit uncomfortable so tell momma if you don’t want to okay?" Alice whispered as she flipped through the air, avoiding the hidden attacks sent out by Oth’Zeruun.

In response to Alice’s request, both Helena and Leon transformed without so much as a question. As her darling weapons, Alice had their full trust!

*SHATTER!!!

Helena’s form broke apart into countless fragments and reassembled into a set of chains that coiled around Alice’s arm, ending with what seemed to be a round shield.

Leon on the other hand, transformed into a crude guardless blade.

One might even go as far as to call it scrap metal but despite its simple design, this was its ’true’ essence.

A densely packed weapon of pure authority!

Following her sibling’s transformation, Ruby shifted herself into a set of boots.

All three weapons transformed and linked themselves to Alice’s body as she felt the flow of energy shift.

Holding back a groan, Alice narrowed her eyes.

The golden flames burned brighter than before as Cayla was being enhanced by Velouria’s authority.

Tear away the veil, reveal the truth of the world!

Stripping away the layers of reality, the scene before her broke down into a series of energy strands as she began to aggressively filter through the layers.

Whatever she didn’t need, she ’discarded’ to Cayla.

Cayla would then take a look to make sure nothing was hidden inside.

Meanwhile, Alice’s main senses were focused on the dangerous attacks being sent her way as well as Oth’Zeruun’s true form.

The avatar that she saw was simply an avatar. Even if she landed a hit, it would do nothing to the main body.

Instead, due to the nature of the world around them in this moment, Oth’Zeruun could choose to materialise it wherever he wanted.

Thus there was only one thing she needed to hit.

"I found you." Alice held her breath.

Twirling the blade around her fingers, she crouched down.

Energy was injected into Ruby as the metal around her ankles hissed. Energy was sucked in at an alarming pace.

Noticing this shift in Alice, Oth’Zeruun quickly reacted but Alice lunged.

*BANG!!!

The eruption of energy followed by the movement caused the air behind her to collapse. The sudden Void that opened behind her disrupted the space that Oth’Zeruun projected.

Void steps was a movement that took advantage of the rifts in space to allow for near instantaneous movement.

But just that alone wouldn’t allow Alice to reach her target.

No, she needed something else.

A synergy between both Leon and Ruby!

The authority of a guaranteed hit was diluted. Its target was not the energy but rather the space they would reside.

In essence...

-The space behind the tether allowing Oth’Zeruun to pilot his avatar.-

This single command was achieved. No matter how Oth’Zeruun manipulated the world around him, no matter the rules.

She will appear!

*BANG!!!

Reality collapsed like glass. Oth’Zeruun glanced back in surprise.

For the first time since he allowed his tendril to enter this backwater star, he felt his core stir.

Could a mortal truly adapt and improve like this? Could they truly bypass the rules and authority he had put into place?

He was not unaware of her abnormalities.

He had seen many children from different stars exhibiting the same explosive growth.

But never like this.

Perhaps it was due to the golden chains left behind by Velouria but...

Her eyes allowed her to peer towards the truth of the world!

A direct counter to his authority that lies in trickery and deceit.

Oth’Zeruun spun around to catch Alice but she moved with him.

No matter what he did, he could not stop her movement!

Thus he could only brace against the strike!

Yet...

*CLANG!!!

Alice creased her brows.

Her blade bounced off of Oth’Zeruun’s armour.

A flaw had just appeared in her attack and the Outer refused to give up this opportunity.

’I’m taking over!’ Alyss shouted, hijacking controls and raised her shield.

*BANG!!!

A thunderous impact that caused Alyss to slam her knees into the ground.

Blood seeped from her lips as the shield transformed into a set of chains that locked the Outer down.

Destruction point!

It didn’t matter how many shifting ’weak points’ that she saw. She simply had to strike!

*KRK!!!

As though to mock Alyss’s commitment, Oth’Zeruun transformed his right arm into a set of tongues and teeth.

"!!!"

Widening her eyes, Alyss glared at the Outer as her right arm was torn off.

However...

*CRACK!!!

Metal spikes erupted from within Oth’Zeruun’s body as Leon transformed himself into an exploding ball of spikes.

Narrowing his eye, Oth’Zeruun stared at this strange girl with a mix of amusement and anger.

The amusement of something so weak trying to fight back.

And the anger from the audacity of this tiny thing.

Since that was the case...

He’ll insert a little bit more of himself into this vessel...

"ARGHH!!!!" The nameless outer let out a cry of pain as he felt more of his essence transforming into something completely foreign.

His body contorted in all directions as muscles snapped from the sudden growth.

Blood and mutated black flesh wiggled and twitched, limbs elongated and Eldritch miasma seeped from Oth’Zeruun’s flesh.

Around them, the world began to glitch. A reflection of the myriad worlds colliding and merging all at once.

Jumping back, Alice took over once more as she stimulated her blood to speed up recovery.

She didn’t need to focus on the rest of her body when the only place suffering damage was her right arm.

First came the bones, next was the flesh.

Soon the veins, arteries and everything else threaded into place and the last thing was the skin.

Clenching her fist a few times, Alice got used to the sensation before snapping her finger.

Breaking through space, Leon returned to her side while Helena transformed herself into a bow.

Since Oth’Zeruun was still in the process of injecting himself into the Outer God, Alice took this time to prepare her own attack.

Taking aim, Alice placed Leon onto the bowstring and drew the bow.

Her eyes focused.

She exhaled softly as her aim steadied.

Just destroying the vessel wasn’t going to be enough.

In the first place, she doubted she could even destroy it cleanly.

Oth’Zeruun was someone who could probably overturn its destruction using a mix of power and authority.

If the destruction of the physical was impossible, there was only cutting off the tethers that remained.

However...

[We can do that but Oth’Zeruun isn’t someone we can overlook. He’ll probably find another way to invade our world. Unless we can obscure the world from his interference, I’m afraid we have to be careful with what we do.] Cayla warned.

Handling this recklessly could cause Oth’Zeruun to call for help. If multiple Major Idols try and invade... even with Velouria’s barrier in place, how much time could it truly buy them?

What she needed was a way to ensure that no more Outers can interfere. At least not while Velouria’s seat was left empty.

Until she could reinforce or recreate Velouria’s barrier, they could not afford to have more interference from the Outside world.

Thus Alice’s brain turned and a question floated in her mind.

*Kacha...

Oth’Zeruun’s authority governs concealment.

Had it not been Velouria’s authority that allowed her to deny Eldritch energy to some degree along with Cayla helping her peer through the secrets of this world, Alice was afraid that Oth’Zeruun’s identity might forever evade her wildest guesses.

However, he wasn’t the only one who knew disguise.

In Alice’s arsenal, she had multiple Sigils who could allow her to change her nature and even blend in.

Hell, Revenant Recollection allowed her to trace their history as well.

In that sense, she shared quite a bit of commonality with the Outer God.

Then there was also the thought of her own adaptability.

*Kacha...

Alice hadn’t tried it but...

As it had already been proved that she could usurp Abyssal Authorities...

What’s stopping her from trying to usurp Eldritch authorities?

Authorities work largely in the same way. The ability to directly manipulate the laws of the world and thus allowing you to modify and exert certain rules of your choosing.

It’s the power of the soul and its ability to command.

If...

And this was a big IF.

*KACHA...

If she was to consume a portion of the Outer God known as Oth’Zeruun... How would her adaption change?

’Say... twinnie.’ Alice called out.

’Hm?’ Alyss scrunched her brows, not liking what’s about to come from Alice’s mind.

If Alice was someone who could adapt to Abyssal Authority, then as the one largely being responsible for the Eldritch, what’s stopping Alyss?

’Have you ever thought about eating an Outer God?’

*CLICK

A gear was set in place.