Emperor of the Source

Within the micro-dimension, Pyros watched Adrian clash against the three sect leaders.

No matter how long he saw this sight, it felt almost impossible to accept. The three sect leaders were blocking, retreating, and spending enormous amounts of mana and willforce just to stop the storm of arcane concepts surrounding Adrian from erupting freely.

Due to too many overlapping domains, their authority had already been divided further, and the cost of negating and suppressing Adrian's arcane concepts had become far higher than before. Because of that, they could no longer lock the arcane rules as effectively as they had earlier, and the balance of the battle had shifted visibly against them.

Pyros wanted to help.

Every instinct in him screamed that he had to enter the battle, support Ignis, and force Adrian down before the Ashen Vortex Sect's future collapsed before his eyes. But Octaven and Kaelar stood like two immovable executioners within the battlefield, stopping anyone from meddling in Adrian's fight. The moment any Peak Rule Stage cultivator tried to move toward the center, one of those two appeared to block them, and their high-tier divine concepts made it clear that forcing through would only lead to death.

"No," Pyros thought, his face tightening as his mind raced. "If this continues, the Ashen Vortex Sect will be destroyed. I need to inform sister Hazel now, before it is too late."

His fingers trembled slightly as he reached into his spatial ring. The battle raged around him, the clash of domains, the roar of Adrian's multi-colored storm, the desperate shouts of mercenaries trying to coordinate against Octaven and Kaelar. Through it all, Pyros remained focused on the one thing that might salvage this catastrophe.

He activated a deeply hidden artifact he had prepared for emergencies. The artifact did not flare with visible light, nor did it create a spatial ripple that others could easily notice. Its entire purpose was secrecy. A message formed through his will and was absorbed into the artifact's core, and despite the sealed nature of the micro-dimension, that message silently breached its boundary and escaped into the wider void.

"Sister Hazel will come to save us," Pyros told himself, though the reassurance felt hollow.

Back in the fight against Adrian, the three sect leaders were already in a dreadful situation.

Morwenna was in the worst state among them. She had already been stabbed by Nightshade earlier, and even now, while she battled Adrian, Nightshade continued to appear at unpredictable moments to specifically inflict more wounds on her. He never overcommitted, never stayed long enough for her to retaliate properly, and never targeted the others with the same ruthless consistency. Every time she focused too much on Adrian, a shadow would flicker near her blind spot. Every time she stabilized one wound, another dagger threatened to open a new one.

"Damn you, Nightshade!" Morwenna hissed through clenched teeth as she twisted away from Adrian's blade whilst simultaneously parrying a shadow strike aimed at her ribs.

Because of this, Morwenna was forced into a terrible position. She had to focus on Adrian's terrifying multi-colored sword, on the arcane concepts that were beginning to slip free from suppression, and on Nightshade, who lurked at the edge of the battlefield like death waiting for impatience.

As she dodged and blocked Adrian's slashes, she now saw Nightshade and the two Peak Rule Stage beings under him currently restraining other cultivators, but she knew better than to believe that meant she was safe. It was merely an act, a layer of misdirection, and at some unexpected moment, Nightshade would come for her again.

With all her experience, Morwenna could see her situation clearly.

There was no path of escape. She was going to die.

Her mana had already been drained heavily, leaving barely around one million mana units within her. Her willforce was also approaching a dangerous state, strained from suppressing Adrian's arcane concepts, defending against his attacks, resisting Nightshade's shadow authority, and forcing her own deathly essence to keep functioning under pressure. The more she fought, the clearer the conclusion became, and that clarity filled her with a frustration so deep that it burned through the cold composure she had cultivated for millions of years.

Then Morwenna made her choice.

She ignited her Rule Core.

Her physical form blurred violently, flesh and bone dissolving as pale grey essence erupted from within her body. The void around her trembled as her body transformed into a turbulent mass of deathly energy. Her robes, skin, and blood disappeared into the storm, replaced by dense pale grey essence that radiated Death, Rot, Decay, and Silence in horrifying waves. The pressure surging from her pushed Adrian, Ignis, and Balthazar backward through the void, forcing even the nearby Peak Rule Stage beings to turn their gazes toward her.

For a moment, everyone on the battlefield witnessed it.

Morwenna's energy form quickly stabilized into a humanoid shape of dense pale grey essence, her Rule Core burning like a sun in the middle of her translucent body. The scythe in her hand dissolved and reformed as part of her energy state, its bone-white edge now shaped from condensed deathly light.

Every cultivator present understood what she had done. She had activated her energy body art, sacrificing the stability of her foundation in exchange for a temporary increase in conceptual purity and authority.

Ignis and Balthazar did not follow her example immediately. They understood why Morwenna had chosen this path, but they also understood the danger. In their current situation, entering an energy form would be almost direct suicide, even if it offered a temporary surge in power. They wanted to live. They wanted to survive this battle, preserve their sects, and somehow escape the nightmare that Adrian had become. That desire made them hesitate.

Then a voice bloomed from within Morwenna's energy form, filled with disbelief. "What is this?"

She felt her authority around her and checked it again. Then she checked it a third time, because what she sensed was impossible. No matter how she examined herself, no boost came. Her overall authority remained at seventy percent. The clash of so many domains had lowered the effective share she could wield in the battlefield, but the expected rise from her energy form, the surge that should have pushed her divine concept's authority toward eighty percent, had not arrived at all.

"Impossible," she whispered, her voice echoing strangely through the deathly essence. "This cannot be—"

Ignis and Balthazar were the first to understand why Morwenna was reacting that way, and even they stumbled for a moment.

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Balthazar's face drained of color, "No. No, that's not possible."

Ignis's flames dimmed, his expression frozen in dawning horror. "The arcane concepts... they're not answering her."

In contrast to their reactions, Adrian laughed!

It was not loud, but it carried through the void with cruel amusement. "I am honestly surprised someone this stupid managed to become a sect leader," he said, his multi-colored sword resting lightly in his hand as the prismatic storm around him pulsed with satisfaction.

Hearing that, Morwenna's will shook.

For a fraction of a second, rage flared within her. "You dare—"

But then she understood the hidden meaning behind Adrian's words, and that realization struck her harder than any blade. The rage evaporated, replaced by cold, creeping dread.

What was an energy body art? It was not as simple as changing one's body into pure essence. By dissolving the physical body into a turbulent mass of divine essence, a cultivator merged far more deeply with their divine concept and the will contained within it. That deeper merging temporarily elevated the purity of the divine concept, which then artificially increased their authority beyond its natural ceiling. That was the entire reason such arts were feared and respected, despite the terrible backlash they carried.

But what most cultivators ignored was the phrase they themselves used: The will of a divine concept.

What was that will, truly?

It was merely the amalgamation of the wills of all the arcane concepts forming that divine concept.

Morwenna's energy form turned toward Adrian. Around him, within the roaring multi-colored essence, she saw concepts she recognized far too clearly. Death, Decay, and Silence. The very arcane concepts that formed the foundation of her own divine concept were there, swirling around Adrian among countless others. Worse than that, she felt their gazes. The wills of those arcane concepts were looking at her from within Adrian's storm.

They were not answering her. They were not merging with her. They were looking through Adrian, and through that impossible connection, they were refusing to lend her the elevation she needed.

"No," Morwenna said, her voice hollow. "This... this cannot be real."

If the wills of those arcane concepts refused to merge with her, refused to recognize the temporary energy form she had burned her Rule Core to create, then what use was the transformation?

Adrian did not give her time to recover from that realization.

He dashed forward, his speed returning to a terrifying level as the suppression around several of his arcane concepts faltered completely. The multi-colored storm erupted behind him like wings of prismatic light. Morwenna tried to retreat, tried to raise her scythe, tried to force her deathly essence to respond, but her energy form, instead of granting her overwhelming superiority, had become nothing more than a vulnerable expression of her Rule Core.

"Wait—" she started, but the word died unfinished.

Adrian appeared directly before her and drove his hand into the center of her pale grey energy body.

His fingers closed around her Rule Core.

The Arcane Concept of Devour roared with hunger.

Morwenna's entire energy form convulsed as the Rule Core was pulled into Adrian's grasp. The devouring essence surged into it instantly, consuming the accumulated comprehension within. Death, Rot, Decay, Silence, her layered understanding, the vast comprehension of everything she had built over millions of years, began to collapse into Adrian.

Morwenna tried to scream, but the sound dissolved before it could fully form. Her consciousness fragmented, memories scattering like ashes in the wind. Millions of years, wars fought, disciples trained, enemies crushed, empires built, all of it unraveled in seconds.

Her pale grey energy body thinned, cracked, and then scattered into fading fragments. Within moments, there was no trace of her left on the battlefield.

Morwenna of the Grave-Sky Sect, one of the rulers of the Andromeda Galaxy, vanished completely from the battlefield as though her existence had been swallowed by the void itself.

Silence.

No one moved. No one spoke.

Even the sounds of distant battles seemed muted, as though the universe itself had paused to witness what had just occurred.

Adrian's gaze shifted toward Ignis and Balthazar. His hand still glowed faintly with pale grey residue from Morwenna's consumed essence.

"Are my lessons clear now?" he asked, his voice carrying across the silent battlefield. "Arcane concepts are the foundation. Without them, your divine concepts cannot even exist."

The surrounding Peak Rule Stage beings gulped, and that fear was not limited to the mercenaries. Ignis and Balthazar felt it too. Many of the cultivators present had been considering the use of their own energy body arts. They had believed that by increasing their authority to eighty percent, they could fight Octaven and Kaelar, suppress Adrian, or at least create a chance to survive. But now they had seen the result.

If the wills of the arcane concepts turned against them, then the very technique they believed to be their final trump card could become useless.

These were experienced cultivators. Many had lived for hundreds of thousands or even millions of years. They had seen wars, betrayals, forbidden arts, hidden inheritances, and strange anomalies born from the universe's deeper mysteries. Yet none of them had ever faced a situation where the arcane concepts underlying their divine concepts might simply refuse to cooperate.

Balthazar slowly drifted backward through the void. His mind was filled with fear.

He could see the Arcane Concept of Gravity among the countless essences surrounding Adrian. He could feel it looking at him. Gravity was one of the foundations of his divine concept, one of the pillars upon which his authority had been built. If he entered energy form now, would the same thing happen to him? Would the will of Gravity refuse him? Would Density and Lock abandon him as well? Would his final trump card transform him into a helpless offering for Adrian to devour?

For the first time since the war began, Balthazar no longer cared about his sect, his pride, or the supremacy of the Andromeda Galaxy.

He turned and fled.

"Balthazar!" Ignis roared, his flames surging with fury. "You coward!"

But Balthazar was already gone, his massive form disappearing into the void with desperate speed.

Adrian blinked forward with terrifying speed.

Now that the suppression over many of his arcane concepts had weakened and Morwenna's portion had vanished entirely, his movement returned to a level that Balthazar could not escape. In an instant, Adrian appeared beside him. The multi-colored storm erupted around them both, casting shifting prismatic light across Balthazar's panicked face.

Balthazar tried to raise his gauntlets, tried to invoke gravity, tried to force the void itself to drag Adrian away, but his fear had already broken the rhythm of his will. His commands stuttered, his authority wavered, and his divine concept failed to respond with the precision it needed.

"No! wait!" Balthazar gasped, his voice cracking. "I surrender! I'll—"

Adrian's hand tore through his chest.

The multi-colored storm erupted around the wound as Adrian's fingers closed around Balthazar's Rule Core. Balthazar's eyes widened, his massive body stiffening in disbelief as the Arcane Concept of Devour surged again. Blood sprayed from his mouth, mixing with fragments of shattered divine essence.

Adrian ripped the core free and consumed it before the Ironbound Path Sect Leader could stabilize his consciousness. Balthazar's body drifted backward, hollow and lifeless, blood and broken divine essence leaking into the void as his presence faded from the battlefield.

Ignis saw Balthazar's dead body drifting through the darkness.

His flames flickered violently, reflecting the chaos in his mind. And Adrian's gaze now turned toward him.

The Ashen Vortex Sect Leader, who had declared supremacy over the Andromeda Galaxy, who had mocked the Crimson Vital Sect, who had sneered at Adrian as a discarded disciple and a stray dog, now stood alone before the multi-colored storm. Around him, the remaining Peak Rule Stage beings were locked down by Octaven, Kaelar, Nightshade, and the chaos of their own fear. Morwenna was gone. Balthazar was dead. Yselia was being hunted. Pyros had already staggered under the cost of one foolish command.

Adrian slowly drifted toward Ignis, his prismatic blade humming at his side. The arcane concepts swirled around him like living things, their countless colors painting him as something beyond mortal comprehension.

Ignis forced his flames to stabilize, forced his voice to remain level. "You think you've won?" he said, though the tremor beneath his words betrayed him. "You don't realize what you are doing—"

"You know," Adrian interrupted, his voice quiet but sharp enough to reach every corner of the battlefield, "if you had simply acted like the fucking mercenary you are, this situation would never have reached this point. I warned you more than once, Ignis."

His eyes glowed with the shifting light of countless arcane truths.

"Do not say I did not give you the chance to walk away."