Defiance of the Fall

Chapter 909: Breaking Through

The explosion released from the Spatial Barrier surrounding Billy's expanded forward in a straight line. Every second, it grew thousands of meters longer, and it had already left the army behind as it made its way toward Zac and his two companions. "This is a bad idea," Ogras muttered as he slunk out of Zac's grip, though he still kept pace. "You can't trust that fool of a Realm Spirit to know what it's doing."

An ominous ripple spread through the spatial beam, as if cursed by the demon's unlucky words. Zac's eyes widened in alarm, and he activated his movement skill, but he frantically canceled it when his mind screamed of mortal danger. It was just in time as well, as his contraction of space had created small fissures in front of him.

"What the-" Ogras groaned as he emerged bloody from a puff of shadows, clearly having encountered a similar phenomenon.

There was no time to answer as Zac desperately scrambled out of the way. He narrowly avoided getting split in two thanks to Vivi's vines, but he still felt a cold sensation as the spatial tear nicked him. From there, the errant burst of energy continued past them as it carved an enormous crevasse into the ground.

Another one had streaked through the enemy lines, instantly killing a set of unlucky souls while cutting apart one of the siege towers.

"How can space be this brittle?" Vai exclaimed with a pale expression.

"Can't you feel it?" Ogras grunted as he pointed at the dissipating tear. "It's not pure."

Zac's brows furrowed as he sensed what the demon was getting at. There really was a hint of the Lost Plane's madness inside that spatial tear, though it was still barely discernible.

"This realm might really be crumbling," Vai cried.

No matter how weak the sign was, it wasn't good news. They hadn't seen the situation improve over the past week, but neither had it deteriorated. To see hints of the Lost Plane this far from his pillar, especially in conjunction with how brittle space was, proved the situation might be even worse than they'd feared.

"We'll worry about that later," Zac said, speaking to himself as much as the others. "We need to move - they've spotted us."

"Into that deathtrap?" Ogras said with a raised brow.

"It'll be fine," Zac grunted as he kept running toward the incoming chaos, even if he wasn't without misgivings.

It wasn't just foolhardiness and blind faith that propelled him forward, even if the madness inside the tears had been an unwelcome surprise. Thanks to [Rapturous Divide] and his study of the theories in the Book of Duality, Zac had a pretty good idea of what Billy or the Realm Spirit were planning. He had noticed it right away; the core of the incoming shockwave was hollow and expanding.

As expected, the corridor of destruction soon collapsed, creating two spatial storms that blocked out the invaders while a third covered the sky. Between the storms, a 100-meter-wide pathway mostly free of spatial turbulence appeared, leading all the way to the walled fort in the distance. It was a solid idea, and it would have been almost perfect if not for space turning so brittle.

There was no way he'd dare use his movement skill in this kind of environment after his previous close encounter; he might accidentally step into the Void if he did that. Or perhaps even the Lost Plane. Even using too powerful attacks was risky in such an environment, though that was as much a strength as a weakness since that restrained the enemies as well. Most importantly, the spatial beam had opened a path for them while keeping the invaders at bay.

Or at least most of them.

Zac knew first-hand how dangerous those kinds of spatial storms were to traverse, but it wasn't impossible. A few of the invaders were already making their way through under the urgings of their superiors. A few were even thrown inside when they refused to move. However, most were led by Hegemons, who used brute force to carve a path.

Dozens learned the same lesson they had, and Zac even saw a Hegemon get swallowed by a spatial tear when he tried to teleport through the storm. Meanwhile, hundreds of warriors were rushing toward Zac, wanting to intercept their approach or use their entrance.

"I'll take the left," the demon said as dark clouds made from shadows started to spread while Zac tried conjuring a fractal blade.

Space held together even under the pressure of [Nature's Edge] empowered by two of his Dao Branches, but Zac could feel it wouldn't be able to endure much more punishment than that. Still, that was all Zac needed as he unleashed a constant stream of fractal leaves toward the right.

The closest warriors, who previously made up the army's rear, initially tried to block out Zac's attacks with various defensive skills. That only resulted in a scene of utter carnage as blades empowered by two Dao Branches and a monstrous amount of strength cut through everything in their path.

The situation wasn't as lopsided on the other side, even if Ogras used all kinds of tools to impede the incoming tide of warriors. Hidden spears rose from the shadows, illusions made warriors turn on their allies, and an obscuring haze led people straight into the spatial storms. It formed a dangerous web that delayed their enemies long enough for Zac and his two companions to enter the pathway. In their wake, Ogras released his illusory shroud, which would give the three a head start for the final stretch.

"Can you destabilize the storms even further?" Zac asked of Vai, who nodded after some hesitation.

The re

"Gemmy helped too!" the childish voice from before exclaimed as a shimmering crystal flew out from one of Billy's pockets. "Billy says you can help bash the bad guys and cure Gemmy?"

"Are… you the Dimensional Seed?" Zac said as he looked at the floating gem curiously.

"Gemmy is Gemmy," the gem hummed. "You are stupid. But why do you smell familiar?"

"Uh," Zac hesitated. "We met once when you were younger. We helped each other out to escape from some bad guys."

"Ah! Gemmy remembers! Gemmy was inside you!" the floating gem giggled, which drew odd looks from Ogras and Vai. "Your body is weird. Hungry. Hungry Guy."

"Well, uh," Zac coughed.

"Ah, Gemmy is tired. Going to take a nap in the fire," the gem continued before it flew off toward the innards of the fort, and Zac saw that Vai was just as confused as he felt.

"Like I never left," Ogras sighed.

"Finally, friends have come to help. Welcome to Kingdom of Billy!" Billy excitedly exclaimed as he followed the Dimensional Seed.

"So, are we just going to pretend the army outside isn't there? Or that space isn't apparently on the verge of collapse?" Ogras muttered as they walked through the thick wall.

"Billy hasn't forgotten how you tricked the Smallboys and stole Dao Stones, Horny Guy," Billy snorted. "And Billy has a plan to fix everything."

"You have a plan?" Ogras nodded as they emerged on the other side. "I'd had hoped to die between the bosoms of two succubae, but I guess this place will have to do."

"Let's just list-" Zac said, but he was interrupted by a series of hurried steps and a loud exclamation.

"Vai?! Is that you?!"

Zac looked over with confusion as he vaguely recognized the voice, and his brows rose when he saw not one but two familiar faces run toward them.