Beyond The System
Chapter 120: Inside a World

I stood and hauled the psychotic guard up with me, leaving his sword buried in the dirt of the forest arena.

“Put me down, you—urp.” He retched mid-protest.

“Do. Not. Vomit on me.” I warned.

I heard a hard gulp as he staggered to the gate. “I surrender, just so you know." I clarified. "Handle that properly for me please.”

He shoved away from me and slapped his hand on the gate. It opened immediately, and he vanished.

[“Five points will be deduct—”]

The message cut off there, then resumed a moment later:

[“Just go back.”]

I left and regrouped with the others in the Hall. Thea and Elric were already waiting, having finished their own fights, as my orb updated to reflect my glorious point loss.

Honestly though, I was already considering ditching the new orb. But preparation would be needed first, before that I had to pitch my insane plan.

“You fought?” Thea asked.

“Uh, well, kinda. I forfeited.” I looked over at Elric. “But I could go for a real battle.”

He grinned. “Let’s go.”

“Maybe we should swing by home first. I forgot something,” Sia suggested.

I raised an eyebrow. “How interested are you in seeing your parents going at it?”

“Wha?! Where is that even coming from?!” she shrieked, her voice cracking as she reached a new pitch.

At least Elric laughed. Not full-on laughter, but a solid courtesy chuckle. I’d take it. The others hit me with eye-rolls and expressions of pure disbelief.

We jogged to the Town of the Fallen, heading to Greats Training. “What happened to the other girls?” I asked.

Bristle trotted up the stairs ahead of us, somehow knowing exactly where we were going when we entered the building.

“They’re still with the guild Lyra used to be in. They only knew the basics of what we taught,” Thea explained. “It keeps them safe. Anything more would be... risky.”

“Got it.”

I opened the training room door and stepped inside, waiting.

Elric took position across from me. “You ready, pal?” he asked, way too confident.

I activated every passive ability I had, linking my sight with Luna and finally seeing what she meant. Elric was like a forcefield preventing any stands of World Force from coming in.

A small vortex at the top of the sphere where a select amount of World Force came in through a funnel.

Let’s not hold back.

My gauntlets came to life, instantly draining my energy. “Ready.”

Elric smiled. “I’ll heal you after.”

I moved to meet him, but the moment I did, he disappeared, in fact everything did. Total sensory deprivation.

I swung at the pulse of red light shining through my Precursor Sense, but when my fist struck the highlighted figure... nothing.

And I don't mean he dodged, I definitely hit the figure, but my fist went through like it was made of air.

The other problem was, even true sight was failing. An orb of total isolation had hit me.

I felt something on my back and a jolt of pain shot through me, I felt the skin splitting, blood soaking my clothes… I needed new ones anyway.

When I swung back, the same result. Nothing.

Fine, he has control, but not like I do when the flame is up. He has to be using his system for something.

I started circulating energy. A fusion of both elements, denser now after my second transformation. I condensed it into a Silencing Current, spreading it out around me in a spinning radius, arms sweeping like a dancer as I cast it.

My hearing came back, but the darkness remained. I had no sight and felt no World Force in the air. He really was a monster.

I stayed still, listening, but he was smart enough not to make a sound.

Another pulse of light flickered within the domain. Then a second. And a third. All more or less shaped like Elric.

Seriously? It was starting to feel like he crafted his entire skillset just to counter mine.

I stepped back and nearly slipped. Something slick was beneath my foot. It was smooth, slippery, and... cold. Was that ice? Did I make that?

An idea clicked. I dissipated my gauntlets, no point burning energy on weapons I couldn't even hit Elric with.

The three figures closed in, and... I ran.

Probably looked ridiculous from the outside, both of us sprinting, speeding up with skill buffs, but I was faster. Not by a ton, but enough. My dual-energy fusion could overpower his single type.

I let one illusion close in, then launched an Air Lance.

It vanished almost instantly.

So the clones were fragile.

I fired another Air Lance at a second form. This one dodged, rolling out of the way.

Obviously, that was the real Elric.

He moved to countered, lifting his hand. I ducked, but nothing came.

Instead, a pulse of red flooded the space. My domain was overwhelmed, vision flooded by a dep red.

He must’ve been testing me earlier, using the clones to bait my reaction, figure out how I track things. Probably realized I didn’t fully understand my own detection method.

But now he did. 

Unfortunately for him, I was ready now. His discovery wouldn't help him escape, whether I could see or not.

The energy I’d been storing gathered into a dense, singular point.

I could feel him coming closer, I mean not really, but he's gotta be. He would probably establish a pattern of jabbing, retreat, jab again, slowly wearing me down with literal torture. A simultaneous vicious and efficient assault.

A blast of cold energy erupted from me.

Sight returned instantly as my frost spread in all directions, trailing across the ground, even chilling the air. Everything icing over in a heartbeat.

I allowed myself half a grin basking in the victory, but should've focused on my surroundings instead.

My senses snapped back to full clarity just in time to see the real Elric losing his footing, arms flailing. “AH, Crap!”.

“Move, Pet—” he managed, before the collision.

He slammed into my legs, buckling them instantly and Elric, who was sliding forward without control, crashed into me a heartbeat later, both of us tangled in a heap as the frozen ground shattered beneath us.

We lay there, groaning, bruised, and laughing in disbelief.

“How do you know how my Precursor Sense works!” I shouted, mock-frustrated, kicking one of his legs off me, still chuckling.

“How have you not figured it out?” he replied like I was an idiot, brushing my hand off his face. “It detects circulation. That’s why you see living things in red, and not anything else that has energy. Right?”

Wait… he sent out circulated force in his own image?

And the flashbang at the end, what even was that?

'Peter.' Wyrem’s voice crept in.

'I said no!' I snapped back before he could start.

“Where’d those weapons come from?” Elric asked.

I summoned the gauntlets back from within. “I made them. I’ll show you all later. I’m just glad they can repair themselves. One broke recently.”

“Crazy,” he muttered, sitting up.

“You guys done?” Thea called from across the room, as Bristle darted excitedly between the three girls.

I looked over at Elric. “Done?”

He nodded. “Yeah.” Then reached out and placed a hand on my back. I felt a mild sting as my skin shifted, knitting itself together under his touch.

“You’ve gotten better at not torturing people?” I raised an eyebrow.

He gave a wicked grin. “Once you figure out why the pain happens… you can control it, relieve it, or cause it.”

I shivered and immediately pulled away, jogging toward the infinitely safer presence of Thea.

“You ready to do some real learning?” she asked, her expression already glowing with anticipation.

“Sure. How about you? I’ve got a lot to share.” I teased, and sure enough, her eyes lit up. A cultivation nerd through and through.

Sia jumped in. “I’m getting my fight soon too, right?”

I could feel the intensity behind her question. Maybe watching me spar with Elric had sparked something, well, that and the grudge she may be holding. “No problem, but we all need to keep getting stronger. There might be some pretty big dangers out there soon.”

“I’m not planning on taking any missions anytime soon,” Lyra added softly. “Didn’t think you would want to, either.”

“I don’t,” I confirmed. “Anyway, let’s share.”

“I’ll start,” Thea said, nearly vibrating with excitement. “Spirit Refinement.”

She scooted closer, sitting next to me until our legs touched. I didn’t mind, or blame her for the degree of attachment recently. If anything, the closeness helped ground me too. Reminded me she was here. They all were.

She continued, “It started when I tried to extract Precursor Energy.”

Elric perked up. “I was amazed how simple it was, honestly. None of us thought to try it.”

Lyra pinched his arm, but he didn’t flinch. “Exactly,” she said. “Which means it wasn’t that simple.”

The group settled in around us, the casual energy slowly giving way to focused attention.

Thea turned back to me. “So I started thinking, where is energy actually stored?”

She gave me a look, waiting.

Well… my violet energy was anchored at my Nexus. That was obvious, but maybe it was more than just a node. It felt like a vortex when it pulled in World Force, cycling it.

Maybe there was more past it.

“In the Nexus?” I answered.

“EXACTLY!” Thea shouted, bouncing where she sat, her voice full of pure, childlike excitement.

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