Dungeon Diver: Stealing A Monster’s Power

“This is what you say, but you are the selfish one, not me! You berate me for believing there is more out there, when you yourself claim to be from beyond… Do not try to play your games any longer, I’ve already won. All I must do is wait until the end of time. Trying to defeat me now would be even more harmful than good for both of us!” the demon’s voice echoes back in a wave of purple and silver energy.

This time, the faint imprints of glyphs feel like they’re present in this Primordial Aura.

I can’t physically see any, but I can feel the faint shadow of where glyphs were when this aura was released. If I didn’t already have so much knowledge of the Demonic Legacy, I wouldn’t be able to pick up on these patterns ingrained into the aura.

Ember replies, “Noctus Malazar. I must say, you were a fine Overseer. At least, from the point of view of an enemy. The army you constructed even in your current state… it took me far more attempts than I ever thought it would to reach you. Of all the demons I’ve dealt with, you were the trickiest in a long time. But, as always, the Great Creator’s Cycle finds a way to continue.”

I can feel Ember’s smile through his waves of golden aura.

Noctus’ voice echoes back, “Why do you speak as though it is possible for you to reclaim this system? You have lost. You lost the instant you severed our souls. You know how my unique skill works, you cannot get close enough to truly defeat me. That is, unless you wish to destroy everything within this system, including yourself!”

The imprints of glyphs I feel are like strange stamps of gravity that collect in my mind.

In this exchange, the demon’s words are extremely potent, and a wave of understanding rushes through me.

I can perfectly recall all of the Demonic Legacy’s glyphs from the many demons I’ve already absorbed. All of them have fragments detailing the creation point, where Noctus was alone in the Creator’s Legacy Tomb, inventing a new dialect.

Yet, now, I’m finally seeing another side of the Legacy.

It’s like a shadow is being illuminated, and I can tell that it was not only created as a tool to share strength and demonic techniques over the billions of years and countless eras.

The aura pouring off of the original Legacy Holder tells a far different story.

Millions of new array configurations begin to show themselves, as I understand the Demonic Dialect far more with every bit of aura I absorb. All these new glyphs feel like they were created to make some kind of time capsule.

They stray far from anything the true Creator’s Legacy glyphs hold. Whatever this new addition is, it’s far more unique and original than the standard inheritance glyphs found in the Upper Realm.

The wave of purple and silver aura stops flowing once his words are over, and I try to grasp for more imprints, like I was just given a tiny glimpse into a whole new mystery.

Ember’s calm, golden, flowing aura comes back. “I am well aware of the constraints you’ve placed on your domain. That is why it has taken me so many rebirths to finally make it back. If I wanted to come here and end it all, I would have been back much sooner. The Great Cycle always leaves a possibility to new beginnings. No matter how dire a situation may seem, all of one’s paths are never cut off, they are merely harder to discover, and even more difficult to follow.”

“This kind of talk is why I always hated you! You speak as though you are above me. Even now, you spout your lies to manipulate me into believing in your Great Cycle. It will never work on me, or any other Overseer of this System again! I will wait until all the stars in the Lower Realm go dark, until every living being can no longer gather enough energy to link to the system and reach level 1. I will wait until the membrane itself decays, and finally escape! There is nothing you can do to stop me!”

This demon’s aura is even stronger with this stream of words.

I become fully immersed in listening and feeling every new imprint of shadowy glyphs that I can.

Even though I’m certain the aura is not changing, my understanding of it is.

Many of the invisible dark indents start to appear as shiny silver glyphs, some very potent with a blend of purple and white energy. It feels strange, like a mixture of ether and primordial aura. It is refined much further than high-quality ether, but it is still just the echo of what it once was. There is no physical energy for me to devour myself.

However, the memories, array patterns, and connections I’m making are valuable enough.

My first hunch that it was some kind of time capsule technique becomes a certainty in my mind now, and I can see that the user wants to store an enormous amount of energy in time.

It makes me think of Marcellus’ plan to stay in the Purple Zone forever, but when I see the new array formations in this upgraded true version of the Demonic Legacy, I can see that even that Purple-Cored Chaos demon that began to outgrow the system itself in power, he too was just a tool to be used in a far greater plan.

Flashes of the Lower and Upper Realm construct still show in the back of my mind, and I start to visualize its outer walls.

It looks like an enormous oval, the bottom half holding the entire known galaxy, and the top layered with green, cyan, blue, and purple zones of bent space. Now, a tree grows in its center, holding the constructs together where the many old ancient arrays once did.

However, I can see outside of the construct too.

I only notice it now, because patterns of glyphs I never pieced together before start to connect in my subconscious. They appear on a cracked portion of the Lower Realm that hasn’t yet healed entirely.

The broken space that leaks energy while it tries to heal is where another very odd blip in space seems to be frozen in time on the outside of the construct. At least, it was until the instant I found it and began to observe its actions.

It is a cracked planet, covered in white and silver glyphs, an artifact that fell through the floor of the Lower Realm.

The longer I watch it, the more shattered and spread out it becomes.

At first, I don’t even realize it, but it is the first time I’ve managed to see something in this complete void of darkness with my own senses.

It gives off waves of shattered soul ties and an old Primordial Aura. Yet, it weakens the longer I observe it. Just watching it allows for time to pass, and for it to spread out into dying chunks of matter.

This realization makes me instantly pour my attention into the conversation I hear coming from Ember and the Overseer. The direction these waves of aura come from do not feel so random anymore.