Dungeon Diver: Stealing A Monster’s Power

The purple glow becomes brighter around the edges of Ember’s golden body, and more streams of consciousness make their way through.

I hear the Demon’s voice echo in my mind again.

“To think you would dare to enter the membrane without consolidating your legacy. Still relying on Royal Vibrations and untamed Advanced Primordial Aura. You are nothing but particles of dust in the wind to me.”

Every word that comes through feels like it is rattling the fabric of my consciousness.

While extremely intense, it is still no real threat to me. The energy is being pushed through many filters before actually touching my origin body.

The first being that it has to seep through the enormous golden dragon before us.

The second is that all of the physical silver threads are being consumed by my blade, and the third is the Crimson Advanced Primordial Aura that surrounds both myself and Maria. This is not to mention the journey through the dark void we float in weakens the force as well.

Even so, it’s near the limit of what I can stand.

I feel my mind being fatigued with every word. My Primordial Aura being used up to process information, my Royal Vibrations being strained; and even my Soul being fractured into pieces to withstand the ether imbued in these waves of energy.

Yet, just as fast as I take these attacks, the presence of the darkness we float in reverses all of the energy that is expended. I feel perfectly healed after every word, and in fact, my energy control grows stronger.

The clarity of the demonic legacy increases in the depths of my mind, as every glyph that attacks me adds more understandings. Filling in gaps in this demonic legacy also increases the instinctual knowledge of the Creator’s Legacy. No new glyphs or intricate arrays are revealed, but waves of general understandings make my knowledge base far deeper.

For a moment, the targeted waves of aura stop, and a much less invasive wave of purple and silver energy hits us next. It feels very similar to the aura that we could sense when first entering this place.

Noctus speaks directly to Ember, “Come on, you allow me to feel their energy signatures, but you will not let me see them. Are you embarrassed? Will you wait here until the end of time too? There is no hope of them ever becoming strong enough. You and I both know that we already took advantage of this system’s experience. You severed your claim to the share, and no one can ever reach the level I have again. You should have stayed in the Origin Plane and faded into the background in peace. This will be far more painful for you than it will be for me.”

Flickering golden Primordial Aura fluctuates all over Ember’s scales, claws, and even gleams in his eyes while he responds.

“Reaching your level again may be impossible, but anomalies do not rely on the current systems to gain strength. You are not seeing reality for what it is. Their power is not reliant on the divide of mana and demonic energy like us. There is a pattern that you do not see, a cycle that your imitation legacy cannot suppress no matter how foolproof your limited mind believes it may be.”

Faint waves of golden light trickle back toward us to allow us to listen in, but I watch the strongest waves of aura disappear in a direction of space that my will is too weak to comprehend.

In this moment I realize that maybe when I see aura disappear into thin air, it’s not really vanishing. Just like these streams of energy coming off Ember, they’re moving in a direction I can’t yet comprehend.

Ember lets out another targeted stream of aura. Instead of at the demon, it moves solely toward us.

“Some of this demon’s words are true. In your current state, your wills are not capable of lasting a moment under his pressure. It is also a fact that if I go near, an event of the past will trigger unfavorable results… ending in both of our demise. Though, it is false that there is no hope for you to defeat the failure that I raised. I may not be able to tell you the truth in how you can consolidate your legacy, but you do have a window into the past in your hand… of how it was done many times before.”

Ember’s aura focuses on my blade, then without moving his body at all, I feel him bending my attention toward the Realm Wave I just passed through. It looks like a ring of silver energy, surrounding the four of us, like we are centers of gravity and it is a frozen mass of silver threads in orbit.

The strength of the demonic mass shielded behind Ember’s aura grows stronger, and he yells past him again, “Do not believe this Dragon’s lies! He spoke the same way to me before I gained my Immortal Core! I had to take control and create my own destiny. I will give you a chance to turn back now and live the rest of your life in peace. The Upper and Lower Realms are under your control, make use of them as you desire. Challenging me now will only lead to your deaths here and now.”

Far more waves of unfiltered aura seep through Ember’s defenses, and the density of the silver threads that pour into my sword is tens of times more than the last time.

The telepathy waves are so strong this time, I can feel my origin body and sacred body being torn apart by the pressure over and over. I tilt on the edge of death millions of times within a fraction of a second. It is overwhelming, and quite frightening, but the churn of energy makes all of my comprehension abilities rise exponentially.

I feel even the glyphs imprinted in the core of my soul sword pulse as it devours far more energy than it can handle.

A rush of new memories from its past lives blurs my vision, splitting my consciousness into more pieces while I’m still being bombarded by the Demon’s telepathy waves.

It makes my train of thought fragment so much, I start to forget if I am truly still floating in this void, or if I’m present in the memories that flash by.

It is a familiar sight of foreign worlds, and unfamiliar galaxies with unique energy constructs passing by the billions.

However, I’m in such a state of shock, that no matter what memory I see, the shadowy figure that is the soul weapon’s wielder continues to look just like me, and the golden-cored teacher that appears by their side to soul bond looks just like a dragon to my subconscious mind.

It allows me to stop focusing here and look even deeper into the memories.

Not only have the planets, galaxies, and constructs become part of the background, but even the soul weapon, the wielder, and golden-cored immortal have become general knowledge.

I look for patterns that are even more abstract, and instantly begin to feel familiar auras creeping into my mind.

Every few million passing memories, whenever there is a major event that has to do with supporting and maintaining life in new galaxies, I feel a familiar green sensation flicker in my consciousness. It pairs with the aura I already know as Abby’s from my own memories, and this correlation makes every single iteration of this aura appear as her Immortal Healer’s form.

Just after this, another strange sensation latches on, and I start to feel Maria’s presence in these memories too. Golden threads threaten to collapse in and take these memories away, but I focus even deeper, and don’t let go of the tight hold I have.