Dungeon Diver: Stealing A Monster’s Power

“Your method of survival is far too limited, and far too selfish. It cannot succeed.”

When I send this simple message, it uses a dense, compacted stream of my own raw aura.

The crimson primordial aura that covers my sword and origin body does not follow the stream of consciousness through the void.

So, in the moment that it seeps through the thin white bubble, I feel the real, unaltered presence of Noctus, the Silver Cored Demon.

I have to instantly let go of any connection I had to that fragment of consciousness and only perceive it second-hand once it’s destroyed and summoned back into my soul.

It feels like a tiny grain of sand was just buried under the weight of an entire desert. The moment I truly try to compare the difference in raw power coursing through our auras, my mind gets lost in the enormity of the vast scale.

Yet, even touching the surface of comprehending this power, waves of understanding ripple through me. It occurs just as the flash of silver threads from my own cores fade, and I can start to picture in my mind where the next step of power lies.

It is fundamentally different than the rigid ideas of energy and linear progression that my mind is still instinctively grasping onto.

I send another wave of telepathy through the void, just to feel this aura again and experience its enormity.

“What is the use for all of that power? If you are only going to serve yourself. After spending time in this membrane, it would be the obvious conclusion to realize what you are trying to do is wrong…. For time to pass, you’ve needed other minds to observe your existence, right? You had an entire galaxy at your fingertips, yet you choose to gamble on a potential future outside with no proof? And to do so alone?”

The burst of aura that makes its way through his bubble is even larger this time, and my fragmented consciousness dissolves like a single droplet of water into an ocean covering an entire world. Yet, I do feel the faint ripples with far more clarity as I am more prepared. The instinctual mapping of his mental pressure becomes far less mysterious.

However, my words create an explosion of purple, white, and silver energy to spiral out from every side of that bubble.

It’s even more than before, and it’s tinted with some annoyance.

“Do not give me a lecture. I have allowed you to feel my pool of consciousness, you now see the difference between us. I would never take advice from a lesser being like you… To make it this far, and stand on the high ground of proof? Now isn’t that amusing. How many times have you plunged into the abyss of the unknown to get to where you have?”

Waves of aura flicker out into the void and hit Maria and me.

Some even contain small amounts of silver threads.

I position my sword to absorb them, and the residual ether and primordial aura fragments in the rest of the energy waves are processed through its crimson aura before falling into our origin bodies.

The weight of the energy does not change. It echoes against the outside of our bodies like millions of deep bells are ringing in our ears.

The resemblance to the energy I just tapped into is very obvious; however, the density of energy being used is not the same.

Every wisp of energy I track making dents through this darkness does not compare at all to the enormous pool I just touched. At this rate, the Demon could let out millions of these attacks every passing second for billions of years, and it wouldn’t make any difference to the pool of energy trapped behind this white bubble.

It’s still unclear if Noctus cannot produce more power, or if he chooses not to. Yet, it does not change the fact that the amount of energy he’s producing now is as easy as breathing.

I feel my constitution fluctuate for a moment in time while realizing this, and it opens up cracks in my mind for a few waves of pressure to seep through.

My Origin and Sacred Body shatter to pieces again, and the instant reformation makes all of my cores bend in on each other and overlap to trigger another sharp web of silver threads to fill my being.

Memories that I’ve already witnessed, and many words of wisdom that Ember has shared with me in the past, come to the surface of my mind as I send a burst of telepathy back through the void.

This one powered by the internal aura I hold in the instant that pseudo silver threads fill my body.

“Sure, I would not have made it here without diving into the unknown. But we are not the same. The difference is, the only thing I’m putting on the line as a sacrifice to grow stronger when gambling on a belief is myself. You are attempting to sacrifice the existence of life itself. If there is nothing beyond, you have not only doomed yourself, but every civilization that could have strived with the energy you have taken with you. What you Demons call lesser life forms, those with lifespans lower than your own, is the furthest description from the truth. We see reality for what it is, a fleeting, yet beautiful, moment to make our mark, and we know that our end must come. Those of you that have the opportunity to live millions, or billions of years, you latch onto the idea that you are greater than the civilizations you watch rise and fall. Even the past Overseers, their Immortal Cores did not last forever. Neither will you. I cannot entrust all of the life remaining in this galaxy to a creature that does not even understand what living truly is…”

A massive burst of my aura collides with the side of the white bubble, and a visible splash appears on the surface of the Demon’s sea of consciousness. It is like a strong earthquake has sent large enough waves throughout its entire existence. A flicker of silver threads bursts through these waves, like a single tsunami crashing throughout the entire orb.

It does not last long.

The violent release of energy I used to attack this Demon’s mind, and also reason for existing, is quickly countered.

I feel every fragment of perception that was understanding its consciousness pool be overwhelmed and devoured.

The outside of this translucent film pulses dark purple, and the answer to one of my previous questions is revealed.

Noctus was certainly holding back. He’s capable of releasing far more aura at once if provoked.