Immortal Rainbow Rift
Above the crackling fire, the projected images of Ragjiel's life slowly dissipated, blending back into the flames, the light returning back to the jade crystal.
"The sole reason we came to these ruins was because we heard of a trading post nearby. Each step he took guided him to this very moment," Al murmured, his gaze fixed on the murky green crystal containing Ragjiel's Immortal spirit.
Elissa approached, her steps deliberate. "As you witnessed, it was inevitable. You could say this moment was destined." she stated, reaching out to retrieve the crystal. "Let's proceed. We now possess the date and hour of the pop-up trading post. I will hire five of the most powerful phantom seeds to orchestrate an ambush."
Al acknowledged her plan with a nod, and together, they leaped from the five-story hotel.
Al had recovered some of his Stubborn Will, he had gathered enough to use the spell Flash-Denial and evade any harm upon landing. Meanwhile, Elissa chose to not waste any Will, rolling as she touched down, effortlessly springing back to her feet.
They both looked around the city ruins taking note that Sergi and his people were nowhere to be seen. Remembering the conversation, he had with Sergi, and his grandmother Al knew they were in good hands.
They began their way back to the 23rd Supreme Seed. Al was about to say a comment concerning the fate of Ragjiel before the sky began trembling. Booming sounds began to echo through the city ruins and across the desert.
Al felt an ominous premonition before his ring told him "Leave!" almost shouting. Elissa went pale, her eyes completely focused on the night sky.
A black meteor was ripping through the sky, closely behind it, brilliant colorful lights illuminated the sky. A man in a colorful robe snapped his finger creating a spatial rift that wanted to tear the black meteor in half. The result was a small explosion that stopped the meteor.
The meteor turned out to be a figure with dark armor cladded in obsidian crystal. "Midnight-Abyss!" Al shouted.
The colorful robed man was followed by a rainbow wave of colors that made the sky appear like a kaleidoscope. Each drop of color was a clone of the man representing a single color of the man's rainbow robe.
"That's gotta be over 10,000 clones." Elissa softly mentioned witnessing the incredible scene. As Midnight-Abyss was momentarily halted, all 10,000 clones snapped their fingers each creating a small rift in the center of Midnight-Abyss. The 10,000 small rifts merged into a rift that threatened to split the entire sky in half.
Midnight-Abyss was in the center of the spatial rift however while space rendered in half, the obsidian demon remained whole causing the rift to collapse creating a massive explosion.
Midnight-Abyss was sent flying like a lightning bolt towards the hotel they had just left. It was like an indestructible cannonball tearing through the burning hotel bringing the entire thing down.
Riding the surge of his momentum, the rainbow robed cultivator conjured a rift before him, stepping through and teleporting directly above the hotel's ruins. In swift succession, the rainbow wave of clones followed suit, teleporting to the same location.
The ground quaked, and before the clones could react, an obsidian serpent dragon erupted from the earth, its crystalline form consuming hundreds of the rainbow robed cultivator's duplicates. The original teleported higher, out of harm's way.
The obsidian serpent dragon continued emerging from the ground exceeding over a thousand feet. In the head of the serpent dragon stood Midnight-Abyss commanding the obsidian titan. Its dark blade aimed towards the rainbow cultivator however as he ascended into the night sky, he noticed two figures standing in the ground.
Al shuddered even though Midnight Abyss was wearing a mask he could sense the bottomless pit of darkness that had turned its attention towards him. His Stubborn Will wanted to leave his body and flow into the obsidian god, it wanted to venerate it. Elissa felt a similar way she was actively fighting the desire to submit before the presence of Midnight Abyss.
Midnight-Abyss did not expect to ever see Al again, it was shocked to see him alive. He had left him to die after it was separated from Al's Stubborn Will. It had left Al without an Astral body. In fact, that was how he had gained a physical body by stealing Al's astral body.
Without an astral boy the physical body is disconnected from the spirit and slowly withers and dies. Or so that was what was supposed to happen. Yet Al was standing thein front of Midnight Abyss defying all expectations.
"I can't let him live!" Midnight-Abyss commanded the obsidian serpent which had just emerged from the ground to use its tail to completely wipe Al from existence. He was going to make sure he couldn't possibly heal afterwards.
Everything had occurred too fast before they knew they were trapped in the middle of an overwhelming fight. The 4,000 ft obsidian serpent swept its tail leveling the entire city ruins. The tail was so massive Al and Elissa saw a giant obsidian wall moving towards them destroying everything in its path. Before they were wiped from the face of the earth a rift opened up in front of them both immediately jumping into it.
Right after they disappeared the massive obsidian serpent tail wall passed right on through completely obliterating everything.
"Damn this annoying insect!" Midnight-Abyss thought as it extended its blade thousands of feet long, slicing in half thousands of the rainbow cultivators' clones. As the obsidian dragon ascended into the sky it endured tens of thousands of rifts trying to rip it apart creating explosions all over its serpent body.
The rainbow robed cultivator seeing that the two junior cultivators had teleported away, spoke to himself. "Now I can go all out," and turned towards his opponents.
Meanwhile, on the far side of the world, a rift materialized. Al and Elissa stumbled out, greeted by the high sun and blue skies. Elissa's breath came in ragged gasps, acutely aware of how narrowly they'd escaped death. Al, however, was still reeling from the pressure that his Stubborn Will had endured. However, one thought dominated the back of his mind who was that rainbow robed cultivator who was holding his own against an unleashed Midnight Abyss
"Who was that?" he inquired. Two immense bodies of water flanked them, one to their left and the other to their right.
"Roderick Brewster, known as Rainbow Rift. He holds a position of high regard within the Immortal Seeds. I believe he teleported us near his Immortal Ring to alert his Immortal Seed," Elissa explained.
Surveying their surroundings, she noted the chill in the air and the vibrant, multicolored trees surrounding them. "He hails from the Evergreen Leaf, if my memory serves me right. He belongs to its 4th Immortal Ring. We're likely somewhere in the eastern reaches of Canada."
Al nodded in agreement. "She truly is extraordinary," he silently mused. Both of them took a few more moments to rest, the intensity of what they had just witnessed necessitating some time to process.
"So that was Midnight Abyss... Rainbow Rift was unable to inflict any harm on it whatsoever," Elissa remarked, her voice low. "He resides in the Spirit Domain of the Immortal Chasm, just a single step away from the God Chasm."
Al, too, was taken aback by what had happened, but he couldn't forget his own experiences with the etheric shell that was Midnight Abyss. When he wielded it, he became completely invulnerable at mental Domain of the Mortal Chasm he had defeated enemies in the Immortal Chasm even a Rakh-ahtan warrior. Only two were able to gain an upperhand on him despite him wielding Midnight Abyss, Lapaptzi and her master the skeleton, Taczlopalic.
Lapaptzi, despite being unable to confront Midnight-Abyss directly, had managed to elude him until he could no longer wield the blade. However, Taczlopalic who had appeared in Ragjiel's crystal projection images and had shortly instructed him, had effortlessly overpowered Al while he wielded Midnight Abyss.
Understanding the staggering magnitude of Taczlopalic's power, Al released a heavy sigh. "Once I completed the task you asked of me, my plan was to visit some friends and then into secluded cultivation. But now, I've remembered something crucial," he confided.
"The skeleton you saw, the mysterious teacher of Ragjiel, goes by the name of Taczlopalic. He surpassed even Midnight-Abyss in strength. When Lapaptzi, his main disciple, abducted and tormented me. I undeniably overheard him conversing with A.R.M., the machine that made its proclamation to the world decades ago." Al's face was solemn as he recalled the strength of the I.P.S. decades ago he couldn't imagine the power they might wield now.
"If A.R.M. and the I.P.S. and its New Ark State are under the influence of that entity, they might be able to tip the scales in favor of the Rakh-ahtan, aiding in the eradication of the God Leaf's. At that point I'm not even sure if your 'Supreme God' would be able to do anything."
He would have never taken Al seriously to her the Supreme Leaf's God was the pinnacle of all creation. However now Elissa couldn't dismiss Al's words, especially after witnessing the devastating might of Midnight Abyss. "We must make our way to New Ark," Al declared resolutely.