501 Flight
Liam was still paralyzed when his core bubbled and boiled with darkness 'Ora', overflowing with energy.
It was a sensational feeling... but one he couldn't really enjoy.
After all, the wax-like substance was still gushing around his Pearl. Since it rooted itself to the brass walls, it forced his Chaos and Corruption back!
The process was sort of similar to how Liam gained his Corruption!
However, unlike his Corruption that seemed to be attracted to Liam's Pearl, the wax was foreign.
It was not supposed to be inside the Pearl.
And yet, Liam had forced the process anyway.
Which was why he was lying on his face, paralyzed. But as the process unfolded, his Pearl contents were strictly divided between 3 sides.
Chaos, Corruption, and... whatever the white stuff was. But Liam had no time to think about that!
He shifted his focus back to his advancing core! As it overflowed with 'Ora', the outer layer of the core just... exploded!
BHM!
All the 'Ora' inside poured out and spread across his entire body. HM!
And just as fast, another core formed on its own!
Except, the material that it was made out of now was not flesh or bone.
It was made from 'Ora' itself!
Dark 'Ora'.
Before, his core's natural color had the same texture and consistency as skin.
And now?
It was pitch black! And it was... powerful.
Yet, there seemed to be something missing from it.
Like half the puzzle was still unsolved.
Obviously, that was because the Tribulation was not yet over! WHM!
And only with his mental waves, Shifter Sense and Shadow Sense could he sense his surroundings. If it was time to panic, Liam didn't. He was calm.
At times like this, one must be very careful not to lose their minds.
But thankfully, Liam had already lost it!
There was no issue!
Thankfully, the process of his Pearl came to a stop.
And he gained back all the feeling in his body.
Liam rose to his feet, scratched his chest for a second, then used his shadows to emerge from the underground basement.
'I'll check out my Pearl later,' Liam thought as he emerged from the roof, and continued rising above the air. 'I'm not dead, so it's a good sign.'
As soon as he came outside, Liam noticed several things.
One was that he lost track of time. 3 months he was in seclusion, but it felt a lot quicker than that. All he had been doing during that time was eating, resting and sleeping.
Until then, his living area looked more like a fort than a slightly large pyramid. Seven distinct black pillars surrounded him in a protective formation. An invisible Isolation Barrier connected the seven points together, forming a dome of some kind.
A common strategy to dealing with the Defense Tribulation was just waiting it out! Of course, this was an option not many people could afford. It involved spending ridiculous amounts of money for protective inscriptions, formation masters to construct special areas and more. A powerful Defense Tribulation could raze an entire city to the ground, after all. Only the upper echelon of filthy rich individuals could protect themselves in this way. Apparently, Liam had become one of them.
What he noticed next was that the Elders outside had already scattered as far away as they could. Nearly all of the Temple had evacuated to safety! From afar, Valerie waved at him with a sunny smile, Kamjin smirked at him with missing teeth, Jax and Jane paled, Kerian and Jargon looked amazed, Orisa looked shocked, and Ryu was dying of laughter.
'Wow. I wonder why.'
...Right after, Liam noticed that half of the sky was shrouded black, and the other half was still warm and sunny!
Of course, that black shadow was none other than a huge mass of pure darkness! It wasn't actually covering the skies. It looked more like a tsunami wave. Even while he was inside an Isolation Barrier, protected by seven pillars that looked nigh-indestructible, Liam didn't feel too safe from that thing. It was pretty damn huge, covered 1⁄4 of the horizon.
Despite all of that, Liam actually didn't want to face the Tribulation this way. What kind of coward waited for their enemy to just leave them mid fight?
He wanted to dispel it with his bare hands! That was one of the many ways of accomplishing the Tribulation. Basically eviscerating whatever element was sent to kill you. And what he noticed last but not least... was that he was flying! Above air!
On his own!
With no support! 'I'm a Zenith, baby!'
And he could finally fly. Had he not been dead inside, Liam would have shed a tear. But no. He had to be serious for now.
"Although I'd rush out and dispell the cloud straight away, it might be a little dangerous," Liam muttered to himself. "Let's test the waters first." Soon enough, the tsunami wave of death had arrived at the edge of where Liam was. WHOOOOSH!
It engulfed the invisible, see-through barrier and immediately began corroding it. priv