Chapter 916: Moving Forward Despite Pain

Rowan's mind was in a daze, yet his perception had never felt clearer. It was as if he was looking at the world through a new set of eyes. This should not be far from the truth, as he had gained access to a new way of approaching reality, one that he had forgotten, and he had also learned the name of this new form of energy that was killing him.

"Aetherium... So that's the name of this unknown form of power. A merger of Essence and Aether, seems simple on the surface, but how do you merge two opposite concepts? Like merging life and death, and there is something... else hidden inside this merge, something even more unnatural. Haaa, this is so fun and challenging, but I better get serious now, I think I'm about to die. It would be a shame to mar my Title with failure. I am already so close."

If not for the hatred he had for the Third Prince he would applaud the foresight of this wily creature.

Rowan had always wondered why in the entire universe the majority of the population was humanoid, he had not come across dragons or Empyreans, Titans or Wereneasts, and the nearly infinite amount of races that should reside in a vast universe. Why were there only two Supreme Powers inside of it, the Demons and the Mage? When in the immensity of creation there should be at least hundreds if not more Supreme existences that should have laid root inside this universe.

Even the gods themselves in the outside universe were nothing but puppets, their Emperors' slaves, and every piece of knowledge they owned was most likely corrupted.

There was also a deeper layer to this mystery because Rowan would bet that Aetherium was a power that was not easily acquired or not even available to Demons and Mages making them a prime choice to be seeded in this universe. Perhaps there were hundreds of other powers and abilities and common knowledge that he lacked, because like the Nexus he escaped from outside Trion, the entire universe was also a minor Nexus.

It was no wonder the Third Prince was so arrogant once, with all the advantages he had stacked against Rowan, he did not fear any sort of rebellion, and this had given Rowan that chance to surprise him again and again.

All of this extensive preparation was done in order to blind Rowan to the fact of certain techniques or truths, and it had worked. Even till this moment, there were certain terms that he had come across inside the Primordial Record that he did not know their meaning.

Although without the advantages of the Primordial Record, even if he was given a billion more years of life, he would never have escaped or even understood the intricate web of deception that the Reflections had wrapped around the universe. The last six billion years have ensured that they could twist reality the way they saw fit.

If Rowan had not fused his Soul Origin with another being from outside this universe that granted him a bloodline outside the control of the Third Prince then even if he had a thousand times more luck he would never have escaped the machinations of the Reflections. Indeed the Third Prince's preparations were so airtight that when he noticed the changes in Rowan, it made him curious instead of afraid, a mistake Rowan was sure that Third regretted with all his being.

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Rowan was being attacked by Golgoth alone and his Will of Rending that could have left nothing but scars on his skin was now tearing through Envy and gradually eating through the exposed muscles of his right arm with the power of Aetherium behind his blows.

Envy and Pride could have been crying out in pain all this while but Rowan soothed the weapon, this was a chance for it to ascend and if they could survive this clash, they would be worthy to be imbued with his true might. Fighting a Will Holder was never going to be easy and with the power of Aetherium added to the mix, the Infernal weapons were struggling.

Rowan understood that the other Will Holders bearing down on him would crush him in an instant if he did not change the dynamics of this battle, but he had several short moments to prepare, he had deliberately given ground as Golgoth attacked him in his crazed excitement and bloodlust. The false God King felt invincible, his strength had multiplied and he could almost taste the dying cries of Rowan on his tongue.

Inside his helm, his dead eyes were shining with an awful light that had not been seen for nearly a million years as the Aetherim in his system was finally reversing his undead nature and he slowly came to life. If not for the absolute nature of this bridge, he would have shattered this undead curse over him and would finally reach the peak of his abilities and beyond.

Golgoth could see himself as he once was, golden and powerful, his blade strong and his strokes, immutable. He would be that again, and even Third would not be able to stand against him. First, he just needed to rid reality of this abomination. A deep laugh rumbled in his chest and he pushed his assault.

A wicked combination by Golgoth where he flicked his blade across all sections of Rowan's body caused his foe to lose a portion of the shaft of his annoying weapon as Gaping Undoer sliced off a portion of Pride. Every time he struck this weapon it released a vast amount of vibrations that was only offset by his Will, but it blunted his assault by nearly a third.

Rowan's weapon looked more like a staff than an Axe, but he judged that it bought him enough time.

Rowan had failed to master Aetherium, not because he could not do so, since with the amount of data he had retrieved from experiencing Aetherium tear through his dimension and watching the Will Holders convert their power into this new form of energy, he could simulate maybe thirty percent of it, and with his attributes, he should be able to overpower anyone here, but a part of him rebelled against following this path.

He had escaped one trap from a Primordial, he was not going to fall into another. Previously he had evolved his dimension using the configuration of Chaos, he had exploded his previous dimension to level up to the next one, and if he had followed that path, when it became time for him to ascend to the fourth dimension he would have to shatter his third dimension.

Not only that but following the path of Chaos revealed holes in his dimensions that he might not be able to ever close up again. It was for this reason that when he had remade his new dimension, he did not use the Universe's Will in doing so, this was possible because he had the experience of building a Supreme World and accessing all the information hidden inside the Universe's Will.

He would no longer need to shatter his dimension to gain access to a higher one when it came time for him to evolve.

If he did that he would be forbidden from existing inside a Third Dimension as he would become a true outer dimensional entity without any hold on the Third Dimension and in order to access a material universe he would have to link his dimension to the Great Darkness, thereby tying his fate to that of Chaos forever.