44 The first battle 4 (1/2)

Birds with no eyes and wings made of neon lights.

Butterflies that left trails of sparkling dust at the flutter of each wing.

Bees made of silver and white fur, buzzing around.

Worms that were constantly dividing and merging together again as if undergoing the process of mitosis and meiosis, continuously.

These are just some of the Essences.

The human body is made up of various organisms, cells, that can be seen through a microscope.

The Realm is similar.

Just like a living being, which is made of various components, the essences are the cells of the universe.

The cells of the Realm.

When someone Awakens they begin to see all the components of the Realm, they can see the organisms that exist within it. The Essences.

The main Element Essences of fire, water, earth, and air. Fire branches out into heat and lightning. Water branches out to ice, cold, and healing.

Each main Element Essence has a variety of essences branching from it. Such as the Essence of Sound is in the same family as the Essence of Wind which both come from the same family as the Main Essence of Air.

All the Main Essences are from the Origin Essences, which are Creation, Destruction, and Time.

All of these Essences in harmony with each other, are the cells of the Realm, the building blocks of life.

In this perspective, then isn't the Realm a living being?

Then the irregularity, in this case, is an infection. Which aims to eat all the Essences in the Realm and in effect drain the Realm of all its sustenance, killing it.

…..

Through Mao Lu's closed eyes he could see all the Essences that made up the Realm. They were of all shapes and sizes.

Some similar to insects or animals others of no recognisable shape or appearance.

They all had a variety of colours.

It was as if the world had been dyed by splattering paint, the lights were blinding, they made his temples throb.

With Sense of the Realm, Mao Lu could feel all the Essences. They were everywhere. They were on people, on materials, on animals, on sounds, on smells and on every possible sensation. They truly made up everything.

As all the essences came into higher definition, he calmly repeated the incantation he'd been practicing in his head.

\”Fkeur Hudbhac, Fkeur summmhe,Fkeur hmmm sundrum, Fkeur Hudbhac.\”

He said each syllable slowly, his words were loud and he pronounced them clearly. His tone solemn.

Mao Lu felt like he was in a concert hall filled with thousands of loudly chatting people, and he was trying to get each and every single one of them to give him their undivided attention. It was difficult.

As he said the phrase aloud for the first time, he felt all the Essences in the Realm turn towards him.

\”POW\”

His nose began bleeding and his mouth filled with blood. Mao Lu felt his veins bulge and his heart rate accelerate. His body was getting hotter and hotter.

Despite this, he didn't stop, he repeated the phrase yet again, \”Fkeur Hudbhac, Fkeur summmhe,Fkeur hmmm sundrum, Fkeur Hudbhac.\”

As he said \”Fkeur Hudbhac\”, \”One created two\” he felt the atmosphere around him buzz. Everything around him buzzed.

The Essences that had all turned towards Mao Lu, began singing the incantation back to him. It was as if he was surrounded by a massive choir \”Fkeur Hudbhac, Fkeur summmhe, Fkeur hmmm sundrum Fkeur Hudbhac\”.

As each essence sang, Mao Lu felt a pressure building and building. It was a suffocating sensation, as if he was being smothered. A loud ringing sound, like a high pitched frequency filled his ears.

His ears also began to bleed.

Mao Lu felt slow and sluggish. Against this building pressure even his thoughts were coming out like a drunken slow slur, as all the essences tried to communicate with him at once.

...

Chàng Bo's thoughts raced.

Firstly, this creature could be harmed by large concentrations of essence. This wasn't new information. Chàng Bo already knew this since his techniques, Starlight and Supernova, had already injured the Irregularity. And they were powered by large concentrations of Celestial essence.

However continuously using Starlight and Supernova quickly drained Chàng Bo of his internal essence, it wasn't a good choice to use Supernova or starlight at full strength. If he did, and he didn't destroy the creature, then he'd leave himself and Mao Lu vulnerable.

The other weaknesses were that the Irregularity had low intelligence and had an unstable form...

\”This is all I can think of, damn it!\” Chàng Bo gasped, he'd tried to come up with a good plan but he was only able to think of a mediocre one, but this mediocre plan was the best he could come up with \”Let's just hope this thing is as stupid as I'm betting it is. But if I fail I'm screwed.\”

Chàng Bo glanced back at Mao Lu, he wanted to ask him what was going on or get some tips from him on how to defeat this creature, but he stopped himself when he saw the blood leaking from Mao Lu's nose, mouth and ears.

Whilst Mao Lu bled, his mouth was moving, yet whatever words he said were muted and Chàng Bo couldn't hear them.

\”What's wrong!?\” Chàng Bo asked in alarm as he grabbed Mao Lu's shoulder. Yet the moment they touched, he felt his entire body become enveloped in an unimaginable pain. As if every single blood vessel were being pulled from his body and ripped apart.

\”ARHHGGGGGGGGGVGVVVVVHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!\” He screamed, immediately letting go.

He panted as the pain faded away, his body coated in sweat.

What the hell!, was what Chàng Bo was about to shout, but the words died in throat, as he looked up.

Mao Lu's eyes were open.

They were filled with light, and were burning like two hot stars, with a flaming-blue-multi-coloured-iridescent light.

The moment their eyes connected, Chàng Bo felt a fear he'd never felt before.

In his entire life, Chàng Bo had never been afraid of anyone. The only person he felt any awe for was his own Father. He had always viewed stronger practitioners as stepping stones he'd soon surpass and he'd always secretly disregarded Gatekeepers, believing all their powers were nothing but hot air.

Yet now as he felt an undeniably powerful pressure grabbing hold of every inch of his body, and he felt himself drenched in his own sweat. Unable to move like a rabbit caught in headlights, he suddenly realised why even his Father bowed to Gatekeepers.