Sovereign of the Karmic System



The journey was not a long one.

While Roley did not initially know how much of the immeasurable universe he would need to cross to reach the Archives of Blood and Bones, he was able to shorten the time of travel with the treasure of primordial spatial essence he was carrying. With it, he could fold the fabric of space, allowing him to cross galaxies at the fastest speed achievable beneath the power of teleportation, which unfortunately, required a feel of the destination in order to be performed.

In the wake of his passing, a thin line of shattered space was left behind, stretching for uncountable miles, and constantly fighting against the spatial concept of stability to expand, and commence the universe's untimely collapse. Luckily, this trail was far too meek for it to wrestle against the young and stable universe, and was stabilized soon after being created.

Despite his inconceivable speed, few understood the magnitude of Roley's journey. After all, while he had visited many universes, each was infinitely big, and he had only explored a small fraction of them. If not for the crystalized drop of blood, which other than working as a compass also implied the progress by increasing the power of attraction the closer he got to the essence's owner, Roley would have found another way to locate the archives. Years of travel were not a problem for him.. What he could not stand was not not knowing when it would end.

Fortunately, the journey was far shorter than Roley had anticipated, and he was able to come upon his destination in little more than six months.

----

A few minutes back, Roley had spotted a small gothic-style cathedral built on top of a large gray platform, which sustained the structure as it went adrift in space, floating stably, and away from any other celestial body. The platform on which the cathedral was built was still, and about double the size of the cathedral, yet, as Roley approached it further, he noticed that its surface seemed to move faintly, waving from one end to the other around the stone-carved construct, as if morphed by the same sunlight that morphed the shape of a mound of sand in a blazing desert.

From further away, the entire construction appeared like a small white sun, an impression given by the immense formation of light essence that surrounded it, and that shone an even blinding glow upon it from every direction, only revealing the cathedral and the platform after reaching a certain distance.

The bead of crystalized blood had reacted to the presence of this cathedral, towards which it pulled with a strength that, if not for Roley's enhanced body, would have been able to rip his arm off. Seeing this reaction, Roley cloaked himself in a layer of primordial dark essence, and continued to approach the building, which so far, had looked abandoned.

Yet. the closer he came, the more his cautious mentality gave up to the shock.

The cathedral was far from small. Its size alone was, in fact, as big as a small planet. It had grown larger following Roley's approach, showing off its gargantuan pillars of stone, masterfully carved arches, and immense colored glasses which depicted eons of its history. What was most surprising, however, was what lay at the cathedral's feet. Not a moving gray square, like he had thought, but uncountable creatures prostrating themselves in perfect synchrony.

"What in the world.." Roley muttered to himself at the sight of entire civilizations of humans, beasts, and alien creatures united in their reverence of the cathedral.. Or the entity who had inhabited it. "This is the Archive of Blood and Bones?" Alongside the rhythmic bowing, a loud humming sound echoed, guttural and powerful, and as clear as a single man's voice. Even the beasts, after listening to the hymn for centuries, had found a way of mimicking it. For the life of him, Roley could not fathom what the words of the chant meant-He could only feel a deep sense of devotion contained within the many merged voices.

"There is something seriously wrong here." He thought with suspicion. He was witnessing a level of synchrony that was impossible to coordinate in a group of ten thousand people, let alone a million times that. These people were being controlled by something, or someone, and he had an inkling of who or what that could be.

In just a few moments, a specific question formed within Roley's mind. A question directed at the elemental system he now controlled. "How do I infiltrate this place?" 

His question found no answer.

For the first time, the refusal of the system to answer one of his questions was received positively by Roley, who laughed grimly at the confirmation of what he had feared to be true. This place was indeed the archives of Sacrifice's domain, but it was also the home of the champion of Destiny Sacrifice controlled-One of the worst kind at that, one who could control the masses.

With the power in his possession, Roley could have easily swept past the uncountable lives that lay defenseless in front of him, but despite his past actions, he was not fond of slaughter. In war he had no problem with killing millions, but these people, who bend their bodies in adoration for whom he knew to be a narcissistic entity, were likely victims.

While deep in thought, the bead of crystalized blood escaped Roley's grasp and, almost as if attracted by the gravitational pull of the enormous platform, fell in the middle of the gray wave, disappearing forever. "Damn it. I guess that settles it." he muttered to himself after realizing he had just lost the only way he had to find the archives if he now went back. Who was to say the cathedral would still be there if he came back a year later? He now wondered. The attack needed to happen now.

With a simple twist of his finger, Roley rotated the perfectly transparent bead he was holding, gaining control over the surrounding space which parted in a perfectly stable rift. Through this rift, Daniel could see the large golden formation that contained the interdimensional portal, the planet he had left behind, and the tens of thousands of ships the Immortal Armada inhabited.

In response to the appearance of this rift, a man of glass made an almost immediate appearance. "My lord. Your orders?" asked a voice that did not come from the spot where the man's mouth was missing, but from the being's core. Not spoken, but a remnant of a memory that was played by spatial elementals when required to communicate. This was a method spatial elementals were forced to use due to their lack of vocal cords, mental powers, and ability to produce sound essence, at least until their understanding of mortals was vast enough to create a fully functioning mortal body that could speak through the use of their spatial powers.

"Bring me the leader of the Armada." Roley ordered with eyes fixed on the cathedral, fearful that it would not just disappear the moment he lost sight of it. 

The oval head of the transparent figure lowered in a nod, then he disappeared without leaving any trace behind. When he reappeared, less than a minute later, the figure was no longer alone, but in the company of a large middle-aged man in painfully tight pajamas.

"Of all the times you could have shown up.. It had to be the one time a year I sleep." Der mumbled in between yawns. Soon, his eyes regained focus, and he noticed the enormous cathedral that lay in the space beyond Roley's figure. "Are those the archives of Sacrifice's domain?" He asked just before noticing the sea of prostrating creatures by the cathedral's feet.

Without looking back, Roley answered, "It is, and I believe the champion of destiny that was blocking my system is currently in there."

While the news Roley had just given him was worrying, Der's attention was still directed at the uncountable prostrating creatures. "What of them? How do you want to handle it?"

Roley quietly slid his hands into his pockets, as his look turned somber, pensive. "I don't see any temple, but with that big of a building, who's to say. There could be hundreds of them within those walls and we would never know. If possible, I'd prefer if we could prevent them from taking their own lives."

Der listened carefully while quietly changing into his armor. Then, as Roley finished speaking, he pointed out, "When we invaded the other planets, we were spotted much further away than where we are standing now. Yet, they have still to react to our presence. So there either is no temple, or those people are too weak to feel our presence from this far. Either way, we will be able to get close enough to lock them in place with spatial essence. It won't protect them, but it'll prevent them from cutting their own throats long enough for us to take them away from a temple's range."

Roley nodded in agreement. 

"Give us a few minutes to prepare, then get as close as possible before opening the portal." Der added before teleporting away.

As suggested, Roley approached the cathedral, seeing it grow in size until little more than its immense entrance was visible. When he finally felt the presence of a gravitational pull, the heads of a few of the strongest cultivators within the sea of devotees turned to the sky, now privy of his presence.

Without missing a beat, Roley released his immortal essence into the bead he was holding, turning it into a primordial spatial essence which he then used to open an ocean-sized rift as big as the cathedral itself. As the rift opened, the bright light produced by the massive formation that covered the interdimensional portal shone through it, casting the shadows of thousands of ships onto the unaware devoted cultivators.

The flotilla barged through the rift in moments, releasing swarms of cultivators and elementals in its wake-Each reaching for a different part of the platform where, with the use of their immortal essence and comprehension of spatial essence, they locked as many devotees in solidified space as they could, before they could even attempt to react to the invasion.

Within a minute, the entire surroundings of the cathedral had been locked, and Roley and Der had landed at its entrance. "Form a perimeter, and evacuate them to the nearest livable planet." Der ordered as he and Roley approached the cathedral's immense wooden gate. Before they could touch it, however, the gate slowly started to open.

Nearing the size of a continent, the motion of the enormous gate created ripples in the air, causing thousands of weaker cultivators to be blown into space due to the change of pressure alone. Yet, as the two doors opened, they only revealed the presence of a single individual. A woman, dressed in nothing but a large white and gold-colored robe.

The woman's golden lashes brushed past a pair of oceans, polishing them with moisture, and making them glow brighter. Her hair rested gently onto her shoulders, parting into individual strands of gold as they struck her pale shoulder and collarbone. A peerless beauty whose features were the stuff of legends, but also a diversion from the woman's proud, aloof, and poisonous personality.

Stunned by the woman's beauty, Der and Roley found themselves momentarily at a loss for words. "There is no avoiding conflict, it would seem." the woman said with a silvery tone that moved the heart, and melted all forms of hostility. "'Tis in our nature."

Hearing the woman's words had awakened something in Roley. A competitive spirit, and desire to fight that he could not explain, for he did not want to fight the woman, nor compete with her in any way. "You could always leave, if you prefer." He responded with a polite smile. An invitation to avoid hostilities which other than turn the woman's perfect features more serious, clearly had no effect.

In a few moments, however, the severe expression disappeared from the woman's face, replaced by the most enchanting of smiles. "I would never forsake my nature." She sang as her slender arms emerged from within her robe. In her hand, she held a little golden bell, which she immediately rang.

Despite the bell's small size, its toll resounded impressively, reminding people of a call to prayer. *DONG* It chimed once, releasing a golden hue which expanded in all directions and, in the blink of an eye, reached the edges of the golden orb that shone light onto the cathedral.

Alerted by the woman's action, Der and Roley prepared for battle. "Retreat! Back in the ships!" The former ordered, but it was to no avail. Around him, the cultivators of the Immortal Armada, the members of the Elemental Army and devotees alike, were all standing quietly, and unresponsive.

The woman's red lips parted once more, "Protect your Goddess." She begged with her enchanting and melodic voice, causing the heads of everyone but Der and Roley to snap in their direction.