Reborn: Evolving From Nothing

[Reminder - New Schedule - Daily chapter posts at 7:30 PM US CST, or 1:30 AM GMT. Posted this one slightly earlier than I normally will.]

"Oh, they aren't in here. But this area does feel important." Dorian muttered as he looked around, his eyes gleaming with interest.

He had appeared in what seemed to be a large mansion or home, full of rooms that were connected by long white corridors. The walls were covered in lines of flashing energy, giving everything an eerie appearance.

Right in front of Dorian was a large, glowing yellow globe. Sparks of energy fluttered off this orb as it slowly turned, rotating. He could sense a calm, peaceful Aura rolling off from it.

"I might not be able to find them quickly if this place is as large as that maze… so I might as well destroy anything that looks important." He shrugged,

"Touching Light, activate!"

WHOOSH

A blade of pure, concentrated light appeared in his hand, incredibly potent heat concentrated all in its glimmering length. He began to walk forward while holding this blade out, at the ready.

"Here goes nothing."

Dorian plunged the sword made of light downward.

SWISH

CREEEEEEAK

BOOM

The orb exploded after letting out a rattling shriek, knocking Dorian backwards several steps as a geyser of energy shot out of it. The air around Dorian rocked with vibrating waves of energy as Dorian tore apart an important part of the Dream Zone's Core Matrix.

Dorian blinked.

Abruptly, all of a sudden, he could sense his surroundings much clearer.

When he had first entered this Core Matrix, he'd found it very difficult to detect anything. His Balance Demon form had incredibly powerful senses, but he found that he couldn't sense anything beyond what he could physically see.

Now, however, he could feel much farther, able to sense the Laws of the Universe around him with clarity.

In particular, he could sense two powerful sources of energy that were throwing up huge waves, as if they were in the midst of intense battle.

'Ah, my two loyal subordinates. Captains… uh. What are their names again?' Dorian hadn't actually had any extended interaction with them. He searched his perfect memory for a moment, trying to place them.

'Ayra and Horbold, that was it. Ayra uses two swords while Horbold uses his fists. Both study the Law of Might.' He mentally recited, once more thanking his Jade Memory.

'To think that so many powerful Shades would pledge their loyalty to my cause despite barely knowing me… They must really need or want a hero, huh?' He silently observed. He didn't fault them, however. It would be unreasonable for anyone to believe Dorian was faking it at this point, not with the strength and actions he had shown.

Even he himself was inclined to believe in the legend of the Great Hero Lord Inigo.

"Okay, let's see. I think I'll go this way." He began to walk towards one of several corridors that branched off from this now mostly destroyed room, in the direction he could sense the two trapped King Class Mystic Martial Artists.

As he moved, thunderbolts full of rippling energy slammed into his body, raw power flung about as a result of the damage he had caused. His Mystic Armored Body Ability blocked most of the damage, the passive Ability was almost always turned on, while his powerful Balance Demon form could ignore the rest.

WHOOSH

BOOM

BOOM

The chaotic scene was one that would have terrified him back in the earlier days of his arrival in the 30,000 Worlds, but now, it couldn't cause him even the slightest bit of fear.

"Hup!" He burst into the corridor and began to jog down it, escaping the range of the fluctuating energy storm behind him. As he moved, he rapidly felt himself approaching the locations of the two Mystical Martial Artists.

The white corridors and walls now shook slightly, as if the damage Dorian had done had permanently destabilized them.

"Hup, hup!" He moved quickly through two separate rooms and down two more corridors. Both the rooms he'd entered had little in the way of furniture or anything important looking. At the least, nothing he thought was worth destroying.

Soon, he found himself almost on top of the energy emanations that were coming off his two subordinates.

As he reached this point, his eyes flashed, as if in preparation of danger.

'This would be the ideal time for someone to attack me…' He thought, going on full alert as he entered one last corridor. At the end of the long hallway, he could faintly see a room giving off bright blue light. Instinctively, he knew that the two trapped King Class Shades were located in this room.

He jogged forward slowly, his every step slow and foreboding. His heart pounded as he ran, his entire body tensed up.

"…"

"Well, that was easy." He exclaimed in surprise as he reached the end of the corridor with a shrug. That had been rather anticlimactic.

.. .. .. .. .. .. ..

"WHY IS THE MAZE ALL MIXED UP?!?! WHAT IN THE HEAVENS DID HE BREAK?!?!"

Kvoth managed to cry tears of dark shadowy essence as he tore at where his hair would've been if he was alive, glaring at the maze that was spread out around him. He had somehow managed to trap himself in the maze, the path he had originally planned on taking now completely changed.

"He must have broken the Core Centralizer… The maze will fall apart once he releases the two trapped warriors and it no longer has a reason to be active. I'll have to wait till then." Kvoth rubbed his eyes, glaring at the shaking maze. He walked over and punched the wall to little effect, frustration and anger overwhelming him.

"How can one being be so lucky?! It must be that damned coin! I must obtain it!" Kvoth wrung his hands as he spoke, his rage and greed warring with each other.

His number one desire was to resurrect. This loss, while frustrating, was only a temporary setback. If he could get ahold of that lucky coin Artifact, however, he could see this turning into a huge boon.

He had never heard of an Artifact that could affect Fate itself. Yet, it seemed clear that the coin that Shade had flipped was some type of mysterious Artifact. The fact that the Shade could transform into a Dragon must be related to some type of mysterious Artifact as well.

The mysteries that Shade held… Kvoth darkly vowed to unfold them.

"…" He muttered incomprehensible words dourly as he settled down on the ground to wait, deciding to not pointlessly run through the maze.

"Yeep!"

A sound drew Kvoth's attention as he turned to look down one particular corridor, his eyes flashing darkly.

A small, Two Horned Rabbit could be seen, poking its head around the corner.

The two beings exchanged glances.

"DIE IMMEDIATELY YOU USELESS RABBIT!"

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

"Oh, wow, so many crystal balls." Dorian muttered as he looked around the room, his eyes narrowing.

He was standing in a mid-sized room, examining it with interest. The floors, roof, and walls were similar to the corridors, misty white and grey. What interested him most, however, were the dozens of floating crystal balls almost all emitting a soft blue light.

Two of them stood out from the rest, however, giving off a warm green color.

And it was from these two orbs that he sensed the presence of the two King Class Shade warriors.

Dorian immediately walked up to them, his eyes intent as he studied them. When he was standing right next to them, it almost felt like he was standing right next to each of the two Shades. He could sense the powerful Aura of Might that those that studied the Law of Might could emanate, a powerful Aura that made all of their movements or attacks carry deadly strength.

"But they aren't here…" He muttered, raising his hand up.

He lightly tapped on one of the orbs.

As soon as he touched it…

Nothing happened.

"Well, alright." He frowned. He pushed the orb. It flew off about half a meter in the air before bouncing back to its original position, its light unchanged.

"How do I get them out? Should I just break it?" He tapped on the orb a few times, as if it was a touchscreen from back on earth. As he now expected, nothing happened.

"Hold on a second…" An idea popped into Dorian's mind as he looked at all the glowing orbs.

"These orbs probably all contain some amount of energy, right? They kind of remind me of various Artifacts." As he spoke out loud, he walked up to one of the glowing blue orbs, one where he couldn't sense the energy of the two Mystic Martial Artists.

"If that is the case…"

He rested his hand on the glowing orb.

"Absorb."

WHOOOOOSH

Instantly, the orb disintegrated. At the same time, however, he felt a large store of energy flow into his body, increasing his Growth Points at a fast rate.

As the orb fell apart, the walls seemed to shiver and shake, trembling.

He smiled.

"Now that is something I can make use of indeed."

.. .. .. .. .. .. ..

A short while later, Dorian smiled as he looked at his handiwork. The entire room was almost devoid of the previously plentiful orbs, looking oddly empty. The last two orbs were the ones that held Dorian's subordinates, ones he wasn't quite sure what to do with yet.

The more orbs Dorian destroyed, the more unstable the room, and the Dream Zone, felt. He could tell that these orbs were rather important to the makeup of the Dream Zone, and his damage to them was causing serious issues for it.

But, well, he didn't particularly care. It wasn't his Dream Zone after all, and the more murder traps he broke, the merrier in his opinion.

-

-Balance Demon - Growth Stage: (3/3) Elder Demon -

Growth Progress – 2,187,122/0 -

-

"A bit more than 2 million Growth Points, huh?" He smiled with pleasure as he looked it over.

He had won it big this time. Not only had he gained a new Law to add to his collection, but he had also gained a massive store of Growth Points. The amount of energy each orb had within it was humongous. It was as if they had been passively absorbing energy from the Laws of the Universe for hundreds of years and were full of power.

'That's enough energy to Evolve so many forms! If I can get a high-class Bloodline, I should be able to evolve it fully too! This is excellent!' Growing his forms was one of his best ways to grow in strength.

'I need to diversify my forms as well, to maintain my future potential.' He had gradually sensed that he was starting to hit a limit in terms of power new forms could give him. After all, one could only grow so powerful in terms of physique. At least, when going by normal metrics, though Dorian was anything but normal.

'I can also use this energy to recover from any injuries that are too damaging.' While he always had his Constant Regeneration Ability active, it was also possible to remake injured body parts through the use of Growth Points. The cost to do so was usually quite significant, especially if Law remnants were left behind, but it was always a good option to have.

If he got enough Growth Points, in fact, it was possible for him to become functionally immortal.

In the midst of his rejoicing, however, his attitude became serious again as he zeroed in on the two orbs.

'How do I get you two out?' He muttered, staring.

'Shade form, time to switch back over!' He quickly returned to his normal, heroic Shade form as he began to prepare.

'If I absorb the orbs, would I absorb the two warriors as well?' He had a mental image of his body fused with the old lady and old man that were trapped in the orbs. It was not a pleasant sight.

'No, I can only absorb Artifacts or sources of energy this way. Those two should only be absorbable by that powerful Spell that was left on my Soul Spell Matrix.' He nodded. It made sense.

With that in mind, he stepped forward to the two orbs, resting a hand on each one. Without hesitation, he issued a mental command.

'Absorb!'

WHOOSH

After a brief instant of resistance, the two orbs fell to ash. Surprisingly, he didn't get any energy from them. All the energy associated with them seemed to have been mostly spent, with what was left vanishing as he broke each orb.

Dorian's heart dropped for a brief second as he noticed this and felt the emanations of his two subordinates vanish completely, as if they were dead.

A moment later, however, they reappeared, this time from somewhere that felt much farther away.

'They must've been teleported out!' Dorian instinctively realized, somehow able to detect that when he broke the orbs, that was where they vanished to. Somewhere outside of the Dream Zone.

"Oh?" He exclaimed, looking down at the floor oddly. The ground itself was distorting, white energy rippling up from it. He blinked as the entire world around him seemed to twist and shiver.

"Whoop-"

WHOOOSSH

Before he could finish exclaiming, Dorian vanished, teleported to a spot outside of the Dream Zone and well out of the Core Matrix as the entire Dream Zone collapsed, falling apart.

.. .. .. .. .. .. ..

Kvoth's eyes flashed angrily as he looked to the left and right, swearing.

"Damned rabbit! Be glad you managed to escape my sight. Otherwise I would have annihilated your entire ancestry…" He muttered darkly.

Abruptly, the shadowy figure turned and stared at the now quivering walls, a small smile appearing on his face.

"Ah. You've managed to break master's Life Years Dream Zone." His voice was oddly quiet as he spoke.

Dark energy began to gather around the shadow, swarming with black light. The power of some mysterious Law began to circle him closely as he spoke, growing stronger and stronger.

"I hope you're ready to die." Hundreds of shadows began to pour out from Kvoth's vague eyes, surrounding him in a powerful, dark glow. A raw, King Class Aura caused the air to tremble around him as he finished speaking,

"Shadow Magic: Dark Globe."

The wavering shadows sank down and concentrated into the shape of a deathly still shield, one that gave off an unsettling feeling.

"Because I am going to kill you as soon as I see you."

WHOOSH

The quivering walls collapsed as the Dream Zone fell apart.

Kvoth teleported away, hot on Dorian's heels.

.