A paradox.
The two powers with ways to manipulate ''Space'' entered a resonance.
Orion''s void magic, and Tetra''s source as a Remnant.
In ordinary circumstances, those two would never contradict each other, or conflict with each over.
Void magic was, even as a brand-new magic with brand-new rules, a branch of Tetra''s ''Space''.
It was impossible for Orion to break the rules imposed by the Remnant of Space.
Yet, because of Miasma''s meddling, and misuse of her power, this particular event came to be.
One where Orion recovered Tetra''s power, but also stayed inside Miasma''s core.
With Orion influencing the source with his magic, and Miasma wasting his life trying to keep it, a paradox formed.
As Tetra''s soul, her source, and her power were ripped away from Miasma''s core, a piece stayed inside him. This piece, which was by itself a contradiction of the rules this world was built upon, became a conflicting matter.
Nonetheless, this couldn''t stay as is. The world tried to repair the fault, but ultimately resolved the matter automatically.
Since the Remnant of Space and Time was no more, it settled with the easiest solution.
Giving it altogether to the nearest Remnant, Miasma.
Tetra as a Remnant lost a part of her power, even if Tiohr-nam were to revive her in the future.
Everything became uncertain.
With Miasma obtaining the power to influence space and time, the situation took a turn for the worse.
And this was proved immediately.
While Orion was still confused, Sirius rushed to the side of Miasma, and fired a beam of dark matter from his mouth.
Miasma lifted his hand, pointing his index finger toward it. Without glancing at it, he fired a beam of his own that clashed with Sirius''.
"!"
Orion came out of his shock, and scanned his surrounding. His eyes fell on the source in his hand, feeling a warmth he was familiar to.
''Go kick his ass!''
He heard the voice of Tetra in his mind, as if she was still there. But she wasn''t, or at least Orion persuaded himself that her voice was only a remnant piece of her past.
He clenched her source in his hand, which sunk into his palm. Compared to Silka''s sigil that was passed down to him and merged with his core, he simply stored it into his soul, where the only way to remove it was to kill him.
Watching Sirius struggle to fight back the beam of corruption, Orion stood up and leaned forward, ready to join his companion.
''This battle as changed entirely. I don''t know how far into the future Miasma can see, or if everything unfolds in front of his eyes gradually, but if I want to win...''
His eyes gleamed dark for a second, as his feet left the ground.
''I''ll have to be smart about it!''
Just like before, Orion closed in on Miasma using the ''Fourth Gear'' and his demon wings, breaking the sound-barrier.
But Miasma knew it. He saw what would happen.
Lifting his now healed right arm, he caught Orion''s punch, and leaned forward, before whispering into his ear with a chilling voice.
"This is the end for you."
But Orion ignored this entirely. Fear was unable to wrap around his heart from the very beginning of this encounter.
Even if Miasma was able to see the future, it had a price. That was how Tetra''s power worked.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Yet, Miasma seemed to be free of those, which confused Orion.
"Maybe it is too early to judge..."
He glared at Miasma, before breaking away from him. The beam Sirius fired finally stopped, as well as Miasma''s.
The jet-black wolf rapidly joined with his master, before both jumped above Miasma.
Crossing path in the air, they flew above Miasma, firing a beam of dark energy together.
Miasma lifted his hand above his head, and released a thick barrier of corrupted energy, protecting him from both attacks.
As the two fell down, they ran around Miasma, crossing once again. When Sirius ran past Orion, he lunged at the barrier with frightening speed, and punched the barrier, shattering it on impact.
"Tsk!"
This wasn''t part of what Miasma saw, which seemed to irritate him. Orion noticed that and joined with Sirius.
Mounting the large wolf, Orion pointed both hands at his enemy, gathering energy from his core.
Two threads of dark energy revolved around his arms, focusing on a single point in front of his palms.
Sirius bent his back, and let out a bone-chilling howl, gathering the same intensity of magic from his master.
Dark lightning bolts crashed next to Orion and Miasma at the same time, which started the intensification of the storm above them.
Lightning rained on the field, luckily sparing the observer further away.
Anchoring his right foot to the ground, and placing his left foot forward, Miasma lifted his left arm while placing his right hand on his left shoulder.
Orion and Sirius gathered as much as they could handle, gritting their teeth at the terrifying power.
Dark orbs grew in front of them, two in front of Orion, and a third in front of Sirius.
Those three orbs began to crackle with tremendous energy, ripping the air apart as they grew to the size of Orion''s torso.
Threads of dark energy began to spin around the orbs, showing that no more power could be gathered in them.
A similar thing was happening with Miasma. A bigger, larger sphere, the size of his entire body, formed in front of him, gushing air into every direction.
The standoff took barely a few seconds, as they were unable to keep it stable.
"...!"
The two threads circling Orion''s arms snapped, releasing the immense energy toward Miasma. Sirius dropped his head, and released the large orb alongside Orion''s, which merged into a devastating vortex of dark matter.
Feeling the energy approaching him, Miasma fired his energy too.
A massive beam of corrupted energy, even more powerful than the one that destroyed part of the Talviera Mountain Range, rapidly met with the vortex of energy.
*CRACK*
The explosion was so intense the ground ripped in half into a large chasm between them, extending all the way toward Paraviel.
With the decayed and ruined city collapsing into the ravine created by the exploding power clashing against another, another scar was forced upon Eogis.
"GHHH!"
Orion and Sirius were holding the tremendous energy back, focusing on stabilizing it into a single, centered point. If they were unable to, it could endanger the others watching in the distance.
Miasma, on the other hand, was holding this with even more difficulty. His attack wasn''t pushed back by Orion''s, but his body was, by his own power.
This time, he made sure to protect his arm from being erased, but that came at the cost of losing control over the output.
Nonetheless, the clash of energy continued until the accumulated power was released, with no clear winner.
Both expending more than a third of their overall stamina with one attack, they stared at each other from opposite sides of the crevasse.
"..."
Orion breathed a sigh of mild exhaustion while jumping off Sirius'' back. He patted the wolf, which was looking as exhausted as him, before vanishing from the spot.
*BAM*
His fist met Miasma''s face.
"Fucke-!"
Miasma was a little too late to react, watching a vision of the future that was instantly made true.
Pushing on his shoulder blade with everything he had, Orion sent him flying backward. Not leaving the Remnant any room for breathing, he jumped in the air.
Three dark crossbows formed over Orion, as he aimed at Miasma with nothing in his hand.
But right then, a dark wave of energy swirled between his hand, creating a black crossbow that appeared more regal than any other crossbow in this world.
The glistening dark crossbow, Taygeta, pulled its string by itself, and flashed a dark arrow in its groove.
As Orion pulled the trigger, three arrows flew from the floating crossbows, aimed at the Remnant, while Taygeta fired a thin, concentrated beam of power.
"Kh!"
Miasma slammed his fist on the ground, spun a few times in the air, and dropped his feet to the ground. While sliding on the ground, he erected a barrier to protect himself from the arrows.
With the arrows being deflected, he tried to create another, more powerful protective shell around him to defend against the beam.
But a shadow drifted toward him. Sirius jumped on the first shield, ripping it to shreds with his sharp claws tainted by darkness.
Watching the shards of his barrier drop in front of him, the world slowed down for Miasma, as his enemy''s attack was about to penetrate his chest.
A vision flashed in his head, revealing the right path to take to survive.
"!"
He punched the ground with enough force to create cracks, before detonating it with a corrupted blast of energy.
Sending himself flying in the air, he dodged the beam and protected him with another barrier, as more arrows came crashing on his shield.
Sirius appeared once again to shatter the shield, but Miasma was prepared this time.
A third arm, way larger than the other two, broke through his back and punched the wolf.
Sirius jumped on dark matter, and away in a somersault maneuver.
The arm''s hand opened in front of the shield, and caught the second beam Orion''s fired with Taygeta.
A deep hole punctured through the arm, but Miasma was uninjured.
"Feeeew..."
Taking a deep breath, Miasma''s body began to show yet again, more changed.
An egg of corrupted energy formed around him, which instantly cracked open.
A giant shadow was cast over the area, as two large wings spread behind Miasma.
"..."
Orion glared at the new Miasma, clenching his crossbow in his hands.
All the way back, Karteira opened her mouth, and described Miasma''s appearance, whose shadow appeared alongside black lightning strikes.
"A dragon...?"