?The glow escaping from the depths were bright purple lights that were moving like large streams of smoke buffeted by the wind. He could not be sure but the Berserker Clone was sure that these lights seemed to be congregating around a single region and was creating something that was not yet fully decipherable.

“What is that?” The clone called out in amazement, for he could see a visible pulse of power arising from the spot where the light was congregating, and with that power was a rising sense of vitality that made every cell in his body thirst for it.

Suddenly the island he stood on shook, as if a magnitude ten earthquake had impacted it, and the Clone was flung towards the air, with a quick application of the Berserker Ability–Dash, he teleported back to the island, but the short time he was in the air had already caused his armor and more than twenty percent of his body to be shredded to pieces, without the quick application of his ability, he would be dead.

These wounds were serious but not lethal, but the clone was not too particularly concerned about them, as his focus was on the dozens of islands that were experiencing the same tremors, and the strangeness he had previously noted about the islands suddenly made sense at this time.

None of these islands were natural, at least not these larger ones. The earthquake he had just experienced was the island shaking off the layers of rocks covering them revealing gleaming metal underneath.

There were a total of twenty-three massive metal structures suddenly revealing themselves and all of them had different shapes, some were circular, and others were trapezoidal. Soon twenty-three glowing platforms revealed themselves.

In a short while an energy fluctuation arose from all these platforms and the Berserker Clone was stunned, for he recognized this energy as that of teleportation.

With instinct born out of fighting for his life for more than a decade, the clone leaped off the edge of the island and clung to its side, driving his fingers down a slim incision at the body of the massive metallic construct that was slowly descending towards the ground. The platform was tall enough that his legs were not dangling beneath him, as there were a full three feet of metallic material below his feet since the platforms disregarding their various shoes were eighteen feet tall.

He had barely remained in that position for less than a second, but his flesh had already been rendered to the bone, and before he could perish, his body was covered by the seven Children of Ruin, creating a coat of flesh over him.

Sighing in relief, he began to turbocharge his healing as he concentrated on what was happening above him while taking notes of the other islands as well, for similar fluctuations of teleportation were arising from all of them.

In less than a second, bright lights began to arise from atop the metallic constructs as the space of the Underverse rippled and multiple figures began to emerge from it. A quick glance would reveal there were at most a total of a hundred individuals on some platforms with some of them having only a few people.

The clone pressed himself closer to the metal, reducing every life activity in his cells, becoming similar to a rock, a skill he had acquired because the clone was not truly alive and could be regarded as just a very elaborate mannequin and the rears of the Children of Ruin rippled as their coloration changed, their bodies became the same color as the metal construct, effectively disguising them.

They did not need to disguise their life signatures because the Children of Ruin were not alive in a conventional sense, they were more closer to a representation of an idea.

Multiple figures soon filled the top of the descending platforms and the same thing happened on the other platforms, and the clone was relieved when instead of investigating their surroundings more closely, most of the attention of the figures that arrived was either on those on the other platforms or the gathering purple light below, his position was overlooked, but he was still not settled, because he could feel the breath of power escaping from the bodies of some of this figures and they were terrifying.

He noticed that the fewer the individuals on a platform, the more powerful they tended to be, and his eyes were dragged by a particular platform where five figures stayed alone, they were the only platform with the smallest number, and he suddenly felt a connection with one of the figures there, it was a young man with black hair.

The clone wondered why he would feel a connection with this individual, but that did not overly concern him at this time, his mission was paramount.

The first thing the clone did was to confirm if the page of the Primordial Record was near the purple light that had begun to converge into the shape of a massive tree and he was relieved that it was not so, in fact, the page of the Primordial Record was opposite the direction of this growing tree.

The vitality pulsing from this purple tree was increasing, but with the Primordial Record page being this close to him, nothing could sway his focus.

The clone could not stay in this position for long and he could not move recklessly around, for now, he was safe because no one would risk leaving their metallic platform and descending towards the ground, and he had a brief window where he could make his move.

The clone began to slowly move his body alongside the platform, inching his way slowly by using his fingertips on the thin incisions that were barely an inch deep, it was slow and painful, but he was making progress.

‘A good thing I lost the extra flesh… it would have been dead weight.’ The Berserker Clone had an unexpected thought that nearly made him laugh.

He could not shake his head anymore to rid himself of this distraction because of his precarious position. In his heart, he acknowledged that he was now a failed technique and needed to quickly complete his duties before he lost his mind.

Taking care to check the shrinking distance between the floor and the platform, the clone made sure he was moving quickly enough that he would be in the right position to leave the platform and on the right path to reach the Primordial Record.

As he slowly inched his way, he began to investigate the figures on the other platforms and also listened to the words of those above him. 𝑖.𝑐ℴ𝑚

“….nearly completed, the master was right, although it is ten thousand years too early, the Nyre Flower blooms.”

𝘳𝘦.𝒸𝑜𝘮