A few moments before Zatiel activated "Usurpation of the World Consciousness", inside an underground room of an immense castle, there was a slim man wearing a suit who had his hand over the head of an unconscious person.
Golden chains were penetrating the body of this man, and Oliver and Tomas were standing by his side, like two faithful watchdogs. The Angelic Paragons had their eyes filled with boiling asphalt and an emotionless expression on their faces.
From the Sage's hand, pulses of dark aura were being released into the clone's head, and boiling asphalt invaded his body and mind, ready to take control of them once Zatiel's soul showed the first sign of weakness.
Without any warning, the Sage's body started to tremble and cough uncontrollably. The mask he was wearing broke into hundreds of pieces before falling to the ground.
His face was composed of thousands of small mutant leeches that formed three orifices. The two that were filled with a white light should be the eyes, and the last one packed with spikes was taking the form of a monstrous mouth. He was so hideous that even a Mane would be considered pretty in front of him.
Mouthfuls of black blood fell from that repulsive mouth. The blood behaved like acid as it burned the floor.
Despite the havoc that was occurring inside his body and consciousness, the Sage did not take his hand out of the clone's head, but the pulses of dark energy had stopped.
It took a moment for the Sage to regain control of his body, and the first thing he did after that was closing his eyes and focusing all of his power on the Law of Fate. It only took him a moment to realize the origin of his injury. He looked at the clone, and his eyes narrowed.
"I suppose you were the one... who helped those four-eyed pests. Not bad, but hardly... enough to defeat me" The Sage's voice was rough, and was having a hard time maintaining his body straight. He won't be able to keep the Deep Dark Dream much longer due to the chaotic energy running in his body, but that did not stop him from using every single ounce of power he had during these last few moments.
The power in the dark aura and the amount of boiling asphalt that headed to the clone's body and consciousness increased exponentially.
As long Zatiel's soul fell into the Deep Dark Dream, and he obtained control over this singularly, the positive feedback he would obtain from the Law of Fate would be enough to heal all the damage he had received from the backlash.
Unfortunately for the Sage, the Neo-Demon's soul stood strong despite everything he did and was able to escape from the dream world he had put him into.
The Sage took his hand from the clone's head, and as he looked at him, immense rage could be seen in those orifices filled with white light. Once again, his efforts had been bested by the man in front of him, and this time he suffered actual injuries due to his failed machinations.
He was someone who had provoked the doom of countless beings, many of them Soul Law Domain existences, and yet his plan had been thwarted by a Rank 3 life form again and again. No matter how powerful was Zatiel in his previous life, the Sage could not tolerate being humiliated like this.
"Hmph, you are naive if you think I am defeated. The only thing your tricks will achieve is to buy you some time. I was going to let you live in a beautiful dream once you surrender, but I have changed my mind. Once you accept the dream as a reality and fall to my control, I will make sure you see them die over and over again until the end of times."
It was clear that when it comes to viciousness, the Sage did not fall short compared to Archedevils.
All of a sudden, while the Sage envisioned the hell to which he would submit Zatiel, his eyes widened. Part of the reason was the surge of energy he felt in the direction of the Fornes continent, but more importantly, he had lost his connection with the exterior. It felt as if a curtain had covered the entire Beta Heavenly World, blocking everything.
"The connection birthed from my soul should be impossible to block. What is happening?." The Sage was not accustomed to things being outside of his understanding.
However, he did not have time to figure out the origin of the interference before the appearance of giant runic lines that covered the sky, the ocean, and the earth. Hundreds of them even passed right through the castle in which he stayed.
This scene truly surprised the Sage, and he was not the only one, since this scene left every single intelligent being in the Beta Heavenly World stunned and confused.
Before the Sage could even start to comprehend those runic lines, a power assaulted his consciousness and soul and attempted to knock him out.
This force affected everyone in the Beta Heavenly World, and one after the other, they fell into unconsciousness.
Just as the force was about to defeat him, the Sage roared. The golden chains were expelled from his body, and he returned to his original form as an amorphous entity made of tentacles. By doing this, he lifted all the restrictions that there were on his power and revealed his identity to the World Consciousness.
The Sage's power rose to Rank 5 in an instant and did not stop until it reached Rank 6. Thanks to his surge in strength, he was able to resist the force trying to subdue him but could barely move his body or use his energy. He planned to draw the attention of the World Consciousness and be expelled into the void before trying to figure out what was happening inside the Beta Heavenly World.
The next second, a world-shattering pressure assaulted the castle where the Sage resided. However, unlike the emotionless and robotic response that the World Consciousness would usually generate, this power possessed pure killing intent and unbelievable wrath.
"What is this power?" Although the pressure the Sage was feeling was similar to the one originated by the World Consciousness, it behaved differently. Instead of trying to expel him, it pushed him to the ground and incapacitated him.
The upper part of the castle became dust due to the pressure, allowing the Sage a clear view of the sky, and what he saw shocked him to the core.
There was a black hole in the sky. It was less than four meters in diameter, but its strength was so immense that it eclipsed the sun and filled the entire Beta Heavenly World with darkness. The only light that was able to escape its might was the one given by the runes that covered every inch of the world.
In the center of this black hole that appeared to be able to shatter this entire world, there was a man. He was wearing a robe made of shadows filled with red lines that extend all the way to his skin. Although his face was full of wrinkles, his aura was so majestic that it gave the illusion he was the absolute ruler of existence, and even the Universe Will could only look up to him.
Although he could only use his eyes to identify him and age had changed his appearance, the Sage was able to figure out the identity of the person inside the black hole immediately.
"What... are you?" The Sage's identity was so special that trying to make him feel afraid was almost impossible, but when he looked at Zatiel's body inside the black hole, he felt two red eyes staring back at him. Those eyes contained unspeakable cruelty, and they infused terror into his soul.
His instincts were telling him that a destiny a million times worse than death awaited him if he allowed himself to be captured.
'Although this will cost me greatly and will delay my plan for a long time, I can't let this monster get his hands on my soul.' The Sage acted decisively and detonated the energy inside his body and soul.
The Sage felt his existence collapsing and was seconds away from total annihilation. Despite the pain he was feeling, he was happy since it would only last a moment.
However, he underestimated his opponent. Zatiel saw how the Sage's body was crumbling apart, and with eyes void of all emotion, he rose his hand, grabbed the air, and twisted to the left side.
The soul and body of the Sage that were crumbling apart stopped their destruction, and in the next second, the damage began to disappear. He could only watch in despair as his injuries vanished because he had lost control.
Once the Sage was in peak condition, Zatiel clenched his fist and released a power that froze his enemy's body, energy, consciousness, and even soul.
As the Sage felt his ability to think become slower and slower, a final thought appeared on his mind.
'He fixed my body by reverting time, and now he is freezing time to trap me. I am doomed.'
