The presence that spoke to Rowan was mild, but that would be mistaking the softness of the wave that touched your feet at the beach to equal the might of the entire sea.
This was a god, and the first time he came in contact with one, he nearly died and had his body turned against him. He was meeting a god again, much quickly than he would have liked, but he was no longer the same as before.
Although Erohim was weak at this time, there was no mistaking the incredible depth of his presence that left Rowan in awe, but the uniqueness of Rowan's mind made sure he did not seem bothered on the surface.
He answered Erohim question with a smile on his face, "You know who I am."
" OH YES! I DO KNOW YOU. THE SABOTEUR WHO WEARS MY FACE AND WIELD MY NAME!"
Rowan frowned, "I did not choose your name, it was given to me by your own people, and I did not put your name to shame, but instead I have elevated it to heights unknown for thousands of years, this you know to be true. Don't tell me your powers are not on the rise with the massive wave of devotion being given to you. At this moment across the entire planet, your people are calling your name. Your Divine Kingdom swells with the devotion of their prayers. I think you should be thanking me for the great boon I have given you."
"YOU ARE THE TWO HEADED VICIOUS SERPENT. YOU PRESENT A FACE OF GOODWILL WHILE THE OTHER BITE MY NECK. DO YOU TAKE ME FOR BLIND THAT I DON'T SEE YOUR CHILDREN DEVOURING MY BODY. YOUR SPAWN DRINKS OF MY LIFEBLOOD UNCEASING, AND THE SON OF SCARLET WHO WOULD HAVE BEEN MY WEAPON AGAINST IT FALLS BY YOUR HAND. YOU WOULD BRING WARS TO MY KINGDOM, AT THIS MOMENT THE EMPIRE MARCHES TO MY DOOR, AND MY ANCIENT ENEMIES STIR. YOU ARE NOT MY HELPER BUT A POISONED CHALICE. I GIVE YOU DEATH!"
Rowan had assumed such responses from the tortured god, but he thought he would be able to convince Erohim to see reason beyond their differences, but without any other prompt, Erohim attacked.
Rowan's surroundings changed and he found himself standing on an endless plateau. To the left was a field of ice and to his right a field of fire.
Above him, the plain began to curve until it touched itself, placing Rowan inside a dome, where half of it was filled with fire and the other ice.
He could not move an inch, and he could not even begin to judge where he was when he felt the temperature around him beginning to simultaneously increase and decrease.
The left part of his body began to be covered by frost, while the right part of his body began to glow with heat. It was a weird and very uncomfortable situation, and Rowan could hardly speak or even blink.
As the temperature differences began to continuously increase, he began to feel pain, but it was nothing his Absolute Body could not withstand for the regenerative properties of his body and its innate resilience was keeping it all at bay, the temperature had not even penetrated his body's force field at the moment.
His body was frozen in place, but his Palace of Ice was not. Rowan began gathering all his Aether. He did not call for the attention of Erohim lightly, although he expected to be heard, he knew if he could not prove himself to the god, he would not be able to state his case.
But first, he needed to speak.
He activated his Berserker Aspect, and using Combo Attack, he activated a Clone, and it appeared in front of him, only to be blasted to pieces instantly.
Rowan paused, the battle with Dorian had brought his Berserker Aspect near the peak of the Earth Level, and he was a few steps away to Ascend the Aspect. When the Combo Attack Clone was destroyed, the Aspect had received benefits, and the Combo Attack technique finally reached the Peak of the Earth level.
He received a sizable number of Attributes from that, and began experimenting with methods to use his Aspect because he had an intuition that the result might surprise him if he carried it to the next level.
He created another clone and before it expired, he made it unleash the smash technique. The world around him barely shook before it was destroyed, but that was okay, he received plenty of improvements and he began spamming the attack.
"YOUR EFFORTS ARE USELESS, YOU CANNOT GAIN AETHER INSIDE MY DOMAIN, AND EVERY WASTE SHALL NOT RETURN TO YOU."
Yeah, that's where you made your first mistake fallen god, I don't need that shit. Rowan snickered internally, I have more Aether than I would ever need.
Rowan closed his eyes and entered his Mental Space, as long as whatever attack Erohim was heaping on him was only directed towards his physical body then he was fine because as long as it did not reach his Palace of Ice, he could disregard them.
An Absolute Body, had only weakness which was the soul, and destroying his body was like cutting pieces of his fingernails. It will ever grow back.
He began creating two clones and using them to unleash Smash before they were wiped out, and under the weird pressure of their environment, the Smash Technique became complete in less than two minutes.
Rowan switched to Dash, and began to cycle the various techniques actively he had, and like a falling rock that got faster the longer it fell, he got faster at upgrading the Berserker Aspect.
When manifested, his Combo Attack Clone got destroyed in a fraction of a second, but as the other techniques in his Berserker Aspect reached the peak, they all collectively strengthened the Aspect, and the clones began lasting for longer, until a crack happened inside his Mental Space and all his technique reached the peak, and a new evolution of the Aspect began.
