The Black Sun Syndicate had been fighting their reflections for hours.
At least, they assumed it had been hours.
Inside the Lost Forest, time had become difficult to understand. The sun remained fixed in the same place, casting the same golden light across the endless trees, while none of the usual signs of passing time appeared.
There was no sunset.
No night. No change in temperature. Only battle. Across nine different areas of the forest, the members of the Black Sun Syndicate continued fighting themselves. Every technique they used was copied. Every transformation was reproduced.
Every application of soul power was adapted to. Even their improved understanding of soul power had stopped being enough. They had reached the point where throwing more power at their opponents accomplished almost nothing.
Eryndor could summon Storm. His copy could summon Storm. Rein could impose laws upon reality. His copy could do the same. Kaelus could merge soul power with his wind. His reflection could reproduce it.
Stellar could manipulate Absolute Frost. Her copy could adapt to it. Darius could manipulate darkness. His reflection possessed the same understanding. Alucard could transform through Shinari. His copy could follow every transformation.
Dova could wield Entropy's Will, His opponent possessed it as well. Isly could invoke Chaos Nirvana, Her reflection understood Chaos. Tina could use Soul Magic, Her reflection could reproduce it. Nothing they possessed seemed capable of creating a decisive difference and slowly, exhaustion began settling into their bodies. Their breathing became heavier and their movements became slower.
Their frustration became impossible to hide.
They had reached the limit of what they knew but something else had changed during those endless battles. Their soul power was no longer separate from their elements. It had merged with them. Completely. They could feel it.
When Eryndor summoned lightning, he no longer felt the lightning as something external that he controlled. It felt like an extension of his soul.
When Stellar created ice, her soul power moved through it naturally. When Rein imposed a law, his soul power responded before his conscious thoughts could fully form.
They had crossed another invisible threshold. Yet even that wasn't enough because their opponents had crossed it too. The knowledge they had received from Var was becoming clearer. When one walked the path of a deity, power gradually changed.
A low deity was no longer merely someone who possessed tremendous magical energy. A mid deity began imposing that magic upon the world itself. At higher levels, magic ceased being merely an attack. It could affect structure. Reality. Concepts. Existence. The God Core was formed. Soul power could be consciously accessed.
The truth beneath existence could be perceived. Authorities could eventually be attained but authority was different. Authority represented the highest expression an element could reach. It wasn't simply another technique.
It was the culmination of elemental mastery and soul mastery and reaching it required something beyond simply possessing enormous power. One had to completely understand the element. One had to understand oneself and in certain circumstances, an element could mutate. It could evolve.
It could become something beyond what it originally was. The Black Sun Syndicate had not yet reached that point but they were standing at its door and across all nine battlefields, without communicating with one another, they reached the same conclusion….Authority.
Dova stood alone. His breathing was ragged. His body was exhausted.
His clothes were damaged from the endless battle, and his arms hung loosely at his sides while his opponent watched him from several meters away. His palms had begun glowing white. Entropy's Will. His eyes carried the same pale radiance. Dova stared at his reflection.
He had tried everything. Every martial technique, application of entropy. Every combination of soul power and his element. And his opponent had adapted to everything. Dova slowly closed his eyes. He inhaled.
Then exhaled. He wasn't searching for an attack. He wasn't trying to think of another technique. For the first time, he simply became empty. He didn't know what he was supposed to feel. He didn't know what he was supposed to search for.
And that didn't matter. He wasn't looking for anything. His mind became quiet. His body became still. Deep within his silent subconsciousness, Dova felt something. His soul power..Entropy's Will. It appeared within his awareness as a small white presence.
At first, it moved in a straight line. Then something changed the energy bent, not randomly. It turned diagonally, following a path Dova had never consciously imagined. At the end of that path was a white sphere. Dova stared at it. He didn't understand it but somehow, he knew. This was different…The copy suddenly moved.
It dashed toward him. Its right palm extended toward Dova's face. Dova remained completely still. The hand approached..Closer and Closer. Then Dova opened his eyes. They were glowing white. He exhaled.
"White Flash."
A white radiance erupted from Dova. The entire battlefield disappeared beneath the light. The screen went completely white. For several moments, nothing could be seen.
Then the radiance faded. Smoke drifted through the air. The ground had been erased. Everything within fifty meters of Dova had disappeared. His reflection was gone. There was no trace of the black liquid remaining.
Dova stood alone in the center of the devastation. Slowly, he looked down at his glowing palms. He closed them. His expression was one of quiet disbelief.
"That was…"
He looked toward the empty space where his reflection had stood.
"…Authority."
For the first time, Dova had touched something beyond ordinary elemental power. Something that belonged to him alone.
Elsewhere in the Lost Forest, another battle was reaching its own turning point. Tina stood facing her reflection. Her breathing was steady now. Her soul sword rested in her hand.
The blade shimmered with its familiar greenish-blue color, but Tina no longer felt the need to keep it active. She stared at her opponent for several seconds.
Then slowly canceled the technique. The soul sword vanished. Tina lowered her hand. Something strange happened. Her vision changed.
She could suddenly see the trees differently. The bark was no longer simply bark. She could see faint structures beneath it Veins running through the trees. Invisible pathways carrying energy through their trunks.
She looked down. The earth beneath her feet seemed transparent. She could see layers beneath the surface. Connections,Flow,Structure. Her eyes widened.
"What…"
Tina slowly turned toward her reflection. The appearance of the copy began fading from her perception. The humanoid form disappeared.
The black liquid became visible,Tina stared.."So that's what you really are". Then she noticed something else within the black liquid was a small red stone. A tiny object embedded at the center of its chest.
Tina's expression changed. Her soul power had revealed something that ordinary perception couldn't see. A weakness or perhaps…a source. She remained completely still as she studied it.
The black liquid stared back at her. For the first time since the battle began, Tina smiled faintly. She had finally found something her reflection hadn't shown her.
And somewhere beyond the Lost Forest, inside the chamber hidden within the great tree, David watched the golden orb in silence.
His eyes remained fixed upon the nine battlefields but when Dova's battlefield vanished beneath White Flash, his expression changed. Then his attention shifted toward Tina.
David's smile slowly returned.
"They're getting there."
Sera looked toward the orb.
"Yes..it's Authority"
David nodded.
"Some of them are beginning to touch it."
The golden orb continued displaying the Black Sun Syndicate. Nine battles, Nine reflections, Nine paths and now…nine possibilities for evolution.