Lowly Ascent

Pumping his chest, Thomas gathered air in his lungs.

Hovering in the sky, Cain had bags under his eyes, worry filling him. He could feel the Dream Core holding on by a thread.

Thomas roared, it was a bestial screech that shook the earth. He was brimming with energy, although he was starting to feel the side effects of Cain's last attack. Around his body, qi expanded and condensed, becoming a thick impenetrable wall around him.

"Transcendent Innate Spell - Spirit of Man!"

Humans like to think they are above beasts, but they are not. Like all lifeforms, they have desires and instincts, they are not above other life. Humanity was just a beast covering itself with a mask, and Thomas's form showed that truth.

A burly chest with a lion's mane, the tusks of a boar on his mouth, the eyes of a hyena, the arms of a gorilla. The features of beasts were ever present in the spirit of man. After all, humans could only rise due to beasts, without their meat, without their bones, without their fur, how could humanity ever start, how would they survive to this point?

Humans were not outside the cycle of the food chain, they were on the top, but this didn't mean they were immune to the creatures below. A human could be squashed by an elephant, trampled by a bull, or beaten by a monkey. 

The status humans gave themselves was nothing but false pride, they rose as animals, and they would fall like them too.

"Cain!" Pressing his feet into the ground, a large crevice snapped open as Thomas launched upwards. He was like a savage, pouncing into the sky so fast it was as if he teleported.

Thomas's fist instantly connected to Cain's skull. Brain matter and skull chunks flew, only to be covered in mist.

Cain regenerated again, this time unable to recover his original body, Thomas made sure to smash it to pieces.

"Leaving me without clothes? Fine, I'll fight you like an animal!"

A few of the mist titans returned to Cain, becoming large clouds of red to be willed.

Thomas grunted as he threw another punch, the wind snapping. Cain moved aside but gained a large gash on his face, it was healed within moments.

A battle of attrition began, round after round, Cain moved like a weasel, taking the least amount of damage possible before healing. As time went on, Thomas became worse and worse for wear. Finally, he coughed a large amount of blood.

"Cough cough...Damn it! What attack is this?! I've had my defenses up this entire time!" Thomas long forgot about the crystallized shards.

Cain snickered and changed his strategy, going on the offensive.

Fire spewed, sword energy cried, and wire-like webs collected into sizable pillars that were wielded like hammers.

The Spirit of Man's outer defenses were strong, but the problem was what was happening internally. Humans could act strong on the outside but were weak internally. The same was true for Thomas and his condition.

'What attack did he do! I can't sense anything!' Confusion and fear muddled Thomas's head, his counterattacks wavered and soon Cain was battering him like a piñata.

Cracks started to form in the Human Spirit, not just Thomas's Innate Spell but everyone watching. The Beast Master was the leader of the current generation, yet he was losing.

Cain became even more savage than Thomas, mist gathered around him like a forthcoming omen.

Grabbing a hold of the Beast Master's wrist, his other hand bashed the Spiritual Qi until it broke to pieces.

Thomas was shocked, his spine rattling and goosebumps sprouting around his body.

"You've proven yourself, I'll make you my own, serve me forever!" Cain's mouth opened like a monster's, widening to a degree no human could copy. This was a side effect of the Vampire core, giving the Gatherer an unnatural appearance during some actions.

Cain's body was human in most parts, but his hands transformed into claws and his face was like a vicious ghost, large fangs protruding at either end of his mouth and his eyes becoming pupilless.

Thomas screamed, but his body was a mess, he could only cough out blood while yelling. His blood was boiling and he was at the end of his rope, it wasn't hard for Cain to devour his soul, the Spirit of Man was gone.

Thomas's limbs went limp, the resurgence of his night terrors took over, and staring into those dark empty eyes, Thomas's fighting spirit became nonexistent. 

Onlookers watched in pure dread as a white lump came from Thomas's mouth and entered Cain's own.

The soulless body was let go and the tattered Lord of the Animal Kingdom fell. The sound of his corpse hitting the cold marble shook the soul of everyone present, even Fang Yuan was frightened.

The Beast Master died, the leader of the largest sect in the Seven Provinces? How was that possible?!

There was a fatal flaw Cain was waiting to use which allowed him to succeed! It was that this place's laws were incomplete! The Dao seemed to overwrite every domain except Time and Space which relied on the Landfill.

Because of this, the Landfill's law of disease far overpowered the abilities of the Dao. But this went both ways because the Dao of the Spirit Lands was different, Cultivators' attacks were also strong against the unprepared. If there weren't people like Rulers or Gatherers, Cultivators would be the strongest without a doubt!

Laws ruled existence, they were eternal, but that did not mean they couldn't be manipulated. Both the Landfill and the Dao were naturally able to do this, they were both overseers of life itself!

'Everything here is like an error. It was developing well but with me here it was bound to fail. Yet I doubt the System didn't notice this irregularly either.'

The reason Cain could tell all of this? His cores. When he tried to use his abilities, there was a natural suppression, but when he used Distortion to make his abilities more in line with the Dao, they would work seamlessly. It was like making his mist appear as a Blood Spirit, his Marked ability like a Slavery Spirit, etc. 

'This world is still growing, Heaven is a stupid newborn. It believes in its children and only looks for irregularities like me, but I found a way to hide myself. As long as I didn't make a commotion I wouldn't be easily found.'

'However, why is the Dao acting as the laws of this place, what's going on, is the core rebelling like the Dream Core? But that isn't possible, the Dream Core could rebel because it was made from the collective subconscious. Actually, what is this core made of?'

Cain hasn't seen the territory's core so it was impossible to tell, he could only speculate.

As he thought about his conjectures, the world was silent, Fang Yuan didn't move, clutching his sword tighter while his ever-closed eyes squeezed harder.

Since the world was incomplete, the laws were drifting away from the norm of the Landfill, which allowed the powers in this place to be unnaturally stronger than others. But this also caught the attention of the System that manages the Landfill. No one knew this, they unknowingly helped Heaven in its rebellion by practicing the Dao and advancing it with their own two feet.

This was the secret as to why people are given Innate Spells! It was to help them advance and gain inspiration from! It's why the Fusion stage is the last step, to complete the Dao and manifest it! It was all so the core could grow outside its bounds and become a free entity! The Heavenly Dao!

If Heaven's plan succeeded, then it could contest the System and even escape the Landfill to grow elsewhere. But this wouldn't happen, there were plans the System put in place and Cain only quickened the process of these plans going into action.

...

Outside the Ancient Holy Land of the Cultivators of Old, a blue screen gathered above the sky of the Seven Provinces.

[Error Updating! Anomaly Found! Extermination Process Loading....Energy Siphoning From Accolated Sources. Time Until Next Dark Age Increased by 0.0000023%]

Far away, an old man with a sage-like beard knitted his brows.

"The tribulation for my Seven Provinces is advancing. I will seek a vision."

He closed his eyes, he did so for a long time before opening them.

"This?! He is connected? I must quickly kill this danger now! We must pass this tribulation at all costs!"

The Sect Leader of the Immortal Sect flew faster than he ever did, his speed passing the sound barrier and going beyond it. Five seconds later he crashed into an invisible barrier, pulling it apart to reveal a Marble White City in the process of being painted red.

...

Cain stopped thinking and looked around.

'Everything is going well, I should head to the control tower now.'

Teleporting, Cain came to a colorful fog.

"Hmm, why is it gray? Did someone already come this way?"

Curious, he went inside and followed the path.