Beyond the reason behind Castain's assassination request, Zac had an idea why he was the only one who could complete the mission. The ceaseless splits in reality were not just a matter of karmic manipulation. The Imperial Fate itself was being diverted, guided down another path. Any loyal follower of the Empire would find it nearly impossible to step into the Buddhist Kingdom. Furthermore, Zac suspected that those without a personal Destiny would have a much harder time resisting this type of manipulation.
Shockingly, the Memory Domain remained intact despite the lack of the Empire's presence. It appeared that the Dharma was stepping in to replace Imperial Faith, becoming a lynchpin of the Memory Domain. In other words, they were still inside the Daynight Dreamer, only its existence was under the grace of another sky. The realization rocked Zac, and he slowly increased the distance to his target.
'What? Did you lose him?'Esmeralda asked. She'd long since lost sight of the true Gimuz.
'No, that's not it. There's something off about Gimuz too. Every time he steps deeper into Buddha's Kingdom, it's as if he casts off another layer of his disguise,'Zac said, adding after some thought, 'It's weird. From his expressions and mannerisms, it's as if he's becoming another person.'
'Maybe he is. His situation could be just like your daughter's.'
'Another parasitic monk manipulating him from within?'Zac thought, recalling when the golem intercepted the Yphelion. It turned out a B-grade Arhat had smuggled themselves into the sealed-off Zurbor Sector by hiding inside his heart.
'What better infiltrator than one who's unaware of their condition?'
Zac slowly nodded as he hurried his steps. He felt like he'd forgotten something, but it ultimately didn't matter. Gimuz had finally reached his destination. Reality split one final time, exposing a wooden temple that had been erected in the middle of the forest. It was very simple, with no walls, and its floor was made from untreated planks of wood.
The temple was barely large enough to house its enshrined deity, despite it barely being the height of a man; an unfamiliar Buddha riding atop a divine elephant. A single prayer mat was placed before it, upon which Gimuz sat down. His back was exposed to Zac, making it a perfect opportunity to strike.
'I can see it!'Esmeralda exclaimed.
'That must've been the last layer of their disguise,' Zac muttered as he devised a strike plan.
There was a rustle in the forest before Zac could decide on his next course of action. One after another, unfamiliar faces stumbled into the clearing. Zac relaxed upon seeing that most were servant disciples, with the strongest newcomers being two Outer Disciples at the precipice of Late D-grade. They could all be taken out with a swing or two if push came to shove.
Whether that would become necessary was hard to say. Judging by the confusion and hesitation on their faces, they didn't appear to be infiltrators. They warily kept an eye on each other while casting furtive looks toward Gimuz and the shrine. When ten people had appeared, Gimuz spoke.
"Impermanence is the nature of compounded things; they come into existence and they cease," Gimuz began.
His voice carried the familiar pathbreaking power of the Buddhist Sangha. Despite being prepared, Zac had to fight to keep his mind from entering an addled state. The others weren't so lucky. Suspicion turned into wide-eyed wonder as birds settled on the temple eaves and lotus flowers spontaneously appeared across the clearing.
Gimuz droned on for minutes without showing any sign of stopping. As he spoke, the Dharmic light surrounding him grew more radiant. Zac had a decent idea of the situation at that point. This Inner Disciple was using his stellar reputation to convert fellow disciples to Buddhism. Judging by the unimpressive auras of the congregation, he was intentionally targeting the downtrodden who struggled to keep pace inside the Anima Court.
The situation was perfect for Zac, and he recorded everything onto a jade. It should be more than enough proof of his innocence in case his actions were questioned. He had everything he needed, yet he found it difficult to strike. It wasn't because the sermon's gilded words. Zac had plenty of experience resisting the Sangha's path-breaking truths.
It was Zac's instincts that kept him in check. He'd repeatedly scanned himself, finding nothing amiss, yet his gut was telling him to back down. It created a tug-of-war between rational experience and intuition, and intuition eventually won out. He had the evidence, so he could strike when Gimuz was on his way back to Soulwrest Chapter.
Just as Zac took a step back to recede into the darkness, Gimuz's tone changed. "Brahinim, the gathering is not yet over, and you plan on leaving? Did you find this one's sermon lacking?"
While the words targeted Zac, they had a profound impact on the gathered congregation. They flinched as if they'd been slapped and fearfully looked around. One of them directly bolted into the woods, triggering a flight response among the rest. Zac wanted nothing more than to join them, but a hidden force erased his thoughts of escape.
Gimuz didn't mind the loss of his followers. He calmly turned around, and Zac realized that his appearance had changed without him noticing. Currently, Gimuz's face looked identical to the statue's. It was at that moment clarity came crashing in like a runaway train, and Zac finally understood the reason for his creeping unease.
Someone had erected a Buddhist sanctuary right under the nose of the Limitless Empire. They'd even manipulated the Imperial Fate in a way that devout followers of the empire would be unable to enter. This wasn't something that could be achieved by a Hegemon. Someone extremely powerful was pulling the strings, and Zac had blindly walked straight into the lair. Something kept interfering with his mind, muddling his thoughts and instincts.
"Shield on shoulder, axe in hand. Full-armed as a highwayman, you take to the road to kill and rob," the Gimuz-turned-Buddha sighed, looking upon Zac like a lost soul.
While his voice was gentle, the words clapped like thunder in Zac's ears. He felt the whole world turn against him, branding him as a criminal. The forest had become a prison, the trees rows of inescapable bars. Space was sealed, which included the [Shrine of Kanba]. Blocking the sky was the hazy image of a holy mountain.
The side facing Zac was made of pure gold. A sun orbited the peak, and the reflected light cast by the mountain turned the whole forest into a holy land. Its radiance contained a corporeal force not dissimilar to the weight of an Inner World. Zac knew he couldn't allow it to descend in earnest. Just a hazy projection felt like the full attention of an Early Monarch. Any more, and it would go beyond the scope of what he could endure.
Zac roared, harnessing the force of his Hidden Nodes and the Void Road's rejection of Buddhist Destiny. It was barely enough to break free from the spell, yet he remained rooted in place. The feeling of being trapped wasn't just in his head. There was an absolute barrier only a few dozen meters behind him. Try as he might, it proved impossible to open a Void Vortex beyond a certain line of trees.
"Damn it!" Zac cursed as he turned his attention to Gimuz, a heavy steel axe with a wooden handle tightly gripped in hand.
The oppressive heat of Buddha's light weakened as a second canopy of ancestral trees sprouted in the middle of the forest. It was [Apex Jungle] that had been activated to provide support. Zac wasn't surprised that his domain skill was limited to a few hundred meters despite being activated with Void Energy. Seeing as [Void Dome] was blocked, it stood to reason his other escape measures would fare no better.
The shade provided by his skill drastically lessened the pressure from above. Zac used his recovered strength to rush straight for Gimuz while a swarm of vines appeared all around him. Sometimes, offense was the best defense. The only way to escape—to survive—was to take out the threat standing in his way.
Gimuz took Zac's approach in stride. He exhaled, releasing a wave of samadhi flames that incinerated all they touched. Flashes of retaliatory axelight tore the wave asunder, and Zac opened a path with a tyrannical swing of his axe. No skill was used, only Zac's overwhelming physical prowess and his unwavering determination.
Zac rushed into the gap, once more exposed to the mountain's punishing rays. This time, Zac was ready. He activated [Void Zone], and the glaring light faded by half. It was enough that Zac retained most of his strength when he appeared before Gimuz. Zac sensed that a layer of belief shielded the monk from the Void's erosion, yet he still swung his axe all the same.
In a flash of fire, a ceremonial sword adorned with Buddhist bells appeared in the Buddha's hand. He directly met Zac's descending edge. The two forces collided, and the temple exploded from the shockwave. Zac barely noticed, his heart filled with Buddhist hymns and his mind with Buddha's glory.
In the blink of an eye, Zac went through a cycle of Samsara, reborn as a devout believer of the Sangha. Thankfully, the cycle of Life and Death was exactly what he'd studied for his latest Dao upgrade, and he quickly broke free from the dream. Back slick with sweat, Zac quickly took control of his Soul Cores that had drifted off their trajectories.
It turned out that the simple parry had contained a hidden attack fiercer than [Fatehew], targeting both Dao Heart and Soul. That wasn't to say Gimuz lacked on the physical plane. The Buddhist sword didn't give an inch when blocking Zac's attack. It wasn't that Gimuz's Strength matched Zac's. Gimuz's very being was bolstered by the Dharma.
Zac hadn't expected to wrap things up with his probing attack. He wanted to better understand Gimuz's abilities, and he'd already seen enough. Protracted infighting wasn't an option. He'd end up a mindless vajra if he took too many of those path-breaking counters. Instead, Zac smoothly turned the backlash into momentum and used one of Haro's vines to alter his trajectory.
He swiveled around the monk in a parabolic arc as three more vines attempted to tie Gimuz down. And yet, Zac's target wasn't the monk's exposed back or his gloria. The axe once more descended, this time targeting the statue. A powerful flash of holy light rebuffed the strike. Zac directly let go of the axe before the force could be transmitted to him. Keeping his momentum, he slammed both hands into the polished wood.
The warm golden teak darkened as its blessings were devoured by [Void Mountain]'s Dao-annihilating seal. Zac's mind began screaming of danger the moment he made his move, and a pang of pain was conveyed through [Adaptive Symbiosis]. Gimuz had torn through the bindings and exhaled another breath of Buddhist flames. The wave suddenly stalled as a wooden wheel turned with a groan. Another turn, and the wave scattered entirely.
Seizing the window, Zac punched into the statue with a roar. With its divinity drained, the consecrated Buddha shattered along with his steed. Chips and splinters flew, yet Zac felt no liberation. With a sinking feeling, he understood that his presumption was wrong. The illusory mountain still covered the sky, and Gimuz still possessed a halo of Dharmic light.
The statue wasn't the conduit that connected Gimuz with his powerful patron.
"Brahmin, to use such skill to sacrifice for pelf," Gimuz said with a shake of his head. "Very well. This one shall face thee."
Zac only had time to sense the danger when a pulse of boundless Buddhist Energy crashed into him. He was thrown out of the wreckage of the temple as the remains of [Apex Jungle] collapsed around him. The growing swarm of [Primal Edict]'s Dharma-resistant vines that Zac had been preparing fared no better.
Innumerable vines crumbled into motes of light. This time, their death didn't herald the rebirth of a stronger progeny. Reincarnation was Buddha's domain, and Zac's skill had been trapped in Samsara. It was a huge setback to Zac's plans. The only good news was that he personally remained in great condition. [Empyrean Aegis] had soaked up most of the damage, though at the cost of all its remaining charge.
Gimuz stood in the wreckage of his temple, surrounded by five bands of numinous clouds. If he could even be called Gimuz anymore. His previous comment evidently meant shedding any pretense of being a disciple of Anima Court. His robes were replaced by a Kaseya, and he sported three heads. One was that of a young acolyte, while the central one remained the same as the shattered statue's. The third was only a blur, yet it filled Zac with an extreme sense of danger.
While Gimuz's mysterious means and current appearance made resistance seem futile, Zac knew he still had a chance. Contrary to how things appeared, Gimuz wasn't actually a Buddha in hiding. His situation was better seen as a divine descent. A powerful Deva was using the Inner Disciple as a vessel, but his actual body was still his own. Zac could still feel Gimuz's original aura beneath the numinous radiance.
Just as Zac was weaker when possessing Tam Brooks' wounded and exhausted body, there were limits to how much of their strength the Buddha could exhibit. Zac knew the helplessness of facing an Autarch or above. If a true Deva had descended, then he would already be dead or captured. Still, Zac couldn't allow things to go any further than this. Gimuz was drawing more energy from his surroundings every second.
The dharmic light was beating down on Zac, constantly wearing him down. A sudden burst of vigor rebuffed the Brahma as complex tattoos appeared across Zac's skin. Drums of war replaced Buddhist hymns while steel and blood filled Zac's vision. He'd entered Arcadia's crusade, where only one thing mattered: the death of their enemy.
"See Buddha; slay Buddha," Zac growled under his breath as a Void Vortex appeared before him.
Zac stepped inside, just before a palm the size of a hill crashed into the ground, annihilating everything it touched. Only a chasm of existential nothingness remained in the hollow. It meant nothing to Zac, who'd appeared right by his target's side. A second vortex had bypassed the dangerous swirls of numinous clouds that seemed to have a will of their own.
Suddenly appearing made Zac come face to face with the young acolyte. His calm, loving gaze tried to douse the flames of war beating in Zac's chest, and scenes of tranquility flashed through his mind. Zac put it all aside. Peace could only be bought through war, and safety could only be ensured with a bloodied edge.
Zac's murderous intent poured into Haro through [Adaptive Symbiosis], causing the Skyrender Vine to go berserk. They both wailed on Gimuz, each strike holding the power to topple mountains. The Buddhist kingdom was rent and torn, reduced to a scarred battlefield where no deity would reside. Gimuz protected his vitals by conjuring a thousand arms. Each time he blocked, Zac's soul suffered a heavy blow.
The pain only made Zac swing harder, his eyes glowing with bloodlust. Finally, the Dharmic light couldn't keep up with Zac's onslaught, and a very real arm fell to the ground. Golden blood splashed, nourishing the soil with its vigor. The whole world cried upon seeing Buddha bleed, and Zac stumbled as cosmic anguish flooded his soul.
"Die!" Zac roared, his mind clearing long enough to grab the bloody gash.
A seal appeared on his palm the moment it connected to flesh, and [Void Mountain]'s Dao-annihilating brand once more destroyed the dharmic protection. The barrier shattered, and Zac eagerly dug further into viscera. It was at that moment his soul screamed with abject terror.
Zac, who could literally feel Gimuz's heart at the tip of his fingers, furiously disengaged. He escaped into a Void Vortex, and a blast of soul-annihilating sunlight followed him inside. The left-behind vortex twisted under a burgeoning wave of Dharma. Before it could collapse, a streak of black emerged from the darkness within.
A small Vajra dug into the open wound and pierced straight into Gimuz's heart. Bloody, twisted Sanskrit poured from the weapon as cracks appeared across Gimuz's body. The numinous clouds scattered, and even the sky darkened. Just when it looked like madness would take over, the fuzzy head collapsed.
"False brethren!" Gimuz roared.
The sacrifice stabilized the deva's state, but the vajra remained lodged inside Gimuz's heart. Zac, struggling with a tearing pain throughout his body, got back onto his feet. He'd managed to leave the powerful strike inside his Void Realm, but it had actually managed to do some damage from within. Still, he couldn't give up on this opportunity. Gimuz was weakened, and it was time to finish the job.
"Tonsured brother clad in robe," a youthful voice said just as Zac activated [Arcadia's Judgment].
The skill disappeared as Zac felt the world split once more. This time, he couldn't resist the push, and he gasped with alarm as he felt all strength leave his body. His equipment faded and was replaced by tattered robes. He felt grass between exposed toes, and he held a crude axe that sparked an old recollection.
Looking inside, Zac was aghast to see embarrassingly crude pathways coursing through bulky, oversized muscles that lacked any cosmic grace. There was no Cosmic Core, no nodes, and the few skills were basic patterns that Zac could whip up without giving it a thought. Even his Soul Aperture had reverted to its most basic state. It barely held enough strength to scan his appearance with Soul Sense. It confirmed Zac's hunch.
Somehow, he'd reverted to his bald 'Monk' persona that he used in his earliest meetings with the New World Government. By his estimate, he was something like a level 50 F-grade Cultivator at this moment. The only thing that was spared was his Void Emperor Bloodline.
Zac looked at the young face with horror, finally realizing what it represented. It was the Buddha of the past, while the blurry face was the future. Stabbing the cursed Vajra into Gimuz's head had only managed to kill the Buddha's future. In retaliation, the Past Buddha had imposed a past Zac onto him.
The shock hadn't settled when Zac noticed another horrifying matter. Gimuz's main head wasn't focused on him. Instead, he solemnly peered into a swirling vortex. Not only had the Void Vortex Zac escaped through failed to close, but it was also surrounded by a band of Sanskrit that was expanding it.
Zac's heart hammered in fear. His Void Realm was exposed and unguarded. There was no telling what would happen if he filled it with his energy. His Void Emperor Bloodline might collapse entirely. He couldn't allow that to happen. As a weak F-grade cultivator, there was only one thing he could do. Zac slowly reached toward the sealed items strapped to his back.
It was at that moment that a blade of evil burst forth from the Void.