Divine Apostasy Book 12 - Chapter 39

Chapter 39

“What do you intend to place there?” Lir asked.

“I was thinking the poison gas, ash plume, and shock wave,” Ruwen responded.

“Historical models suggest plume generation will continue for approximately five months.”

“Seriously? How can I speed that up?”

“Remove a significant portion of the magma chamber.”

Predicting Ruwen’s next question, Lir continued. “Twenty percent of the volume should suffice.”

“Thirty percent then,” Ruwen said, and then let his next statement trail off. “Which is…”

“Seventy cubic miles taken from the top of the chamber,” Lir responded.

“Yes, that’s exactly what I was thinking.”

Overlord laughed. “You’re so lucky Lir is here.”

Ruwen grinned. “I know. Thanks, Lir. The results if all that works?”

“Zero casualties and no harmful long-term effects for Earth,” Lir responded.

Ruwen clapped his hands. “Perfect. It will be like nothing ever happened.”

Accessing the Architect Role, Ruwen focused on the destination high above until the gate runes appeared for its location.

“Nobody lives up there?” Ruwen asked, just to make sure.

“No humans,” Lir confirmed. “Rumors of activity on the dark side are numerous but unverified.”

“Okay, we’ll put it all on this side to be safe. I sure hope this works. I’ve never attempted anything this large before. I’m having flashbacks to sticking that city in my Soul vault. I just got my Soul fixed and I don’t want to break it again.”

“I do not recommend storing any of this in your Soul,” Lir said.

“We’re on the same page, my friend.”

Ruwen took a moment to think through his next steps and then released Last Breath.

Divine Domain lifted Ruwen off the mountain as he tapped his Soul Power to create a portal with gate runes.

Ironically, it had been the Zealot that fixed Ruwen’s Soul. Ruwen had subverted the Zealot’s attack by repurposing the vastly superior Soul Power of the Zealot to rejuvenate and heal himself. It had resulted in Ruwen’s Soul advancing to level three and then to level four.

Ruwen’s level two Soul had felt like a sea of power, but now that power seemed endless, like a sphere the size of a planet. He didn’t have the time to reflect though, as the pressure wave below was expanding at two hundred miles per hour.

Ruwen opened his Soul and let the power pour out of him. The volume shocked him and he immediately formed the energy into a circle of liquid white light a thousand feet in front of the hurtling mountain. The ring stretched thirty miles in diameter, and down its center he created five runes, each the size of a small city.

Without waiting for the results, Ruwen teleported to the top of the rapidly rising plume of gas and ash.

Once again, Ruwen created a ring with his level four Soul, this time only a few miles wide. He shaped the same gate runes down the center of the ring and felt the portal snap into place. He willed the portal downward.

Where the giant portal passed, the column of superheated gas and ash disappeared, transferred to the moon far away. When the ring neared the ground, it absorbed the pressure wave before slamming into the ground.

Instead of smashing through the ground and continuing downward, the portal shattered.

A new plume instantly exploded upward but Ruwen reacted immediately, forming a fresh portal ring above the eruption and then bringing the gateway quickly to the surface. This time he let it hover a few feet over the ground. The Earth violently ejected molten earth and poisonous gas but it disappeared without issue.

Ruwen glanced up at the moon but didn’t notice any difference. His curiosity demanded that he enhance his vision and study the effects of his transfer, but he forced himself to stay focused.

Satisfied that this floating portal would safely transfer the danger away, Ruwen considered the amount of Soul Power it required to remain open. He shifted his gaze to the first portal ring which hung in the sky. It also utilized considerable energy to keep active, but not as much as he’d initially expected.

It meant the distance to the gateway’s destination played a large role in power consumption, and since this moon orbited less than three hundred thousand miles away, its power cost remained low.

Ruwen dismissed the large gateway that had transferred the flying volcano and Blinked two thousand feet away. He didn’t want his experiments to accidentally disturb the fragile solution currently funneling this world altering eruption to the moon.

It had surprised Ruwen when the portal ring shattered against the ground. Up until now he’d always had the opposite issue. Initially, whenever he’d projected rings and gate runes with Soul Power, they’d burned through whatever they’d touched. The hardest part for him to master was creating the portals without damaging the surroundings. Why was this time different?

Ruwen formed a hand sized circle from Soul Power and willed it at the ground. It didn’t break and instead disappeared into the lava. Maybe it had something to do with the portal being active.

Once again, Ruwen formed a hand sized ring, but this time he placed five small gate runes inside. The portal formed and he sent it downward.

Just like before, it effortlessly penetrated the lava and disappeared.

That left one last variable. Ruwen created a three-hundred-foot circle, formed the portal, and willed it downward. This time, he felt the resistance as the ring penetrated the lava and it took a lot of effort to hold the ring together.

Hoping Spirit might reinforce the portal’s structure, Ruwen quickly duplicated the experiment. His new Core made it effortless to extract as much Spirit as he desired, but it did little to stabilize the portal. Spirit wouldn’t help him with this problem.

Ruwen considered switching to his Saraph body and experimenting with his Destruction Core, but that would remove access to his Soul which had more power anyway. He considered using Dig and Melt to create a path for the portal to pass but worried it would increase instability and result in a situation he couldn’t contain. Digging would also take much longer than he wanted to spend here.

A minute later, Ruwen determined that any ring over a mile in diameter quickly ramped up the Soul Power requirements. Thirty seconds after that, he discovered extended channeling of all the power he could extract from his Soul melted his organs. Supporting the portal with Harmony worked great, but once the ring’s diameter exceeded three miles the harmonies became too difficult to maintain.

“What are you trying to do, specifically?” Overlord asked.

This time Overlord manifested in the Material Realm, and the others retreated back to Ruwen’s internal world.

“I’m creating the biggest gate rune portal possible. Before you were born, I went to fetch some oil with my Void Band, and it took a lot longer than I expected. I need to transfer like seventy cubic miles of magma to the moon, and I don’t want to spend a hundred years here.”

“I take it you didn’t run that calculation by Lir.”

“No, but you get my point. Spirit isn’t helpful and Harmony only works within a few miles. That magma down there is under immense pressure and denser than what I’m trying to break through up here. I’m afraid I’ll be stuck here for weeks or months fixing this.”

Overlord closed his eyes and rubbed his chin, the whiskers producing a soothing sound.

“That looks relaxing,” Ruwen said.

“The beard’s mine.”

Ruwen rubbed his chin.

Overlord opened one eye and stared at Ruwen until he dropped his hand.

“That’s selfish,” Ruwen said.

Overlord frowned. “Have you looked in a mirror lately. You’re so perfect you barely look human, and that’s not even considering your Charisma. Which is literally god tier. Trust me, you don’t need the beard.”

“Fine.”

“Mega Minion,” Overlord said.

“I remember those. You piled a bunch of normal Minions together to make a big one. I don’t see how that helps me right now.”

“That’s because you always want to do things yourself,” Overlord replied. He frowned, squinting at the sky in thought. “Although technically,” he continued, “if this works, you’d still be doing it by yourself.”

“Please enlighten me.”

Overlord tuned his attention to Ruwen. “On Rainbow’s End I worked on perfecting the Multitasking skill using all those Minions. I created Mega Minion to accomplish things that no single Minion could do.”

“You want me to duplicate myself?” Ruwen said sarcastically.

“Yes.”

Ruwen studied Overlord. “Are you being serious? How do I do that?”

“By combining all the things that don’t work alone. You need the equivalent of a Mega Minion.”

“You’re enjoying this.”

“Of course. Despite our similarities, I rarely think of things before you do. Not sure why that is, but it’s a fact. Anyway, yes, my idea is fantastic.”

Overlord waved a hand and projected a five-foot circle before them.