From the vantage point of the concealed chamber where I stationed myself, I watched the plan begin to move exactly as Veneri had intended, although even I can't deny that the sheer calmness with which he initiated the entire operation was, frankly speaking, ridiculous.
The long hallways of the castle were silent at night. Through my holographic projections, I observed Darling strolling through the corridor as though he were merely taking a casual midnight walk instead of deliberately baiting the most dangerous being within the entire trial.
He walked alone. The part that irritated me the most was that he was whistling.
It wasn't even quiet. The sound felt completely out of place within the silence of the castle, The idiot knows exactly what he was doing.
From my concealed observation point, the holographic projection floating in front of me displayed every movement he made as he continued walking down the hallway. Without warning, the air in front of him distorted for a split second before a crimson gleam of light erupted out of the darkness of the corridor.
The attack moved with such speed that a normal person would have been cut apart before even realizing what had happened. Veneri simply raised his arm. The red slash struck his forearm with a sharp metallic crack as though it had collided with metal rather than flesh. The attack dispersed instantly as he flicked his wrist slightly to deflect the force away from his body.
He did not even slow down his walking pace. He simply scoffed.
"Ah. So the Overwrite releases slashes at anyone it detects in the hallway."
The moment he finished speaking, the darkness of the corridor was replaced by multiple crimson streaks flying towards him from every direction.
That's when he finally summoned his weapon.
The sapphire glaive manifested in his grasp with a quiet shimmer. The moment the weapon appeared in his hand, the atmosphere of the corridor changed entirely.
What followed happened so quickly that even I had difficulty tracking the exact sequence of movements.
Each incoming crimson slash was intercepted by the blade before it could even reach him. Sparks of red and blue light scattered through the corridor as the attacks were deflected one after another.
Even through the holographic projections I could barely follow the motion of the glaive. I knew immediately that he was slowing down his time again. The storm of crimson slashes continued and he destroyed every single one of them.
Veneri came to a halt in the middle of the corridor, lowering his glaive slightly as he exhaled in mild irritation. The slashes stopped in an instant.
"Honestly, this is tiring."
He raised the glaive again and swung it downward.
The slash itself did not strike anything directly but the force behind the movement was so immense that the air itself caused a violent shockwave that tore down the length of the hallway. Stone walls cracked instantly. Windows shattered. The entire corridor collapsed beneath the pressure of the displaced air.
At that moment, something appeared directly in front of him. Even through the hologram, I felt a brief chill crawl down my spine.
It was a man. Or rather, something that resembled one.
He stood nearly six meters tall. If Veneri had not already been slowing down time with his Divinity, the encounter would have ended in a single instant because the giant swung his weapon.
The blade was aimed directly for Veneri's torso in a horizontal slash that would have cut him cleanly in half. His body twisted at the last possible moment before it crashed into the stone wall behind him. The impact obliterated what remained of the corridor.
Dust and debris filled the air as the enormous man slowly straightened his posture. He looked down at the much smaller figure standing before him.
"You are quite strong."
Veneri steadied himself, resting the shaft of his glaive casually against his shoulder as he studied the enormous figure.
"No one has ever dodged my attack before."
Veneri scoffed.
"There's a first time for everything. So, are you the giant of this castle?"
The massive man burst into laughter. A deep, booming sound echoed through the ruins.
"Oh no. I am merely the embodiment of his Overwrite. The real giant is currently out there searching for your companions."
He looked more closely at Veneri's face as the moonlight illuminated his features. His expression twisted slightly.
"Hmph. You are an ugly being."
The reaction was immediate.
Veneri froze out of pure disbelief.
"What?"
For a full second he simply stared at the giant as though he had just heard the most offensive statement ever uttered in existence. He slowly raised his glaive.
"You need to die."
Unfortunately, that was the exact moment everything else began because just as Veneri prepared to launch his attack, the place where I had been hiding was suddenly hit by a strong force.
Stone fragments flew through the room as something massive crashed through the structure. I moved instantly, diving out of the chamber before the collapsing walls could bury me beneath the debris. When I landed outside the room, I immediately realized the situation.
I was surrounded.
Nine figures stood in a circle around me. Each one was nearly six meters tall. Their bodies were composed entirely of rough stone and rock formations.
"Seriously?"
At that exact moment the telepathic network between us activated. Jack's voice appeared first.
"We're under attack!"
Luciana's followed immediately.
"Rock giants here as well!"
Then Elyonari spoke.
"I've encountered the giant."
Griselda added calmly, "I'm with Elyonari."
I sighed. So they planned this, huh...
The giant had anticipated the entire operation.
Veneri's voice then entered the telepathic channel.
"Ely, do not fight him. Escape. It's proceeding exactly as planned."
This entire situation was part of his strategy from the beginning. I looked around at the nine rock giants slowly closing in around me. Each one raised its massive stone fists.
I rolled my shoulders slightly and exhaled.
The moment the nine rock giants closed in around me, I didn't waste even a fraction of a second standing there to admire how ridiculous the situation looked. Standing still against nine Fifth Enlightenment monsters whose punches could shatter entire sections of the castle would have been the fastest way to turn myself into a decorative stain on the wall. And while I certainly enjoy dramatic moments, being flattened like a bug is not on my schedule tonight.
I materialized sapphire formations from the stone tiles. They wrapped themselves around the ankles. The structures didn't pierce them—there was no point attempting something that direct against bodies made of enchanted rock—but the sudden obstruction forced several of them to slow down their movements for just long enough to give me the opening I needed.
I ran across the hallway lit by moonlight. I began constructing my awareness at the same time. Running blindly through a battlefield where multiple ambushes were already happening would be the kind of stupidity I prefer to avoid.
Around me, holographic projections appeared in a perfect sphere. I divided my mind into sections.
The separation of consciousness happened instantly. To me, it felt like opening multiple windows inside my head with each one containing a different stream of thought, perception and analysis. Within a second, my awareness had fractured into six independent perspectives that functioned simultaneously while still belonging to me.
The original consciousness remained in my physical body as I ran through the corridor.
Two of the additional partitions stayed directly beside that primary awareness.
One of them focused entirely on the calculations behind the giants' movements, analyzing their speed, their foot placement, the angle of their attacks and the patterns hidden within their coordination as they began tearing themselves free from the sapphire restraints I had placed around their legs.
That consciousness did not speak or interfere with my actions. It simply observed, measured and fed predictions into the main stream of thought that controlled my body.
The other partition served as the communication node. Maintaining telepathic links between multiple individuals while also fighting giants is not exactly something most people can do casually but for me, it was simply another process running in the background of my mind. That portion of my consciousness maintained the mental channels connecting our entire group, keeping the network stable while also monitoring the energy flowing through my bond with Veneri.
The remaining three consciousness fragments dispersed. One drifted toward Veneri's location, following the resonance of his energy so that I could observe the confrontation he was having with the embodiment of the giant's Overwrite. That particular fragment maintained a steady observational distance, capturing everything that happened there.
Another moved toward Elyonari and Griselda, where the true giant had apparently revealed itself.
The final fragment positioned itself near Jack and Luciana, whose situation had already escalated into their own battle with several rock giants.
Maintaining six simultaneous streams of awareness like this would have been impossible for most beings.
If necessary, I could have separated my consciousness thirty or fifty more times without suffering any real strain. That's the advantage of possessing an Omniscient mind. My awareness can exist in multiple places at once, processing information from different battles simultaneously while my physical body continues acting in the present moment.
Unfortunately, having a flexible mind does not make giant fists any less dangerous.
The moment the giants finished breaking free from the sapphire restraints, they began charging down the hallway after me with terrifying speed. Their six-meter frames moved way faster than creatures of their size should reasonably be able to move.
The sound of an incoming strike reached me a fraction of a second before the actual impact. A sapphire barrier formed instantly and for a brief moment I believed it would be enough.
That was when the giant's fist collided with it..
The shield shattered like glass.
The remaining force slammed directly into my body. I was thrown across the hallway like a ragdoll.
The wall behind me was instantly demolished when I hit it. I landed in the next room with enough momentum to roll several meters across the floor before finally skidding to a stop among the rubble.
My arm was broken.
Fortunately, healing that kind of damage was not exactly difficult for someone like me.
I activated the reconstruction process, drawing on the Aeterium Tether that Veneri had shared with me. The bone snapped back into place with a sharp crack. Within seconds the pain vanished entirely.
Unfortunately, the situation around me was anything but reassuring.
Through the calculations running inside my divided consciousness, the reality of the battle is painfully clear. These giants are far stronger than ordinary enemies. Every single one of them possessed the power of the Fifth Enlightenment.
I was at the Fourth.
The difference between those two levels was not something that could simply be ignored through clever tactics.
In Divine ranking, the gap between each stage grows exponentially larger the higher one climbs. The difference between the Fourth and Fifth Enlightenment is already enormous but the leap between the Fifth and Sixth becomes even more absurd. Normally, a Divine at the Third or Fourth Enlightenment defeating someone at the Fifth would only be possible under extremely specific conditions.
Specifically, the opponent would need to possess a weak Overwrite and have a weak bloodline but that is not the case here. The giant ruling this castle possessed an extremely powerful World Overwrite.
Veneri was currently fighting the embodiment of that Overwrite itself, meaning the power governing this entire battlefield was not merely enhancing the giant's abilities.
World Overwrites are absurdly powerful.
They are easily ten times stronger than Enhancement Overwrites. Which means the giants chasing me are not just powerful by normal standards. They're empowered by the very structure of the Overwrite itself.
The first giant burst through the wall I had destroyed moments later.
Its stone fist came crashing down toward my head with the kind of force that would have turned it into paste if it connected. Dodging became my only realistic option.
Another punch shattered the floor where I had been standing a moment earlier I slipped between the attacks and dashed back into the corridor.
The giants followed relentlessly.
Their fists smashed through my sapphire constructs as though they were nothing more than decorative glass. I kept slipping past their swings while chunks of stone ripped from the walls around me. Massive rocks were hurled through the air with enough force to tear my head clean off if I misjudged the timing even slightly. And while I dodged, I carefully controlled my energy output.
Most of the energy I was using right now was not actually mine. Through the bond between us, I was drawing from Veneri's reserves.
Normally that would not be a problem—his pseudo-cores are absurdly large and numerous—but tonight he was fighting the embodiment of a World Overwrite. That kind of battle demands enormous amounts of power and if I burned through his reserves recklessly while playing tag with nine rock giants, I would be sabotaging the very person who needed that energy the most.
So I restrained myself using careful movements, precise dodges and the occasional sapphire structure used purely to redirect their momentum rather than attempting to stop it outright.
Honestly, tonight was turning out to be far more entertaining than I expected.