Chapter 87 Know Thy Fear Rowan came into himself from his brief musing on the vision the weapon showed him. Not just any weapon, its name was Envy. It was a strange name for a weapon. It was a strange name for anything as a matter of speaking. The weapon had now lost every green coloration it had, right now, it appeared a bit rusted, with bumps and scratches as if it was corroded by acid. Veins of gold snaked all over the weapon, and they seemed to pulse in accordance with his breathing. The weapon appeared old and harmless, but the constant hum that it emanated was proof enough of its shocking lethality. Rowan feared that only Dominators that were in the latter parts of the Incarnation state or higher could hold this weapon, or anyone else would simply be vaporized just by touching it. He also noticed that the weight had increased, the change was not subtle for before now, the Axe had weighed twenty-eight kilograms, but now judging by the numbers his perception was giving him, the weight of the Axe had increased to a hundred and thirty kilograms. If it had any other abilities, apart from the vibration and increasing weight, he had not discovered it yet. But he was still satisfied with the overall abilities of this weapon, after all, he had a Berserker Aspect, and he only required a solid weapon to allow that Aspect to shine. He was aware he had not been using this Aspect of his to its full potential, and he would strive to change that because he felt there was enormous potential inside of it. He peered back at the lake, where he saw that the figure with white hair had resumed his activities, and had begun pulling off more spikes from the hair of the Abomination Core. With his present alacrity of vision, he could see the Abomination Core with startling clarity, and he saw her regrowth that had stopped at her waist, had resumed. More of her body re-emerged from the waist down and the regeneration stopped at her knees, the man with the white hair seemed to have hit another road block, as he seemed unable to pull out any more spikes, and he proceeded to sit on her shoulders. The Abomination Core began to move, and as she glided through the air, the lake beneath her parted until you could see the bottom, where countless skeletons lay. Her hair did not move with the wind, but they rose around her head like a crown, and the many eyes inside it, blinked and peered around with hatred oozing from their gaze. Rowan squeezed his weapon and leaped out of the pit, scanning through his body, he saw that all three Ouroboros Serpents had all converged around his new fourth heart; they were breathing a red mist that resembled blood into the heart. He felt a twinge of pain as his heart began to expand until it was three times it's previous size, sudden bumps would appear on it, as it looked like something was growing inside his heart, and was slowly tearing its way out. He reckoned the fourth Ouroboros Serpent was about to be born, and he dimly wondered how many of such creatures would end up inhabiting his body, since he was beginning to see a budding fifth heart. Did his bloodline evolution have any limit? The Abomination Core was fast, and soon reached the shores of the lake, but her movements were halted, for she bounced back as if an invisible wall were covering the entire lake, denying her passage. She slowly ran her claws through the air, and ripples appeared around her clawed digits, the invisible field blocking her rippled as if she was underwater. Rowan was not too surprised about this development, it was standard practice to separate invasive specimens kept inside a Nexus. Most likely, the keys to her freedom lie in the Control Hub below. The Abomination Core was still running her hands through the air, and he decided to ignore her for now. Shooting a burst of his Spatial Sight to the manor, he saw that a considerable part of the mansion had collapsed. The effects of his last battle had reached the house, but the sigils placed on the door of the cellar were effective, for everyone inside was still safe, except buried under piles of iron and concrete. He had anticipated that this might occur, so he instructed them to bring a certain beaker with them previously. It contained an alchemical solution that acted as an air filtration unit. It would ensure that none of them would suffocate while they were below. Coincidentally, the facility governing the Nexus, was directly below the crater made when fighting the Abomination, and Rowan, seeing that the Core was trapped at the time, decided to raid the facility. "Spawn of the Stars, wait a moment longer. I wish for your ears." That sounded more malevolent than it should have, especially coming from a flying creature hundreds of feet tall, who could easily be called the Mother of monsters. Should he listen to such a creature? Yeah, let's not do that. Rowan ignored her, bracing himself to jump into the pit. "If you ignore my words, Spawn of the Stars, you shall fail in your quest to leave this cage, and we shall both perish" Rowan pushed down the growing irritation in his blood, his mind already working through the events that had happened. He stopped his movements and turned to the Abomination Core. "You make bold claims Abomination, a short while ago, you were trying your hardest to kill me, and you have nested on my lands and killed a lot of my people, my fight with you has not ended." The distance between them did not in any way hamper their communication, they were above mortals and concepts such as distance were slowly losing its meaning to Rowan. "As you breathe air, and eat meat for survival and growth, so also do I. No excuse for my actions would I give you, yet know that your suffering is not by my choosing and like you, I am here against my will." The Abomination Core sighed, and gave a formal bow. "But first, where are my manners, please, call me Lamia." The sheer mental dissonance of seeing a flying-blue-naked-giant-lady, was only topped by the basic noble etiquette she just displayed, and of course, she was speaking Medan, the language of the Gods and Nobles. It was almost instinctive for Rowan to bow back, the etiquette of nobility was ingrained in his bones and this tradition went back for tens of thousands of year's, since Dominators lived for a long time, they had a firm stance on tradition, even among enemies if basic courtesy is shown, one is expected to show the same. Especially when you both communicate in Medan. "My name is Rowan Kuranes, and although you are my enemy, I shall listen to your words before my Axe rips through your throat." He bowed back, and for that extremely strange moment, had their heads bowed towards each other. "Rowan Kuranes? You bear the name of a god, but you are not one of their children. I sense none of their foul blood inside of you. But, since it is your given name, then I shall respect its value to you." The ease by which the Abomination Core communicated with him, was surprising, but this fact did not ease his wariness it enhanced it instead, from the knowledge he knew off previously, although Abomination Core had intelligence, they were feral and bloodthirsty and there was no way to effectively communicate with them. Obviously, that knowledge was clearly false and as with most of the everything he thought he previously knew. The clarity of her speech should have alerted him to the intelligence of this monster, it was an oversight on his part. The Abomination Core—Lamia, previously spoke to him with Common speech because he guessed she would rather not alert him to the full capacity of her intelligence, but because she was blocked by a force field, and realizing she would need his help in breaking out, she decided to lay her cards on the table.