Chapter 1613: The Missing Link The voice of Primordial Demon was like a velvet knife in the dark, filled with endless mysteries and dark delight. Rowan paused. He had long been expecting interruptions to his exploits, but he believed that they would most likely be coming from Primordial Life. He was greatly surprised that, instead, it was coming from the darkness, which meant it was a Primordial Demon. His suspicion was confirmed when two figures appeared before him, and for a moment, Rowan thought he had been taken back in time, and a part of him nearly smiled, but he shook his head in sadness. Of course, life could never be so simple. The two figures with long white hair and profound powers rippling around them could not be the impressive pair of father and daughter, but something more sinister, a Demon wearing the skin of a man. This was not Telmus and his brilliant daughter, Staff, but Primordial Demon who brought Staff here with him, not because he wanted to be close to her, but as a bargaining tool to influence Rowan’s decision. To the Primordials, everyone was a tool. He could feel the presence of this being, not because of the darkness that had thickened to the consistency of concrete, but an absence. This absence answered the single burning question in the heart of every living being: What happens when the fire fades? It had no form, no voice—only want. A deep corruption that lusted for all things. Where the light gave, it took. Where the light shine, it swallowed. Where the light sang, it whispered back: "You will not last forever." The Celestial called it the Abyss, the Anti-Flame. But Rowan could now see the true form of this being, and he knew what it was; its name was simpler, The First Doubt. ® Rowan did not look at Primordial Demon, but at Staff. She looked great; her powers had grown from the fifth-dimensional level all the way to the eighth-dimensional level, becoming an Old One in a single heartbeat. It had been less than a thousand years, and she had made all of this progress. He was not surprised at such quick growth of power. As long as an immortal stayed within the framework of the Primordial system, they could easily grow the power of that immortal to the most significant height available in their system. Rowan nodded at Staff and frowned as she touched the air front of her as if searching for something. Her white eyes filled with pain and fury. She wanted to say something, but looking at Primordial Demons, she went silent. A wave of disappointment passed through Rowan, and he turned back to the ring of dust above his palm, "Third Guardian Circle... Open!" A blaze of light brighter than the sun appeared above his palm as the Guardian circle activated, and it zoomed towards the first two, where it synchronized with them, and the power bursting out from Eva multiplied exponentially. The three circles were a complete system, and only when completed could their true power be revealed. In an instant, Light rippled across all of creation. It was not bright, almost like twilight, but it was enough to push back the darkness and reverse the decay of all life. Reality was still sliding into Doom, but what would have been a quick and silent elimination had been delayed to the slow crawl of heat death. Rowan felt a great weight being lifted from his chest. He had not solved the problem, not yet, but the time he had brought for himself was enough to push through the obstacles in his path. The Primordial Demon had not stopped Rowan from activating the third Guardian Circle, and he knew it was because he wanted to confirm that Rowan was capable of carrying the Light. What he was doing was unprecedented, and if Rowan had simply accepted his deal, then Primordial Demon would be suspicious, but the eternal twilight that had blanketed all of Reality was a testament to Rowan’s might. The light had pushed back the darkness, surrounding Rowan and the figure of Primordial Demon and Staff in shadows, but the shadows around Primordial Demon curled like smoke. Reality cracked around Rowan, and six massive serpents emerged, curling around him. He could feel his weariness and pain fading away as the invisible weight that the Primordial Demon carried with him was pushed back. Breathing an internal sigh of relief, Rowan adjusted his mental state. If Primordial Demon had attacked, there was no assurance that he would have been able to resist him, but luckily, his pedigree of slaying multiple Thrones of Primordials was enough defense to shield him from an unexpected preemptive attack from Primordial Demon. But if there were going to be a fight, he would not be doing it alone. Rowan looked at Primordial Demon, whose eyes were focused on the Origin Ouroboros, an unknown light in his eyes, and instead of interrupting the Primordial, Rowan pushed his hand into his chest and removed another ring of dust, and the attention of Primordial Demon was drawn away from the serpents and back towards Rowan. From the words spoken by Primordial Demon when he arrived, Rowan saw that he was still testing the waters. However, from what he knew of this being, unlike Primordial Memory, Chaos, or Light, Primordial Demon loved battle and had a short mental fuse, so it was surprising to Rowan how well Primordial Demon was holding back. Something was not adding up, and Rowan needed to probe further, so he finally addressed the primal demon before him, this fiery Primordial. Rowan wanted to goad him into action, "I know what you are. You are the flaw, the crack in the glass. You do not belong here." Primordial Demon cocked his head to the side as if in astonishment, "Belong? Do any of us truly belong in this Reality? Tell me—did the Light ask permission when it carved the heavens? Or did it simply declare itself... and thus, it was? The same thing you are doing with your resistance and your battle? Your question is strange. By chance, are you trying to trigger my anger, first by ignoring me and then denouncing my legitimacy? Interesting, tell me, what do you know of me?" Rowan frowned, "Is there anything more to know? I have told you what you are, and no matter how you try to paint yourself into something else, that would not change." Primordial Demon laughed, "Good, you are more interesting than I initially believed, and I willfully admit my loss. I am not here to shatter your belief about Reality, for someone like you, it would be a waste; instead, I want to show you a new path." Rowan bowed his head in thought for a second before he shook his head, "I would rather follow my own. Fourth Destruction Circle... Open!" As if an ocean of blood had appeared over his palm, the dust ring exploded in a scarlet radiance that made all of creation shudder as if a sharp knife was held to the jugular of ever being. As the power to destroy all things radiated from the newly created Destruction Circle. Rowan’s control over the forces of Destruction had reached a point where he could fuse this powerful concept into his circles. When Rowan created his Guardian Circle, they triggered a resonance with each other, enhancing their collective power to the highest circle in the halo stack. When the three circles completed a full unit, the power that Rowan had expected from them exceeded his expectations. His Guardian Circle turned out to be more powerful than he anticipated, and Rowan’s ambitions increased when he saw that the foundations he had created were strong. Light was not just the source of life; it was also destruction. When Primordial Light took on the power of light, Bahamut stole the flames, diminishing the destructive potential of Light. However, Rowan had fused the Lost Flames and Eva, building a foundation of destruction within the light and creating a Circle of Destruction that would not clash with his creation. The Destruction Circle zoomed towards Eva and appeared behind the first three Guardian Circles, and although it was forged for destruction, it still shared the same roots with them, and the resonance that applied to the first three was shared by the new Destruction Circle. This caused the power to emerge from Eva to explode with so much intensity that Rowan and Primordial Demon were pushed back for many light years as a halo of red flames surrounded her body. The power emerging from her body placed her firmly in the Primordial level. Rowan heard a loud blast that, without the defense of the Origin Ouroboros around him, would have killed him outright. He smiled when he realized that this sound had been a heartbeat. It had been beaten only once before fading away, but it was enough for Rowan to understand that he had made the right choice, and adding the power of destruction to the mix was the missing link from the power of Light.