Chapter 1958: Dance For Your Food Eos stood, sword point lowered, as he seemed to be waiting for the Abomination to reach for the realm he was protecting. In many ways, this would be the first time he was going to be fighting with his main body, and for him to be fighting existence, ultimate evil was not surprising, given the life he had lived. Multiple childish faces of the Abomination had their tongue out as if in deep concentration, while other faces watched Eos closely as its arm was slowly reaching across to grab Rowan. There was a teasing and playful look in all the faces of the children, as if the Abomination wanted to play a game of tag with Eos. Without any warning, the Abomination growled, and the arm that had been inching forward extended rapidly, as the single arm inflated as billions of reaching arms like maggots bursting out of dead flesh surged from it. A purple cube that contained the Road of Eternity alongside Rowan and all the New Primordials had been placed in front of Eos, and this was the target of the arm of the Abomination. The sight was both horrifying and mind-bending, but the gaze of Eos, who was looking at everything, was calm. And then he moved, his motions echoing that of the Abomination in such a smooth manner that it was almost as if he had become its shadow. The Destroyer rose in a single, unhurried arc, and the blade passed through the arm of the Abomination without resistance. Eos’ body was following the blade, and so the motion carried him behind the Abomination. For a moment, because the cut had been made so smoothly and swiftly, nothing seemed to have happened, and the arm was still reaching for the purple cube when it detached from the Abomination’s body. The billions of arms and faces on hand seemed to be surprised, and then the light of life left their eyes, and the entire arm dissolved into golden ash that drifted upwards, transforming into the roots that would grow into new Realities. The Abomination paused. For the first time since its birth at the Cradle of Enoch, uncertainty flickered in a billion eyes. Eos turned his head to regard the Abomination, and his calm, almost gentle voice spoke, "I don’t know how much of Enoch’s essence you have inside, but I see that you want the piece of him I carry." He tapped the flat of the blade against the stone that had appeared behind him, and then he sat on it as if it were a throne, and for Eos, there was no material in existence that was more worthy to bear his weight. "You can have him." He smiled. The smile was Rowan’s. Fierce and proud and filled with a deep touch of equal sorrow and grace, "After you earn it. Now, dance for your food." The Abomination screamed with every mouth, but something seemed to hold it back from attacking Eos; instead, it focused on the purple cube and surged towards it. Eos’ eyes lit up. As expected, the true target of Enoch was Rowan, and he would do anything to stop him from reaching the ninth-dimensional level, even if it placed the Abomination at a disadvantage. The Abomination’s body folded like a gigantic serpent and surged towards the cube, its motion created a vast Reality of burning flesh and bleeding sky, as this domain that was more real than many Realities and stretching for distances the eyes could never see enclosed both Eos and the purple cube. Eos looked around in astonishment and caution. It was amazing to see corruption that was closer to death’s essence being wielded in a manner that still brought life and purpose to an insane mind. This place, he thought, was a stomach that was made to digest life. He looked down in disgust to see large screaming faces bigger than Reality, and eyes filled with hunger and madness, scattered all over the heavens and the earth. White flesh pressed against the horizon, rising up in the air before slamming into the ground and rushing towards Eos like a tsunami made from pale flesh, reaching arms and the screaming faces of children, as it began to digest itself as it reached for its prize. Eos did not rise from his throne of stone; instead, he squeezed the hilt of the Destroyer while reaching for the power brimming in his heart. So many things could change given time, and Eos had ten million years to perfect his growth and power, as he slowly shored up his foundations and brought together everything that he had gained over the years. His Essence and Ether had been evolving almost every century into more potent forms, as his body grew, and the Origin Essence of every New Primordial born inside of him was added to his own. Origin Essence did not just add to the potency of his energy stores; they also helped his recovery, pushing this trait of his into levels that were astonishing. Right now, he was pouring only his Ether into the Destroyer, but pouring would be the wrong word; what he was doing was feeding it small trickles so his blade would become acclimated to his power, but he was slowly ramping up the amount of Ether he was giving the Destroyer. The Destroyer was raised slowly as a barely discernible hum was beginning to grow louder as more Ether was poured into the blade, and as Eos held up the blade fully, the hum had increased to a deafening shriek, and then, without any fanfare, Eos slammed the blade into the ground of corrupted flesh. Where it touched, the flesh of madness was erased as the concept of Absence pulsed from the Destroyer like a wave of light and slammed into the Abomination that had transformed itself into a tsunami of flesh. "BOOM!!!" The clash between the power of corruption and the annihilation that the Destroyer brought shook Limbo. Unlike the Realm of Death that was durable enough to withstand battle at the ninth-dimensional level, Limbo could only spread out the shockwave of this clash, and so, fleeing in the distance, the wounded Beast of Inevitability could feel the shockwave of the battle, and it paused, shock coloring its eyes. It had sensed the power of a Reality, and it was potent enough to stand against the Abomination of Enoch. It hesitated for a moment before it turned and began to head towards the battle. If there was any of its charge outside Limbo that was fighting against the Abomination, they would need its help. The clash between annihilation and corruption was relentless. In every moment, Eos was pouring out the equivalent of all of the Ether in his body to maintain this clash, however he was regenerating his energy stores as quickly as he was burning them, meaning that he technically was always at a hundred percent energy capacity, even though he should have exhausted all his powers a thousand times over from the clash with the Abomination. Every moment counted as Rowan was edging closer to becoming a Primordial, and Eos would buy him as much as he needed. The Abomination was aware of this, and so it adapted. Flesh split open, birthing smaller horrors, Abominations the size of Realities burst out from its main mass and began to swarm towards Eos, as they flew over the ongoing clash. Eos had been gathering power inside the Destroyer, and he roared as he unleashed everything, creating a wall of radiance that pushed back the main body of the Abomination and gave him the space to battle. Standing up from his throne, he met the swarming Abominations with his blade.