Chains Of Pride

"R-Rikona what are you doing? Call back your construct, you're not thinking straight!" When Kura arrived, an unconcealed look of joy flashed across everyone's faces, even Machyal heaved a sigh of relief.

Kura was floating outside the building, the scene of everyone being suppressed was now seen by her; however, she didn't dare to be too careless. The last thing Kura wanted to end up being, was the trigger to set her older sister off. If she could resolve this peacefully, she would.

"Who are you to tell me what to do? Look at you, already an Avartel Prime and yet, my power at only the Core Invata realm still rises with no limit to dwarf yours, you should be ashamed." Rikona only looked at her before beginning to show nothing but disdain.

This was what 'The Fall' was capable of, it would skewer a Talium's thought process, the feeling of pride that was pure in itself would be corrupted into arrogance. Kura would at times go through these struggles herself, but her sister would always be there to draw her back from the brink.

Yet here she stood on the other side, the one who always drew her back now needing that very same help. Kura would do everything in her power to save her sister. She steeled her mindset, for she knew that everything her sister said from this point on is all because of 'The Fall' this accursed state of losing one's self.

She looked towards Rikona before she said, "I am your sister, Amachi Kura, and you are Amachi Rikona. We came here together with those we freed to bolster ourselves and to grant freedom to those who never received it. Our goal is a noble one, tell me you at least you remember why we are here?"

Kura could see the pressure crushing the Taliums they bought here. Her heart bled once more as she saw Yang Min and Numani, but she could only hope they would hang on a bit longer.

"Stop telling me what I already know, I haven't suffered from amnesia, my mind has simply had the veil taken from over it. Now scram! I don't wish to waste time on an insignificant Avartel Prime whose power will soon be nought compared to mine."

Kura was shocked at her older sister's mannerism, it seems talking this through won't be as easy as she had thought. She was just about to think of another non-violent way to resolve this when she saw that Rikona started to use Perennial's Mechanism on the Taliums.

"No! To hell with it! I'll just have to not kill you, Primordial Rondure!" Kura threw caution to the wind and released her aura, freely letting her pressure spread out.

The air in front began to distort until it metamorphosed into her construct, the speed to create was now much faster since she got familiar with it, and took even less time when she ascended to an Avartel.

"Finally!! Any longer and my poop would be like bricks!!" Numani gasped in relief when she felt that the pressure was alleviated.

"Well, aren't you just full of class." Yang Min rolled her eyes at Numani's words before urging her and the others. " C'mon we need to get out of here, the younger master used her power to lighten the pressure for us."

"What about the other Taliums?" Another Talium questioned after seeing that they were for some reason, still immobile.

Yang Min took a single look before she knew what had happened. Apparently, when Rikona went over to them, they must have felt a massive increase in pressure and passed out from the pain. They might be under the association's control, but it didn't mean they couldn't feel any pain.

"Just grab them and let's get out of here, we don't have much time. Something tells me the masters won't be able to solve this peacefully." Yang Min took up two of the unconscious Taliums before leaving. They might as well go meet up with Gin and the others while they were able to.

"Is that Machyal?! Congrats on becoming a regional director, but I'm gonna have to have you leave us for now. We need to have a little talk, just us sisters." Kura exercised her powers and wrestled control over Machyal.

There was not much finesse involved, after all, it was Machyal. When she was sure she had him, Kura simply flung him into the room and used a light mental based attack to knock him out.

She only wanted him out of the way, not to escape from under their noses. Besides, she had yet to properly 'congratulate' him on becoming RD.

"It seems her power is still above mine for the time being, hmph! All I need to do is keep her off me, and then I'll overpower her." Rikona thought, a bit shocked when she saw how easily Kura took Machyal from under her control.

"If you think just stalling for time will allow your power to overcome mine, then you're much further gone than I had thought." Kura saw through her sister's thoughts with a glance. Ironically she had never been able to so easily read her sister when she didn't wish to be read before this.

"Hmph!"

Rikona snorted at this and brought her construct to the forefront, before shouting loudly "Take Time!"

Perennial's Mechanism started to show some of the gears and cogs moving in reverse, she intended to freeze Kura and deal additional damage to her.

But how could Kura not know the effects of this move, after all, they often trained together and so knew what each other's constructs were capable of.

"Primordial Rondure, eternality's dawn!"

Boom!! Shwoop!!!

As soon as Kura spoke, the floating sphere exhibited that same captivating scene. Its surface began to shuffle around before revealing the black core within its centre, a short while after, it began to vibrate. It then created a state of infinity, it was incredibly profound.

If one was to took at it from the outside, it would appear to be a dark space spreading from the black core of the sphere. There would also be faint glittering lights like stars.

When the power of taking time crashed into the state of eternity, there came multiple explosions and implosions.

"Ugh!!"

"Urkh!!"

Both Kura and Rikona went flying back a few feet, the two attacks they sent out weren't weak by any standards. They quickly steadied themselves, but Kura didn't intend to give Rikona a breather.

After all her aura and pressure was still on the rise, once she relied on "The Fall" to reach the peak of an Invata, a Peak Supreme Invata she would be forever lost, that was the feeling she had.

Boom!

"Shit!! She's broken through to become a Supreme, but she's only just broken through, it'll take some time before she hits the limits of a supreme."

She needed to dish out some damage to keep it from going any further, no matter how much it hurt her to do so.

"Primordial Rondure, True Flame!" Whoosh!!

The sphere shifted again to still reveal that same black core, but this time, a giant pillar of flame surged out from within the Rondure. The surrounding temperature immediately soared to a nearly unbearable degree, even the air showed signs of igniting!

Rikona stretched out her arm, bringing with it a slight distortion around her and the flame racing towards her.

"Break for me!"

Rikona simply exercised her mental capabilities to disperse the flames, "Hmph," she smirked when she saw how effortlessly she cancelled out the blaze.

Her smile froze, however, when she realised that Kura disappeared from her original spot.

Bam!!

A palm strike struck Rikona in the back, this was a full-powered strike from Kura who was currently in the Avartel realm. Rikona flew forward from the hit, after soaring through the air for some time, she was finally able to stabilise her figure.

'Cough! Ack!'

Rikona coughed up a few mouthfuls of blood, her complexion was now a bit pale, the tiny stream of blood leaking from the side of her mouth was a stark contrast.

Kura felt a pang in her heart seeing this, but she didn't see another way other than this, this wasn't really an exact science at the moment.

"Damn it! I can't believe I fell for such an obvious taunt. She's trying to keep my power from rising, but until it reaches that point, I can't afford any more hits like that." Rikona wiped the bloodstain at the side of her, slapped her palms together before shouting in a low voice.

"Simulate!"

"NO!" Kura shouted when she saw what Rikona intended to do, but it was of no use.

The entire area around Kura and Rikona became extremely dark, and the temperature started to drop at a staggering rate. The air was becoming poisonous.

Rikona practically summoned something that probably lost out in danger to an actual Armageddon. A move that knocked out Rikona for three days when she attempted to execute it last.

The Darkest Hour.