On the Path of Eternal Strength.-Chapter 84 - 82 The Hour of the Guardian

The four robots did not descend toward the gravitational field. Instead, they began to move at the same time, and their metallic bodies suspended by translucent energy thrusters traced a perfect circle around the domain of gravity of Narka. Their trajectories were fast enough for the air of the Veil to be marked by luminous trails that drew a continuous ring in rotation around the field. Each machine occupied a position within that mobile structure, and while they advanced they exchanged places with one another with absolute precision, as if the four figures were not independent combatants but pieces of the same machinery that rotated around the center of the battle.

The pattern was not chaotic. It was a formation.

Each rotation placed one of the robots in the attack position while the other three covered its trajectory. When one approached slightly to the upper limit of the gravitational field another descended a few meters to balance the circular structure, and while one advanced its position another moved backward to maintain the geometry of the formation. From the perspective of a human observer the movement would have seemed like a metallic whirlwind impossible to follow, but for Narka that displacement was nothing more than a perfectly calculated mechanical choreography.

The guardian did not attempt to stop them.

Suspended within his own gravitational domain, he observed.

His golden eyes followed every change of position while the trails of energy left by the thrusters began to form a complete luminous circle around the field. The rotation accelerated progressively, and in a few seconds the movement of the robots became so constant that the energetic trail drew a continuous line in the air of the Veil, a bright ring that surrounded the domain of gravity with the precision of a compass.

Then one of the robots raised its arm.

The transformation began immediately. The metallic plates of its hand opened with a perfectly synchronized internal movement while the fingers retracted backward into the structure of the forearm. From the center of the palm an elongated structure emerged that grew forward like a mechanical spear formed by compressed energy. Around the tip, the metallic segments of the fingers reconfigured into curved hooks that surrounded the central axis of the weapon, stabilizing the firing system while the energetic spear began to shine with increasing intensity.

While that weapon took form, another robot activated its own system.

From the center of its torso waves of energy emerged that expanded toward the space around the gravitational field. Those waves were not meant to destroy the domain of Narka; their function was different. Each pulse collided against the invisible structure of the field and returned toward the air of the Veil generating small fluctuations in the gravitational pressure. The perfect stability of the domain was altered for fractions of a second, creating momentary variations in the density of gravity within the field.

The third machine activated its role at the same instant.

A metallic antenna emerged from the top of its head with a telescopic movement, and from its tip a ray of energy projected that connected with the other three robots that rotated in the circular formation. The energetic connection extended between them like a luminous network that covered their bodies with a protective layer. The shield was not individual; it was shared. One same energetic barrier enveloped the four.

The fourth robot completed the sequence.

The square boxes that protruded from the backs of the machines began to emit flows of energy that distributed through the link created by the antenna. That energetic network connected the power cores of the four robots into a single system. The energy no longer circulated within each machine in isolation; now it flowed between them like a common current that balanced the power of the entire set.

All of that happened while the formation continued rotating around the gravitational field.

Then the robot armed with the spear fired.

The ray of energy left its palm with brutal speed, taking the form of a luminous spear that crossed the air of the Veil directly toward the head of Narka. The fluctuations created by the waves of the second robot propagated at that same instant through the gravitational domain, generating momentary irregularities in the pressure of the field.

Inside the domain, Narka felt the change.

The gravity was still his, but during minuscule fractions of time the pressure of the field shifted slightly in different directions under the energetic interference.

At that instant another movement emerged from the ground.

The profane with the crocodile head reacted.

His body had been fighting against the pressure of the gravitational field during the entire combat, but the momentary fluctuation created an opportunity that lasted barely microseconds. The reptilian monster took advantage of that instant with the desperate ferocity of a creature that had been waiting for any sign of weakness in the domain that imprisoned it.

Its body propelled upward.

The magical energy that emerged from his right arm concentrated in his claw like a compressed whirlwind of cutting wind that began to spin around his fingers. The air itself deformed around the claw while the pressure of the concentrated wind acquired visible form.

The impulse launched him toward Narka.

At the same moment that the energetic spear descended from the sky.

Two different trajectories converged at the same point in space. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

The spear of energy descended from the circular formation of the robots.

The claw charged with wind ascended from the ground.

And between both forces, suspended within the gravitational domain, Narka observed.

The guardian had not moved a single muscle yet.

The instant in which both attacks were about to reach him lasted less than a heartbeat. The spear of energy descended from the sky of the Veil with brutal precision, crossing the air in a straight line toward the head of the guardian while the fluctuations created by the robots momentarily deformed the stability of the gravitational field. At the same time, from below, the profane with the crocodile head emerged propelled by his own attack, his claw wrapped in a whirlwind of compressed wind that spun around his fingers like a sharpened vortex ready to tear flesh, stone, or anything that stood in its path. Both forces converged on Narka from opposite directions, two distinct trajectories that met at the same point in space with inevitable violence.

It was then that Narka moved.

He did not retreat. He did not evade. He did not raise his limbs to block.

He simply released his Qi.

The energy emerged from his body with a deep calm that contrasted with the violence of the attacks surrounding him. First it was a silent pulse that expanded from his chest, then a denser current that began to rotate around him like an invisible tide. The Qi did not shoot outward in the form of a wave; it began to rotate, concentrating around his body while the space of the Veil responded to the growing pressure. The currents of energy swirled with increasing speed, and in the span of an instant the air around the guardian began to distort as if reality itself were being compressed by a force too dense to belong to the world.

The energetic spear arrived first.

The luminous tip reached the space in front of Narka’s forehead and encountered something that had not been there a moment before. The Qi rotating around the guardian had formed a visible structure, a nascent sphere of energy in rotation that compressed the space within its surface. When the spear penetrated that distorted region, its trajectory ceased to be straight. The energy began to curve, dragged by the rotation of the Qi as if it had been caught by the gravity of a much denser body.

The spear did not pierce the sphere.

It was absorbed.

The luminous energy slid across the rotating surface of the Qi and began to orbit around the sphere that was forming, spinning violently around the body of Narka like a fragment trapped in the gravitational field of an invisible star.

An instant later the second attack arrived.

The claw of the profane with the crocodile head, charged with compressed wind, entered the region where Narka’s Qi was deforming space. The impulse of the leap had launched him directly toward the center of the domain, but at the moment his body penetrated the rotation of the sphere his trajectory deviated violently. The whirlwind of wind that surrounded his claw was torn apart by the pressure of the rotating energy and the very body of the reptilian monster was trapped by the same force that had deflected the energetic spear.

The profane did not fall.

He remained trapped.

His body began to rotate around the sphere of Qi while he struggled against the pressure that dragged him toward the orbit of the rotation. His claw charged with wind continued trying to advance toward Narka, but every centimeter he managed to advance was absorbed by the force of the Qi that rotated around the guardian.

While this occurred, the sphere continued growing.

The Qi that surrounded Narka increased in density and speed until forming a completely closed structure around his body. The sphere of energy began to expand slowly, and in its rotation the space of the Veil distorted even more, as if an invisible mass were being born at the center of the gravitational field.

The expansion did not stop.

The limit of the sphere advanced outward and the gravitational domain that Narka had created earlier was absorbed by the new structure of Qi. The gravity that had kept the three profanes trapped within the field now became part of the rotation of the sphere.

The two spider creatures were dragged toward the expansion.

Their bodies crushed against the ground rose abruptly when the rotational force of the sphere began to drag everything that was inside the former gravitational domain. Their legs tore the terrain while they were lifted from the ground and thrown toward the rotation of the sphere.

The ground also began to move.

Fragments of rock broke away from the terrain and were dragged toward the rotation. Remains of destroyed trees, slabs of stone, fragments of ancient structures and even the deformed corpses of evil spirits that had remained scattered across the battlefield were absorbed by the force of the sphere.

Everything began to spin around Narka.

High in the sky of the Veil, the four robots observed the expansion.

Their sensors immediately registered the change in the energetic structure of the battlefield. The sphere of Qi grew with a density that surpassed even the previous gravity, and the movement of matter around it indicated that the rotation was increasing rapidly.

The robots ascended.

Their thrusters released more intense columns of energy while lifting their bodies above the expansion limit of the sphere. The circular formation remained intact even during the ascent, and within seconds the four machines reached a height where the spiritual pillar was no longer beneath them but at their same level.

From that position, the robots initiated a new attack protocol.

Energy began to gather at the center of the circle formed by their trajectories. Each machine channeled power toward that central point while their energetic connections redistributed the charge among the four energy cores.

The energetic concentration grew rapidly.

A vortex began to form at the center of the circle.

When the accumulation reached its maximum point, the attack was released.

A gigantic ray of energy descended from the center of the formation, taking the form of a colossal spear surrounded by a tornado of energy that spun around it like a compressed storm. The projectile crossed the sky of the Veil with brutal violence and descended directly toward the sphere of Qi that surrounded Narka.

The impact arrived an instant later.

The energetic spear collided against the rotating surface of the sphere while the tornado that surrounded it released its force upon the rotating energy of the guardian.

The collision of both powers shook the air of the Veil.

The sphere of Qi absorbed earth, stone and remains of the battlefield while the energetic spear attempted to pierce its surface from the outside.

Two colossal forces confronted each other at the same point in space.

Narka did not respond by reinforcing the sphere nor by deflecting the attack that descended from the sky of the Veil. While the gigantic spear of energy continued pressing against the rotating surface of the gravitational dome and the tornado that surrounded it roared around the collision of both forces, the guardian slowly raised one of his front legs and the Qi that dominated the field began to change its nature. The gravity that until that moment had compressed the space of the devastated park stopped expanding outward and began to concentrate in front of him in an increasingly precise circular flow. Invisible currents of energy gathered around his raised leg forming a circumference of Qi that rotated with a strange calm, completely different from the violent rotation of the sphere that surrounded his body. As that flow stabilized, the figure became clear inside the dome: a perfect circle of energy suspended before the guardian, a clock formed by pure Qi that had neither numbers nor hands, but whose presence altered the very fabric of space inside the gravitational field.

The process lasted only a few seconds.

When the circle stabilized, Narka lowered his leg.

The impact against the invisible ground of the dome produced no sound, but the reaction was immediate. The Qi clock expanded from the point where the leg touched the ground like a silent wave that crossed the gravitational field with absolute naturalness. The energetic circumference extended across the devastated park of the Veil covering the fractured terrain, the fragments of stone that floated within the rotation of the sphere, the deformed bodies of the evil spirits that had been destroyed during the combat and the very energy that continued struggling against the gravitational dome. The circle continued expanding until it encompassed the entire battlefield, and when its expansion ended time stopped advancing.

The gigantic spear of energy remained halted at the exact instant it attempted to pierce the dome.

The energetic tornado that spun around the projectile remained frozen in the middle of its rotation, each filament of energy stopped in the air like a luminous sculpture suspended in the void. The rocks that rotated within the gravitational rotation stopped moving and remained floating around the dome like motionless fragments of a frozen landscape. The two spider creatures that had been dragged toward the rotation of the sphere remained suspended in the air with their legs extended in impossible directions, trapped in the exact instant when their bodies were being absorbed by the gravitational force of the guardian.

The profane with the crocodile head was also frozen.

His claw wrapped in compressed wind was halted halfway toward the body of Narka, the whirlwind of air spinning around his fingers stopped in a rigid form that no longer advanced nor retreated. The entire devastated park of the Veil remained trapped in a single instant suspended outside the natural flow of time.

Only two presences continued moving.

The first was Narka.

The guardian walked out of the dome of Qi with the same calm with which he had raised his leg moments before. Around him, the particles of earth suspended in the air remained motionless while he advanced among them as if crossing a gigantic sculpture formed by fragments of the battlefield. The gravitational dome still existed, but its rotation had also been trapped within the frozen instant, and the currents of energy that formed its surface were suspended like petrified waves in the air of the Veil.

The second presence was the manifestation of the Elazria.

Far above the battlefield, the white figure remained suspended behind the spiritual pillar with its six pairs of wings extended. When time was stopped, its wings did not freeze together with the rest of the world. They continued moving with absolute calm, each translucent feather shifting through the air with the same serenity it had shown since the moment of its appearance.

Narka raised his gaze toward her for an instant.

There was no surprise in his expression.

That was exactly what he expected.

Not even a refined technique of the Dao of Time could impose its complete dominion over a manifestation of that level. The spiritual hierarchy of the Elazria existed on a scale different from that of the battlefield that Narka had stopped.

Without paying more attention to the celestial figure, the guardian lifted his gaze toward the sky of the Veil.

The four robots remained suspended in their circular formation.

Their metallic bodies were frozen in the middle of the rotation they had executed around the gravitational field, and the columns of energy that emerged from the thrusters of their feet remained motionless in the air like pillars of light halted at the exact instant when time stopped advancing. The gigantic ray they had released was still connected to the circular formation high in the sky, the energy suspended between them like a storm frozen in the middle of its own birth.

Narka began to ascend.

His body rose slowly toward the sky where the robots remained motionless inside the temporal prison created by his technique. As he ascended, the absolute silence of the halted world extended around him like an invisible layer that covered the devastated park, the spiritual pillar, the ruins of the battlefield and the machines suspended in the air.

At that instant, the guardian walked alone inside a world where time had ceased to exist.

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END OF Chapter 82

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