Ever since he had first manifested the body of faith, Orion had never known the true limits of his Asura Titan Form. He had come to the second layer of the Abyss to test its mettle, to push its boundaries. He never imagined the Unhallowed would be this monstrous, forcing him to go all-in, to play every card in his hand just to survive.

This thing is on another level.

The Asura Titan Form slammed a sweeping tail aside with his shield. The trident, moving like a thunderbolt, flashed with the power of a divine rule as it severed the appendage at its base.

Through round after round of brutal, close-quarters combat, Orion was slowly piecing together the Unhallowed's nature. It was immune to every form of elemental and psychic attack. The only thing that seemed to hurt it was the raw faith energy inherent in his very form. But compared to the absolute power of a demigod's divine rule, his faith energy was like chipping at a mountain with a spoon.

He had no choice. He could no longer afford to conserve his strength. He began burning through his own precious reserves, imbuing his shield and trident with the power of his rule, systematically hacking away at the Unhallowed's terrifying tails.

The Asura Titan Form was a magnificent, terrible sight in the gray void—four heads, eight arms, radiating an aura of divine fury. Each block of the devil shield was like holding back the sky itself; each thrust of the trident was a bolt of cold, divine light that seared the fabric of reality.

When the Unhallowed's nine tails descended like a storm, the shield became an unbreakable barrier, nullifying the cataclysmic force. In return, each strike from the trident tore another hole in the monster's flesh.

But the Unhallowed's regeneration defied all logic. The massive, thrashing tails, though different sizes, would regrow almost instantly after being severed. The monster's ability to recover seemed to draw on no resources at all. It was simply absolute.

I can't keep this up. This is a losing battle of attrition.

Truthfully, Orion was confident he could eventually destroy this peak archlord-level Unhallowed. But not like this. The Unhallowed could fight forever; Orion could not. If this dragged on, he wouldn't just exhaust the faith energy he had painstakingly accumulated; he risked a catastrophic failure that could cost him everything.

There's no such thing as an invincible enemy, he reasoned, his four minds working in concert. If the Unhallowed were truly perfect, how did the old Abyss Lords ever survive them? If I can barely handle this, how could any other archlord?

He parried another barrage, his eyes scanning every inch of the creature, searching for a flaw.

An idea sparked.

The Asura Titan Form roared, charging forward with its shield raised. It weathered a blow from a tail and, in the opening, thrust the trident not at the creature's body, but straight into its gaping maw.

Orion had noticed it from the beginning of the fight: the Unhallowed's mouth never closed. It was a miniature black hole, constantly and silently siphoning the foundational energy of the Abyss itself. That was the source of its seemingly infinite power.

As if sensing the critical threat, the Unhallowed's attacks grew even more frantic.

But it was too late.

The trident plunged deep into the creature's throat.

For a single, silent moment, the battle froze. The Unhallowed's attacks ceased. Its tails went limp. Then, its entire body imploded, collapsing in on itself until all that remained was a true black hole.

A terrifying, irresistible suction erupted from the black hole, pulling Orion in. He knew with chilling certainty that if he was caught in the Unhallowed's bizarre final gambit, his existence would be snuffed out, annihilated in an endless darkness.

He tried to pull away, but the gravitational pull intensified, dragging him closer.

At the last possible second, an insane, desperate plan formed. He dismissed his shield and trident. Like a primordial god holding back the end of the world, he braced himself against the event horizon. The Asura Titan Form's eight arms spread wide, straining against the crushing singularity, preventing his body of faith from being consumed.

"WAAAGH!" the four heads roared as one.

The divine rule in his body flared to its absolute peak. He was wrestling with lightning, holding back chaos itself. With a final, reality-shattering roar, the Asura Titan Form tore the black hole apart at its seams.

As the singularity was ripped asunder, its gravitational pull weakened, then vanished completely.

In the aftermath, the Asura Titan Form clutched a soccer-ball-sized, dull gray orb in one of its hands. Then, like a phantom, it dissolved, retreating back into the body of the mirrored avatar.

Orion's avatar, now unconscious and drained of all life, began its long fall back toward Vigil's Point.

"Too close," Orion's true body whispered, his eyes snapping open on his throne in Stoneheart.

The sensory feedback from the battle washed over him. "So that's an Unhallowed. Terrifying doesn't even begin to cover it. No wonder they're spoken of like a taboo, even in the Abyss."

He had now experienced their horror firsthand. If there was a true limit to the power of an invincible archlord, the Unhallowed existed just beyond it. Before, the title was just a vague descriptor of power. After this fight, he had a concrete definition.

The Unhallowed were the litmus test. If you could face one and not be broken, you earned the title of invincible archlord. Anything less, and you were just a pretender.

In his memory, perhaps only the avatar of the Great Dragon King of Light had ever reached that level.

Orion's eyes closed again as he slipped back into a deep meditative state. This battle had given him a wealth of new data. It was time to run a new series of mental combat simulations.

***

The sixth layer of the Abyss, Foundry Citadel.

Looking out at the endless, silent flurry of motes, Orion felt no sense of mystery or ethereal beauty. He knew now that behind this picturesque scene was a silent, absolute death.

Having learned a brutal lesson in the second layer, he had no intention of engaging this Unhallowed in a direct confrontation.

For one, he couldn't afford a battle of attrition that would burn through his precious faith energy. For two, he still had no idea where the actual enemy was. There was no target to attack. In this situation, a head-on fight was suicide.

He remained seated atop the central spire, closing his eyes and channeling his own power directly into the defensive ward, reinforcing it for the long siege ahead.

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