I am an Eldritch Entity

Sol was deep in his thoughts, battling with Morris along with the help from Ronin, and occasionally from team Yetoren, when all of them heard a scream in the distance.

Isn't that where that man and the student went?

Sol wondered, and looked in that direction along with everyone, but no one stepped out to check.

There was only a moment of respite before Morris once again resumed his onslaught.

Ronin was already at the end of his energy reserves, only able to hold on by working in tandem with his team.

Morris was only able to hold on because he had been in his peak condition when he began fighting the critically injured Sol.

Sol on the other hand, after having gotten some brief moments of rest during the battle, had already recovered to a certain extent, and could continue to fight.

This was the difference between Guardian/Commander level figures and other supposedly strong fighters like Co-founder Morris.

It was only because Guardian Sol's forte was defense that he couldn't defeat Morris in a one vs one fight even if both were at peak stage.

If Sol's specialization lay in offense, Morris might have died long ago despite the former being critically injured.

Once again, Sol blocked Morris' attack by accurately recognizing the nature of it.

This was what the ability really needed. A sharp insight.

It was also the primary reason why he was injured so badly.

Among all Cyborg classes, and even among those specialized in one vs one battles, Y class were those who had modified their body such that it had an extremely wide variety of methods to attack.

The Cyborg power system was such that it allowed one to use the modifications done with negligible lag, just like your own body.

What would happen if multiple different elemental modifications attacked at different times, one after another, with no pattern and negligible lag?

And that wasn't all, it supposedly also had poison based modifications, and other modifications which involved technological attacks of different kinds.

All of these different kinds of attacks, being utilized at random intervals without any pattern or warning, or even any kind of lag, how dangerous were they?

If it was a simple defense ability, Guardian Sol might have been able to hold on, but his defense ability had a condition that he needed to recognize the type of attack.

Of course, the existence of a condition might also be the reason that his defensive ability could even defend against abstract concept based attacks like fate and karma.

Not all powerful abilities may have conditions, but all conditional abilities were powerful.

There was another method, where he could choose to have an 'intent' of defending against more than one type of attack at the same time, granting the item the capability to defeat against two or more types of attack, but that also correspondingly increased his consumption of Energy of Subconscious.

No use thinking about it now.

Sol snapped out of his thoughts as he looked at the shaking secret realm.

He knew these secret realms were unstable pockets of space, and the shaking meant that there was a chance that the entrance wouldn't remain closed for long, but he didn't know if it would lead to the same place or would have changed.

Of course, there was also a possibility that the entire secret realm may collapse, in that case, he wouldn't be able to do anything at all.

But I still need to stay alive for a chance.

As he had that thought, Sol continued to maintain his defense.

*****

As soon as the symbol of Cloak was embedded in front of the word below the complex rune, it finally activated fully.

A deep hum originated from the complex rune, resounding through the vast hall of the Mind Palace before continuing onwards to the outside world through Eryndor, as it spread in the surroundings.

No one except Daoisto, who was retreating, heard it though.

The clone's eyes went wide as he let out a loud scream of horror.

He recognized it.

How could he not?

It was one of the most fundamental aspects of the entities known as anomalies.

It was a challenge.

A ritual as ancient as the universe.

One which could only be initiated between anomalies.

Daoisto's expression morphed into pure horror as he uttered a few words.

"The Rite of Authority Severance."

As it had been too long since he last heard about this ritual, it took a moment before he was able to recall all information regarding it.

It was a ritual as ancient as the universe.

One could say that it came into existence at the same time as anomalies.

Naturally, no one among the lower leveled anomalies would know about it.

However, as they progressed further and further on their path of strength, every anomaly without any exception would awaken memories related to this rite.

It was as if it was engraved in their very existence themselves.

To reveal itself as soon as the anomaly reached a certain level of power.

Of course, this 'certain level of power' differed from anomaly to anomaly.

Was it unfair? It was very much unfair.

But the world of anomalies was never about fairness.

The Rite of Authority Severance was a ritual to 'steal' authorities.

But it was a double edged sword.

If an anomaly 'A' initiated this ritual to target anomaly 'B' to steal its authority, the anomaly 'B' would likewise be able to steal the former's authority as well.

Of course, there can't be an exchange.

Either A would steal B's authority, or vice versa. It could also be that no one would manage to steal the authority.

But, there couldn't be a situation where A managed to steal B's authority and vice versa happened as well.

Well, what did this ritual test?

Or rather, how would one 'steal'?

It was simple.

Will Power.

It was a battle of wills.

Apparently, all along this abnormal Hunger of Eryndor was after an 'Authority'.

Would he succeed?