The Remnant's plans and body were falling apart; he was about to lose... not the war but control.

The devastated western forest fell silent as both of them halted to deal with their own problems.

Rion continued to force his aura into his spear, which then spread into The Remnant's body.

At the same time, he was trying to break The Remnant's singularity with Absolute Will; however, each of his attempts failed.

The doubts didn't exist from the start; instead, just as he was about to grasp control over the mystical feeling that he had decided to call Conceptual Firmament, doubts would appear in his head. It was as if they were being born on the spot to question his authority, and he was unable to repel them.

Surprisingly, he shouldn't have such doubts; he was in the state of Weapon Sense, and that state allowed him to function without thought, and he had also trained to utilise Absolute Will and his other skills, yet he was failing to control it.

But he did not give up. He continued to try.

Golden light spread from his back like wings carved from pure gold. His mind, which had been fixed on the seal, was now fixed on his own self.

"Break," he commanded. The Conceptual Firmament of Breaking came into being and began to move like an earthworm that could only crawl forward.

Just as Rion felt its existence, He sent a strand of his raw will towards it. The strand wrapped around it, and he pulled, but just as he did so, 'Am I doing this right?' He doubted, and both the strand and the conceptual firmament of breaking fell apart.

His expression darkened, he gritted his teeth and tried again. This time, he managed to tug the conceptual firmament but failed at gaining complete control over it.

Each attempt increased his control ever so slightly, and each failure filled him with dread. Rion had rarely failed, so being unable to do this after so many tries was no different than direct blows to his confidence.

'I can do this,' he told himself, the shadow in his eyes easing slightly as he muttered, "Only I can do this."

He tried again. Conceptual firmament of breaking came into existence; he captured it with not one but two strands of his will and tried to move it.

The control was easier than before, but the firmament that had been created by the incomplete Absolute Will wasn't strong enough to handle the weight of two strands; it fell apart, and he was forced to use only one strand.

All of it went by in just a couple of moments, and he tried again.

He came up with various ways to succeed; one of which was to completely block any thoughts from appearing... it proved somewhat useless and successful at the same time because he was able to understand more about the doubts that were the main cause of his failures.

The doubts weren't originating from him, but they were his.

Their source was the resonance between the conceptual firmament of breaking and Absolute Will, and they were being transmitted to him from the strands of his will.

Just as he came to that conclusion, he questioned, "Why has this never happened before?"

After thinking of it for a moment, he realised: He had always allowed conceptual firmament to flow freely, never forcing it to move per his commands, but now he needed the conceptual firmament to focus only on the chain, and that was causing this to happen.

He drew a slow breath and whispered, "Break."

The conceptual firmament of breaking came into existence, a strand of will wrapped around it, and as he moved it doubts appeared.

Can I do this?

'I can.'

What if I fail?

'I won't.'

Am I doing it right?

'I am.'

What if this doesn't work?

'I'll try again.'

Is this the only way?

'Doesn't matter.'

Inch by inch, doubt by doubt, he guided the Conceptual firmament of breaking toward The Remnant's true body.

The Remnant could feel that Rion was about to succeed, but there was nothing he could do.

Even though Rion possessed more aura than those of his rank, it was still less than the vast demonic energy and purple flame within The Remnant.

The real issue was the nature of Rion's aura; for reasons unknown, it could overcome demonic energy with ease, even when they were not of opposing natures (Chaos and Order).

And because Devil of Chains didn't have an actual living body, he lacked veins, muscles, organs and everything that made a body.

What he had instead was a shell crafted from the ashes of seven bodies that were capable of enduring the heat emitted by the Corrupted Abysmal Flame. Within this shell, the three energies were running rampant.

The Remnant only had control over two of them, and the one that he had most control over was being easily defeated by the third energy.

Every part of his body was riddled with purple fissures, and his attempts to restrain the energies were falling apart.

And as he was directly connected with Rion via the spear, he could sense that he still had about half of his aura.

He was left with only two choices: the first was to continue as he was until Rion exhausted all his aura; the second was to ignore it and resume the battle.

The second option was perilous, for if he lost control for even a moment, it would be the end.

He could not choose the first either, because Rion was about to succeed — and if he did… the singularity would weaken, the Corrupted Abysmal Flame, already straining to escape, would be freed, and he would lose his control.

There was nothing he could do but await his demise.

Purple flame seeped from the cracks as an amused laugh escaped him. He muttered, "You are really something... Now, all the plans I made mean nothing, so what's the point of stalling?"

His voice grew proud.

"I am the Devil of Chains, the firstborn of Mother, and I will not accept such a pitiful defeat."

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