Eo’s senses tingled with the presence of intruders.
His thoughts, once immersed in unraveling the mysteries of his own existence, were abruptly interrupted. A strange, irritating sensation flickered within him—an unidentifiable vexation.
What a nuisance.
Without hesitation, he vanished from his position.
An instant later, he reappeared above the air, his form casting a twisted shadow over the battlefield below. His countless tentacles swayed unnaturally, their eerie fluidity betraying no effort in defying gravity.
Beneath him, 27 humans, draped in golden robes, were charging toward the site of destruction. Even from a distance, Eo could feel the righteous arrogance woven into their magic—a faith-based power that sought to deny his existence.
Their movements were practiced, refined, yet mechanical. Trained not just for battle, but for hunting beings like him.
His gaze turned cold.
Raising a single tentacle, he pointed downward.
Three elements merged as one—Gravity, Wind, and Bloodlust.
The air itself warped as the spell was cast.
Gravity forced itself upon the humans, pulling them into the earth’s embrace like an unseen hand pressing down. The Wind howled, scattering dust and twisting the atmosphere into a suffocating pressure. The true terror, however, came from the Bloodlust—an unnatural force of fear, clawing at their minds, distorting their instincts, filling them with an overwhelming sense of dread and submission.
An inescapable death sentence.
Yet… they moved.
Instead of panicking, the golden-robed humans scattered in all directions.
As if they had anticipated the attack.
Eo’s eyes narrowed in slight confusion.
Strange.
Then, he remembered.
"Do not be fooled, Eo," Ozure had once warned. "Among all living creatures, humans are the most cunning".
His irritation deepened.
So this was what Ozure meant.
They had already prepared for such an assault. The moment they saw his attack, they executed an instinctual response, breaking into different directions, making it difficult to trap them all at once.
But Eo was not limited to such crude methods.
His form shivered, and his many tentacles unfurled.
Instead of targeting one area, he simply spread his control.
The overwhelming force of Gravity, Wind, and Bloodlust no longer struck in a concentrated blast—it descended like a wave, flowing across the land in all directions, ensuring that none could escape its grasp.
A heartbeat later—twenty-five humans collapsed.
They fell flat against the ground, limbs trembling, their minds and bodies refusing to obey them. The weight of Gravity crushed their resistance, the Wind stole the breath from their lungs, and the Bloodlust seeped into their consciousness, filling them with an inescapable sense of doom.
But there were two.
Two figures still running.
Their robes fluttered violently as they used every ounce of their strength to resist the magic. Their legs trembled, their bodies screamed in pain, yet they continued to push forward.
They knew they couldn’t win.
They knew they couldn’t resist for long.
But they still moved.
One of them—his breath ragged, his eyes filled with desperate resolve—suddenly stopped running.
Instead of continuing his escape, he reached into his robes and pulled out a sacred talisman.
Just like the human Aelith.
With a sharp tear, the talisman was broken.
A burst of radiant golden light erupted from his body, coating him in a divine glow. The oppressive forces around him shattered for an instant, allowing him to propel forward—straight toward Eo.
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"Captain, run!"
His voice rang through the battlefield, resolute, unwavering.
The remaining human, the one he had called captain, clenched his teeth but did not hesitate. He turned and ran, using the last of his strength to break free from the lingering magic.
But Eo…
Did not pursue.
His attention was momentarily stolen by the human bathed in golden radiance, launching himself at him like a falling star.
Eo observed calmly, tilting his head ever so slightly.
A single word escaped his lips.
"Hmm?"
The radiant figure surged forward, golden light wrapping around his body in an overwhelming aura of divine energy. His presence burned against the air, a force of righteous power, sharp and piercing like a blade forged from faith itself.
Yet, Eo wasn’t looking at the man.
His gaze was locked onto something else—the talisman that had been torn.
For a brief moment before it disintegrated, Eo’s hyper-focused vision caught the intricate details of its surface.
Complex lines… intersecting, layered, pulsing.
Like a miniature formation.
Something within him stirred.
Fascinating.
The structure of the talisman resembled a formation, but it was compact—refined into a small singular object rather than a sprawling ritual circle. Unlike the large-scale formations he had studied before, which required fixed nodes and arranged sigils, this talisman functioned instantly, amplifying the human's power upon activation.
It was a temporary enhancement—a method of channeling external power into the user, just like formations, but on a personal scale.
A human formation?
Eo’s mind churned with possibilities.
He had encountered a problem earlier in his attempts to properly execute human-based formations. They required stability, clear pathways for energy flow, and most importantly, precise guidance to channel their effects. His body, unlike that of a human, did not naturally possess the rigid anatomical structure that formations seemed to require for consistency.
But if a formation could be compressed into a talisman…
Then perhaps, instead of building formations in a fixed environment, he could learn to carry them, manipulate them on demand, and even integrate them into his own structure.
His interest grew.
The golden warrior surged closer, his divine aura intensifying as his body closed the distance between them.
Yet Eo remained motionless.
His mind processed too many thoughts at once, adjusting his understanding of formation theory with what he had just observed. His tentacles twitched—each one subtly shifting, forming patterns mid-air as if sketching out his ideas in real time.
The golden warrior clenched his teeth, mistaking Eo’s lack of movement for hesitation.
“Die, abomination!” he roared.
He thrust his glowing fists forward. The air shattered around him from the sheer force of his charge, golden energy condensing into an explosion of sacred light, intending to pierce through Eo’s form.
A direct, fearless assault.
Yet…
At the final moment—Eo moved.
Or rather, he twisted his body, flowing with such unnatural smoothness that the warrior's strike passed straight through empty air.
A tentacle flicked outward.
It was casual. Almost effortless.
Yet the warrior’s glowing figure jerked violently in response, his golden radiance flickering like a failing ember. The sheer impact of Eo’s casual movement sent the man spiraling back hundreds of meters, crashing into the ground with a resounding boom.
The divine glow sputtered.
His bones cracked from the sheer force.
Eo slowly descended, hovering just above the battlefield, his curiosity deepening.
He extended one of his tentacles toward the remaining fragments of the talisman, which had scattered upon activation. He gathered the minute traces of lingering energy still present, attempting to analyze its nature.
Interesting… This energy is different from ordinary magic.
It intertwined rather than flowed, structured rather than chaotic. Layered glyphs acted as pathways, binding power in an efficient loop that maximized the user's output for a short time.
He could see it now—a possible solution to his problem.
"So… I was thinking too rigidly," Eo murmured to himself.
Formations didn’t necessarily require large-scale placement to function.
If they could be condensed into talisman-like structures, then perhaps he could integrate formation theory into something smaller, something adaptable.
Perhaps even… inside his own body.
His core pulsed at the thought.
His earlier experiments with veins and energy circulation had already hinted at the necessity of a structured energy network. The discovery of portable formations like this talisman confirmed his suspicions—there was a way to create a personalized system for energy flow.
This was a crucial insight.
One that could potentially elevate his control over magic itself.
His thoughts were abruptly interrupted.
A pulse of divine energy erupted from the warrior’s broken body.
Despite his severe injuries, the golden-robed man forced himself back onto his feet, coughing blood but still glaring defiantly at Eo.
His faith-driven resilience refused to let him collapse.
The captain—the one who had escaped earlier—had disappeared into the horizon, fleeing back toward their original location.
Eo turned his gaze toward the retreating figure, contemplating.
Let him go? Or pursue?
A mild irritation remained—this human distraction had delayed his thinking process.
Yet, something told him that the fleeing human might be useful.
After all, someone had to bring more talismans.
He let the man escape.
Eo then turned back to the golden warrior who still stood before him, broken but refusing to kneel.
“I… will not fall to you, beast.”
Eo’s response was not one of anger or amusement, but genuine curiosity.
“You use faith, yet your talisman used structure. Explain.”
The warrior, despite his injuries, only spat blood onto the ground and glared.
“I… do not answer to monsters.”
Eo stared for a long moment.
Then, slowly, he extended a tentacle and lifted the man effortlessly into the air, holding him just close enough to observe the fine details of his glowing wounds.
Another thought crossed his mind.
If faith-based energy could be manipulated through structure… then what was faith itself?
A force of will? A system of belief?
Could it be understood the same way magic was?
His interest deepened.
For now, he had a test subject.
The golden warrior's eyes widened as realization dawned.
For the first time, fear crept into his expression.
“You… what are you…”
Eo simply watched him.
And began his next experiment.
