Chapter 493 - Tweaking Reality.
Getting into the Silver moon sect the second time around proved quite easy thanks to Corrina's flight and void ordinance.
Once close enough to the sect and while still in the air, she opened a black hole through which she few only to exist within the sect's territories.
Right at the center of the sect itself.
Once their feet were back on solid ground, they entered the center building Corrina navigated the way to the special room she knew the source to be in.
While they walked, Corrina conversed with Hal through the telepathic link forged by the contract,
'Master, Mother might be in the inner room' she said.
'As that would make our plans infinitely harder, you better hope she is not, Corrina' Hal replied with a mental sigh.
Corrina nodded with a frown to show that she knew more of how much more difficult it would be in the case of the scenario she only just spoke of. She had only been saying it to prepare Hal.
Soon, they were at the inner room, and then Corrina put her hand on the door on which a rune seal showed, this one actually giving off the energy vibes that it had been drawn by an actual runemaster.
It also happened to be a Seventh rank Rune which meant Hal had no hope of being able to break through it with his Astral sense at the fifth rank.
The moment it opened, Hal scouted ahead with his astral perception to confirm there was no one inside the inner room at the moment before Corrina led the way in.
Once inside, Hal took barely a second to admire the room in all its minute glory. It truly had a 'shrine' look to it.
"Mother allowed me access so I can come in here and practice channeling the source's foreseen abilities even better. I was never as good at it as she wished. Definitely not as naturally gifted with it as Leona is. I mean she is still young and barely sees anything but she will only get better and most likely surpass my mom eventually" Corrina said with her eyes.
As Hal knelt before the Altar he told Corrina,
"Feeling sorry for yourself is pointless. So you are not talented at 'foreseeing', Big deal! You were talented enough to become a Semi-saint at your comparably young age.
You were talented enough to comprehend an Ordinance, one with incredible applications. I'd say you're pretty badass" Hal said as he began to run his hand all over the altar structure.
Corona actually got misty-eyed and then a voice sounded in the room,
"Take your hands off that Altar or I shall smite you right where you are"
Corrina looked around at nowhere in particular,
"Mother?"
Suddenly, a kind of vibration permeated the entire inner room and it began to contort and change. Suddenly it was no longer the inner room but the main hall, Hal remembered being inside when he pled for his case to be heard.
The sect head was seated on top of her throne-like and surveying Hal with very angry eyes.
How she had changed their location was mind-boggling to Hal, especially since he was sure the inner room that had been in was not an illusion. He was absolutely certain it had been the real deal but that all took a backseat when the sect head began to speak,
"How dare you? How dare you manipulate my daughter and have her bring you to our most holy of holies? HOW DARE YOU?' She said and her voice boomed all around the hall.
Then she turned her eyes to her daughter who was frowning and in a battle pose despite the fact that she felt hurt for obviously disappointing her mother.
"As for you. What exactly did he do to you that actually made you do this? It would seem to grant you so much freedom with your sex life has been a huge mistake." The sect head said.
'She catches on pretty quick' Hal thought, obviously referring to how the sect head knew sex was a factor.
Maybe she indeed was monitoring her daughter more than she cared to admit.
'It could be that when it comes to you and your entire profile... That seems to be a reasonable assumption' Grimoire said.
"Mother, this is important. Master Hal can help with defeating father. And all he has to do is touch the source" Corrina said.
Her mother raised a brow,
"'Master' Hal? My goodness, Corrina, are you brainwashed?" She asked.
She was not actually asking to be informed but to speculate while she decided in her mind that it was the only explanation.
Corrina looked taken aback,
"Brainwash? Of course not. I am capable of making my own decisions and once I saw through so many things and saw my master true possess was not what his cultivation presumed, I was enlightened and was actually the one who asked for his help to defeat father."
At this point, Corrina relaxed her stance a tad bit as she said,
"I have seen the worry on your face. You try to hide the true depth from me but I am still able to catch on. I don't want you to die. I don't want to lose you. And that is why I will accept any help as long as it means I get to always have you to turn to.
Because I love you mother.
It's why I have to do this."
For barely a second, the Sect head was quiet, and then she turned her eyes back to Hal who she felt was the true culprit in this scenario,
"I won't accept help from anyone when it involves compromising the source. It's been passed down for hundreds of thousands of years."
Hal was sure those words were a herald for a saint attack that would kill him for sure as he thought,
'I think it's about just about time'
*BOOOMMM!!!*
Immediately he had this thought a loud explosion sounded in the room above them and something began falling at an incredibly fast speed.
*Bang!!!*
When it landed, it was none other than the Altar he had been running his hands on just minutes before.
The sect head's eyes were widened. So were her daughter's who had no idea her master had this kind of plan in place.
"What the hell is this?" The silver moon sect snarled.
"I knew it! It wasn't an illusion" he rejoiced.
He had observed the architecture of the main building as Corrina led him to the inner room and knew already that the inner room was just above the main hall. Which was not information he actually thought would prove useful.
His actual plan had been to use runes to blow the altar apart and reveal the source he knew to be kept safely inside.
Choosing runes as opposed to smashing with his fist since the altar was made of quite durable material that would take him more than a single blow to destroy.
However, with their sudden change in location, that plan became useless so Hal used his unique Astral sense to reposition the runes for a whole different explosive blast but as he needed them to break through the ground floor right into the main hall, he had the runes absorb astral energy and enhance their explosive capacities.
Of course, targeting was non-existent and the Altar now fell between two sides. One being Hal and Corrina and the other being the Silver moon sect head.
"You could have destroyed it" the sect head snarled as she now realized what she had missed which was that Hal also happened to be a Runemaster.
Hal shrugged,
"It wouldn't have mattered if I did. What I am really after is the connection you and your entire sect have with this source. Whatever it might be" he said.
'Now!' He ordered Corrina telepathically and a black hole appeared on the ground underneath the altar.
Then there was another vibration in the surroundings and Corrina's black hole vanished to reappear underneath Hal and he fell right through it. Only to exit through the second black hole Corrina had prepared through which the altar should have landed in Hal's hands.
"What the hell?" Hal asked and Grimoire was about to answer but Corrina beat the artifact to it,
"Mother has comprehended the Abstract Ordinance of Reality which allows her to tweak reality in her favor.
She tweaked our reality to change our location from the inner room into the main hall where she was awaiting us"
'How did I not see this in her memories?' Hal asked.
'Probably because Corrina had no idea before. Or she did and reality was changed so that she didn't.' Grimoire said.
Hal raised his brow as he looked to the Sect head seated confidently on her throne-like chair. Never moving thus far,
'She can do that?' He asked wondering why the reality of his thoughts was not changed to the point that he had no idea why he even attacked the Silver moon sect in the first place.
Grimoire did a mental approximation of a shrug as it said,
'Such high-level manipulation for someone at the Insight level of Ordinance comprehension would take both physical contact and time. Kind of similar to how a mind imprint is put in someone's mind to only activate at specific times.
In this case, I'd reckon the specific time would be whenever Corrina was alone with someone. Whether captured or... having a tryst.
I have to say, this degree of manipulation is both overprotective and a little... Loving.
That said, while your contract is powerful, able to induce events to suit the contractor's wants, it is not powerful enough to override an act performed with an Abstract Ordinance' Grimoire explained and although their telepathic communication only took a second, Corrina grew a tad impatient for the brief lapse.
"Master, what now? She's about to get serious" she said.
Hal grinned as though he was not facing a Cosmic saint,
"Not to worry dear, we are about to get serious as well"