MMORPG: The Almighty Ring

"Dammit!"

Jiang Fei was injured but his mind was still clear. He knew that he cannot let Bargh get to him or the outcome would be worse than devastating.

He clenched his jaw shut and activated the power of the Core of Will. His entire being started to energize and with Kaa'lna still in his embrace, she too was dragged into the 10th Dimension.

"You can't slip away this time!" Bargh roared. In the instant Jiang Fei was about to vanish, he zoomed in and held his wrist tightly.

Whoosh.

Along with Bargh and Kaa'lna, all three of them were dragged into the 10th Dimension. Right in the next moment, after the vanishing flash of light dissipated, another flash of light burst out. Theon was too late.

"Confound it."

Theon gritted his teeth. He tried his best, expanding his consciousness to his surroundings to trace Jiang Fei's whereabouts. Unfortunately, the 10th Dimension was too mysterious a place that not even Theon could track him there.

"Jiang Fei must stay alive or I shall have you suffer for eternity, begging for me to kill you!" Bargh grunted and vanished without a trace.

…

"Gah… Hack!"

As soon as Jiang Fei appeared in the 10th Dimension, he spat out a mouthful of blood. His entire being, albeit ethereal, was cracking like a broken piece of glass.

"Dammit. My body is too weak."

He was gravely injured now but his mind was still sharp. He knew what he was becoming.

Jiang Fei may have converted half of his body into ethereal form but he still had a limit to how much energy he could sustain. Dragging a combatant of over 10,000,000 combat level was clearly beyond his maximum limit.

His current status was incredibly fragile. To be honest, he was on the verge of disintegration that if a baby touched him with his pinky, Jiang Fei would be shattered into pieces.

"Where am I? I c-can't move! I c-can't move m-my body!

Kaa'lna thoughts were filled with fear. She, like Jiang Fei, had sustained fatal wounds but since time ceased to work in the 10th Dimension, her wounds froze as well as her entire being, all except her thoughts.

"What is this place?! Boy! What have you done to me?!" Bargh's thoughts echoed through the dark void. No matter how powerful one was, the fear of the unknown would always find its way to anyone. Bound in a dark void and unable to move a single muscle, both Bargh and Kaa'lna were now experiencing a new, different kind of fear.

All intelligent species across all known universes may have different kinds of language, custom, and basic life form structure, but they have one thing in common, mathematics and physics. It was undeniably true that mathematics and physics were the same no matter where one stood, be it on the edge of the cosmos, or on the surface of a star. Thus, all intelligent lifeforms had one common result regarding time; time can be, under certain conditions, accelerated or decelerated, but never stopped or reversed.

The law of existence states that time must not stop flowing, that was if one never visited the 10th Dimension where time played no role.

That was why, even though Bargh was strong, he could not move his body, not even if he had the power of a million suns at his disposal. Jiang Fei was fortunate enough to understand the metaphysical laws in the 10th Dimension. Technically speaking, they still had control of their bodies but without the flow of time, no three-dimensional being would be able to move.

Time froze all matter but not thoughts. That was why there were some gifted individuals with the gift to foresee the future or have a glimpse of the past. But never could they physically affect events of the past. Their bodies can never be "reversed" via time.

"Dammit. Why is Bargh here?"

Jiang Fei panicked. Every second Bargh spent in the 10th Dimension caused a ripple effect to Jiang Fei's own wellbeing.

"I need to get him out. Fast!"

Jiang Fei prepared to send off a powerful psychic energy conjured from the Core of Will, trying to forcefully "chase" Bargh out of the 10th Dimension. Unfortunately, Bargh's energy level was too high. Nothing that Jiang Fei did could even affect his frozen body.

"Sh*t. No matter. If I can't get you out, I'll kill you here!" Jiang Fei thought.

"My lord, is that you? Where are we? What is going on?" Kaa'lna asked. She was still panicking but calmed down a little when she saw how comfortable he was behaving in this unknown void.

"The less you know the better. Don't create any trouble for me. When you're out, you best forget everything that happened here!" Jiang Fei replied with a psychic wave.

"I-I-I will! I will forget it all!"

Kaa'lna understood the message clearly. Jiang Fei was not stating anything but she knew she had only two options. She could either bind herself eternally in Jiang Fei's servitude, or be killed by him.

"Jiang Fei?! What are you playing at?!" Bargh blasted out his psychic wave and detected Jiang Fei's presence. His third eye was fully open now and black energy was pouring out from it. His entire being was enveloped by it and was spilling all about the dark void. It went without saying that the black energy was of pure malice that could even taint the sanctity of the 10th Dimension.

"I need to kill him now!" Jiang Fei thought. He had not expected Bargh to be so powerful that he could even affect the 10th Dimension. If something were to happen to it, he would have lost the greatest trump card he will ever obtain.

Jiang Fei concentrated with every ounce of thinking power he had and blasted a psychic energy meant to end Bargh's life. That was his one and only way to fight as nothing else would be a tangible force in the 10th Dimension.

"Come, boy! I shall see what you can do to me!" Bargh roared. Even though he could not move, psychic manipulation was a Bjolnians' forte. And since his third eye was opened, Bargh was now at his strongest form.

As soon as Jiang Fei's white psychic wave made contact with Bargh's black one, not only did it fail to affect him, his own psychic force got corrupted. Jiang Fei could not understand what was happening. All he could do was stop the attack or Bargh's black malice would find its way into Jiang Fei himself.

"What the f*ck is that?"

There was no means of investigation. Time ceased to flow in the 10th Dimension and Jiang Fei could not rely on 0541 or the scope on his ears. He had no clue as to how he could fight Bargh!

"My turn!"

The cloud of black energy extended like a living tentacle before it zoomed across the void and toward Jiang Fei.

To defend against it, Jiang Fei deployed a wall of psychic energy. Oddly enough, even though Bargh's psychic manipulation was not as strong nor was he as skilled as Jiang Fei, the black malice was so… powerful that it had a corruption-like ability. The wall of psychic energy was immediately corrupted and Jiang Fei had to disengage to prevent himself from being affected.

"Hah! You're a thousand years too early to defeat me! I am stronger! I am better! And I will kill you!"

Bargh's laughter echoed in the void. Jiang Fei could not do anything when Bargh took his corrupted psychic energy for himself.

"This is bad."

Even though Jiang Fei had a similar ability; converting foreign energy into his own; he could never truly make contact with Bargh's black malice, fearing that his own mind would be affected. He had no way of fighting back.

If this went on, even if Jiang Fei had the power of the Core of Will in his mind, he would indefinitely be overpowered by Bargh.

…

After several more attacks, Bargh was clearly growing stronger after absorbing a vast amount of Jiang Fei's psychic powers.

"Dammit. That's all there is to it then. I have no choice. Try or die trying."

Jiang Fei, being cornered, reached a decision.