The Primordial Record

The survival of this Berserker Clone was unprecedented, although this was not only due to the ingenuity of this Clone, but seven other reasons.

These seven reasons were the seven Children of Ruin, they had been for a while now, appearing when he was on the verge of destruction and saving him, they had not left his side ever since.

After the Children of Ruin left Rowan they had somehow found a way to reach his Berserker Clone inside the Underverse and they were the primary reason this clone had survived for so long. It was unknown how they had been able to find this clone, but they did, and their help had been invaluable to the Berserker Clone as he was able to reach places that his level of power would not accommodate.

Perhaps the Children of Ruin thought with their intervention, Rowan might view them in a more favorable light, but Rowan's thought was largely unknown, and so they followed the clone deeper into the Underverse.

The Berserker Clone soon came to the realization that the page of the Primordial Record seemed to have the weight of a mountain dropped inside an ocean, as it was unceasingly plunging down into the depths of the Underverse, and the Berserker Clone followed, until it reached a portion of the Underverse that was truly dark, and the chance of coming in contact with other foreign power was now incredibly remote.

The threats here became far less frequent but more hazardous, as the denizens of the Underverse in this region were old and powerful, having survived countless trials and tribulations and ascended to become true creatures of darkness and madness.

Even the gods with their unlimited lives granted by their Divine Spark being kept in a safe place hardly entered this location for it would be nothing else but a waste of Essence, for death was assured in this place, why would they bother dying in various painful ways only to push deeper into the darkness and take them to locations they did not need.

The Underverse was treasured because of its ability to shrink space, and all the best locations in the universe had been slowly mapped out and Teleportation passages had been created millions of years ago, and there was no reason to take any unnecessary risk any longer, defending the Teleportation passages was hard enough, who else wanted to push deep into the Underverse for such meager rewards?

In this space, the Berserker Clone began coming across a series of floating islands that were carried by a dense stream of darkness that was erupting from a singular source deep in the depths of the Underverse.

He could practically feel the page of the Primordial Record screaming at him down in the depths of this space, but the problem was that he could no longer reach the page because of the crushing pressure arising from the depths of the Underverse. The pressure was strong enough to turn a god to dust in the blink of an eye.

The Berserker Clone turned to the figures standing by his side, the seven Children of Ruin had reduced their sizes until they were smaller than two feet tall and resembled small monkeys. They looked at the Berserker Clone with their large eyes, and he had to shake his head for their cuteness in this form was strangely impressive.

Rowan suppressed the smile threatening to break out on his face, without the influence from his main body, the Berserker Clone was becoming a little more human, and he said, "I need to reach the depths of this place, the item I seek lies below."

The Children of Ruin looked at each other and they began to gesture towards the clone using their fingers. After spending fifteen years with them inside the depths of this place, the Clone had begun to understand their method of communication.

It was not that the Children of Ruin could not speak, but similar to the powerful Angels like the Sovereigns, a huge chunk of their power resided in their voice, and after the Berserker Clone had seen them unleash this dreadful power thousands of times in defense of him, he had come to have a healthy respect of this power.

The Berserker Clone shuddered when he recalled the time Rowan was asking these colossi questions and had become a bit upset when they refused to reply to him, at that time if Rowan knew that they only did so not out of fear or apathy but consideration for his wellbeing he would have appreciated their goodwill better.

The Clone interpreted the gesture they made and he frowned a bit before nodding in ascent.

According to the Children of Ruin, the pressure escaping from the depths of the Underverse weakens in a fairly predictable cadence and they should wait for the pressure to ease before attempting to push towards the depths.

The Clone traveled to one of the floating islands and settled inside one of them, hiding from sight, where he closed his eyes and slowly began cultivating his strength.

The Clone could survive perfectly on his own without any sustenance from Rowan, but after fifteen years apart, the root of its power was beginning to fray, after all, it was simply a technique, and at the time of its creation, Rowan was still relatively weak.

There was always an option for the Clone to return back to Rowan anytime he wanted, but that option ended thirteen years ago when all communication between the main body and himself was cut off.

Although he could still feel the connection with his main body, it was still incomparably faint and he had no way of knowing what had happened.

If his Berserker Clones were captured Rowan did not want them to be able to reveal sensitive information about himself, and so the Clone could only send information to Rowan but could not experience anything that Rowan was going through.

The Berserker Clone remained inside this floating island for the next four years as he waited for the pressure coming from the depths to reduce. It was this close to his prize, the very reason for his existence and he was willing to wait a thousand years for the opportunity to reveal itself.

Of course, it would have been better if he could reach Rowan as he was sure with the rate of growth of his main body he would have been able to tear through the obstruction blocking him.

The seven Children of Ruin settled around him and they slowly curled among themselves and went to sleep.