As the strange substance formed from three Sequence 1 Beyonder Characteristics of different Pathways and the Wheel of Fortune's Unique entered his body, Abner felt his mind, body, and soul expand at terrifying speed, as though they might burst at any moment.
In an instant, he lost all sense of his body and his many Eyes of Wisdom. He watched helplessly as they turned insubstantial and scattered, on the verge of breaking down into vast, abstract masses of information.
At the same time, a mad, contradictory, disordered, indifferent, lofty, yet extraordinarily powerful consciousness from the Beyonder Characteristics began to awaken within Abner's mind.
It sent him image after image. Some concerned the Authority over knowledge, Wisdom, and Fate; others showed dust igniting into suns and the majestic birth of celestial bodies. Every image bore a savage, cold, cruel, mad, condescending imprint devoid of all emotion. They rapidly assimilated Abner's mind, changing his state beyond his control.
The image of the Mechanical Emperor formed by his Anchors, meanwhile, was driven back at every turn by that terrifying mental contamination. It seemed utterly unable to resist.
Just as Abner was about to lose even his sense of self, the homage of the three Sages and their heartfelt reverence and submission triggered a power rooted in knowledge itself—Eternal Confidence, Devout Prayer, and Immortal Mind. For an instant, they protected Abner's Humanity, fragile as a boat in a storm, and held back the contamination of Divinity for one second.
That single second turned the tide.
Deep within the Land of Unknown, the existence known as Unknown opened his eyes a crack!
He was not fully awake, but he no longer responded to the outside world purely on instinct.
In a flash, Unknown's contamination swept over them. The Divinity that had seemed so overwhelming was