An Owl's Rise-Chapter 474 Brutal Repair Job

Evelyn felt a mind crushing pain the moment that she sent her consciousness inside of the Aethersphere.

It was all-encompassing and was like every facet of her existence was being pulled in different directions and torn apart.

The agony of it all was so great that most would have collapsed immediately and accepted the relief of oblivion rather than continue to fight.

However, Evelyn had come in prepared. This was not the first time she had had to endure the unimaginable.

"AHHHHHHHHH!"

She screamed with her entire being and pushed back against the torrent of violent energy swirling around her.

In its current state, the Aethersphere's power was going wild inside of it.

Fortunately, Evelyn had come prepared. The shell of magical energy around her became denser and created a small bubble of protection.

It was not perfect, as the occasional errant burst broke through and assaulted her. Still, it was more manageable than before.

Once Evelyn had recollected herself, she noticed a hazy, almost imperceptible dot of purple light glowing in front of her.

Everything else around her was just flashes of extreme magical energy, making the rest of her surroundings completely obscured.

"I see. You're going to lead the way." Evelyn muttered with a haggard tone.

Already the strain was pushing her to her limits. Yet she had only just made it to the starting line. There was still a long way for her to go.

Following the weak purple light, Evelyn lost track of time quickly.

It was almost impossible for her to tell if only a few seconds or if days had passed.

Distance was also difficult to gauge.

Every meter forward took so much concentration that Evelyn was unsure if she had travelled more than just a few steps even when her mind cried out in exhaustion.

'I've endured worse than this. I just need to keep moving.' Evelyn repeated in her mind over and over again like some sort of mantra.

Nevertheless, as strong as her will was, eventually Evelyn's spirit began to wane.

The Aethersphere had warned her against this action for a reason.

Even those with incredible mental fortitude would find themselves worn down over time. The divine item's systems were in utter disarray due to the damage it had sustained. It was unable to offer any protection to its owner now that she had delved within its broken world.

Just when Evelyn was considering giving up though, something changed around her.

Up until now, all that she had been able to see was violent energy and the singular purple dot that at times she lost track of.

Now though, possibly far in the distance or right in front of her, she could see what looked like the outline of shattered fragments floating around. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Seeing something new for the first time reinvigorated her drained spirit, and Evelyn pushed through until she reached the first shard.

When she got close enough to touch, the tiny light that had served as her guide was now right in front of her.

It had always seemed impossibly far away before, but now she could reach out and grab it if she wanted to.

"So, this is what you guided me to. That means this must be what I need to fix."

The light flashed a couple of times as if to convey that Evelyn's assumption was correct.

Except, as she looked out from the first fragment at all of the others, Evelyn realized what a truly daunting task was before her.

There were hundreds of different pieces from just what she could see. It felt like it might take an eternity for her to restore what had been broken.

"It's just one more thing that I have to do. I've worked hard before. This is nothing." Evelyn said to psych herself up.

The first thing she figured she needed to do was gather all of the fragments up. Then she could go about putting them back together.

She pressed her hands against the first one and started to push.

At first, it moved with ease despite towering over her.

Yet, the closer she got to another shard, the more resistance she felt it took more willpower and magical energy than she expected, but eventually, she brought the piece to a central location where she would gather the others.

"Now is just need to go get the rest of them."

Evelyn sighed as she looked out at the rest of the pieces and took off towards the next one.

While her motivation was still high, she targeted the ones that were farthest away. She figured that it would be better to save the easiest fragments for last.

She came to regret that decision soon after she made it.

It was harrowing going back and forth, and the weird resistance caused by each shard when getting close to another made dragging the far away ones closer a massive chore.

At one point Evelyn lost focus and the raging energy outside fully broke through her defenses and nearly shredded her consciousness apart.

Only with every ounce of strength in her was she able to restore her barrier and keep her mind mostly intact.

'Damn! I feel like I'm going to go insane if I have to keep this up much longer. And I have no idea when my magical energy is going to falter and all of this will be for nothing anyway.'

Evelyn's thoughts were naturally drifting towards becoming more pessimistic the longer she spent within the Aethersphere.

It was a hostile world that offered her no chance to rest. Even relaxing for just a moment had nearly killed Evelyn just moments ago.

The only real solace was that she knew that her companions must have been working tirelessly to supply her body with magical energy. Otherwise, she would have already run out long ago.

Of course, even when she reminded herself to keep fighting, her next several thoughts were all dour.

This place was beginning to have a negative effect on her psyche. Every second wearing down on her as she tried to force herself to work single-mindedly on her goal.