Over the night staying at Isaiah's still in the island of Evergrove, Ernaut still was unable to think of what to do next. He also couldn't think of how could a person without a Tear defeat a Chroma or even survive an attack from one. From what he recalled from the chase with Beck, if a person gets attacked by the Chroma, they become mutated into one as possible. He already knew about most of the various dangers and how to even attack the Chromas. From what he recalled when he was talking with Karin about the Chromas, she said that there were currently four ranks of Chromas; Rooks, Princes, Kings, and then finally Chromas, with each higher rank more powerful than the previous one in terms of abilities and strength. So far, he had fought against at least a few Chroma Princes as well as many Rooks, but currently no Kings or Omegas so far.
"Ernaut? We're going to Hobbs's Summit. I'll guide you, but eventually I will have to stop somewhere to head back on my own. I highly doubt you'll make it to there all by yourself, because you will have no direction on where to go and what to do. You are going to be guided likely around halfway there and eventually you'll be on your own from there. Is that okay with you, or are you fine traveling on your own from there?" Isaiah asked.
"Alright Isaiah. I need your help, because I need to look at the map and compass to be able to determine where I am going on the way to Hobbs's Summit, because as you know, I've never been to Evergrove so I didn't know where I was going early on." Ernaut replied.
"We're heading off right now, and your choice is made. I'll pack up, because eventually we will have to stop for the night and rest up for a bit, because we're not traveling in the night." Isaiah said, before heading to pack up supplies for the trip to Hobbs's Summit to continue Ernaut's journey east, or the promise he made to the Tear of Heaven.
Ernaut and Isaiah had packed up everything that they needed for the trip of Hobbs's Summit. Ernaut didn't want to stay in Evergrove forever and not accomplish anything for the Tear of Heaven, because he felt like he was too faithful to be able to break Karin's promise of heading east to end the Epoch of the Comet and destroying all of the Chromas from taking over Teya. They headed out the house they slept in for the night and started to head north, which was from the same direction that Ernaut was running from. Accordingly, he was running south from the northern docks, which were the same docks that had that ship from Aurora to Evergrove that Ernaut managed to sneak into to find his way to Evergrove, but that wasn't the direction that they were going. The direction that they were going was northeast, to a town called Hobbs's Summit, because according to Karin, finding their way to the eastern lands of Teya involves traveling east to find a portal that could take him there, which apparently can be sailed east from the docks of Hobbs's Summit.
Ernaut and Isaiah started to travel northeast to find their way to Hobbs's Summit. Then, at one point, there appeared to be a mysterious white form, Ernaut knew that it had to be the Chromas, but eventually, it was much larger than anything that they've encountered. Ernaut knew this was going to be another battle for him. No, it wasn't going to be one of those short battles against the Chromas, this one was going to be a larger battle against a new monster that he hasn't faced before; a new entity of the Chromas that is bigger than all of the previous ones that he has fought against.
"Is that… another one of these mysterious white ghosts, or whatever exactly you call them?" Isaiah said, pointing at the larger Chroma that was larger than a Chroma Prince, and it looked more dangerous given its stronger capabilities.
"These white ghosts are called Chromas, and I think I saw a King Chroma right there! We have to be careful, because these are much more dangerous than the Princes I've been fighting recently. I'll be the one to handle this one, you stay back."
Starting off the fight, Ernaut knew that he must be aware of the King Chroma's attacks, as well as making sure Isaiah is safe during the fight, because right now he has no way of actually fighting against the King Chroma because he doesn't even have the weapons to even fight them. First off, he had to be aware of what the King Chroma was able to do towards him and when to attack him at the right time. The King Chroma attacked first; as indicated by the strikes of light that Ernaut dodged. Isaiah stayed back during the fight, hopefully to get out of the way and sight from it. Taking advantage of every attack, Ernaut cast his weapons toward him; the Spirit Fist for close ranged attacks, and the Spirit Needle for ranged attacks. Both of them had minimal effect, because Ernaut knew that the King Chroma was much tougher than even the Chroma Princes that he had fought in the past.
"Alright, this is how I fight against the larger Chromas. First, I keep track on how they are attacking me first, I take advantage of these attacks, dodge them, and then strike them back with my own weaponry. This is going to take me a while because this one is much more resistant to my own attacks; my fists and needles. No, I don't have something like a longsword or something that's a little more powerful, though I did witness being able to use a longsword in my dreams, though that's still something I will have to learn for myself the further I am in my journey." Ernaut said towards Isaiah, while doing the same thing every time the King Chroma attacked him with his own abilities. Thanks to Karin, he was able to dodge at the right times and be warned of where the attacks are, because that was something that the Tear of Heaven would provide; wisdom and knowledge. One of the abilities that the Tear of Heaven or Karin was able to do was to mind-read people, something that it itself can only do right now. Mind reading is an exclusive ability that determines the minds of people and if they are antagonizing or willing to help the owner, but that wasn't the point right now. The ability that Ernaut is demonstrating, is not something from the Tear of Heaven itself, but rather something that would be able to use when the owner unlocks the Tear of Heaven onto itself. As noted, unlocking the Tear of Heaven into the owner's body grants the user many new abilities that cannot be done, such as unleashing spirit weaponry, concealing footsteps, and being able to keep track on how the enemies are attacking him. Every time Ernaut defeats a Chroma, they are not disintegrated, but instead absorbed into the Tear of Heaven to recharge its powers. As noted, Karin's powers are not unlimited and must be recharged by fighting Chromas, mostly with its weapons.
"Alright Ernaut, I'm staying back right now, I need to be on the lookout for any more dangers out there asides from that King Chroma." Isaiah said, stepping back a bit to look out for any potential Chromas or any intruders that were out to get them.
The fight with the King Chroma was very tough. The King Chroma eventually attacked Ernaut by hitting him several times with its arms of light, but thanks to unlocking the Tear of Heaven, Ernaut was able to sustain minimal injuries, but Ernaut still had to take down the King Chroma to be able to continue on, so Ernaut took advantage of the King Chroma by instead of hitting them in the head, but instead through its arms to strike them off, so Ernaut charged up several bursts with the Spirit Needle, shot the bursts into the arms to blast them off, weakening the King Chroma and eventually getting to a point where Ernaut wanted to end the fight right now.
"Now let's finish this!" Ernaut jumped upward and then finished off the King Chroma using his Spirit Fists, disintegrating it into energy for Karin and then jumping down safely. Ernaut knew that he was victorious against the large monster, also known as the King Chroma, the third rank of the Chromas. So far, he had never encountered any Omegas, which are stated to be even more powerful than even the King Chromas according to Karin. Ultimately as he knew, the worse the nightmares become, the stronger the Chromas become. So far, he'd fought against rook Chromas, 3 Chroma Princes, and 1 King, but no Omegas so far.
"Ernaut! I think you've defeated the King Chroma, but there are some rook Chromas approaching!" Isaiah warned.
"Alright, that's no problem. I can take it from here with my Spirit Fists." Ernaut ran towards the 3 Chromas that Isaiah pointed out that were after him, cast fist after fist with his Spirit Fists, and then took down the Chromas easily, absorbing them into Karin.
"Anyways, is it safe from here? I can see that you've vanquished the King Chroma. How many of these guys have you fought?" Isaiah asked, being interested on taking note on how Ernaut was able to fight the Chromas and willing to learn more about them.
"I fought my first Chromas back when they took my parents back in Castlemore. I later on found the Chroma Princes, which were the second rank of the Chromas, and now I fought against my first King Chroma. It was a bit of a tough fight, but I managed to stand out strong. Karin said that there was a fourth entity to the Chromas called Omegas. Little is known about these except that during Aruku's time, there were no Omega Shades whatsoever, only Kings, and they are also extraordinary rare, so I don't expect to come across on any Omegas anytime soon, or even right now." Ernaut replied.
"So, where to then? I forgot where we are going right now. Where are we headed again? Our compass seems to be pointing northeast right now." Isaiah asked, upon getting back on track after when Ernaut successfully defeated the King Chroma. He had already lost track of things when the King Chroma interfered with their travel to northeast to get to Hobbs's Summit.
"We're still going to Hobbs's Summit to find my way to eastern Teya and continue my quest from there. It'll be only me to find my way east, as the way east is too dangerous for anyone else, especially without any prior knowledge about the eastern lands of Teya. Keep in mind, I'm one of the only people that believed in Aruku, the Comet, and the eastern lands of Teya. Don't worry about tents or sleeping bags, because I still have Karin here to provide us some protection for the night."
"Tents or sleeping bags? I already packed two sleeping bags within my own traveling backpack, but why are you stating that Karin can do it for us? Is that something that you have to unlock the Tear of Heaven to do that? Or can the Tear of Heaven do that without unlocking it?" Isaiah asked, being curious on what can the Tear of Heaven do for Ernaut.
"Well, right now I think it's something that I have to unlock the Tear of Heaven before I can use them. The Spirit Fist and Needle, my two weapons, can only be used by unlocking the Tear of Heaven. Things like concealed footsteps and being alerted on attacks; are also only usable by unlocking the Tear of Heaven into me. I think the mind-reading thing could be used outside of unlocking, but I don't know about its unique abilities that can be done without unlocking. As for this tent, yes. It takes a lot more energy to consume, and thus, it requires me to unlock the Tear of Heaven onto it, because it functions as my own sentinel bodyguard throughout my journey. She warns me of monsters, any dangers out there, especially that one time where she warned me of Beck hunting after me. If it weren't for that, Beck would've caught me and my quest would've ended there." Ernaut replied.
"Oh, alright then. I didn't know that the Tear of Heaven, or should I say the Spirit of Heaven or Karin, was already capable of so many things. It does so many things that I don't know how many abilities and knowledges does this thing has. You have to delve deeper into the heart of Karin to be able to master them all." Isaiah said back to him.
"Anyways Isaiah, lets continue on. I think we need to get a move on in case any more of these Chromas show up or any potential wildlife or even worse; Nexus military forces after us." Ernaut said before they moved on.
Ernaut and Isaiah eventually continued onward to northeast towards the direction of Hobbs's Summit. With the assistance of Karin, they were both able to get some safe sleep with the help of Karin's magical tents. Ernaut knew that he was getting closer to his destination, and that he'd needed some rest after a large battle against a new enemy that he had never faced before, but before Ernaut was able to go to sleep for the night, Karin wanted to talk again to talk about something that he did today;
"So, you got injured from the fight against the King Chroma. You were attacked for real by the King Chroma, but you sustained minor damages from you. How would you feel about the people that were attacked by the Chromas and lost their lives to them? Do you remember that one injured man that eventually mutated down to a Chroma while you were being chased by Beck? How would you feel about those people losing their lives to the Chromas? Do you feel like you could've saved them?" Karin asked.
"Yes, I feel like that would've been something more of a potential, I could've saved lives from the Chromas, but here's the thing, the injured person that I saw on the chase from Beck wasn't that friendly to me. I don't see why a criminal would redeem himself or herself after doing something great but with something that would've been illegal. That sounds kind of confusing to me, but that's something I might encounter when I finally get out of the Nexus and into the eastern lands of Teya. As you know, there are people without any laws or rules out there and they are notably more underdeveloped than our kingdom, especially Aruku and her Hawk Tribe." Ernaut replied.
"Fun fact; do you know how many people of the eastern region have been killed by the Shades? Take a guess." Karin asked.
"Only a few?"
"You were right. Only a few tribes were lost to the Shades back then during Aruku's journey. This was because Aruku kept on going and going on her quest. She never hit that many stops against any various obstacles on her quest, while I right there seem to hitting obstacle after obstacle after obstacle, because as you know, I can't just get to where I want instantly, and we people don't even know how to even survive a Chroma attack or even fend one off without the help of Tear like me."
"I understand that the Shades were dealt with really good back then. I suppose the Chromas are now upping their game against us right now because they knew that we could easily beat the Shades down. I suppose that's why that they invented the Omega Chromas, but so far, we haven't seen any Omega Chromas."
"That's right, you haven't seen any Omegas, and you probably won't for a while. They're extremely rare, but they're also extremely powerful. One thing that you need to know about the Omegas, is that unlike the mainline Chromas, they harness the power of elements against you and various large-scale weaponry. And no, they're not giants, but they instead take the form of animals. As you can see, size doesn't mean that it's stronger for the Omegas this time. You have to take in mind their abilities, strengths, and weaknesses, because that's how you fight."
"Alright Karin, that's all I needed to know right now. I was curious about the Shades and what's going on between the Chromas and the Shades, and why haven't I encountered or heard anything about the Omegas right now, even though you told me that about the beginning." Ernaut replied. "Well, I better get some sleep, so I'm going to bed."
"Night Ernaut. Your journey continues in the morning." Karin replied
