Chapter Thirty Nine, Unfathomable Power.
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It is said that before the Four Eternal Gods became sovereigns of their divinities, they were granted visage of an unfathomable sight.
Not light.
Not darkness.
Not form.
But the personification of all...
This is an excerpt from divine memory, carved into the world of Aeternum...
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"We did not awaken ourselves.
We opened our sight — and They were already.
We lead the wind, flame, tide, and fate — yet the power to lead came from permission alone.
We are gods because They allow direction.
We endure because They allow vastness.
We do not worship from obligation.
We worship because we remember, because we understand.
We are echoes."
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Before wind, before flame, before breathe — only silence existed.
A vastness. Incomprehensible, unimaginable.
Within that vastness existed a conscience, the first soul.
The One Soul.
The world came to be through the grand power of the Vastness.
And within Vastness stirred the One Soul, whose thought became light.
The will of Vastness became light.
Where they gazed, stars awakened.
Where they spoke, oceans answered.
Where they walked, life dared to rise.
Vastness folded, and reality spiraled outward.
The One Soul expanded, and infinity unfolded.
We cannot say that they created.
Creation is merely what happened when they chose to exist...
When all cycles complete and all stars forget their flame.
Vastness will still churn.
The One Soul will still widen.
And what we call existence, will fold back into what we never understood.
Not destruction.
Nor salvation.
Simply return.
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Within the void of Aeternum, a man sat cross legged, hung in the darkness far above the world.
A cloud of energy emanated from his body, leaking into the space nearby. He infested his surroundings with pinkish-purple aura, electricity sparking throughout the gaseous essence.
This man was creation. Their lord. Their father. The entity that permitted the existence of everything. A mind so mysterious, that even they knew not of it. Meeting him was a rare chance, and fleeting. Even his counterpart, their mother, had been far more persistent through time. She had guided them, on occasion. Gave them goals. If they had disputes, or needed information, wished for anything, they could reach for her, and at times she would respond.
Eltaras stood in heaven, a book in hand, glancing up towards the Void Aether. From his position, he could see their father hanging up in the sky. His eyes were closed. He meditated.
But he could understand what he was really doing.
He was observing the world.
Resting, while willing time to adhere to his wants. He was peering down at Aeternum, observing the past, all alternate pasts, and all futures.
He was casting his judgement down.
To see if the four of them had done what they had been instructed.
His last visit was simply that.
A visit.
But now he could feel their father's power.
Miniature leaks of it. Most of it contained by the Void Aether. But he was sure that even what leaked into the Aether was miniscule in itself.
Eltaras cleared his throat.
He stood at the peak of Heaven, atop mount Sol'Vareth, the crown of the Unending Firmament.
This was the most grand mountain range in all of Aeternum, across all three dimensions.
A place where the great gods could peer effortlessly down into all layers below heaven.
In this place, he felt closer to his parents.
And in this instance, he was.
He felt for his power, tussling with the immense strength he had.
But it was not enough.
Just the after effects of his father's silent judgement, made the hairs on his neck stand up.
He had been hung up in the void for countless centuries now, it created for a greater sense of... urgency...
The four of them felt far more pressured to do well by his image.
To progress at speeds far faster than before.
They were supposed to evolve, endlessly. They were supposed to maintain this realm. Get stronger, learn new things...
He peered down on the lands beneath him. The countless beasts roaming. The greatest of the greats, the mortals that had advanced into Pre-Enlightenment... The realm designated as SS-rank, to the System.
The construct that helped all the people, put in place by the Primordial Two...
His gaze turned towards his own System panel, his own Status.
He sighed.
He knew he was stronger than the average at this stage. More Talents, more Soul skills... More Attributes as well, but it still did not feel like enough.
Just being in proximity of his father, he could feel his vastness.
Immense power, pertaining to countless fronts, and strange unfathomable concepts. Power that functioned beyond simplistic thinks like blood and fire. Even far beyond the temporal element... But he could feel that his father had grand understanding and control over time and space as well.
He was so inferior and he knew it.
But he knew he would one day get there.
Eltaras rubbed his neck, he stepped forward. His long black hair cascaded down his back. His third eye had receded into his body, the demon scriptures that were engraved into his skin, hidden away from sight. He stood tall, his eyes adopting an orange-red hue, his soul having become deeply intertwined with blood and the flame.
He reached the edge of Sol'Vareth's peak, standing at the tip of the cliff face.
He focused downwards, examining everything below.
Everything...
From the land of Aeternum, the roaming monsters, the demon kind sporadically placed around the lands, the human empires... The world was in an interesting age.
An age of war, destruction, and chaos.
His son, Nyxariel, had been waging an intense battle against the lesser gods of Aeternum. The highest ranking entities below he and his siblings.
Peak S-rank deities, some of which that had breached upon the realm of Pre-Enlightment, just as he and his siblings. Of course, they were of a different caliber, unreachable by any below them.
But Nyxariel alone was powerful enough to endanger the world of Aeternum. He was a high level creature, a mutation of his very own evolved species...
A Hellborn Sanguivar. A level 550 demon, enough power to match the pantheon of lesser deities... The most powerful of them only reached level 538...
The Frost Demon Monarch hadn't even entered the fray, held back by the affairs of Hell itself. He had to maintain stability in the demon world, ensuring... hell didn't break loose...
Nyxariel was granted a little more freedom thanks to him, being able to focus on invading Aeternum, and defeating the gods.
Aeternum and humanity itself was being led by their ascended ancestors. The most powerful of the powerful, that were actually able to reach the peak of S-rank, those that stepped beyond even that.
Eltaras breathed. He tossed the ancient scripture he held into his spatial storage. He prepared to reunite with his siblings, specifically Kuta, he wanted to understand what his brother's next plans were.
But then a pressure descended upon him...
With a struggle, he glanced upwards, towards the Void Aether.
His eyes were wide, and sweat beaded down the sides of his face.
His mouth quivered, and fear consumed his entirety.
He peered past the boundaries of Heaven, observing the volatile environment that not even he had ever stepped foot in.
His father's eyes were open. A calm energy leaking from them.
His neck craned, and his eyes landed upon Eltaras himself.
Out of fear, he buckled.
And for just a split moment.
He became powerless.
It was like his soul devolved into mortality... All of his power ceased to exist. He could no longer feel the ability to manipulate blood. The fire element attempted to scatter away. Space became more muddled, as time wasn't as willing to move for him.
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The magicka in the air sprinted away.
All in a split instance.
And then.
It returned.
As simple as that.
His power was gone.
Then it returned.
He watched as his father nodded, his gaze turning elsewhere.
Towards three other directions, and he nodded each time once he had locked onto whatever he was searching for.
Then, he paused.
His body swayed back and forth, as if trying to make a decision
Then he shrugged.
And he vanished.
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He sucked in the air around him. It felt less profound than the environment of Aeternum, but he knew very well that there was far more energy in Yara than there was throughout his inner world.
He had been inside Aeternum for over half a day, five thousand years in that realm.
Most of which, he spent evolving, utilizing the time disparity to improve to new heights.
Mutating skills to fit his wants and desires.
Just like that, twelve hours into climb, he had breached a new realm.
This journey would be even quicker than predicted... At this point he wasn't sure what he would do with the extra time...
A year?... He was sure he could enter the World-rank by then... He could have multiple Laws completely comprehended by then, surely...
He smiled, watching distantly as his body shredded through beasts, training his swordsmanship with the Black Blade. Their corpses were consumed for power, and only the worthy weren't turned into bits of meat. They were sent into Aeternum, to be observed, replicated, and distributed by Anaflandus...
A screen opened in front of his vision as he fought, and his eyes scanned the panel with a tranquil gaze.
He breathed rhythmically, intaking all of the grand changes.
He spent thousands of years hung up in the Void of Aeternum, comprehending the intricacies of fire. He fell into a tranquil slumber, tapping into the innate qualities of his evolution, and mingling it with his sloth power. This way, he was able to generate an unfathomable amount of energy, as his soul slept, but furthered his power. Simultaneously, his body still progressed, moving on pure command given to his muscle.
Through this time of evolution, he was able to understand the core details of all of his skills, alongside raising his level, and stepping into SSS-rank.
At this checkpoint, there was a plethora of changes within his soul, and it created a qualitative boost he could hardly understand. It came with visions, bloodline evolution, the acquisition of his seventh innate Talent, Talent merging, and even an evolution of Talent.
Of course, he chose his other core skill, evolving Anaflandus into one of his most grand abilities.
At this stage, he possessed twenty eight Soul skills, of the greatest caliber. The vast majority of which, were siphoned from the four gods of Aeternum. His own skills were melded into these, and with it he had access to far more power than before.
Already, he wondered if he could compete with Kismet.
Less than a day had passed...
The vast majority of his Soul skills were heaven defying.
Gluttony. Pure consumption, stealing the essence of whatever he wanted, taking it for himself.
Wrath. Infinite fury, his willpower and even literal strength, growing limitlessly depending on his rage.
Pride. Superiority, evolved into grand defense, and absolute judgement upon all others...
Sloth. Minimalism, the greatest outcome with the lowest input. Sleep equals growth. Effortlessness equals increased power... The less he tried, the stronger he was....
Lust. Desire, pure want, and want equaled more. The greater his desire, the more likely he was to obtain. Perhaps one of the most mystical of the Sins. But accompanying this Desire was an attraction. Those beneath were eager to worship. Those on the same level were eager to stand by. Those above were eager to control... He became lusted after, and what he lusted after came to him....
He felt this could be one of the first skills he would convert into a Law... It was already the close to a Law in itself...
Beyond lust existed Greed. Accumulation, ownership... Excess energy would convert itself into Attributes, excess Attributes would reinforce the soul, and soul reinforcement equaled improvement of quality. Ownership equaled possession. His power became pure, and what he owned reinforced that strength. As the owner of Aeternum, such a grand construct, his soul improved. His experience gain multiplied by thousands of time, his soul became powerful in the way that he could take the soul of another and boost their power once he owned them and consumed their existence.
If an existence granted one percent of experience, their slaughter and consumption, becoming his item, boosted their quality vastly, becoming forty percent, or even more. There were varying factors. Did he desire it? Did he know he was superior? Did he do the minimal? Was he angry?
With ease, he was building an arsenal that boasted infinite ascension.
And he had yet to even step beyond Yara...
Envy was the final innate Talent he had, that had not yet evolved. He had been far more focused on the rest of his Sins, and within his dreams, there wasn't really anything to envy. Only Kismet, or perhaps the ancient gods, the ancient demons... But instinctually he felt that he was better.
Why would he envy those that are weaker? His pride got in the way of solidifying his envy, it was enraging, but he remained tranquil. It was unfortunate, but in due time he would gain.
He already was.
In truth, those Soul skills may not have even been his most powerful.
Anaflandus had evolved. Aeternum was recognized as an internal reactor, an infinite generator of power, and that generation was amplified. Energy circulated within, and it was produced endlessly, infinitely. As more life, and more souls came to exist within his space, the rate at which everything processed would infinitely enhance. With perfect control over the reality of the space, its rules, there were an unknown amount of grand possibilities lying within this realm.
It's power would surely be elevated to the highest of peaks.
Rule of Apotheosis was still broken.
Cognitive Dominance Imposition was unreal. Perfect mental manipulation, thanks to the likes of Ana'fae, inheriting the intelligence of Ana herself. Though their daughter had inherited the hidden generosity and benevolence of Anaflandus, and that outshined her intelligence, that didn't mean she wasn't intelligent.
Genius intellect, with complete control over the minds of others, and even her own.
With it, he was able to completely assimilate all of the memories of Anaflandus, and that alone was a great boost. Only on the information side.
Harm Negation Field belonged to Kuta... In honesty, it was clear to him who the most powerful of the young gods were.
Eltaras was powerful, intelligent, a fighter. He was strong, the second most powerful in a fighting sense. Joriah was powerful as well, but not as strong as Eltaras. Her power resided within her Celestial Judgement. Her soul was evolved. It was more powerful, and any soul that held less power, was powerless before her.
Ana'fae was honestly, even more grand than Eltaras and Joriah. Her mental control allowed her to manipulate any. She was a healer, no fighter, but she could control others with such finesse, such ease. With her, there were no battles. It would never reach that point...
As for Kuta... It was just a tad shocking to know that he was the most powerful.
Beyond powerful...
In truth, he could handle all of Aeternum by himself, including his siblings.
Harm Negation Field, Inevitable Force, Fair Outcome Principle, and Undeniable Salvation.
It seemed that through some sort of sheer luck, Kuta had inherited power from Jora's Sin of Pride...
He was beyond all others.
Through Harm Negation Field, he could nullify all damage in a certain range, for prolonged periods of time... Harm would not reach him, nor would it reach any that he did not permit it to... He had adopted a sort of permanent negation field, nullifying all damage below a certain threshold, a low one, considering there weren't any stronger than him within Aeternum.
Inevitable Force tapped into Jora's very own Inevitable skill, guaranteeing the success of an outcome, not just an attack.
Fair Outcome Principle was a mutated power, intermingled with his Pride and the Deal-Making of Anaflandus... He could trade things for another. If used this power, and wanted death, life would be created. If he used his soul power to grant the wish of a lesser entity, they would need to give him something of equivalent value, within their realm of possibility.
All things were meant to be fair before him...
As for Undeniable Salvation... If he were to grant his benevolence, he demanded for its acceptance. His healing could not be denied, nor reversed. His judgement could not be dismissed. It would persist until success...
Grand power, sitting at the peak of Soul strength, he felt these skills even encroached upon power beyond the soul...
Laws...
The final few skills beyond these, that he felt were grossly powerful, were Primal Ignition and Architectural Anima Forgery...
Architectural Anima Forgery stemmed from Anaflandus passing down Monster Production to the four gods whilst he slumbered post Zenor.
Eltaras evolved this skill into the Soul skill, Sanguine Infernal Generation, following the demon path through his blood and fire affinity.
Joriah followed the same demon path, evolving it through her thread weaving, and her chaos and judgement affinities.
Ana'fae followed the life path, the heavenly path, evolving it through her verdant restoration, and psionic supremacy.
Kuta followed that same path, evolving it through his defensive framework, and his infinite ceiling.
Through all of this, when Jora assimilated their Soul skills into himself, the four variants melded into one. It created for a super Soul skill, allowing for the perfect creation of souls, and essences.
Biological and spiritual composition were burned into reality, forged from raw essence. Bloodline traits were easily engineered. Elemental affinities written into core attributes. The creations functioned on internal laws, judgement being embedded into their character. The ability to evolve unpredictably within controlled parameters. Their existence was fortified, the soul extremely powerful, extremely large, extremely malleable. Their restorative and generative abilities were incredible. Vast Health and Mana pools a natural inheritance, with regenerative evolution, far beyond that of the average organic life.
The skill had evolved from the production of life, to the weaving of existence, spirit. He could inlay power into a subject, power he did not even have, but he could imprint evolution paths that would guarantee the production of these abilities. He could engineer genetic lines, creating completely new creatures, ones that held depth.
Through that front, Anaflandus had already started her work. Countless creatures would soon sprout up within Aeternum, those with special power. The next generations would experience a massive explosion in power...
Already, Aeternum's average level was higher than Yara's, but soon, it would seem unattainable to the inhabitants of their home world.
Massive Mana pools, infinite Vitality, and Strength... The parameters for the ranks within Aeternum would differ from those in Yara, as they already did.
Average A-ranks within Aeternum could already rival the S-ranks of Yara, and soon, the trash of A-rank would equal the prodigious S-rankers...
One again, his strength had skyrocketed, and honestly, below the level of Law, he felt he was invincible.
And that was likely true...
Blurp.
His body stuttered, and his attention was pulled into his physical form.
He gained full control of his body once more, and he came to a screeching halt.
He felt the difference now.
He had officially exited the surface layer, and entered the deep dark...
Instantly, a smell touched his nose, and his perception reached its highest degree.
Time seemed to not move under his gaze, and he picked up so much speed, that he was able to match this enhanced perception with his body.
He turned to the side, glancing at the monster that had emerged from the massive cavernous corridor before him.
It was massive.
Powerful, he could feel.
His eyes squinted, and he used his psionic power to dig into the creatures existence, summoning a screen.
He nodded, slightly impressed.
The first demon he had ever encountered in Yara...
The first of his kind...
He stepped forward.
The creature was more powerful than the average of its level, he could see that. It had double the amount of Talents... As a monster, by S-rank, three Talents should have been acquired, two of them having been merged... This demon should have possessed only two Talents, but it had four...
And then, it did not utilize mana. It utilized the Chaos element... Interesting...
He nodded.
His hands were behind his back, and he patiently circled the beast.
It was a massive, abyssal, multi-limbed creature. It's maw was wide open, a glowing heat escaping from the depths of its gut... Small eyes dotted the thing that could be considered a face, just above its open jaw. There even seemed to be a maw within its maw, the anatomy of a devourer... Out of its body sprouted countless tendrils and tentacles, sharp and bladed, long and filled with strength.
Its skin was purple and red, saturated with blood.
It was carnage...
A predator...
A real demon...
Around it, the air was thick. Red dripped from all over. The crimson glare from its throat was really a tad bothersome. Its mouth would have induced a primal fear if it had encountered any other. Every part of its body was muscular... Violent.
He stopped right in front of its large head, staring into the mouth.
"You'll make a great addition to Hell... Maybe you can become a Demon Lord of some kind... Create a demon lineage separate from mine... I'm sure I'll find more demons down here to join you." Jora smiled, his gaze sharp.
The beast was still frozen in time...
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And then, the demon disappeared.
Wiped from Yara.
Never to return.
Jora strode past where it had been. He let his perception fall back into normal speed, matching the flow of time here in this world.
With zero effort, he too, vanished from his spot. No teleportation. No warping. He just moved forward. He didn't go full speed, he just moved.
He would reach the Abyss soon, and he was sure that he would have fun dealing with the SSS-ranks down there.
In truth, he wanted to split a piece of himself into Aeternum, to advance even further...
But his pride wanted there to be a challenge down below.
He wished for there to be something on his level.
He knew he would be able to overcome it no matter.
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