Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1984: Nature Herself

The roars of one beast after another formed an avalanche of might. Wills bombarded against bodies, slamming into hearts and shuddering what foundations and plumes of confidence they might have otherwise had.

The Spirits of the various Emperors were ripped out of their bodies, and just as they panicked, they found that the Spirits werenʼt rushing toward the Mancer Scape, but were instead rushing back to their mountains.

After spending so long fighting against the wave of pressure coming from their Spirits trying to select the next host, it was like they didnʼt even have the right to fight against this wave at all.

Without having to say a single word, Sylas had stripped them of those Spirits, a calmness in his eyes even as his face continued to pale.

It was just as Sylas had said. The limitations of his Rune Mastery werenʼt as easy to define anymore, not when he knew exactly how to use Fathomless Rune Creation.

If he wasnʼt robust enough to forge a formation with his Will alone...

Then he would just use another catalyst to make it work.

A pillar of light erupted from the Serpentes Lineage Mountain, and then from the Ape Lineage Mountain, and then the Whale Lineage Mountain.

They soared, forming a new main three that rocked the skies...

And then came the others.

Before the formation even fully formed, the first of the meteors that met it crumbled to ash.

No, they didnʼt even directly meet the formation at all. Instead, they crumbled long before they touched it.

Riqo and Ziel both stood to their feet, their eyes going wide.

What was going on? What the hell was going on?

As panicked as they felt, all they could do was watch. The overwhelming power radiating from the Sanctum made even their blood run cold.

It was like they were no longer looking at a power merely at the Mortal Realms any longer...

This was the power of a Demi-God.

It only leaked out in small portions, but those slivers of Demi-God aura were enough to change everything. It crumbled Mortal Will, crushing the meteors long before they descended.

The Spirits of The Sanctumʼs Ancestors rose from the mountains they stood above.

An Ape with fur as black as an abyss and eyes as crimson as a furiously burning red giant star. It stood tall, its arms sinking down to its knees with a withheld strength that pulled against the soul. There was something about looking at it that felt like one was gazing into the maw of chaos itself, as though it was just a single moment, just a single trigger away from erupting with a power that couldnʼt be denied.

A Serpent with scales that reflected beautiful rainbow colors, each one housing a hidden world, a reflection of Will that extended beyond itself alone. On its forehead and skull lay an immature crown of bones, nubs protruding with a hidden pulsing power that could strip your soul away with but a glance.

A Whale with a body of blue and fins of long, flowing silk. The creature was even more beautiful than the Serpent. There was a peace in its gaze that came from assurance, of Pride, of control. With its tail swayed, large swaths of space moved at its beck and call. As large as the creature was, its imprint on the Mesh of Reality was even larger... almost as though it hoped to one day rival the World Serpent as the largest beast there was.

A pillar formed within each one of their bodies, extending and growing until it enveloped them. The pillar pierced through the ground and toward the Core of the World, its other end extended toward the skies until they stood even taller than the starry skies above.

The bodies of the Spirits dissipated into these pillars that rose from their Lineage Mountains, images and beauty etching across their surface until all one could feel was their Will and their Will alone.

Staring at any one of them would have felt like staring into the maw of an impossible to scale mountain, an abyss with no real depth, a star with endless potential to burn.

One after another, the Spirits rose from their mountains and pillars formed around them.

Those watching were so enamored by what they were seeing that they had hardly noticed that the meteors no longer fell, each one burning away long before they could even touch the barrier.

The pillars rose into the skies as though to hold them up. Clouds passed through their bodies but somehow seemed smaller and far more delicate than what they represented.

As the last of the pillars rose, what they sensed the most intimately wasnʼt power...

It was beauty.

It was an odd feeling, especially after the deluge of Wills they had just weathered through. But they didnʼt feel the oppressive might of the Ape, the quiet arrogance of the Whale, or even the piercing Charisma of the Serpent.

All they felt was that... nature was truly beautiful.

It was a formation that went beyond just the strength it could demonstrate. It was a formation that went past what craftsmen could make with their hands, what blacksmiths could purify in their forge, or what alchemists could distill in their vials.

It was a formation that went beyond the limits of man and woman, of beast and circumstance.

It was a formation that stepped into the Realms of not just what Gods could create...

But what Nature Herself could.

WHOOSH.

Large amounts of Aether swirled up from the depths of Planet Sanctum. The doors of the temple slammed open, portions of Quasi Demi-God Aether surging into being and wrapping around each one of the pillars as though to assign them greater strength, greater power.

And all the while, a harmonious note played in the hearts of those who laid eyes on it, a note that made one truly feel nothing but peace and prosperity.

And then the formation, a dome of beautiful pale gold, solidified.