Neither Seris nor Zeth could understand what they were feeling and seeing right now.
For Zeth, a being from a race known as the Anti, he had numerous strands of races always fighting through his bodyâfaint dragon bloodlines, voidborn fragments, phoenix, and more... countless lineages clashing inside his flesh like warring kingdoms trapped in one vessel.
For them it was a problem to attain too many because it would cause more problems than it would do goodâinternal wars that eroded his control, weakened his foundation, and threatened to tear him apart from within.
However, the moment the Primavus blood assimilated into his body... it was just a small strand. Usually, not enough to even consider him a halfling. Yet this tiny fragment began to devour all his bloodlinesâfrom the many strands waging against each other to the mythic-ranked lineage at his core.
In an instant, everything was consumedâdragon roars silenced, voidborn hunger starved, phoenix flames snuffed outâleaving only the Primavus essence to rise from the ashes of his former self.
The Primavus bloodline, a paragon-ranked power built on the hinges of evolution, remained potent even as a small strand. From all the bloodlines in Zethâs body, it was made anewâreforged in the furnace of his own devoured existence.
And before Seris stood Zeth... not the Anti anymore, but the Primavus.
"What power..." Zeth muttered in shock as his own change shook his worldview a bit. But feeling the intensity of such power... his mindset changed.
âIf such beings are right before me... I say screw this damned game.â He thought as he licked his lips while watching Seris whoâd been frowning.
Her frown soon turned into a look of scorn and disrespect.
"To think you had the audacity..." Her words trailed off at the ending... because she didnât know what had just happened.
While their summons continued to clash all around them... it was obvious hers were beginning to fall on the losing endâreplicas tearing through originals, numbers dwindling, the air thick with the scent of blood and ozone as bodies fell in heaps.
She no longer waited and acted.
She activated the Law of Command and Summons again...
The moment she did new summons began to rise from the dead participants that were aroundâfallen bodies twitching, rising in pale rose-pink light, eyes glowing with Primavus fireâand her summons all began to move in a more coordinated manner, formations tightening, strikes synchronized like a single living organism.
The battlefield shifted as Zeth found himself trapped in a quagmire of foes and allies.
Serisâs summons moved their battles and fought in such a manner that Zeth was being attacked and disengaged from all sorts of waysâflanking strikes from above, pincer movements from the sides, feints that drew him in only to punish with overwhelming numbers.
Then in front of her appeared an artifact sheâd gotten from her Nexus long ago.
The Crimson Strategist Veil was a translucent crimson veil that shimmered like liquid blood under moonlight, edges frayed with faint rose-pink threads that moved independently as though alive.
When Seris draped it over her shoulders, the veil expanded outwardâflowing like silk caught in windâwrapping around her in a semi-transparent shroud that pulsed with strategic runes.
The artifact enhanced multi-front commands: every summon under her control gained perfect battlefield awareness, reacting to threats from all directions simultaneously, their movements flowing as one unified mind.
The veilâs threads stretched like living nerves, linking each summon to Serisâs will and letting her fire off hundreds of commands in an instant, transforming chaos into perfect order.
Zeth found himself in a tight position as he was finding it hard to adjust to his new body, his new power and race.
However, the more he was attacked the more he fought the human adaptation of the Primavus began to allow him to become more solidified and sturdierâskin hardening, muscles coiling with newfound strength, wounds closing faster with each strike he endured.
As he dodged and maneuvered around his eyes lost track of Seris whoâd already moved.
She masked her presence with her summons and flanked from behind slipping through the chaos of clashing bodies, footsteps silent on the blood-soaked ground.
Then she activated multiple Laws before activating a Calamity Law.
|Law of Blood|
|Law of Ash|
|Law of Damage|
|Law of Unity|
HUMMMM!
These laws immediately began to work as chains of pure ash formed and began to lash out at Zethâwrithing tendrils of gray-black ash that hardened on contact, wrapping around limbs and tightening with crushing force.
Blood caused his adaptation to slow, his movements to become clunkierâveins darkening, joints stiffening as crimson energy seeped into his stolen Primavus essence.
Damage increased the power of any attack he receivedâevery strike landing harder, wounds opening wider, pain amplified tenfold.
Unity... it made each attack feel as if all her summons attacked at onceâthousands of phantom blows echoing through every hit, the weight of an army behind each swing.
|Calamity Law - Law of Ashen Unity|
The wounds that were slowly healing on Serisâs body shot out with thousands of smaller threads latching onto any blood in the surrounding 6 million kilometersâthin crimson strands snaking through the air like living veins, pulling vitality back into her in shimmering red wisps.
The moment it did her regeneration returned to its normal stateâcuts sealing, bruises fading, strength surging back in waves of rose-pink light.
The threads began to multiply rapidly until the battlefield surrounding Seris and Zeth looked like a maze of solidified blood.
FWOOOM!!!!
In the next heartbeat each thread erupted into a blazing, pink-tinted flame.... igniting the maze in a roaring inferno that lit the sky crimson.
SHK!
SHK!
SHK!
Thousands of Flamed Ash Daggers formed and began shooting at Zeth from all sorts of directions... each dagger a razor-thin blade of solidified blood wreathed in pink fire, trailing smoke and ash as they flew in coordinated waves.
The moment his blood was spilled a thread latched onto it and set ablazeâflames racing up the wound, burning from the inside out.
A bloody dagger appeared overhead not even a moment later. It was massive, glowing, and pulsing with the power of Serisâs Calamity Law. It dematerialized by the second... in just 15 seconds 1/4th of it was gone and Zeth paled instantly.
Seris smiled coldly as she pressed forwardâtwin daggers gleaming in her hands, eyes burning with Primavus fire.
-----
Time flew by as battles raged around the stronghold of the Myriad Sect of Races. After hours of fighting, some warriors were running low on mana and the tide began to shift, while others were only just hitting their stride.
As the final clashes seemed to unfold, Sunya and Jester kept a close watch.
They could hardly believe their eyesânever in the history of the Conclave had eight ranked sects laid siege to a single one.
It was downright ridiculous, and even more surprising was that the Originats were not just holding their own, but possibly dominating outright.
Sunyaâs eyes shifted from Seris battle as she watched Vaeloria and Nia simultaneously.
"These two... theyâre different from the rest," she observed, puzzled. They were all powerful, no doubt, but with these two, it felt like there was something else entirely driving them.
And she wasnât wrong in that belief.
Nia and Vaeloria could easily be seen as the strongest among the companions, even at the same rank. It wasnât due to any favoritism, but simply because of who they were. Vaeloria was a monsterâborn as one and having spent a long life being nothing less.
Now that she had unlocked Stage 1 of Sword Aura along with the Laws of Sword, Precision, Deception, and more, she easily overwhelmed anyone below the Eighth Calamity rank. Sunya watched as Vaeloria, having long since dispatched her opponent, turned her attention to the rest of their group.
She cut through them effortlessly, her unmanifested Sword Aura lending deadly power to every strikeâblades slicing through armor, flesh, and aura in clean, precise arcs, leaving behind silver trails and severed limbs.
Nia on the other hand she couldnât be considered someone born a monster by any means.
She was definitely a bit crazyâsomething she might have picked up from Ash himself. In battle, she devoted herself entirely to pure Destruction. Unlike the others, she didnât bother learning countless laws; instead, she mastered just a few.
With the Laws of Destruction, Fire, Stellar, and Blood, she reigned supreme.
Her flames always held the power to devour and assimilate, and whenever she faced another fire wielder, they would evolveâburning hotter, darker, and more vicious with every clash. She drew in ambient energy through the mark on her forehead, releasing devastating strikes her opponents couldnât withstand.
With such an ability, she felt little need to master too many lawsâthough it was just one more edge she carried into battle.
It was almost absurd that it could still grant her power at all.
The physique sheâd gained from Ash long ago on Elarisâthe Ash-Bound Singularity Heartâwas only ranked SS, yet its concept shone brilliantly even on a stage like this.
The deeper her obsession with Ash, the stronger her power became. And while all his women loved him dearly, Nia was undoubtedly at the very top.
Every heartbeat, all light within her mana sense spanning eight million kilometers was drawn into her sun mark, transforming her flames into obsidian fireâblack flames that consumed light, heat, mana, and life itself, leaving behind only cold ash and silence.
It was strange, since a power like that shouldnât be able to harm anyone in the Calamity rank...
Imagine an SS rank ability damaging someone far beyond that?
Yet thatâs how intense her obsession with Ash was.
Jester and Sunya looked on as she reduced a sixth Calamity woman to nothing before diving into defense alongside Vaeloria.