Hours passed before Ery finally surfaced from the heavy darkness that pressed against his consciousness.
Awareness did not return all at once. It crept back in fragnts-dull pain in his limbs, the slow rhythm of his own breath echoing in an enclosed space.
When he opened his eyes, dim light greeted him, flickering across walls carved from dense black alloy stone.
He was seated against the wall.
His wrists and ankles were bound by slender restraints, yet the mont he tried to circulate even a thread of spirit force, the bindings tightened, releasing a low hum that disrupted his ridians.
He closed his eyes and extended his divine sense cautiously.
It pushed outward and imdiately encountered resistance.
The entire chamber was wrapped in multiple restriction formations. Anti-teleportation scals. Spatial compression grids. Spirit-nullifying barriers. The level of preparation was ticulous.
Beyond the chamber walls, he sensed movent.
Guards stood at asured intervals, their auras disciplined and controlled. The insignia on their uniforms was unmistakable-crossed blades balanced over scales.
Magus Alliance Justice Departnt.
Not Astiel.
Not the Papal Church.
That fact alone shifted sothing inside him. This was the best outco he could realistically expect. Had the Astiel retained custody, execution would have been imdiate. Had the Church claid him, he would likely be undergoing forced purification rather than formal detention.
He exhaled slowly.
He was prepared to face whatever charges were coming.
But the thought that refused to settle was not his own fate.
Klea.
Was she safe?
The last image burned in his mind-her trembling in Jinkan's arms, murmuring his na as blood stained her lips.
He tested the chamber again, searching for any opening.
The suppression grid prevented ssage transmission. His Khaos Gate remained sealed, its connection dampened by the layered restrictions. With his both avatars remain in his domain, there was nothing he could do.
Waiting idly would only deepen the anxiety.
So instead, he turned inward.
The assessnt was sobering.
His breakthrough had failed catastrophically. The three sublayers of his Second Cosmos foundation had collapsed when the tribulation backlash converged with divine interference. Though his core realm still registered as Two Cosmos, its structure was fractured and unstable.
In practical terms, his current combat strength had fallen to peak One Cosmos. Rebuilding the lost layer would not be simple. Stabilization alone would take months. Full restoration could require years. So grand magus who suffered comparable backlash required decades to recover fully.
So never did.
He did not flinch at the thought.
He probed deeper, entering his spiritual sea.
There, sothing steadied him.
The six-tier pagoda stood tall and unshaken.
Its prismatic layers glead with reinforced stability. Despite the collapse of
his cultivation layer, his ntal fortress had endured the divine assault and
chaotic eruption.
Level Six Spirit Master.
Only one threshold separated him from Spirit Champion-a stage of soul authority comparable to supre beings.
Another piece of good news awaited him inside his domain.
Twik.
His little companion had finally regained a body-and more than that, he had evolved.
Ery projected his consciousness inward and appeared near the pool beneath the Elysian tree. The land was still scarred from the recent rampage, but beside the shimring water a small figure wobbled clumsily on unsteady limbs.
"ku.. ku..."
Twik's body was different now. No longer a fragile sprout, he had a denser bark-like fra with faint veins of green-gold light pulsing beneath the surface. Small leaf-like protrusions grew along his back, and a subtle divine aura
surrounded him.
He stumbled forward and chirped softly.
With VIA's assistance, Ery gathered the information.
[Flora Colosi - Stage 10]
[Divine Creature - Level 1]
Ery's eyes widened slightly.
Twik had advanced two stages and entered the divine category, placing him on the sa tier of existence as minor godly beasts. With ti, he could easily
reach grand magus-level strength.
However, the evolution ca with a cost.
Twik's intelligence had regressed. The sharp awareness he once displayed was gone, replaced by infant-like curiosity. He could no longer communicate clearly, yet his attachnt to Ery had grown stronger than ever. The small creature pressed against him, radiating gentle waves of nature energy. Ery let him wander and shifted his attention to the state of his domain.
The devastation was extensive. The dark mountain had been shattered, forests uprooted, and large areas scarred by chaotic energy. Reshaping terrain would not be difficult, but restoring lives was another matter.
More than two hundred dark ore warriors had perished. Three dozen Chizpurs were gone. Countless beasts and plants had been destroyed.
The weight of that loss pressed heavily on him.
Perhaps it was ti to consider relocating them outside his domain. As long as this world was tied directly to his soul, any future loss of control would
endanger them again.
Yet the catastrophe had also strengthened many survivors. The sudden growth
of the Elysian tree, empowered by Gaia's influence, had elevated nurous Chizpurs to legendary levels. Among the dark orcs, more than a dozen had
advanced to champion tiers.
Durak had grown the most.
The dark orc chief knelt before Ery, his aura now approaching the threshold
of a grand magus in raw physical strength.
"Durak... Accept punishnt," the muscular ore said, head lowered.
Ery studied him quietly.
The frenzy had not been simple weakness. The eclipse and the surge of primal
aura had pushed the dark orcs beyond restraint.
"It was not your fault," Ery replied. "The fault was mine."
Durak remained kneeling, but his tension eased slightly.
"You will rebuild," Ery continued. "Strengthen your people"
Durak bowed deeply in acceptance.
After tending to the wounded and stabilizing the land as best he could, Ery
traveled to the northern island.
The star devouring beast lay there, no longer chained, no longer purely spectral. Its form had partially solidified, crimson runes faintly glowing across
its dark body. Its aura felt sharper, more savage than before.
Outside his domain, his bloodline had also changed.
[Royal Fey Gene Essence - 72%]
The eclipse and the manifestation of the godly wolf had clearly influenced both
his beast and his lineage.
His instincts were sharper, his connection to primal forces deeper.
The eclipse... the wolf god... the beast.
Ery sensed a connection he did not yet understand.
There was resonance-sothing between celestial alignnt and ancient
lineage.
If he could uncover that connection, his path forward might beco clearer.
As that thought ford, a fragnt of mory flashed through his mind.
The towering godly wolf silhouette beneath a sky. Words ancient, incomprehensible-echoing in a language he could not grasp.
The image vanished as quickly as it ca.
Yet the effect was imdiate.
The beast before him stirred.
Crimson runes flared brighter, its aura surging in response to that fleeting
mory. The air distorted around it as chaotic energy began to ripple outward.
Ery imdiately suppressed his thoughts and stabilized his ntal state.
Not again.
He could not allow another surge of chaos to destabilize the domain.
Gradually, the beast settled, the runes dimming back to a faint glow.
That reaction confird sothing important.
There was sothing embedded within this newly ford beast-sothing tied to that wolf god and to whatever had been awakened during the eclipse.
Ery narrowed his gaze.
He extended his divine sense carefully, layer by layer, probing beneath the beast's outer aura. What he found surprised him.
Deep within its core lay a structure not born of chaos alone.
It was orderly.
Ancient.
"This is... the power of law," he realized softly.
It was not complete, nor fully ford, but it existed-woven into the beast's
evolving essence. And beneath that, there was sothing else. Sothing he could not fully comprehend. A fragnt of a greater principle perhaps, or an inheritance left behind by the wolf god's descent.
He withdrew his divine sense before pushing too far.
Over the next few days, Ery devoted himself to studying the patterns within
the beast, mapping the crimson runes and their interaction with the power of law. He did not dare trigger another resonance, but he observed enough to understand that this transformation was not rely a boost in strength.
Then, without warning, his awareness in the outside world stirred. Soone had visited his cell. Ery opened his eyes and saw Jinkan
Her expression was composed, but there was tension beneath it.
"Ery," Jinkan said calmly, though her tone carried weight. "A preliminary
hearing has already been conducted for your case."
She paused.
"It is not favorable."
User Comments
0 comments from readers