It was a wondrous thing to be capable of.
Even as he said it aloud, Achilles could feel the seas of his Assimilations being drawn in, converging, compressed by the Adrastia Imperium Vitae Ascension Codex.
Around these sa seas, the Heart of Thalassara pulsed and buzzed, pleading with him, begging to be opened fully… to let the powerful mories of this ancient lineage finally flow free.
He did not need this Lineage.
The Adrastia Emperor King Lineage trumped everything else as this did not affect him.
But others...
Rose was watching him with a steady, serious gaze as she let out a slow breath.
"If you do this… there really won't be any turning back. King Primal, Adrastia Emperor King…they wont just be titles as you might actually have to start living like one. Are you ready?"
Her words hung in the air.
He pondered only briefly, and then smiled- thinking of his grandfather. That stern, commanding man who wasn't afraid to speak his mind, whether with pride or disappointnt. A man who talked about legacy and power like they were birthrights and who spoke of Achilles with that sa unshakable conviction.
He'd been different from Achilles' father in so many ways… but his eyes- they had burned with ambition. With a kind of strength Achilles couldn't help but want to emulate.
And he was learning how to be a King, so...
"It's already in my na," Achilles whispered. "So I might as well start living it."
Adrastia.
Emperor King!
A title that carried responsibilities, expectations, and capabilities so vast that even the oldest drears couldn't fathom them.
As rivers of starlight flooded into his body, absorbed by the heat of his burning blood, he inhaled deeply and let his voice rise. And it wasn't just his voice. It was sothing more. Sothing older. Sothing anchored in lineage.
Ever since the mont his heart had pulsed like a drum—its beat stretching across the Kingdom of Neon- he had known. He could call upon that resonance any ti he wished. It was power woven into his blood. And now, as he spoke, it wasn't just speech.
It was proclamation.
His voice thundered across the floating kingdom like rolling tides.
[I, King Primal, was born a human… and remain one still.]
BOOM.
The declaration echoed like it had been carved into the very air. Majestic. Regal. Shocking even to him. The weight of royalty laced every word.
—
In the Kingdom of Neon…
An old woman leaned on a cane, her breath catching. She had been the one humming that strange hymn- a lody that had sohow spread across the city before she even knew the words.
Now, she stood in awe.
The crystalline tower at Neon's center shimred like a spire of stardust, rivers of stars flowing down its surface. Around it, the night had fallen, sudden and surreal. Brilliant waves of blue light spread like a tide across the horizon, and she turned toward the slums.
And there- floating in the air- were pools of water. Vibrant. Glowing. Suspended in space like liquid gemstones.
Any sane person would question the sight. Floating pools of water?
And yet their entire city floated in the sky. So maybe it wasn't so strange after all.
All around her, the people of the slums stared in stunned silence. So began filming with their mobile devices. Others could only gape at the shimr of impossibility unfolding around them.
And then… the voice returned.
[I, King Primal, was born a human, and continue to be so now.]
[As I gain more power, I learn things I never imagined before. And today, I want to share sothing else I've discovered. The pools you see around you hold an inheritance-one tied to a lineage beloved by the sea. If you enter one, you will be baptized and awakened as an Advanced Human. You will receive the inheritance of the Thalassarians- those born of water. Use them… or not. They will always be there.]
…!
Each word rang clearly in their ears-articulated with terrifying clarity.
The old woman trembled.
She looked at a pool of water floating just feet from her. Could entering it really make her… an Advanced Human?
She was in her seventies. That kind of thing was impossible.
And yet…
So many impossible things had already happened.
PA!
She began to walk. Her cane tapped steadily as she made her way to the pool. She didn't hesitate. She didn't question.
She stood below the brilliant water, raised her chin, and leaned on her cane.
The water responded.
Tendrils of liquid reached down- first touching her cane, then wrapping gently around her wrist, and then her body. She was pulled in.
Not with violence. Not with force. But with reverence.
The first to touch a Sacred Pool of Thalassara.
Her breath never caught. There was no panic. No drowning.
Only… serenity.
She felt energy flood her body. Warm. Inviting. It wrapped around her like the arms of the sea itself.
And then many watched.
Every wrinkle on her skin began to fade. Her hunched posture straightened. Bones cracked, then reford. Her sagging muscles fird. Her silver hair darkened into a deep, oceanic blue.
Her skin turned radiant, glowing with health and power.
Her eyes opened- now glimring with bioluminescent blue light.
And on her feet…pairs of wings of water ford. Elegant. Glowing.
Her body was no longer old. No longer frail.
She looked thirty. Maybe forty. And she radiated power.
On her skin, glowing tattoos appeared- waves and tides inscribed in symbols that pulsed with energy.
Gasps filled the air.
The first Thalassarian… had just been born.
And being the first would co with its own unimaginable blessings.
She felt it the mont the wings finished forming.
She belonged.
She breathed in the sacred water, not like a human gasping for air- but like a soul drinking in ho.
And then...
SAA!
Her figure burst from the pool, wings slicing through the air as she shot upward, soaring into the skies of Neon.
A miracle made real!
And high above, through a security cara, an Androda Sentinel captured every mont.
It transmitted the footage to screens across Neon. Across the world.
They watched her. Watched her transformation. Watched her fly.
An old woman… reborn. Alive again. Ascended as a Thalassarian!
Her hands reached toward the sea of light now floating above Neon.
No one had words.
Inside the distant Lunar Dreadnought, Dr. Shaw stood silent, eyes fixed on the broadcast. He issued quiet commands to the Sentinels, ordering them to display every new transformation.
Around him, others watched in awe.
Luna dropped to her knees, tears in her eyes.
Nyxaria Moonveil Lunaris, Major David, Eloise… they couldn't speak.
They couldn't understand.
Because none of them had ever seen anything like this.
What the hell was even happening?!
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