Divine Ascension

"I... won..."

Aerion dropped to the ground from exhaustion and his new wounds. The Soul Shattering Slash went through the Thunderous Tiger Slash and directly burned the elder's soul. All that was left of him was the body... a hollow husk, one could say. Meanwhile, Aerion was struck by the Thunderous Tiger Slash which almost succeeded in killing him.

The White Tiger slowly approached Aerion. Upon further inspection of the silver-haired youth, it nodded. "Truly a heaven-defying child..."

~

Aerion opened his eye in the middle of the night. He felt it... the Divine Origin Realm... he broke through! The first thing he noticed was the calling of the 'Superior World'... yes, the Realm of the Gods was calling for him. But he ignored it, for now.

"Finally... the Divine Origin Realm!" Aerion exclaimed out loud, he couldn't care less who had heard his words. He was the Celestial Dragon Emperor of the Blue Pole Star, after all. He left his room in the Blue Wind Imperial Palace and flew into the skies, free as a dragon.

Now I can get that Netherworld Udumbara Flower... along with the Darkness seed.

Aerion opened a portal to the bottom of the Cloud's End Cliff and appeared there in a few seconds. The place sure was sinister and menacing... but Aerion didn't pay much attention to that. His main goal was to snatch one of the Netherworld Udumbara Flowers along with the Darkness Seed and open a portal back up. Since there was a whole garden, Aerion picked the closest flower.

ROAAAR.

A profound beast charged him, Aerion jumped up and evaded its charge. With a Mighty Wind Slash, he instantly killed the beast. Aerion looked around and found the little girl behind him.

"You don't mind if I take this one flower?"

There was no answer but it looked like she didn't mind, she even gave something to him. A small, black, bead... Aerion accepted the gift, noticing that it was in fact the Darkness Seed!

"Thank you."

The girl summoned Little Rhae from his hand, Aerion looked puzzled. Then they started crying together which didn't help his confusion at all.

Do they... know each other?

Even though Aerion had a few questions, he didn't disturb them. He walked away from the garden and moved further into the darkness. "I gathered everything you need to reconstruct your body at last... now all I need to do is erase the poison using my eyes."

"Hmph, you actually did it... but how are you going to get out?"

"My World Teleportation Portal, of course."

"I see. Now that you are in the Divine Origin Realm, I have no doubts your ambition will lead you to the Realm of the Gods." Jasmine sighed. "Your numerous legacies, dragon scales, absurd battle power... even your so-called charm will bring unwanted attention. Aerion... you absolutely must not be careless!"

"I will try my best."

"Hmph. Even I..." Jasmine stopped for a moment, she looked rather mellow.

"What?"

"Even I would bring trouble to you... therefore, when you leave for the Realm of Gods, we must part ways."

Aerion nodded. "I understand."

Of course, I'll see her again... when I gain the qualifications to do so. The Star God Realm is probably far from ordinary so it will take a while. There's still no need for me to be all depressed. "But I won't be leaving for the Realm of Gods anytime soon since I still have many matters to settle."

A lot of marriages, that's for sure. Then there's that ice king and his army...

"I'm willing to stay by your side until you do."

"That's great to hear..."

ROAAAR.

There are more beasts around here, outside the garden... that's to be expected!

A Thousand Cuts.

Slash...

Five Divine Origin Realm beasts dropped to the ground like flies. Aerion turned around to take Little Rhae with him and leave the hole. He saw a Divine Spirit Realm beast so he wasn't willing to push his luck any further. He was lucky to receive the Netherworld Udumbara Flower and Darkness Seed without dying so this small journey was already a huge success.

"Big Brother Aerion, hm, why did you leave me?"

"It looked like an emotional moment for you two... guess it's over, why were you crying, anyway?"

"I don't know..."

If only she had her memory... this would be so much easier.

Aerion sighed, the girl probably meant something to the Heretic God for him to leave the Darkness Seed with her. And there was clearly some sort of connection between Little Rhae and the girl but Aerion couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Anyway, I believe it's time we leave this place."

"Okay."

Little Rhae returned to his Sky Poison Pearl and he tried to fly out of the hole without the World Teleportation Portal. However, the suction force sent him flying back down. Then he had an idea.

Maybe I should take the Darkness Seed first... hmm, there's no harm in trying.

Aerion consumed the Darkness Seed and focused on absorbing as much of its power as possible. The breakthroughs started rolling in after a few seconds...

Divine Origin two... three... four... five!

I am even more powerful now. You have my eternal and undying gratitude, Heretic God!

Aerion tried to fly up again and, this time, it worked. The suction force no longer dared to push him back down, instead it bowed its head and let him through. Aerion could slowly see light again... after some time, he reached the top and sat down on the cliff.

"Looks like I didn't have to use the portal to get out of this hole, after all. Jasmine, how long would it take for you to reconstruct your body?"

"A week or so."

"Alright, let's begin that process. I have gathered everything already... which only leaves the pesky poison which is yet to be cured."

Aerion used Izanagi on his other eye to reject Jasmine's poison which made his eye turn blind once again. Now he was blind in both eyes for a few days... a small sacrifice, he was used to it. Then he laid down to take a good old nap.

"It looks like that one habit of yours will never change." Jasmine played with his soft hair for a little, before taking the materials and starting the process.

~

Aerion opened his eyes, at last, he yawned and sat up. He noticed that Jasmine stood in front of him but something was different about her. She was no longer a spirit... this was her physical body! Aerion smiled. "Looks like I overslept a little."

"A little? You took ten days! I had to wait a whole three days for you to wake up."

"I simply had a wonderful dream, that is all. Anyway, I'm glad that you are no longer a spirit. However, I can no longer hide you in the Sky Poison Pearl which is troubling indeed."

"Troubling?"

"Hmm... how should I say this..."

"Hmph, you don't need to explain anything to your women... I am your master and that is all."

"I don't know, the lines are getting a bit blurry." Aerion laughed.

"You..." Jasmine changed the subject. "You don't plan to stay on this Azure Cloud Continent forever, do you?"

"No, not at all. This continent doesn't mean much to me compared to the other two. Hmm, with your new power... could you take me to the Profound Sky Continent?"

"It should only take a few steps... but you have to give me your hand."

"Alright, sounds simple enough."

~

The Dragon's Palace.

Jasmine had left him to fly around on her own which Aerion didn't mind at all.

Aerion calmly walked around the rather empty halls. There were no sounds of the Dragonsguard intensely sparring each other... in fact, the entire Palace was extremely silent except for a few servants. Aerion sighed... then the doors behind him burst open as a little child ran as quickly as he could from the 'evil' people chasing him. Aerion frowned, since when was Aurion strong enough to open doors on his own?

"Father... help... help!"

Aerion chuckled as he stopped Aurion in his tracks and lifted him up. "It must be quite boring without any other children to play with, right?"

"Yes..."

"Hmm."

Don't worry, little guy, you'll have a few siblings sooner or later...

Aerion decided to spend some time with Aurion, mainly to drain him of his seemingly endless energy. So he had taken him outside of the City and watched him run about. Once he was tired, Aerion brought him back to the Palace. Now he was free again... so he did what he had planned previously and it was a matter relating to Izanami.

Aerion took a deep breath and knocked on the door. Being the Celestial Dragon Emperor, there was no need for him to knock on any door since his mere presence could only be considered as a blessing from the heavens. But he was being a gentleman, nonetheless.

"Who is it?"

"Hmm... would you like me to recite all of my titles? Let's see here..." Aerion joked.

"Just come in already."

Aerion opened the door and closed it when he entered her room.

"What is it?" She asked, rather coldly.

"I was thinking about something..."

Izanami's beautiful eyes brightened as Aerion approached closer. Aerion took another deep breath.

"Izanami... will you marry me?"

"Of course..." She hugged him, rather tightly. "I thought you would never ask... but you finally did..."

A few tears of joy dropped.

Aerion smiled, he always loved Izanami... she was his first love, in fact. And now that he stands on top of the entire Blue Pole Star (excluding Azure Cloud Continent, for now) as the Celestial Dragon Emperor and the world's one true Overlord, there was no better time to get married!