Of Gods and Insectoids (Part 2)

Inside of the mass of light, Rowan was taking the ultimate step in his own cultivation journey. The moment he absorbed the other components into himself, his body began to bubble and go through changes in the same instant. He coughed up blood as his own soul force rampaged through his body as he used soul manipulation to fuse all the aspects of himself. Akari had given him the final piece to the puzzle by reminding them of that day on top of the Raid tower. Rowan roared to the skys and massive clouds began to form, but this time, they were not of his own making. Rowan Raid was outside of the Ark and he was calling down genuine heavenly sin.

The spider queen, on the other hand and screeched in rage and opened her mouth, releasing millions of spiders that all released golden threads that shot towards Rowan and the light like a tidal wave. It looked like a tsunami made of gold was trying to swallow the world. Rowan was oblivious to this while Wreathe was prepared. She took the scissors in both hands and spread the blades while frost began to pour from the weapon. Finally Ice formed and burst and kept growing on the scissors until Wreathe was holding a pair of massive ice scissors with her golden ones at the core of it. She looked at the spider queen and smiled. "Large Snip."

The snip was Wreathe's personally created cutting spells that went with her unique weapon and the words were like a catalyst as beautiful lighting shot through the ice until the whole thing became a massive golden scissor. She snipped a single time, but the space between the blades was sliced so thin that it could not even be seen if not for the ripple of black that saluted in the wake of the fearsome weapon. The scissors met the golden wave of thread and as the two forces of mana collided; the world shook. Wreathe tapped the handle on the scissors that were clashing with the sea of string and suddenly they snapped close and shredded the attack like it was paper mache. All parties looked at each other and engaged in a fierce battle, buying Rowan more time to continue his journey.

Empry on the other hand stood not far from all of this watching Rowan with his eyes peeled, earlier he had not intervened because who knew better than him what it took for a true expert to grow and Rowan would need a whetstone if he completed this and what could be better than the two strongest primordials of the insectoids. He had resigned himself though at this stage if, for some reason, they were able to make it past Wreathe and her guardian in a short amount of time, he would personally protect Rowan so he could take the final step. All of a sudden, things changed once more as the storm above Rowan had finally finished gathering power.

A rainbow lightning bolt that carried the might of a full force attack of a primordial rumbled towards him. At the same time his aspects finally gave in and had begun the fusion but he was not aware of his surroundings thanks to the blinding light caused by the combination so by the time he finally looked up the bolt of heavenly sin was already inches from striking him. He tried to brace himself with mana and the remains of his mech, but it was futile. His mech was sliced through like a knife through hot butter, destroying its functionality and any hope of it defending him. The layers of mana he tried to use to defend himself fared no better as they popped like a balloon. The bolt struck his chest and sent him hurling downwards through space.

He had managed to erect one final defense right over his heart. He had left the sword made from the insectoid world in its jewel form. The heavenly sin slammed into it and it proved the best defense possible. Rowan used soul manipulation to speed up the process while at the same time he siphoned the heavenly sin into the gem as well, slowly weakening the bolt. Finally, the gem absorbed all it could, and he was forced to take the brunt of what was left with his body. He roared and threw a punch at the bolt, shattering its remains and washing his body in pure soul force. The sin mark was about to etch itself on him when he scoffed and looked upwards, using soul manipulation to shatter the mark before it could form. Heavenly sin represented the will of the universe itself and, facing Rowan's rejection, it too grew angry.

The heavenly sin storm rumbled and released a phoenix made of pure lighting that let out a mighty call that shook the bloodlines of everyone present as it made its way towards Rowan. Rowan summoned all of his power and gathered it in his fist. His soul force bubbled out of him and was a reddish color before that faded and it became a cyan color and then purple specks of light could be seen in it right. As the bird reached, him, he slammed his fist forward. The two collided, and the space crackled like a pan of bacon. Rowan roared in the phoenixes face but alas this was past a level the current him could handle. The phoenix slammed into his chest and he could smell himself start to roast alive as the lightning of heavenly sin ravaged his body.

The two collided with an asteroid and came to a thudding stop that sounded like someone spitting from a tall building and it hitting the pavement as his charred body lay there broken. The spider queen's eyes went wide as the smile on her face made her delight evident. "How brazen. He attempted to hurdle several cultivation levels and step into the ranks of primordials. This is what is to be expected. Even your father had to climb up from the bottom." Wreathe grimaced as she looked downwards where Rowan's charred body lay. Over the years, while the Ark was unified, there was of course, those that had turned traitor and in turn the Ark was surely less secretive than it once was, which allowed someone like the spider queen to know about Regius' cultivation journey. Wreathe could only shake her head as she prepared to leave. Rowan Raid had failed to overcome a tribulation of Heavenly sin and was dead. She could at least save the dragon and make her escape. She was, in fact, powerful, but shattering two of the spider queen's most powerful attacks had made it so that even she was feeling the drain on her mana. Her heavenly wolf bloodline was the only reason she had held on this long.

Right as she was about to leave, the scent of blood assaulted the battlefield as a projection made of blood began to form in the sky next to Rowan. "How did I know that you would go and do something stupid? Well, since I, for one, have no desire to be a widow, it's good I planned for your stupidity Rowan Raid." A spectral image of Akari formed in the blood and she landed next to his charred body. She was using her mana to project herself across a great distance, and if she had the power to do that, it must be because the battlefield had become so filled with blood that she was currently at an obscene level of power. Her pointer finger sparkled with vermillion as she gently rubbed it across her lips, giving them the same vermillion glow. "This time Rowan Raid, your stupidity is not one out of selfishness but because you could not leave Wreathe here to fight. It is because you are not the same man from the top of Raid tower, now even you know that you have things you would like to protect and fight for. I'm so proud of you."

She lowered herself to Rowan, and a smile graced her lips as she looked at the husk that was Rowan Raid. "Blood Infusion" She kissed his lips and the swathe of blood all surged right into Rowan's body with her projection being the last thing to vanish. The battlefield went silent thanks to the change while the light in Empry's eyes grew intense as he clenched his fist. Then for everyone to hear there was a sound of a heartbeat. The heavenly sin cloud that had been ready to dissipate began to swirl once more. His heart beat once more, but this time louder.

The sound of his heart grew louder and louder until it sounded like the pounding of war drums. Rowan had been awake the entire time he had, in fact, been dying, but Akari had breathed pure life force into his body and allowed him to complete the process.

The charr slowly began to fall from his body like he was shedding skin as he slowly stood up. It fell away piece by piece as he began to ascend towards his previous position. He slowly rose to the sky as the char fully fell off and revealed the new Rowan Raid. His curls had locked together into beautiful dreads that were black towards his scalp, like a galaxy, while the ends that came to his shoulders were a sparkling purple and abuzz with lightning. His eyes were the same vibrant purple, but in his iris you could see the shapes of different weapons. His skin was healthy, soft, and brown. Even not in his battle state, there were tribal lines of purple all over his body that all flowed towards his chest. There in the center of his chest was a glittering purple and gold ring of clouds.

Mana rapidly surged into him and was converted into soul force as he stared up at the heavenly sin cloud, the anger evident in his eyes. His body slowly began to change. The brown was overtaken by the purple as his body became a beautiful purple galaxy. The black faded from his hair and became a white while the purple lightning slowly became golden before becoming a rainbow snake made of lighting that swam through his locks. Rowan had fused everything together so other than the single weapon he still had, there been nothing left but that did not stop him. This time, his soul force bubbled out purple with specks of gold as it coated his hand and he smiled. "How dare a storm not bend to my will!" Rowan's killing intent burst forth and assaulted the storm cloud even before the image of his fist blast out. The fist force slammed into the storm cloud and shattered it, causing it to explode inward while pure soul force rained down and into Rowan's body.

He stepped through the air and looked at the spider queen and the monarch, who both had displeased expressions on their faces as Rowan smiled at them both. "Now then, where were we?"