Rebirth!

Each tail was also tipped with a blue flame, but these flames had taken on the properties of the blue flame Minos had absorbed, which allowed them to light up his surroundings.

With a little control, Minos had these flames surge, causing the earth below him to rapidly begin melting, yet strangely enough, the heat didn't affect him at all.

It seemed this new body of his, due to a combination of the leopard-like beast as well as the blue flame, had extremely strong heat resistance abilities.

On top of that, Minos could even control these flames to detach from his tails, allowing them to levitate as he pleased, even fusing them together into one even stronger flame.

After playing around for a bit, Minos finally stood up, looking down at his naked body that was perfectly sculpted.

He immediately noticed that his vision was a bit higher than before, making it clear that his height also changed to match his soul, his body now standing at 220 cm.

The change was massive, Minos having been restored from an old man back to his original youth, but he was used to such sudden changes, so he quickly adapted.

The only unfortunate part was that his clothes had all been reduced to dust, and even his spatial ring was destroyed from the intense heat, meaning he could only walk around naked.

Without any choice, Minos was about to get the move on, but before he could even take a step, a sudden wave of information blasted his mind.

'... How is this possible?' Minos thought, his pupils dilating as he took in the knowledge.

He had thought his transformation had ended at a physical level, but he was completely wrong, in fact it was much deeper than he ever imagined.

Somehow, through some miraculous event, Minos managed to awaken another Aptus, which was something that should be completely impossible!

It was common sense that each person only had one Aptus, even the Heaven Forsaken, as special as they were, weren't capable of breaking this rule.

However, now he had managed to break such an eternal rule, doing what was thought to be impossible! His Omniscient Eyes no longer being his one and only Aptus.

'Eternal Flame - Master of all flames, if your flames don't die, so will you be eternal!'

This new Aptus one could argue was even more heaven-defying then his Omniscient Eyes, not only granting him immunity, control, and increased strength with flames, but as long as the flames he mastered didn't die out, neither would he.

Right now he had only mastered this strange blue flame, which he decided to call the Abyss Flame, but it was already enough.

His Eternal Flame Aptus allowed him to use it with perfect control, and on top of that, he could make it burst out with far more power then what was normally possible, and that was only after just awakening.

Just like all Aptus's, as his strength got stronger, so would it, increase his immunity, control, and strength with all flames.

Of course more important than all of that was the eternal quality of his Aptus, which he decided to test right away.

Unsheathing one of his nails, Minos used some strength to cut a deep wound across his arm, but the second the wound appeared, a blue flame covered it, healing it back to normal instantly.

Even more amazing than the flesh restoring qualities were the soul restoring ones, which was why Minos's soul had managed to survive in the first place!

It turned out that this Aptus had actually been awakened the moment he absorbed the leopard-like beast, which was why his soul was capable of restoring itself, a feat that was normally impossible without certain treasures or herbs/plants.

And on top of that, even if Minos's soul was completely destroyed, as long as the Abyss Flame was still burning, it would soon recover itself, granting him a pseudo-form of immortality.

He hadn't even broken through to the Aperture Opening Realm, and yet he had already obtained a form of immortality, which showed how amazing this new Aptus of his was.

The only downside was that his being seemed to now be connected with his flames, meaning that if they were around, he would have eternal youth, immune to death, aging, and sickness, but if they went out, his life would instantly end as well.

But even if he knew beforehand, he'd still take this Aptus, after all, the Abyss Flame was nearly impossible to extinguish, and it went without saying it would be much easier to kill him then it was to put out this flame.

Not to mention his Eternal Flame Aptus let him control fires, which included fusing them, so as long as he kept finding and absorbing new flames, he could allow his Abyss Flame to evolve constantly, becoming stronger and stronger.

On top of all that, as his Eternal Flame Aptus evolved, so would all the flames he controlled, including the Abyss Flame, so even without fusing other flames, it would still naturally evolve alongside him.

All things considered, the Abyss Flame would always be stronger than he was, so this was an amazing exchange no matter how one looked at it.

Satisfied, Minos used his new Eternal Flame Aptus to perfectly control the Abyss Flame, having it wrap around his body, forming a blue-cloak.

Despite being made of flames, the cloak looked completely real, one only able to tell the difference if they tried touching it directly.

Even better was the fact that it molded around his body perfectly, allowing his nine long tails to still move around freely behind him, not restricted like they'd be in normal clothes.

He looked incredibly majestic, the only thing slightly off being the cat-like ears on top of his head, which added a strange sense of cuteness to his otherwise handsome appearance.

The ears, just like the tails, were a new addition, but weirdly enough, this new body felt completely natural, as if he had been born with these appendages.

Of course, beyond their cute appearance, they had real functionality, allowing his hearing to become even stronger than it was before.

With his robe created and his Aptus understood, it was finally time to move, Minos finally taking his first step in this new body.

Almost instantly he could feel a difference compared to before, this body much more active and springy then his old decrepit one.

Even when he compared it to his youthful body from before he aged rapidly, he still was much stronger, his muscles denser and more limber, and his body more perfect.

He could easily burst out with far more speed than what was once possible even at his peak, another bonus from his fusion with the leopard-like beast.

With his extremely fast speed, Minos soon arrived at what seemed like the end of the ravine, finally hitting another wall.

Unsheathing his claws, Minos easily climbed up the wall, his leopard-like form making climbing as natural as breathing and eating.

Compared to his journey down, Minos scaled up the wall with ease, his feet also having the same claws as his hands did, making things even faster.

With both his hands and feet clawing into the wall, it was almost like Minos was running up the wall rather than climbing it.

After only a short half hour, he finally popped up out the top, this side luckily having no Hell Beasts in sight.

Not planning on spending a single second more down here, he immediately began sprinting, wanting to leave this place as soon as possible.

As much as he'd like to wait for the others, he had no idea where they were, so he'd just be wasting his time.

Not to mention, even if they were alive, they'd soon make their way back to Grand Alp City, so he was better off waiting for them there anyways.

Despite running fast, Minos's new body was quite special in that each step was completely silent, another trait he evolved from the leopard-like beast.

Unfortunately, even with his silent steps, it was almost inevitable that he'd come in contact with a Hell Beast eventually, but luckily by the time he did, they were already back in the Inner Heaven Realm.

Seeing the three Hell Beasts that gathered in front of him, Minos didn't plan on playing around, three of his nine tails pointing forward, one for each Hell Beast.

With a single thought, the Abyss Flames on his tails tips quickly extended, like a flamethrower, almost immediately covering the Hell Beasts bodies.

By the time the Abyss Flame died out, the Hell Beasts had similarly vanished, the black scorched stain on the earth being the only thing to remember them by.

…

The rest of Minos's journey was unimpeded, and with his speed, combined with the fact that he no longer had to slow down for the others, he quickly made his way back to Grand Alp City.

The cold from before was already unnoticeable to him, his Abyss Flame cloak keeping his body warm.

As he walked into the city, he noticed new whispers, though this time it wasn't his height they were appreciating.

"Is that a beast person?"

"Looks like it, some sort of Cat-Human Hybrid. He sure is tall…"

"Well that goes without saying, as tall as we Moubyss People are, some beast people are even bigger, though from what I've heard, Cat-Human Hybrids are around our size, so I wonder why he's so big?"

"Who knows? What I'm more curious about is what he's doing here, after all it's not a secret that most beast people hate the cold."

"Who cares about why he's here, he's so handsome, he's like a star!"

"I know right! I've always heard that Cat-Human Hybrids are some of the most attractive people on the Nine Continents, and it seems to be true…"