Chapter 44: Ascendance (4)

Lamore Encantus Suprema En Grato.

"???"

Xi Mae En Karnate Lexus Irian.

Strange words spilled from Xue Shaoran's mouth.

Baji Yurna Ter Mae Ni Ya.

It sounded like a spell, but it was different from the ones used by Minerva.

Mystical light radiated from Xue Shaoran, enveloping the surrounding area.

Small shards of glass-like fragments began to form from thin air.

"T-this...!"

Creation!

I understood one thing:

To create a single fragment, one must cultivate to the level of a One-Star Warrior and master the first phase of their Path.

And now, Xue Shaoran was forming a fragment for me.

Darkness and blood elements merged as one, blessing the small fragment that was taking shape.

"Arov Quills. Step forward."

Arov did not respond and quickly moved toward the source of the voice.

What he saw was not a charming and elegant vampire but a figure nearing the likeness of a true demon.

A demon with magnificent scales, shrouded in a crimson mist.

Unconsciously, Arov knelt the moment he laid eyes on it.

"By this authority, I, Tenebrous Scarlet God Xue Shaoran, in the Sixth Phase of the Sanguum Tenebris Path: Thalvok, hereby grant Arov Quills the Blessing of a New Path, using my breakthrough to Seventh Star Sage as collateral."

The small fragment immediately transformed into a thin, transparent crown.

Xue Shaoran placed it on the unconscious Arov's head.

"Do not disappoint me. I have sacrificed much for you..."

A sweeping wave of terrifying dark energy engulfed an area spanning millions of kilometers.

Countless wild monsters and intelligent creatures seemed to recognize the identity of this energy.

ROAAAR—

A fearsome roar shook the perception of uncountable monsters across the colossal continent.

The horrifying pressure shattered a vast stretch of land surrounding the source of the roar.

Massive energy, imbued with wood, plant, and life elements, coalesced into a giant figure in the sky.

Green light illuminated the entire continent, including Port City Palana, with the majesty of a galaxy.

The demon's crimson eyes fixated on the unconscious body before it.

"It seems your protector is enraged. I'll take my leave for now."

The destructive fingers of the demon lightly touched the thin crown resting atop Arov's head.

Thud.

Arov's figure became encased in a cocoon of blood, sealing him inside.

"Kekeke, let's see who endures until the end."

The demon smirked.

Xue Shaoran stood tall and turned around.

The space twisted and folded, obscuring Xue Shaoran's form in an instant.

The lingering dark energy and blood elements formed a terrifying, headless creature.

These beings clasped their hands together and knelt, as if in a prayer-like pose.

There weren't just one or two, but millions, possibly even billions. Yet as their numbers grew, horrific mutations occurred among them.

Some reshaped their bodies, while others grew larger, cannibalizing their fellow creations forged from the same darkness and blood.

Madness and destruction engulfed an area spanning millions of kilometers, instantly killing all mindless wild monsters within.

SWOOSH—

Beyond the area where darkness swept through, a radiant green light shimmered, its hue beautiful and vibrant.

Amidst the glow, the colossal Yggdrasil tree stood quietly, its presence unshaken.

Minerva, who had been at the center of these events, underwent an unnatural transformation—something that defied the physical world's rules.

Like the change in Xue Shaoran's Path, Minerva's form had transcended human perception and comprehension.

A faint green light emanated from her body, not like ordinary light but as if it was something birthed from the void itself.

The space around her twisted and pulsed, as though slashed open like a wound in the fabric of reality.

Black branches, textured like bone and flesh, sprouted from her back, stretching in impossible motions.

Each leaf glowed with patterns resembling eyes, staring in every direction with endless hatred.

As Minerva reached the final stage of her transformation, the surrounding trees bent and groaned, bowing as if in submission to something far greater and more terrifying.

The air thickened with the stench of decay, and the sky split into a dark green, pouring out light that seemed to originate from a bottomless abyss.

Minerva now stood as the guardian of nameless horrors, a being that surpassed the boundaries of mortality and divinity.

Every step she took left a trail of destruction, and from every crack in the earth, roots of despair crawled forth, consuming anything that came too close.

Phase Sixth of Sylvasus Eon Path: Xythera.

***

In the suffocating silence, the thorn-covered blood cocoon imprisoning Arov pulsed like an enraged heart, emanating an aura of darkness and blood that enveloped the entire region within a radius of millions of kilometers.

The metallic stench in the air mingled with a low rumble, resonating across the galaxy-sized continent.

Between the chaos, Minerva stood.

No longer in her usual form, her body had morphed into the entity of the Sixth Phase of the Sylvasus Eon Path: Xythera.

Her shadow loomed like a cosmic tree, its roots piercing dimensions, and its black leaves swayed in an unseen wind, emitting a strange and blinding dark green light.

Eyes flared from cracks in her bark-like form, radiating an ancient wrath that chilled the soul.

A cosmic mist cloaked her entire being, wrapping her terrifying yet majestic figure in a profound shroud of mystery.

Without warning, the branches on Minerva's form stretched outward, piercing through dimensions and tearing the empty void apart with an ear-splitting sound.

RUMBLE—

RUMBLE—

"Xue Shaoran!"

Minerva's voice thundered through the darkness, every word carving into the dimensions themselves.

"You think you can escape me? The Will of Nature itself?"

CRASH—

From afar, an eerie muttering echoed. The stable fabric of space fractured like glass, and from within emerged a monstrous figure clad in armor forged from scales.

Chains of darkness coiled around its body, dangling from one dimension to another.

Xue Shaoran, now in the perfect mutation of the Path of Sanguum Tenebris, locked eyes with the glowing green orbs behind the cosmic mist.

"Kekekeke..."

A low, unsettling laughter spilled forth, pulling any who heard it into a mire of despair.

"Is this the first time we meet, oh Revered Luminary Matron of Sylvas?"

His voice was a chorus of thousands of tormented souls crying in anguish.

"Oh... Minerva... Do you not see? Such revered power sacrificed for an existence without even an identity?! This sacrifice—am I worthy of it?!"

Xue Shaoran rambled on, his crimson eyes shining with a dreadful brilliance, as though darkness and madness were consuming him from within.

"I, the Mortal and the Divine, have tasted the ecstasy of this power..."

Minerva gazed at the maddened being before her, unable to comprehend his fragmented words.

"You—"

Her voice faltered.

"Ah, now I desire you..."

"Minerva, The Glimpsed One, give me your title!"

The dark aura thickened, the continent already devastated by Minerva's wrath now suffused with an overwhelming presence of darkness and blood.

Minerva's long roots were pulled back and forth by the twisted creatures surrounding her.

Yet, Minerva did not move. A single black root shot out in every direction, obliterating the legion of darkness in its path.

Psssh!

The first clash erupted.

Xue Shaoran unleashed his aura, hurling a sphere of darkness and blood the size of a star at incredible speed.

"Behold this power! See how insignificant you are before true divinity!"

The black roots swiftly converged, charging toward the massive projectile.

SHHHH—

The energy sphere dissipated like morning mist.

"Your pitiful power is useless before me."

With a single gesture, Minerva raised her hand, and her branches stretched across the horizon, forming a cosmic web.

The realm trembled, and the darkness and blood suffusing the air began to disintegrate rapidly.

Every inch of the continent quaked, mountains were lifted skyward, and oceans split apart.

"You will not escape again."