I Can Assimilate Everything-Chapter 593: Keys I
A lot of things changed in a short period of time.
One of those was Achilles coming to his senses with his other body that had been locked by Atraides and the forces of Life and Necrocracy. Well, they were no longer there.
Gone. Erased likely by the Malformed Abomination that he became.
No Firstborns in sight either!
Before that critical incident, Achilles had sent all his other bodies away from his Sanctuaries as precautionary measure against exactly this kind of catastrophic transformation. Because of that foresight, there was no traumatic incident of him swallowing and devouring his own family or the Sea of Thalassara. Rose remained safe. His children remained safe. The billions of beings who had been relocated to his Protected Domains remained untouched by the Malformed Abomination’s hunger.
And now...
"Hey, look at us."
Achilles smiled as he looked at Rose and Eyyanah, THE Endless Dream, as the three of them were seamlessly finishing the absorption of THE Civilizational Authority from the broken dome that had once protected this Sacred Holy Land’s most precious reserves. Rivers of concentrated Alchemical power continued flowing into their beings with steady rhythm, and the fallen citadel around them had grown quiet in the aftermath of the confrontation.
There was silence all around them as Rose had a focused look on her transformed features, her attention seemingly turned entirely inward as she concentrated on Assimilating THE Civilizational Authority of Alchemy that poured into her existence.
Achilles could faintly discern what she was feeling right now because whenever she had that particular expression, that specific set to her jaw and intensity in her eyes, it was her being stubborn and thinking to herself that she had to do everything she could.
She had felt slightly powerless when he had become an Abomination and she could not help him. She had watched him rampage without recognition while THE Endless Dream held her back from approaching, and that helplessness had clearly left its mark on her pride. She now seemed intent on doing everything possible to get stronger so that such a situation would never repeat itself.
At this time, THE Endless Dream sighed with a sound that carried exhaustion and burning curiosity in equal measure as she looked at him with those jeweled eyes.
"How did you do it?"
Her question was direct despite the complexity of what she was asking about.
"THE Corpse Hierophant you came in contact with physically, so I understand that much even if the result was impossible. But THE Sovereign Catalyst..." She trailed off, her feline features showing genuine bewilderment. "You disappeared and he was just gone. You were...talking about Principles when you did it."
Her mind was sharp as she had already put many things together from observation and deduction, connecting his words about Principles permeating Existence to his sudden vanishing and the Collapsed leader’s subsequent consumption.
When it came to this inquiry, Achilles was not bothered by her probing.
She was considered an ally, and even if she was an enemy, even if she knew anything about his methodology, it would not matter. Understanding how he accomplished something did not grant the ability to defend against it, not when the mechanism itself operated through principles that THE entities could perceive but could not distinguish from their natural state.
"Principles," Achilles replied casually, his tone suggesting he was discussing something mundane rather than revolutionary. "They make up the rulings of the surrounding Existence, the fundamental mathematics that govern how reality functions. I devoured a Principle and became indistinguishable from it."
He smiled at the way her eyes widened slightly.
"So I simply transformed into this Principle itself, thus my disappearing act. And since the Principle of Stability is pervasively spread out across this space, existing wherever structures maintain their form against entropy, I effectively touched THE Sovereign Catalyst even without him knowing I was touching him." His smile widened. "Devouring upon contact is then easy."
BOOM!
The revelation hit THE Endless Dream with force that made her manifested form actually take a step backward, and Achilles saw the look of absolute shock spreading across her regal features. Her jeweled eyes blazed with mixture of astonishment and dawning comprehension!
"No entity can become one with the makeup of Existence itself..."
Her voice emerged as almost a whisper, as if she was speaking to herself rather than addressing him directly.
"But if you are capable of this..."
Even she, a THE Surface Depth entity, could see how dangerous he truly was. If he could transform into Principles themselves, if he could travel through Existence as fundamental truth rather than physical being, if he could touch anything that a Principle touched without being detected...
The implications were heavy!
At this point, she sighed with sound that carried acceptance of circumstances beyond her control before she turned to him.
"Just...how much of the memories of the two did you obtain?"
"Partial," Achilles replied with honest assessment. "Bits and pieces, as they were only manifestations rather than their true forms. The memories are fragmented and require time to properly integrate and organize, but I am gaining useful intelligence from what I consumed."
Eyyanah nodded at this explanation.
"If this is the case, we have to move quickly. Before THE Corpse Hierophant and THE Sovereign Catalyst begin telling all others how much of a threat you truly are and ask to ally together against you specifically."
She paused, her jeweled eyes studying him with intensity.
"They are all at THE Surface Depth currently, limited in how much power they can project while still recovering from the Age of Collapse. But did the memories you obtained show one of the core reasons for the war that THE Corpse Hierophant raged against all other Civilizations?"
...!
The War.
Achilles thought back to everything in the memories he was still sifting through, fragments of THE Corpse Hierophant’s perspective during that catastrophic conflict that had collapsed every Primordial Civilization in Observable Existence. The images were incomplete, the context often missing, but certain elements stood out with clarity.
He shook his head while saying, "Bits and pieces. Something about... keys."
...!
"Yes."
Eyyanah nodded.
"Some of THE entities and Civilizations in that Age discovered that someone they all revered, THE Resplendent Paradox, left behind keys before she departed toward whatever fate awaited her." Her voice took on weight of ancient history being recounted. "Keys that seemed attuned and linked to our very Observable Existence in ways that none of them fully understood despite their elevated perceptions."
She began pacing slightly, her manifested form moving with restless energy as she continued the explanation.
"Some believed these keys led to whatever place allowed THE Resplendent Paradox to have so much power despite existing in our stunted Observable Existence. A source of strength that transcended the limitations all other THE entities faced in their advancement." Her pacing continued.
"Others believed the keys led to a unique region within our Observable Existence that was not stunted by whatever flaw affected the rest of reality. A solution to crossing into the higher Depths of Absolute Sovereignty and to heading toward the Second Scale of Existence without the impossible difficulty that had stymied everyone else."
Her expression darkened with memory of consequences.
"But the keys did nothing alone, and they were found by multiple THE entities across different Civilizations. No single holder possessed enough to unlock whatever secret they contained." She stopped pacing and turned to face him directly.
"THE Corpse Hierophant waged his war for supremacy with singular purpose. To obtain and put together all the keys to open up whatever secret they held, regardless of how many Civilizations he had to collapse to achieve that goal."
...!
Achilles blinked as he heard all this, the scope of ancient stupidity settling into his understanding with weight that made him shake his head in genuine disbelief.
Was working together so hard that the first resort became a full on murder spree of all other Civilizations and their own collapse to ensure that nobody got anything?
What a waste!
But this waste did now allow for him, eons later...to have a chance of doing something unfathomably grand!
