I Can Assimilate Everything-Chapter 594: Keys II
Chapter 594: Keys II
While Achilles and THE Endless Dream discussed history and the reason behind an entire Age of Collapse, far away from that fallen citadel of Alchemy, events of existential significance were unfolding.
Countless Gigaparsecs away, hidden between layers of Existence and Shattered Folds where conventional perception could not easily reach, there was a singularity of obsidian light that pulsed with concentrated authority. If one possessed sufficient power to delve into this darkness without being immediately consumed, they would find themselves entering an unfathomably vast region of Existence that was filled to the brim with the Civilizational Authority of Necrocracy.
The landscape that spread in all directions defied what most beings understood about domains of death and endings.
Deathly structures of impossible architecture stretched out for light years all around, their obsidian surfaces shining with glory and permanence that suggested eternal endurance rather than decay.
Massive towers carved from crystallized death authority rose toward horizons that never seemed to arrive, their spires crowned with flames that burned without consuming. Grand cathedrals constructed from the bones of fallen cosmic entities lined boulevards wide enough for planets to pass through, each edifice radiating power that spoke of eons of accumulated authority.
It seemed more like a living thriving Empire than a domain of the dead, because an overabundance of existences could be felt permeating across every corner of this realm. Trillions upon trillions of Living Necrocracies inhabited these deathless halls, beings who had embraced endings as philosophy and transformation through death as the highest truth. They went about their existence with purpose and conviction, serving a Civilization that appeared connected to nothing collapsed whatsoever.
This was not the scattered remnants of a fallen power struggling to recover.
This was the concentrated heart of what THE Corpse Hierophant had preserved even through mutual annihilation, the core of his authority that he had protected at all costs during the catastrophic war he himself had initiated.
Toward the very center of this endlessly vast necropolis that represented the grandeur of a Primordial Civilization, the atmosphere shifted from merely oppressive to absolutely suffocating.
Obsidian flames of death seemed to be raging across this central region, engulfing structures stretching out for light years in all directions with fire that burned not matter but existence itself. The trillions of life forms that persisted even in death throughout this realm, beings who had served their leader faithfully across eons of conflict and collapse, were engulfed in these terrifying flames as they knelt in pain and reverence simultaneously.
They screamed without sound. They suffered without complaint. They endured because their leader’s rage demanded acknowledgment, and they would give it regardless of cost to themselves.
The rage of a leader of a Civilization was made manifest at this moment, even though he contained it with cold pragmatism and boundless fury that warred beneath his controlled exterior.
At the absolute center of this inferno stood the domain where THE Corpse Hierophant resided. It was actually constructed within the skull of an entity that looked like a massive turtle, the cranium alone spanning distances that would take conventional vessels centuries to traverse. The entire skull shone with blue-gold radiance that clashed against the surrounding obsidian flames, and the aura of an entity at the Level One Scale of Existence emanated from its ancient bone structure.
THE Corpse Hierophant had taken the skull of a fallen enemy to be his home. A trophy of victory from the Age of Collapse, claimed from one of THE entities who had opposed his war and paid the ultimate price for that resistance.
At this moment, in the depths of such a place where death authority concentrated to levels that would instantly collapse any being below Pre-THE distinction, a throne made of countless bones dominated a chamber vast enough to contain star systems. The bones came from entities of every Scale and description, victims accumulated across eons of conflict and conquest, arranged into seat of power that represented absolute dominion over endings.
And the entity shrouded in malice and darkness that sat atop this throne radiated fury that made the surrounding flames seem tepid by comparison.
His massive frame could not be clearly seen through the shadows that clung to his form like loyal servants, but the boundless rage within his deathly eyes was visible with terrible clarity. Those eyes, burning with obsidian fire that had witnessed the collapse of Civilizations and the ending of entities beyond counting, focused on something only he could perceive as a few words could be heard repeated in a grating and horrifying sound all around.
“Achilles… Adrastia.”
“Achilles… Adrastia!”
HUUM!
The name of an abomination was being called again and again, each repetition carrying more fury than the last. This entity had found out about this threat a while ago alongside THE Slumbering Genesis, had coordinated the initial hunt that should have eliminated the problem before it could grow.
He had even found the location that should have been the abomination’s home, had sent overwhelming forces to erase everything connected to the target with extreme prejudice. Perhaps he should have personally gone regardless of the cost to his recovering state, because right now, this enemy that had risen was turning out to be an unfathomably pointy thorn that had done more damage to him than any other leader of Collapsed Civilizations in the past years of desperate recovery!
A Manifestation consumed. A projection of his authority devoured by something that should not have been capable of threatening even his weakest servants.
…!
As he called this name inside of the Domain that was the skull of a THE entity, more than a dozen Pre-THE Existences knelt and trembled before his throne. These were his most powerful servants, beings who commanded Legions and oversaw entire regions of his Civilization, and yet they could not bear to raise their heads in the presence of their leader’s unveiled wrath.
They could only listen as an eerie and glorious set of words began to flow from their master with cadence that combined cold calculation with terrible purpose.
“A Civilization is a collective group that works together for a shared common goal.”
THE Corpse Hierophant’s voice emerged like grinding tombstones, heavy with the weight of eons and the bitter taste of lessons learned too late.
“Because of my pride and my immensity, I thought I could be my own Civilization and succeed. I believed that what I represented, what I had built, what I had achieved through will and power alone would be sufficient to claim everything I desired.” He paused, and the flames throughout his domain flickered in response to his words.
“Just like THE Resplendent Paradox succeeded through her own singular brilliance, I assumed I could walk that same path without the cooperation I deemed beneath my dignity.”
His shadowed form shifted upon the throne of bones.
“But our Observable Existence is stunted in ways that even she could not fully overcome, and our choices and mistakes from the past are heavy beyond what any of us anticipated when we made them.” His voice carried something that might have been regret in a being capable of such emotion.
“Now, in the face of an abomination that ignores the weight and the immensity and the depth of our Civilizations, that consumes what should be beyond its reach and grows stronger with each impossible meal…”
He leaned forward, and the Pre-THE Existences trembled harder at the proximity of his attention.
“I call for us to do what we never did before and stand together as true Civilizations. Even though we do not follow the same Way of Existence, even though our philosophies and purposes have brought us into conflict across the ages, we all share the common purpose of revival and survival in this diminished era.” His eyes blazed with cold fire. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖
“I do not have to be the one that opens the doorway alone. That pride, that insistence on singular supremacy, is what brought us all to collapse in the first place.”
The flames throughout his domain began to subside as his rage transformed into something more calculated.
“My enemies. My allies. My brethren who have walked similar paths through different domains.” His voice carried across dimensions through mechanisms that only THE entities could employ. “If all of you are willing, I am ready to put aside our differences and put together our Keys and open up a pathway to something grander. Something that will allow us to face this threat and any other that might arise as we complete our Revivals. Before an abomination grows to swallow everything of our Civilizations entirely.”
He began to call out names that carried weight across Observable Existence.
“O Sovereign Catalyst.”
“O Elemental Monarch.”
“O Bastion of Light.”
“O Weaver of Fates.”
“O Primordial Forge.”
…!
One THE distinction after another began to be called out as shockingly, THE Corpse Hierophant took an unexpected route in response to the threat that had consumed his manifestations. Rather than doubling down on the pride that had led to the Age of Collapse, rather than insisting on handling this problem alone as he had always done before, he reached out to multiple Leaders of Collapsed Civilizations with offer of cooperation that would have been unthinkable before an abomination named Achilles Adrastia had begun devouring everything in his path.
The entity who had waged war against all other Civilizations for sole possession of THE Keys was now offering to share them.
That alone spoke to how seriously he took this threat!
Oh!
1/1 Onward!
