I Can Assimilate Everything-Chapter 603: Emergence of Civilizations! III
While one man sought for signs of where THE Corpse Hierophant had gone, an unfathomable distance away where one couldn’t really cross in terms of physical distance but had to have the proper authority to traverse, there existed a realm that stood by a single name.
Tian.
At such a place, dense clouds of THE Civilizational Authority roiled all around in concentrations that would have seemed impossible to any being who had only experienced the stunted nature of normal Observable Existence!
River passageways shining gold flowed through the atmosphere in networks that defied conventional geometry, their currents carrying power so pure that merely being near them accelerated cultivation beyond anything achievable through normal means.
Floating spinning mountainous landscapes gravitated across different regions in utter serenity and wonder, each peak containing crystallized knowledge that THE entities had spent eons desperately seeking.
In such a place, one could see visible Phonemes of The First Tongue drifting through the air like luminous particles of snow. The language that made up the very weavings of Existence itself was not hidden here, not buried beneath layers of reality that required impossible comprehension to perceive. It simply existed, accessible and abundant, waiting to be learned by those fortunate enough to find their way to this realm.
It was a place that most THE entities could only dream of.
At this moment...
"Haha..."
THE Corpse Hierophant laughed with victory that echoed across golden clouds, his voice carrying weight that pressed against this magnificent environment with the joy of someone who had finally claimed what they had been seeking for eons.
His body that was always shrouded by death continued consuming the vibrant and extremely pure THE Civilizational Authority all around him with hunger that seemed to have no ceiling. The power poured into his existence and filled cracks that had persisted since the Age of Collapse, mending damage that he had thought would take countless more years of careful cultivation to repair.
Before arriving here, he and other Collapsed Civilizations had been forced to build up slivers of Civilizational Authority themselves through painstaking effort, or take from others through conflict that risked what little they had managed to recover. Every fragment of power had been precious, every advancement hard-won through sacrifice and struggle.
And that was why initially he had developed the plan to consume the Collapsed Civilizations of others in order to regain his power and obtain the rest of the Keys. It had seemed like the only viable path forward given the scarcity of resources in their stunted Observable Existence.
Having changed course and worked with all the others to open up this place, the result was even more astonishing than he had dared to hope. Here there was more pure Civilizational Authority than one could ever ask for, enough to restore not just one Collapsed Civilization but all of them simultaneously with power left over.
It led to the profound and absolutely glorious moment as of this time...
BOOM!
A deathly obsidian-gold light rose up from THE Corpse Hierophant’s form as the grandeur of THE Surface Depth of Absolute Sovereignty of Necrocracy unfolded in its full glory for the first time since the Age of Collapse had reduced him to shadow of his former self.
"Haha, finally! Collapsed no longer!"
His voice thundered across this region Tian with euphoria that he had not allowed himself to feel for eons.
"THE Surface Depth of Necrocracy restored! I will take Intermediate Depth next! I will become Fundamental Depth! I will seek..." His empty eye sockets blazed with obsidian fire that contained ambition beyond measure. "Absolute!"
BOOM!
His voice was heavy with achieved power, but it wasn’t alone in celebration.
Shockingly, glorious scenes unfolded all around as THE Slumbering Genesis and THE Sovereign Catalyst and others also escaped their state of Collapsed Civilizations by drawing in such pure THE Civilizational Authority. The massive draconic elephantine form of THE Slumbering Genesis blazed with verdant radiance as Life authority consolidated around him with weight that pressed against reality.
THE Sovereign Catalyst’s liquid-metal form solidified into something far more substantial than any manifestation, copper-green light erupting from his restored existence with the genuine presence of a fully realized THE entity.
Many of them rose back up to THE Surface Depth within moments of each other, their laughter and exclamations of triumph mixing together in symphony of restored power.
Others were still slower to recover, their damage more extensive or their foundations less stable, but they absorbed the surrounding Authority with desperate hunger as they felt the genuine Depth of their peers return. If those who had been more damaged could achieve full restoration, then surely they could as well given sufficient time in this miraculous environment.
THE Corpse Hierophant felt his new power settling into stable configuration and reigned in his laughter as he looked around at companions who had been enemies for so long. They had all achieved what they came for, all escaped the weakness that had made them vulnerable.
He looked toward the mystical white-gold regions surrounded by vibrant clouds in the distance, landscapes that had not yet been explored since their arrival. All of this realm stretched before them with secrets waiting to be uncovered, and he would go through these entire areas and see what they held. He would find what exactly was here that gave THE Resplendent Paradox the power that she had wielded, the understanding that had elevated her so far beyond what any of them had achieved.
And then... and then...
|There is that gaze of greed. Are you looking at this and claiming that all of this is already yours?|
BOOM!
The expression on THE Corpse Hierophant changed drastically as he heard a booming voice that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere simultaneously. His newly restored senses stretched across the surrounding space desperately searching for the source, but he could find nothing.
All other THE entities reacted similarly, their celebrations cutting off abruptly as they realized they were not alone in this place.
A moment later, a humanoid entity shrouded with white-gold light materialized inches away from THE Corpse Hierophant’s face.
He was scared shitless.
The reaction was instinctive and absolute because he hadn’t even been able to sense such a being approaching. His restored perception should have detected anything within vast distances, should have warned him of any threat long before it could reach such proximity. And yet this entity had simply appeared as if stepping through door that THE Corpse Hierophant couldn’t perceive.
As he tried to scramble away with movements that should have carried him across Gigaparsecs in an instant...
HOONG!
An aura erupted from the newly appearing entity with weight that exceeded anything THE Corpse Hierophant had ever experienced. It pressed down upon him with authority so absolute that comparison to his own Depth seemed laughable.
An instant later, THE Corpse Hierophant froze.
Not by choice. Not through any decision of his own. He simply could not move, his restored existence pinned in place by power that treated his resistance as insignificant.
And he was not alone.
All other THE entities present froze as well, their celebrations transformed into paralysis as the same overwhelming authority gripped each of them without apparent effort. THE Slumbering Genesis, THE Sovereign Catalyst, THE Bastion of Light, and every other leader of Collapsed Civilizations who had entered Tian seeking restoration now found themselves held in place like insects caught in amber.
All from an utterly imperious humanoid being who looked upon them with calm gaze that held no anger, no threat, no particular concern about what they might do if released.
Just mild interest, as if watching creatures who had wandered into this domain and wondering what they intended to do now that they had been noticed.
His golden crystallized skin seemed to be made from the same substance as Tian itself, and his Depth was something that none of them had ever reached. It exceeded THE Surface Depth so dramatically that the distinction between them felt like comparing puddles to oceans!
Oh!
