Re: Timeless Apocalypse-Chapter 96: Emperor
Corpses filled the large crater’s depths, the earthen walls covered in bone and marrow and the muddy ground a field of blood and water, soaking limbs and bodies alike.
Rain fell heavily, peeling across Uriel’s body.
He floated a few inches atop the water, akin to a deity, a wheel of runes at his back, an armour of darkness draping over him and a glaive of light in his grasp.
His eyes were entirely white, no pupil visible, and his mind lost in the depths of a mad trance.
He was so deep into it he couldn’t feel the deep gash torn across his chest, flesh and bone cleaved apart to reveal his beating heart.
Such a wound would’ve killed any without his shell, and he, even with it, was at his limits, the other dozens of deep gashes across his frame weighing him down.
Had it not been for his shell’s ability to make bleeding out impossible, he would’ve already died, and had it not been for the trance he was lost in, the pain would’ve knocked him out.
"..."
In the depths of the crater, his chest rose and fell, his haggard breaths echoing, his rushing blood sounding akin to roaring rivers as it travelled through his veins.
[100/100 Torkun Tribulation Boar Strider (Silver)!]
[100/100 Turkon Storm Flon-Men (Gold)!]
BANG!
The rain stopped.
Far above him, a dome appeared, sealing him within the crater, and it suddenly got dark, before golden light illuminated the depths, coming from the dome trapping him.
Golden sparks of light fell from above, reflected across the muddy and bloody waters, slowly falling and merging into the corpses around him.
The corpses all began to liquefy, fusing into the muddy and gory grand puddle. Then, from the waters, tendrils began to emerge, assembling and weaving into the far distance.
By the second, the water level in the crater diminished, tendril after tendril summoned to form a rapidly manifesting creature.
In a blink, there was no more blood, water, or corpses, only the muddy ground and walls, a heaving Uriel and a new figure that stood across from him, in the distance.
[Quota Reached!]
[Corinth Mark has matured!]
[Defeat King Tier Beast to Stabilise Mark!]
[0/1 Turkon Storm Flon-Men Emperor (Diamond King)]
Had Uriel been in the right state of mind, he would’ve surely inquired about the meaning of the so-called king tiers, or even the grades associated with the beasts he’d been killing.
But he wasn’t. So, he didn’t.
His eyeless gaze landed on the figure in the distance.
Tall and lanky, with arms so long they reached halfway down its tibias, the creature had wet blue skin, dotted in lighter blue tones, across which deep azure and emerald runes were etched, beautiful and ancient.
Unlike the other Flon-Men, who had ridges of fins starting at their brows and arching until the lower ends of their backs, this creature had tall and piercing deer-like antlers of light purple crystal.
They gleamed under the shining golden light of the dome above, faint arcs of lightning sparkling across them.
Above its head, a crown of dark gold thorny vines hovered, almost like an angel’s halo, yet carrying the regality of an emperor.
Its eyes were a deep and dark onyx, much like its brethren, but in the middle, a reptilian yellow slit pupil could be seen, malicious and draconic.
Its feet and hands were webbed, and its mouth full of sharp, poison-covered teeth.
An apex predator.
The instant its body fully took shape, it frowned, looking around in slight confusion. The crown above its head pulsed and suddenly, all aether in the crater shifted.
It all turned into water and wind aether, entirely subservient to it.
Uriel’s Spell Sentry shattered and backlash hammered into him, but he didn’t budge or flinch, nor did his core crack or shake. It was as if the backlash was irrelevant.
The Emperor’s gaze landed on Uriel, and narrowed slightly.
"Hm..."
It seemed far more intelligent than any of the mindless beasts Uriel had cut down.
"Is this what that nascent system summoned me for? A child undergoing Elemental Anchoring?"
Its voice was deep and regal, yet soft in a way that wrapped around the mind and stripped you of all will, irresistible and absolute.
The Emperor nodded to himself.
"Well, then."
He waved a hand, and from the clashing flows of wind and water aether he’d summoned, something shocking happened.
The wind and water aether had been clashing in the air for a long moment now, so violently it felt like the world would end; fierce gusts of wind met by pressurised droplets, yet none of the two had been reacting.
These two fierce aethers suddenly became incredibly docile, then, even more shockingly, fused and melded into one another, becoming what experts would call Storm Aether.
The storm aether shimmered, then gathered to form a long spear that fell into the Emperor’s palm.
Its pole was long and fluorescent, of blues and purples, while its blade seemed entirely liquid, sharp yet amorphous, as red as blood, the runes carved across the liquid a deep gold.
A flood of storm aether entered the Emperor’s body, fueling it and summoning a set of multicoloured robes that perfectly fitted onto his royal frame.
"You won’t be attacking?" the Emperor asked, chuckling.
To allow him to summon his power without interruption was idiotic. It wasn’t to say that Uriel would’ve been able to stop it, no, that was even more foolish, but not trying was truly peculiar to the Emperor.
"Have you perhaps lost your mind?"
He shook his head.
"I was hoping—!"
BANG!
A boom echoed, and the aether in the air, which had been entirely storm aether, suddenly shifted, half returning to atmospheric aether.
In the distance, Uriel slowly began to grin, just as the white light of his eyeless gaze turned silver, bright and sharp.
The Emperor frowned, his spear moving to block across his body, but it was too late.
Uriel had taken a step, and just like radiant light and flowing darkness, in a blink, he was upon him, his glaive of light cutting down with fierce momentum.
So fast it seemed more like teleportation.
"Good!"
The Emperor laughed.
