Book 4: Chapter 99: Sleep (6)
After the dust had seemingly settled, and the Belmont Holy Land was once again quiet, the large inner world that Dyon had fought his life or death battle in was still riddled with the scars of his struggle. The abyss that held Loki’s incinerated corpse didn’t move, nor did he come back to life. He was dead. There was not a single question about it. Without so much as a single recognizable feature left…
A cloaked figure stood at the edge of this abyss. It was impossible to tell whether it was a man or woman as the mask they wore was purposefully not shaped to their visage. However, if their face could be seen, it would likely be one of shock.
As they looked around, they could hardly believe that not only had a sixteen-year-old pushed two peak experts this far… He had actually won…
The cloaked figure shook its head, continuing onwards. It leisurely floated over the pools of red blood and hundred-meter-wide craters until it made it to a familiar stone platform.
Shockingly, this figure had no need for the Belmont flames. Instead, its eyes shone with an indiscernible light, clearly making use of array alchemy to open the seal. Normally, this would be impossible. Such a thing should only be capable of being done with the use of The Seal. However, it was clear at this point that what used to bind this stone platform was gone.
Understanding this, the cloaked figure couldn’t help but tremble when it noticed it had the ability to open the stone platform before immediately kneeling and bowing its head.
Almost immediately, a lazy and chilled-out voice rang outwards. “Is there something the matter?”
“The one who transcends daos, please punish Us. We have failed you.”
“Failed me?” The entity pondered a bit, looking around. But, there was no discernible fluctuation in his emotions. He couldn’t be bothered to care. To him, whether it was Elder Daiyu, Loki, or Dyon, they were just ants. It just so happened that a slightly smaller ant defeated two larger ones.
“Yes. The talent that we’ve spent so long accumulating is gone. I wouldn’t dare to mobilize your forces to retrieve them without your consent, so I have not made a move. But, your loyal servants are willing and waiting to follow your commands.”
Surprisingly, the entity chuckled. “You believe that I sealed myself away for tens of thousands of years just to accumulate the talent of these pitiful beings?”
The cloaked figure trembled at these words, but did not dare to respond.
To anyone else, this universe would have birth the greatest talents to ever exist. Such was the uniqueness of this universe. However, it was still too early… Too far into its infancy to mean much to highly evolved species from other universes. The entity wasn’t lying or exaggerating. In order for this talent to mean anything to him, it would have had to evolve for billions more years.
“Do you understand why this was immediately labeled as the universe with by far the greatest potential ever?”
“This lowly one does not understand.”
The entity sighed, but it was clear that he was very happy to explain himself. He very much enjoyed listening to his own voice.
“It’s because of the universe itself. Not because of its people.
“Heaven’s Blessing is bestowed upon newborns. It decides much of their talent. It is only as a universe evolves and grows that those newborns grow old and die. They then become ancestors, accumulate better karma, and are then born with more and more talent.
“This is why the oldest universes and quadrants in the cosmos are also the strongest. They are the ones who could be said to have truly tapped into the greatest potential of their universes to the very end.
“Even I have to admit that this universe had ridiculous amounts of potential. It’s very likely that they could have been the first to reach the limit of human evolution and become the legendary Angel and Hell’s Angel in such a long time. However, that was all they had… Potential.
“Ai… Even I would like to see that limit of evolution… Unfortunately, I was born too late and in the decline of the universes. Very few, if any, universes have the accumulated potential necessary to birth one of those legendary beings…”
The universe was a fair place. It was the martial world that made it seem unfair.
The truth of the matter was that although humans were born with weak legacies and bodies as compared to beasts, they had vastly better potential for evolution. The limit of this evolution was a legendary figure for the human race: The Angel. In fact, the Elves were considered a step toward this final form, although they too were severely lacking as compared to a true Angel or Hell’s Angel, they were still innately born with Earth Level Constitutions. However… Even the weakest of Angels would classify as having a God Level constitution from birth. And the strongest? Something transcending that.
The entity paused, allowing his words to sink in and watching as the cloaked figure began to quake with agitation. He was no longer scared, rather, he was incredibly excited.
“I see you’ve begun to understand.
“I never cared about their accumulated talent. In fact, when that boy opened up the stone platform and took them, I was taking a nice nap, leisurely meditating. No… what I took was the very source of their potential.”
**
The cloaked figure floated away, leaving the Belmont Holy Land like a ghost that had never existed. However, anyone who paid attention could see blood dripping from its left arm… The entity had claimed to not care, but the cloaked figure had still ripped its own arm away, leaving it behind. It was only then that it rested easy, knowing it had done exactly what the entity wanted it to do.
Despite this, the cloaked figure had nothing but worship in its eyes.
From the very beginning, no one had understood why the energy in this universe had thinned so greatly from its peak… Some though it was because of the planet’s expansion, others though it was the course of time, and yet others thought that it was because of energy needed to seal the entity…
It turned out that the final option was the closest to the truth, but not for reasons people had thought.
Dyon’s master was right. The entity had allowed himself to be caught… Because this was the most efficient way for him to filter all of this universe’s Gama energy toward himself!
The entity didn’t care about the accumulated talent of the mortal realm. At the end of the day, it was only a catalyst for gathering the energy here. Why would he care about the resultant talent when he could take the energy that created the talent for himself?!
It would take a very long time to consolidate all of this energy… After all, it was trillions of years worth of talent meant to fuel the universe from the very beginning to its very end… And yet now… It was in the body of a single person…
Who knew how many thousands, maybe even millions of years it would take to the entity to accomplish his goal…
But one thing was for sure. When he did finish? There wouldn’t be anyone capable of stopping him.
For now, the cloaked figure and the group backing it would continue to remain quiet. Waiting for the day their master truly lived up to his namesake as the one who transcends all.