novelraw Chapter 257 257: Creating Cosmic-Level Cultivation Methods
Chapter 257 257: Creating Cosmic-Level Cultivation Methods
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"Hm?!"
Louis was shocked as something new awakened within him. After nearly fully awakening as a dragon, a dormant bloodline stirred as he forged his new Physique.
"It can't be..."
Countless materials and treasures floated around him, the crystallized fragments of the Venerable's power being the most prominent. They melded with his flesh and blood, enhancing his strength and consolidating his new physique.
The more he absorbed, the more he felt a new bloodline awakening, one that belonged not to his grandfather, but to his grandmother.
Jaw-like tattoos appeared across his bare skin as it constantly shifted through colors: white, dark gray, red, and now a clear blue that began to suppress the rest.
"Wait...!"
He had been trying to create a new Physique capable of devouring anything, just like the Venerable had, but he could not. The new bloodline was overwriting everything and awakening an immense legacy sealed deep within his own veins.
"This is...?!"
His white skin suddenly turned a complete clear blue. His golden horns took on the same hue, and Louis felt his entire body growing far more muscular and taller, overflowing with deep cold elemental energy that froze his surroundings and created winter in seconds.
"I'm immense?!"
Before, he had remained in the form of his original body, roughly two and a half meters tall. Now, Louis had changed dramatically, becoming gigantic.
He barely realized how it happened, but he now stood over five hundred meters tall, his humanoid form incredibly herculean.
Louis had always trained his body, yet he had never achieved anything like this. His genes had always seemed to demand a slender build, even with densely packed muscle. This bloodline allowed him to become truly huge and shredded.
"It has to be...! This is the Ice Giant Bloodline—no, Ice Giants are not this big... Ice Titan?!"
Louis knew that in Yggdrasil, dragons were not the only rulers. There were the three Ancient Titan Families, which had experienced a resurgence after nearly going extinct long ago.
Titans were the ancestors of Giants and the direct children of the Primordial Titan of Creation of Yggdrasil, Ymir, the brother of the Primordial Dragon Mother, Tiamat.
They had three families: the Ice Titans, the Fire Titans, and the Mountain Titans. Each had their own Primordial Fathers and Mother, direct children of Ymir who then created more Titans.
Giants, by comparison, were not divine beings but mortals who carried a small amount of Titan bloodline. Thus, they were tall, powerful, and favored by a single element.
Divided into Ice Giants, Fire Giants, and Mountain Giants!
Louis's grandmother, Benladra's mother, had been born an Ice Giant and later developed into an Ice Titan after cultivating her powers and bloodline for a long time.
Thus, his mother had inherited that power, and so had he. But it had never awakened until now.
"This is incredible in its own right... a Divine Ice Titan Bloodline! And it is immensely powerful!"
Louis felt the power of the Ice Titan Bloodline fully awaken and blossom within him. His physical strength, vitality, and stamina skyrocketed above all else.
Feeling inspired, Louis quickly forged the new Cultivation Method and Physique by absorbing Ice Attribute materials this time, as many as he could gather. Entire Spiritual Winter Mountains, Winter Tyrant Hearts, and many Ice-Attribute ores flew toward him, fusing into his giant body.
"Yes... yes!"
His hair grew longer and turned pure white. His appearance as a titan only amplified, granting him even more power and musculature.
Once he reached his limits, his body absorbed everything permanently and compressed it while he used the other Cultivation Methods he was applying to shape the new Physique.
The result was...
FLUOSH!
"I did it."
His blue skin gained red flame-like tattoos that spread across his arms, followed by a second pair of arms, longer azure-gold horns, and more.
Sharp jaw-like dark blue tattoos spread around his neck, hands, arms, and face, making him look like a ravenous beast.
And last but not least, Five Divine Cosmic Spiritual Roots opened within the center of his chest. They spread and fused with the Eternal Frost of the Divine Ice Titan Bloodline, blooming into a beautiful lotus-like tattoo.
Thus, Louis named this new method...
"Abyssal Frost Titan Galaxy Devourer Divine Physique!"
As the Physique was forged, a Primordial Decree manifested within his Inner Macrocosm. A shockwave of divine and cosmic energies spread everywhere. Thousands of stars turned into Azure Frost Stars, swirling within one third of his galaxy. This boosted his cultivation speed and finally allowed him to begin cultivating as a Galaxy Monarch.
His body, already towering over five hundred meters, grew once more. The blue skin deepened into a glacial sapphire hue that seemed to drink in all light around it, reflecting only cold starlight. The red flame-like tattoos that once burned across his flesh now became frozen crimson circuits, pulsing with restrained devouring power. A second pair of muscular arms fully manifested, each etched with jagged jaw-like runes that hungered for essence. His golden horns elongated and twisted into majestic azure spirals tipped with icy crystalline thorns.
His white hair cascaded like a frozen waterfall down his back, reaching past his waist. His eyes, once golden, now burned with a cold, star-filled violet that could freeze concepts themselves.
The Ice Titan Bloodline had fully awakened and merged with the remnants of the Venerable's devouring authority that Louis had stolen. What resulted was no longer a simple bloodline.
It was a Cosmic Bloodline.
A Divine Ice Titan Galaxy Devourer.
The new Cultivation Method completed itself in an instant. Runes of frost and cosmic spirals carved themselves across every cell, every meridian, and every fragment of his soul.
[You have successfully created a brand-new Cultivation Method: [Abyssal Frost Titan Galaxy Devourer Physique]]
[Abyssal Frost Titan Galaxy Devourer Physique (Rank 8: Initial Stage)]
This method fuses the dormant Ice Titan Bloodline of your maternal lineage with the stolen Devouring Authority of the Seat of Devouring Hunger, further refined through your Fantasy Galaxy Dantian and the Hollow Spiral of the Ashen Wyrm.
[Core Effects]:
[Divine Titan's Absolute Might]: All Physical Stats (Strength, Vitality, Dexterity) permanently increased by +1200% (scales with Cosmic Qi)
[Devourer]: Devouring Efficiency of any form of energy, essence, or concept increased by 700%
[Absolute Zero]: Absolute resistance to Cold, Ice, and Freezing effects. Can convert any incoming Ice/Cold attack into personal Cosmic Qi.
[Glacial Devour Aura]: Anything that remains in contact with your body for more than three seconds begins to be frozen and slowly devoured, converting matter and energy into Cosmic Qi and Fantasium. Can be deactivated at will.
[Titan's Eternal Winter Heart]: Your heart now functions as a miniature frozen galaxy. It can store and release catastrophic amounts of Cosmic Qi in the form of Absolute Zero Blizzards capable of freezing entire star systems.
[Divine Abyssal Frost Galaxy Core]: Your Inner Macrocosm now possesses a Divine Abyssal Frost Core at its center. Several Fantasy Stars within your galaxy are slowly being converted into Frozen Fantasy Stars, enhancing your Cultivation Progress as a Galaxy Monarch.
Louis exhaled, and the breath that left his lips turned into a miniature blizzard that froze a nearby solid cluster of stars before they shattered into sparkling cosmic dust.
"...This power..." he muttered. His voice was deeper and colder now, carrying the weight of ancient glaciers and devouring voids. "It feels like I was always meant to become this."
Everyone who witnessed his evolution was shocked. For a moment, they thought it resembled what he had gone through when he evolved into a dragon.
"Louis, that is amazing...!" Niflheim said. "So you truly were attuned with the Ice Titan Bloodline!"
"Congrats, master!" Belladine said, celebrating by shooting lasers of light that exploded into small fireworks.
"Well done..." Handy said, shy yet happy.
"To be expected of our great master," the giant living armor spirit, Pendragon, spoke with a very proud voice.
"Amazing! So cool! And... big!" Pandora said with a cute smile.
"It is incredible, master..." a large phoenix spoke with flickering soul and nirvana flames around her blazing body. She was Phenix after her many evolutions and remained shy like Handy.
Louis, deep down, found it a little hilarious how loyal these spirits were to him, even though they had been born from spirits he stole from an unfortunate man from Camelot. Something he still did not regret at all, as it had helped him tremendously.
He had already emptied the Camelot Treasury years ago, using every single item to enhance and forge his soul as he cultivated his Qi as a Star Weaver. Everything had built toward this moment.
"Thank you, everyone, although this is far from enough," Louis spoke. "I must create two more Cultivation Methods to align with the two other sectors of the Galaxy that I have not yet covered."
Indeed, one method alone was not enough. He needed at least two more. Louis already had some ideas and began consolidating them from concepts into a flowing river of pure Draconic, Fantasium, and other elemental energies in his heart.
"Heh, why not?"
He glanced at his Cultivation Methods. Instead of simply drawing from them to create something new, he looked at the system.
"System, directly combine all Cultivation Methods. Fuse them directly and create something new from all of them."
[Confirmed. Do you wish to fuse all Cultivation Methods except the new Physique?]
[Warning: Once fused, they will disappear from the System's selection.]
[Yes] [No]
"That is absolutely fine. Combine all of them and fuse!"
Even though he had his own ideas, he decided to first create a new monstrous cultivation method through the system to test its capabilities.
Later, he would create yet another one when he had no more references, freeing himself from the past to forge something truly new.
The system hummed with unusual intensity, as if even it was slightly overwhelmed by the sheer volume of perfected techniques Louis had accumulated across five hundred brutal regressions.
[Processing…]
[Fusing 18 Cultivation Methods at Grand Perfection and Peak Stage…]
[Integrating Draconic Legacy, Elemental Roots, Sword and Spear Intents, Spirit Bonding, Yin-Yang Principles, Void Meridians, Nirvana Flames, and stolen Devouring Authority fragments…]
A storm of golden runes exploded inside Louis's Fantasy Galaxy. Every star trembled as rivers of knowledge—millions of years' worth of cultivation insight—crashed together like colliding galaxies.
Louis stood motionless in his titanic Ice Titan form, four arms crossed over his chest, letting the fusion happen without interference. His new violet eyes glowed brighter with every passing second.
Minutes that felt like centuries passed inside his accelerated soul-realm.
Then—
KABOOOOOM!
A cataclysmic shockwave of multicolored light erupted from his chest. The Divine Abyssal Frost Core at the center of his Inner Macrocosm suddenly split into three perfectly balanced sectors.
One sector remained pure glacial azure, swirling with frozen Fantasy Stars. Louis was amazed by what he saw.
A second sector ignited into blazing gold and crimson, roaring with draconic fury and star-forging heat. The heat of his own soul spread through this sector.
The third sector turned deep obsidian laced with silver spirals, devouring light itself and twisting space into elegant, deadly patterns of pure white and black void, leaving Louis speechless.
"Incredible... Maybe I should not have underestimated you, System."
And then he saw what had happened...
Ding!
[You have successfully fused all previous Cultivation Methods into a single supreme foundation!]
[Primordial Hollow Spiral Galaxy Sovereign Sutra (Rank 8: Initial Stage)]
This is a living, evolving Cultivation Method born from the fusion of every technique you have ever mastered. It no longer follows conventional paths. Instead, it revolves around your Hollow Spiral of the Ashen Wyrm as its core axis.
[Core Effects]:
[Threefold Galaxy Division]: Your Inner Macrocosm is permanently divided into Three Sovereign Sectors: The Frost Devourer Sector (Ice Titan + Devouring), The Solar Dragonheart Sector (Draconic + Star-forging), and The Void Eclipse Sector (Spiral + Fate-twisting). Each sector can be cultivated independently or in harmony.
[Hollow Spiral Core]: All Cosmic Qi, Fantasium, Time Essence, and Draconic Essence are automatically drawn into the Hollow Spiral at the center of your being, refined, and redistributed at 400% efficiency. The Spiral itself grows stronger the more you cultivate.
[Threefold Sector Harmony]: Every time you fully cultivate one Sector to the next minor realm, the other two Sectors receive 50% of the progress automatically. Complete harmony between all three will trigger a Major Realm Breakthrough.
[Threefold Sector Empowerment]: Any Martial Art, Skill, or Ability you use is automatically enhanced by the corresponding Sector (Frost for defense and devouring, Solar for raw destructive power, Void for conceptual manipulation and fate defiance).
[Primordial Hollow Sovereign Cosmic Sword-Spear Intent]: An almighty Intent that can shape like both a Sword and a Spear, carrying the Cultivation Methods of both weapons and enhancing them to their absolute limit. This Intent can be materialized and shaped into countless formations, skills, techniques, and more, and requires no weapon at all. Perfect for both defense and offense. Its total power is based on all stats combined +1000%.
[Limitless Growth Potential]: This Sutra has no theoretical upper limit. It will continue evolving alongside your Spiral of Fate and your Crown of Eternal Regret.
Louis's body shuddered with pure ecstasy as the new Sutra rooted itself into every fiber of his existence. The three sectors of his galaxy spun faster, feeding one another in an endless, perfect cycle.
He laughed in disbelief at what he saw. It seemed this new Cultivation Method had completely rewritten his Galaxy and even allowed him to occupy all three sectors at once!
Did he even need the third method now?!
"Hahaha...! System, you are incredible! Thank you. This is perfect for me," Louis smiled with pleasure. "Now, let us create the third Method anyway. Even though the second can cover the entire Galaxy, it alone cannot sustain itself. It requires another Pillar."
Louis thought about his third Cosmic Cultivation Method for a moment. He immediately began forging the new method he had envisioned, this time without relying on the system at all. He used only his own enlightenment, the memories of five hundred regressions, and the fresh perspective granted by his Ice Titan awakening.
At the end, his crown resonated. He realized the best method would be one that could further merge him with the crown and enhance its power. He rapidly manipulated the concepts he had learned and combined them with everything he had gathered so far.
The Timeline Fragments composing the crown resonated with him as he began manipulating the elemental energies within with incredible mastery.
A large "scripture" appeared within his own body. Then it eclipsed as Yin and Yang, Purgatory and Heaven, Life and Death, and all contrasting elements within him rotated together with it.
However, he felt it was not enough.
Then he closed his eyes and channeled the power of one of his new spirits, the silent fairy Oberon, who flew toward him.
"You are a spirit born from his legacy, his child," he said. "That stone he left me became the pillar of my fast growth so far. Now join me and become this new method, so we may honor your father together."
"...Yes, master. Thank you," the fairy spirit nodded, melding with Louis's Cultivation Method.
FLAAASH!
The ethereal crown circle he created rotated rapidly, gaining the primordial and divine spiritual power of Oberon. His legacy, a fragmented Cultivation Method he had left for Louis, his reincarnation, quickly emerged and evolved with the new method.
Thus, he named it.
"Primordial Eclipsing Avalonian Spirit Crown Scripture."
This method focused not on raw power or cultivation speed, but on turning every fragment of regret, every lost timeline, and every death he had suffered into tangible strength and spiritual, primordial divinity. It allowed him to manifest temporary "Divine Primordial Regret Incarnation Spirits," perfect copies of himself from previous regressions. Each one carried a fragment of his original strength, but they were spirits and somewhat frail. As he began to manifest the scripture's power, Louis felt they could merge even better than Echoes, surging like a sea of Incarnation Spirits, an endless Sea of Self.
"Just what have I made?" He was shocked. Even after creating it himself, the incredible synergies it provoked were utterly ridiculous, especially as he felt almost every one of his skills and Spiral Abilities resonating with it.
After testing it for a while, he discovered these Incarnations could fight independently, sacrifice themselves to fuel his main body, or even merge back into him to grant instant stat boosts and new insights. When the Scripture finished forming, Louis felt the Crown of Eternal Regret tremble with delight. Its Level 7 aura flared as it greedily absorbed the new method and, somehow...
Timeline Fragments: 527/880 → 541/880
"Huh?!"
Just like that, the crown had grown again simply by witnessing the birth of a method designed around its own nature. It even obtained Timeline Fragments that Louis must have been unable to gather before due to his lack of understanding.
This Method further combined with his Crown, allowing it to work more effectively than ever before. Even though it did not increase its total level, it could increase its "EXP" through obtaining Timeline Fragments more efficiently.
But what were Timeline Fragments? For lack of a better term, they were fragments of Lost Time from Timelines Louis had left behind. Whenever he died in one and moved to the next, one fragment would always stick with him by default.
There could be hundreds per timeline, and now he had finally learned a Method that could help him collect them more effectively. The best part was that he did not need to die to obtain more Timeline Fragments for the time being. Merely using this Cultivation Method allowed him to gather those he could not before.
The system, like before, greeted him with a new notification and the information of his new Cultivation Method, now assimilated into his Status.
Ding!
[You have successfully created a powerful Cosmic Cultivation Method, complementing your Galaxy Monarch Cultivation!]
[Primordial Eclipsing Avalonian Spirit Crown Scripture (Rank 8: Initial Stage)]
A powerful and almighty scripture forged from the combination of the Last Legacy of Oberon, the King of Fairies from Yggdrasil, and the power of the Grand Incarnation, the Crown of Eternal Regret. This new Cultivation Method has been directly designed to manipulate, absorb, and spiritualize Timeline Fragments, improving the speed and growth of your Cultivation and of the Crown of Eternal Regret.
[Core Effects]:
[Divine Primordial Regret Incarnation Spirits]: Grants the ability to summon perfect copies of yourself from previous regressions, each one carrying a fragment of the original strength. Because they are Spiritualized, they are not the toughest, but they can combine with the user's aura or attacks, enhancing their power even more.
[Sea of Self]: By summoning Divine Primordial Regret Incarnation Spirits, you can combine them with your own Aura, Spirit, and Soul, expanding your own "Self" like a sea that washes over everything with immense power. When fused into your Sea of Self, the stats of each spirit are added on top of your own temporarily.
[Timeline Fragment Magnetism]: Attracts forgotten Timeline Fragments from Timelines you have left behind passively, absorbing them to enhance the growth speed of the Crown.
[Divine Crown of Avalon]: Contains the fragmented conceptual powers of Oberon within, capable of summoning his Divine Primordial Authority to an extent. It exerts immense power capable of summoning an endless Divine Spirit Forest and the World Tree into battle, unleashing the complete wrath of Nature... among many other abilities.
[Spirit Sacrifice]: Your Summoned Spirits can sacrifice their lives to grant you temporary boosts in power and Soul Abilities, especially useful when using the Divine Primordial Regret Incarnation Spirits, as their sacrifices grant substantial boosts to their master's growth and speed.
[Spiritual Forest Heart Essence Fusion]: Gather Energies within the crown and fuse them together. They can be compressed into larger and stronger power and refined directly into Cosmic Energy.
"It is done... With this, I have sufficient Cultivation Methods."
Louis sighed in relief, feeling their power coursing through every inch of his body right now. With this complete, his Inner Macrocosm and the Galaxy inside had finally settled and expanded even more.
"Now..."
He looked at his status again. The big Level 400 displayed there told him it was about time he evolved. But could he really evolve here?
If it had taken him over a week to evolve before, how long would it take him now?
The Venerable's "outer shell" was dead, but what about the true body? Should they ambush him while evolving and completely ruin everything?
"I could leave a divided self again, but what if it dies again? I cannot be bothered. I will kill him first, then evolve."
Louis was decided. He quickly gazed into the Limbo before him as his eyes grew sharper and his aura surged, his power skyrocketing.
He held Gungnir with his hands, infusing her with his Cosmic Qi and other energies, making her grow rapidly into her biggest form.
At the same time, Louis began tracking where the Venerable could have gone.
He did so by using Soul Extraction at the place where he had died, managing to extract a large leftover soul he could not get before.
It wriggled in agony before he quickly seized it with his claws and inspected it with his sharp eyes.
"Let us follow your trail."
Using Heart of Time through Inverse Pandora, Louis activated a completely new skill.
"Heart of Dimensions."
TRUUUM!!!
While Heart of Time amplified all of his Time Abilities and Time Magic and made him even stronger with the power of time, its inversed form, Heart of Dimensions, did the same for the manipulation of space and dimensions themselves.
In that moment, Louis was able to rapidly manipulate, detect, and destroy dimensional walls and membranes as long as they were not too large. Dimensional Essence and Space Energy also became easy to control, wield, and transform.
It expended a lot of Draconic Energy and Fantasium... but he had plenty of it.
"Heart of Dimensions – Soul-Chasing Dimensional Bridge."
In that moment, Louis created a proper Space Attribute Spell, bending space and shattering the dimensional walls before him.
Crack, crack...!
CRASH!
"...?!"
As the dimensional walls shattered, he was greeted by an endless ocean of red and black energies. At the center, a smaller, fleshy figure rested, exhausted and weakened.
"Y-You?!"
A familiar voice echoed from within as Louis stepped into the dimension. The void's membrane quickly regenerated behind him.
"What are you doing here?! How...! HOW DID YOU FIND ME?!"
It was the Venerable himself. Having narrowly escaped death, he was now too exhausted to continue and rested in this dimension of his own creation.
Though there was a problem.
He was supposed to be incredibly far away from where Louis had just landed, but he had never imagined Louis would obtain the power to chase him down no matter what.
"You...! W-Why?! Leave me alone...! I have already been defeated...! YOU WANT TO TORTURE ME?!"
"Can it."
Louis swung his leg, kicking the aberration away and making it crash into a wall.
"H-HOW...! HOW DARE YOU!!!"
The aberration roared, expanding his body through his Dimensional Realm and fusing with it.
RUMBLE!
Suddenly, Louis found himself surrounded by hundreds of jaws and eyes everywhere.
"LEAVE NOW... OR PERISH!"
The Venerable's voice rang out. Louis stayed alert as giant jaws rushed down, attempting to bite his body at the same time as red eyes fired curses powerful enough to...
The jaws appeared through every molecule, surrounding Louis and attempting to devour him once more.
And yet...
CLANK!
CLANK!
CLANK!
The only one who was hurt was the Venerable as his fangs shattered the moment they touched Louis. Even in his small humanoid form, he was so incredibly tough it felt surreal.
"G-GEUGH?! W-WHAT...!"
"Your time has come."
Louis spoke like a ghost, appearing in front of the Dimensional Membranes and holding their body with his dozens of claws as he infused Soul Shapeshifting into his new form, becoming even more monstrous than before.
"Soul Extraction."
"NNNGGHHHH?! AAAAHHHHHHH!"
The Venerable screamed in agony. His entire body revealed its true form just as it had with the other Venerable. The dimensional body shattered, and deep down there was a humanoid figure.
Why though?
Why were they both humanoids even though they were so strong?
There was certainly something bizarre about the Venerables. They were made by Oblivion too. They were technically not beings that had risen from nothing to where they were now.
They were artificial gods, moderators of the entire world, game masters themselves, fit to slowly destroy and recreate the universe in Oblivion's image.
But why were they human-like?
"Master... will not stop until you are dealt with... remnant! Never forget that...!"
Louis held the Venerable's true body with his claws, crushing him into blood and paste before completely destroying his existence as he froze and devoured it through his Physique.
He was not playing around, nor was he going to waste any more time trying to speak with such a deranged being.
They were born, lived, and died for their master. It was utterly pointless to reason with such entities, and Louis had more than enough already.
"Prey Devourer."
Using Gungnir, Louis absorbed the corpse of the Venerable and what remained of his true body, while slowly learning a little more about him after obtaining additional memory fragments.
The first time they fought, he had completely incapacitated him by entering his dreamscape and exposing his past, helping him learn more about him.
But it was only now that he learned one of the truths behind the Venerables.
"Summoned... humans?!"
Louis was completely speechless after learning that both Venerables he had killed were once ordinary human beings from a parallel Earth.
"What in the world is this?!"
He saw images of the Venerable he had just killed, how he had lived an ordinary life as a salaryman, always wishing his life could be more.
Then, one night, he died from overwork, meeting Oblivion in a completely white space. Oblivion then promised him a better life.
This man was then reincarnated in another world, a Fantasy World named Terran, which Louis had heard was a cut Fantasy World that was in development but never made it to the final game.
There, he lived as a hero, reincarnating with a "Unique Skill" that held the Authority of "Devouring Everything" called "Absolute Gluttony."
Oblivion slowly shaped this man, influencing him, manipulating him, and more. He was originally a hero, but slowly was shaped into a monster, killing his own family, destroying his kingdom, and ultimately sacrificing all life in Terran.
After he sacrificed all life in Terran, he ascended through Fantasy Apotheosis, which was ultimately a twisted ritual to warp him into a powerful, aberrant Grievance. Since then, he had fused with Oblivion, making him stronger.
And this was not just a singular case. Oblivion had been doing this for a while, reincarnating souls with powerful new Unique Skills, raising them, and then fusing with each to expand his power.
At some point he had attempted to do the same with a certain Dragon, Drake, Louis's own grandfather! However, he ultimately failed, as Drake rejected the Apotheosis and became Oblivion's enemy, deciding to remain in Yggdrasil rather than ascending further.
"His eyes were not from Earth, no, they came from that Cultivation World, that Murim..." Louis muttered to himself. "He became his eyes... and this one, his mouth... the other three, what are they? Are they also extensions of himself he had spread through the universe? What an insane bastard..."
He could not learn more about his past or what they meant by calling him a remnant. He wanted to find out why there was an "original" and what had happened to him. From what he had heard, there was once a great battle between the "original" and Oblivion, which triggered this series of events afterward.
But from what he could connect, Oblivion had won that war and his "original" had likely died long ago, yet had managed to steal Oblivion's most precious treasure, the Heart of Time, which for some reason had fallen into Louis's soul after over eleven thousand timelines.
Still, this was just his own theory of how things had gone. He would have to dig for more information once he finally had a fair battle against Lisette and Minato.
"Do you think we can fight them now?" Louis wondered.
"You killed the Venerable that granted them their power. Are you really still afraid?" Niflheim wondered.
"No..." Louis said. "It is different with them... They are after all Tier 0, and were receiving power from this thing on top of that. I wonder... would they finally be weaker? I am still only Tier 3... should I evolve? Would that make me stronger?"
"Only one way to find out, but it should definitely make you much stronger," Gungnir nodded. "However, that depends if you want to spend some more time here or you want to go back and finally win."
"...I must be cautious," Louis had learned this the hard way. "Let us evolve one more time."
He decided to evolve. Entering his Inner Macrocosm, he found a large, empty planet covered with Fantasium Crystals and Seas of Spiritual Energy.
There, he sat down and quickly decided to see his evolution options.
And, to his surprise...
There was no option.
[Do you wish to begin your Evolution?]
[Yes] [No]
It seemed that without more than one option, he could not even see what he would evolve into. He had to merely accept it.
It was forced after all. There was no other path ahead anymore.
"This is what I choose."
Louis closed his eyes and nodded, pressing [Yes].
And then he was engulfed in endless light. The entire planet trembled as Fantasium and Spiritual Energies, plentiful in this world, flew toward him in massive waves.
FLUOSH!
Slowly, a giant white cocoon was created, encompassing the entire planet, as if the planet itself had become Louis's cocoon, an egg where he would be reborn.
His entire body immediately melted alongside his soul. His skills, abilities, everything started melting and melding together into a single form.
Gungnir did not remain separate. As she was with him through the process, she also melted away and fused with him as they evolved together.
The spirits within her also underwent the same change. All of them were connected as one "legion" of souls.
And so, ten years passed.
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