novelraw Chapter 258 258: Celestial Ashen Limbo
Chapter 258 258: Celestial Ashen Limbo
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It took ten years.
Over those three years, Louis underwent a massive evolution unlike anything he had ever experienced before. While evolving, his consciousness constantly drifted in and out of the white and black void, with Purgatory and Heaven baptizing his rebirth.
Year after year, Louis felt more deeply connected to the cosmos beyond, the Fantasy Dimension, and his own Bloodline and Past. Yet through it all, to preserve his sanity, he constantly reminded himself of his purpose.
He had to win.
He had to survive.
And he had to escape that Dungeon.
No matter what.
RUMBLE!
The entire planet cracked open like an egg. Explosions of golden flames erupted everywhere, disintegrating nearby planetoids. Cosmic energy poured out from the egg as if it were an ocean, flooding the void.
A pair of golden eyes emerged, gazing into the abyss. Enormous hands, the size of the moon itself, tore the planet apart, breaking free from his "egg."
"ROOOOAAAARRRRR!"
A mighty roar echoed, making the entire Inner Macrocosm tremble. Changes began to occur everywhere. Entire nebulas were born shaped like dragons, roaring back at him. Cosmic Beasts emerged, rushing to greet him and lowering their heads in submission.
Trillions of lifeforms that had formed in his Inner Macrocosm over these ten years all greeted their ruler with deep reverence.
Louis had evolved. He was no longer a young dragon, nor even a young adult dragon. He had fully matured. Five hundred years had been more than enough to age his soul to the level of an Elder Dragon.
And beyond that, the crown adorning his head signified he was no longer just a prince either.
"I AM REBORN."
He spoke with a powerful, low voice that shook the entire Inner Macrocosm and even extended beyond his own galaxy. Heaven and Purgatory felt his overwhelming pressure as he emerged from his egg.
Pristine white scales covered his body, golden circuits spreading across them. Eight enormous pairs of feathered draconic wings, twelve golden dragon horns, twenty eyes, eight arms, and ten tails completed his majestic form. Long white hair waved in the powerful wind-like pressure created by his own rebirth, flowing along his long and bulky neck.
Three... no, four Ascendancy Law Rings manifested behind him, each one signifying an Authority he had refined and created.
[Regressor]
[King]
[Dragon]
[Time]
These were his Four Ascendancy Law Rings. Each possessed three cores, the original three cores he once held now fused with them, making their power resonate through the world around him far better than before.
"Gungnir..."
He spoke once more, his voice echoing everywhere. He opened his palm, and billions of stars were born from his own Cosmic Aura. They gathered and materialized into a glorious golden draconic spear overflowing with power.
It was her. She had evolved alongside him too, becoming ridiculously strong. Gungnir herself had developed Ascendancy Laws. Three rings shone brightly around her long golden body.
[Pierce]
[Soul]
[Devour]
These were her Ascendancy Laws, her Authorities, perfectly complementing Louis. She was now quite literally an extension of his soul and power.
Thus, Louis had not four but seven!
Or... did he?
"Let us call the entire team, Louis."
Her voice echoed as the rest of Louis's Familiars appeared, each even more evolved than before. They were gigantic, majestic, and overflowing with power. And each one now possessed their own personal Ascendancy Law, forged through this evolution.
Niflheim held the Ascendancy Law of [Swords].
Belladine held the Ascendancy Law of [Holy Light].
Handy held the Ascendancy Law of [Healing].
The Gardener's Memento held the Ascendancy Law of [Thorns].
Pendragon held the Ascendancy Law of [Armor].
Pandora held the Ascendancy Law of [Curses].
Phenix held the Ascendancy Law of [Fire].
And lastly, Nidhogg held the Ascendancy Law of [Madness].
This added eight more Ascendancy Laws to Louis, giving him a grand total of fifteen!
With fifteen of them, reality itself seemed to warp around Louis. He held complete control over these elements within his surroundings, creating what was called an "Authority Dominion," a greater form of Fantasy Domains.
And...
Ding!
[Congratulations! You have successfully evolved from [Celestial Ashen Limbo Dragon: Rank 8: Middle Stage] into [Celestial Heavenly Ash Dragon King: Rank 12: Peak Stage]!]
[All of your Stats have increased by +5,000,000!]
[All of your Skills have gained 5 Bonus Levels!]
[You learned the Skill: [Celestial Heaven Ash Rain: Level 1]...]
[You learned the Skill: [Dragon King Authority: Level 1]...]
[You learned the Skill: [Mirror Dimension Reversal: Level 1]...]
[You learned the Skill: [Abyssal Void Shadow Extraction: Level 1]...]
[You learned the Skill: [Class Selection and Evolution: Level 1]...]
[Your Spiral resonates with your recent evolution. Rank Up evolutions have been overwritten as the Core of the Spiral further resonates with your power.]
[Your Spiral Rank has increased to Tier 2 – Ashen Sovereign.]
[You have automatically learned your Spiral of Madness Ability: [Death Command (Tier 2)]!]
[You have automatically learned your Spiral of Hope Ability: [Life Command (Tier 2)]!]
[Both abilities have merged automatically to create the Spiral of Fate Ability: [Reality Command (Tier 2)]!]
[Your Max Level Cap has increased to 800!]
[Current Level: 400/800]
Louis felt it. His Spiral of Fate had now ascended even further... Tier 2!
"Tier 2... is this real?"
Even after all this time, it felt unreal how quickly he had advanced. The combination of all his efforts was finally paying off tremendously. All of his suffering... had mattered.
The new ability seemed completely deranged in its potential. All the new skills looked incredible, so before going anywhere, while still feeling empowered, Louis decided to test them one by one, starting with Reality Command.
"Death and Life Command created this?"
Louis quickly activated the ability. At first, nothing seemed to change. But then his eyes widened.
He felt connected to quintillions upon quintillions of molecules composing "Reality" within a kilometer radius around him.
"W-What is this sensation?"
It felt unlike anything he had ever experienced before.
"Shatter."
With a single word and a surge of Draconic Energy, Louis commanded the reality surrounding him to shatter.
And it did.
CRAAASH!
Like glass, reality shattered, revealing an endless path of countless colors leading toward something beyond Reality itself. Louis trembled, feeling the immense and near-endless horizon of the cosmos before him. He felt overwhelmed, almost tempted to step through and forget everything else, to leave this Reality behind and never care about Oblivion or anyone else again.
But...
No.
That was not him. And he was not sure he would survive such an ordeal either.
He shook his head.
"Close."
The shattered reality closed and healed itself. Louis felt each command cost him 10% of his Draconic Energy, with no Fantasium consumed for some reason. It restored quickly, but it was certainly not something he could spam freely, as it would quickly drain his reserves.
However, it was an incredible ability with endless purposes and capabilities.
He decided to use it again for an experiment.
"Create Cosmic Beasts."
Reality warped as Louis felt the molecules and energy of the cosmos around him gathering and compressing, exploding like birthing and dying stars, forging beasts made of nebulas and stardust.
Cosmic Beasts!
He managed to create three of them. The effort cost him his entire Draconic Energy reserve, but he quickly realized they did not obey him. Instead, they attacked him.
"ROOOAAARRR!"
A Stardust Lion, a Supernova Eagle, and a Galaxy Turtle of immense size and power attacked Louis from every angle, attempting to pierce through his scales, which were larger than entire continents.
The Cosmic Beasts themselves were devourers of the cosmos, capable of eating stars and planets, yet even they could not harm him.
The others that had come to witness his rebirth stayed back, knowing well they could not defy the "top dog" around here. But these newly born ones only knew hunger, and they hungrily tried to devour Louis to satisfy it, unable to understand the immense power gap.
Louis waited until his Draconic Energy had regenerated by 30%, and then...
He began testing his new skills right away.
"Celestial Heaven Ash Rain."
The space around Louis warped as white ashes mixed with celestial heaven light descended over a massively wide area. They glowed with white-and-gold light. The rain healed his body and strengthened him, cleansing any negative status effects. He also gained several temporary buffs out of nowhere.
[Increased Regeneration]
[Resistance to Dark/Corruption]
[All Stat Boost +25%]
[...]
And that was not all. While the skill remained active, the ash fell like rain upon his foes. The three Cosmic Beasts burned in agony as the ashes covered their bodies. The damage was immensely heavy. It seemed this was Louis's highest-damage skill so far, and it drew heavily on his magical power.
"GRYAAAAH!"
The ashes did not deal empty damage. When enough gathered, they exploded, causing the beasts to burn in holy flames. One of the beasts died on the spot, exploding into pieces and disappearing, leaving behind a large blue and gold core, a Cosmic Beast Heart.
Louis grabbed it and stored it for later.
As for the other beasts, they were resilient enough to survive a little longer.
"Just die."
TRUUUM!
But that did not last long. Just two words were enough for the beasts to stop resisting. They burned in agony and perished. This was the power of Dragon King Authority. With his intimidation alone, his foes weakened severely while he grew stronger, which in turn made his ashes even more devastating.
As they died, Louis looked back at the other Cosmic Beasts.
"You are all going to stand there? Attack me. That is an order. Try to kill me with everything you have got."
The Cosmic Beasts were shaken, but unable to resist his command. They roared and charged him in droves. Hundreds of attacks reached him from every angle.
And then...
"Mirror Dimension Reversal."
TRUUUM!
Louis disappeared, finding himself in a calm, crystalline Mirror Dimension of his current location. He saw all the Cosmic Beasts as phantoms, or rather, reflections. They were alive, although not completely synchronized with their originals.
Louis was amazed. Smiling, he activated the powers of the Mirror Dimension Reversal.
"Mirror Swap – Reversal."
FLAAASH!
In that moment, he reappeared in the real world. All attacks were redirected to the Mirror Dimension instead, striking the living reflections of the Cosmic Beasts and making them explode and die one after another.
He had completely avoided a lethal attack by redirecting it to the Mirror Dimension! It was an incredible skill, though not one he could use continuously.
"It uses roughly thirty to forty percent of my Draconic Energy to redirect such power away from me... but it works."
And it certainly felt better than Fate Manipulation abilities that were just big "maybes" with no real guarantee. Those merely influenced events, while this skill simply redirected them instantly.
Thus, it felt more reliable in quick battles, while Fate-based skills were better for the long run.
Nonetheless, he accessed the Mirror Dimension again and sent his army of Undead and Echoes, who began slaughtering the powerful yet weakened Cosmic Beast reflections.
EXP flooded in large quantities!
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[...]
He returned to the real world once all reflections were dealt with and quickly decided to finish off the real Cosmic Beasts to maximize his EXP gain.
"Ah yeah, let us try this one too..."
Louis raised his eight hands. His claws melded into the corpses of the living reflections, rapidly extracting their souls through Soul Extraction, and...
"Abyssal Void Shadow Extraction."
FLUOSH!
Their very shadows, tainted by the void itself, merged with the extracted souls, generating an even stronger form of Undead, almost perfect clones of the originals with dark powers. They contained roughly 60% of their original power, far more than the usual Undead, who were at most 30% as strong.
Quickly, an army of one hundred Abyssal Void Shadow Soldiers emerged. They rushed toward the Cosmic Beasts in the real world and began a massacre, tearing them apart one by one.
Louis was having plenty of fun watching, but he could also use this skill to attack directly.
Indeed.
"Abyssal Void Shadow Extraction."
He approached the battlefield in the cosmos and pushed his claws forward. Darkness emerged like threads, leaking out of the bodies of his targets. It extracted part of their power, weakening them severely and draining their life force. Unlike before, Louis could fuse this Abyssal Void Shadow Essence and mold it into larger creatures.
"Zorba would love this... I should find a way to share this power with him."
Louis created a Hecatoncheires copy, using Zorba's latest creation as the blueprint and fusing all one hundred shadows together. He even created a giant cosmic core for it by fusing the hearts of the Cosmic Beasts. He smiled, creating a gift for his friend.
"This will make that crazy necromancer happy for sure."
He smiled lightly. There was nothing he wanted more than to be with him and the rest of his friends... and of course, his love, Mirai. He wanted to see them smile again, to laugh, to stand by his side, all of his friends, his lover...
He looked behind him. The Echoes of his friends, which he could now summon temporarily for up to 70 minutes thanks to his crown reaching Level 7, were there. They had been helping him hunt the Cosmic Beasts.
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[...]
His leveling speed was incredibly faster than before thanks to all the growth bonuses he had gained. A single Cosmic Beast granted billions of times the EXP of the strongest monsters in the dungeons he had hunted before.
"I miss you... all of you."
Louis sighed, feeling emotional after five hundred years. The only thing he had seen of them were faint glimpses between his deaths. He had begun to forget their voices, how they sounded... and some old memories were already becoming blurrier.
Although he could keep going as long as he wanted, the more he died and revived, the more his soul and mind became warped. Eventually, after thousands of times, he would definitely go insane and might forget everyone who mattered to him, becoming an unfeeling creature like the Venerables.
"Zorba, my dear friend, my brother..."
"Timothy, stubborn brat... but a good-hearted person that fights for what is right."
"Anastasia, a girl that is always working hard, someone that was once broken because her mother died... perhaps the most mature of the group."
"Agustina... with a bad temperament but a heart of gold, you are truly one of my greatest friends..."
"Melisa, my child... I miss your smile and your laughter like you wouldn't imagine."
"Selene too. I lived to make you happy... and I want to see you live, not die... ever again."
"And... Mirai. I love you so much... I miss your caress, your touch... your kisses."
Louis hugged them all as the Echoes slowly faded away, leaving only faint traces of who they once were.
How many times had he seen them all die?
"You are my beloved friends... everything I do... is for you... and I will not let them kill you anymore."
He gripped his fists tightly. His eyes gleamed with bright red, gold, and azure flames.
"Today, that will change."
Behind Louis floated several powerful Cosmic Weapons that had just finished being forged by his Spirits and Incarnations in the giant Cosmic Forge. Gungnir herself had donated her own metal, and all of them gleamed with golden and cosmic light.
These were weapons he had made for them, so they could resist fate by his side.
Was he helping them too much? Had they even helped him? Were they worthy of his help? Were they simply slowing him down?
No. None of that.
These friends had helped him survive those few critical minutes in every regression. Sometimes they blocked attacks for him, heartbreakingly sacrificing their lives, knowing he would make it.
Louis would never have obtained the power he now possessed without their help. Thus, each one of them, even if weaker than him now, mattered tremendously.
If anything, Louis's own growth had been thanks to them. Their lives, hundreds of times over, had been the pillars of his growth.
That was why... did they really not deserve a gift? A powerful, evolvable, Rank 9 Cosmic Divine Weapon capable of allowing them to evolve to even greater heights by his side?
After all, this was not through Louis's efforts alone. They had done at least 70% of it for him...
Louis felt incredibly guilty and wanted to repay their favor, no matter how.
Because even if they could only live for minutes, they too had been experiencing these deaths constantly as he returned their fragmented memories to them.
"One last thing before I go..."
He looked at the last skill he had obtained, the strangest of them all.
"Class Selection and Evolution."
FLASH!
Suddenly, Louis felt his power surging as a new system notification appeared before him.
This was a skill that felt like it should have been available to him much earlier. It would have definitely helped him grow even more.
But now, it no longer mattered.
[You have activated the [Class Selection and Evolution: Level 1] Skill.]
[Do you wish to change Classes?]
[Classes go from F Rank to SSS Rank.]
[Yes] [No]
Louis pressed Yes.
[Tank]
[Healer]
[Rogue]
[Archer]
[Magician]
"So these are simple classes for now, I see," Louis nodded. "I suppose I have to grow from the beginning with this one... not like I mind. What should I choose? Does it even matter? I am already strong enough but..."
What could Louis benefit from the most?
Tank, for surviving better?
Warrior for more damage?
Healer to heal himself and allies?
Rogue, to move swiftly and stealthily and unleash surprise attacks?
Archer for strong long-range attacks?
Or Magician to specialize in magic conjuration?
After thinking for a moment, he went for the choice most would not believe a gigantic cosmic divine dragon like him would choose.
Ding!
[You have chosen the Class: [Rogue – Rank 1: Level 0/30]]
[You learned the Class Skill: [Stealth: Level 1]]
[You learned the Class Skill: [Knife Throwing: Level 1]]
[You have unlocked the Agility Stat.]
[Your Agility Stat has increased by +3,000,000]
[Your Dexterity Stat has increased by +2,000,000]
[Your Strength Stat has increased by +1,000,000]
[Your Intelligence Stat has increased by +1,000,000]
[The Class Bonuses and Skills have been adjusted to match your current Realm of Power for better and more stable growth speed.]
"Interesting. The stat boosts are definitely not what I expected. I thought I would get single-digit increases because it is so low, but it adjusted to my power level?" Louis wondered, rubbing his chin. "And these two new skills, are they also 'adjusted' to my Realm of Power?"
Louis quickly decided to test the two new skills he obtained, Stealth and Knife Throwing. Both sounded so simple, so he did not have high hopes for them.
He decided to test them on the berserk Cosmic Beasts, which he provoked to attack him using his Reality Command ability.
As they roared at him in anger, Louis used the first skill.
"Stealth."
It was a skill that allowed a Rogue-Class adventurer to move undetected for ten seconds, becoming invisible to the enemy. It was great for sneak attacks.
But at such a low level, and against these monsters' Cosmic Awareness ability to detect anything around them, it seemed completely useless.
Or so he thought.
FLASH!
"GRRR?!"
The Cosmic Beast looked around confused, sniffing and trying to catch Louis, but it simply attacked empty space, firing starlight beams and swinging its claws at nothing.
Louis was right above it, floating as if nothing had happened. The skill also lasted far longer than ten seconds. He realized it lasted as long as 100 seconds!
"What is this incredible ability?!"
Louis was shocked. It was the perfect stealth ability he had always wished for. Even more impressively, it had adjusted to his power level, turning a simple rogue skill into divine-level invisibility.
After he finally reappeared, the Cosmic Beast charged at Louis. In that moment, Louis used his max-level Heart of Time skill to accelerate his own time awareness, effectively making the world around him seem in slow motion.
Afterward, he looked at his own hands and activated Knife Throwing. He had thought he would need a knife, but once he activated the skill, he learned he did not need one at all.
FLUOSH!
"Hm?"
However, knives materialized out of void particles and starlight, becoming large enough to fit his gigantic hands. They gleamed with purple-blue cosmic light, as if made out of nebulas.
"T-This is Knife Throwing?!"
Louis was taken aback but amazed. Smiling, he fired the eight knives he had created. They pierced the wolf-like Cosmic Beast's body, then exploded.
BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!
"GRYAAAACK!"
The Cosmic Beast quickly crashed into the surface of the planet he was hovering above, bleeding out and dying shortly after. The power of Knife Throwing was no laughing matter, and the best part was that it barely cost any Fantasium to use.
"I could create like a dozen easily, and there is no upper limit because it is supposed to be a weak skill?" Louis wondered, amazed that a simple Knife Throwing skill might become one of his main skills from now on. "Well... that is amazing."
He waited a few hours to see if he could level up his Class. After three hours of slaying Cosmic Beasts in the real Inner Macrocosm and the Mirror Dimension...
[Your Class has Leveled Up!]
Only one level.
"Only one level after three hours... wow, that is slow," he said. "I guess it adjusted to my power level in more ways than one... Well, that is fine too. I can level it up passively. For now... I must return. Though, one last thing."
Louis glanced at his Status one last time.
♢♢♢♢
[Name]: [Louis Drakeheart Yggdrasil]
[True Name]: [None]
[Species]: [Celestial Heavenly Ash Dragon King: Rank 12: Peak Stage]
[Species Level]: [Level 418/800]
[Class]: [Rogue – Rank 1]
[Class Level]: [Level 1/30]
[Core Spiral Tier]: [Hollow Spiral of the Ashen Wyrm: Tier 2 – Ashen Sovereign]
[Core Spiral Abilities]: [Fated Villain–Tier 2] [Mask of Morpheus–Tier 2] [Draconic Rebirth–Tier 2] [Narrative Defiance–Tier 2] [Mask of Inevitability–Tier 2] [Reality Command–Tier 2]
[Cultivation Rank]: [Rank 8: Galaxy Monarch – Peak Stage]
[Ascendancy Laws]: [Regressor] [King] [Dragon] [Time] [Pierce] [Soul] [Devour] [Swords] [Holy Light] [Healing] [Thorns] [Armor] [Curses] [Fire] [Madness]
...
♢♢♢♢
"This is the result of five hundred years of doing everything I can to grow stronger..."
Louis smiled, feeling rather proud of his growth so far. He also felt confident and determined to win this time, for sure.
"No more regression."
He promised himself that he would not die again. Ever.
With his Spirits by his side and Gungnir in his hand, Louis followed the River of Time at long last, his Heart of Time resonating with it.
FLASH!
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