28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq8uYyZRW2sRaina and Michael had to leave the fighting to the others as they remained focused on keeping Alissia alive for the remainder of the procedure.
Still, Raina observed what she could. The first thing she noticed was Fuse's various half-healed wounds on his face and cracks in his armor. The report she'd received before they brought Alissia to her had informed her that Fuse was one of the klevonians who attacked Forgeton. Apparently, he was strong enough to be an equal to Cinder. Yet as it were, he was nowhere near a full recovery.
She'd say it was bold of him to attack, but he likely waited until she was preoccupied to do so.
Despite his weakened state and Avarice, Tymon and Za'Fia being in their hybrid forms, they couldn't take Fuse out due to his speed and abilities.
"That spirit arm's a pain in the ass," she heard Tymon remark.
"I'm just glad he hasn't recovered enough to transform. Otherwise, we'd be dead already," Za'Fia stated as she blasted him with flame, but they proved too weak to even faze him.
Tymon was the next to attack. He unleashed darkness in the area, but Fuse's light easily illuminated it. Then Tymon used his peculiar darkness that seemed to age things around him. Unfortunately, that proved ineffective as well: Fuse's spirit enhancement was far too strong for it to bypass.
"Hm," Avarice tapped his chin while observing. "Seems I'll have to do all the heavy lifting. You two may want to stand back. I'd hate for you to get caught up in my power."
"Just take care of him," Za'Fia retorted.
Tymon remained silent as he watched, frustrated that he couldn't offer more.
"Of course," Avarice knelt and placed a hand on the floor. From his hand, the floor turned into a liquid, crystalline gold.
Raina was shocked as she watched the gold develop a glow as it bonded with his spirit energy and covered his body in golden armor. Then more of the glowing, liquidated gold hovered above him in a swirling mass. Avarice reached up as part of the gold formed into a compact sword with a familiar aura. Raina knew from sensing it that the sword was indestructible. It was a technique that few could accomplish to offset spirit arms.
"Ah, there we are," Avarice brandished his sword, and everything it touched turned to gold.
When he attacked Fuse, their weapons clashed, but Fuse's spirit arm couldn't cut through Avarice's.
"Spirit infusion...?" Fuse grunted.
"My blade holds up. Good to know. But it seems I can't turn yours to gold,' Avarice mused out loud. "That's unfortunate."
"You're more skilled than I gave you credit for. I thought your leader was the only one with any notable power among her followers," Fuse stated as they fought.
"Of course I am," Avarice responded with confidence before hitting Fuse with a high-pitched, continuous blast of soundwaves. "But don't take me for someone who follows anyone."
Fuse gritted his teeth and struggled to keep his eyes open as he fell to a knee, but just as quickly donned his helmet for protection.
"Tch," Avarice expressed in frustration as they continued their battle. From the looks of it, Avarice wasn't going to win. His sword and armor protected him from Fuse's attacks thanks to being more powerful, but Avarice's abilities burned through a ton of his energy in such an astral-e enriched atmosphere. Soon, his energy reserves would fall below Fuse's.
Now that Alissia's DNA was set, Raina began setting Alissia's energy back through her spirit nodes. The volume of energy she held was still the volume Alissia possessed in her transformed state, but now that she would have a much higher reserve capacity, given a little time, her energy should rapidly replenish.
"I'm done wasting time," she heard Fuse call out. "I wish I could summon my suits, but this damn dimension is interfering with my signals. I'll just have to end this with one shot."
Fuse gripped his spirit arm and aimed it at Alissia. He focused his light energy into it, generating a stunning amount of destructive power that, at the very least, would disrupt Raina from completing the procedure.
"Avarice, stop that attack!" Za'Fia yelled.
"Don't order me —" Avarice began just as his transformation began to fail him, and his armor and blade dissolved. "No...is it the thick atmosphere...I hadn't taken it into account."
"Each of our marks are gone," Tymon stated as they all fell from their transformations.
"I'll take the blast," Michael said, but Raina objected.
"You need to continue healing her in case her body gives out again."
Raina urgently pushed herself to finish faster as Fuse's spirit arm returned to ring form after depleting his energy. Still, he fired the energy he'd amassed.
Come on, if I could just finish in time... Raina thought.
Suddenly, Raina finished just in time as a burst of Alissia's appearance changed, and her power violently erupted throughout the dimension, stunning everyone. The temporary release stopped Fuse's attack, being too dense for it to break through.
"This is...can't be happening," Fuse watched in disbelief.
This gave Raina the window to dismantle the attack. She extended a hand and changed the light's composition to a cindium-cement substance, then redirected it at Fuse, holding him in place.
Fuse yelled in frustration as he tried to break free.
"Thank God," Za'Fia huffed as she landed next to them. "How'd this guy even manage to get into Meira's rift?"
"He probably was fused to the walls already and slipped through without us noticing," Tymon figured, strolling up.
In the next instance, Meira reappeared through a rift. She looked around at the destruction, then at Fuse, who was trying to phase into the ground. Meira reacted fast and used her spatial power to trap Fuse as he was halfway fused. She willed the part of the ground he was in to break free of the rest, then shot him skyward toward the high roof to deal with later.
"That ought to hold him for now," Meira assured everyone.
"Why didn't you send him into another one of your dimensions or something?" Za'Fia asked her.
"Had I done that, or killed him, Aeric would've sensed his disappearance. So long as he's trapped in here, he can't telepathically reach out to Aeric for help, but his living connection can still be felt, so Aeric shouldn't think anything's wrong for a while. If Fuse was sent to spy on us, then Aeric will likely give him the space to do so."
"More curiously," Meira turned to Raina, then pointed at the cindium-cement residue on the ground. "You can change spirit energy into something else? That's a terrifying power."
"Yes, my abilities have expanded," Raina grinned proudly. "I can distort the properties of matter now."
She held out her hand, and a lump of metal materialized in it.
"You have the power of creation!?" Meira exclaimed, astonished.
"Not quite. I simply changed the makeup of the air molecules after pushing their atoms closer together until they changed into metal. From the feel of it, if I concentrate, I can push my power further and break down nonorganic matter to its core elements and reconstruct it however I want."
She squeezed the metal and changed it to wood, then squeezed again, and it became cindium-concrete.
"Hm," Raina expressed her disappointment. "I tried to make cindium, but it keeps becoming a concrete substance instead. It seems there are limits to what I can reconstruct. I can't replicate the mystical aspects of our native metal."
She looked at Alissia and said, "Though maybe..."
Alissia's power was already rapidly replenishing itself as she rested, but Raina wanted to see what her power allowed her to do. She tried to fill the empty space of Alissia's energy reserves for Alissia. If she could achieve it, being able to forcibly replenish energy would be a great asset for the Pneumarian Forces, but yet again, she was met with another limitation. The attempt failed spectacularly. Raina wasn't able to establish a connection at all.
"Changing spirit energy into less complicated matter is easy, but changing the properties of atoms into spirit energy would be more difficult, I suppose," Avarice said, intrigued by her little experiment.
"Regardless, your threat level has increased," Meira said enthusiastically with Raina. "You're a 4-star threat now."
"I am," Raina examined her bio card.
Just then, Alissia stirred and groaned as she came to.
****
"Ungh, my chest hurts," I mumbled as I sat up. Everything hurt and flared like I was experiencing the world for the first time.
"Well, we lost you for a second," Michael rushed over to help support me.
Once I was on my feet and able to take in everything, I quickly noticed my new power that was flowing throughout the dimension.
"Whoa. This is all me?" I marveled, then examined my bio card. "My EQN's 899,000,000...apparently I'm a 4.5-star threat now."
Raina swallowed. I could tell she was second-guessing things now that she could see I was stronger than her.
She's probably asking herself what she just created, Tymon sent telepathically, having noticed the same thing. It was only fair. From her perspective, we're trustworthy for now, but what if you one day choose to rule everything yourself? How were they going to stop you then? It wouldn't surprise me if she and her Commanders gather to think of safety precautions later.
"That's quite the power boost," Avarice commented with an envious glare.
"No kidding. It's overwhelming. I feel invincible. So, this is what being a zasshu is like..."
I looked down at myself, noticing for the first time that I looked different.
"Allow me," Raina said as she willed a piece of the floor to change and rise to become a full-body mirror for me.
I turned in the mirror as I saw my glowing turquoise eyes. My long hair was now silky white with a streak of turquoise, just like before in my Evolved Form. Now, however, my spirit energy partially took the form of an elegant cloak not too dissimilar to the brown combat cloak I wore before the transformation. Even parts of my pants had developed extensions of my spirit energy. My presence truly felt supreme now compared to before, a feeling I wasn't at all comfortable with.
"This is a day for the history books. A new zasshu is born," Meira said in awe. I got the sense she loved this sort of stuff. "This is your true form now. Unlike klevonians, powerful zasshu like you have to use transformations to limit their power, not boost it. Not every zasshu decides to do it, but for the sake of the people, and complying with the nation's Golden Laws, it'd be best if you learned how to."
"Okay," I gave it some thought. According to Viraa's memories, I'd have to give myself a mark specifically designed to suppress my power. It wouldn't be too different from my previous mark that changed me into something closer to a klevonian when transformed. Except the opposite.
I stopped for a moment. Despite being able to access Viraa's memories, I could feel the lingering connection we once had was gone now, and I grieved a little internally.
After a moment, it dawned on me that when Viraa officially died, the marks of each Primordial disappeared just as mine did. Thankfully, their lives weren't in danger of it, but we were a team. I intended for each of us to help save Cindar from Aeric, and we'd need all the power we could get.
"I'm going to give each of my friends a zenith mark," I declared abruptly. "And Avarice."
"What are you...?" Raina began.
"It's not to take over or start an army or anything like that," I reassured her. "Viraa told you to trust me. Trust me. In the days to come, we'll need my team and the power they'll offer otherwise Ae...just trust me, please. If you see me handing out zenith marks, then you can do what you need to."
"I'm still unclear of what exactly a zenith mark offers," Avarice interrupted.
"Zenith marks work similarly to ascension marks in some ways," Meira explained. "They offer a transformation based on the zasshu who bestows the mark. When transformed, they increase a klevonian's power tenfold, double their strength, triple their speed, and if they can defy gravity through energy manipulation, they'll be able to fly 1.5 times faster. But that's where the similarities stop."
"Unlike ascension marks, zenith marks are only created by powerful zasshu. Not pneumarians. They also can't be augmented the way ascension marks can be. So, a zasshu can't force in a failsafe within the mark to prevent the recipient from attacking the zasshu, and they're permanent," Meira stated.
"Hm," Avarice grunted approvingly.
"However, it would still behoove the recipients to not kill the zasshu who gives them their mark," Meira cleared up. "A zenith is permanent in the sense that even the zasshu can't remove it once it's given, but should that zasshu die, each zenith mark given will fade as well."
"Hopefully that erases any ideas of killing Alissia afterwards," Michael directed at Avarice, who shrugged nonchalantly.
"How does that help us?" Tymon asked. "We receive new marks, but we get the same power we just had."
"Not quite. Upon receiving the mark, a klevonian's body and spiritual strength are pushed to their full potential, revealing that klevonian's limit before the additional boosts of the transformation."
"So if our natural limit is an EQN of 300,000,000...?" Tymon inquired.
Meira laughed.
"Without a mark? No klevonian has a natural EQN that high. They'd have to spend thousands, no, millions of years strengthening their body to safely contain that much power. There are two reasons why that never has and never will happen. One: cindarians have a hard limit that prevents us from going beyond. The proof of that is the lethal aneurysms we receive once we reach our limits in battle. Then there's the second issue: even if the first issue didn't exist, klevonians don't live long enough to achieve the necessary growth their bodies would need. This is why klevonians who successfully steal enough energy to ascend on their own are exceedingly rare."
"To sum things up, we'll be considerably more powerful once we receive the marks," Avarice said. "I'm eager to see just what my limit is," he said uneasily.
"The real issue would be learning how to master that new power," Tymon added in thought.
"We can train here," Michael suggested, motioning to Meira's dimension.
"We don't have the time," I rebutted. "The war will break out in a couple of days."
Everyone looked at me as if I had just stated something insane....Oh, wait. I guess I did...
"You saw it?" Tymon asked me, stepping forward.
"No. Viraa did. I got her memories. There were a few moments in time she saw beyond today. The upcoming war was one of them. She even went so far as to determine the exact date."
"That's unsettling, but now that we know, we can prevent it," Raina said, taking charge. She was pacing in thought.
"That's the goal," I said.
"I think Michael's right," Za'Fia chimed in, pointing up. "We only have two days, but we can hone our power here, right? Where no one can sense us."
"It's better than nothing," Tymon added.
"I do you all on better," Meira announced proudly. "I can adjust time within my realms to be faster or slower than time outside."
"By how much?" Tymon asked her. "How much can you slow the time inside?"
"Hmm. The max I can do is two days outside, which is a little over a month inside."
"That's more than enough time," I beamed.
"Great, then we have a plan," Raina said. I noticed she'd switched into leader mode. "Meira will set you all up for the time and space you need once you're ready."
"Wait," I objected. "With that kind of time, we should each try to push a little further in developing our power."
"Hm, hm, hm," Avarice chuckled before adding a snarky remark. "I know you're young and have a short attention span, but we just established we can't get stronger once we approach our limits."
"That's not what I'm saying," I sighed. "I want everyone to not only focus on controlling their new power but also to evolve it if they can. According to Viraa's memories, some of the worlds Cindar has connections to seem to have perfect conditions that'll help push some of your powers to new limits. If you can find someone from those worlds to train you, it could be beneficial to the team."
"The transportation devices are quick, but they still take time; hours, to warp people from one planet to another unless it's nearby. Still...," I looked at Meira. "Could you make some realms on those other planets if you were to travel there with the transportation devices?"
Meira and Raina looked at each other. Then Raina nodded at Meira.
"I have that covered already," Meira smiled.
"Great, then all that's left is to get the others," I said, extending a hand to Meira. "Sorry to depend on you so much, but can you help with that too?"
"Sure," she accepted the shake, and we exchanged energies. As I used All-Sight to see the others, I shared the memory with her so that she could use Sanctum to open a mirror rift on Earth.
The rift was placed before them as Damien and the others were gathered after concluding their contribution to helping the humans rebuild.
"Um, you're all seeing this too, right?" Trevor was the first to acknowledge the spatial mirror in front of them.
"We are," Damien stepped forward as my image finally reflected through. "Alissia?"
"What is going on...?" Wren exclaimed. "And why do you look like that?"
"Hey, guys," I heard my voice echo through. "A lot's happened."
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Earthly Ties Saga Layout:
The Primordials: Death's Fury (Volume 01 - Chapters 1-30)
The Primordials: A Joyless Joy & Life (Volume 02 - Chapters 31-50)
The Primordials: Lustless Prides (Volume 03 - Chapters 51-78)
The Primordials: Retribution (Volume 04 - Chapters 79-110)
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The Primordials: New World (Volume 05 - Chapters 111-165)
The Primordials: Transcension (Volume 06 - Chapters 166-195)
The Primordials: Culling War (Volume 07 - Chapters ???-???)
The Primordials: Secret Vendetta (Volume 08- Chapters ???-???)
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