The decisive moment came, and Amon jumped with as much force his legs could muster. While he was high up, instead of descending downward, a strong gust of wind pushed his free-falling frame forward. It was intense and unnatural until he felt like he was riding the wind that formed an invisible wind tunnel towards the Arch Serpent's Summit.
This method of travel brought a sense of worry to Amon. One of the laws the old platform was looking for is Wind Law. He now was worried that the Primordial spirit fragment at the Arch Serpent's Summit is a wind monarch.
While Wind Law is a powerful law both on land and outer space, it was not the pure energy law Amon hoped to gain from this trip, nor is it anything useful to Amon. He was also not interested in the humans' legacies here; he could not help but doubt them. Historically, as far as he was aware, no human has produced a legacy that could rival that of Primordials'.
For all he knew, 'The Desolate Capital' and the "Northern Valley' could be the location of humans' legacies for Fire and Lightning Laws. Which would mean his gamble failed, and he should have gone to a different cluster and met the other Primordial spirit fragment.
'Worst case scenario I gain nothing, but I might be able to learn something useful. I still have time. I can return to the dungeon and use the platform to short trip myself to the other cluster to find the other spirit fragment. I just hope the one here is not another vengeful spirit and more amiable than Alexios, I have many doubts about this whole world, and I would like some answers.'
The wind tunnel trip continued peacefully; it both flew Amon towards the Arch Serpent's Summit and protected him by forming a wind barrier around him, making the trip not just safe but pleasant.
'You don't know the true value of something until you have lost it.' Amon internally lamented the loss of his wings and the ability to fly. While he will be able to fly once more when he reaches the Sky Realm, it won't ever be the same as unfolding and flapping his Phoenix's wings, roaming the skies unimpeded as one of its true few numbered tyrants.
As he got closer to the summit, the structure on it became more apparent. It was a giant decrepit fort, made of white cubic bricks. Housing a tall winding tower at its center, raised high above the clouds to the point Amon could not see its zenith.
The wind slowed down considerably and altered its straight course to the left perceptibly. Amon gradually descended as the wind deposited him on a winding trail near the summit on the left side of the mountain. There was only one path available as the trail starts where Amon landed on his feet.
Amon did not waste any time and started walking up the naturally formed path. Soon he found himself looking at a corner of the giant fort. The summit was barren, and the fort appeared to be another victim of time. Only the howling of wind could be heard.
Deciding to find the fort entrance, he started walking adjacent to the high fort walls. After a long walk, he reached another corner. Instead of turning and stepping forward, he placed his back on the tall wall and peered beyond the corner cautiously.
There he saw two strange, motionless humanoid creatures sitting on the ground. They had very long necks and snake-like heads, wearing tattered leather armor and holding axes as weapons. With the eyes of Entropy, he knew they were another type of Source construct.
Sword in hand, Amon approached the closest one to him quietly, careful not to make any noises. He did not know what will trigger them into action, but he did not care, getting rid of them would provide him with rotten goodies to refine for later.
Standing behind the motionless, long necked reptile, Amon lopped its head off in one go, capturing it souls' clump and Source. The other close by construct started stirring awake. He immediately dashed towards it, not giving it a chance, and lopped its head from its long neck too.
Frowning Amon felt that there was something different about the Source he just gained. He did not have time to examine it as his danger senses flared up, and he promptly rolled forward, avoiding a small fireball.
His head snapped to the direction the tiny fireball came from, just to see another fireball heading straight at him. With his sword, he slashed it in half and ran towards the Source construct that kept spitting these fireballs at him. It was a third humanoid snake he did not see or notice previously, standing further away from where the first two Amon killed.
Relentlessly, it kept spitting out fireballs from its jaws, forcing Amon to close the gap to it by zigzagging left and right. When he was within one meter, the reptile stretched its long neck towards Amon, trying to bite his head off. He sidestepped it, allowing it to pass him for an easy execution-style vertical sword slash at its long neck.
The reptile crumbled to ash before hitting the floor, awarding Amon with its Source and unwillingly handing over what kept it together, its rotten soul. Alertly Amon examined his surroundings for anything else he missed, but there was nothing.
"Now, why did its Source feel different?"
Amon closed his eyes, inspecting the Source he just gained from the three reptiles.
"Eh? Pure? There is more...it has a cleansing quality to it."
Bewildered, Amon double-checked his initial examination. The Source these reptiles provided was different from the rotten ones he gained from the jailers and corpses. Not only was it pure, but it had a cleansing effect. He tried to merge a rotten Source orb with one of the new ones, and he watched it effectively remove the rot from the rotten Source orbs.
Intrigued, he examined the three reptiles' souls' clumps. It was just as rotten as the jailers,' but it did not surprise Amon much. These souls were not supposed to be gained but rather disperse the moment the constructs were destroyed.
Crossing his arms, Amon came to an initial conclusion, which he could not confirm now, not before examining the awarded Source at a human's legacy area.
"If my hunch is correct, then all Primordial legacies areas awards clean, cleansing Source while the human ones grant rotten Source. Why...?"
Looking back at the giant fort, Amon hoped he could get some answers from the spirit fragment here.
The journey continued until Amon got close to the enormous fort's gatehouse. Six motionless reptiles were standing next to it, looking at them, Amon, tried to come up with a strategy to kill them all in one go before they were stirred awake.
A thought crossed his mind as he observed the motionless constructs. 'Perhaps me coming here a day before the actual trial starts is making this whole thing easy. The area is big enough to hold thousands of participants but not enough constructs to go around. Unlike a human, a Primordial can have more than one recipient of their legacy if they so wished.
Good for me, I guess. Without any Profound Ethereal Art or any useable technique, I would have been at a significant disadvantage, not to mention my lowly Sorcery rank.'
Walking to the side, Amon positioned himself to kill the six constructs with few sword strokes before any of them stood up.
'3, 2, 1, go!'
The former Phoenix ran through his motionless targets, lopping their heads off one by one before any of them could respond.
'Nice! Now, how to open this gate?'
Observing his surroundings, he saw a leaver mechanism embedded within the gatehouse walls to the side of the closed gate. He pulled the leaver down, driving the ancient cogs to open the enormous metal gate.
The moment the gate rose high enough for him to slip through, he did so, not trusting the antique mechanical device not to fail on him when he needed to keep pushing forward.
Once he was past the gate, he was greeted by a surprising sight. In front of him was a straight, wide paved path towards the tall tower at the fort's heart. What amazed him were the perfectly preserved giant sculpted statues on both sides of the paved road.
They were depicting superb humanoid females of different races, wearing questionable outfits, displaying sensual, enticing expressions on their sculpted faces, and their body language communicated an aroused, inviting state.
He walked forward, his eyes examining the different statues on both sides, they were well done, and he had nothing but respect for the hands that fashioned them. The level of detail is something Amon had not witnessed before as if the artist was trying to immortalize precious moments from their own memory.
'Huh...a legendary womanizer? I'm not sure if these females were real. If they were, I don't think they would appreciate the state they were presented in for all to see. I can't complain, though, they are a welcome sight.'
An easy smile adorned Amon's face. He could not help it; the beauties depicted around him were indeed something else.
Standing in front of the tall tower, he could not find an entrance. He only found a small old-fashioned accessible elevator built on the tower's side. Seeing no other path forward, he stepped inside the lift box. The moment he did, the ancient elevator open door closed, and it immediately started raising.
Leaning back on the lift box's rail, Amon closed his eyes, reviewing his plans for all the scenarios he played in his head for the upcoming meeting. While he can afford another situation like Alexios, he very much instead prefers a different outcome. He had no intention of swearing an oath that would set him on a dark path, nor was he willing to roll over for anyone, no matter what was on offer.
The elevator trip was slow and long. The air around Amon started thinning further, making it harder to breathe normally. The elevator finally stopped and allowed Amon out.
The cold fog was the name of the game here, obstructing Amon's sight from observing the entirety of the tower's roof. He took a few steps forward until his shoes hit something. Kneeling, he waved his hand at the fog, trying to see what is in front of him.
From just a quick look, he recognized it, another teleportation platform no different than the two he came across before.
Standing up, he passed the platform until he saw a dim light, and heard familiar noises he has heard before—the muffled cries of small children.
Following the cries sound, he soon found himself standing in front of a very familiar scene, a small burning firepit, a rotating golden pyramid floating above it, and a strange tree behind them emanating the children's muffled cries.
Learning from his experience, he placed his right closed fist over his heart and his left hand behind his back. Slightly bowing, Amon spoke in a clear audible voice.
"Former Duke Amon Enigma Black-Sun of the Phoenixes clan greets their royal majesty, the Primordial Serpent monarch."
Straightening his back, Amon awaited an answer, but he heard nothing and sensed nothing.
Sighing, he walked forward toward the strange tree and stood before it. He stretched his hand, and his fingers stopped less than an inch away from touching it. Contrary to his expectations, there was no life-threatening aura pinning him down, nothing at all.
He turned around just for him to get startled out of his skin. A colossal dragon's head laid on the ground behind the firepit staring at him. The dragon-like head eye slit alone was more prominent than Amon standing on his toes.
Amon took in the breathtaking scene in front of him. Due to the fog, he could only see the blue scales head and a hint of two horns on its forehead.
The colossal creature rose from lying on the ground, and Amon took the chance to walk away from the tree. Standing still, he could hear the Primordial serpent slithering on the ground around him, closing the gap between them, until he felt his behind get scraped by the enormous body of the serpent.
Amon thought nothing of it until he felt a twinge of electricity electrocuting his butt, which made him jump and rub the pain away.
A loud feminine huff reverberated across the tower's roof, clearing the fog away in one go. Amon could hardly believe his eyes, the majestic creature in front of him was the most beautiful and otherworldly serpent he ever read about or laid eyes on.
Looking at her, she reminded him of his ancestral mother. Her multi-colored feathers did, at least. Unlike other serpents, this one had no scales anywhere on her body except her head; gorgeous, soft, multi-colored feathers covered the rest of her body.
The Primordial Serpent kept staring at Amon until she sighed resignedly.
"A male...is this is what I woke up to after so long? No matter, I shall have an open mind this time around and try my first male. Take off your pants and let me have a taste."
Amon inserted his pinkie in his ear and rubbed it, thinking he must have heard wrong.
"Ah...the same look every male has on their face when they come across perfect me. I know what you are wondering about, you are asking yourself how come this ideal, gorgeous Primordial never tasted a male before."
"No, I'm not!" Shouted Amon.
The feathered serpent ignored him and continued while slithering around Amon, speaking in a soft, sensual, high pitched feminine voice.
"You see, from a young age. I have always preferred the softer gender, my gender. I could not help it. I just found them more appealing. Perhaps it was the fault of the females in my family. They were so gorgeous, so soft...I could not help myself but go after all of them. They resisted at first, but I was good, really good."
Amon's eyes almost popped out of their socket.
"Then I went after... ahem; you don't need to know that. Anyhow, I started getting bored of them all, so I thought hey, Quetzalcoatl, why not roam the realm and find yourself a diverse set of delicate companions, the drop-dead gorgeous kind. I went on an epic journey conquering myriad of maidens, wives, daughters, mothers, ah my exploits were legendary, oh how I miss my girls..."
"Your royal highness, I'm really not interested. Could we talk about something else, please?" Beseeched Amon.
"Until that fateful day, when I met her. Words could not describe her. I can't string any of them together to describe how beautiful she was. I only wanted to do one thing when I saw her, to sew my mouth to her...
Too bad, she was not interested, so we instead became friends, and I took her to visit my family.
We had a lot of fun, and I thought I was close, so close... but then he showed up..."
Quetzalcoatl looked at the sky above her, remembering her last day as a living being.
"The sheer hatred, anger, and malice he projected...I thought he was a devil, but he was not. He was just a wrathful dragon, the most terrifying sight I had the displeasure of laying my eyes on; that day, I knew fear for the first time in my life—a dragon who had his well set on eradicating all humans, including my beloved. I foolishly stood in his way...I never thought I would get penetrated by a male, but I did that day, too bad he created a new hole instead of using one of the available ones."
Amon cupped his face, groaning loudly. First, it was an angry kitty and now this rambling lecherous snake.
A soft feathered tail wrapped around Amon's waist and lifted him high up.
"Who are you? I don't sense anyone else besides you in my domain." Asked Quetzalcoatl.
Amon shrugged and pointed at his head; Quetzalcoatl understood his gesture. Electricity started coursing through Amon's body from her tail, heading for his soul to view his memory.
Quetzalcoatl closed her eyes and gently placed Amon back on the ground.
A faint smile adorned Amon's face. The serious look on Quetzalcoatl's mug and the gentle way she put him down must be due to the respect that Entropy gets by all creation.
Quetzalcoatl laid down in front of Amon.
"Oi, Amon...Introduce me to your mothers."