Terra of earth, Vinta of wind, Aqua of water, Ignis of fire, Natura of nature, Fulmen of lightning, Umbra of darkness, Lux of light, Spiritus of Spirit, Animus of Soul, Vi of force, Locus of space, Tempus of time, and the most mysterious of them all, Moira of fate. These are the 14 Empyrean Dragons! Each of them has reached the pinnacle of comprehension in their respective elements and formed an origin core representing each of these elements!
And all of them have vowed to eternally serve the beholder of the Empyrean Flame!
Each of the Empyrean Dragons has 4 Empyrean Generals, each of these generals control 12 Empyrean Commanders who control 100,000 each for a combined force of 67.2 million troops!
Although this is actually an extremely small force compared to other large forces in the multiverse, not a single person besides the ignorant dare underestimate it! Why? Because the quality of these troops is unprecedentedly high!
Simply put a single troop from the Empyrean Dragon armies can defeat 15 Empyreans of the same level! Keep in mind these aren't ordinary Empyreans of the same level either, these are monstrous geniuses who can cross stages, ranks, and realms to do battle! Yet they can fight 15 of them at the same time!
Just this alone is enough to instill horror in any force that hears about it.
So how monstrous are its commanders? They can fight 25 at the same level! As for generals they can fight 50!
The actual Empyrean Dragons? They can fight 100 in their human form 500 in their demi-human form, and 1500 in their true dragon form!
Each one of them is simply a godly genius amongst godly geniuses!
Yet… 2 of them were actually here!
…
"Who are you?" Dalin asked the both of them wearily, suddenly both of them dropped to one knee with one hand on their chests.
"Glory to the Flame Empyrean!" They solemnly greeted as if greeting an emperor.
Dalin was stunned "W-Who are you?" This time he asked much nicer.
"We are 2 Empyrean Dragons of the 14 Empyrean Dragons, 56 Empyrean Generals, 672 Empyrean Commanders, and 67.2 million Empyrean Soldiers under your command, lord! We noticed that you were having issues merging with the Empyrean Flame so we provided timely assistance." Animus spoke. She phrased her sentences smartly, she told him who they were, the number of forces under his command, and the fact they helped him all in 2 sentences!
Dalin was stunned.
'67.2 million troops?!?' Dalin lost his cool, that's more than 67 times the forces of the US military!
Suddenly Dalin noticed that countless bits of information were flowing into his head. The Empyrean Flame was bringing him up to speed on the basics of the multiverse!
"W-Why do we have so many?" Dalin couldn't help but ask.
Spiritus took over "Sir it's actually not a lot, most inferior rate universal powers have about this much. However, the quality of our forces is high due to a technique created by the previous flame empyrean. That's the only reason our force is able to stay in one piece."
Dalin was stunned he nodded.
He took a breath and processed everything he learned from the Empyrean Flame and Spiritus, "What exactly is this technique?"
"The Rebirth Technique involves discarding one's foundation and rebuilding it resulting in one being much stronger than a person at the same level. Here, take it. Since you've yet to cultivate you are actually in a perfect position to cultivate it." Spiritus sent the technique to Dalin.
Dalin felt more information rush into his head.
Dalin had a question "What am I supposed to do now? If I bring such a force to any world I have no doubt I wouldn't be able to grow since no one would want to fight me…"
The 2 nodded.
"Actually, even though you carry the Empyrean Flame you cant summon those forces… May I be blunt?"
Dalin nodded. Though from what Spiritus asked at the end he could guess what's coming.
"You're too weak. Although we Empyrean Dragons have sworn to follow the one who holds the Empyrean Flames, the generals, commanders, and soldiers haven't. So yeah… Besides, we cant descend to lower worlds with our true bodies, at most, we can send a clone each. However, we won't do that because as you said, you need to grow. Just miss Lin alone should be enough of a guardian for you once she discards her cultivation and starts over with you." Spiritus explained.
Dalin was stunned and looked at her and she nodded.
"I can't even send a clone down there due to a unique physique of mine, so the only way to go with you is to discard my cultivation."
Dalin was hesitant, discarding her cultivation? It's obvious she took a lot of time to get where she is…
She smiled noticing his worries "Don't worry about it, although it took time to get where I am… I'm actually pretty much a flower raised in a greenhouse, so I can't even fight people at my own level. So I've been meaning to do this for a while."
Dalin sighed since she insisted he wouldn't refuse. Although it was silly of him he thought maybe he could finally get a wife.
Little did he know Spiritus was reading his thoughts and couldn't help but snicker.
Dalin looked at him confused when he heard his voice in his head.
'Keep dreaming about making her your wife kid, if you can do it before leaving your first mortal world I will eat my own tail!'
Dalin couldn't help but grin at Spiritus. 'Careful… what if I actually win?'
Spiritus froze 'Ok… Fine, if you win this bet I'll give you a drop of my blood essence which you can use to strengthen your body drastically and even be able to temporarily fortify your body with dragon scales through a technique I'll give you. However, if you lose… You have to give me the empyrean flame's highest form of blessing when you can.'
Dalin nodded "Deal." He said out loud.
"Then it's a bet kid, don't lose otherwise hehe, I'm afraid you might have to deal with the scariest amongst us dragons. After all, she's been wanting the highest blessing for years!"
Suddenly a cold feminine voice resounded "Don't you dare think of stealing it from me, Spiritus."
"Dream on, Umbra!"
Suddenly Spiritus disappeared and he heard a deep rumble coming from the distance followed by a titanic explosion.
"Are they?…" Dalin asked Animus and she nodded sighing with a face palm.
"It's common for us Empyrean Dragons to spar… I'm just worried Vi will show up, she always causes trouble…"
Dalin was stunned "Vi, as in Latin for force?"
She nodded "Vi is the Empyrean Dragon of force, I'm the Empyrean Dragon of soul, Spiritus is the Empyrean Dragon of spirit, and so on. Each of us has an element, my lord."
Dalin nodded in understanding.
"So… Her strength is colossal based on her title?"
Animus's face turned grave "Extremely strong, in terms of physical strength she outclasses all of us combined. She can shatter a universe with a tap of her finger. Unlike the rest of us besides Ignus the dragon of fire, who focus on 3 or more elements, she focuses purely on her physical body. It's extremely terrifying. As for Ignus he only practices 2 elements, his body, and his fire."
Dalin was stunned, an entire universe with a single tap?!?
Animus seemed to realize she started addressing Dalin casually and apologized "Forgive me my lord for my casual address."
Dalin shook his head as he walked over to her and raised her chin with a finger.
"It's fine, seriously. I don't mind if you want to treat me as your lord or a friend, it makes no difference to me so long as you're comfortable with it."
Her figure slightly quivered as she felt his touch. she had always admired the Empyrean Flame, its why she swore her soul to its holder. The Empyrean Flame always chooses people of a certain type so after she got along with the 1st flame empyrean and 2nd one she swore herself to the Empyrean Flames holders.
Although they are never the exact same, they follow a certain set of principles even if they are unaware of it. She longed for such a man… But as much as she desired such a person the rationale in her mind pulled her back. She was a dragon, even if she wanted to cast aside her pride he had to at least become an immortal first!
She stared at him and carefully removed his hand from her chin.
"Thank you for this privilege." She thanked him sincerely and Dalin nodded.
"That offer applies to all of the Empyrean Dragons." Dalin spoke looking around.
Suddenly…
*BOOOOOOOOOOOM!*
An ear-piercing explosion was heard, Animus quickly got into action and slapped her palm downwards creating a barrier around her, Dalin, and Lin.
The entire temple was demolished instantly. Dalin was shocked to find they were actually in space!
Suddenly a woman wearing a violet daopao with white trims with the 14 empyrean dragons symbol embroidered on it appeared.
Her fists were covered in a violet glow as a grin covered her face.
"VI, STOP!" Animus shouted in horror seeing she was about to punch Spiritus.
Although the Empyrean Dragons would survive since they were true dragons who had cultivated their bodies for millions of years, Dalin and Lin would definitely die if she executed that punch!
Vi stopped and tilted her head curiously at Animus "Sister, why? It's been so long since we last gathered together and fought…"
"Do you not see the 2 people beside me?" Animus asked.
She nodded "But they're just ordinary people, ri-" She stopped as she glanced at Dalin's chest where an ember could be seen through his slightly translucent figure.
The shock wave from Vi's extremely casual punch earlier had disrupted his spirit form a bit.
"That's… You're the new flame empyrean?" She asked excitedly.
Dalin nodded.
She smiled and disappeared like a ghost before appearing in front of him and hugging him.
"I'm so happy, finally, we have a new lord!" She said with tears in her eyes as she hugged Dalin and rubbed her cheek against his, Dalin was shocked, Lin was a little stunned but not too surprised. She had long heard about Vi's eccentric behavior.
"Listen here, don't hesitate to cause lots of trouble, if you can't handle it, I will, I love to fight!" She said seriously.
Dalin and everyone here was stunned.
"Y-Your… Crushing… me…" Dalin struggled to say, she immediately backed off and had an apologetic expression.
"Sorry…" She apologized looking down.
Dalin was stunned 'She changes really fast… it's hard to keep up.' He thought.
"Y-Your fine… It's my fault for being so weak." Dalin said and she looked up at him and nodded.
Dalin took a breath.
He looked at Lin, "Can we go? as much as I want to meet everyone, I need time to process everything furthermore I have too many questions… Instead of asking them, I want to figure the answers out through experience! I'm actually a little excited to start."
Lin looked at Animus who nodded. Although it was sudden everyone understood that Dalin needed time to adjust to everything.
Animus flicked a ring at Dalin.
"It's a spatial storage ring, inside is 1 earth crystal, it's enough for you to cultivate all the way to the pinnacle paragon realm which is the pinnacle of the mortal order."
Dalin nodded, cultivation was split into orders which were further split into realms, realms were further split into ranks, and ranks were finally split into 3 stages: apprentice stage, intermediate stage, and the master stage.
The first 5 orders were the mortal order, earth order, sky order, heavenly order, and divine order.
However for now Dalin needed to focus on the first realm of cultivation! The Embryo Realm! Dalin looked at Lin and she pointed in the distance.
He noticed that the temple of rebirth had actually been fully repaired!
She snapped her fingers and they appeared back in the hall.
She pointed her index finger in the air and a small transparent orb of golden light covered it, she then began writing in the air strange runes made from that light. They started connecting together on their own and formed an array of these runes. 5 minutes later she completed this array, she then began making another one, then another. In the end, Dalin watched as she made several more arrays over the course of an entire hour.
Sweat was rolling down her forehead now.
When she was done she tapped the final array and all the arrays linked together and shined brilliantly! They rearranged themselves into a formation on the ground!
Like that, Dalin witnessed the creation of a stellar order formation.
She wiped the sweat off her forehead.
"This formation will extract the spirit and soul, compress it, and send us to a world where the paragon realm is the limit without ascending to a higher world. Once there it will create a body with great potential for us. I want you to remember one thing before we step in, even though we will definitely be geniuses there, we cant get conceited! In the end, potential is nothing if we're dead, understand?"
Dalin nodded he then added on to what she said "Besides if im right, while we may be geniuses there, even if we're also geniuses in an earth order world or even a sky or heavenly order world, we will eventually reach a point where geniuses like us are common right?" Dalin asked and she nodded with a smile, obvious Dalin understood what she was trying to say. That made her improve her opinion of him.
"Well, let's go!" She said and Dalin nodded he stepped into the formation and shot off like a beam of light. He didn't have a physical body, so the formation only needed to compress his soul and spirit before sending it off.
She stepped into it a moment after, her body was disintegrated after her soul and spirit were extracted. This was something she did, as she wanted to destroy it… it had too many bad memories associated with it.
Like that she too was blasted off. While they were flying their souls exchanged a small strand of each other, this would allow them to find each other after they arrived since they might be separated.
They were now on their way to a mortal order world, the ancient violet domain!