Glowing golden eyes traversed miles to stare into empty pools of black; waves of spiritual Will was transmitted in a fierce confrontation, smiling at the results, the golden gaze shifted back to the group of Elves currently harvesting the usable parts from the slayed Beast.
'Even those scourges are here, then the outside must already be in chaos, though the one in here seems to be quite important too. This just keeps getting more complicated but that's what makes it interesting,' smiling to herself the Elven princess started formulating plans to take down all those interesting people.
____
"Hoo, it seems quite a few of them are aware of my presence; they should all make wonderful meals for my rise."
Thinking back to the gaze, he couldn't help but shiver at the purity of the energy he felt within, " that one will make for a most splendid meal."
Taking slow steps in the air the Mastiga walked slowly to the city.
____
Thirio smiled as he digested the gains he made from the battle.
'This is quite an interesting development, it seems astral origin energy has more potential than most of us thought.'
Thirio had to agree as he watched the energy in his dantian being slowly pulled within the orbs circling his heart before being released into his body where the energy was weakened and then devoured by his blood, thus making it stronger.
'This might be how most of the powerful people advance their evolution, unlike what is written within the books.'
Thirio could feel his body, energy and spirit slowly changing while the energy within his dantian was slowly being drained, while it pulled from his energy to recover forming a continuous cycle.
"The fighting by the wall is still ongoing, take this time to recover and strengthen yourself, I'm sure all our gains from this fight have been great," Thirio rose from his sitting position to move a distance away to not interfere with the others' cultivation.
Acknowledging his words, the other party members found their own area.
"The Extreme realm stresses taking control of the energy within a certain area forming a domain, the limit of which is 10 meters. The only hint I have to the path beyond that is that vitality has to be added to the energy, Vadne any help."
'Non, not everyone has the right to step within this realm and even if I could help you, you would just be walking my path which will do you no good. The only hint I can give you is to understand the energy within your control.'
Thirio mulled over her words in silences before sending his will within his first orb to interact with the astral-dragonic origin energy within.
Wild and untamed, was the first impression the energy gave him, after observing for a period, Thirio slowly noticed areas where the two energies would clash causing small instabilities.
'I see, they were only able to be fused because of the unique attribute of astral origin energy, my understanding of each energy by itself is quite lacking."
Thirio got to work immediately, separating a portion of each energy, a portion of Will was then sent to each energy where Thirio deepened his understanding of each energy while also comparing them to his astral-dragon energy.
'The drain on my Will is massive but to reap the most benefits, this is the shortest route.'
_____
Reva grinned devilishly as she blasted the young looking man away with another fist, her aura was blazing, stars shone brightly behind her and blood-red gauntlets made from a flame covered her arms.
Reva glanced back to surface of the planet where another battle was taking place; step slightly to the right and tilling her head, a punch was dodge, rising her hand blocked another, quickly spinning on her heels, Reva circled around her opponent and land a flaming kick blasting him away once more.
'This fight is getting quite boring now and if I leave that gate alone for much longer it will become a real problem.'
"I thank you for the entertainment, no matter how fleeting it was, but it's time to send you on your way."
The man sneered at her words before the world before he blurred and it seemed he was in another place all together.
He stared at the woman with a flaming crown on her head, a dress made of black, white, gray and blood-red flames but above all else the ethereal image he could make out behind her took his soul away.
"Your a...."
When the world returned to normal, Reva stood alone within space looking at the black gates, "It's time that you leave now, don't you think."
"We still underestimated you all in the end."
The gate trembled once as two black beams of light fused into it before vanishing from space.
"The final winner has been decided yet."
Paying no heed to the voice, Reva turned her gaze to the portal to the Core Realm, " It's all up to you guys now, I've done my part quite well don't you this Miss Senna."
"Hoo, it seems you've gotten stronger again Reva, though it seems you still haven't gotten over that bad habit of yours," space rippled as the voluptuous form of Senna stepped from the ripples as if space were a mirror.
Dressed in a dark blue pants and shirt, her usually play green eyes had an unmistakable edge to them as she locked eyes with Reva.
"I didn't expect even you to be here, what could have the goddess of the Silver Empire out here in this back-water place."
"As crass as ever I see, I am here for much the same reason as you, to scout and I have found quite the promising one already," Senna's eyes moved to the gateway to the Core Realm while she smiled fondly
"To have your attention, I don't know if that person is lucky or unlucky," Reva sighed remembering the information she had on the woman before he circled through her mind.
" Regardless, with you here the chances of trouble should be significantly less so how…."
"No, I don't want to spar with you now, you can't win against me either way. Take a few more steps on your path before I'll even consider it."
Senna smiled at Reva before vanishing once again.
Reva sighed, 'That scary bitch is finally gone. I'll say a prayer for the unfortunate soul that caught the eye of that monstrous woman.'
_____
"Achoo, is someone talking about me?"
Thirio smiled as he sensed the new energy now being emitted from not one but three of the orbs he cultivated.
"The energy within each one has almost doubled, though they are quite a ways away from the vitality needed."
Spreading his will outside his body, Thirio once again observed the energy within his surroundings before going back to cultivating.
"He's on the right path, I can sense the shift within his aura. He should be half a step into that realm when he's done with whatever he's doing," Amore said as she watched Thirio with appraising eyes.
Rian and Vasilias gave nods of affirmation as they two had sensed the shift within the young man.
"Be that as it may we only have three more days at most if you are to take part in the final battle, let's use our time wisely."
His piece said, Rian returned to cultivating.
"He's right, let's not waste time."
Once more cultivating, the teams barely noticed the passing of time and two days quickly shot by.
Thirio slowly rose to his feet, taking a deep breath he glanced at his surroundings as the world he once saw and the one he was seeing now was vastly different.
" So this is what they've been seeing all this time," small particles of Astral energy were running all about erratically as if they all had somewhere to be. Some shone brightly and were full of life while others faded in and out as if approaching death.
The sight alone deepened Thirio's comprehension of energy. Releasing a turbid breath, he sat once more in thought.
'Vadne, is the bone graph a blank one.'
'It's blank.'
'Good, I need it, remove it from the reward storage.'
Seconds later Thirio held a piece of paper with white strokes swimming all about it forming shapes at random.
"Time to be greedy," grinning devilishly Thirio the paper to his chest as the strokes ruthless tore into his body causing blood to gush out.
Gritting his teeth, Thirio connected his Will to the strokes tearing through his body to guide them to his intended locations.
As the first stroke was carved into his bone, all hell broke loose within Thirio body as the energy within his dantain rushed forth and took command of the strokes.
Seconds that felt like days passed as they high speed bone graphing ripped the flesh around his bones to shreds leaving behind criss-crossing chain links on a portion of the bones that made up Thirio hands and legs.
Seconds before falling into the sweet embrace of unconsciousness, information flooded into Thirio's mind.
'Rulers Link.'