While the general ranked nether lifeform was in the marvel universe, now fighting three avengers to secure his spot for a chance of gaining a name, Adrian was in his dimension conversing with Azazel..
"Father." Azazel said while bowing to Adrian.
"There has been a decline in the number of general ranked nether lifeforms over the past three centuries."
Adrian furrowed his brow, intrigued. "What do you attribute this decline to, Azazel?" Adrian said to the kneeling Azazel, the atmosphere thick with nether energy swirling around them in his nether dimension.
'I've gotten more powerful from absorbing the entire planet in the One Punch Man universe which means I could create more life….but if im only creating them to be foot soldiers, then theres no point. ' Adrian thought
"Slightly after you created me, I've noticed that lesser nether lifeforms are being naturally created due to the combined nether energy of myself, you and the entire dimension." Azazel said.
"It has reached a point where neither of us need to create any nether lifeforms, the dimension would be able to create them naturally."
"However, it is still too slow." Azazel continued.
"The dimension only naturally creates nether lifeform every hundred years due to the presence of me and you, father."
"However, there has been a major decline in the birth of nether lifeforms recently."
'Major decline huh...that must have been when I separated the 45% of my soul to go the one punch man universe.' Adrian thought in surprise
"We cant continue relying solely on natural births if they take centuries." Adrian said
"However there is a simple solution, if we nurture the nether lifeforms with high potential then they will become stronger, and through their growth the time it would take for nether lifeforms to be naturally born would decrease over time."
"I want you to continue training the ones you created, see if any among them have any potential."
"Also check the ones that died and are reforming now." Adrian continued.
"As you wish, Father." Azazel said in his same monotone voice.
'In the meantime, I'll try and dabble in this special energy once again.' Adrian thought.
Flying its way to the main soul, the soul piece of Adrian that was talking to Azazel moved through the dimension to quickly go back to the main soul. After finally reaching, the soul piece instantly reformed with the main soul, becoming whole again.
'Psychic energy.'
'The energy of the mind or mental energy. But if its the energy of the mind, how exactly am I able to use it even now?' Adrian thought in confusion
'Right now I dont have a vessel, which means I dont have a body to use which also means I dont have a brain.'
'The mind comes from the brain, its exactly why if you want to defeat a being who relies solely on Psychic energy, you would need to be able land a blow where their brain is located, which is usually the head.'
'Yet here I am, using Psychic energy.' Adrian thought as he twirled the orbs of green energy around his fingers.
'Could it be that the mind doesn't come from the brain, but the soul?'
'That would surely explain a lot, but if that was the case, why is it called Psychic energy and not soul energy.' Adrian thought
'So many questions…..and so little answers, maybe if I were to go to a world that focuses on the soul and mind then I'd have my questions answered.'
'Or….this new universe that I still dont know the name of.'
'My reserves of nether energy are so high that in all my fights, even against Saitama I've never once come to close to running out, I should just focus on mastering that new ability I've created.'
Adrians hands raised, and in the palm of both of his hands, a pitch black orb manifested. Adrian struggled to maintain it as he lowered the output as much as possible. After some time he was now barely able to maintain the orb without it exploding or it just completely destroying him and the entire dimension.
He expertly manipulated the tiny black orbs in the palm of his hands, when he eventually got used to manipulation this level of output he slightly increased it.
'My weakness right now are beings that can adapt, just like Saitama.'
'If I were to fight someone who I cant instantly kill with concept corruption that would be fine. But if I cant instantly kill them with concept corruption and they can adapt it brings me at a heavy disadvantage.'
'This is why I need to master this ability to the point where I can instantly activate it and send it out.'
'If I can do that.'
'Then taking over worlds is gonna be a lot easier.' Adrian said as he smiled
As Adrian contemplated his next steps, he felt the pulsating energy of the dark orb in his palms, its presence both exhilarating and terrifying. The pitch black sphere was a reflection of the pure destruction and eradication that could happen if he were to release it.
Adjusting the output to be higher once again Adrian spent some time trying to control this output as he realised something.
'This is surprisingly easy, im only spending at most 30 minutes on each output increase. I figured this would take some years to get used to.'
'Hmm'
'Lets test something.'
Right after thinking that Adrian pointed his hands at the chains that pierced and bound him and muttered.
"[Concept Eradication, Low Output: Chains]"
The orb flew to the chains binding Adrian, when they collided the chains started to violently tremble as if they would suddenly fall off, causing hope to ignite inside Adrian's soul.
After about 10 seconds the chains stopped trembling and the orb had vanished.
"Of course it wouldn't be that easy, FUCK!" Adrian shouted and cursed in anger
Adrian's frustration echoed through the void of his nether dimension, reverberating off the walls of the dark space that cradled his despair and ambition. The chains that bound him remained stubbornly intact, a reminder of his limitations.
* Sigh *
"The current me cant hope to break these chains." Adrian said
"Perfecting this ability right now should be my goal right now."
While Adrian was trying to master his new ability he had created, Azazel was farther down in the dimension, where the Lesser Nether Lifeforms usually roamed about, staring at the slowly reforming bodies of the Lesser Nether Lifeforms who had gone through the portal.
"This is too slow." Azazel muttered
"That world even stops me from entering. The general ranked nether lifeform went with the second batch of nether lifeforms, that should at least give them a fighting chanc-"
Before Azazel could finish his sentence, holes started appearing on the ground. In each of the holes that appeared a thin black veil was floating atop it, housing a swirling red orb.
"Well it seems they didn't last long either, they died even faster this time." Azazel muttered
"I cant locate the general ranked nether lifeform's soul though."
"Was its soul obliterated? Or is it still alive." Azazel muttered in interest
"If its still alive then that means only general ranked nether lifeforms can stand up to this world, though there is no harm in sending Lesser Nether Lifeforms if no one in there can destroy their soul."
"If only a general-ranked nether lifeform can withstand the beings in that world, then perhaps there is a method to foster the ones we possess right now." Azazel mused.
The swirling red orbs lurking in the holes began pulsating, syncing with Azazel's thoughts as if they too were contemplating whether they could also get stronger without evolving. Each red orb was the soul of all the Lesser Nether lifeforms that had gone through the portal and perished.
"Their souls seem to be...contaminated?" Azazel muttered with a frown
"No, not contaminated, the energy latched onto their souls doesn't seem to be harmful." Azazel said
Attached to the souls of the 'dead' Lesser Nether lifeforms were two unknown energies. The familiar energy was nether energy, the energy that everything in Adrian's dimension used. The first unknown energy had a bright blue colour and had a potency that was significantly higher than even nether energy.
The second unknown energy was also powerful, albeit less potent than nether energy. It had a Mystical purple colour.
"If the beings of Master's dimension could absorb these potent energies…..no if master himself could absorb these energies in abundance….it would empower not only him but the entire dimension, possibly even creating a new rank of power for us nether lifeforms." Azazel said in slight excitement.
"This needs researching."|
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* 3 hours later *
"Fascinating." Azazel muttered
"Their already changing."
In the span of 3 hours the souls of the Lesser Nether lifeforms that had been exposed to the two potent energies had begun changing. Their souls became more robust and powerful, their half reformed bodies now had slight marks of purple and blue over their arms and even tho slightly their bodies that were reforming had become stronger.
"All because of two tiny pieces of energy." Azazel muttered as his excitement died down and in turn his cautiousness towards this world increased tenfold
'How powerful are the beings that have an abundance of these energies.' Azazel wondered in slight fear
"If my calculation is right, and I know it is, then one tiny piece of this mysterious blue energy is equivalent to about ten thousand of our nether energy."
"This varies depending on who has these energies…..but this is already significantly more powerful than our nether energy."
The Lesser Nether lifeforms, now almost fully reformed were showing even more changes. Their sclera had blue veins running up to their pupil and their teeth were now harder and sharper. The Lesser nether lifeforms weren't merely storing these energies but completely absorbing them without even realising.
'What entity did they face to gain this type of energy.' Azazel wondered
'Or maybe it wasn't the entity they fought but the environment.' Azazel thought trying to make sense of what he was seeing.
"This needs even more research."