Chapter 461 - 459:States of Being.

Chapter 461: Chapter 459:States of Being.

Powerful.

No. That word felt too mundane. It felt too insignificant for what I was currently feeling.

It felt like my entire state of being had been elevated to a state of absoluteness, a state of omnipotence, if you will.

It felt like I could do literally anything I set my mind to do.

And all this after Elira merged her being with mine.

"Da... damn... this bastard got another upgrade," Malachi stuttered as he was finally able to regain his footing after Elira’s aura was suppressed.

"Why... why does every new upgrade need to come with some badass look of sorts? Can’t he just get powerful? Must he look cooler after every new power-up? What the fuck is this?" I could hear Paku grumbling about my looks, but that wasn’t anywhere near my thoughts at the moment, because—

"This, my lovely Master, is what happens when you merge your being with mine. We become something else entirely. Good, isn’t it? Hehehehe..." Elira laughed gleefully as she explained what was happening, but this—

"This is... is just..." I was short of words, unable to even begin articulating whatever was going on in my mind. But luckily for me, I had someone who was grounded enough to prevent any dangerous thoughts from sprouting up.

"I wouldn’t get carried away if I were you two." Shaia’s voice was stern. Grounding.

"You feel that incredible power thrumming through your very being? That elevated sense of freedom that comes with your being attaining a higher level of existence?" Slowly, my excitement died down as I could feel the weight in her voice.

"Well, that is just you becoming a JUVENILE level existence."

Thud!

It felt like a weight had been dropped onto my head as I was brought right back down from my earlier high.

"It seems I don’t need to waste more words on this topic, then." She didn’t even bother saying more, as I could picture her nodding in satisfaction.

I smiled wryly as I shook my head helplessly.

Why was I suddenly back down to earth?

Because, like Shaia just said, this power, this overwhelming might, this feeling of omnipotence—it all comes from me becoming a Juvenile level existence, and that was only because of Elira’s augmentation, as even the system hadn’t acknowledged my goal as completed yet.

Granted, my being—my nature as ABSOLUTE—made it so that I was fairly equipped to operate far above my level, as proven against Fear, but that still wouldn’t be enough.

Because beings like Eldritch, Unity, Finality, those beings that have existed outside of time, beyond the concept of creation itself, those beings that have had more being than the word itself—

They had already attained a level of existence I wasn’t even close to yet.

Elder manifestation!

That was what Shaia called it back then.

According to her, those beings were ranked:

Fledgling.

Juvenile.

Mature.

Prime.

Elder.

Ancient.

As a juvenile stage existence, I was three whole tiers below Eldritch and the others.

Yes, I was different. Yes, I was something never seen before. Yes, my unique existence made it so I could punch stupidly above my own weight.

But one has to understand, this wasn’t merely about power and raw output. There was also understanding involved. Understanding of just what you truly were. Because to Thea beings that we were, the things we represented—battles stopped being about who could do the most raw damage, and more about who understood what they were more.

So, no. I might’ve beaten an apostle, I may be able to still beat up any apostle that might show up next regardless of what they were, but when it came to the manifestations themselves, that was a different ball game.

This wasn’t a xianxia novel where I was about to start punching five realms ahead of me because of my special situation. Not against beings that have had enough time to understand themselves so deeply that one look was enough for Eldritch to make me freeze up completely back there.

After all, even Mother had to have reached the elder manifestation tier before she became virtually untouched by even nothingness.

As for how she had survived till then? A series of luck and overconfidence in their own abilities made the others fall for the ever-present danger of underestimating something you couldn’t understand.

They did the classic foolishness of sending minions to their deaths, and before they knew it, Mother had already reached her prime, and at that point, she was something they couldn’t do much against, and the moment she became an elder, the entirety of infinity became her playground.

That was Mother. Someone who probably understood Devouring in a way I haven’t even scratched the surface of yet, and she still had to reach elder manifestation to become untouchable.

So yes, just as Shaia had said, getting high on my powers now was about the most foolish thing I could do at the moment.

"Haaa..." I let out a long breath as I let the feeling wash away.

As for who came up with these ranks, Shaia said it might’ve been her father due to his lonely days of being the first manifestation within infinity, but Nothingness himself had yet to deny or approve of such claims.

Yes.

There were only two known Ancient Manifestations.

And those were:

Outer-Source Nothingness and All Chaos, or Allness as it preferred to be addressed.

They were the only two to exist on such a plane, and all others existed below this.

Now, this wasn’t to say that the others were necessarily weaker, as it had been stated that all manifestations are brought into existence on equal footing, but then again—

How does one actually go against nothing? Where do you even begin, when nothing has no beginning, and has no end?

What about All Chaos? The fact that it was called All Chaos or Allness wasn’t just for fancy, as the bastard actually embodies all of chaos.

Yes. You heard that right.

That bastard was everything that anything within infinity is. It didn’t matter what you thought you had. It didn’t matter what power, what origin, what uniqueness—All Chaos had it too. The only exception to that at that time was Mother’s devouring.

How? Well, she devoured the very thought that anyone else could have what she did.

Ridiculous. I know. But that’s my mother.

So like I was saying, you can’t beat a being that has all what you had and more, the same way you can’t beat something that doesn’t even have a thing to beat.

Hence why the two were left as the only Ancient manifestations.

"I’ve got a long way to go, don’t I?" I couldn’t help thinking to myself.

"Cheer up, my love. You have an advantage the others don’t have, remember?"

"My origin, huh?"

"Exactly. Where others need to spend time understanding themselves, all you need to do is devour, acquire, and repeat. Before you know it, you will be able to face these beings and stand your ground. Your vengeance is closer than you think," Shaia reassured.

"Heh... what would I do without you?"

"Probably be lost like a baby, teehee."

"Sister Shaia, you’re hogging the spotlight again, hmph..." Elira’s pouting voice successfully broke up our conversation as Shaia laughed.

"My bad, Elira, I didn’t mean to steal your shine. Go ahead, continue."

"Humph! You’ve already ruined the mood. Master isn’t happy about our fused state anymore."

"Who says I’m not happy? I’m just not getting carried away. As for being happy? Of course I’m happy."

"You mean it?"

"Are you kidding? In this state, only the manifestations themselves or something uncalled for could ever be a challenge, so of course I’m happy. Thank you, Elira."

"Fufufufu... you’re welcome, Master." I could feel her excitement from our bond as a smile grew on my face.

"Oii! Bastard! Done daydreaming yet?" Suddenly, I heard a very irritating voice yelling into my ear as I looked down, my eyes locking onto the casually standing figure of Malachi.

The monkey was busy cleaning his ear with his pinky as he addressed me, "I thought we were finally moving out?"

"Hey, Elira, why don’t we try out our power on something?" A devilish grin spread across my face.

"After you, Master~~"

"Dante? Why are you grinning like that?" I ignored the monkey’s cautious voice as I began approaching him.

"Oi!! Stay back!! Stay back!! Stay—AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"

....

....

"Ughh..." I ignored the groaning monkey as I turned to Sana and the princess. Both women were looking at me, awestruck.

"Bas... bastard! Won’t you go out of that form?" Sana asked, trying to hide her flustered expression.

"Eyy? Is my Sana suddenly unable to control herself in my presence? Did I really change that much?" I was now genuinely curious. After all, after my awakening, I had already become something words couldn’t describe in terms of beauty, but now, seeing the reaction from these two ladies, it would seem my looks had changed again, or gotten augmented.

"My love... you have no idea. Had any of those other girls been here, you would’ve probably been assaulted and forced into an orgy by now."

"Ehh?" Even Shaia was talking about it, so it had to be something. I decided to make time to check myself out properly, but for now—

ZIIING!!!

Following a flash of golden light, both mine and Elira’s bodies separated, or rather unfused, as the woman was still clinging to my back like a koala unwilling to let go.

I let her be. She weighed nothing, after all, and her body felt good against mine.

"So, where are we heading off to first, ladies?" I asked the now much calmer women.

"Haa... yes, Benefactor." Nyssara, a bright red flush on her blue skin, finally replied after letting out a heavy breath.

"Princess, if I didn’t know any better, I’d have thought you were falling for me."

"Oh, for the love of—"

"Absolute! You fucking piece of—"

"Bitch! Can we just focus for one goddamn minute!!" The guys behind me exploded in outrage at my flirting, and I could only put my hands up in surrender.

"Sorry. Sorry. Geez, wanting to know someone is now evil, sheesh!"

"Pfft..." The princess giggled softly at our interaction.

It was good to see she wasn’t feeling any uncomfortable pressure being here.

"So, on a more serious note, where are we headed?" I finally asked, all joking set aside. Yet the answer I received from Sana was one I never thought I’d hear in my lifetime:

"We’re headed to the high world known as the Martial Spirit World."

...

...

"Ehh?"

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A/N: Martial spirit world? It couldn’t possibly be what I think it is right? Surely not, right? RIGHT? Let’s find out in the next Chapter, but anyway as always,

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Thanks for reading..