The sky above the Colony Capital of Thorns crackled.
The moment their eyes met, Achilles in the havens, Malgorith at the heart of the corrupted Capital…the world paused.
A sonic thunderclap ruptured the silence as space folded. Not warped, not bent,but folded like cloth in the hands of something greater than the natural laws. The very idea of distance unraveled!
And in less than a breath, the Obsidian Gold Titan stood in the skies before Achilles.
Ten meters tall. Wreathed in voidfire and stellar veins. His golden crown of circulating blood spun slowly above his brow, every drop singing a scream, whisper, or curse.
He didn't speak immediately.
He looked at Achilles.
And Achilles looked at him.
His body, the body of the Ancient Ones behind him…his scattered memories of Ancient Ones pointed to a singular terrifying power.
If he was right…it should be Sanctarith Ultara. A Holy Land under the rule of none other than High Zenithar Malgorith!
Faint Aeonic Chains were still present on his body.
High Zenithar Malgorith studied him.
As if trying to classify something that did not fit.
Then- deep and calm and thunderous, his voice rang out.
Achilles' gaze narrowed, his entire form pulsing with the silent fury of someone witnessing his kin enslaved, his future tainted. His violet-gold pupils flared.
His voice was deathly calm. Ice over fire.
"You first. What are you to command so many like a fiend and reduce humans to this state? What pleasure can you possibly derive from this?!"
Malgorith's eyes flared. But he smiled.
It was the smile of an old predator, patient and cruel.
"We are Ancient Ones," he said simply. "And this… is our nature. Scratch that. Not our nature, but simply natural order."
He spread his arms wide.
Below them, the city echoed his gesture.
Women in chains. Kings forced to serve grapes. Dharma Manifestation practitioners dancing like marionettes to hymns of conquest.
He continued, "You ask why we do this? As if the predator owes the deer an explanation. This is the natural order reasserting itself."
Achilles' silence broke. His voice burned with Primordial and Evolutius Energy!
"No. This is cowardice living in the past. The world has changed. The natural order is no longer yours to claim. Humans are not bound by Ancient Ones!"
"Changed?" Malgorith chuckled. "By who? You?"
His golden eyes drifted again across Achilles' form, and his smile grew sharper.
"…You are not like the rest of them. Something old lingers in you. A scent I haven't smelled in countless years since the Long Slumber. You are not fully human, are you? Did one of my people or other Ancient Ones wake early and began procreating with Humans right away? The Blood of the Ancient Ones shoud run theough you."
He uttered ridiculous words that caused purple gold wings to erupt behind Achilles, his eyes pulsing purple gold!
Malgorith leaned forward, his crown of blood beginning to spin faster.
"Ho? Did such words cause to get angry, Little Thing?" He sneered.
The blood in the crown howled.
Achilles remained still with burning power- Star light burning through this golden Primordial Avatar of his!
A beam of golden-black energy erupted from his palm like a spear made of compressed singularity mass. It tore through cloud and light alike.
But Achilles didn't dodge.
Ascendant Nirvanic Teleportation III activated, his form becoming a trail of shimmering starfire that was brilliantly white.
He reappeared a mile above, arm already arcing with crackling solar and lunar energy.
Descent of the Nirvanic Sun Moon Phoenix III!
A colossal projection burst behind him- half sun, half moon, a cosmic phoenix roaring as golden flame and lunar frost wove into a spiraling spear that hurled down toward Malgorith.
It pulsed with star light as it looked absolutely gorgeous!
The explosion that followed silenced the wind.
Clouds were sliced as they bevame painted gold and silver.
The Phoenix's wrath fell upon the Ancient One's body like haven itself trying to erase him.
But from within the blazing storm, a voice echoed, unshaken.
Malgorith emerged- burning with flames and frost, yes, but smiling, as the stars inside his bones shimmered brighter.
The stars in his Blood and Bones were unfathomably dense compared to any others that Achilles had faced so far!
This High Zenithar Malgorith…was not something simple!
"Then come, Little Thing."
Achilles activated Draconian Pathogenicity V, spores bursting in every direction as hundreds of Draconic Hybrids materialized beside him, roaring.
With a wave of his hand, a gravitational field so dense it collapsed light itself formed in a sphere around him- Gravitational Dominion so intense that the Draconic Hybrids near it were crushed into glittering dust.
Achilles growled and flared his Aura and Haki.
He opened his jaws like a royal beast.
He let loose Dragon King's Breath V, a blast of violet gold fire laced with Primordial Energy and Evolutius Crystalization.
It struck Malgorith's side, piercing the golden skin—drawing blood.
And in the glimmer of that blood, Achilles saw the truth.
The density of starlight in that blood was far too intense!
It wriggled and returned into his body, as if it would never be lost!
The stars within his blood marrow shimmered with wonder and power as it was overwhelming.
He had just begun refining his own bloodline.
He had just gotten his hands on The Adrastia Imperium Vitae Ascension Codex!
If this was just days ago, he might have died in the first blow against this being.
If he had not began to refine his blood.
Ascendant Size Alteration III took hold, his body swelling to rival Malgorith's, a titan in his own right as the Adrastia Imperium Vitae Ascension Codex surged with golden pulses.
He slammed into the Ancient One with a fist that carried the weight of Seas of Assimilations compressed to express wonder.
Planetary Chains IV coiled from his limbs like titanic serpents, seeking to anchor Malgorith in place just as Photosynthetic Empowerment fed him pure vitality drawn from the broken sun above!
Malgorith retaliated, laughing still—as he called out.
"Celestbone- Humerus."
His right hand blared gold.
A shimmering Humerus Bone in his arm shone bright.
And above High Zenithar Malgorith, a terrifyingly gold, terrifyingly real golden Humerus bone appeared- its intensity heavy as it was surrounded by starlight, and it came hurtling towards Achilles!