A world-ending war was ongoing and Andar knew he did not have much time to experiment, but carving just this small amount to satisfy his curiosity was viable.
With his position, he did not need to be here and he could retreat and advance whenever he wanted. He judged that the danger for him was still within manageable levels and he could proceed without much interference, the darkness that Aharis created around him should shift prying eyes away for the time.
It was a simple thing to wrap all the abducted Dominators with the Storm Clasp Spell that he expanded to hold all 653 Dominators he had taken including the six Ancestors.
He frowned in irritation when, unlike the captured Ancestors who were silent and attempting to break out of the spell which they would find to be futile, they had power but it did not equal to his own, the rest were screaming crazy obscenities, their red eyes filled with nothing but madness, Andar sealed their entire heads with ice. Earth gods do not require breathing to live.
If possible, he wanted to take these Dominators with him to figure out further secrets behind their powerful bloodlines that could stand toe to toe with a Magus Supreme bloodline.
He sliced through their chests with scalpels of wind and extracted all their hearts. He remembered to apply anesthetics before beginning his experiments, so none of them were even aware that their hearts were gone until dozens of seconds later. Andar had never luxuriated in pain.
Nivi had gone silent when Andar had easily imprisoned all six Ancestors and when he took out the hearts of hundreds of Dominators and began taking them apart as he fell into deep deliberation while muttering to himself, the CSA shrugged, now fully accepting that her master was a monster and began humming a popular mortal song, "You're a heart stealer, a home wrecker…," and cursed aloud when the Cloud Whale began humming along with her.
Andar slowly dropped a heart and a portion of the brain of a Dominator aside and paused in shock as he discovered that every bloodthirsty Dominator here indeed had the capability of reaching the Earth god level and a shackle had been created to stop them from becoming gods, he shuddered, thankfully that did not come to be as their essence had become corrupted, mixed with tens of thousands of similar essences that were compatible only on the surface level.
Every individual is unique even though they have the same bloodline. Merging all their essence in one person was the most wasteful and brute-force method to increase their powers, it was as if the gods of Trion saw their children as expendable pawns.
Andar saw Dominators as similar to Dreadbeasts which were occultic creations by a Foul power outside the universe, and if his discovery was correct, they forcibly reached the Earth god level in less than a month after they cannibalized the essence of their fellow Dominators. Andar recoiled in shock, and the wrongness he was feeling from this world only increased in intensity.
He knew that such a technique was not available inside this universe and was even rare considering the scale of the many universes in the Great Darkness.
"What the fuck is going on here?" in one of the few times in his life, Andar cursed aloud.
He suddenly felt a sudden wrench on his insides and the Light Devourer in his consciousness screamed as every sense of danger in his heart multiplied by a million fold and his gaze was dragged towards the depths of the universe.
He had experienced this feeling before, so he knew when Time had stopped and resumed. The last time he had felt it left him in awe, he had felt nothing but a sense of idolization before the figures who could control a supreme power over a concept as ephemeral as time.
Andar discovered that what he had tasted back on the Black Tower was nothing. It had only focused on the Black Tower and if he was not wrong, what just happened here had frozen Time around the entire universe!
'Something has changed, the universe is no longer the same.' Nivi was screaming inside his consciousness but Andar could barely hear her.
His body acted before his mind caught up, Andar needed to see what could command such great powers, and he could sense a tremendous amount of vitality deep in the universe that was calling him.
His eyes were too weak to see such an incredibly far distance, and he borrowed the eyes of the Light Devourer using his staff. He closed his eyes and the frozen eyes of the Light Devourer flared silver and Andar could see into the depths of the universe.
He saw a green sphere that was throbbing with an impossible amount of vitality. He could barely even look at it and only observed its Aura, and just from looking at the Aura, he could sense the vitality in his body beginning to overflow, pushing him toward the next Rank!
Andar forcibly looked away, the astonishment in his heart reaching a feverish peak, he had read about the Universe Will, and if he was not wrong…
"Andar…. Andar, are you seeing this?"
Mira's excited voice broke him from his reverie and before he could reply, he felt another pulse of power, one that was much closer to home.
Andar shivered and fell to his knees, it was impossible to describe this power he felt erupting from the surface of Trion, but it had shut down all his senses. Andar prided himself on being able to accept every input and stimuli from reality, but this power had overloaded this ability, and he knew he had to shut off his senses or he would perish.
He began to bleed from all his orifices and he collapsed on his ice platform. He could hear the frightened cries of Mira as if in a distance, but everything seemed as if it was covered in deep fog.
Andar could not stop his body from sensing this power, and he realized that it was killing him, his talent had flown him too close to the sun and he was going to melt. If nothing changed then in sixteen seconds he would die.
He was surprised that at this moment he did not feel fear, only an odd sense of peace. There was something about this power that made it seem all right that he was dying to it. It was as if among all the ways he wanted to die, this one would be his choice.
He could hear Aharis cry in sorrow, or was it Mira?
"Andar, baby, please stay with me, I am coming for you…
The screams of Mira came slowly, he could hear in the background her cries of anger and shock, she wanted to come down to Trion but she was being restrained.
Andar struggled to tell her it was okay, but his blood had filled his lungs and he could only turn and look at the skies. His eyes were too weak, so he borrowed the sight of Aharis, and he could pierce through space so he could see Mira, and she felt his gaze making her stop fighting, she turned towards his presence and she smiled.
Andar smiled back, "By the seven towers, she is so beautiful." He wanted to tell her that she was the most beautiful woman that he had ever seen. That he would hold her smile dear in his heart even in death.
There was a sound that was impossible to describe, but he saw in clear detail the Tower carrying Mira… he saw hundreds of millions of Mages that should have been safe outside Trion…. He saw… He saw…
He saw it all end. But it was just the beginning, the entire galaxy followed.
Andar never knew that you could feel it… the weight of death.