Chapter 204: A Terrible Ending
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The energy of all the materials condensed together into dozens of rivers of golden essence, coursing through my entire body. In mere seconds, my entire physique started to absorb it all, rather greedily. Each time a certain amount of energy was absorbed, my Meridians pulsated, as if they were about to burst. I was slowly reaching a higher Realm. This Physique I had developed was incredibly strong, but it also required an enormous amount of materials and resources to continue its growth.
FLASH!
As I concentrated all my energy to manipulate the ever-growing quantities of Ki and Yang Energy, I lifted it up from my body, forming a blossoming lotus flower of pure gold essence. My energy then went back instantly into my physique, gathering within my Cosmic Core. The Cosmic Energy slowly leaked out, further boosting the progress of my Physique.
The energy was so rich that it formed a sort of cocoon around my body, one made of pure gold. The same material made Fang Shuan’s golem-like body. It felt like hours passed, my body slowly reforming itself, from the bones to the cartilage, muscles, flesh, and lastly, my skin.
Crack…!
And like glass breaking, the cocoon slowly started breaking, and I slowly freed myself from it.
Crack, crack…!
Almost there.
CRASH!
I broke out of the cocoon after perhaps hours of being inside. I looked out to notice that the sun was already rising from the horizon of my bedroom through the purgatory portal. I honestly felt quite dizzy after that, but at the same time, I felt incredibly refreshed.
My senses, my body, the strength I had, even my Ki—all of it felt so good. Higher, much stronger. I could breathe so easily now, and my energies kept gathering with my Breathing Techniques.
Mana, Ki, Cosmic Energy, Celestial, Demonic, Yang, all these energies…
“Phew…”
And when I finally took a look at my own body, my skin was glowing with a bright gold light. Everything within me was overflowing with bright light, as if I had turned into a small sun myself. I slowly calmed myself down as the light slowly receded.
“Tier 3 Physique achieved, at long last.”
Ding!
[You have successfully Ranked Up your [Physique]: [Twelve Colored Star Physique (Tier 2: Rank 10)] into the [Nine Colored Nova Physique (Tier 3: Rank 1)]!]
[Your Ki Stat has increased by +2.000]
[All of your Physical Stats have increased by +1.000]
[The [Yin and Yang Rotation Breathing Technique (A): Lv5] Skill has Leveled Up!]
[The [Mana Core (A): Lv5] Skill has Leveled Up!]
[The [Archwizard’s Mana Absorption Technique (A): Lv5] Skill has Leveled Up!]
[The [Emperor’s Ki Aura Boost (A): Lv5] Skill has Leveled Up!]
[Several other Body-related Skills have gained one Bonus Level!]
[The [Sunshine (B): Lv9] has reached Level 10, Max Level! The Skill has acquired a Max Level Bonus Ability.]
[All of your Martial Arts have increased by two Ranks. Your ability to use them has improved greatly.]
[Your Physique has acquired a new Ability: {Brilliant Nova}!]
[Please check the Physique Tab to see more information about what your Physique can do.]
Ooh, that sounds appealing, but let’s first see Sunshine! One of my oldest Skills which I’ve had for so long. And now it has hit the max level! I could either keep it as it is or even let it Evolve using one of my Skill Evolution Stones.
Though it seems to have acquired some Max Level Bonus Ability? What’s that about? This is the first time one of my Skills reaches Max Level, so I don’t know what that Ability could be.
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[Sunshine (B): Lv10]
[Skill EXP: --/--]
The ability to channel the Internal Yang Energy in the body and exude it as powerful Sunlight that can deal damage, blind, and illuminate places, amongst many other capacities, it is a flexible power that could even be used to protect or heal, depending on the development and knowledge the user utilizes with this power. Mana and Ki are required to utilize this ability.
Level Bonus (10): Increases Skill Damage and Effects by +200%. Decreases Mana and Ki requirements by -50%.
Max Level Bonus: By spending 10.000 Mana and Ki, you can summon the {Saintess of Sunshine} into battle for 1 Hour. The {Saintess of Sunshine} will be able to heal, protect, and buff allies utilizing Divine Sunlight Magic, with no MP Cost. Her Stats will be based on 50% of yours.
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Oh, wow, another Summon! And one tied to the Sunshine Skill—that’s something I never imagined as a new Ability of this Skill, sounds pretty interesting, to be honest. Having a bonus supporter for one hour that doesn’t require Mana, and that might be to lessen the work of our little Shiro could be really nice.
“Then let’s see the Physique Details?”
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[Physique]: [Nine Colored Nova Physique (Tier 3: Rank 1)]
A Physique that channels the purity of the Sunlight and refines it with nine different colors from the rainbow, containing the Radiance of the Element of Yang and the Martial Essence of highly condensed Ki within its entire structure.
This powerful Physique allows the user to transform their bodies into a Nova themselves, flaring through their foes with lightning speed and explosive, blinding light.
This Physique will progress through Meditation, Absorption of Pure Sunlight, Yang Energy Cultivation, and Ki Cultivation.
Physique Abilities:
Tier 1: {Sunlight’s Blessing}: Increases Affinity to the Sunlight Element by +100%. Grants the ability to conjure, manipulate, and summon Sunlight to fight, defend, or even heal wounds.
Tier 2: {Starlight}: Your body shines as bright as starlight. You can unleash Starlight as you fight; explosions of light will come as you clash against foes, dealing up to 400% damage based on your Ki Stat.
Tier 3: {Brilliant Nova}: Harness large quantities of Ki into your Physique and become as bright and fiery as a Brilliant, Radiant Nova. Anybody that touches you will receive severe burning damage, and even enemies that are close will have their stats reduced by 20%. You can release Nova Beams against foes that can deal up to 500% damage based on your Ki Stat.
Tier 4: ???
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“I knew I had those abilities since I got the Physique and everything, but I had no idea I could see it with such detail like this… Pretty amazing.” I nodded.
“You’re finally done, it seems, Master Anna.” Fang Shuan said. “Your Physique has risen to Tier 3, and with this, your abilities have risen even more. In our world, people who reached Tier 3 were recognized as powerful warriors that could roam freely around the world. They were respected by all people and feared by mortals.”
“By mortals, you mean those that didn’t cultivate or couldn’t?” I asked.
“Indeed, those without a Cultivation Rank were simply called mortals.” He said. “But compared to the mighty Immortals, even those that cultivated at Tier 3 were seen as mere mortals as well.”
“I wonder… What was your original Realm, Fang Shuan?” I asked him.
“I was an Immortal at Tier 8!” He said. “You see, Mortals are up to Tier 5. When you hit Tier 6, your Physique will undergo a Divine Ascension, and you will become an Immortal Cultivator! My father was a Venerable, even higher, someone that reached Tier 10 and then broke through the pinnacle, ascending into the Venerable and strongest man in the world.”
“Interesting…” I nodded. “And even as strong as you were, you couldn’t protect your world.”
“Alone, I couldn’t.” He sighed.
“If my calculations are right, Tier 8 Cultivators would be even stronger than any S Rank currently, stronger than me and my brother combined too. Yet you lost... Just what? What invaded your world?” I asked him. “Mere monsters alone wouldn’t have just killed you all so easily…”
“No, it was not mere monsters.” Fang Shuan sighed. “Although there were also weaker, conventional Dungeons. Most of what took our world from us were Abyssal Gates, which led to strange, twisted realms where Eldritch Spawns existed. Their powers were hard to deal with, even for me, and when we battled millions of them, we were bound to lose.”
“Eldritch Spawns?!” I gasped. “But those… Aren’t they supposed to appear only in the Realm Beyond’s Abyss? How the hell did that happen? Is that even legal under the rules established? It feels like a Void Ruler wanted your world no matter what and simply decided to breach the rules and take it all. But to do that, an immense amount of Causality would have been required. Was there something your world did that made it even possible for a Void Ruler to openly come to devour it?”
“I… Perhaps, but I don’t remember well, my mind... I'm quite dizzy right now. There are many fragments I can’t recall.” Fang Shuan lamented.
“Maybe the existence of your father could have been one.” Sepa suddenly spoke.
[“Yeah, wasn’t he a powerful Venerable comparable in power to Constellations? For a mere “human” to become so powerful, it was bound to make the world itself somewhat punishable.”]
“Like he said.” Sepa nodded. “Your father might have ascended to such a powerful level that it unbalanced your world’s Causality, turning it into the favor of the Void Rulers. Maybe he escaped knowing this.”
“What? Then… That we lost was even more of his fault than I thought?!” Fang Shuan fell to his knees. “B-But that’s… Ugh! Dammit!” He smashed the ground furiously with his metallic fists.
BAAAM!
“Perhaps the very position of a Venerable challenges the authority of Constellations, set by the Void Rulers…” I wondered. “Some Venerables stayed and fought alongside the Awakening’s Apocalypse; some won and became leaders of Apex Worlds. Others lost; their worlds and themselves were devoured. And others, like your father, escaped and left their world to die. Maybe this could also explain the origin of most Constellations. They, too, were once powerful entities, gods, or whatever of their respective worlds. Sometimes alone, sometimes in large groups or families. Sometimes it wasn’t just a world, but entire planetary systems.”
“Anna… How do you even know that?” Sepa asked.
“I guessed it.” I shrugged. “What? Was it the same for you? So Constellations that are related to Earth’s Myths, aren’t actually from Earth?”
“That’s… I guess you guessed it already, not like it ever mattered.” Sepa said. “But yes, there’s something we all call The Root, it is the Endless Source of Myths. We Constellations might have never been related to your world’s Myths, but as we forged our Tales, we slowly transformed into such figures. I… got the short end of the stick, becoming someone rather less known. But my Tale, even now, is growing stronger as I share it with you.”
[“Hmph, it's rather obvious all Constellations weren’t going to be your 100% accurate mythical figures! Their stories are all fumbled messes.”]
“What about historical Constellations?” I wondered.
“In a way, they’re similar. Historical Constellations can further become Mythical if they develop their Tales and transform themselves while doing so.” She said. “Some of them might truly be the souls of such historical figures, but from parallel worldlines from your own, most of the time. Or just be completely unrelated beings that simply happened to develop their Tales like them and become their embodiments.”
“Interesting…” I nodded.
I kind of knew most of this from the novel but hearing it in such detail enlightened me in more ways than I imagined.
“And then, there’s the Void Rulers.” Sepa sighed.
“They’re outliners, beings from beyond Tales and Rules.” I said. “Isn’t it? They exist outside of the Awakenings and the Realm Beyond. Controlling everything, yet at the same time, desiring to access what they can’t. This is probably why they endlessly devour worlds, aside from hunger.”
“I… That’s a good theory.” Said Sepa. “I don’t know much about them myself.”
Well, that’s what I learned from the novel too, but everything could be different now. Who knows what the true identity of the Void Rulers is? My brother simply killed half of them at the end of the novel and then became the Supreme at the end of the story.
Earth wasn’t saved, everyone died, and he won... Alone, forever.
It's an amazing ending, isn’t it?
It sure made most readers who just wanted their self-insert to win everything clap in happiness and joy.
But to me, I could have never felt so empty before.
I still remember myself staring at my phone in silence, asking myself what the fuck I just read.
I think I even cursed the author a few times in the comments.
Well, such an ending is never happening again.
I’m changing the script forever.
Even if it all becomes a jumbled mess, I don’t care!
Knock, knock!
“Anna, Hilda’s here!”
“Oh right!”
I quickly ran outside of the Purgatory Realm, greeting Hilda. Today Gram was getting his well-deserved upgrade, and I was going to get myself some new gear.
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