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“What is this?”
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“A Race Tree.”
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It was Rubi-Khion who answered. Akhenamen could swear she was younger than before; she had gone from a mature 30-year-old looking woman to the prime of her twenties now. Releasing a sigh from her throat, which seemed to be the first she had released in hundreds of years.
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“Our race tree. Every race possesses a Race Tree. It’s… to be fair, even we gods do not know what it truly is. We simply know they appear whenever we birth a new race. A race tree’s death means the death of all our children. I had to turn the Felinid’s tree to stone to preserve it as much as possible. I do not believe it would have survived more than a few more months.”
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“Do you wish for me to leave this place then? I would understand you wouldn’t like a Cygilite so close to the life line of your children.”
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“Pff… you overestimate yourself, Akhenamen. You’re strong. But not that strong.”
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The twin goddess stared back at Akhenamen, sticking out her tongue teasingly as if wanting to remind him she was still well above his current rank for the time being. And he did have to admit… he was curious but had no wish to fight a Dominion to death.
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“That is true. Though I did not mean any offense by those words.”
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“By me. How serious. Still… I thank you deeply for saving my children. Truly.”
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Rubi-Khion bowed as he had done to her people. Showing her thanks to a simple Throne. Making the two priestesses look slightly shocked and touched that they were so important to their Goddess.
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“You’re welcome. I only did what was right. However, I would not thank me just yet. My world quest has not been updated yet. I do not believe this is over.”
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“Then you do not need to worry, I will personally keep watch over the tree.”
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“What about your sister?”
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“What?”
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Akhenamen once more summoned the bulbs and the Primordial Moon Essence. Making the sun goddess’s eyes look slightly shocked at such a rare and unique item. Even she had only been able to do no more than get a look at the Primordial Sun Essence.
“This… do.. Do you believe Saphhyra could be… brought back?”
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He saw something rare in a Goddess’s eyes, hope and tears… soon replaced by doubts and resignation.
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“I would not accept such an offer. You could make any Transcendent, no matter their ranks, swear eternal loyalty to you. I cannot accept such a gift. We would owe you too much.”
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Akhenamen wanted to tell her to just accept, as the reward of a Divine Cygilite Spell was too tempting for him not to want to complete the bonus objectives.
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“I shall be blunt. I do not do it out of the goodness of my own heart. Sapphyra’s rebirth will be needed. For mine, yours, and everyone’s sake. So please simply accept… so that we may get started on trying to bring back your sister.”
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Rubi-Khion stared back at him, staring into his eyes. Her eyes flickering like miniature suns… which they might actually be, considering she had a Divine Body.
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“Very well. We shall try, but if any danger or unexpected problem arises, we shall stop right away.”
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“Agreed.”
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“But there are many things we shall need. I will have to cash in many favors, but it will be worth it. Alright. I will be starting to infuse Sapphyra’s soul remains with the Primordial Moon Essence.”
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She swiftly sat down before the Soul Tree and started to syphon the Moon Essence and infuse it within the remains of her sister’s soul. Her eyes closed as the two priestesses surrounded her to keep her safe.
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Akhenamen stayed silent but watched everything carefully, quite curious about the process happening before him. From his memory, resurrecting the moon goddess had been a multi-stage process, with the last being incredibly impressive. So impressive, it was actually used in the Project Rebirth main release trailer.
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But for now…
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A sudden crack within the earth shattered the peace and quiet that had surrounded the four Transcendents. It came from Selinad, the noise and earthquake that followed, causing the Felinids to panic.
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Akhenamen suddenly appeared outside the cave they had been in. This time, he appeared, releasing the full power of his Aspect. Space and reality itself ending and shattering, collapsing like broken shards of glass which shattered the beasts that had come out from the ground and started to ascend the two goddess’s statues toward the Felinids and the Soul Tree.
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Taking a good look at them, Akhenamen saw…
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“What are those things…”
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They seemed to be made from mutated flesh, multiple bodies fused together. Forming a literal tidal wave of living flesh trying to rush toward the souls they could smell. Including him. They seemed not to fear Akhenamen’s power. He doubted they could feel fear in such a form anyway.
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Akhenamen did not have any information on what those things could be. In his future, he never met them or decided they weren’t worth remembering. Either way… Akhenamen was not gonna allow those beasts to slaughter the last remaining Felinids.
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This would force Rubi-Khion to stop the essence transfer, which was a one-time thing. Once started, you either transferred all the essence in one go or it could dissipate.
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It was like an unbreakable bottle; if it wasn’t opened, you could slam it around it wouldn’t break or spill, but the moment you uncorked it, what it contained wouldn’t stop spilling out.
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That would mean failing the quest and not getting his Divine spell! And he also wouldn’t let innocents be slaughtered if he could help them. Green lightning rippled from his body, slamming into the waves of thousands of horrors. Instantly ending their existence and turning them to green dust.
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His GALS fired loud lasers of Gauss energy, destroying any matter they touched. Akhenamen did not even raise more than two of his hands to fight. His two other arms were resting crossed over his chest.
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It didn’t take long before Akhenamen saw that the stream heading for Rubi-Khion’s location was halted by the arrival of the armored Felinid soldiers he had seen at the top of the temple of the Twins.
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They were an effective unit, around five hundred, each wearing the best armor and weapons available to the Felinids. They each seemed to be at the level of an Ancestor, but he quickly realised they were this strong only because of the formation they used, which seemed to be creating a magical support boosting their strength while they stayed united.
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Akhenamen was doing most of the work, killing almost every horror by himself. The five hundred soldiers behind him kept the path to their people while one of the twin priestesses had stepped out to guard the entrance to the Soul Tree, the last twin remaining next to her Goddess.
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He didn’t feel any fear or pressure. This was pretty easy until now, and his power as an Aspect made him effectively pull from the universe itself to fuel his powers, making his “magic” almost infinite.
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Yet he felt nothing but apprehension. Everything was just too easy. Something was gonna happen, and he could feel it. Something he wouldn’t like.
He was right.
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Akhenamen’s slaughter triggered a change. The wave of flesh pulled back, not even their dead left behind, all assimilated back within one of the other fleeing horrors. A power started to rise deep below the earth, causing the Felinid soldiers to rush forward, standing behind Akhenamen. Ready to support the one defending their kind’s last hope.
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The first limb that came out was a tentacle of flesh, slamming into the floor, so high it could reach the top of Selinad with such size, a humongous body of screaming and squirming shifting flesh rising from the ground.
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[Analyse]
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Akhenamen had long since gotten the secret of what happened after a progenitor’s deity death. Now he was staring at the result of this death. And considering the Orphan even belonged to a race, he was clearly not the only sleeping Fallen.
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He just so happened to be close enough to be awakened by the re-awakening of the Felinid's Soul tree. And with Rubi-Khion being busy with her sister’s only chance at rebirth, it was a perfect moment to attack.
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Akehanmen was a Calamity, too, but the difference between their stats was beyond great. He also saw the System had gone into its 0.05 version, showing it was getting closer and closer to Project Rebirth's release. And the added Mythic Rank and Mythic Class category. He would have to check all that later. For now, he was gonna have to survive this monster.
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