Chapter 148: A Sunset for a New Future (1)
"What... what is this power? How did you... freeze..."
The voice from the portal, laced with a dawning horror, trailed off into frozen silence.
The Grand Maximus watched the half-closed, motionless portal, a look of supreme satisfaction on his face. "You sought to play with gods," he murmured, taking a single, deliberate step forward. "This is the consequence." He raised Rimeheart, preparing to shatter not just the portal, but the very fabric of space it occupied.
Just as he was about to strike, a chorus of sharp, cracking sounds echoed in the cavern. The Grand Maximus paused, a flicker of annoyance crossing his features. He looked down at his own hands. Fine, spiderweb cracks, glowing with a faint purple light, were spreading across his skin, like fissures in fine porcelain.
The voice from the portal, though unable to move, could still project its thoughts. "I acknowledge your strength, Anomaly. You are more than a mere legend. But even you must consider the price of wielding such power in that fragile, mortal shell. It is breaking apart."
The Grand Maximus glared at his own cracking arms. The vessel was weak. Pathetic. He could destroy this fleeing insect, but it might cost him his new body. An unacceptable trade.
With a snarl of pure frustration, he withdrew his spell.
Time snapped back into place. The motes of dust resumed their fall. The drip of water from a frozen icicle continued its journey to the floor. And the portal, in the space of a heartbeat, snapped shut with a deafening crack, vanishing completely.
The Grand Maximus stood alone in the silent, frozen cavern, his fury palpable.
"This body..." he hissed, looking at his own hands with utter contempt. "Weak. So fragile. To think I am limited by such a pathetic vessel." He had been the pinnacle of existence, a being whose will was law. Now, he was trapped in a cage of flesh and bone that couldn’t even handle a fraction of his true might.
He calmed himself, the purple glow in his eyes steadying. "It does not matter," he mused aloud. "This body can be trained. Tempered. I will forge it anew with a cultivation technique from the outer realms. It will take time, but soon, it will be worthy of me."