Chapter 500: Choices! I
In Star Sea Gamma-7.
In a small region where the crystalline titans ruled, the scene was a glorious and terrifying one to observe as the remaining Nar’-Thyss were frozen and rooted where they stood, watching the decimation and collapse of the strongest among them.
A Tier 9 Existence, Mor’dantius the Harvest King!
In the stupor that followed this impossible event, Achilles held Rose’s head in his hands, his touch somehow gentle despite their forms being made of solid resonance and stellar narrative. He kissed her on her forehead lightly, his humanoid lips pressing against the sapphire-like surface, and the gesture carried a warmth that transcended physical sensation!
"Give me another second," he whispered, his voice a low hum that resonated with her very structure.
Then, he turned. His eyes, now a swirling vortex of platinum, purple, and gold, fixed upon the thousands of remaining Nar’Thyss.
They were still caught in the aftershock of their commander’s erasure, their butterfly-like forms fluttering with a confusion that was rapidly curdling into terror.
He felt it then, the terrifying expression of his own power, an ocean of assimilated authority roiling within him, begging for release.
He tapped a single finger forward.
Countless platinum lines of narrative authority, filled to the brim with the Existential Authority of Fables, shot out from him!
BOOM!
They were not beams of light but threads of story, each one a sentence in an epic of annihilation.
They moved with impossible speed, instantly traversing the void to connect with every single remaining Nar’Thyss.
The frozen shock and stupor of the invaders turned to abject horror as Achilles whispered calmly once again...
"Assimilate."
BOOM!
The scene that followed was a masterpiece of cosmic brutality.
Thousands upon thousands of Nar’Thyss, beings who had orchestrated the fall of civilizations, began to shake and tremble.
Their elegant, butterfly-like forms convulsed violently as the platinum lines of authority latched onto their narrative cores.
There were no screams that could be heard, only the silent, horrifying vibration of stories being unwritten!
Their bodies did not explode. They liquefied!
Their intricate forms, woven from eons of harvested Fables, dissolved into a thick, silvery ichor...the raw, unprocessed essence of their existence.
This nutrient-rich fluid, teeming with narrative potential, was then drawn into the platinum-colored lines that Achilles had cast out.
In the next moment, a glorious and terrible scene unfolded. Thousands of silvery rivers of liquefied meaning flowed back towards him, a torrent of assimilated existence pouring into his being.
He did not drink or eat. He simply... accepted.
The influx was staggering. The combined narrative weight of thousands of powerful beings, many of them standing at Tier 6 to Tier 8 on the Null Scale, crashed into him like a galactic tide!
Detailed prompts bloomed before his eyes, a cascade of platinum fire that documented his ascension.
|You have Assimilated 6,421 Nar’Thyss entities of the Scourge Legion.|
|Breakdown: 5,987 Tier 6, 431 Tier 7, 3 Tier 8.|
|Existential Authority of Fables Gained: +17,840,000 Units.|
|The sheer volume and purity of the assimilated narrative authority is initiating a fundamental restructuring of your existence.|
|Your complexity and narrative weight are undergoing exponential expansion.|
HUUM!
Sometimes, numbers were critical. Even though none of these beings were Tier 9, the collective authority of so many powerful entities...
BOOM!
It was all Achilles needed. As the last drop of silvery essence merged with his form, a final, monumental prompt boomed before him, its platinum letters so bright they seemed to burn the very fabric of the void!
|You have officially and truly stepped onto the last echelon of the Null Scale of Existence. You have attained Tier 9.|
...!
His power became vibrant, resonant. The might he now radiated was a palpable thing, a pressure that suffocated the space around him!
In the distance, even the mighty Titan-Primus Shal’garon, himself a Tier 9 existence, felt a wave of oppressive force wash over him.
It felt as if this newcomer, this impossible human, could overwhelm him in a matter of seconds. He felt even more powerful than the Harvest King!
At such a moment, Titan-Primus Shal’garon began to move. He approached Achilles and Rose with a reverence that bordered on fear, his massive crystalline form shimmering with a respect that had been earned through annihilation.
Others of his lineage, the Crystalline Titans who had survived the initial onslaught, followed behind him, their harmonic songs now a quiet hum of awe.
"Thank you," Shal’garon’s voice was a deep, resonant chord that made space itself vibrate. "Thank you for jumping in to save us. We will not forget your help!"
Even as the being spoke these words of gratitude, Achilles looked toward him with eyes that held a surprising, almost painful, apology.
He sighed, a sound like a star giving up its light.
"We actually need to apologize to all of you," Achilles said, his voice soft but carrying a weight that silenced the titan’s thanks.
...!
Titan-Primus Shal’garon was shocked. His massive, diamond-like head tilted in confusion. "Apologize? For what? You have done more for us than we could have ever hoped! If you had not come, those outsiders filled with their plague would have decimated and killed us all!"
At such words, Achilles nodded with a sense of wisdom and power.
"Yes, many, if not all of you would have died to them. But every choice made... has a consequence. With me interfering and saving you, the death of Mor’dantius has already reverberated upwards within his organization, and the gazes of some of their more powerful beings will very soon be coming down onto your home. So, yes, you would have been killed had I not interfered, but even though I have interfered, your situation has truly not changed."
...!
His words caused Titan-Primus Shal’garon to pale. The radiant light of his crystalline form dimmed as the horrifying logic of Achilles’s statement settled in. They had been saved from one apocalypse only to be placed in the path of a greater one.
Achilles’s own internal dialogue was a quiet, cold current beneath his words.
He didn’t tell this being, or his race of Crystalline Titans, that he hadn’t even acted out of the kindness of his heart.
This was a calculated move, a strategic assassination that served his larger purpose of weakening the Nar’Thyss while drawing their attention away from his own Star Sea!
He had saved them, yes, but they were collateral beneficiaries in a war they didn’t understand. Their salvation was only momentary!