My attributes are increasing infinitely Chapter 427: Preparation for the great battle
Previously on My attributes are increasing infinitely...
Ethan gazed intently at Zara.
Her form had transcended mere flesh and bones. It resembled a container crafted from pure, churning shadows of darkness. From her core, a dense, ruinous force throbbed every few moments. It echoed like the ominous rhythm heralding the world's demise.
This stemmed from the innate aura of her lineage. Though she lay unconscious, the sheer intensity of that might warped the atmosphere encircling her.
Zara had evolved beyond an ordinary girl; she now embodied a fledgling of the Apocalypse Race.
"Mr. Ethan, how is she faring?" Rose inquired. Her tone quivered. She stood several paces back, fingers gripped firmly together.
"No need to fret, she's stable," Ethan replied. His words remained steady, though his gaze sharpened. "Her physique is merely reshaping itself. Stabilizing such an overwhelming surge of might requires time."
Ethan realized concentration was essential. He lowered himself to the ground, legs folded beneath him.
He had to peer into what lay ahead. He needed clarity on the significance of that dark silhouette in his sight.
Yet prior to that, his attention shifted to Melida and Mr. Harrow.
"Lady Zara and Lady Rose remain here alongside me," Ethan commanded. His voice brooked no dissent. "Everyone else, depart immediately."
Melida and Harrow exchanged glances. Reluctance to abandon the tower's security gripped them, but Ethan's stern expression made obedience inevitable.
They inclined their heads in profound respect.
"As you command, sir," Harrow responded.
"And one additional directive," Ethan continued, lids still shut. "Escort every member of Rose’s family to this place. Their protection falls solely to me. They shall find shelter beneath my domain."
A surge of ease washed over Rose. She refrained from questioning the reason. She perceived Ethan's readiness for impending catastrophe.
Melida and Harrow hastened from the tower to execute his instructions.
With silence settling in the chamber, Ethan immersed himself within the Laws of Fate and Karma.
Within his thoughts, reality unraveled into countless radiant strands. These signified the trajectories of tomorrow. Typically, such filaments gleamed in gold or silver, denoting varied outcomes.
Yet at present, nearly all strands suffocated beneath a viscous, ebony haze.
The darkness advanced gradually, yet inexorably toward him.
Ethan frantically sought a route where the obscurity faded away.
At last, he located one slender, isolated filament.
In that prospective timeline, he envisioned lifting Zara and hurling her from the tower, flinging her deep into the untamed wilds.
Ethan's eyes snapped open. Perspiration beaded across his brow.
"So, her lineage is the crux," he murmured to himself. "The foresight indicates a 99% likelihood of my demise should she stay. That implies an adversary vastly superior to me draws near. An Absolute Continuum entity."
His hands balled into tight fists.
He presumed it to be "The Presence" or the "One Above All." Only those entities possessed such formidable prowess in his knowledge.
"That fool certainly enjoys flaunting his might," Ethan grumbled, his stare icing over. "If the One Above All believes he can simply invade and claim what's under my guard, he's mistaken. I'll obliterate that wretch if he threatens my kin."
He started amassing his vitality, steeling his essence for a confrontation that might claim his existence.
However, Ethan's assumption erred.
The foe approaching him surpassed the One Above All.
It was an adversary whose potency rendered the "One Above All" akin to an infant.
A flawless apex entity from the neutral zone headed his way.
Ethan directed his focus back toward Zara once more.
He observed an peculiar alteration in her inner makeup.
Employing his divine sight to peer within her frame, the revelation caused his pulse to falter.
Buried deep in Zara’s spirit, another vast sea of vitality was taking shape.
It constituted the Ocean of Entropy.
Her individual cells absorbed this ashen vitality, mutating into forms alien to this realm.
"What’s unfolding here?" Ethan pondered. "Does the Apocalypse Race consist of flawless entities? Ones who inherently balance both affirmative and adverse forces?"
A chilling epiphany struck him.
Should Zara qualify as a "perfect being," then the pursuer after her must share that status.
"If their ranks include Absolute Continuum entities that are also perfect... how could I possibly oppose such a force?"
His mind wandered to the remaining 99 enigmatic lineages.
Should they mirror this pattern, the equilibrium of cosmic might proved illusory.
He regarded his Sword of Infinity.
Armed with it, he could rival an Absolute entity.
But a "perfect" Absolute entity? That presented an entirely distinct challenge.
Little surprise that Fate decreed his mortality odds at 99%.
Ethan exhaled a prolonged, burdened breath.
An unprecedented burden pressed upon him.
For the initial occasion, genuine exhaustion etched his features.
Rose detected it without delay.
She approached nearer, her expression brimming with worry.
"Mr. Ethan, are you okay? You appear... ashen."
Ethan mustered a faint, weary grin.
"Fret not, Lady Rose. The forging and metamorphosis have merely sapped my strength somewhat. Perhaps retire to a guest chamber for repose? My attendants will attend to you shortly."
She acquiesced with a sorrowful dip of her head and proceeded to the residential areas.
....
At the outermost fringe of the Positive Plane, where cosmic void brushes against reality's boundary, a fissure materialized.
It resembled not a mere opening, but a gash across the heavens.
From within that rift, a solitary limb emerged.
It consisted of unadulterated obscurity and mutable devastation.
The instant its sole contacted the Positive Plane's weave, the whole expanse quaked.
Every formidable existence across creation experienced an abrupt, piercing ache in their core.
Gradually, the full form of the presence revealed itself.
It manifested as a lofty, umbral silhouette that devoured surrounding illumination.
"What brings a paramount figure from the Apocalypse Race to this realm?" a resonant voice thundered across the emptiness.
The umbral figure remained unmoved.
He inclined his head marginally toward a ripple in the void.
His gaze, twin abyssal chasms, fixed unerringly upon the One Above All, observing from afar.
"Tend to your affairs," the presence declared.
His utterance bypassed audible waves, employing instead the quiver of particles.
"Interfere in my kin's matters, and I shall annihilate your being along with the domain you occupy."
The One Above All, acclaimed sentinel of the cosmos, fell mute.
Tremors of unfamiliar dread coursed through him.
He recognized his inferiority to this monstrosity.
He paled even against that race's seniors, much less this Absolute emissary.
The presence sealed his eyes, as though probing for a trace.
Soon after, a sinister smirk curved his lips.
"Ah. Located."
The presence underwent transformation.
His colossal, frightful silhouette contracted.
The shadowy vitality retracted inward.
In mere instants, he assumed the guise of an alluring human gentleman.
The aura of ruin dissipated entirely, concealed beneath his exterior.
"Returning to this dull, ordinary plane after ages," the man remarked, adjusting his ebony garb. "I shall savor some earthly sustenance first. Afterward, claim the lineage bearer and depart."
In one stride, he dissolved from sight.
He traversed not by flight; he merely absented one spot to manifest in another, directing toward the Dragon World.
Within the tower, Ethan persisted in his contemplation.
Abruptly, he perceived the ebony haze in his foresight had halted its advance.
It persisted without vanishing, yet ceased its headlong pursuit.
It hovered close, akin to a hunter toying with prey.
Ethan's thoughts accelerated.
Ever the seeker of edges, even confronting oblivion, he schemed.
"Should I endure this ordeal..." Ethan mused, a shadowy spark igniting in his eyes. "Seizing that entity's lineage could propel my ascension. No further need for the Negative Plane. Perfection within reach here."
Though his survival hung in peril, Ethan envisioned wresting supremacy from an Absolute entity.
He acknowledged the madness.
He recognized the peril to his very soul.
Yet beholding the slumbering Zara and the shadows encircling her, he understood their destinies entwined.
He rose and strode to the pane, surveying the night sky adorned with stars.
The atmosphere hung motionless, oppressively so.
It signified the hush preceding a tempest destined to exalt him to divinity or reduce him to ashes.
"Approach, then," Ethan breathed into the void. "Let us discover if this 'perfect being' withstands the Infinity."
He clasped the pommel of his blade, bracing for the fateful summons at the threshold.