Chương 980

"Did it work? Did they fully awaken their imprints?" Vardon's words hit my ears from hundreds of trillions of kilometers away.

"If that's not what a full awakening looks like, I don't know what could possibly top it," Axel replies. There's a long pause before Ulgar speaks to both of them.

"No, as impossible as it sounds... that isn't a full awakening. I saw them have a smaller reaction back in my domain. You can look closely on the edges of their souls in their current forms. Many of the Glyphs have still not floated to the surface, some have not even begun to glow yet..." He waits in silence, then speaks again.

"But Axel, you're right. They've grown many times stronger than First Bloods. I don't think we can comprehend their potential if they awaken more..." All three of these monsters slowly float back to us with wide eyes. Their minds are being bombarded by messages linking them to the Lower Realm with ease, a place none of them ever thought they'd be able to access again. Not only that, but they even feel a strange connection to all of the Primordial Trees within this domain.

Their perception doesn't travel quite as far as mine and Maria's, but instead of foreign towering living structures that would normally suppress their Primordial Aura when floating by, they feel like allies. The Primordial Aura from the semi-stimulated Dryads flows right through them, like friends. I reply to their claims once within range.

"You're right. Our Glyphs aren't fully awakened, but this will be enough to prepare for our meeting with the Imperial Family Head." All three of them stop moving closer; their shock can be felt in the Royal Vibrations rippling off them. Inwardly I smile, as the structure and tension of their Vibrations feel extremely flimsy. It's like I'm examining a frayed thread, while my Vibrations are as tough and immovable as a steel cable after the breakthrough. Just hours ago, our Vibrations were comparable.

Even our greater energy forms are towering over the Griffin, Ogre, and Mammoth. When guiding us to this domain, we were barely the size of a blade of grass beneath their feet, now the roles have completely reversed. I raise a hand, close my eyes, and focus on the Primordial Aura flow I used to invigorate the generals, commanders, knights, and admins below moments ago. Waves of invisible aura pour into the three of them, making their potentials and potency of thought and Vibrations rise instantly.

Oddly, doing this does not limit my own Primordial Aura output at all, in fact, it even raises it. It feels like I am warming up an extremity far away from the center of my soul, and when invigorated, it works with greater efficiency and can even send warmth back to me to amplify my power. All three of them have no idea what I've just done, but I point off behind them to the way we came. They all turn, and I push my spectate feed into their psyches to get a visual of what I see for a split second.

It's of the edge of the domain. From here, over 10 quadrillion kilometers away, enough of my aura touches it to begin activating ether commands all throughout the wall. It only takes a minuscule amount of high-quality ether to power what I need, opening up an archway back out into the Demon's Territory.

"Go. I've granted you enough power so that the Outer Guards will not give you a problem, even if you have to take on a hundred each. But, the First Bloods. I'm afraid only we can handle them." I turn to Maria, and she nods, looking out in the direction of the domain I've opened. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Yes. Spread word to all of the mana-based beings in the outer settlements. It does not matter if you're on good terms with them or not, this is a fight against the Demons, not each other. Have them give their Loyalty to the Rising Emperor, and the Primordial Garden will return to its former glory." Her icy gaze makes the three monsters shiver. I let go of my spectate feed and smile.

"Thank you for your help in bringing us here. Unfortunately, this Ritual Domain will not be usable... but I'll make sure to keep one standing for you when this is done... or even build one from scratch if I can't keep that promise." I look into each of their gazes and nod, pinging more information about the worldwide connectivity system into my final thoughts. They all see the open panels to borrow skills, extra stat-based perks, and instant telepathic communication channels.

They nod back and their shock fades; only excitement and pure hope rise in their hearts. Axel is the first to move, turning around and letting out a caw to fly up and away toward the hole in the barrier. Vardon's natural attitude returns as he grunts, but his eyes and posture are filled with respect.

"I underestimated you two... quite a bit... maybe it is time for the humans to reign." Ulgar lets out a light chuckle and whispers under his breath, "Told ya so." Then looks to us.

"We'll do as you say. The outer settlements will soon all know your name." He looks down at his hands that have become saturated with Primordial Aura tens of times denser than he had before, and I feel a deep sense of killing intent pour out of him. The same assassin's aura he used in battle floods throughout his astral form, and a sharp glint flashes in his eyes as he turns around.

"—And we'll kill every Outer Guard we see on the way there." Trails of black and rust-colored aura fly away, but I can see them clearly. I'm even certain once they're out of range, I'll be able to geolocate them, even if they enter domains with a similar cloaking strength to this Ritual Domain. Instinctually, as I feel the network of Domains all throughout the Primordial Garden, I'm sure of it.

When Maria and I turn to face the opposite side of this domain and float forward through the air with incredible speed, it makes my mind wander. I still feel the strong soul bond I have with Ember, yet there is no mention of him in my system interface. I can still vaguely feel the direction he's in, but whatever domain he's hiding in, it's made of extremely special Glyphs. It's certainly not made by Dryads, or I'd be able to locate it and see through it with ease.

While I'm not exactly worried about where he is, or what kind of domain he's even in, I just don't understand why he hasn't come out yet...? I don't believe he's injured, so the only possibility is that he's hiding from someone other than me. With a wave of her hand, Maria opens up the other side of this Ritual Domain with the same ease that I did for the three Outer Settlement Domain Lords.

We've managed to pull every drop of high-quality ether from the Ritual Domain released into our pools, and take over 80% of the natural high-quality ether in the domain for ourselves as well. Large portions of it came from the Ascended Demons, but some just naturally exist in the atmosphere.

It would be easy to drain it all, but the domain barrier protecting it needs some ambient ether to remain active, and the Primordial Trees within the domain need a certain amount of free flowing ether to stay in their immortal dormant states. We leave just enough for everything to continue running smoothly. As the barrier closes behind us, I can still see and feel everything within the domain. Being connected to the trees gives me perfect spectate feeds of the surroundings.

I watch the three mana-based Domain Lords leave as well, heading back to the neutral zone, and the hole in the domain naturally closes. When our Primordial Aura floods out into the natural open wilderness again, the same phenomenon occurs that did within the domain. Within seconds, thousands of new links of Loyalty are connected to the trees within range, and over a billion more worlds climb up on the worldwide connectivity system.

At the same time, it also instantly kills hundreds of thousands of Ascended Demons that wander the open forest, and even critically injures over 90 Outer Guards scattered throughout the trees in smaller squads. After a few seconds pass, I can even feel some of these purple cored royals dying under the pressure of our auras too when they can't get up off the forest floor. Maria and I don't pay this much mind.

We only step upward to float high above the Primordial Trees, then summon millions of Glyphs beneath each footstep to propel ourselves forward toward the next closest Ritual Domain. I can feel the fluctuations in the atmosphere and begin to create a mental map of everything nearby. It only shows up as vague outlines and shadows in the depths of my mind the further out I try to look, but it is good enough to get a blurry view of what we're dealing with.

There are about a dozen other identical-looking domes of Domain Barriers all in a massive circle, and all of them begin to vibrate and fluctuate. Small openings are created on the walls of every single domain, and ripples of Primordial auras of varying sizes pour out. Ascended Demon's cannot be sensed at the distance I'm feeling, so the only thing these data points could be are First Bloods and Outer Guards. Thousands of them swarm our way.