"This is the worst..." Councilman Hyak uttered as he gulped in tension, feeling tiny patches of his skin peel off due to the sheer stress from the skin prickles he was experiencing. His Prana detection means showed all the Councilmen as small masses of presence, with Yoribu being a tad larger than the rest.
However, dwarfing everything were two ginormous presences, like suns standing next to planets. The first sun belonged to Ruvva, showing how she was clearly in a league of her own, far above the Councilmen.
However, the sun standing closest to her was larger, and the sheer presence radiating off it seemed to be capable of consuming the other sun. It was Brangara.
"We...need to assist her..." Councilman Hyak said, for he was loyal to Ruvva. After she took up the reins, the Mystic Human Race experienced significant growth. As someone blessed with the power to dominate Prana, she guided the Mystic Humans in ways that helped them wield their bodies better through psychokinesis.
Whether in terms of personal development, resource obtainment, research, etc. Ruvva was directly responsible. And from time to time, Ruvva would arrive with rare Pranic Beasts, whose physical characteristics made them perfect for Mystic Humans.
This was through a secret deal with Gannala. Similarly, knowledge regarding the use of Spirit Weapons, Spirit Weapon development, medicine brewing, farming, architecture, etc., was purchased from the Brimgan Empire and funnelled to the Mystic Humans.
Without Ruvva serving as the intermediary, the Brimgan Empire wouldn’t have accepted such a trade in the first place. Most of what they sold was common knowledge. However, it was the most comprehensive manual that could ever be found on Sumatra.
This served to form a strong foundation for the Mystic Humans. Ruvva had a special status on Sumatra, which allowed her to interact with multiple forces and gain beneficial deals.
Even just before, when Root fought her, the Quip Clansmen who received the news only grew restless and worried about stopping the fight, to prevent Root from harming Ruvva. The reason was simple. They were aware of the fact that the Royal Zinger was her uncle, and cared about her.
Similarly, even though Ruvva hadn’t interacted with the Varahan Empire, she would be received warmly there for two reasons: she had inherited Yarsha Zahara’s talents and advocated for the rise of Free Humans.
The Wean Clan too would receive her with warmth because she pretty much resembled Brangara and was pretty much a sibling to the first-generation Wean Clansmen.
In contrast, Virala didn’t have that strong of a status. He was powerful, yes, but the Brimgan Empire hated him. They hadn’t killed him only because of their common enemy.
And now, Brangara was controlling Virala’s body and wielding his power. This was the worst-case scenario, for the Brimgan Empire would take up arms to kill him.
Unlike during the Second Major Disaster, the Brimgan Empire was significantly stronger now. Their peak strength already had many with a Secondary Nature. Some were on the verge of getting a Tertiary Nature too.
With their Rirenal harvest, the Brimgan Empire would continue to stably grow stronger until no force could ever dare think of facing them.
Located in the Dralh Sea, the Mystic Humans were situated pretty close to the Brimgan Empire. For a Silver Grade Pranic Beast, traversing this distance would take years due to the dangers involved in terms of terrain and native Pranic Beasts.
However, a Brimgan Royal would need less than ten days to comfortably traverse the distance. Boul Brimgan would need less than a day to traverse the same, even lower if he were to go all out.
If the Brimgan Empire decides to invade, they could do it so fast that the Mystic Humans wouldn’t even have time to prepare.
’It’s absurdly clear on who we should support.’ The gears in Councilman Hyak’s mind whirred as he had arrived at a conclusion. A glance at the Councilmen and he was relieved to see that they were all on the same page.
He was surprised to see even Yoribu sided with them. After all, Ruvva being the Chief of the Mystic Humans allowed for the Varahan Empire to ease their relationship with the Brimgan Empire and prevent an eventual war.
They could also trade and benefit tremendously. Personally, Yoribu sided with Brangara for obvious reasons. However, what was even more obvious was that as the Varahan Empire, she had to prioritise the needs of the Empire above herself.
Her priority currently was simply to ensure the Varahan Empire functioned stably until her son was born to lead it to new heights.
"Think of where your Gold Ewworms come from before you decide to do something stupid." That one line from Brangara caused them to hesitate. However, a hesitation was all they did. Knowing how important Gold Ewworms were to their strength, they obviously had alternatives.
The Mystic Humans had long since built a large nest to house Gold Ewworms to mate and produce more of their own. They resorted to cutting off the Mystic Ewworm’s tail to birth Gold Ewworms simply because it was economical.
It would cost them more, but their nest had the means to produce the Ewworms for their needs. It wasn’t as if Mystic Humans had a high fertility rate. So few of them appeared that the number of Gold Ewworms they required wasn’t high in the first place.
"Well, it was worth a try." Brangara uttered as his figure flickered and appeared before one of the Councilmen.
Prime Skill—Prana Flash x4!
"STOP!" Ruvva appeared between the two and churned psychokinesis in her fist.
Tertiary Body Stage 1—Eddy!
The Prana stored in the heart of her right limb socket was gushed into her fist, fully harnessing the power of psychokinesis to accelerate the speed at which her fist slammed forth. Her right arm bulged twice the size in response and emitted shockwaves as the fist made contact with Brangara’s ribs.
However, that did nothing.
Cold sweat sprouted like a waterfall from her back as Ruvva stared down at the man who hadn’t even budged an inch from her attack. Instead, he simply raised his head to make eye contact with her and smiled mockingly. ’This sensation...Impossible!’
There was only one situation in which her psychokinesis-induced punch wouldn’t budge an opponent. She had witnessed it only once, at the Kalahatra Desert. That was when she fought her elder sister, Gannala.
Nature—Internal Inertial Gravity!
"Mystic Humans cannot use any Natures!" She gasped in alarm.
"Really?" Brangara stared at her fist, "Weren’t you using Prana Shock just now? And didn’t you unleash Eddy Blades before that?"
As he spoke, Brangara clenched his hand into a fist, and suddenly, his right arm blurred. Half a second later, there was a shockwave. By then, Ruvva’s figure had been blasted out of the palace, into the stormy clouds of the Death Hour.
"Mystic Humans can literally treat their bodies as Spirit Weapons. You lot don’t understand how impressive such a feat is. After all," His feet stomped on the floor, formed a crater, and launched his body in a straight line.
Along the journey, he turned into the Mystic Ewworm, with the head of the Empyrean Boar king to gobble up two Councilmen.
Crunch! Crackle!
In human form, he stopped on the other end of the council room to wipe a tinge of blood leaking down his mouth. His stomach convulsed as the two Councilmen were still resisting to their limit. They had Spirit Eater forms, using which they could avoid sustaining critical hits to their head and heart.
Moreover, their roots burrowed through his stomach walls and began to suck up nutrients to heal their bodies as they countered his stomach’s digestive juices.
"Amazing, right?" Brangara uttered as he turned around to face the rest of the horrified Councilmen. As he turned, an explosion occurred in his stomach, bloating it for a second before contracting it. Immediately after, a dozen explosions occurred in succession until his stomach calmed down. "By using psychokinesis, I made my stomach expand and contract violently to produce shockwaves. And similarly, my digestive juices contract and expand respectively."
"Those two only endured a dozen explosions before they turned into paste." He raised his hand as slowly, a layer of Tratham began to form, "And that gives me this."
The two Councilmen had a Spirit Eater and Gold Ewworm build, with the tool of their Gold Ewworm being made out of Tratham.
After Virala died and was revived through a Mystic Human Stamp, Ruvva subdued him and extracted his Tratham. His Mystic Ewworm’s tool was empty at present.
But by consuming the two Councilmen, he digested their bodies, including their tools. This was then funnelled to the Mystic Ewworm, which was gradually using the Tratham to build its tool. As it happened, he was able to wield it.
With every passing second, more and more of his hand was being covered by the Tratham. Brangara turned around to stare at the hole in the palace walls and watched a figure rush in through it, "You’re pretty tough, I’ll give you that."
Prime Skill—Eddy Blade x4!
His left hand turned serpentine and extended before his body as it was chopped off. It wriggled and kept expanding to get chopped repeatedly, until the Prana within the Eddy Blade was consumed. Brangara condensed a Spirit Container cluster and threw it with force.
It moved past the severed pieces and exploded thanks to an overload of psychokinesis, the force of which sent the pieces flying towards Brangara.
Brangara inhaled with force and guided the severed pieces into his mouth using psychokinesis. He chomped and swallowed while his hand regenerated, "You seem pretty shocked, kid."
Another crater formed in the floor as Brangara blasted towards Ruvva. He raised his hand and received an Eddy Blade, which barely dug through his skin. Somehow, its cutting force was getting dispersed across his body.
"How?" Ruvva failed to understand, "How are you using Internal Inertia Gravity?"
"I’m not," He said and watched Ruvva’s fist hit his chest. He didn’t budge, watching a flurry of punches, kicks, and Eddy Blades. He then responded with a slap and blasted Ruvva through a series of floors. "I can neither alter my weight nor create biomes. However, as for the remaining function of Internal Inertial Gravity, such as dispersing force across the body or to redirect it back at the attacker..."
He dropped down the floors and kneeled Ruvva on the spine, "I can replicate it with psychokinesis."
"After all, Internal Inertial Gravity is the one Nature I have been the most obsessed with since birth. Obviously, I could replicate its effects when given the means to do so, considering how much it had influenced me over the course of two millennia."
"Kyaakkk!" Ruvva screamed as she turned around to kick Brangara, failing to budge him. She spun once, turned into a fist-sized Apogee Bludder to escape Brangara’s grasp and erected some distance between them.
"Huff...haah...argh!" She groaned, unable to stand straight as her back was stuck in an arched position. Cracking sounds resounded as she straightened herself and wiped the blood covering her face, ’This is the worst opponent I could face. He has the fighting capabilities of both Virala and Brangara.’
For a moment, Ruvva hesitated as she eyed her surroundings, ’If I were to use this, I’ll end up destroying the entire palace.’
But the instant Brangara began to move towards her, Ruvva used it without hesitation as a geyser of pressurised blood burst out of her being, in the form of a laser that cut the Abode of the Mystics into pieces.
Minor Treasure—Weaponised Ruthusk Lantern!