Manu Enclave!
"Run!"
"Take Cover!"
"Save us, Your Majesty!"
Flaming projectiles hailed down from the sky as the five Free Human Kings with Gold Grade strength raised defensive structures. Everyone part of their Kingdom with Gold Grade strength took to defence while the rest scurried to safety in a hurry.
Boom!
A blunt projectile that had once been sharp slammed into a defensive structure and melted through it. Only a small fragment of it remained as it melted through all the layers of defence and spilt onto a cultivator, eliciting painful screams as the latter collapsed into a puddle of molten flesh.
Every single one of these composite projectiles had been created by Brangara by mixing multiple material-based Natures-Prana Bomb, Bone-Melting Artillery, Rocky Intimidation, Comet, and Mud Ball.
The characteristics of each had been harmonised with each other through Subtle Terrain Domination, turning them into a deadly menace. Some of them that had missed their target flew across the sky for such large distances, with a majority of them burning thanks to friction.
But even the remainder caused chaos, instantly killing anyone unfortunate enough to come into contact.
"Your Majesty!" Even Silver Grade cultivators screamed in despair, "What is even happening?"
"Ignore it!" One of the Free Human Kings stated solemnly, focused on defence, 'A few, straggling projectiles have brought about such chaos and destruction. No wonder the Transcendent begged me to flee.'
He felt powerless, staring in the direction of the battle to hear fierce trumpets and bellowing snorts amidst a flurry of lightning and thunder. The tremors through earth reached all the way to their base situated 1000 kilometres from the battle.
'Just...what kind of existence is the Celestial Boar and what kind of enemies is it facing for the battle to rage on for so long?'
"Wait! Someone's coming this way!" One of the cultivators posted sentry shouted in alarm as everyone assumed battle stances.
The Free Human King noticed a three-metre-tall woman with ivory hair running in their direction, with tears streaming down her face in response to every thunderous trumpet she heard. Her steps were silent, leaving behind no footprints.
"Stop! Stay back!" The soldiers bellowed in alarm, charging up their Primary Natures when the King shouted.
"Stay!" He roared in a hurry, commanding soon after, "Make way. Don't interfere."
The Free Human King watched as the ivory-haired woman reached their encampment and leapt past a large group of people. As she rushed past the tower where the five Free Human Kings stayed, the one who had organised this mass evacuation muttered, his voice barely audible to her, "We're mere bystanders."
The ivory-haired woman bit her lips in response, her eyes expressing helplessness, understanding that even if she sought their help, the situation wouldn't change. These Free Human Kings weren't even strong enough to face her, not to mention the existence she was forced to flee from.
Less than a minute later, the ivory-haired woman was out of sight.
"Hah...!" One of the five Kings collapsed to the floor, breaking out in cold sweat, "W-Who was that? Is she...is she a Mystic Grade cultivator?"
"I...never expected to witness such a powerful existence in my life." Another King said before weakly leaning onto the wall.
"What exactly is happening that even such an existence has to flee?" The fourth King clenched his trembling arm, in disbelief, experiencing confusion amidst alarming bouts of despair.
"Who...are they?" The last of them asked the King who had been informed by a Transcendent to flee. "Did the Transcendent say anything?"
"The woman who ran past us isn't a Free Human, but a Deity prayed towards by many Free Human and Pranic Beasts communities across Sumatra Continent." The King took in a deep breath and nodded, "That's the Empyrean Tusk of legends."
"My goodness!" All the Kings exclaimed in shock, figuring out the full picture, since it was a famous story conveyed to them by the Transcendents many times in the past couple of millennia, "Then the Celestial Boar is..."
"The one this era has been named after," The King explained the cause continued, "It's the Empyrean Boar King who has evolved to become the Celestial Boar."
"An evolution in the Mystic Grade?" None of the Kings were able to comprehend the sheer absurdity of this fact.
"It seems to be that way," Letting out a gasp, the King concluded, "And now, the Celestial Boar is hunting the Empyrean Tusks."
Time passed in such a fashion as the thunderous trumpets stopped eventually. Two days later, the camp was covered by mist as the five Kings had huddled in their tower in worry.
"The visibility is zero!" One of the vexed Kings said.
"We won't even be able to defend against any stray attacks at this rate." Another King grunted before shouting, "Can't we beg our Transcendents to protect us?"
"I'm sure a Transcendent can dispatch the Celestial Boar..." The King stopped speaking, feeling as if he was being stared at by death itself. He stopped breathing, unable to budge an inch. But some force cranked his jaw, lifting his head up slightly to point his line of sight towards the man seated on the window of their tower, having appeared there at some point in time.
"A Transcendent?" The man's lips curled up to form a deranged smile, "Is a Transcendent going to become my enemy next?"
"We're mere mortals." The King contacted by a Transcendent gathered his bearings and bowed in a hurry, "Please don't pay heed to our words. It's worthless."
"Is you say so," The man shrugged and casually landed before the King, asking calmly, "Say, did you see a tall woman run past here?"
"She's someone stronger than the lot of you combined. So even if she was moving far away, you must still have sensed her billowing presence." The man said, inching close to the King whose knees gave out in response, unable to endure the stare.
"We...we don't wish to be involved. So all we know is that she ran past us." The King gasped as he revealed the truth.
"Good boy," Brangara patted the King's cheek, stretched himself a bit and leapt to the top of the tower. With a wave of his hand, the mist cleared away, allowing him to notice a Parute Tree growing a kilometre away.
A second grew two kilometres away while the third grew three kilometres away. The line
formed by the three Parute Trees pointed in the direction that Vhalla had fled towards. His expression was calm as Brangara stared at the sky for a moment, "Are you underestimating me, bitch?"
"I can figure out her whereabouts myself." Snorting in response, Brangara spat in the direction of the three Parute Trees, causing them to wilt in response as his figure blazed past.
The mist gradually cleared up in the region, revealing clear skies. It was a sign that the battle had ended, allowing the five Kings to judge that it was time to return to their homes.
They took more than twenty days for the return journey, arriving to see a desert greet them, sporting zero traces of what was once their home.
Land, mountains, lakes, rivers, kingdoms, etc. nothing was left behind. There was just an endless desert swirling large masses of Prana treacherous packets of presence. Everything of value had been destroyed, with the region having zero guarantee of returning
to normalcy.
"Our homes are...no more." The Kings stated in despair, but alas, that was all they could do, having stared at the culprit face-up, realising how terrifying the Celestial Boar was.
Even the fleeing individual, Vhalla was strong enough to destroy the combined might of their
five Kingdoms, not to mention the predator, the Celestial Boar.
"Please form groups with your friends and family." The Kings stated with a saddened tone,
"And migrate to any Kingdom that would accept you. That's all,"
"We're disbanding henceforth."
Around the same time, leaving the Manu Enclave to enter Sumatra Continent was Brangara,
still chasing after Vhalla. And while he continued his chase, the Tangible Natures of Bio-
Synthesis were working full-time to digest the Empyrean Tusks, including the cooled miniature suns that he had swallowed.
His reserve of Tangible Natures of Empyrean Snappers was down to 34, two less than what
was necessary to influence his body and passively emit the power of Subtle Terrain Domination. However, that wasn't an issue, which was why he used eight in the previous battle in the first place.
Primary Nature-Voracious Cultivator!
The fuel generated from digesting Empyrean Tusks—including their biomes-through Tangible Natures of Bio-Synthesis was funnelled into the Tangible Natures of Empyrean Snappers, cultivating them through the Life Stage.
The stacked power of Subtle Terrain Domination at the 2-Life Stage was superior to what Brangara gained from using two Tangible Natures of Empyrean Snappers.
Moreover, in this fight, he had been fighting using his body, instead of fusing with the body of a Tangible Nature and making it fight in his place. None of his Tangible Natures were strong enough to withstand a hit from the Empyrean Tusks, which prevented him from using
his strongest state.
Otherwise, with limited Natures of Subtle Terrain Domination, he could have achieved the
same result. But as he was in his body, he ended up wasting eight Tangible Natures of Empyrean Snappers.
Through Voracious Cultivator, Brangara focused on first elevating a Tangible Nature of Empyrean Snapper to the 3-Life Stage, at which the passive effect of Subtle Terrain Domination enveloped him once again.
After this, he focused on elevating other useful Tangible Natures into Minor Treasures, since
he could afford the process now. After all, he had consumed all the Empyrean Tusks other than Vhalla and Wrunnala.
Even in Wrunnala's case, he consumed whatever remained in the corpse of her first body,
leaving nothing behind. Once the battle ended, the Celestial Boar spent more time than it did during the fight to lick the place clean.
Everything of value was consumed, wasting nothing. And then, Brangara assumed human
form to conserve energy while running around to chase after Vhalla. Hovering above him was
a large horn that used to grow on the chest of the Celestial Boar.
It was now a cave to hold Wrunnala and Orakha as prisoners, preventing them from committing suicide. While carrying the horn as a Spirit Weapon, Brangara ran across Manu
Enclave, detecting traces of Vhalla. In the meantime, after many failures, his Tangible
Natures began to become Minor Treasures.
Tangible Nature Minor Treasure-Gracious Inheritor!
Tangible Nature Minor Treasure-Satellite!
He had these two before battle, with Gracious Inheritor being his only Silver Grade Minor Treasure. And now, twenty days since the battle ended, he had the following Tangible Nature
Minor Treasures:
Satellite!
Comet!
Prana Bomb!
Bio-Synthesis!
Drifting Tunnel! Eddy Blade!
Prana Shock!
Mud Ball!
He had a total of ten Tangible Nature Minor Treasures now, with plenty more fuel generated
from Empyrean Tusk corpses. The remaining he planned to use to elevate six Tangible Natures of Empyrean Snappers to the 10-Life Stage.
As for elevating the Stage of Yarsha Zahara, he couldn't, no matter how much he wanted. After
all, she was a Mystic Grade Tangible Nature. Even if he used everything at his disposal now, he
could at most bring her to the 3-Life Stage.
'But I won't give up! I'll figure out an alternative!' He thought, clenching his hand into a fist,
'I'll ensure that you can live outside the Astral World freely, just as you had done until now!'
For a moment he thought of the influence generated by the Tangible Natures, thinking of how
he could use that to give Yarsha Zahara a life once again, 'But before that, I need to capture Vhalla!'
Slowly but steadily, he accelerated his running speed, constantly remaining on the run, aware that Vhalla's stamina paled in comparison to his. Soon, he let out a smile upon seeing the Sandy-Grey Void before him, 'It's similar to the Sanrey Plains.'
"Seems Vhalla cannot run anymore, so Maroppa had to resort to this, huh?" He chuckled and
circled around the Sandy-Grey Void, "It's a circle with a radius of twenty kilometres. Why
hasn't she made a bigger one like the Sanrey Plains...?"
He then stared at the border of the Sandy-Grey Void and burst into laughter, "Of course!"
"That makes perfect sense. Why didn't I think of it before?"