782 One Year Left
Boom!
On a flat plain that had been turned into a ginormous crater through sheer, brute force, was a massive humanoid entity, ivory in nature. Looming over it was another entity barely half its height, but infinitely stronger.
Kaboom!
The smaller entity raised its fist and hammered a punch on the larger entity's face, "Tell me, Vhalla! How does it feel to regain all your strength but still feel absolutely helpless under me? Huh? Tell me! TELL ME!"
"Just…"
Boom!
"Kill…"
B-Boom!
"Me…!" Vhalla uttered weakly as another fist slammed into her face, denting it horribly, and giving her a concussion. However, her Prana healed her injury, right before being smacked once again.
There was a gaping wound on her chest, revealing her heart. Air converged around the wound like a shredder, constantly sanding away at the muscles to ensure the wound didn't close up. A pin-sized hole was evident on the heart, pointing directly at her Spirit Container that had been installed by Brangara, just so that he could vent his anger.
Shockwaves ruptured the earth upon every hit he rained down on her, casually overpowering the effects of Internal Inertial Gravity maintained in full power within her. "Is this all?"
"Is this all the strongest Empyrean Tusk could accomplish through Internal Inertial Gravity?" Brangara raised his hand and slowly clenched it into a fist, having not activated a single Nature as he brought it down once again, for the final, smash, shattering Vhalla's head.
Celestial Boar—9-Life Stage!
He got up slowly and glared at the corpse of Vhalla, wiping his drool a little. He turned around and stared at the figure of Yarsha Zahara standing nearby, "It seems this is the limit. I can't reach the 10-Life Stage."
"As I thought," Yarsha Zahara frowned, "There's a high chance your body has been captured by the Mystic Seven."
"No matter, I'll recover it once I face them." The Celestial Boar dragged Vhalla's corpse and stuffed it in its mouth. Psychokinesis surged into the corpse and began to compress it through the power of Subtle Terrain Domination, turning it into a sphere that he swallowed.
"But, it's still a pity." Brangara shook his head, "To think the strongest Empyrean Tusk has gotten so weak."
"On one hand, you've become too strong." Yarsha Zahara said in elation, "But on the other hand, the repeated births have weakened her down to a fundamental level. The current Vhalla might probably be ranked in the late twenties if the Empyrean Tusk herd were to exist."
"And, how strong is she as compared to when you were alive, Tanpral?" Brangara snapped his finger and stared at the figure of the 1st Empyrean Snapper who was his Tangible Nature.
"She's stronger," Tanpral bowed his head respectfully, "She has three Natures while I only had one. However, the current me is way stronger than her."
"Well, you ought to be, considering the resources I invested in you." Brangara snorted arrogantly.
Tangible Nature Major Treasure—Subtle Terrain Domination!
Tanpral had been successfully cultivated to the 10-Life Stage and then turned into a Major Treasure. The process to achieve it was annoying and extremely resource intensive, even greater than what was required to turn a Gold Grade Nature into a Major Treasure.
However, the chance of success was practically guaranteed, which was why this had been used, as Brangara didn't wish to waste any of the precious Natures of Subtle Terrain Domination.
The process started with capturing a Free Human baby and teaching it the Gold Inheritance Art. Once it reaches the Body Stage, it'll make a Vara Human Avatar using Vara sourced from the Celestial Boar, becoming a Gold Grade existence with the Primary Nature of Blessed Inheritance.
Once the Free Human has been cultivated to the peak of the Body Stage, Yarsha Zahara used Mystic Eaters to fuse pieces of Sumatra Gold into it, however much was necessary to turn it into a stable container for the 10-Life Stage Tangible Nature of Empyrean Snapper to safely reside within.
Following that, one body of Brangara would assume the state of being a Major Treasure and fuse with the Free Human body. After the fusion had concluded, Tanpral fully assimilated with the container, becoming one with the Human Avatar while constantly drinking the influence Brangara poured into him.
Following that, using Maroppa's power, Sumatra Gold was gradually fused into the skeleton of the Free Human to create a Sumatra Gold Skeleton. Once ready, the body of Brangara—fused into the Free Human body—summoned a Bolt of Transcendence, following the same method used by Inala to become the Royal Zinger.
As the Bolts of Transcendence rained down, the Celestial Boar's Major Treasure of Tangible Nature fused with Tanpral—the 10-Life Stage Tangible Nature of Empyrean Snapper. It solidified his existence while the Sumatra Gold Skeleton and Vara Human Avatar became his body, condensing him into a living existence that was still a Tangible Nature.
The entire process consumed 14 pieces of Sumatra Gold and six Bolts of Transcendence. The result was the Tangible Nature Major Treasure of Subtle Terrain Domination. It was the strongest of its kind, since the source material was the 1st Empyrean Snapper.
This was something Brangara would have never dared to attempt before, for the sheer resources required could easily bankrupt the Varahan Empire and still not be enough. However, the current situation was different, with basically an infinite supply of Parute Fruits available to him.
To grow any Tangible Nature, Brangara used Parute Fruits, increasing the Tangible Nature's Prana capacity to its maximum. Following that, he digested a small portion of Empyrean tusk flesh and funnelled its power solely to mature the Tangible Nature.
This way, he conserved the flesh power of Empyrean Tusks as much as possible, efficiently using the Parute Fruits to elevate a large number of Tangible Nature to the 10-Life Stage.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Brangara's footsteps were slow but steady as he approached Wrunnala, smiling upon seeing that her eyes had gone blank, having been subjected to immense torture. Her body was withered, twitching nonstop, lacking any semblance of strength.
He stared at her in pity, "If only the two of you could have lasted longer, I would've gained even more Natures."
"Watch it carefully," Brangara said as seven Tangible Natures of Empyrean Tusks appeared behind him, already fully brainwashed through his influence to follow his will without question. As they watched, Brangara snuffed the life out of Wrunnala, consuming her shortly after, "Tch! She lost her flavour."
"Simply making them birth four Empyrean Tusks exhausted them to their limit, huh?" Brangara frowned, "Even the strongest of Empyrean Tusks can only handle four. It seems I need to capture Gannala to get a larger supply."
Brangara created a total of eight Tangible Natures of Empyrean Tusks. Seven of them stood behind him while the final one, the strongest of their batch, had been turned into a similar existence to Tanpral.
This was the only Empyrean Tusk that Brangara gave a name to, following the traditions of the Empyrean Tusk. She was given the name Lattala, which in the language of the Empyrean Tusks meant the Submissive Tusk.
It was just Brangara's way of exacting revenge on the Mammoth Clan, intending to completely destroy their source of pride.
He stopped at one, for that was more than enough. The influence brought by the stack of seven Tangible Natures of Empyrean Tusks cultivated to the 10-Life Stage was enough for him to manifest the effects of Internal Inertial Gravity.
Atop that, activating the Major Treasure of Internal Inertial Gravity made him unstoppable. Brangara didn't bother to accumulate it beyond that for a simple reason. First of all, the costs were exorbitant. Second, it was unnecessary.
He had hit the limit of the density that he could raise his body towards and control it. The strength he might gain from activating one more Nature of Internal Inertial Gravity was more destructive than harmful, since there was a small chance it could naturally initiate a singularity.
The result would be similar to how the Empyrean Tusks turned into a sun for an instant. Brangara too would become a sun, one that shone for at least a couple of minutes.
As the level of power would go beyond what even he could control, he stopped at his current self. He could create one more Major Treasure of Internal Inertial Gravity in the future and manage to control its power too.
However, to reach that level, he'd have to train extensively for more than a millennium. Hence, Brangara put it in the back of his mind for the time being. It cost him 9 pieces of Sumatra Gold and four Bolts of Transcendence to create this Major Treasure.
Digesting over a hundred Empyrean Tusks alongside billions of Parute Fruits caused the amount of Prana being generated by his Spirit Container to reach staggering levels, allowing him to pop out pieces of Sumatra Gold at levels unimaginable.
After using them to create the two Major Treasures, alongside everything that Brangara had gathered until now, extracted from Orakha, and produced as the Celestial Boar recently, they had barely enough for another individual.
Yarsha Zahara!
She rebuilt her Human Avatar using Sumatra Gold once again. After stealing Orakha's Tertiary Nature of Mystic Eater and deriving the same out of her Human Avatar, Yarsha Zahara made the power hers and used it to rapidly build a new Human Avatar.
There was an endless supply of Prana from the Celestial Boar. So, even after she activated her power, she didn't vanish, for she was being supplied enough Prana. Upon reaching the peak of the Body Stage, she created a Tertiary Nature.
Primary Nature—Incident Nature Reflection!
Secondary Nature—Mystic Eater!
Tertiary Nature—Lunchbox!
Since the Tangible Natures of Free Humans retained a Human Avatar, it was possible to use her past life's knowledge and the Mystic Eaters to modify them until a Secondary and Tertiary Nature was created.
Her ego was hurt, but she was left with no other choice. Hence, she chose the path, following the same process as the other two to become a Tangible Nature Major Treasure.
Tangible Nature Major Treasure—Serpentine Nature Bank!
It was a result of the fusion of the three Natures she had upon entering the 10-Life Stage. Her original build should have been made purely out of Sumatra Gold. However, there simply wasn't enough to sustain her growth to the 10-Life Stage.
As a result, she was forced to compensate using Vara, which was a good substitute as it was very receptive to Natures. And hence, she managed to retain the Primary Nature of Incident Nature Reflection.
However, as she had used Vara to dilute her Human Avatar, the potency of her current Incident Nature Reflection paled as compared to when she was alive. Even after reaching the 10-Life Stage, she barely obtained her original potency.
Thankfully, the final result was somewhat of a saving grace for her. Serpentine Nature Bank was a fusion of her three Natures. She could create a serpent resembling a Sumatra Gold variant of a Mystic Eater that can consume Natures.
The consumed Natures would be stored in her and could be released through the mouth of the serpent once again. The overall effectiveness slightly exceeded what a peak Body Stage Yarsha Zahara could achieve in terms of Incident Nature Reflection.
But that was it. Unlike her original body that at the Body Stage could basically become immune to Natures, gaining control over every Nature that made contact with her Human avatar, Serpentine Nature Bank had a series of flaws.
Yes, she had the same power as the Minor Treasure of Lunchbox, which currently allowed her to store Natures worth as much Prana as her Prana capacity at the 10-Life Stage, which was 180,000 units.
However, she didn't have the protection offered by a Human Avatar. To gain control over a Nature, her serpent would have to swallow it. Simply touching a Nature no longer worked. Or rather, the effect of the Nature could destroy the serpent if not directed into the mouth.
Moreover, releasing the effect of the Nature worked in the same fashion, which is to be ejected out of the serpent mouth. This basically meant that she could be targeted easily across areas not covered by the serpent mouth.
Dusting her hands, Yarsha Zahara got up and touched the stationary body of Maroppa beside her, fusing with the latter. When she still her the Secondary Nature of Mystic Eater, Yarsha Zahara extensively modified Maroppa's Human Avatar—a product of her Secondary Nature of Grey Kinesis Deity.
Using a piece of Sumatra Gold, she turned Maroppa's Human Avatar into her dwelling, from where she could control the body as if it was hers, without any delays. And of course, just in case any harm was to befall Maroppa, since she wasn't even at the peak of the Body Stage, Yarsha Zahara stored a good portion of Maroppa's Natures in her bank.
It was a last-ditch effort, but it was better to be prepared, just in case. Following that, she strung two 10-storey Storage Lanterns at the side of her hips. These storage lanterns were a product of Kinesis Lantern Deity. And hence, each floor was a cube with a side of 20 metres.
She gathered a decent chunk of Vhalla's Primary and Secondary Natures and stored them in her Bank.
Yarsha Zahara went around and carefully extracted Parute Fruits in large numbers, filling the two Storage Lanterns with them. Even though she could control the Storage Lanterns, once some external item was placed within it, she was unable to store it in her Bank, as only Natures could be stored in it.
Therefore, stringing the two Storage Lanterns to her hips was her only choice. She then calculated and nodded at Brangara, "It's time to leave."
"There's only a year left for the Third Major Disaster to begin."