"Huff! Puff! Haah...shit! What the fuck is this?" Running through the streets of Narkn, the Capital City of the Varahan Empire was an Empyrean Boar, his expression twisted to the extreme, out of absolute fear.
Once every second, he turned around and stared back in terror, watching a vacant street greet him in response. His eyes trailed into the house to his left, observing through its open window to stare at a family of four that were in a state of deep sleep.
[Sleep Well!]
"Urgh!" His eyes drooped while the adrenaline rush pervading his body began to cool down. His muscles grew lethargic while an urge to curl up on the floor and enter a state of slumber allured him.
Thump!
He used his nails to pierce a hole in his stomach, using the pain to forcefully jolt his senses back to normalcy, using which he could continue running. However, a couple seconds later, a powerful lullaby played around.
[Sleep well, my dear! It's a gentle rain among the waving grassland! On your hand is a cup of tea and under your head is your mother's lap! Close your eyes! Your sleep beckons you!]
The voice was melodious, the tune soft, causing a craving for sleep from the depths of his being, so much so that he wanted to do nothing but lie down and sleep, all while his mother gently patted him on the head, praising his hardwork with pride oozing out of her tone.
A proud mother hoped to see her son rest a little!
"Mother..." The Empyrean Boar muttered as his fleeing speed had subconsciously slowed down. His eyes drooped further, his gaze glazing as he was about to fall asleep. Right at that time, his body jerked, similar to what some people felt while on the verge of falling asleep.
That jolted him awake, alarming him, "Did I fall asleep?"
He blinked in surprise, feeling as if his surroundings were slightly distorted. But once he stretched his hand forward, a thin membrane of water came into contact with his palm. His brain immediately relayed the information that he was touching water, even though his palms didn't go wet.
After all, all he could do was make contact with it and not immerse his hand in it. A mere droplet forming the membrane was so dense that ten of him could join hands but fail to lift it.
Attributed Region!
"No...No! No! No!" The Empyrean Boar hurriedly activated a Silver Grade Nature and bombarded the film of water, despairing once his attacks failed to dent it in the slightest. The film of water was in the shape of a sphere, veiling him.
He spontaneously stared at the ground and punched it, spewing forth dust and debris, intending to drill his way out. However, what he was met with a few seconds later was the
same film of water.
The sphere had completely enclosed him, cutting him off from the outside world. "Help! Help me!"
"Father! Help me!"
"Your Majesty!" The Empyrean Boar roared in fear, "P-Please! Save us! Save me!"
On the streets of Narkn, similar spheres of Attributed Region had appeared, each enclosing a Wean Clansman. However, despite such a scenario playing out in the Capital City, there was no chaos, no shrieks, no screams, nothing.
It was silent, with the sole sounds of protest emanating from the Wean Clansmen.
[Sleep, my child! You've worked hard! Now, it's time to rest! You've earned it!]
Standing on one of the leaves protruding out of the Varahan Palace was Brana, his fists clenched tight, his expression rigid. Prana surged through his being as he glared at the woman who was hovering in the skies of Narkn, her melodious voice reverberating across the city, putting everyone to sleep. "An entity that could fly..."
"How is this possible?" Brana was in a state of disbelief as he watched the woman casually throw spheres of water towards the running Wean Clansmen one after another, capturing them easily. Once encapsulated by the water spheres, despite their best efforts, the Wean Clansmen were unable to break free.
"STOP!" Brana gathered Prana into his throat and snorted to his loudest, intending to use his voice to disrupt the melody that was putting everyone to sleep. A shockwave erupted out of his mouth and travelled at the speed of sound.
However, the shockwave was dampened and fully snuffed out by the time it travelled a couple dozen metres from his location. "W-What was that?"
Brana was unable to understand why his voice was unable to travel far when he was easily capable of it before. It was then, his skin prickled, the sharpest it had ever done in his life. Sweat beaded down his spine as he slowly turned around, noticing that a man had appeared on a nearby leaf at some point in time, standing casually.
Only then did Brana's eyes dart to the side, noticing most of the Boar Kings standing on the leaves of the Varahan Palace, rooted to the spot. They had all come out to take action upon hearing the voice, but now, they were stuck in place.
"It's a good sight, right?" A voice resounded in his near as Brana was stunned, realising that all of a sudden, the man who was supposed to be on a nearby leaf was now standing next to him, arms slumped on his shoulder.
His eyes trembled as they gazed up to stare at the face of a man with wide facial features, touted to be the most dangerous on Sumatra in terms of combat strength, "Y- You're...Resha."
"Obviously I am," Resha muttered as he stood beside Brana, "It has been a while since we last saw each other."
"You've grown a lot since then," Resha smiled a little as he stared at Brana drooling slightly, "Wow, so even his kids think I'm their prey instinctively, huh?"
"Seems someone is of a misconception of who the prey and who the predator is just cause of a single exception." Though he smiled, his eyes revealed otherwise. A controlled rage, like a volcano, absolutely ready to erupt at a moment's notice, but kept seething, churning an ever- growing hatred.
'I...I can't move!' Brana felt dizzy as his body felt heavy, so much so his bones creaked while his muscles protested in strain. His blood wasn't flowing as usual, strangely pulled towards his heart. As for Prana that was usually carried and circulated through the body by blood, not a trace of it remained anymore.
Somehow, a mysterious pull was being emanated by his Spirit Container, preventing Prana from flowing out of it. Moreover, any traces of Prana present in the blood being fed into the heart by the veins were pulled into the Spirit Container too.
Empyrean Boars had a rapid blood flow, just like all Gold Grade Pranic Beasts. So in a matter of seconds, all the Prana circulating his body returned to Brana's Spirit Container, preventing him from using any of his Natures.
No, he activated them, but all that resulted was minor pulses in the Spirit Container. A powerful gravity pull had enveloped the Spirit Container, but its effect wasn't just about preventing Prana from leaving it.
Internally, it was gradually creating a space that prevented Prana from gathering, ensuring there wasn't enough quantity of Prana to activate even an Iron Grade Nature. The gravity within the Spirit Container dispersed Prana as much as possible.
"Just stay like this like an obedient boy." Resha's voice resounded, not just in the ears of Brana, but pretty much every Boar King in the vicinity.
External Inertial Gravity-Prana Submission!
This wasn't an ability Resha could unleash normally in a fight, as it took too long to take
effect and would lose progress with the slightest fluctuation, prompting him to begin the process from the start once again. However, it was a whole other matter when joined with Inala's powers.
While Inala was trying to put everyone to sleep, even though the Boar Kings didn't fall asleep, they had become lethargic, which allowed Resha to first use External Inertial Gravity to turn their bodies heavy, following which he used Prana Submission on their Spirit Containers.
"It's done, Inala." Resha muttered a couple minutes later as he stared at the sky, "I've suppressed every Boar King in Narkn."
"Good, now we wait." Inala nodded from the sky as he observed the Boar Kings before placing them in an Attribute Region sphere each. He used the minimal most amount necessary to keep them imprisoned.
But if they looked like they were about to break out, he could always reinforce the prison with more Attributed Region water.
Inala and Resha had targeted Narkn, for it was where the Varahan Empire's power was concentrated. While the duo worked their abilities, puppets of Virala entered every City in the Varahan Empire in search of any Boar King that they might have missed.
And if they were to encounter any, they would battle and capture the Boar Kings. These Virala puppets were assisted by Blola to ensure things progressed without any major hiccups.
Three whole weeks later, a Parute Tree appeared beside Resha as Blola walked out, nodding
calmly, "It took a lot longer than we expected since we had to capture them without killing them. But it's done,"
"All 84 Boar Kings outside Narkn have been captured."
"84?" Resha closed his eyes and heaved a long, drawn-out sigh, "That's an insane number in
such a short period of time."
"Majority of them were damn weak though." Blola could understand Resha's thoughts, "I've never seen such a subpar usage of Astral Chart before."
"Only these guys can use it closer to what Brangara had displayed," Blola said and pointed at
Brana.
'Everyone was...captured?' Brana muttered in shock as he listened in on their conversation. 'That's impossible! We're Boar Kings! Not your average Pranic Beast! But Clansmen! Even the weakest of us is in the Life Stage!'
"Don't wrack your little head too much. You won't understand what's happening." Inala
approached Brana and placed his palm on the latter's heart, "Let's see how many bodies you
have."
"W-What are you doing?" Brana muttered in fear, feeling a weird sensation as the Royal Zinger's attributed Prana seeped inside his heart, making him nauseous. A couple seconds later, it retracted, allowing him to be relieved for a moment.
Astral Chart-Bone-Melting Artillery!
After being encased in an Attributed Region sphere, Resha's Prana Submission had been
lifted, allowing Brana to use his abilities. So, the moment he was able to react, he retaliated.
However, the spikes that grew out of his hands and shot out lost their momentum after travelling a centimetre from his body.
All the Prana fuelling it had been sucked out, turning them brittle as hundreds of spikes fell
on the floor. Ignoring all that, Inala muttered casually, "You have already reached the 6-Life Stage. Maybe in a year or two, you could reach the 7-Life Stage. Considering how stable your
stack is, you won't face any issues even after reaching the 9-Life Stage. As long as you're careful with your final body, you'll reach the peak in due time."
"That's impressive." Inala muttered as he stared at the figure of Brana that was bereft on
Prana, now an old man that was on the verge of death, "Are you comprehending what I'm saying, or is your focus abysmal due to old age?"
"Well, whatever. It doesn't matter either way." Prana seeped out of his palm and seeped into Brana as his ten Minor Treasures of Royal Stabiliser became active.
Royal Stabiliser-Royal Split!
Since he had multiple Minor Treasures, Inala wanted to harness their power, which was why
he studied some of the Brimgan Empire's secrets. Since he was heavily investing in Boul Brimgan's growth, he had enough reason to ask for some of the latter's secrets.
Every Brimgan Emperor had a special ability that he could unleash through the combination
of their Minor Treasures. Spirit Container Seal was Brandal Brimgan's signature power, one he used to terrorise the Gold Grade Pranic Beasts living near the Brimgan Empire.
The Pranic Beasts serving as containers for the Brimgan Empire's stash of Minor Treasures
had also been subjected to the power of Spirit Container Seal, making the risks of storing a Minor Treasure in a Pranic Beast body nil.
Inala employed the Brimgan Empire's secrets on his Minor Treasures of Royal Stabiliser to
create an ability that he wanted the most at the moment, one that would destabilise the Life Stage stack.
"Eh?" Brana muttered in shock to see one body of his had broken the stack and was now
standing beside his stacked body.
'With every activation of all ten Minor Treasures of Royal Stabiliser, I can remove one target
body from the Life Stage stack.' Inala smiled as he used the ability once again, watching a second body of Brana break out of the stack and appear nearby.
"I'm sorry, Brana." For a moment, his eyes revealed sadness, "You won't be happy with what
I'll be subjecting you to next."
"..." Brana couldn't even muster any words as there were now six of him in the Attributed Region sphere. He stared in a daze as Inala flew around Narkn and did the same for all the Boar
Kings.
"Let's go," He returned and grabbed five of Brana's bodies and left behind one. He left behind
one body each for all the Boar Kings and regular Wean Clansmen.
"N-No, please, don't. I beg you." Colour returned to Brana's face as Lifeforce seeped into
him, turning him young once again. However, without Prana, he couldn't fight, which caused fear in his being as he stared at the short predator that had arrived before him.
"D-Don't kill me, please." Tears streamed out of his eyes and snot leaked out of his nose
while Brana pleaded with all his might, "I beg you to spare me. Allow me to die. But I beg of you, please don't subject me to that, Blola."
"You have a good head about your shoulder. I'll give you that." His expression was stoic as
Blola placed a hand on Brana, "However, this is war. Since your Dad doesn't pull any punches, we're not going to either."
Blola waited for a few minutes, smiling upon seeing Inala return and nod at him.
"No!" Brana shouted as a carnivorous mouth sprouted out of Blola's hand and consumed him.