843 A Tale of 20 Minutes (Part 1)
"Hurry!" Yennda urged as he continued to create more fission beings out of Yahard Tusk's body in an effort to ensure the latter didn't faint from the sheer amount of pain he had been experiencing.
The fission beings that hadn't exploded from pain gathered around him and began to fuse into a singular whole, gradually stabilising into a body that Yennda could use to fight the upcoming battle, since the temporary body given by Blola was just too weak.
He focused on the Mammoth Clansman characteristics of Yahard Tusk and integrated the genetics of a Mystic Empyrean Tentacle into it, creating an entity that could infuse a variety of properties to Spirit Weapons made out of bone.
He focused on that because the entire ivory sand covering the Kalahatra Desert was tusk bone powder. Thereby, he could readily create powerful Spirit Weapons, especially ones with the Centinger's corruption property of Bone-Melting Artillery.
This could be achieved through the Gold Empyrean Tentacle's Nature. However, he couldn't use the Nature, for that would violate Sumatra's rule. Hence, Yennda focused on deriving the power of Bone-Melting Artillery through Thought Condensation.
And he adjusted its corrosiveness to be the most effective against the Celestial Boar's body, which was easy since his form of Tangible Epidemic was built through the genetic material derived from the hands of the Celestial Boar.
Right upon creating the body, Yennda fused with it, quickly adjusting himself to its powers. And then, he urged with greater hurry, "Quick…"
Boom!
Words were stuck in his mouth as he almost fainted from the sheer exertion of presence that boomed out of Brangara. Even Yahard Tusk paused in shock, too stunned to react for a moment. Everyone else was in a similar state.
State of Unity—Unlimited Predator!
The Major Treasure presence booming out of the Celestial Boar condensed into the region 1.8 kilometres around its body. At the same time, the absolute domain overlapped with it as the Celestial Boar grunted.
There was a pause for a moment before the two fused into a singular whole, following which the power of Internal Inertial Gravity spread through it.
Instead of simply using the powers of the absolute domain, Brangara changed it by a little. In the Astral World, the Major Treasure of Subtle Terrain Domination unleashed its pillar of light, which began to subtly strain Astral World.
This pillar would eventually damage Astral World significantly over time. As a result, Astral World had suppressed it from the very beginning. And only now did Brangara realise that he wasn't using his two Major Treasures like Major Treasures.
Even though Astral World felt the strain, Brangara took the risk, for he intended to destroy his enemies with unsurpassable power. The pillar of light unleashed by the Major Treasure of Subtle Terrain Domination was acted upon by the absolute domain, causing it to flicker for a few seconds before the influence of Astral World caused it to bend to the will of the absolute domain.
It coursed through the absolute domain and stabilised it, following which it was integrated into Unlimited Predator. The pillar of light generated by the Major Treasure was the target of the absolute domain, so the result was purely energy-based.
But Brangara wasn't satisfied with this alone. He sought unsurpassable strength. And as a result, the Major Treasure of Internal Inertial Gravity unleashed its beam of light within the Astral World, causing the latter to begin trembling faintly, displaying mild signs of instability.
This beam too was integrated into Unlimited Predator, thanks to which Brangara obtained two peerless capabilities—Mould, Counterbalance.
Mould was basically him being able to freely shape and control Unlimited Predator, derived from the Major Treasure of Subtle Terrain Domination's pillar of light. Counterbalance was about increasing or decreasing the intensity of Unlimited Predator across various spots according to its consumption requirements using the Major Treasure of Internal Inertial Gravity's pillar of light.
Until now, Unlimited Predator was uniformly distributed in terms of potency across Brangara's Spirit Weapon range. But now, as if it was air, he could displace it and accumulate its power to a single spot when necessary. In this case, the remaining space within the Unlimited Predator would be empty, bereft of any effect. All the effect would be concentrated at the point Brangara focused upon.
Thanks to Mould and Counterbalance, Brangara was able to reach a level of control over his State of Unity that no one else could achieve. A Mystic Grade Pranic Beast must be capable of unleashing State of Unity and train for tens of thousands of years to reach such a level.
Basically, it was an impossible feat, since even Mystic Grade Pranic Beasts only had a lifespan of 10,000 years.
The sheer presence generated as a result of this achievement condensed a Celestial Boar aurora atop the Kalahatra Desert, one massive enough that even those situated over five thousand kilometres away from the Kalahatra Desert could still faintly perceive it in the sky.
The aurora caused the bodies of all enemies to freeze up for a moment as their Prana turned sluggish. They would be able to recover from its effects in a second or two, depending on their strength.
However, the Celestial Boar intended to reduce its enemies by at least one using this opportunity, since employing Mould and Counterbalance harmed Astral World.
Gracious Inheritor—Accel Ram x9!
Minor Treasure—Prana Shock x10!
Minor Treasure—Shredded Lunge x8!
Minor Treasure—Drifting Tunnel x1!
A funnel of gravity was created between the Celestial Boar and the target, Virala. Any moment would cause the Celestial Boar to fall towards Virala. And the field of gravity had been cranked to its maximum.
Virala had been targeted first as he seemed to be the most resistant to the Celestial Boar Aurora. So, it was of utmost importance to eradicate him first.
The thought had just appeared in the Celestial Boar's mind when its figure burst from its spot and flickered over a distance of two kilometres in a second, appearing before Virala. Unlimited Predator layered its body like a body suit, brimming with tremendous power.
"Shit!" Virala had just broken free of his stupor when the Celestial Boar loomed before him. Without hesitation, he assumed his strongest state, a fusion between the Empyrean Boar King and the Mystic Ewworm.
The limit of Prana that could course through his body was used to fuel psychokinesis as Virala condensed all his muscular strength to unleash a punch further accelerated by the layer of Tratham Armour that covered his body.
The punch slammed into Unlimited Predator and simply created a ripple. But right as Virala intended to unleash another punch, sensing Boul Brimgan and Resha rush to his rescue, the layer of Unlimited Predator parted to the side, causing Virala's fist to sink inside, following which the Celestial Boar vanished.
"What?" Resha had just begun to accelerate towards Virala when he gasped in shock, 'Did he steal Inala's power somehow?'
'No, that's not it!' Realisation struck a moment late as Resha screamed in fear, "VIRALA!"
It was not a strategy or anything. Their side had been on guard against it from the very beginning. However, with the sheer number of explosive abilities that Brangara had displayed, whether he was sane or not, the list of what they had to guard against simply kept increasing.
That pushed this particular ability towards the bottom section of the list, which Brangara had capitalised upon. At the end of the day, he was a Major Treasure. And at contact, could fuse with a target body.
"Guh…gahh!" Blood rushed into Virala's head as his body thrashed around. Brangara had fused with his stomach and had unleashed Unlimited Predator from there, eating him up from the inside.
Astral World gushed its influence into Virala's body, beginning to construct the Celestial Boar's body, every cell along the way. Suddenly, there were Celestial Boar cells amidst Mystic Human cells of Virala, causing both sides to engage in a war, since Mystic Humans resisted all external influences.
The pain was unbearable as every cell in him was at war with the Celestial Boar cells, all while Astral World was consuming him from within. "I…I'm not dying so easily!"
Virala roared with all his might, converted the entirety of his Prana into psychokinesis and reinforced the muscles layering the stomach. In a matter of seconds, he would be fully consumed inside out. Therefore, he had to do something. He was indignant, vengeful even for falling victim to such a basic scheme.
But a fraction of a second later, watching his body's cells being overwhelmed by the Celestial Boar cells that were being produced endlessly, Virala let out a sigh, 'This is it, then.'
He glanced at the figure of Resha that was close enough now and subtly shook his head, prompting the latter to move away instead. 'I'll leave it to you to avenge Orakha. For now, I'll do everything in my power to damage Astral World.'
As the Celestial Boar's influence, alongside every Major and Minor Treasure's from his Astral World, including Gracious Inheritor invaded his mindspace, intent to destroy his mind to the absolute limit, Virala chose to self-destruct, 'Even if my Mystic Human Stamp revives me, I'll be in the same state of Orakha. I am not even sure how long it'll take to recover, maybe even decades. So, this is it. I'll damage Brangara as much as I can before I'm taken out of the picture!'
The Biome Bomb originally in his stomach had transformed into a Bolt of Transcendence to escape next to his heart the moment Brangara had come in contact with Virala's body. It had those a few response mechanisms ready, to be executed spontaneously, without thought.
This was one of them. And now, it was next to Virala's heart, when it was sucked in by the latter. The Spirit Container and heart of a Mystic Human was one and the same. And within it, there was a small space, similar to a biome, within which was Virala's human form alongside a ginormous block of Tratham.
The space was filled with Prana as the Bolt of Transcendence consumed them and slammed into the Tratham. The Empyrean Boar King's capability to instantly digest his body mass and convert it into Prana came into effect as every available portion of his body was turned into Prana and surged into the heart.
Consuming everything, the Bolt of Transcendence free bigger and bombarded the ginormous slab of Tratham. With the last of his psychokinesis and the Mystic Ewworm's ability to mould its Tool, Virala transformed the slab into a spear that exploded, releasing all the energy from the Bolt of Transcendence as a force.
It became a red laser and slammed into Astral World, actually managing to cause a crack on it.
Ka-Boom!
A massive, red pillar burst out of Virala's spot as his body vanished, vaporised instantly by the destructiveness of his attack. And at the core of the pillar, withstanding majority of its power was the Astral World, sporting over a dozen cracks.