9-Life Stage!
Brangara hadn't lost a single life in his fight against Inala. However, all of his Astral Worlds had been damaged to their absolute extreme, covered by cracks, so much so that simply maintaining the stack was hard.
If he were to unleash his State of Unity even once, the strain produced on his Astral World would cause the stack to implode, resulting in his death. Moreover, he had endured hits from Inala's state of Unity innumerable times.
Even though he wouldn't die, thanks to Unlimited Predator's protection, his body, mind, and soul were at their limit. Rest was a necessity, for a long time, before he could even think of making a recovery.
Amidst the gigantic trees rapidly filling up the forest was a hatchling, beginning to grow. It had stopped growing because a heavy entity was on it, stunting its growth. The weight was so much and the presence radiating from it caused the tree to mutate and sprout a ginormous flower-shaped leaf.
It wrapped around the human entity within, growing in size as it absorbed the whiffs of Prana leaking out from the human. Brangara arrived before the leaf and poised himself on its edge, then slumped on the set of vines connected to it.
The position gave him a slight altitude advantage, which made him stare at the figure of Inala, "Thank you, Inala."
"That was the greatest fight of my life."
Within the leaf was Inala, too exhausted to even move. Nerves had protruded across his body, bursting one after another as from its edges, his body began to disintegrate. The destructive properties of the Bolt of Transcendence were erasing his body now, one pushed beyond its limit.
The optic nerves of his eyes had already exploded, turning Inala blind. His Spirit Container began to crumble, stressed to the extreme. Most of his senses had stopped functioning. Only his throat and ears were somewhat functional, since they were the core of the Royal Zinger's build and were its strongest traits.
"Is that you...Brangara?" A wheeze escaped Inala's parted lips as he tilted his head in the direction of the sound, "What's your...current state?"
"9-Life Stage," Brangara said as his eyes drooped, "But I don't have it in me to unleash Unlimited Predator again."
"You're a monster," Inala chuckled weakly, "Even after everything, I still cannot kill you."
"No, you've won." Brangara closed his eyes and sighed, "Irrespective of our emotions, we truly fought with everything. And you've pushed me to the absolute limit. I don't have any more strength to spare."
He said upon noticing a spot on his skin explode, "The Brood Mother will be able to finish me. Without Unlimited Predator, I cannot keep her at bay anymore."
"The victory is yours, Inala," Brangara said as he felt spots on his skin explode one after another, forming a line from his thigh to his head. His Prana detection means sensing the Brood Mother's approach. Once the prickle reached his forehead, it meant the Brood Mother was upon him. "Rest proud."
"You're the existence that truly pushed me to death."
"I see..." Inala muttered, blood trickling down his eyes as his expression was one of relief, "I am glad then. All that...sacrifice meant something."
"One last thing," He muttered as his right hand twitched. Churning all his strength, Inala barely raised his arm and extended it towards Brangara, "You'll be needing this."
"Ugh," Brangara groaned as he sat up on his spot and dragged himself into the leaf, taking a seat beside Inala as he grabbed the latter's arm, exchanging a handshake. Half a motion later, Inala's right arm disintegrated, causing Brangara's eyes to widen in surprise, "Until the end, truly,"
"You are one terrifying individual." In his hand was the palm print of Inala's right hand. There was a reason it remained behind while the rest of his body was disintegrating. As Brangara stared at it, his vision was blinded by the pillar of light that appeared.
Mystic Grade Major Treasure-Palm!
It was the Major Treasure created by the Royal Zinger as a consequence of unleashing the fourth step of its State of Unity-Four Steps To Nullity.
"Four Steps To Nullity, a truly befitting name," Brangara muttered as the pillar of light vanished, for the Major Treasure of Palm fused with his body. The pillar of light didn't even escape out of the forest canopy before it vanished. Otherwise, things beyond Sumatra would have truly taken a turn for the worse.
It was a Mystic Grade Major Treasure, after all, especially one left behind by the Royal Zinger.
The moment it fused with his body, Brangara smiled wryly, 'As expected of the Royal Zinger's Major Treasure.'
Strings of Prana containing the essence of a Bolt of Transcendence sprouted across his body and merged into every fibre of his being, reconstructing his form fundamentally. It was achieving the same effect as Inala's first step from Four Steps To Nullity.
Brangara's nine bodies were being stitched into a single, Transcendent Body. The same was being done to the Astral World too, as strings of Prana invaded Astral World through all the cracks and took root there.
All the cracks were perfect pathways for them to infiltrate, using which they became the gel that meshed together the piece of the Astral World that was about to crumble with the slightest exertion.
And steadily, Astral World was being dissected and restitched into a singular whole, as if Brangara had become a Transcendent. Since the entire body was being turned into a Transcendent, the stomach-Astral World-wasn't an exception either.
The owner of the Major Treasure of Palm ought to be able to assume this state at their sole discretion. However, before Inala's body crumbled, he poured in as much of his remaining Prana into it as possible.
This Prana was the one taking action. Whether or not Brangara was acting or truly chill after everything Inala did mattered naught. This Major Treasure ensured things still proceeded according to Inala's expectations, which was why Brangara claimed Inala to be truly fearsome.
Currently, he didn't have the strength to extract the Major Treasure out of his body, since it had stitched his nine bodies into a singular whole. And then, the strings hardened, constricting his form rigidly, ensuring Brangara couldn't move even if he wished otherwise.
"Was this necessary, Inala?" Brangara stared at the latter, observing that more than half of Inala's body had disintegrated by now. "Didn't I accept my death? Do you truly wish to plunge Sumatra into despair?"
"If you're not killed by me, then it's impossible for anyone else to deal the killing blow." Inala gathered his remaining strength to speak, "You're still able to release your presence. That's enough to thwart every other existence from approaching you. By slowly consuming the trees in our vicinity, and with some sleep, you could easily begin your recovery."
"After all," Though his senses were destroyed, he could still feel it, 'An endless amount of power is still accumulating within him.'
The Living Major Treasure!
That was the Celestial Boar, an existence that didn't conform to the rules of Sumatra. Until the
very end, Brangara had only begun to explore this aspect. The infinite Prana he could generate by building his body and digesting it was one such aspect where he could exceed the rules of
Sumatra.
There were more, many more, which even Inala couldn't determine. "But with all my knowledge and experimentation, I concluded that there might still be ways I'm unaware of that can allow you to recover, even from this situation. You were always capable of that,
Brangara."
"When push comes to shove, you're able to tap into that limitless potential of yours to destroy every plan and scheme I've created." Inala spoke with utter exhaustion, "So, this was my only option, even if the result causes harm to Sumatra."
"I will accept this," Brangara let out a sigh as he eyed Inala, watching the last of the latter disintegrate, "In the end, through your wit, you've surpassed my limitless potential."
"This feat will be remembered and passed on for future generations." He proclaimed and stared at the sky, "And Sumatra is the witness!"
Creak!
Followed by the chirp of an insect, a baby had arrived at the scene, standing ten metres away
from Brangara. The baby was on her two legs, innocent, her eyes simmering with hatred as
they focused on the figure of Brangara.
Intermediate Mystic Grade Pranic Beast-Brood Mother!
With a Prana capacity of 13,080 and a lifespan of 10,000 years, the Brood Mother was truly a
page from the book of horrors.
"Hahaha!" At the sight of the innocent, hate-filled baby, Brangara couldn't help but laugh at
his fate, "I just gave my all to kill the First Calamity. It hadn't even been a few minutes, but the Second Calamity is already here."
"Brat, you think you can kill me?" His body flinched once as suddenly, the baby's skin began
to fall off as it and the flesh underneath was being shredded by Subtle Terrain Domination.
Criek!
The baby assumed her Pranic Beast form and shrieked, spitting out an egg as its body was fully shredded into bits. The egg shattered and revealed a new Brood Mother, one whose body expanded to a size surpassing Brangara's Spirit Weapon range.
It had adapted to his attack by becoming large enough that Subtle Terrain Domination could
not kill it and only destroy a portion of its body. As its body brushed against the ginormous
trees, the latter sprouted a swarm of maggot-like Pranic Beasts that all crawled into the Brood Mother's mouth.
With a crunch, it consumed them all and recovered its Prana which had been spent on creating
this new ability.
[Don't fight it!]
Brangara's eyes fell on the spot where Inala's body used to lie. Now, on the leaf's surface,
there was a sentence that had been carved out. A glance at it and Brangara realised that Inala was telling him about the Brood Mother, 'I don't know what its power is, but it spontaneously reacted to my usage of Subtle Terrain Domination and created a form that ensures its
survival.'
'Will it react to all my attacks one after another and attain forms ensuring its survival until it
cannot be killed by me anymore?' Brangara felt his mind work with a startling level of clarity,
smirking at the cause, 'So, this is how Inala's mind operates. If I could think like this normally, things would have ended on day one.'
His body, mind, and soul were at their limits already. So, it was the Major Treasure of Palm
that was assisting him in using his abilities and to think. Once the Royal Zinger's Prana in it
was fully used up, this would no longer be possible.
"I guess this is the end," Brangara uttered upon seeing the train of thought he was
experiencing, "Unfortunately, you will never mature."
As he uttered, Brangara lost all his senses instantly. The same went true for the Brood Mother
too who remained at the spot like a statue, unable to move as all her senses were no longer working, including the sense of touch.
It was currently experiencing the state of being in suspended animation, like deep sleep while
stranded in the void, unable to do anything for no sensory responses were being transmitted
to its brain anymore.
Minor Treasure-Linked Rupture!
The last Minor Treasure within Astral World vanished as the two combatants in the Kalahatra
Desert lost all their senses simultaneously, forever.