Inside Ash’s body, the moment that first heartbeat echoed, the entire balance that had been maintaining his existence completely collapsed before reconstructing itself all over again in an even more terrifying form.
Ba-dum!!!!
The motionless Heart that had remained silent until now suddenly released an overwhelming surge of power throughout his entire body, as though an ancient source of energy sleeping for eternity had finally begun awakening from its slumber.
And the instant that happened, everything inside Ash started changing at a frightening speed.
Before this moment, the Crimson Heavenly Lightning had been rampaging wildly throughout his body like an uncontrollable calamity, destroying everything in its path while his regenerative abilities desperately struggled to keep up with the damage fast enough to prevent complete annihilation.
His flesh had been continuously burned apart while his muscles had been torn apart repeatedly for several seconds under the overwhelming destructive power of the Crimson Heavenly Lightning, and every regeneration cycle only caused the destructive energy to ravage his body all over again without pause.
But now...
The moment that heartbeat echoed for the first time, the countless streams of energy flowing throughout his body suddenly began moving in rhythm with that pulse.
Ba-dum!!!!
The Crimson Heavenly Lightning surrounding the Heart trembled violently.
The pressure released from that single heartbeat was absurdly ancient and heavy, enough to make it feel as though the surrounding space itself had momentarily sunk inward under the sheer weight carried by that pulse alone.
At the same time, Ash’s blood circulation slowly started to change its rhythm.
No...
Calling it mere blood circulation would be completely incorrect, because the moment the Heart began beating, the force generated because of the high speed movement of his blood became terrifying beyond imagination.
His blood surged through his body like raging crimson rivers carrying overwhelming vitality and energy powerful enough to instantly tear apart ordinary beings merely from the pressure generated by that circulation alone.
While every heartbeat forcefully pumped immense amounts of Profound energy throughout his body that was now fused with his blood, and that energy was no longer ordinary by any means.
Because deep inside his Heart where there was nothing but an expansive space overflowing with endless void energy, that dormant energy finally started becoming agitated as though it had sensed the awakening of something within Ash himself.
The vast sea of void energy churned violently inside the Heart, and slowly that energy also began fusing together with everything currently happening throughout Ash’s body automatically.
His Heart acted like a terrifying generator that continuously collected everything without discrimination.
His Blood.
The Crimson Heavenly Lightning.
Fragments of Heavenly Will.
His own Willpower.
Even the faint traces of Universal Fortune and Destiny flowing around his existence.
Everything was being dragged toward the Heart before being fused and circulated throughout his body once again in a completely transformed state.
Heavenly Will and traces of Fortune and Destiny that ordinary beings could neither touch, perceive, nor interfere with was now getting mixed directly into Ash’s energy itself, while his Heart acted as the perfect conductor harmonizing all those completely different powers together.
And the result of that circulation appeared almost instantly.
Ash’s adaptation speed skyrocketed to a completely absurd level.
The newly regenerated flesh no longer merely endured the Crimson Heavenly Lightning.
Instead, it had begun evolving through it.
Tiny crimson patterns slowly started appearing deep inside his muscles, bones, nerves, blood vessels, and energy pathways, resembling microscopic veins of lightning spreading throughout his entire body while faint traces of destructive crimson energy continuously flowed through those patterns like living currents.
Those crimson patterns were not merely superficial changes either.
Every single regeneration cycle was now altering the fundamental structure of Ash’s body itself at an absurd speed.
Every strand of flesh reconstructed by [Eternal Rebirth], [Crimson Regeneration], [Blood Heal], and [Titan Physique] would instantly get exposed to the Crimson Heavenly Lightning once again, but instead of collapsing completely like before, the regenerated flesh had already begun adapting faster with every repeated cycle of destruction and rebirth.
The Crimson Heavenly Lightning was no longer rejecting Ash’s body as violently as it did initially.
Instead, tiny portions of that terrifying power had started remaining behind permanently within his body after every destruction and regeneration cycle, gradually becoming one with his flesh, blood, bones, nerves, and even his energy itself.
The process repeated endlessly inside his body.
Destruction.
Regeneration.
Adaptation.
Assimilation.
Synthesis.
Evolution.
The same cycle continued over and over again at terrifying speeds throughout Ash’s body while the destructive Crimson Heavenly Lightning continuously acted as both the source of destruction and the catalyst for his evolution.
And because his Heart had finally begun beating, the balance between destruction and regeneration started shifting rapidly in Ash’s favor.
Every heartbeat strengthened his vitality further while every circulation of blood carried increasingly denser energy throughout his body.
Every heartbeat increased the flow of energy throughout his entire existence while simultaneously accelerating the adaptation process even more.
Even the Crimson Heavenly Lightning itself was gradually becoming calmer within his body.
The power of adaptation originally belonged to the Rune of Harmony, but due to the unimaginable energy now being produced by his Heart, that adaptation had started taking an entirely new form.
It was almost as though the Rune of Harmony had been functioning without proper fuel all this while, barely maintaining its true potential despite its absurd abilities.
But now that Ash’s Heart had finally begun producing a true source of energy capable of supporting it properly, the Rune itself had started revealing its terrifying nature completely.
Even though that fuel was still extremely impure and heavily diluted, not even close to its perfect state, the effects it produced were already monstrous enough to completely overturn the previous balance inside Ash’s body.
And the greatest transformation of all was occurring within his Immortal Seal.
The Heavenly Will and the Will of the Calamity Phoenix that were previously resisting violently had begun changing after the appearance of Ash’s heartbeat.
Earlier, those Wills were trying to erase Ash completely.
Their instincts carried the absolute intent of destruction itself.
The Heavenly Will sought to erase the anomaly standing before it while the Will of the Calamity Phoenix sought to incinerate everything daring to resist Heavenly Punishment.
But now, under the influence of the strange rhythm released from Ash’s Heart, the assimilation process had become far smoother than before.
Because the rhythm produced by Ash’s Heart was affecting not merely matter or energy...
It was affecting existence itself.
Every heartbeat released an invisible rhythm that spread throughout Ash’s entire being, and under that rhythm, even the violent Heavenly Will and the ancient instincts carried by the Calamity Phoenix gradually began synchronizing with Ash instead of resisting endlessly.
And because those Wills were directly connected to the Crimson Heavenly Lightning itself, the assimilation process accelerated rapidly.
The changes occurring within the Lotus Immortal Seal were especially astonishing.
The Lotus Immortal Seal floating within Ash’s consciousness had already undergone massive transformation earlier due to the Golden Heavenly Lightning.
There were already faint golden lightning marks on its surface.
But now, faint crimson lightning patterns had also started appearing across the petals of the Lotus itself, intertwining naturally with the previous golden markings as though both powers had always belonged together from the very beginning.
The crimson markings looked ancient and natural, carrying a strange sense of ancient authority that made the Immortal Seal appear far more profound than before.
Tiny strands of crimson lightning continuously moved across the Lotus petals like living veins while traces of Heavenly Will slowly condensed toward the center of the Immortal Seal itself.
At the same time, faint phantom cries of the Calamity Phoenix occasionally echoed throughout the Soul Space, carrying traces of ancient destruction and Heavenly authority within those cries.
The Will of the Calamity Phoenix was being fused together with Ash’s own Will and Immortal Seal through [Assimilation] and [Synthesis], causing the entire Immortal Seal itself to undergo gradual transformation.
That fusion continuously increased the pressure radiating from the Immortal Seal itself while simultaneously strengthening Ash’s own existence.
At the same time, Ash’s own Will was gradually changing as well.
The process was extremely subtle and almost impossible to notice from the outside, but under the constant refinement caused by Heavenly Will, Crimson Heavenly Lightning, and the Will of the Calamity Phoenix, Ash’s Will itself had already begun gaining faint traces of Ancient Divinity or perhaps something even greater.
Something closer to Universal Will itself.
Ash was slowly becoming an existence that refused to bend completely under the Authority of the Universe while simultaneously forcefully assimilating fragments of the Universe into himself.
And because of that, the aura surrounding Ash’s existence itself slowly started changing.
An invisible sense of ancientness gradually began appearing around him, carrying a pressure that did not belong to ordinary living beings.
It felt as though something that should never have existed within this era had begun taking shape inside Ash’s body.
Meanwhile, the Rivers of Fortune and Destiny surrounding Ash silently churned even more violently than before, although they had already disappeared from everyone’s sight after manifesting for only a brief moment earlier, their influence still continued gathering endlessly around Ash’s existence unseen by all.
Ba-dum!!!!
***