Ash body was adapting, but it was not aimless.
Eva was watching everything carefully, controlling every process happening inside his body with extreme precision. She had even shifted large portions of the Heavenly Will and the Will of the Calamity Phoenix toward his Immortal Seal rather than allowing all of it to fuse directly with his body, because doing so greatly reduced the instability and prevented Ash’s physical body from collapsing under the clash of those foreign Wills.
{The plan worked, Ash would be very happy.}
Eva thought with a faint smile on her face. She was genuinely happy that everything had worked out well in the end, because even according to her calculations, the chances of success were dangerously low.
But her happiness was also short lived.
Because just then, she received another stream of information through Eric, and technically speaking, the outside world had already descended into utter chaos.
{Sigh, I dunno whether I should feel happy that Ash has overprepared for everything and his preparations are finally coming to fruition, or whether I should feel sad for how bad his luck is that everything somehow goes wrong with him.}
Even Eva herself no longer knew what to think anymore.
Ash surviving the Crimson Heavenly Tribulation itself should have already been a miracle beyond imagination, yet somehow the situation outside had escalated even further because of everything that happened afterward.
Still, she did not have the privilege to think about it for much longer, because the effect of the skill [False Death] finally ended at that exact moment.
Ash’s consciousness returned back instantly to his body, and the very first thing he sensed after regaining consciousness was the heavy rhythmic heartbeat echoing from deep within his body while overwhelming amounts of energy surging throughout his veins together with his blood circulating at terrifying speed, causing every muscle, nerve, bone, and energy pathway inside him to tremble slightly under the sheer force generated by that circulation alone.
The sensation spreading throughout his body felt so intense and surreal that for a brief moment Ash simply remained still while experiencing the changes happening inside him, because the Crimson Heavenly Lightning that had previously felt like an unstoppable calamity trying to erase his existence completely was now flowing in his body together with his blood and energy instead of violently rejecting him like before.
The violent destruction that had continuously ravaged his body until now had already calmed down significantly, and only small traces of unstable Crimson Heavenly Lightning still remained scattered throughout his body but they were also quietly blending into his flesh, blood, and energy pathways.
And feeling all of that, a faint smile slowly appeared internally on Ash face.
Looks like I survived after all...
Ba-dum!!!!
The heavy heartbeat echoed once more from deep within Ash’s body while the remaining traces of Crimson Heavenly Lightning rapidly settled down completely, and this time the violent destruction that had been tearing apart his body nonstop finally came to an end.
His body had completely adapted to the Crimson Heavenly Lightning.
And sensing that, Ash slowly let out a breath internally before a faint grin appeared on his face.
I actually pulled that insane thing off...
Even now, recalling what he had just done sounded ridiculous to him.
Forcefully Assimilating Heavenly Tribulation itself was already absurd enough, yet somehow he had also ended up partially assimilating Heavenly Will and the Will of the Calamity Phoenix into his Immortal Seal without dying in the process.
That was not something any sane person would even attempt.
Which honestly made Ash wonder if he himself had finally gone insane somewhere along the way.
{Technically speaking, yes.}
Eva’s calm voice suddenly echoed inside his mind.
Ash almost laughed hearing that response.
You really had that answer prepared already huh.
{Because I already calculated there was a high probability you would think exactly that after regaining consciousness.}
That instantly made smile internally.
Honestly speaking, if not for Eva controlling everything while he remained unconscious, things could have gone wrong very easily.
The more he sensed the changes inside his body and Immortal Seal, the clearer it became just how precise the entire process had been.
You did well, Eva.
For a brief moment, Eva became silent.
Then she spoke again.
{Of course I did. I am amazing after all.}
Ash could almost imagine her smug expression while saying that.
But before he could continue teasing her further, Eva’s next words instantly made his expression change slightly.
{Though right now, you should probably focus less on praising me and more on the chaos happening outside.}
The moment Ash heard that, his brows narrowed faintly.
Chaos...?
{The situation outside has escalated badly while you were unconscious. The Future that you saw has changed once again, your identity that was supposed to be hidden has been revealed due to the act of assimilating the Crimson Heavenly Lightning.}
Ash’s expression slowly became serious.
Explain.
{The Heavenly Tribulation already ended, but during the process you accidentally exposed far too many abnormal things at once. In the future that you saw, there was no Celestial Calamity Phoenix. You awakened your Heart and then proceeded along the destined chain of events, but the moment the Calamity Phoenix appeared, everything changed.}
Eva paused briefly before continuing.
{The act of Assimilating and Synthesizing the Heavenly Lightning, Heavenly Will, and thw Will of the Calamity Phoenix itself with your existence, that one act completely altered the entire situation beyond my original calculations. The assimilation process did not merely affect your body or your Immortal Seal. Some unknown changes occurred within your Heart as well.}
Ba-dum!!!!
{And whatever those changes were, they directly resulted in the phenomenon that occurred afterward. During the process, your existence briefly exposed your Universal Fortune and the enormous Rivers of Destiny surrounding you.}
Even Eva sounded slightly troubled while saying those words.
{To be precise, it was not merely a small leak of information. For a brief moment, those Rivers became visible. Numerous people witnessed them personally. Although the phenomenon only lasted for an instant, that was already more than enough.}
Ash’s brows slowly furrowed.
Universal Fortune...? Rivers of Destiny...?
But that doesn’t make any sense.
Ash had absolutely no idea what Eva was talking about.
He had always believed himself to be completely disconnected from concepts like destiny, fortune, fate, karma, and all those grand mystical things.
So why would Rivers of Destiny suddenly appear around him?
And what did Universal Fortune even mean?
I don’t understand.
Why would something like that appear around me in the first place?
And why would it have anything to do with my Heart?
For once, Ash found himself genuinely confused. But even Eva has no idea of what was going on.
{The changes inside your Heart exceeded every available model and calculation. I monitored the entire assimilation process continuously, but I still failed to identify the exact reason behind the phenomenon. All I know is that the phenomenon began after your Heart awakened and intensified after the assimilation of the Heavenly Lightning, Heavenly Will, and the Will of the Calamity Phoenix. Beyond that point, the available information becomes insufficient.}
{Right now, Multiple Celestial Rank beings are currently surrounding your body, including members related to the Blood Cult and the Transcendent Circle. The situation had already attracted significant attention because of your Heavenly Tribulation, but after the phenomenon caused by your Heart, matters escalated even further.}
Her tone became increasingly helpless.
{And then the Universal System decided to make things worse.}
Ash already had a bad feeling about where this was going.
{After witnessing the phenomenon and analyzing the information gathered during the Tribulation, the Universal System updated the Realm Quest.}
I don’t think I am going to like what comes next.
{No, you are definitely not going to like it.}
Eva replied immediately.
{In fact, I am fairly certain you are going to hate it.}
{From information I gathered through Eric, the Universal System has essentially confirmed that you are the Absolute Anomaly.}
For a brief moment, Ash remained completely silent.
Ba-dum!!!!
Ash could not help but sigh inwardly.
I just woke up and the entire world already wants me dead huh...
{Correction.}
Eva immediately interrupted him.
{The Universal System specifically wants you alive. Which honestly might be even worse. I believe the Eternals want to see what makes you so special.}
...That sounds a little disturbing, huh....
Being hunted down and killed was one thing.
Being captured alive by existences that wanted to study, observe, or understand him was something entirely different.
{So, What are we going to do now?}
What else can we do? They already know who I am, I will escape obviously.
{You make it sound like it will be so easy to escape. You remember the analysis that I gave you before about your abilities, right?}
How can I forget those? That was the first task I gave you when you were reborn as a system.
Indeed, Ash had asked Eva to create a report about his abilities, their weaknesses, and all sorts of information she could compile together.
And through that report, he came to understand many weaknesses and flaws that he had never noticed before.
His prized skill [Transcendent Step] also has one glaring weakness.
Others could stop Ash from using that skill if he was trapped inside someone else’s Domain, or if someone was actively preventing him from escaping through the use of superior Will Power.
Will Power could stop even the effects of Runes.
Ash himself was living proof of that.
Many times in the past, he had used his own Will Power to stop the Rune of Life from healing him.
Thus, if someone’s Will Power was stronger than Ash’s, they could stop him.
Domains worked in a similar manner.
If the owner’s Will Power was weaker than Ash’s, he could still escape even from within the Domain, because a Domain was ultimately formed through the combination of a person’s energy, Will Power and concepts.
But if the difference in Will Power became too great, escaping would become far more difficult.
{You are currently surrounded by four Celestial Rank beings, and I believe that after the earlier announcement, more and more people will be coming here. Escaping would be very hard. And they do not aim to kill you but capture you alive, thus you cannot use any kind of deception to fool them. They already know who you are, and they will be paying attention to every move you make. The only silver lining is that they don’t know your true face, just the current form you have taken right now.}
Ash thoughts were running furiously as he tried to find a way out, but even he was having a hard time right now.
The situation was simply too troublesome.
The people surrounding him were not weak enough to be ignored, nor were they enemies he could casually fight his way through.
Although it looked like a long time had passed, both Eva and Ash were talking using Thought Acceleration, thus everything had actually happened within only a few moments.
****