Chapter 627: Nascent Spirit
Michael looked at Alaric’s new form and felt the hairs on his arm stand up. The power that he was emanating was incredibly powerful, enough to make him know that this wasn’t just the power that a 9th stage Body Formation Maugnetic could make.
This was beyond that.
Harbinger... What is this?
[Kukuku. It seems like that kid has been hiding his true strength after all. He has already transcended into the next realm.]
Alaric had broken through. And with this next realm, Michael could feel the Aubility Power emanating from him even without looking through his drones. It was so powerful that it was starting to become visible to the naked eye.
He could see why.
His Diva wasn’t merely projected above him. Instead, it was inside him. It had merged with him. That was why his attire was completely different from his normal clothes.
In fact, it wasn’t an attire at all. That was his body. The obsidian-like armor around his body was his own skin!
Alaric’s Black Butterfly Diva had united with his body, allowing him access to the enormous energy of his Diva.
So this is the next realm, Michael thought, his eyes filled with both awe and fear.
Just then, a violet aura emanated from Alaric’s body as he pushed Aerith and Bobby into the ground.
The power was too much for them to bear, causing them to collapse into the ground, writhing in pain.
And using his Drone Vision, Michael was able to see through Alaric’s body and the way that his Aubility Power spread throughout his body.
Unlike normal activation of an Aubility where the AP threads extend outwards into the real world to alter the reality, Alaric used his enormous and blinding Aubility Power to instead empower his new butterfly-human hybrid body.
That looks... familiar, he remarked.
But no matter how much he wanted to find the connection in his memory, he knew that he didn’t have time to contemplate.
With two of his greatest competitors taken out, Alaric set his compound butterfly eyes towards the red platform.
He flapped his black and white butterfly wings, allowing him to float in mid-air and slowly make his way towards the drops of Soo.
Just then, Potbol jumped towards Alaric and faced him with his battle axe.
"So you’ve transcended to the Nascent Spirit realm. How long have you been hiding this power?" Potbol asked.
"I achieved my breakthrough a few days ago," Alaric replied, with his voice sounding echoey and a timbre lower than his usual tone.
Potbol bit his lips, frustrated that he had been misled. He was treating Alaric as his rival, as his equal adversary. But the truth was that he never had a chance. Alaric had transcended into the next realm.
The power difference between the 9th stage of Body Formation and the 1st stage of Nascent Spirit was as high as the earth and the heavens above.
Potbol raised his Battle Axe, swinging it with full force at Alaric, with his Aubility Power running at full force.
But Alaric simply raised his hand, catching the Battle Axe with his bare fingers.
Potbol tried to retrieve his weapon, but it wouldn’t budge.
Just then, Alaric balled up his other fist and pulled back his arm, getting ready to punch him.
The ethereal glow of the Millennium Tree appeared around Potbol’s body, allowing him to have an invincible body.
Alaric’s hands blurred, punching Potbol right in his stomach.
The violet aura around Alaric’s hands clashed against Potbol’s ethereal golden glow, popping it like a balloon.
Potbol felt the power of Alaric’s punch in his gut, sending him flying through the air and towards the outskirts of the Pocket Dimension itself!
Alaric landed back on the ground, ready to obtain his prize.
But just then, another beam of light shone down into the ground, showing that another drop of Soo had been claimed.
Michael claimed his third drop!
While Alaric was dealing with Potbol, he sneakily rushed to get the next vial in line.
I don’t think I can sneak another drop.
Alaric was staring at him, with his big, compound eyes showing no emotion whatsoever. His whole face was indifferent. It was as if he knew that from this point onward, there was nothing that Michael could do to get the other drops.
With all of the 9th stage Maugnetics done and dealt with, it seemed inevitable that Alaric would obtain the rest of the Soo drops in the platform.
I only have one shot. One Quantum Slash left on my battery.
Judging from the speed Alaric had shown, it seemed that even his ’Quantum Step’ wouldn’t be enough to outpace him.
If he wanted a fighting chance, then he needed to go big.
He raised his Unity Saber, gathering all the energy left in his batteries to power his hands.
As the reality warped around his Unity Saber, Alaric floated up and flew towards him at incredibly fast speeds, turning his entire body into a blur.
Michael gripped the switch tight as he unleashed the shredding of the fabric of space in a crescent shape that launched it forward, just as Alaric arrived in front of him.
Alaric was mere inches away from the crescent, with glowing plasma illuminating his face with an orange glow.
But just as it was about to hit him, Alaric raised his hand and grabbed at the crescent with his bare hands.
Alaric’s face changed from indifference into one of mild surprise. He was feeling a slight discomfort from Michael’s attack.
Yet, it was nothing more than a scratch.
Reality tried to rip apart in his hands, but Alaric’s violet aura suppressed the power forcefully, mending it back in place.
Gripping the crescent, Alaric pushed it back towards Michael, letting the ripping reality shred the Unity Saber in his hands.
Michael clutched his weapon tightly, trying to fight against Alaric’s power.
But it was futile. His strength was akin to an ant trying to push a car.
Eventually, he felt the switch in his hands start to tremble intensely before it exploded into pure dust, releasing the Unity beam flying off into the skies.
Just being in close proximity to Alaric’s Aubility Power caused his own Aubility to falter under the pressure.
Gritting his teeth, still indignant, still persistent, Michael opened up the batteries in his chest and tried to absorb the power coming from Alaric’s body.
Within an instant, all seven batteries went from a 0% battery charge and shot up to 100%, and then 1000%.
His batteries glowed red hot and trembled under the power it was trying to contain.
But as Alaric’s body exuded more Aubility Power, his batteries kept on absorbing them, causing the very material in his batteries to disintegrate.
His Aubility couldn’t hold on any longer and exploded outwards, causing Michael to fly backwards into a tree, almost making him go unconscious.
He coughed, with blood coming out of his mouth.
But he didn’t care. He looked up and saw Alaric coming closer to the pillars.
Forcing his body to move, he crawled towards the platform.
Alaric touched a vial, obtaining a drop of Soo.
Walking over to the next one, he obtained another.
And then another.
At this point, it seemed like he would obtain all remaining Soo drops for himself. It looked like the auction would finally be over.