While Kyle and Sebastian were planning their next steps, Emperor Winterfire had to deal with the fallout of the duels.
The Imperial Advisor and the Holy King were dead.
He was the only Transcendent left.
Silvester and his son didn't know yet that Emperor Winterfire was alone, but they would realize soon.
If that happened, Emperor Winterfire would have one more enemy who could kill him.
He had to improve the power of his Empire somehow.
Sadly, there were only two people in the Third Realm who were close to comprehending a Law, and both of them needed a couple more years.
So, there was only one thing Emperor Winterfire could do.
He wanted to finish the Full Law of Fire first by finishing the Fragment of Fire Composition, but there was no more time.
Emperor Winterfire appeared in his castle and contacted his generals.
When the generals heard their orders, they took deep breaths and left.
Within minutes, several big groups of powerful Grand Sorcerers spread across the world.
One of these groups appeared in front of one of the Ether Essences on the central landmass.
Over the next minutes, they cast several powerful Spells, and a force field was created around the Ether Essence.
Moments later, the Ether Essence shook and was torn out of the ground.
The Ether Essence had lost its connection to its surroundings.
This meant that it could no longer absorb the Ether in the surroundings as well.
Over time, the Ether Essence would use more Ether than it recovered, and eventually, vanish.
The group of Grand Sorcerers levitated the Ether Essence above them and made their way back to the imperial castle.
Transporting the Ether Essence was a delicate process, which took several hours, but eventually, they reached the castle.
The group put the first Ether Essence on a circle inside a huge diagram and looked to the side.
Several other groups of Grand Sorcerers placed their own Ether Essences on different parts of the diagram.
Two hours later, eight Ether Essences had been put into the diagram.
Those were almost all the Ether Essences the Winterfire Empire could access.
When the Skysand Kingdom had still been around, there had been ten Ether Essences spread between them.
Two of them had been used up to allow Silvester's son and the Imperial Advisor to advance.
Over the years, the Winterfire Kingdom had found one more Ether Essence.
When Ether Essences were used, new Ether Essences appeared somewhere in the world. They had lost access to the Ether Essence on the World Peak, but they had gained a newly grown one and the Ether Essence of the Holy Duchy.
This meant they had nine in total, and Emperor Winterfire had gathered eight of those.
When the Ether Essences had been placed into the diagram, Emperor Winterfire sat down in the middle of the diagram and closed his eyes.
The next moment, he pulled in all the Ether of the Ether Essences.
Today, he would reach the legendary Fifth Realm.
According to theory, one needed eight Ether Essences to generate enough Ether to push into the next Realm.
That was the reason why the two Kingdoms had been at war.
After all, they needed to destroy the other Kingdom to get enough Ether Essences to advance.
This was also the reason why the Duchess of Twilight was so powerful.
She must have been an ancient Empress who managed to gather eight Ether Essences and advance.
How else could she be so powerful? She couldn't possibly be in the Fourth Realm! The difference in power between her and Emperor Winterfire was so great that she couldn't possibly be in the same Realm as him!
Sadly, Emperor Winterfire's relationship with the Duchess of Twilight was distant, at best.
He only talked to her about once every century or two, and only when the war was undergoing an especially intense period.
He didn't know about True Transcendents.
He didn't know about Complex Laws.
He didn't know about the levels of Transcendents.
All the Ether Essences started to hover, and streams of violet Ether came out of them.
The streams all moved towards Emperor Winterfire until they created a whirling mass of Ether around him.
The elite of the Winterfire Empire watched in shock and excitement.
Their Emperor would become a God!
Emperor Winterfire felt the Ether entering his body.
His mind grew sharp, and he could feel how new paths opened up before him.
The Ether primarily focused on his body.
His pathways were expanding, and he could feel how his Ether started to pour into ten precise points in his body.
The Ether focused on six points in his left arm, right arm, left leg, right leg, abdomen, and chest.
However, this only represented 20% of the Ether he was absorbing.
The other 80% focused on the four remaining spots.
His heart, his Center, his Soul, and his mind.
Emperor Winterfire grew excited.
The Fifth Realm!
The legendary Fifth Realm!
So, that was what it was!
His pathways and blood vessels started to change their shape and created knots around the first six spots.
They shone, and the Ether inside Emperor Winterfire became unfathomably dense.
Some seconds later, the spots released one last burst of light before they darkened and solidified.
Emperor Winterfire could feel his physical power increase at enormous rates!
He felt like he could take the Colossus and throw it against the World Ceiling!
And it wasn't even over yet!
More Ether focused on the remaining four spots.
The first spot that shone was the one in Emperor Winterfire's heart.
It became brighter and brighter, and as it gained more power, Emperor Winterfire's heart began to shake and become bigger.
The shaking intensified, and Emperor Winterfire felt like he was on the cusp of advancement.
He just needed one last push.
That was when his Core Spark started to shine.
His Core Spark traveled through his body and reached his heart.
Emperor Winterfire felt how his Core Spark supported the advancement.
His heart was starting to pump blood through his body with unprecedented intensity.
He was advancing!
Moments later, his heart shook more, and his Core Spark also started to shake.
Emperor Winterfire didn't know why, but for some reason…
He felt nervous.
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