Black Onyx - Phoenix Resurrection

A sudden surge of energy and Soul power exploded from the distant reaches of the Lower Plane. Countless heads turned, both human and beast, startled and surprised by the sudden outburst.

“Is that what I think it is?” Eden asked.

“If you think it’s a Cultivator advancing, then... yeah.” Calla replied.

They stood in silence for a moment. “It’s not ending.”

Calla bit her lip. “The energy belongs to Spirit Realm. They should be at their weakest now, right? Should we…?”

Eden nodded, the thoughts of easy loot blossoming in his mind. “Let’s go.”

The advancement was slightly more violent than Gerald expected. He was burning through Souls at a rapid pace, with a pillar of excess energy swirling around him. All that Qi, freely flowing in the middle of the Ashen Wastes, instead of being consumed by the world, was firmly anchored inside the influence of his Aura. And it was massive. Like a blazing beacon, it radiated light in the dreary world.

The process was slow. As the Souls decayed, some of the Soul Essence unraveled back into Base Qi and escaped the confines of his Sea of Consciousness. The place was just too stuffed to hold the more spread-out energy inside.

However, as he advanced further and consumed more, space was freed up and he could reabsorb the expelled Qi without much loss. The process was slow and steady. Building a stable Soul was not that easy after all, and with each subsequent Level, the size of it only increased.

He was in the middle of an important step when the first beasts appeared, attracted by the call of Qi. His beacon-like state was felt to the horizon and beyond. They attacked, yet he remained motionless.

Eden and Calla watched from afar as the person they observed blazed like the sun. They cloaked themselves and hid among the ruins of a hill, waiting for… something.

Just like they felt the pulse, so did all manner of beasts and monsters in the area. The two thought they might have found an easy target, but after seeing the horde it attracted, they decided to just watch and see. Even if the creatures attacking weren’t the strongest, they were still wild beasts, with nothing but violence on their minds. Starving as they were, the beacon of energy was a godsend for them, something they would risk their lives to grab hold of.

They couldn’t risk exposing themselves, lest the creatures decide they were worth pursuing. They didn’t need a horde of starving monsters chasing after them.

“Crazy… This is crazy!” Eden hissed. “This guy is insane! Who would Cultivate like this? So wasteful!”

“I think we made a mistake. This guy is not weak.” Calla added quietly.

Eden rapidly turned his head at her. “What are you talking about? Can’t you feel his energy? Sure, there is a lot of it, but it's only Level Three, going towards Four.”

Calla squinted her eyes and stayed silent. The light was blinding so it was difficult to see the person inside the pillar, but she thought the person was familiar anyway.

“Just watch.” She finally said and flattened herself against the floor.

The creatures surrounded the Cultivator without attacking each other and then slowly approached, tightening the circle around him. In the beginning, a mass of writhing flesh, a shapeless creature, their apparent leader, strode forward and then attacked.

Acid dripped from its monstrous maw, producing sizzling sounds as it touched the ground. The Dreadstone ore was dissolved into nothing under its influence, the smoke from it as poisonous and aggressive as it came.

Yet it never stood a chance.

A pulse came from the Cultivator, and the monster was flattened into a pancake, its form utterly compressed under the sheer power of his Qi. In a circle around him, the Dreadstone ore was crushed under the gravity of ten thousand planets, prompting the beasts to pause for a moment.

Eden swallowed slowly and quietly, feeling his mouth suddenly dry up. He had this weird feeling at the back of his head, that he had met the person before. He couldn’t quite remember where though.

“Oh, damn…” Calla whispered, similarly shocked and in awe. As they continued watching, the beasts shook off the fear and suddenly went mad. All at once they jumped, the momentary peace broken by their shrill screams.

With the strongest one leading them gone, they became frenzied, each of them only caring about getting a piece for themselves. Somehow, despite most of them being in the Spirit Realm, the hunger overrode their intelligence and they threw themselves into the meatgrinder.

As soon as they crossed the invisible threshold and stepped close enough to be in range of the gravity well, their bodies were pulled forward and brutally crushed against the rocks. Not all of them died quickly. Some of them had bodies strong enough to resist the crushing force, leaving them stuck, pressed firmly against the bloody remains of those who came before them.

Another wave jumped in, and another pulse of Qi hammered them into the ground. A single twitch of a paw required more energy than they had, and even with the combined might of all their Souls, they just couldn’t resist.

Some utilized pseudo-domains, trying, in vain, to turn the tide to their advantage, but any construct they created was immediately crushed, for they were in the presence of the Almighty. The threads of Divine Soul running through Gerald’s own utterly destroyed any attempt at retaliation, and with streams of wild Qi pouring out of his body, the remaining opposition was cut to pieces and crushed into a bloody paste.

Another pulse came, stronger than before, and an instant later the beacon collapsed, reabsorbed into his body. With the final whisps of excess energy leaving his skin, the change became undeniable. It was the purest form of Spirit Qi, sitting solidly at Level Four.

“He did it…”

Not a moment after Calla said that, Gerald opened his eyes and roared, the excess Qi blasting out of his mouth and swirling like a storm, killing any beast in the vicinity that tried to escape.

The roar shook the ground and his body began to bubble and expand, growing a thousand times in size in mere moments. Fiery wings unfolded across the sky, and long horns grew from his head, with his clawed feet digging into the stone.

“Oh, shit…” Calla gasped.

“It’s him! Fuck!” Eden cursed, standing up. “Of course, it would be him, that’s just our shitty luck! Hadn’t seen another person in months, and the first we stumble upon is this fucking crazy-!”

Calla wrapped her hands around his mouth and pulled him back down. “Are you insane?” She hissed in his ear. “Do you want to be killed too? That guy is clearly not to be messed with, look!”

Eden looked, and what he saw made his stomach churn. The giant, perverted form of a Dragon stood over the pile of corpses, devouring them whole, one by one, bones and all. They could hear the sickening crunching sounds as the creatures as large as a house were swallowed in two or three bites. With the creature eating them the size of a small mountain.

The two held their breath as the rivers of blood draining into the ground were lifted up and gathered into a perfect sphere from which the Dragon drank.

[Ah~! Nectar of the gods. Delicous!] The creature spoke with its deep, loud, gravely voice. [Would you like some?]

Eden and Calla froze as massive eyes stared into them, accompanied by a giant toothy smile full of blood. If they didn’t have nightmares before, after seeing that they would certainly get some.

“Don’t move a muscle.” Eden barely audibly whispered. “It can’t see us.”

They were cloaked by magic items and techniques, on top of being of a Higher Level. Not even the beasts could detect them, much less a human with inferior senses.

Yet the giant creature didn’t seem to care for the natural law and spoke right to them, with just the power of its voice shaking the ground beneath them.

[I see you. Eden and Calla. Long time no see.]

“Ah, shit!”

The two little humans froze on the spot and just stared. I snorted and stretched my claws, removing the fabric that concealed them.

[Hey. I’m talking to you.]

“Ah! He does see us!”

“That’s what he just said, stupid.” Calla barked and stood up, straightening her clothes and patted them to get the dust off. “Ahem! Greetings, Senior Gerald. What can we do for you?”

[Hmm.] I slowly chewed on a particularly hard shell, crunching it between my teeth like a crispy cracker as I watched the pair. It was funny how the above-average humans were no bigger than my finger while I was in my glorious beastly form.

[You guys are strong, right? How about you work for me?] I suggested.

“Work for you? What kind of work?” Cella asked, not immediately dismissing the idea.

I shrugged, not really giving them an answer. [I got things that need to be done. Could use an extra pair of hands. Nothing dangerous, just tedious.]

“Well…” Eden looked at the woman beside him and she nodded. “We can do that. It’s not like there is much to do around these parts anyway. Ah, but we expect to be paid!”

[Of course.] I nodded. [Name your price.]

“Five thousand Stones!” Eden demanded, but when I didn’t react, he added a few words. “Each. And that’s for the first year. If you need us after that, the price is doubled. Yes?” He turned to Calla for confirmation. She nodded.

[Deal.] I grinned and offered them my massive hand.

“What? You are not even going to bargain?” Eden shook it with a laugh.

[Why would I? The deal suits me just fine. Not many would ask for crumbs. ]

“Ah-!” The man was at a loss for words.