I Can Assimilate Everything

As Achilles floated in the dazzling skies, Ancient Ones scattered below, chased by his Draconic Hybrids- and now, a small Phoenix Legion filled with 100 Dharma Manifestation Phoenixes and a thousand Ethereal Physiology Phoenixes!

The results of his own choices and actions though, rippled outward, spreading far and wide.

Tens of thousands of miles away from their current location, which was ever shifting as the Skyborne Kingdom of Neon continued to drift toward the direction of the Magitech Dynasty...

On the Everburn Aerie Continent.

HUUM!

The massive continent vibrated with a glorious shower of wonder and power, as a wrathful roar of a Phoenix shattered the air.

Wrathful.

A roar steeped in a storm of rage and disbelief.

And in the glowing, infernal depths of this floating continent, surrounded by incandescent flames...

The massive slumbering body of Solmyron the Golden Pyre rose, golden hellfire blooming around him.

"Come to me!"

His booming voice echoed through a portion of the Everburn Aerie Continent- as he was not its sole ruler. But someone under his banner had just perished- and he felt it.

And it wasn't just a death.

It was the collapse of existence.

The Phoenixes of the Acheron Phoenix Assembly were unique.

Even in death, there was always the chance of Nirvanic Resurrection, as the remnants of their existence returned to the continent.

A fragment of who they were would be preserved, offering the hope of rebirth from ashes.

But Solmyron could not sense a single shred of Ayan returning.

Which meant whoever had taken her had defied the very cycle of their lineage.

Even worse, that force now possessed another Millennium Acheron Phoenix, one so powerful that Ayan had sensed it and chased after it.

But this had led to her death.

Even her legion had vanished- like they'd been erased from the Plane entirely.

As Solmyron's voice thundered across the land, the surrounding space trembled. And then, astral brilliance bloomed as a dozen humanoid Phoenixes surrounded him, each cloaked in the light of distant stars.

He looked at the Astral Core Ascension Phoenixes gathered before him and spoke, voice like molten stone.

"Little Ayan... has been killed by an unknown enemy."

…!

"What?!"

"No!"

The other Phoenixes hadn't sensed it. Not like Solmyron, who was bound to her deeper than the rest.

They only felt her absence now- now that he'd said it.

Two of them, humanoid in form, were especially devastated. Their eyes filled with shock, sorrow, and a boiling rage.

Solmyron gave them a moment.

To breathe in that pain.

To let it brand them.

To let it fester.

One of the two finally spoke, her voice cracking under the weight of unshed tears as starlight dripped from her cheeks.

"We were… going to watch the Last Flame together… we were…"

The grief in her voice was a living thing.

And Solmyron fed it more truth.

"Worse yet, the killer is the antithesis of our lineage. Even the ashes of Ayan… did not return. She has no chance of Nirvana."

BOOM!

His words triggered the eruption of green, gold, purple, and crimson flames into the skies.

Phoenix rage became a living storm as the one closest to Ayan stepped forward, eyes brimming.

"Who did this? What did this, O Golden Pyre?"

Solmyron looked into her fire- her fury, and nodded.

That was something he could use.

"I know the region where Ayan was headed. She was chasing a lineage even purer than hers. The only beings capable of such change… are Humans who have stolen out Planar Destiny. They're the most adaptable. Often, our progeny born with enslaved humans were born carrying our lineage."

…!

Humans.

Humans killed Ayan.

Solmyron met the gaze of every Astral Core Ascension Phoenix as they processed this, then continued.

"We will rain down vengeance. But not yet. I'll send a few Dharma Manifestation Phoenixes to scout the region Ayan entered. The rest of you—do not move. If this enemy could kill Ayan, they could kill you. Reclaim your power first. When you're as strong as you were before the Long Slumber… we will burn the one responsible to ash."

…!

A plan was set in flame.

And the Phoenixes nodded as one, rage already driving them forward.

---

Far from the skies where the Everburn Aerie Continent floated.

Near the lands of the Magitech Dynasty.

"I still cannot believe it…"

The figure of the True Magitech Throne whispered the words as she watched her capital city soar through the skies, gliding toward its destined path.

She hovered above it, observing how the purple-gold barrier linked to the scaffolds, locking the citadel's core in place.

One man had made all this possible.

And even now, she couldn't wrap her mind around it.

But before she could marvel longer, a sharp voice crackled in her ear.

[O Throne, the Dynasty Keepers' Seat of Communication has been pulsing for several minutes. Your brother nearly sat on it- only our reminders held him back.]

…!

The Dynasty Keepers' Seat of Communication.

A specialized construct forged from advanced technology and Evolutius Energy. It allowed the rulers of different Dynasties to speak across vast distances—in a shared holographic space.

Starlight shimmered across her form as she descended into her Colony Capital- straight into the massive humanoid skyscraper that served as her Magitech Frame.

A meeting of the Dynasty Keepers? Already?

She wanted to see which ones were the cowards who were already puppets of the Ancient Forces who would dare show their faces- and why this meeting had been called.

Many Magitech Frames bowed as she passed, making way until she reached the heart of her command.

There, her brother paced in front of a chamber she'd barred him from entering ever since discovering what he'd kept hidden.

His face was a storm of anger and fear as he saw her. She could feel his resentment—he wanted to scream, demand his power back. But he wouldn't.

He never had backbone.

And now, as their capital floated through the skies and she did not tell him how such a thing had even been made possible, he had even less of a backbone!

He deflated the moment she arrived, pointing toward the chamber.

"They've probably already started the meeting, Sister…"

…!