Chapter 308: Imperial Embers Initiation II
A Sun!
A literal, scorching miniature star formed behind Achilles as it hung over him like a constellation!
Information flooded Achilles' mind, carrying on the resonance of lineage as he jumped onto a glorious milestone.
|You have reached Imperial Embers Initiation. The Adrastia Emperor King Lineage recognizes your standing. The Imperial Crown of Adrastia has acknowledged your command. The Imperial Sun of Adrastia burns behind you. New Authority has emerged.|
|The Imperial Sun of Adrastia grants the glory of Living Authority Conduction. This sun is a conscious construct of your bloodline as it generates heat, pressure, gravitation, and light akin to a true stellar body.|
|The temperature surrounding you increases to levels lethal to most beings with purity anf complexity of Bloodline lesser than yours. However, your allies are immune to its effects.|
|The Imperial Sun acts as a conduction node for All Authority. All abilities you cast within its radius are amplified in speed, weight, and scale, as if cast through a constellation leyline.|
|Any Assimilation or skill that is solar, star based, luminous, or starlight-based gains auto-augmented escalation, increasing its tier by one (e.g., Rank VI abilities act as Rank VII when cast through the Sun).|
…!
An overflow of information came for Achilles as the terrifying capabilities of the radiant sun behind him were shown to him!
And terrifying its capabilities were.
But this was only one of the products of achieving Imperial Embers Initiation!
The other…
|The Imperial Crown of Adrastia grants the Adrastia Emperor King access to Monarch's Edict of Dominion- a passive Dominion Authority. This is not a mere aura- it is an absolute edict of existential posture. There is a Passive suppression of all Lineage-based authorities of beings within the same or lower tiers of power below the Adrastia Emperor King. This suppression weakens their innate abilities, regenerations, and conduction of authority by up to 90%.|
|When standing within one of your Domains (e.g., Territorial Domain V), your edict spreads like an infection- degrading enemy morale, causing hallucinations of obedience, and weakening enemy cognition.|
|You may now speak Imperial Decrees Of Adrastia. A spoken command once per battle can entirely stop the flow of authority, delay the activation of any single ability, skill, or technique used by an enemy, locking them in stasis for 3 seconds. For a much more powerful enemy, a second use costs a significant toll on your lifespan unless negated by further bloodline refinement.|
…!
A Sun and a Crown.
Each trying to outdo the other!
Achilles floated, the Imperial Sun of Adrastia now burning with a brilliance that silenced the skies.
Its surface boiled with Living Runescriptures, shifting constellations and ancient edicts.
Every swirl of plasma was composed of Primordial Flame Threads, every coronal arc a sliver of heat.
Around it, golden flares spun in arcs, never ending, warping the temperature and gravitational weight of the space itself.
The Crown of Adrastia, meanwhile, rotated in perfect synchronicity like a gyroscope forged from memory and command. Runes carved into its spinning bands pulsed with declarations of dominion and memory!
Command was not a gift. It was a burden. And the Adrastia Emperor Lineage had chosen to bear it!
And Achilles…his pupils now twin miniature stars themselves, simply smiled at this achievement.
He did not roar. He did not laugh.
He understood.
This was not just power.
This was an unfathomable inheritance and a chance…for him to right many wrongs and the genocide of his whole past generations!
With his lineage burning brightly at this new stage of refinement, Achilles felt terrifying waves of dignity and power surge through every vein. He hovered in the skies like a myth incarnate, his figure backlit by a spinning sun of purple-gold flame, its mass contained yet infinite, radiating a pressure that turned the sky into glass.
He looked toward the trembling figure of Azuryan, one of the exalted leaders of the Nine Supreme Forces.
She, who had once reigned above flames and sky, now stood across from him not as an equal, but a witness to power she had no tools to understand.
His gaze held her.
Dignity and majesty wrapped around his pupils, woven in layered golden script that swirled within his irises.
He was not simply looking at her- he was declaring her worth beneath the light of a star that bowed to no existence save his own right now!
"You…" Azuryan's voice cracked with disbelief.
A visceral horror began to bloom in her chest.
Her breath faltered. Her blood- her ancient, refined Acheron Phoenix bloodline- trembled.
It bowed.
It quivered. It feared the man in front of her!
The flaming crown above Achilles spun once with authority.
"Stay still."
Just two words.
But they echoed like law as they were an Imperial Decree of Adrastia!
Azuryan's limbs locked. Her thoughts scattered. The burning synapses of her Neuronova Stage cultivation ceased to transmit. Energy that once moved faster than thought itself… halted.
She could not break free.
She could not cycle her own power.
She could not even flinch.
Because her bloodline had recognized a higher throne as she was locked in place for 3 seconds!
Achilles appeared before her in a blink.
His figure blurred and reformed, only inches from her immobilized form.
She could feel it now- the heat. Not ordinary heat, but the steady, relentless incineration of a star that hung behind him. The Imperial Sun of Adrastia bore down on her with inevitability.
Her vision blurred.
Her eyes began to liquefy beneath his presence.
Not from fire alone.
But from pressure.
From lineage.
From dominion.
Achilles did not shout. He did not raise his weapon. He simply whispered.
"Assimilate."
BOOM!
The Imperial Sun spun once.
The air folded inwards, light bent, and space screamed.
Azuryan's glorious humanoid form- Celestbones, Verdant Flames, Neuronova neurons…
Crumpled.
Like paper swallowed by fire.
Her celestial brilliance, her power, her legacy…was all compressed into a single radiant orb instantly!
…!
HUUM!
Shock! Horror!
An entire Neuronova Stage Ancient One…compressed into a crimson gold liquid orb!
It hovered between in the air, a molten mass of distilled dominance, then flowed forward like a tide returning to its ocean.
Into Achilles, it sank.
And silence followed.
A stillness so immense it drowned the battlefield.
His allies, high above the Adrastia Continent, stood stunned, their thoughts caught between awe and dread.
The phoenixes that remained…
Froze.
They could not understand what they had seen.
But they felt it.
The sun behind Achilles, no longer merely a symbol, tilted.
Its focus shifted.
Toward them.
The temperature in the skies rose without fire.
And their skin and feathers began to melt!