"Why did they abandon me?" Abigail muttered to himself as he descended from the sky, distraught after searching the entire imperial capital and failing to find any trace of his parents.
"They didn't abandon you," came a chilling voice, wrapped in a frosty aura that surrounded Abigail and pulled him out of his grief.
"Who's there?" Abigail's head snapped up as tendrils of black mist rose from the ground, coalescing into the figure of a ghostly being clad in ornate attire. Its skin was a sickly shade of blue-purple.
"A ghost? How dare you show up here? Do you even know what place this is?" Abigail clenched his fists instinctively, but something about the figure felt strangely familiar, holding him back from immediately striking.
"Of course I know. I watched this city rise from nothing with my own eyes," the ghostly figure replied calmly.
"Who are you?" Abigail relaxed his stance slightly but remained on guard. If this ghost could roam freely within the palace, it clearly had some level of significance.
"Heh, you may call me Grandfather," the figure said with a smile, stroking his chin where a beard had long since ceased to grow.
"Grandfather? My grandfather died a long time ago," Abigail replied, his fists tightening again, suspecting the ghost of playing games with him.
"Do I look alive to you?" The ghost—Fernando—countered with a hint of exasperation.
"No, not really," Abigail admitted, studying the ghostly figure's powerful yet lifeless appearance. Then his expression shifted to disbelief. "Are you really my grandfather?"
"Why would I lie? You're the new ruler of the Seraphic Empire now. What purpose would I have in deceiving you?" Fernando replied, his tone amused.
"The new ruler? No, I'm not. My father is the ruler of the Seraphic Empire," Abigail said, shaking his head in denial.
"But he's gone now. What he left behind must be inherited, and you are his only heir," Fernando said, his tone steady as he stared at his grandson.
"Why did he leave? Where did he go?" Abigail's eyes lit up with hope as he remembered the ghost's earlier words. He pressed for answers, believing his grandfather might know more.
"Don't ask. Even if you ask, I don't know," Fernando replied, seeing the distrust in Abigail's eyes and adding, "I truly don't know."
"How could you not know? Aren't you my grandfather?" Abigail asked, skepticism written all over his face.
"Your father's strength is at such a level that if he doesn't want to say, what could I possibly do?" Fernando sighed, giving his grandson a sidelong glance filled with a hint of disdain. "Honestly, I'd rather your father stayed as king. But since he insisted on leaving, you're the only one left to inherit. Prepare to be crowned the ruler of the Seraphic Empire."
"…" Abigail fell silent before speaking slowly, "I don't want to be king."
"Don't be foolish. This isn't about what you want—it's about what you must do. If you refuse, the empire will collapse, and the world will descend into chaos again. Can you bear to see that happen?" Fernando said, his tone sharp and commanding.
"But… I don't think I'm qualified," Abigail admitted hesitantly.
"You're more than qualified. The fact that you're Arnold's only son is qualification enough."
"I just want to find my father and mother," Abigail said, his voice laced with desperation as he lowered his head.
Fernando sighed, rubbing his temples in frustration. As someone who had lived a royal life himself, he struggled to empathize with the emotional attachment his grandson exhibited—after all, in typical royal families, familial bonds were often nonexistent.
"Alright, stop looking so defeated. I told you—they didn't abandon you. Before they left, they left something behind for you," Fernando said, trying to redirect his grandson's focus.
"What did they leave?" Abigail's eyes lit up as he eagerly looked at Fernando.
"A king's token of inheritance, some powerful weapons, and… a set of coordinates," Fernando explained as he conjured various objects from the void, lifting them with ghostly energy for Abigail to see.
"Coordinates?" Abigail quickly honed in on what was different from the other items. His voice carried a sense of urgency as he asked, "Which one?"
"This one," Fernando said, pointing to a golden bracelet that looked as if it were made of amber.
"And where are the coordinates?" Abigail grabbed the bracelet, examining it closely before looking back at Fernando with confusion.
"They're inside. Arnold said that when you shatter the bracelet, the coordinates will be revealed. That moment will signify that you've earned the right to see him again."
Without waiting for another word, Abigail immediately began trying to break the bracelet. However, after countless attempts, he realized that even with all his strength, he couldn't leave so much as a scratch on the seemingly fragile item.
"Stop trying. You're not ready yet. Focus on ruling as king and continue your cultivation," Fernando said, watching his grandson's futile efforts. He sighed inwardly before speaking.
…
In the endless void, two beings stepped out of their mortal shells, stretching their towering, majestic forms.
"Are we really leaving Abigail in that world?" Mikaela asked.
"Leaving him there is the best option for him. Even if we revealed our true identities and brought him back, what then?" Muria said as he observed his reincarnated body, his mind mulling over the situation.
"But if he stays there, he'll be forever barred from reaching epic status. If we bring him back to Erathia, his prospects might not be as luxurious as they are here, but at least he'd have a chance to become an epic," Mikaela argued as she began to draw the source energy from the world, claiming her share of the reward for helping to restore order.
"A chance? You and I both know how slim that chance is. It's practically impossible. Neither the Titans, the Seraphic God Clan, nor the Dragons would accept him. We don't even have the right to teach him our secret methods. Without those, his chances of becoming an epic are nonexistent. He's better off staying where he is," Muria said, watching as Mikaela began her transformation from legendary to epic status. He himself refrained from claiming any source energy, fully aware of the limits of what he could take from this world. The fact that the world hadn't struck him with lightning was already a concession.
"Fine, let's leave it at that for now," Mikaela said with a resigned sigh, letting the matter drop as she immersed herself in her ascension.
While Mikaela focused on her breakthrough, Muria turned his attention to the body he had created to enter the world of the Seven Calamities. The reincarnated body, no longer bound by limitations, constantly shifted forms, brimming with overwhelming power.
The seven distinct forces within it coexisted harmoniously, not only avoiding conflict but actively blending together in an attempt to create a more powerful force.
"At least two full standard units of source energy," Muria remarked, his gaze filled with satisfaction as he watched the reincarnated body instinctively draw closer to him.
The greatest regret of Muria's time in the world of the Seven Calamities was his inability to fully recover the epic power of the fallen Seven Calamities Demon God. Most of that power had been absorbed by the world, transforming into its mountains and rivers—a process that was irreversible, at least for Muria.
Fortunately, the fragmented aspects of the Demon God's power had left behind seeds and inheritances. Muria had acquired these remnants, essentially the contingency plans the Demon God had left behind to facilitate his resurrection.
But those weren't important. What mattered was that Muria could now absorb and integrate another epic being's power. To ensure he didn't lose out, he had leveraged his position and authority to amass an extraordinary amount of resources from the world, using them to bolster the epic power he now wielded.
Muria had consumed so many extraordinary resources that he'd lost count. If he were to release his reincarnated body into a low-level world devoid of supernatural energy, its decomposition alone could trigger a brief era of spiritual awakening.
Such actions were undoubtedly excessive from the world's perspective. By taking these resources with him, Muria had permanently reduced the world's capacity to regenerate extraordinary energy, effectively weakening it.
But Muria didn't care. He hadn't destroyed the world of the Seven Calamities; on the contrary, he had rebuilt its order. Claiming compensation for his efforts was only fair, even if he had taken more than his share.
"I hope you'll make all of this worth it," Muria said as he allowed his epic body to merge with his reincarnated one.
The reincarnated body, which had surpassed the legendary level, moved instinctively. The Demon God's will had long since been erased, leaving the body driven by a primal desire to merge with Muria.
Muria's epic body also felt a faint instinct to devour the reincarnated one, a primal urge he could suppress with a single thought. But he didn't.
This was a carefully orchestrated plan. The reincarnated body, created with source energy as a medium, served as the key to integrating the Demon God's power. Without it, the process couldn't even begin.
Every epic being was unique. Even within the same lineage, the nature of their power diverged entirely upon reaching epic status. Epic power was inherently exclusionary. Without such meticulous preparations, Muria would never have been able to absorb the power of another epic being.
______
(≧◡≦) ♡ Support me and read 20 chapters ahead – patreon.com/INNIT
For every 50 Power Stones, one extra chapter will be released on Saturday.