Chapter 165: Back To The Eastern Continent
"Right... let’s get moving, and with any luck, by the time we return, the world will be completely reshaped," Akasha murmured, his tone low but edged with urgency.
Though he intended to wield the Language of Gods once more, he had no intention of remaining idle—not when other worlds in the Star System were under siege.
On top of that, only eleven years remained until he met with Nara and Amaterasu, and by then, he wanted the Orin Star System’s troubles to be all but resolved.
Or at least, very nearly so.
He exchanged a glance with Luna, then swept his hand through the air.
In that moment, yet another portal shimmered into being, leading directly toward the heights of Dreamer’s Peak.
As the group moved closer to the portal’s edge, Calista hesitated, her footsteps slowing.
The portal’s glow danced across her uncertain features.
She glanced at Akasha, her brow furrowing. "Wait... where exactly are you taking us now?" Her voice, though steady, carried the undercurrent of wary curiosity.
Akasha paused just before the portal, the blue glow tracing the sharp lines of his jaw.
"Oh right... Uhh, we will be heading to the main base of the Pantheon," he replied, his words measured, weighty with meaning.
The words seemed to hang in the air, heavy with promise and uncertainty.
Calista’s brow arched, a flicker of surprise shadowing her expression, but she followed nonetheless, her figure vanishing into the swirling light alongside the others.
The air shifted as they crossed over, the world behind dissolving into silence.
----
With a flicker of light, the group stepped from the portal onto the slopes behind Dreamer’s Peak.
The grass was flattened where Liliana and Amber’s forms had so recently shimmered with power, but now, only silence and the faint trace of lingering divinity remained.
Yume’s lips curled into a knowing smile as she gazed at the empty spot.
"I hope they finish their tasks quickly," she whispered, half to herself, longing brightening her eyes.
"The sooner they finish, the sooner I can ascend again."
Ever since knowing that she had up to nine paths she could add into her star before her next major evolution... she was dying to fill in her gaps.
Hearing Akasha’s low laughter rumble, the sound echoed softly against the mountainside.
"Who’s to say... I want what they have, though?" he muttered honestly, ever since reaching the Cosmic Union Stage.
He hadn’t directly focused on his power, and even though his True Self steadily cleared battlefields, the changes since his star shifted were small.
He knew that wouldn’t be enough to push him forward in strength—at most, it might earn him one or two more major ranks.
What occupied his thoughts more, beyond the safety of the Star System, was the ultimate form Yume would one day take.
He didn’t want to abandon Dreams; in fact, he longed for the Ultimate form of Dreams—whatever that might turn out to be.
So, rather than claiming any Star that belonged to his disciples or those he had aided, he resolved to choose only specific Stars, once he had determined exactly what his own end goal would be.
He shook his head, a hint of amusement playing across his face as he quietly pondered the challenges awaiting the two novices.
"Well, I don’t think adding their stars would hurt the outcome..." Luna mused, recalling their initial stars.
"With Liliana wielding power over scriptures and Amber over hues, I’m pretty sure the Divine Stage of these stars will be even greater."
"Ugh, let’s just wait until they complete their tasks... it’ll make the process much easier," Yume sighed.
With purposeful strides, Akasha began rearranging the formation, while Calista stood transfixed, awe written across her face as the energy of the Divine Domain pressed in—warm, immense, and unyielding.
She opened her mouth to speak, but before a word could escape, Yume gave her a gentle nudge.
"You’ll get used to it," Yume murmured with a mischievous wink.
"Well... if you plan to stay, that is."
The words lingered, both a promise and a challenge, as Calista tried to steady her breath in the presence of such power.
---
While Akasha was busy completing the first link between worlds, back on Noxara, someone was quietly biding their time for his departure.
To be fair, it wasn’t exactly Akasha they were waiting on, but rather the moment when all four life signatures above ground had vanished.
Five years prior, the land had been scarred by a titanic clash—a battle between mighty brothers, its outcome forever altered by the unexpected hand of Jovian.
That day, Krax and his elder brother, Kegras, had torn the land asunder.
By now, Akasha had already set his plan into motion.
The mountains slumped, their jagged peaks softening into rivers that spilled into a vast, ever-rising sea.
Deep within a cavern untouched by sunlight, Krax reclined against the jagged wall—a colossus whose black hair framed a face marked by scars, his crimson eyes burning with stubborn life.
His massive frame was a map of scars, each one a reminder of battles fought and pain endured, the wounds only just beginning to heal after four long years of restless sleep.
Around him, the Titans stood like ancient monuments, motionless yet watchful.
Their towering bodies formed an unbreakable wall at every passage, their loyalty unshaken, their gaze fixed firmly on their injured leader and the world that waited beyond the stone barriers.
And with them here alongside Krax, it was clear he had won against his brother—just barely. In that moment, his system’s voice echoed in his mind.
[Host, now is the time,] it murmured.
[The signatures above have faded; the path is clear. We should return to Kalpa to recover before setting out for other Titans... and preparing for your brother.]
Krax gave a small, deliberate nod before slowly pushing himself up, his movements heavy and deliberate.
Facing the assembled Titans, his voice emerged low and coarse from the weight of long silence.
"I’ve lingered here long enough," he said as he straightened to his full height.
"It’s time we head back to the main stronghold. I’ll need another year—maybe two—before I’m fully restored.
In the meantime, you’ll be assisting my forces back home."
But before retreating, Krax paused.
The memory of that resonant hum—the sound that had rattled the very core of Noxara—lingered in his mind.
He motioned to the Titans to wait, then strode toward the cave mouth, intent on witnessing for himself the cause of the world rumbling.
What waited beyond the stone threshold stole the breath from his lungs.
The land was falling apart, with jagged peaks sagging and softening as though melting under unseen hands.
Entire stretches of cracked red earth dissolved into rising water that spread outward in every direction, swallowing valleys and plains alike.
The transformation was neither violent nor chaotic; it moved with the steady, inevitable patience of something that had already decided the world’s new shape.
Krax stood frozen at the cave mouth, crimson eyes wide.
"...What in the actual hell happened here?"
His system remained silent for a long moment, equally stunned by the scale of the change.
There was no battle, no army, no visible force driving the alteration—only the quiet, relentless rise of an ocean that had not existed hours earlier.
Krax exhaled through his teeth and shook his head.
Whatever force had taken hold of Noxara was already far beyond anything he could hope to challenge in his current condition, and sticking around would accomplish nothing.
He turned back toward the waiting Titans and activated the world portal his system had given years ago.
The gateway tore open with a low, familiar thrum.
Without another word, Krax stepped through, the massive forms of his Titans following one after another into the light that would carry them home to Kalpa.