Chapter 159: The Constellation of Archives
The question hung in the air, but in truth Calista could not have cared less about what the Dark Elves were truly waiting for.
As mentioned, a full century had passed since the Dark Thorn abandoned their attempts to force the outer barriers and chose to wait.
In that long stretch of enforced stillness, she had done two things without pause: grown stronger and plotted her escape.
However, she wasn’t planning to escape from the secret realm itself, but from the world of Noxara entirely.
"Those stubborn Ancestors..." she muttered quietly, still not understanding why her clan hadn’t left long ago—though deep down, she knew the reason.
They didn’t want to abandon everything they had worked so hard to build, which mattered little to Calista on a personal level.
Because of the circumstances of her birth and her clan’s situation, she had been alone from the very start.
If not for encountering a Star Entity in her early years, she would have been nothing more than a helpless toddler trapped in a secret realm.
She had never even met her parents, leaving her with no real connection to this place or its history.
So, once she had grown strong enough, she had no intention of guarding this knowledge merely out of loyalty to her clan’s ideals—she protected it only because it served her own path to greater power.
---
And the library surrounding her was no ordinary collection of records.
Across generations, the Shade Clan had refined it into a true cultivation haven, and for someone like Calista—whose entire existence seemed shaped to inherit every foundation her clan had ever laid—the place was almost unfairly suited to her path.
The place was shaped by a formation that deepened the connection between a cultivator and their Star, making the path to advancement so effortless it felt as natural as breathing.
Calista, as the Constellation of Archives, found that every fragment of knowledge she absorbed fed her growth directly.
Yet even the most perfect path had limits.
As mentioned before, there was only so much a single method of advancement could offer before the returns began to thin, and Calista had long since reached the point where further gains required more than simple accumulation.
As she gently closed the final tome with a quiet yet resolute thud, the weighty cover came to rest in its rightful place.
Almost instantly, a crisp notification flickered to life across her vision, clear and unobtrusive, like a small signal marking the end of one Chapter and the start of something new.
[You have ranked up. Rank: Star Union Tier 18.]
[+10,000 Divinity]
Calista regarded the message for a moment, then gave a single, quiet nod.
"Finally. Now, I finally have enough Divinity to activate everything." She muttered as she rose from the low seat in one fluid motion.
The floating projection of the waiting Dark Elf army continued to hang above her, ignored.
With a calm breath, she activated an innate power.
[The Archive (Primordial)]
HUMMMMM!!!!!
Behind her, an illusory Archive unfolded like a second sky.
Endless shelves stretched upward and outward, their surfaces inscribed with shifting script that glowed in soft purple.
The moment it appeared, Calista began to walk.
With every step, every fragment of forbidden knowledge she had ever touched poured into the Archive in silent streams of light.
The towering physical shelves of the library around her began to fade, their contents drawn upward and inward until the stone itself grew translucent and then vanished entirely.
Tomes that had survived five eras of occupation dissolved into motes of purple light and settled into their new places within the illusory structure.
By the time she reached the far end of what had once been the central hall, the entire library of the Shade Clan had been emptied and absorbed.
Leaving not a single piece of knowledge behind.
She stopped before a complex formation etched into the floor, a single Divine Stone pulsing at its center with slow, steady light.
Then a small, cold smile touched her lips.
"Now with this... I will be able to leave and give these mongrels a bit of payback." She said as her hand rose toward the formation.
The moment before her fingers completed the activation, movement on the projection above made her pause.
The millions of Dark Elves turned in perfect unison, every face and every weapon shifting as if responding to a single unseen presence.
Calista’s black eyes narrowed slightly as she watched the sudden, coordinated change, the question forming quietly in the still air of the emptied chamber.
"Hmm... what’s going on now?"
-----
"Just a bunch of Star Union Dark Elves, huh?" Akasha muttered.
The three of them stood in the open white-and-gray expanse of the secret realm, having appeared through a clean spatial teleport directly into the heart of the waiting army.
The space itself was featureless and endless—pale gray emptiness stretching in every direction, without sky or ground, only soft, directionless light.
Far off in the distance, the Stronghold of the Shade Clan hung motionless, a looming fortress of shadow and stone suspended in the realm.
Between it and the watchers stretched a sea of Dark Elves, millions strong, their ranks hovering in perfect, disciplined silence, dark silhouettes stark against the pale expanse.
The instant Akasha’s voice cut through the stillness, every head turned.
HUMMMM!!!!!
Their weapons shifted, auras ignited, and countless cold eyes fixed on the radiant figure and the two women at his side.
Yume glanced across the endless sea of hostile faces and gave a small, almost disappointed shake of her head, blue-streaked hair drifting in the still air of the realm.
"It does not look like we will find any particular entertainment this time."
They all understood the reality of the situation.
Akasha never bothered with weaklings when greater schemes were already unfolding.
The slight curve of his smile confirmed their suspicions.
He hadn’t arrived to wrestle with these Elves... No, his purpose was to sweep aside any obstacles and continue pressing forward.
So, in this moment the trio began to walk through the open gray space.
"Identify yourselves!"
"This realm is under the claim of the Dark Thorn—state your purpose or die where you stand!"
The army began to close in, formations shifting with practiced speed as the Star Union auras locked onto the three figures walking calmly through their midst.
However, Akasha ignored all of this.
Before the first true attack could fully form, his Divine Sense expanded in a single, quiet wave that washed across every mind present.
At that moment, he eased his restrictions on one of the more profound traits of his race.
As mentioned before, the Divine Rank of Races and bloodlines granted complete control over their inherent traits.
This particular trait, however, was one he had deliberately kept dormant—because if it were allowed to function passively, the consequences could be nothing short of catastrophic.
[Waking Fear]