The Path of Ascension

Bob was tired. At Tier 41, he didn’t need sleep. He just wanted it. The children of the various clutches were out of the cute child phase, and in the pestering teenager phase. It was the perfect time for a nap.

With a wiggle of his tail, he sunk deeper into his magma flow, and pushed his spiritual sense to find his wife. After a moment, he found her on the other side of the planet, wrapped up in a fluffy white cloud.

His wife, Safrar, noticed his presence and said, “See you in a decade. Don’t let the magma lizards bite, Baroub.”

Bob didn’t flinch at the use of his full name, but his spirit still sunk into the ring around his third claw. The ever-repeating image of a young human, waving and smiling while sitting in his human form’s lap, kept flashing through his mind.

Raster hadn’t deserved to be murdered by his older brother. Not over being a perceived threat to his brother’s rise to the vassal kingdom’s throne.

When Baroub had been introduced to him, young Raster had been unable to pronounce his name, and just cut it down to ‘Bob.’ At the time, he had hated it. But the name, and the child, had grown on him.

It was a reminder of the cost of arrogance.

That’s what made the assassination even more galling. The older brother had been Tier 15 when the deed was done. Bob’s chosen punishment for the disgraced prince entailed reducing big asteroids into little asteroids, then reversing the process. The task would be doable, if not somewhat arduous for a Tier 15, and he would be doomed to waste away as an aimless laborer. He was still caught in the endless loop, two thousand years later.

There wasn’t usually any leniency for the crime of killing a child, but Bob had petitioned that death was an easy way out for the wretch. It had taken a lot of favors called in, and even more favors given, but he had gotten his wish. Now the one time prince didn’t even have a name.

He had taken Raster’s future, so Bob took his in retribution.

The misguided fool didn’t even think that Bob would investigate Raster not returning from a rift. It was a level of arrogance he still hadn’t come across since. Bob wasn’t the ambassador for the vassal kingdom at the time, but when the news reached him…

He shook himself out of his contemplation of the past. The magma was evaporating where it was touching his scales. With a flap of his wings, he churned the liquid rock, as the core of the planet responded to his will and power.

Closing his eyes, he checked his wife’s projected path.

Ahhh.

Safrar would bring her storm cloud right over his exposed volcano in seven years, just when he would be getting the best sleep. With a flex of his will, he started the process that would belch a plume of smoke and soot out from the volcano, just as she passed over.

Let’s see her face when she wakes up ashen and gray.

Bob’s rumbling chuckle resonated with the magma near him. It bubbled and popped in glee.

Wiggling, he found a comfortable spot, and let his satisfaction with the upcoming prank lead him into a nice, decade-long nap.

Just as the first dream was nibbling at his tail, he was ripped out of his sleep when she came.

Bob’s first instinct was to flee, and he tried to rip into chaotic space and escape, but the entire planet was locked down. Knowing it was useless, Bob threw his will against the fabric of reality, but a greater power held dominion.

Then, she was upon him.

The feathered menace landed on his horn, and started jerking his head around.

“Look at your messages.”

“Look.”

“Look.”

“Look.”

“Look.”

“Look.”

“Stop!” Bob managed to get a word out, thanks to the stirring of the volcano their antics had caused. The roiling magma had diverted the vile creature’s attention, for a brief moment.

The shaking stopped. He took a moment to look at his AI, and check his messages.

There was nothing new.

“You stupid...” His head was slammed into the wall. “Bird brain! I don’t have any messages!.”

The fire above him dulled, before flaring hot enough to singe his scales.

Then he got it.

The message from Mara was a forward from some Tier 4, and Bob almost refused to open the message out of principle. In the end, he knew that if The queen of monsters wanted him to view a message, there was little he could do but acquiesce.

Glancing at the package of information, he froze. The information was from merely a Tier 4, so the AI was rudimentary at best. But his AI confirmed the information through the data provided.

There was a rift with a dragon big enough to swallow solar systems as a snack. Even if the child who found it had been shrunk, the size was based on the stars surrounding the beast he had been on.

As he saw the heart from the rift boss, Bob shivered from nose to tail.

Dragon Essence.

Essence of a beast that strong was a prize he could not let slip into the republic’s hands. Even with the drawbacks of recreating the rift, they could still form a rudimentary copy of it. Once it was moved to the monster kingdom capital, they could slowly grow it.

Still the heart’s blood they pulled out of the beast would be thin, but that was only a question of quantity. But an ocean of blood condensed down would return it to its original quality.

Bob finished his perusal of the information packet, and wanted to cry at the last bit of data he had read. The arctic fox had eaten half of that parasitic heart containing the precious material. It was such a waste. The little fox would have no inkling whatsoever of how to properly use the power that the heart contained.

Then, he watched as little BethBeth ate the remaining half.

He wanted to scream at the act of betrayal. He was at least her third favorite uncle. Without a doubt, her favorite dragon uncle. How could she not give it to him?

Any of the high Tier dragons would empty their hordes for such a prize. Well, at least with BethBeth getting it, he was assured that she wouldn’t waste the precious material.

Quickly, he did some calculations. At Tier 15, the little chick would get her powers of regeneration, and she could create more of the dragon essence. It would just be slow, and the stupid bird still shaking him would get first dibs.

He needed that rift copied and moved immediately.

Roaring, he tried to remove the bird on his head.

“Ok! I get it. Let’s go. There is no time to waste.”

Mara screeched out, “Well, what are you waiting for? Where is Samuel?”

Bob checked his AI. “He’s on the way.”

With a quick scan, he found his wife getting chased this way by Leon. The man was stealing all of his wife’s obscuring mist, and making obscene shapes out of it.

Safrar hated when the stronger storm mage did that. And if she didn’t have the same gleam in her eyes, Bob knew that she would be fighting back harder. She wouldn’t win, but she wouldn’t be flying in a cloud shaped like a pair of mating ostriches.

Bob was honestly impressed that Leon was able to make their movements look so realistic while keeping up with his wife.

He had his AI take a recording. He would be saving this moment for the next time she tried to bring up one of his more embarrassing moments.

With an effort of will, Bob escaped to the chaotic space around the planet. A moment later, his wife and the two Tier 48s appeared next to him.

His world was like a firefly in the swirling area between universes. The power of his Tier 41 cultivation smoothed out the fluctuating energies around him, but the two royals turned the surroundings to a calm summer day in comparison.

It was humiliating to be scooped up and carried off, as if their power was that of a hatchling learning to fly. But if he and his wife had to fly on their own, it would increase the length of the journey dozens of times over.

Quickly, they left the ‘lanes’ of essence that the teleporters used to let the weaker cultivators travel in between the worlds with essence, and flew directly through chaotic space.

Bob used the travel time to find out what he could of the Tier 4 messenger. The one who found the dragon rift was from a new planet that he had never heard of, but that wasn’t unusual. Bob was old, after all. What surprised him was the Emperor’s seal on the boy’s information. His details were wrapped up tight, like a new years’ present.

Bob used his Duke status to try and get in, but was directed to his Monarch to get access. With a thought, he asked Mara, and she gave it to him.

Now he could see, and he also saw why Mara and Leon could give access to the profile. BethBeth had formed a party with the boy, and that gave them certain rights to his information. He was getting the royal treatment on information blackouts.

The only things still locked was everything about the boy’s Talents. Usually the rating and an associated score was visible, but not now. They were hidden behind the Emperor’s own seal, and Bob knew that could mean only one thing.

The boy had value to the Tier 50.

Ignoring what he couldn’t see, Bob read the boy’s history. A mismanaged planet, subsequently being flagged with a detrimental Talent, consequently getting flagged by the planetary AI, and a chosen pair sent to evaluate him.

The pair’s identity was locked by the Emperor’s seal as well. Bob had hoped to get to their profiles, and see what they had to say about the boy. They would be Tier 15s, and able to feel the boy’s spirit. They could have at least guessed at what his Talents would be.

With that line of research cut off, he found the rest of Matt’s history. The rest of the story was mundane enough.

The four of them only stopped long enough to grab Samuel, a Tier 37 dire wolf that specialized in spatial magic. He was their ticket to recreating the destroyed rift and moving it to the beast kingdom’s capital.

Though, as Bob thought it over, he pondered if the Emperor might want it on The Empire’s capital instead. This would be a strategic asset, after all. It was just that the capital was carefully curated at max rift capacity already, an extra rift might stress the mana ecosystem.

They reached the training world, and the first thing Bob did was dive into the core of the planet. He started to heat the core and take control of it. The planet was old and cooling, but with an effort of mana and his Intent, its core spun to life.

His Concept was powered by his will, and took over once he had gathered enough magma mana to reignite the core of the planet. Then, it forced reality to conform, and Bob managed a working and functional core. One that owed him its life.

The planet responded to his will and Concept by drawing out half of his will reserves, and maintaining a small draw that he could sustain for a few decades.

This is why I loathe terraforming. Too much effort.

Samuel sat in front of the rift location and spoke out. “This won’t take long. A year at most. Though I’ll need help if you want it faster.”

Leon responded, “A year is fast enough.”

With that, he and Safrar rose up and created a veil of water vapor, and cemented themselves into the area, creating defenses. Mara just flew circles around the rift area.

Bob hardened the ground around the area and prevented anyone from sneaking up on Samuel. They had made enough noise in a chaotic space that someone was sure to come and check on what they were doing. That was on Mara and Leon, though. They were strong enough that no one would be able to force them out, unless the President of the Republic came personally.

They couldn’t be that unlucky, could they?

***

It took six months for the first person to come and investigate. Bob was pretty sure that it was the leader of the faction that shared the training world.

Using a training world to keep the borders from being directly in contact had its advantages, but Bob cursed whoever thought up the practice. It had really screwed them over this time. The man broke the bubble of real space, and had initially fled before the hole was sealed with Mara and Leon’s power.

Two Tier 48’s and two Tier 41’s should be enough of a deterrent, but Bob felt a sinking feeling in his tail that said it wouldn’t be the end of this.

Four months later, he was proven right when reality shivered.

***

Emmanuel felt the disturbance of a Tier 50 entering his domain, and started running. Mara and Leon had briefed him about their excursion. The two of them had been eating dinner with him and his wife, after all.

With an effort of will, he used his only Tier 50 Talent, and his eyes glowed gold.

His father’s Talent was the only Tier 50 he had. It was noncombat, which limited his power against the other Tier 50’s. His versatility allowed him to hold his own, even win given enough time. He was just unable to crush them in a head-on fight, at least fast enough to stop them from running. An annoying predicament.

He pulled back a layer of reality with his golden eyes, and checked the threads of probability where they met threads of the past. The future was fluid and ever-changing, but the past was done and fair. Easier to see.

The damn Republican President Dicomaty happened to be passing by, and his scouts had seen the group of five enter the Dual Stars training world.

Chaotic space tore around him as Emmanuel’s Tier 50 power was barely contained by his Aspect. If his power slipped even for a moment, he would ascend to the higher realms automatically. That same power let him move faster than anyone else could. In just moments, he was outside of the Tier 5 planet.

With the other Tier 50 already on the world, it was dangerously stressed, but Emmanuel gripped it with his power and stabilized the world. Once he was on the world, he stood perfectly still. Any disturbances with two Tier 50s would tear holes in real space, and allow the chaotic space to enter.

That would destroy this world permanently. It was also the reason why the rules of war stipulated that cultivators past Tier 36 could no longer fight. At that Tier, they could tear holes in reality, given enough time.

It wasn’t a matter of combat power, but one of cultivation base.

Dicomaty spoke out as he felt Emmanuel enter the world. “I don’t like that two of your royals came into shared space...”

Emmanuel cut the man off. He would rant for hours if given a chance. He was hoping that he would ascend sooner, rather than later. Just not having to listen to the man talk anymore would be enough of a prize. Dicomaty was due to ascend soon, as he was a part of Emmanuel’s father’s generation of rulers, if not a young one. Now, he was the old man of the Tier 50’s.

“You know Mara. She’s extravagant. Her daughter met a friend, and she wants to take a copy of the rift.”

Emmanuel felt no shame in thrusting this onto Mara’s shoulders. The woman was a pain in his ass, and did only what she wanted. Leon was hardly any better. The duo were well known in the strongest circles of power for a reason.

Dicomaty nodded at that. “Whatever. You need to replace the planet, though. I’m not doing it.”

As he turned he murmured, "Stupid bird and destroying the planets."

He wasn't wrong either Mara had done stunts like this before and she never left the planet intact. That was why it was such a good cover story.

With that, the man flexed his power and scooped up the city that the republicans had built. He let a fraction of his power slip, and the world trembled for a moment. Only Emmanuel’s power kept the world from tearing itself apart.

With that, the Republican Tier 50 was gone.

If they had fought, Emmanuel was fairly confident that he could win. He had three builds in reserve, dedicated to countering the Tier 50. But in the end, he would just ascend, and strike out with one final blow before he went. It would contain world-shattering power, and it was the final trump card that all Tier 50’s had.

With a flick of his father’s Tier 50 Talent, he found that the man was unlikely to try anything. Using it on people over Tier 30 gave hazy results at best, but it was enough to assure him that their little project was safe, for now. Dicomaty just seemed to be chalking this up to Mara and Leon being Mara and Leon.

“How long til you’re done, Sammie?”

Samuel’s ears twitched, hard. Emmanuel had to suppress a smile. He just liked to poke at people.

“Another two days.”

Emmanuel nodded. He could wait around that long.

He floated over to Mara and Leon. The couple got close, and he sealed off the area around them.

“Alright, go through the past. Hurry! I want to see my new son-in-law in action.”

Emmanuel just rolled his eyes. “They aren’t married yet. They aren’t even dating.”

Leon answered for his wife. “Liz has my intuition. Maybe we’ll get grandkids with these two.”

The two of them clasped hands and started bouncing in the air.

This is why I cloak them. I can’t be seen with these idiots.

While his friends plotted their youngest’s marriage prospects, Emmanuel used his Tier 50 Talent to project the past, and showed them the images they couldn’t see from the satellites.

“Go slower. At least a thousandth real speed.”

Emmanuel sped the projection to ten times real speed. “Slow it down on your AIs later. I have shit to do.”

That got eye rolls, but he ignored them.

Emmanuel was impressed as he watched the trio fight the pyramid rift’s super-powered boss. They fought well together. They would go far. Further than any since...

Pulling a piece of gum out of his storage ring, he said, “You know, I never really expected them to meet up.”

He genuinely hadn’t. His AI had registered Matt’s Talent as being fixed, but when Emmanuel had gone and copied it, he was mildly disappointed. That is, until his AI calculated just how absurd the boy’s mana would get.

He was already planning to build around the unique talent set. The problem was, it took two slots, so it would be a long time before it was truly useful. Still, the boy’s Talent was enough for him to send word that he wanted Matt to go to the training world. Emmanuel hadn’t expected his youngest niece to meet him, let alone team up with Matt.

As he watched the three of them kill the bandits in the rift, he decided that they truly did make for a good team.

Emmanuel used his time powers to check on the trio, and found the bandits’ hidden stash under a false wall. He pulled it to himself, but had it snatched by Leon. They could all see inside. Leon listed, “Two growth items. They are gonna be so mad they didn’t find this.”

“You can’t give this to them until they fall off.”

Emmanuel didn’t get any further before he was waved off. It made him laugh that the Dual Stars thought they could hide this many growth items from him. So many seemed to forget that he had also been a part of a guild at one time, and that they had done all of these tricks before.

They just went too far this time to be allowed to skate by. The Empire needed its taxes, after all. And Tier 5 and under rifts were where growth items had the best chance of appearing.

Using his AI, he made notes of all the ‘hidden’ rifts, and sent it to the investigators Leon had directed at the guild.

With that taken care of, he went back to watching Liz, Matt, and Aster. Leon and Mara oohed and ahhed at the right times. They really did love their children.

Liz was the youngest, and they worried for her. She was also the only one who fled to The Path to escape the couple’s shadow. Emmanuel felt for his niece. He had done the same thing after all.

Truth be told, Emmanuel cared for the young lady as well. It was why the girl had a Tier 35 protector following her from chaotic space at all times. He’d interfere and have her pulled from The Path before he let her die.

BethBeth had to be alive to be angry at him.

They reached the end of their time on the training world, and Emmanuel decided to let the projection run. They had little else to do while they waited for the rift to be copied.

With his powers fully active, he flexed the projection, and they watched as the three of them met Aunt Helen, and were given rewards.

Emmanuel glared at the two of them. “Those rewards are pushing the boundaries of what’s acceptable while on The Path.”

Leon looked up and whistled. Mara did the same but looked down.

Emmanuel let it drop. No one in The Empire would look into it too deeply, as Aunt Helen was the one who gave the reward out.

The woman was older than The Empire’s unification by millions of years, and had met most of the powerhouses when they were young and weak. There wasn’t a single Tier 40 that hadn’t spent time at her table while under Tier 15. If the woman wasn’t so benevolent, she would have been killed by the dynasty before his grandmother took over.

Aunt Helen had a nose for sniffing out young talents, and took great pride in giving them what they needed, when they needed it. Whether that was an item or just a shoulder to cry on, she had done it all.

Anyone who attacked her, always met a brutal end. The last guild who tried to extort the woman had lasted two hours before their leadership was completely exterminated.

His grandmother attributed her crusade to reform the Empire to a more meritocratic system to the first meeting she had with the Phoenix. Even he had been found at Tier 7, and invited to her personal room to be fed a meal. Not as the son of the current Emperor, but simply as a young man trying to find his way on The Path.

Even Leon and Mara had been scouted by the woman. She was never wrong about those she interacted with. The intelligence branch wanted to watch the woman, but he refused to betray her trust. Aunt Helen consistently showed nothing but benevolence to The Empire, and he wouldn’t allow her privacy to be invaded.

It was a shame that she was so stubborn about her Intent. Her iron will was the only thing that kept her going when her Concept was shattered. The death of her only child and subsequent suicide from her husband turned her entire existence on its head. It was that same iron will that kept her from restarting, and she chose to rebuild her Concept, one fragment at a time.

It was an unwritten rule that anyone planning to ascend told her, so she could use the power to speed up her progress. The few that didn’t were made examples of. The Empire officially honored their wills, but the other high Tier individuals of The Empire heavily discriminated against those they chose to help in their wills.

A warning to those that remained. It had only happened twice in the last three generations of rulers. Emmanuel didn’t expect a third time.

That brought his attention back to Matt. The boy needed to Tier up, and the faster, the better. That Tier 3 Talent of his would be useful on its own once he passed Emmanuel’s current mana pool. But more importantly, he could recharge rifts.

At Tier 30, it took a month for the rifts to recharge and maintain cohesion on just the ambient mana. If they were delved faster, they would fall apart. Matt would soon be able to do so much to reduce that time-frame, as long as he was within 5 Tiers of the rifts Tier.

It would be insane. Emmanuel imagined the possibilities of full Tier 47 rifts. The rewards would be staggering. The higher Tier rifts were never left to sit long enough to recharge to maximum rewards, as it was far too wasteful.

But with Matt...

With Matt charging rifts, Emmanuel would be able to delve the Tier 47 rifts much faster. Currently, one-third of all the rewards he pulled out of the rifts were put aside. They were meant to feed the rifts when his thirty thousand-year rule neared its end. They needed at least that many resources to get a single cultivator to Tier 50 with just a Tier 47 rift.

But with Matt...

The Emperor even hoped that with the two of them, they might be able to increase the Tier of the Capital to 48. That would be a coup of the highest order.

With Tier 48 rifts, they would be able to make even stronger cultivators. If that happened, they would be the only power with a Tier 48 rift. It would probably lead to war, but that was inevitable.

The changes his grandmother had made to The Empire had taken them from sixth place amongst the Great Powers, to second place. It had taken slightly less than two thirty thousand year cycles of rulership. That was where another third of his delving rewards went.

Emmanuel himself almost exclusively funded all of the social services that The Empire provided. In the last sixty thousand years, The Empire had nearly doubled in size, not including the vassal kingdoms. With that territory and population boom, they were producing stronger people at a faster rate than the other powers.

Now, they were left scrambling to try and recreate The Empire's success.

The other powers had taken note when Duke Waters had risen, and were incredibly frightened of Light and Shadow’s impending completion of The Path.

At least they aren’t on track for completing The Path in a hundred years.

Emmanuel sighed. He had needed to capture the man who would become Duke Waters and sit on him. If anyone knew he had been on track to complete The Path in half the time, the war would have been instantly declared. Tier 25 on one's own effort, especially within one hundred years old, was completely unheard of.

Even as a Tier 50, Emmanuel was shocked at how strong the man was. It was absurd. He didn’t even have any Talents related to water or combat.

If he couldn’t copy the man’s Talents, he would have never believed that the man’s Talents were about animal husbandry. They weren't even strong Talents! They just gave a small health bonus to any mundane creatures that he raised himself.

Duke Waters had refused to go the non-combat route, and oh how it had paid off.

War was inevitable, though. As usual. The Tier 50 from the number one power, the Unification of Clans, was ascending, and that would firmly put The Empire on top.

Sword Saint Hastor was a true monster, and didn’t cultivate like most. No, the crazy bastard had relied on inspirations, like a crafter, to cultivate to the top of the Great Powers. He never used rifts or ambient essence. Fifty Tiers of inspiration had truly created the most unique existence on this plane.

Emmanuel wanted the man to ascend. They had a deal. Hastor would let Emmanuel copy his Tier 50. In return as payment, he would declare that the Clans couldn’t be touched for the remainder of his time as a ruler.

It would cause trouble, but it would force them to remain neutral in the upcoming war. With The Conglomerate Guilds as a staunch ally, Emmanuel was confident in at least not losing the war. Winning would be harder, but it wasn’t impossible.

He looked over the other political entities, in order of their power, and analyzed their threat levels to The Empire.

The Unification of ClansThe EmpireThe RepublicThe SectsThe Conglomerate GuildsThe Monster CollectiveThe CorporationsThe Federation

The Federation was weak, especially after the civil war had separated them from what became the Monster Collective. The Federation had started implementing speciesist laws against the Beasts, Monsters, and Evolved Humans. His father had backed the now Monster Collective in their bid for freedom.

Mara’s predecessor had not allowed anything else. The Monster Kingdom in The Empire was given such leeway and autonomy, only because their smart ruler realized that while they were intelligent, they were not human at heart.

The Federation took that a step further, and tried to enslave the non-human population. That had all come to a head when the then number two power found a second Tier 46 planet. None of the others could allow them to have planets at Tier 47 and 46. They would become too strong, and none of the Great Powers wanted that.

Seeing their chance, the Beasts had rebelled, and pushed a policy of equality with humans. With the other powers backing them, the faction was allowed to keep the older, stronger Tier 47 capital.

The other powers had stopped them from completely absorbing the Federation, creating two weaker powers, and preventing the newly formed Monster Collective from gaining too much strength.

Emmanuel was able to cross the Monster Collective off the list of possible attackers. They had good relations, even if they weren’t officially allied.

The Federation would take any opportunity to attack, but they had no truly powerful people. Though they did have a few hopefuls.

The Corporations were in the same situation. Too weak to be a real threat, but they would join for scraps.

The Guilds were officially allied with The Empire, so they were a non-threat. Their treaties stated that they would mostly help defend their shared border, but that was enough in Emmanuel’s mind. They had the longest connected borders of any two political entities. That fact alone let him not worry about nearly a fourth of his borders.

The Sects and the Republic would be the true opponents. They had already officially allied against ‘The Empire threat’. A two against one war would be doable, just difficult.

Which brought his thoughts back to the young man with too much mana. Their projection reached a point where he and Liz decided to go to one of the vassal kingdoms, the Seven Suns kingdom. They had just recently discovered a nice Tier 20 planet.

Emmanuel checked his AI. Yes, he had a message from the neighboring vassal queendom, the Alliance of Allied Queens. They wanted permission to fight over the same planet. It was only five jumps away from their border, just one more jump further than it was from the Seven Suns border.

With a thought, he accepted their proposal. A vassal war would be good training for those on The Path. He was also very unhappy with The Seven Suns recent actions and this was a good way to remind them that they existed at his whim.

It would also help his niece, and if the two swooning idiots next to him got their way, his next nephew.

He announced the vassal war, put up rewards for participation, and sent healing squads to manage casualties.

The Empire needed to be ready for conflict, and a bit of a safe environment would allow for more growth. And hopefully fewer casualties.

He checked his AI for what Melinda was doing. Emmanuel got hourly reports on the girl, so he was always able to see what her team was up to. He wanted her to participate in this. He had three Tier 40s watching the girl at all times. She was his greatest asset, and he wouldn't risk those.

Her Tier 3 was already amazing, but at each Tier, it just got better and better. He had tweaked things, and gotten her an [Area Healing] skill shard as her Tier five reward for being on The Path. He had done his own testing, and found that the girl’s Talent for Overhealth also affected any subsequent healing spells cast by other healers.

Emmanuel had used [Crack Skill Shard] on every healing skill he had, and purchased as many as he could without affecting the market. He needed the healer to have an incredibly slow Heal Over Time skill. It would be game-changing in a war. But he'd had no luck so far.

The only thing he was worried about was the young lady’s mental state. She innately created a death Concept with no prompting. A healer who tried to heal death away was not a standard path. And one he worried wasn’t sustainable.

Emmanuel pushed the thoughts away as Samuel finished copying the rift. It was a small rift in space, and was utterly fragile.

He looked to his two royals and friends. “Alright you all, head out. I’ll destroy the evidence, and this world. No second copies of this baby.”

When they left, Emmanuel stood still. Not even his hair moved. With the five off the world and in chaotic space, he released his will that was holding the fabric of this world together.

At the seams, the bonds of reality started to fray. At Tier 5, the world was unraveling slowly, simply from his mere presence.

Switching to his fire preset Talents, he ignited the sun. As the ball of fire exploded at the speed of light from his overwhelming strength, he switched to an earth preset, and shattered the planet by pulling down its moon. Molten fragments hit his still form. When they touched him, they disintegrated against his sheer power.

He was the immovable object, and they broke against him

Most of his Concept, like his Intent and Aspect, was being used to resist the pull of the higher realms. But what little he had made him a shield that would protect The Empire.

Emmanuel had known from a young age that he would rule The Empire. His adaptability demanded it, so he accepted it without protest. He didn’t want it, but someone had to protect the average citizen, and he was best suited to being whatever The Empire needed.

Emmanuel was the Bulwark for The Empire. Her enemies would have no choice but to break him, but what chance did they have when he resisted? Emmanuel’s Concept, Intent, and Aspect all revolved around protecting those under his aegis.

As the expanding sun washed around him, The Emperor raised his hand, and reality tore, like a worn-out fabric.

Chaotic space rushed in and eroded everything. Not a speck of the planet and its essence remained. That cut off the reality, and Emmanuel was ejected into the chaotic space. The ember of lights that represented worlds were only visible because of their essence. With no essence, they returned to nothingness.

Emmanuel pulled out a mile-long needle with a grin, moved to Mara, and stuck her in the thigh. It only removed a drop of her Phoenix essence, but the Tier 48 screamed like she was dying.

“You wanted dragon essence. I want Phoenix essence. Now we’re even.”

Emmanuel was going to gloat more, when Mara clutched her butt and fell into her husband’s arms, who was now wearing healer’s robes.

“The prognosis doesn’t look good. You’re dying.”

Mara fluttered a hand over her forehead. “I only have one final wish. Ravish me.”

Emmanuel’s calls for them to stop were ignored.

Leon looked aghast. “But lady, I’m married!”

With that, the two disappeared. Emmanuel took a deep breath, and picked up the three lower Tiers they had left behind.

Mara had promised to give him Phoenix essence once Emmanuel had mentioned wanting to make a fertility potion for his wife. They were planning to try for a child in the next few thousand years. The needle was a bit of fun, but the two lovers took any opportunity to gallivant off.

It was probably why they also had seven children without ever needing outside help.

Emmanuel just wished they didn’t leave him with ferry duties.