Beaconreach, Sanisco.
Under the warm sunlight, an SUV sped along the wide boulevard. Inside, Seraphina sat behind the wheel, her eyes on the shifting scenery outside as she tentatively asked in her mind:
"Demon-lady... is there a way to use the embers of rage without ruining my clothes?"
Silence.
No reply.
Faced with the demon's indifference, the girl felt awkward. But since she was genuinely concerned about the issue, she stuttered out an explanation:
"Demon-lady, please don't misunderstand. I mean... receiving your favor and the power of the embers is truly amazing. But... but I am a girl, after all. If I hadn't had spare clothes in the car, I would have... well, I would have entered Sanisco naked. So..."
After a long pause, the faint voice resonated once more in Seraphina's mind:
"When you perceive the 'Embers' as a blade, they will naturally be cold and sharp; when you perceive them as wind, they will naturally be all-pervading; when you perceive them as water, they will naturally be soft and fluid."
Hearing this, the clever Seraphina immediately understood. "Ah~ I see! You mean... the form the embers take depends entirely on my own thoughts, right?"
The faint voice offered no further response, returning to its silence.
"Uh... thank you for the explanation, Demon-lady."
After offering her silent gratitude, Seraphina turned the wheel onto a new street.
Several blocks later, she pulled the SUV up in front of a trendy street-style shop, its exterior walls covered in bold, colorful graffiti.
After parking, the girl stepped out and headed inside.
DING—
Pushing open the door, she was greeted by a minimalist interior with an elegant, understated vibe. Directly ahead was a massive 3D-relief artwork.
To either side, various styles of men's and women's apparel: from simple and chic to hip-hop and flashy, were on display.
A White youth in a baseball cap and street-style clothing approached her. He looked at the girl in the crimson leather jacket and smiled warmly. "Girl, your look is so cool. Looking for some new threads?"
"Hmm..." Seraphina pulled a few items from a nearby rack and turned to him with a smile. "Do you have shoes?"
The youth grinned. "Of course."
TAP-TAP-TAP—
She followed him up to the second floor's footwear section. Greeting her eyes was an entire wall of blue basketball sneakers.
The White youth stood with a hint of pride, his arms spread wide. "Girl, we collaborate with so many brands. As long as you have the cash, the factory can even print your name on the shoes."
"That won't be necessary," Seraphina replied, casually picking out several pairs of basketball sneakers: high-tops, mid-tops, low-tops, in white, black, red, and multi-colored.
"Where are the fitting rooms?" the girl asked, her arms full of shoe boxes.
"Right over there," the youth pointed with a smile.
"OK, see you in a bit."
As Seraphina entered the fitting room, the projection of Seraphine dwelling within her soul fell into contemplation.
Eons ago, Seraphine had discovered that every sentient being possessed an indestructible, primordial spark deep within their soul. All subjectivity, emotion, creativity, thought, and wisdom originated from this spark, the Root Spirituality.
Logically, the Spirituality of every being should be entirely unique. That was what distinguished one from another. Seraphine had conducted extensive research into this and confirmed that different individuals did indeed have distinct spiritual "Ripples."
Of course, Spirituality itself lacked volume or mass; it couldn't be defined simply as energy or information. Thus, the term "Ripples" was an imperfect concept, though it sufficed for distinguishing between different spirits.
Over time, Seraphine had used these "Ripples" as markers in her various spiritual experiments.
However, upon arriving in this space-time via the Creeping Sea, she discovered that this human female, Seraphina, possessed spiritual "Ripples" identical to her own. Theoretically, Seraphina was her counterpart in a parallel universe.
This extraordinary "encounter" had initially taken Seraphine by surprise.
Even more startling was the result of her deep-dive analysis of Seraphina's Spirituality. Strictly speaking, Seraphina wasn't her counterpart.
Or rather, this parallel counterpart's spiritual "Ripples" were only identical to Seraphine's before she had embarked on the Spirituality Path of Ascension.
After Seraphine successfully pioneered the "Cosmic Dawn Decree" and broke through to the fourth realm: Immortal Embryo Solidifies Thought, Severing Emotion and Self, her Spiritual Waves underwent a fundamental metamorphosis.
It was an evolution from flat to multidimensional, a leap from 2D to 3D.
Following the semi-materialization of her Spirituality, it was as if she had transcended human evolution in a single moment, evolving from a primitive ape into a modern human of infinite potential.
Everything changed.
Even Godshell, her top general: powerful enough to crush the civilizations of the Milky Way, remains at a level where Spirituality has not yet touched semi-materialization.
In terms of Spiritual potential, such beings are no different from an unevolved human on Earth, low-level lifeforms incapable of twisting reality or logic.
The gap between ordinary Spirituality and the semi-materialized state is an absolute divide, a leap from zero to one with no middle ground.
Per Seraphine's design, the Cosmic Dawn Decree is split into three volumes, each containing three realms:
The First Volume: 1. Outburst of Spiritual Wisdom, 2. Intellectual Surge, 3. Spiritual Ascension.
The Second Volume: 4. Spiritual Semi-Materialization, 5. Spiritual Materialization, 6. Spiritual Sacralization (Unattained).
The Third Volume: Pending.
Seraphine, already transcending the mortal masses, reached the fifth realm: Witnessing All Ages, Intent Unblemished by Frost or Dew.
Her Spirituality fully materialized, manifesting the Light of Infinity. This power can manipulate subatomic particles with surgical precision while simultaneously overwriting reality across a macro-scale of 1,000 light-years.
Even stripped of her raw power and physical form, the intellectual and Spiritual difference between the Prime Space-Time Seraphine and this world's Seraphina is vast: far greater than the gulf between a high-energy Nuclear lifeform like Cadelon and a carbon-based microbe on Earth.
Once standing in this realm, the "Entropy-Reversing Soul" is born.
Whether a billion years pass or an unfathomable eternity, her thoughts, beliefs, and will remain eternally incorruptible and unwavering.
She is her own God.
Furthermore, much like human DNA contains dominant and recessive genes, Seraphine's materialized Spirituality has two aspects.
The Light of Infinity is the dominant, visible power.
The recessive aspect, however, is the profound perception and sensing of her own [Uniqueness].
In Seraphine's definition, [Uniqueness] is the ability of an intelligent lifeform to maintain absolute continuity and singularity across the shifting tides of time and space.
Simply put, it means refusing to spawn infinite "variant selves" whenever a timeline splits. Even at the Fifth Realm of the Cosmic Dawn, Seraphine hasn't fully mastered this god-tier trait, only sensing it as a distant blur.
She predicts that even upon reaching the Sixth Realm: Universe Collapses, Will Unwavering, where her Root Spirituality evolves into Fundamental Divinity, she likely still won't grasp the true essence of [Uniqueness].
Yet, paradoxically, her intuition tells her that with every passing microsecond in the River of Time, she has never produced a single variant self.
Her existence remains a singular, defiant anomaly.
This defies all logic.
Even the parallel versions of herself that once transmitted data through Monroe's Laocoon Eye—despite possessing the Infinite Attribute System—failed to meet her standard of a true "self."
It is as if the splitting of timelines ceased the moment she achieved Chaos Calculation.
Her Prime Space-Time feels "fixed" by a majestic, all-encompassing force spanning past and future. She is like a superfluid, distinct in density and form, rushing toward an endless future within the vast ocean of time.
"That power..."
Seraphine recalled the titanic hand she had seen long ago above the River of Time, the one that had swept away the projection of the Phoenix of Profound Darkness with a single finger.
"Was that my future self? The version of me that truly transcends space-time and causality? Did I... fix my own time?"
She suspected it was highly likely.
...
Outside, Seraphina had finished trying on clothes.
DING-LING!
Wearing an oversized white hoodie, distressed light blue jeans, white high-top basketball shoes, and a graphic baseball cap, Seraphina walked out of the boutique carrying a stack of boxes.
"Whew."
Setting the pile down, she opened the car's back door. Just as she reached for the boxes, a tall, lean figure suddenly lunged from the shadows, snatched two boxes of basketball shoes, and bolted.
SWOOSH!
The thief was so fast it left Seraphina momentarily stunned.
VROOM! VROOM!
She looked at the retreating black figure, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. "A zero-dollar purchase... happening to me?"
Shaking her head, she tossed the rest of the boxes into the car and ignited the engine. With a low roar, she gave chase.
Hundreds of meters away, the thief had begun to slow down, but seeing the SUV closing in, he desperately accelerated again. But how could human legs compete with a combustion engine?
In no time, Seraphina pulled alongside him. She rolled down the window and grinned at the gasping, sprinting thief. "Keep it up, bro! You're hitting 60 steps!"
"Huff... huff..." The man was too exhausted to speak.
Inside her mind, the Prime Seraphine remained largely indifferent to these external events.
Upon entering this space-time, she had already swept the entire globe with her mental perception, harvesting every bit of data on nations, organizations, and individuals.
This parallel Earth was the weakest she had ever encountered. The Ether activity was virtually zero. Superpower users worldwide barely numbered in the double digits, with their destructive potential topping out at mere wall-busting.
The strongest Martial Artists were only at the Roaring Vitalis level, and there were fewer than a hundred of them globally.
Many entities from the Prime Space-Time were either non-existent or radically different here. The Frankenstein Corporation, a shadow power in her world, didn't exist.
Mycenae's Castle was nothing more than a failed castle-themed hotel that went bankrupt last century.
Martial Sects had been downgraded to simple neighborhood dojos, and there was no trace of the Aurora Clan ever existing.
It was a mundane, boring world.
...
Outside.
VROOM! VROOM!
The SUV cruised leisurely. Seraphina teased the thief through the window, "Shit bro, aren't you tired yet?"
"Huff... wheeze..." The thief was literally foaming at the mouth.
A few minutes later. "I think you're about to die," Seraphina deadpanned.
Suddenly, the thief's eyes lit up. He banked left and lunged into a narrow alleyway, barely two meters wide.
SCREECH!
Seraphina slammed on the brakes, leaped from the car, and bolted into the alley after him.
As she sprinted forward, Seraphina's body erupted in swirling currents of Black Flame. She became like a willow catkin caught in a gale, leaping ten meters into the air and gliding effortlessly with the wind. After a hundred-meter burst, she landed gracefully in front of the charging thief.
Before he could react, Seraphina delivered a spinning kick that sent him flying.
BANG!
"Agh!!"
The thief, drenched in sweat and pale-lipped, slammed into the ground. He was too exhausted to move.
"Fuck..."
The thief cursed, struggling to push himself up, but Seraphina lunged and executed a downward strike, her foot pinning his neck to the concrete.
CRACK! CRACK!
The sound of fracturing bone echoed as she ground him into the pavement.
"Agh— Agh—"
Pinned under Seraphina's boot, the thief felt as if an iron anvil were crushing his windpipe. He couldn't draw a single breath.
He could only writhe and wheeze, "Help... help... I can't breathe... save me... I can't breathe!"
Watching his pathetic struggle, Seraphina showed zero mercy, grinning wickedly. "Weren't you quite the runner? Run then! Keep running!"
The suffocating thief was beyond rational thought, unable to respond to her mockery. He could only stare with bulging, fish-like eyes and repeat the same desperate plea: "Help... save me... I can't breathe... please, save me..."
"Hmph." Seraphina let out a mocking sneer, but before she could say more, a woman's terrified scream pierced the air from outside the alley.
"Ah! Help!!"
Seraphina's expression shifted. She instantly crushed the thief's neck beneath her heel and, shrouded in a dense mist of Black Flame, leaped over the walls toward the source of the sound.
She left behind only a lifeless corpse in the depths of the narrow alley.
...
Yuei never imagined her first trip abroad would turn into a scene from a gangster movie. She had just stepped out of her hotel to buy face cream when she was snatched. Weren't these kinds of kidnappings supposed to only happen in lawless backwaters? Why was Beaconreach like this too?
"Kidnapping! Help!!"
"Save— Mmph! Mmph!"
Inside a black van speeding down the wide boulevard, a cold-faced white thug gripped a short-haired girl's neck with one hand while he clamped the other firmly over her mouth.
Tears streamed from the girl's large, pretty eyes, her heart consumed by despair and terror.
Suddenly...
BANG!
The roof of the van suddenly groaned under a heavy impact. Before the thugs inside could react, a shrill, ear-piercing screech of rending metal echoed from above.
SCREECH!
The reinforced steel roof was brutally torn open by a pair of black claws. The kidnappers looked up instinctively, meeting the cold gaze of a girl wreathed in Black Flame.
It was Seraphina.
"What the fuck..."
The burly thug's face contorted as he reached for his gun, but Seraphina's aura erupted. A simulated gray fist of flame slammed into him, knocking him senseless. Simultaneously, she sent a stream of black mist surging forward, snaking through the partition to wrap around the driver's neck.
"Agh—"
The driver barely let out a strangled cry before the black mist tightened. From the back of the van, Seraphina said icily, "Keep driving, or I'll twist your head off!"
"Heh heh heh!" the driver sneered through the pain. "Hellfire members... don't take threats!"
He jerked the steering wheel violently, aiming the van straight toward an artificial lake bordering the road.
"Hmph, I'll deal with you later!"
Seraphina snorted, snatching the terrified girl around the waist and leaping through the jagged hole in the roof. The van, now uncontrolled, plunged into the lake with a massive SPLASH.
Meanwhile, the girl remained safe in Seraphina's arms, shielded by layers of Black Flame as they glided through the air.
Seraphina wasn't yet fully proficient in manipulating her Residual Embers. After gliding for nearly a hundred meters, the Black Flame supporting them suddenly destabilized and dissolved into murky mist. The two girls began to plummet.
Mid-fall, Seraphina flicked her right hand. A pitch-black rope of energy shot from her palm toward a building spire dozens of meters away.
SWOOSH!
The rope hit the mark, coiling tightly around the spire. A second later, the rope, formed from the Residual Ember force, jerked them upward, swinging them in a wide arc through the sky.
WHOOSH
"Aaah!!"
The roller-coaster-like thrill of the high-speed swing made Yuei scream, her arms tightening instinctively around Seraphine.
"Hey, where do you stay? I'll drop you off," a clear, pleasant voice rang in her ear.
Yuei finally snapped out of her shock, her large, beautiful eyes looking at Seraphine from inches away.
"I... I'm at the Whitham Hotel. I'm just here for a vacation," Yuei replied, her face flushing red.
"Got it. Hold tight, I'm speeding up," Seraphine said abruptly.
"Yeah!" Yuei flushed, pressing herself tighter against her savior.
SWOOSH
Under the streaks of sunlight in the azure sky, the two beautiful girls, shrouded in black mist, swung toward the horizon like a pair of Spider-Men.
...
Minutes later, the Whitham Hotel.
THUD
Seraphine landed effortlessly in an alley beside the hotel. As Yuei slid down from her arms, the girl gasped for air and whispered, "Sister, what... what is your name?"
Seraphine didn't answer, only giving a brilliant smile. "To have met is enough; why must we be old acquaintances?"
She turned to leave, but Yuei called out urgently.
"Wait!"
Yuei lunged forward, throwing her arms around Seraphine for a long, tight squeeze. Then, lifting her fair, exquisite face, she suddenly pressed her lips against Seraphine's.
"Mmph..."
Seconds later, Yuei turned and bolted out of the alley, her face a deep crimson.
Seraphine stood stunned, fingers touching her lips. Her heart raced, and her mind went blank. This kiss seemed to have triggered a deeply buried attribute, plunging her thoughts into extreme chaos.
"Wait... am I into girls?!"
After standing in the silence to process her thoughts, Seraphine eventually shrouded herself in black flames and took to the sky.
SWOOSH
As she leaped between skyscrapers, the Prime Seraphine residing within her mind began organizing data on the [Hellfire] organization.
This group had existed in previous parallel space-times. The gang leader who had accidentally opened a Box of Sorrow and guided Seraphine to a different Earth had obtained the box from Hellfire members. Even her other twenty-plus power projections across various parallel Earths had encountered the Hellfire organization.
Sharing the same name and operating in the same fields, organized crime and the occult, these various branches across space-time were all led by someone named Aleister Crowley, regardless of differences in race, gender, or age.
This forced a suspicion: was this a trans-space-time power established by a single Aleister Crowley?
More importantly, every Crowley shared the exact same Spiritual Wave. Their Spiritualities were all genuine, not mere clones.
How was this possible? Was it a Spiritual split, or the so-called suppression of the other-selves? Was this a path of Spiritual ascension entirely opposite to Seraphine's path of [Uniqueness]?
Aleister Crowley...
Seraphine pondered. Deep within her massive Sea of Memory, there was a specific block of data, one filled with information from her past life.
According to that data, Crowley was a notorious figure on the Old Earth of her past life, a focal point for biographies and academic studies. He held massive sway over Western occultism, an influence that bled deep into modern pop culture.
His life was a chaotic tapestry of titles: social critic, spy, occultist, magus, creator of the Thoth Tarot, poet, painter, mountaineer, hippie, and founder of the religion of Thelema.
Thelema itself influenced countless individuals and organizations, with many celebrities linked to its teachings. But what did it mean for an Aleister Crowley, one who seemingly possessed supernatural abilities, to manifest across millions of mortal realms within the Dragonblood Grand Universe?
Seraphine had a premonition.
She sensed that within the boundless ocean of parallel universes, there weren't just High-Dimensional Observer groups. Perhaps there were individuals, or even entire factions, following a path of Spiritual Ascension like Crowley. If such beings had existed for eons, they might possess Spiritual prowess capable of rivaling or even utterly eclipsing her own.
"If I can capture the original Crowley and deconstruct his path of Spiritual Ascension, I might be able to use it as a catalyst to push the Cosmic Dawn Decree even further," Seraphine mused leisurely.
...
SPLASH GURGLE
"Huff... finally made it out!"
Two soaking-wet Hellfire thugs, their faces ghostly pale, crawled onto the lakeshore. Before they could even catch their breath, two crimson whips lashed out through the air, binding them and hoisting them into the sky.
"Agh! Who is it?!"
"Who's there?!"
The two dangled upside down, shouting in terror as they followed the whips with their eyes toward the shadows of a nearby narrow alley.
TAP TAP TAP
Seraphine, wreathed in smoldering crimson flames, slowly stepped out from the darkness. She looked up at the dazed, suspended thugs and asked indifferently:
"You mentioned you're from Hellfire. What kind of organization is that?"
"Fuck you!" the burly thug spat. "Go to hell, bitch!"
The driver sneered coldly. "Hellfire doesn't take threats. Our leader will avenge us!"
"Hard cases, I see," Seraphine said with a brilliant, dangerous smile. "I think... I'd like to test that."