The moment he became Divine, the change was immediate. The entire foundation of his existence was rewritten in real-time.
Before, as an Ascender, Vastarael had always felt Essence like a coiled serpent inside his cores, swirling through his arteries bones and breath. It was alive, responsive, and native to the very being of a mortal or transcendent being. With Essence, he could feel himself as an individual whose power had a clear limit, no matter how massive.
But now? Essence was gone.
What remained was Divine Energy, a completely different entity. It wasn't flowing through him, it wasn't of him. It wasn't internal. Divine Energy was imbued into him like radiance trapped in a vessel. It came from the outside world, from the beliefs of others, from worship, from hope, from fear, from awe.
He could feel how Divine Energy wasn't produced, but received. And the worst part? If he ran out of it… he ran out completely.
Unlike Essence, which could be absorbed in the atmosphere, regenerated or recovered, rest, or elixirs, Divine Energy was entirely finite unless replenished through external means.
If no one believed in him? If no one saw him as a god, a being worthy of worship, of fear, of reverence?
Then his pool would dry up.
This wasn't a weakness. This was the price of Divinity.
It was power at its most conditional. Unless, of course, you were Vastarael Richinaria. Because unlike others… he didn't need to rely on the belief of mortals or immortals. He had something else:
The Soul Energy of the Aeterium. The Aeterium were soul borne. Their energy source came from the deepest truth of existence, the Soul. The literal, quantifiable Soul Energy that permeated all forms of life.
It was because of this that the Aeterium's most dangerous ability, the Base Tether [Limitless], existed. It wasn't a poetic metaphor. It was literal.
Limitless meant that as long as Vastarael had a soul, his energy reserves could never truly be depleted. Especially since he had nine pseudo-cores, which meant his soul wasn't just one energy battery. It was nine self-regenerating reactors, each supporting the next in a perpetual circuit.
This was why he was special, even among other Divines. This was why he didn't fear running out.
And this was why Omniphage, his signature Pinnacle Tether, was finally at its most terrifying.
Omniphage obtained three Forms across ascension.
Essentia Form, Atmospheric Leech, can absorb energy from the atmosphere when he's out of it. The energy is specified to Soul and Divine Energy Absorption after Divine level."
In his Essentia stage, Omniphage began as a survival tool, a fallback.
When Vastarael had exhausted his Essence or was running on empty, Omniphage could absorb ambient energy from the environment. Though at this point, it was imprecise and required him to be completely out of essence. Think of it like siphoning mist from the air during a drought. It worked, but slowly.
Once he reached Divine level, it specialized itself, no longer absorbing just raw energy. It could now identify and leech specifically Soul and Divine Energy.
But it was still passive. It still required time.
The Ascender Form, Soul Swallow, can absorb Soul Energy instantaneously from his soul and from others when he's out of energy.
He didn't get a chance to use this a lot but it was what made him in the Fallen Bridge as he killed Krepsunas. Omniphage turned into an offensive and defensive weapon.
It could tap directly into his own soul in an emergency and rip Soul Energy out of nearby enemies. This form was brutal but effective. And made him nearly impossible to control the pain that came from using his own Soul Energy.
The catch?
The energy was still regulated. Omniphage only triggered when he was out of his own Essence reserves. Also, the soul-harvesting could damage his body if overused.
It was powerful. But it was still… mortal.
His Divine Form, Sovereign's Restora, was even better. The restrictions of using Soul Energy are removed. He can literally use his Soul Energy without limitations since his body has undergone Divinity.
This was it. This was the moment Vastarael wanted when he entered Divine Rank. All shackles were broken. There was no cooldown, limit or boundary.
The connection between his Divine Body and his nine pseudo-cores was now direct, flawless, and perpetual. He could use Soul Energy like others breathed air without limit or weakness.
This meant he could fuel spells endlessly. He could sustain Divine Transformations without consequence. He could empower other people's bodies or cores with his energy and not diminish.
He could lose all Divine Energy… and still function at peak capacity.
The Divine Form of Omniphage didn't protect Vastarael from running out. It made the idea of "running out" obsolete.
No other being in the Seventh Enlightenment had this ability. And it was only possible because of his species and pseudo-cores. And now that he was Divine, it was fused into him at a core level.
He was Divine now...
And for the first time since awakening, he genuinely didn't know how to react.
He looked at his hands, slowly curling his fingers into a tight, thunderous fist.
His Divine Transformation wasn't permanent. He could dispel it if he wanted. Vastarael felt at home in this body. It didn't feel oversized or alien. It felt like how he was always meant to be. He dipped his finger into the granite rock next to him, idly. It sunk in with the ease of pressing into sponge. When he flicked that same finger into the air, a shockwave erupted.
It wasn't deafening. The sound spiraled out in tight ripples of pressure, enough to make trees sway. Birds from nearby areas fled instantly. The land trembled subtly beneath him.
But he hadn't even tried.
"It's too light… I feel like I can lift a lot now," he muttered, flexing his fingers again.
What struck him most wasn't just how strong he was. It was that his body knew how to use it.
Back when he ascended to an Ascender, controlling power had been a struggle of precision and muscle memory. It took days to refine new strengths.
Now it was instinct.
When he moved, his body anticipated how much pressure was needed, how fast and how delicately he should use it. He could snap a mountain, or caress a newborn animal with the same hand, and he would never make a mistake unless he chose to.
That was the gift of the Divine Body.
He had always been powerful with his pseudo-cores, individually capable of housing vast reserves of Essence.
But now, he had ten cores.
Nine pseudo-cores were now filled with Soul Energy, no longer Essence. And his tenth was his new Divine Core, situated deep in his chest where no spell, blade, or concept could reach without his permission.
This was the core that would later evolve into a God core if he became a Major God. It was a construct of the very divinity he now carried.
The Divine Core functioned differently. It stored Divine Energy exclusively. When the Divine Core ran low, Omniphage automatically activated.
It drew Soul Energy directly from his nine pseudo-cores and fed it back to the Divine Core if he did not have Divine Energy. He had no control over this process but he didn't need to. That was the point. Omniphage had become the perfect automatic battery system.
It ensured he would never truly run dry and the only scenario in which he would run out was if his soul itself were extinguished. And that was something not even the Frozen God could do.
Of course, his body was still not powerful enough to handle Soul Energy. Only by being a Nexus can this be fully achieved. Soul Energy was not supposed to be used on corporeal forms like physical bodies. So if he used it naturally, it would mostly deconstruct his body.
That is why the Aeterium have Soul and Body Reconstruction for this exact purpose.
Then there was the biological change. A Divine did not need food or water.
Divine Energy replaced the very concept of sustenance. It bathed the cells in meaning, not nutrition. His body no longer operated on metabolism or survival. It existed on purpose and will. The gods themselves didn't sleep or eat. They existed because people believed they existed.
He was now part of that structure.
Food became pleasure, not necessity. Sleep was now an illusion unless he desired it. His blood, now sapphire-blue, was a construct of symbolic function, not biology.
Even his breathing was unnecessary. It was done for effect, for rhythm and calm.
"I don't need to eat… to drink… even to breathe…" he said aloud, looking at his massive hand again. "I'm not even sure I should exist like this."
And still… he remained calm. After all, he heard this from his parents who are food because it was fun.
He looked down at Elyonari. Her form was still twitching slightly, her body undergoing gentle shifts. The transformation from Ascender to Divine was no small feat but thanks to his enhanced Body and Soul Reconstruction, he had numbed most of the pain she would have endured.
And it was better this way. Her body would soon catch up with her soul. And when she woke up… she would be a Divine too.
But Vastarael had already made his decision.
"Two more days..." he whispered, shifting slightly so Elyonari rested more comfortably.
They would stay here for two more days. Then… he would move on. But this time, it would not be with Elyonari.
"I need Narisva now…"
He closed his eyes as he said it. Elyonari would hate it. She'd beg to come. She'd argue, maybe cry. But Narisva had something he needed for this next step.
Narisva wasn't just strong. She was a Spatial combatant. She could bend space to make battlefields, shift battle tempo, and she could track beings even across the folds of dimensional anomalies.
They would go to the Submerged Island together. And there, if his calculations were right… the final preparations would begin.