"I'm ready."
"Let's begin, Lord Damien."
"Alright, relax and don't resist."
After speaking, Damien gave Artoria a look. She immediately closed her eyes and summoned the Throne of Heroes.
In the next moment, the vast grassland vanished.
In its place was an endless corridor of flowing light, with ancient scenes unfolding ahead and countless figures visible all around.
Whispers of reverence echoed in their ears.
Protagonists and supporting characters from stories, legendary heroes, great figures who forged epics, and supreme beings from mythology.
Not just mere Heroic Spirits, but Holy Spirits and even Star Spirits.
These towering figures stood at the origin and end of history's torrent, gazing down at Shizu and the children who had stepped into this realm.
"Here, I strip away the spirituality of the Heroic Spirit, leaving only a pure material body."
As Damien spoke, he infused magicules into Shizu's body.
"Boom!!"
Then, Shizu's body began to disintegrate, transforming into the purest form of magicules.
"Shizu-sensei!!"
"Don't worry, I'm fine!"
Despite having lost her physical form, Shizu's consciousness remained clear, and she felt not the slightest bit of pain or discomfort.
On the contrary, in her magicule state, Shizu felt as if she were cradled in a mother's embrace, filled with peace and reassurance.
"Artoria, select a deity to serve as the template for Shizu's new body."
"How about this one?"
Artoria looked toward a tall, voluptuous female figure. "In my world, she is known as the ancient goddess, mother of the world and the gods, named..."
"Tiamat!"
"Rumble!"
As Damien pronounced her True Name, the figure symbolizing Tiamat, like Shizu, dissolved into pure particles.
Then, the two streams of particles merged, ultimately coalescing into a new figure.
"Hm, the first step went very smoothly."
Damien didn't alter Shizu's appearance to resemble Tiamat from the Nasuverse.
There was no similarity between the two, and Damien had no intention of changing Shizu's look.
The reason for choosing Tiamat was purely because her divinity and physical form were powerful enough to serve as the perfect template for Shizu's rebirth.
"As expected of Shizu... she can accommodate over 80% of Tiamat's divine body. That's quite impressive."
This was the first step in creating a new species: crafting a physical body capable of housing Shizu's soul.
The strength of the body was closely tied to Shizu's own will.
Additionally, there was the matter of compatibility.
Shizu and Tiamat had an 80% compatibility rate, which was already very high.
In theory, as long as compatibility exceeded 50%, absorption and fusion were possible.
Of course, the strength of the body wasn't limitless.
A stronger soul required a correspondingly powerful body.
Neither too much nor too little.
"Next..."
Damien called out to his subordinate: "Treyni!"
"At your will, my Lord..."
Treyni's figure appeared beside Damien.
"I need you to help me create a pure elemental soul without self-consciousness."
This was the second step: strengthening Shizu's soul.
"Understood, Lord Damien."
As the Celestial Spirit Queen, Treyni possessed the power to give birth to new spirits.
"In the name of the Celestial Spirit Queen, I summon you!"
"Descend, Primordial Flame..."
The Primordial Flame, representing the most Great Holy Spirit of Flame.
At Treyni's call, it was born from the spirit world and descended upon Shizu.
The Primordial Flame had no specific form, only a blazing fire.
It had a soul but no spirit core.
That is, it possessed soul energy but lacked a spiritual core.
Because Shizu herself was the spiritual core that Damien had prepared for the Primordial Flame.
Finally, this strengthened soul was fused with the new body, fully uniting spirit and flesh.
"You possess the indestructible body of a Holy Spirit and the flawless soul of a Elemental."
Damien's voice resounded filled with majesty and divinity: "Here, I bestow upon you a new name... Divine Spirit!"
Yes, Divine Spirit!
With a powerful body and an immaculate soul, Shizu would become the first Divine Spirit born in the Cardinal World.
[Shizue Izawa]
[Race: Greater Elemental of Flame → Divine Spirit]
[Magicules: 360,000 EP → 1,200,000 EP (Special Awakening)]
[Blessing: Ultimate Blessing (A blessing from Damien, allowing temporary use of lesser ultimate power)]
[Unique Skills: Deviant, Endurer, Primordial Flame]
[Special Skills: Magicule Solidification, Eternal Shield, Divine Spirit Transformation]
"Phew~~"
Damien looked at the girl slowly emerging from the flames and let out a quiet sigh of relief. "How do you feel, Shizu?"
"I feel great, Lord Damien."
Shizu was now clad in a red robe, the tips of her once-black hair now a fiery crimson, as if burning.
Other than that, Shizu was still the same Shizu, unchanged.
"Divine Spirit, huh?"
Artoria and Treyni closely examined Shizu's condition and strength.
It had to be said, the Divine Spirit, as a new race, truly possessed a rank surpassing both Holy Spirits and Elementals.
Without exaggeration, the Divine Spirit had reached the pinnacle of non-awakened races.
A base of 1,200,000 magicules, with the potential to grow even further.
Aside from lacking an Ultimate Skill, the Divine Spirit was nearly equivalent to an average Awakened Hero, Saint, or Demon Lord.
"As expected of a race combining the strengths of Elementals and Saints... a truly formidable existence."
Though it was unclear what the Divine Spirit would evolve into next, its potential alone already surpassed Shizu's former self.
"So... so awesome..."
Kenya gazed at the girl wreathed in flames that seemed capable of incinerating all things, thinking how cool and striking Shizu-sensei looked now!
"Shizu-sensei seems even prettier than before."
"Yeah, yeah, Shizu-sensei looks amazing!"
Alice and Chloe, of course, focused on different things than the boys.
Girls, after all, cared more about appearance than strength.
Being strong was temporary, but being beautiful was forever.
"What?!"
Kenya and Ryota shouted, "You guys don't get it at all!"
"No, you're the ones who don't get it!"
Alice had no interest in arguing with these brutes whose minds were filled with nothing but fighting.
She was a lady and wouldn't stoop to their level.
***
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