When the title of "Most Powerful" changed hands again, the whole world froze for a few seconds, sparking a huge debate.
"Hey, did you hear? The most powerful beings from the three great empires are secretly fighting each other for this title! Whichever empire's member wins the title, according to an agreement between the three great empires, the other two empires are obliged to give them their two best treasures from their treasuries!"
Two people were talking somewhere in the capital of the Fresta kingdom. The one speaking was a skinny, short-haired man with a normal face and linen clothes. The other was a sturdy man with short hair and a large build. Hearing what the skinny man said, he looked at him as if he were an idiot and said, "Are you an imbecile? Are you making this up? Do you really think the so-called 'Most Powerful' beings can actually be under the command of empires? Didn't you hear about what happened recently? I'm talking about how Lester single-handedly attacked our imperial palace and almost destroyed it because he angered the so-called 'Most Powerful' dragon!" According to what I heard from some imperial soldiers I know, if our Empress hadn't apologized to the dragon with a valuable treasure, it could have easily destroyed the entire palace! What I mean is, you don't need to compare those you call "most powerful" to imperial soldiers or their commanders! The most powerful are usually non-human beings, or beings who have surpassed the limits of humanity. Just like our Empress's former husband..." After saying this, the burly man sighed sadly.
The skinny man sighed along with the burly man and said, "You're right. If our Emperor were still here, I don't think that dragon could have attacked the palace and left..." After saying this, the burly man agreed, and they continued talking, sighing together.
These conversations weren't limited to just these two. All citizens in the Lester Empire, whether half-human or normal, thought this way. Even most citizens in the other two empires, Iera and Andson, thought similarly.
Meanwhile, the emperors/empresses of the Three Empires, or most of the very high-ranking officials within the empires, frowned.
Typically, most large empires or Tier 1 kingdoms possess an individual endowed with the "Seer" ability. Those with this ability are extremely rare, able to see any events that have occurred or may occur within their system. Similarly, they must pay a price to see something within the system that is far beyond their power!
This event caused the three empires and high-ranking individuals to frown and feel uneasy. No matter what high-energy treasures they offered their oracles, they obtained almost nothing! Some even sacrificed humans in dark places to obtain powerful, malevolent energy, but all they received was a single piece of information:
"The Mightiest Has Returned!"
Naturally, the high-ranking individuals and emperors/empresses began to feel uneasy upon receiving this information. What is this "The Mightiest Has Returned"?
It should be known that even in previous historical records, such a strange event had never occurred! The title "The Mightiest" is simply a title given by the system to the highest-ranking individuals registered within it. Of course, these people or non-human entities are feared and desired by kingdoms and even empires, but according to the oracles,
"This time it's different!" "This is a warning from the real world, the one that gave us this system, not registered in it!"
High-ranking people couldn't help but feel horrified upon hearing this. What did it mean, a warning from the real world?! And could the real world even speak?!?!? Although most people didn't believe the oracle's words, many high-ranking officials, even emperors and empresses, did, and their first order after learning this was to instruct all kingdoms under their empires to "For a while, do not make any major moves that would attract attention!"
Since most of the Level 1 kingdoms had oracles, they understood why the order came, but almost all of the Level 2 and 3 kingdoms had only one idea about what was happening: it was related to the constantly changing title of "Most Powerful."
While all the empires were in turmoil, in the King's castle in the Kingdom of Fresta, Shun lay unconscious in his room. But he was already experiencing different memories and information in his head. It was a dragon of unimaginable power, millions of times brighter than the stars, capable of destroying the universe with a single bite!
This dragon exuded such a powerful aura that it felt like the ultimate being at the top of all existence. It seemed as if a single word from its mouth would bring everything into being; the sheer magnificence it radiated while standing still caused the lights of all the stars and everything else in the universe, including parallel universes, to go out!
Its pure white scales shone with a beauty a million times more magnificent than the stars. Its eyes, especially its eyes, were like the most magnificent stars among all, its two bright eyes watching over existence with all their beauty! And Shun was this dragon now. He had already forgotten that he was Shun. From the birth of this dragon to this day, for millions of years, he had been this dragon, having fought thousands, millions of battles and risen to the pinnacle of existence. Now, with the feeling of being at the peak of existence, the feeling of being at its strongest, and the emptiness and great desolation within him, he stood in the void outside the universe, observing the universe of his birth and other universes visible from afar.
He had lived for millions of years, risen to the very top of existence. But, no matter how powerful he was... there was nothing left for him to do. Even the majestic star dragon, perched atop a peak, a sight that even other gods trembled at and fled from... was now staring blankly at the glittering universes, not knowing what to do...
While experiencing a feeling of emptiness within himself that no one could understand, before he could comprehend what was happening, the entire scene shattered like a mirror, turning to dust and vanishing...
...
A phoenix, with countless colorful, fiery feathers, of magnificent beauty and splendor. A phoenix so powerful and magnificent that with a single flap of its wings it could instantly ignite half the universe, leaving not even a speck of dust.
Shun was now experiencing this phoenix. Of course, the memories of being Shun and the majestic star dragon he had just been were gone. He was simply a phoenix, possessing the most powerful and beautiful flames in existence, having lived for hundreds of thousands of years!
He was born from flames. He grew up surrounded by flames. He used flames to grow stronger, and his power was amplified by fire. Eventually, the flames in his birthplace were no longer enough to strengthen him, so he left, seeking out different fires and fighting beings of different fire types. He absorbed the powerful flames of the creatures he fought, he absorbed the naturally occurring powerful fires in the different places he traveled, he grew stronger and stronger. Eventually, he had absorbed all the types of flames that could be found in his own universe and could easily use them. So he left his own universe and searched for flames in different universes! He found them all, absorbed them, absorbed them, absorbed them.
Eventually, there were no more flames left for him to absorb. The cycle of finding, absorbing, and gaining power—what he had been doing for hundreds of thousands of years—had finally stopped. But... he had nothing left to do, so he fell into a void.
Finally, unsure of what to do, the phoenix flew towards the infinite void beyond the universes. For hundreds of hours, it flew and flew and flew. Finally, in the endless darkness, flapping its wings, blazing with magnificent flames visible from all universes if opened, it gazed into the endless darkness with a pair of eyes burning brighter than the flames on its body. How long it gazed was unknown, nor what it thought. Finally, flapping its wings, it turned around; the distance was countless, like the stars filling the distant, shimmering sky, all different universes, including its own. But it had finally traversed them all, absorbed all the flames it could, becoming the phoenix with the most powerful fire in existence. What more could it do?
As the phoenix pondered, before it could understand what was happening, everything suddenly shattered like a mirror, turning to dust...
....
It had a terrifying pair of long, upwardly curved, purplish horns. Its face had a humanoid tone, but at the same time, the purplish-black scales on its skin made it impossible to more clearly identify as not human. He stood in the infinite void outside the universes, gazing into the endless darkness. Even from afar, you could see that the dark aura emanating from this demon was darker than the darkness in this infinite void.
Yes, this time Shun was a demon god of darkness who had lived for hundreds of thousands of years. Of course, he didn't have the memories of his previous glorious phoenix, mighty star dragon, and Shun.
He gazed into the void, the demon emitting a darkness darker than the darkness of the void itself. He didn't know what to do... He was a weak demon born on a small world, but he was born with a special ability: he could absorb darkness.
From the moment he was born, even unintentionally, he absorbed the darkness around him, empowering himself and using the darkness he controlled to terrorize as he pleased. But what the demon wanted wasn't to terrorize; he needed to find a powerful source of darkness to become even stronger! However, even though he had explored all the dark-based areas on this small world, he hadn't gained much; after all, it was all just ordinary darkness!
After a while, by chance, he passed through a portal and reached the real world. He found himself surrounded, still unsure of his location. After realizing they harbored ill intentions towards him, he destroyed them all and, without investigating further, traveled through this unfamiliar world, encountering different places, settlements, and empires. Of course, he also explored specially created dark regions.
He learned a great deal in this world. The yin atmosphere, absent from his own little world, was present here. Yin was the foundation of darkness and cold, meaning he could absorb yin-based things!
Indeed, he left no place unexplored in this world, traversing every region with a dark and powerful yin foundation, absorbing all the power in each region with his dark absorption power. Finally, realizing there were no more yin regions left to explore in the real world, he flew to another world! He had now attained such power that he could easily destroy his own real world single-handedly. But what he desired wasn't evil and terror, only more darkness!
He traveled through all the small, real, superior worlds he could, and finally, realizing there were different universes, he absorbed power from all the different dark sources in those universes. There was nothing left to absorb from the dark and yin foundation, but he was still not satisfied!
Finally, he felt the need to go to the infinite void outside the universes. He was overjoyed at the sight of the infinite darkness there, but before he could fully experience this joy, he realized that the darkness he had absorbed could no longer feed his own darkness... yet he still felt it wasn't enough, that he needed to absorb even more darkness!
He traveled for thousands of years in the infinite void outside the universes, but found nothing. Finally, an emptiness formed within him. Mora, with her eyes darting away, began to observe the endless void. She no longer knew what to do...
Suddenly, she saw a magnificent, multicolored light source to her right and turned her eyes towards it, but just as she was about to look at it, she noticed a bright light even more magnificent and powerful than the multicolored light to her left, and her eyes trembled. Finally, she smiled slightly and stood still, waiting for both of them to approach her. This wasn't the first meeting of the three gods at the pinnacle of existence, but it would be their last...
...
While Shun was experiencing these memories, a strange phenomenon began to occur. All the energy in the real world, all the energy outside the real world, all the energy in existence began to gather towards Shun!
The energy gathering around Shun was so intense that all the people in the kingdom, even in the world, found it difficult to breathe. The powerful beings, upon seeing this gathered energy, were not afraid like normal people; on the contrary, they felt more excited than ever before! Because with this energy, they could easily pass through the great bottlenecks they were experiencing and rapidly increase their power! However, despite their disappointment, they realized that they could not control this energy. Filled with frustration and anger, they began to move towards the area where the energy was concentrated. An old man exclaimed, "Damn bastard, whatever experiment he's conducting, I must learn the formula! With this formula, I can further increase my power and prolong my life!" His eyes were already blinded by greed.
Most of those who went into the energy field did so with a greedy mindset. However, there were a few who thought rationally, of course. A tall, handsome young man frowned and said, "This is terrifying. To be able to control all the energy in the world... This senior must have already surpassed the limits of the real world..." He spoke in a respectful tone.
The group of 10-15 boys and girls, roughly the same age as the young man, gathered around him, agreed.
Meanwhile, the platinum-haired, world-conquering "most powerful" individual had already turned pale with shock. This inability to control energy, something he had never experienced before, terrified him! After all, he was a dragon with a great aptitude for energy; how could he not even touch it? And not only that, he couldn't even control the energy he possessed!
A faint smile formed on his lips as his face paled, and he spoke in a trembling voice, "I think I've found someone who can help. I mean, I hope..."
There was a reason he had been searching for someone stronger than himself for years. This was his strongest obsession, but he couldn't control whether the strongest person could help him, so he felt a little hopeful, a little hopeless...
All the leaders of the empires had begun to fear because of these sudden events. The words of the seers, "The Strongest Has Returned," had already sown seeds of fear in their hearts, even if they didn't show it, and with this strange and terrifying energy event, they became even more frightened. No matter how frightened they were, all those in positions of authority and power sent their fastest and most secretive men to investigate what was happening.
In the castle in the capital of the Fresta kingdom, the terrifying feeling they experienced was even more intense because they were so close to the target of the attraction. Therefore, most of the ordinary servants fainted from the pressure, and even those who were stronger fled without looking back because of the fear of not being able to control the pressure and energy.
Esna and the others, the king's special entourage, quickly took the king, his family, and Sily and left the castle, getting as far away as possible.
Sily had already been cleansed and was wearing the beautiful outfit Shun had bought for her, and she looked sweet. But he looked weak and frail because he hadn't eaten properly for a long time. He, too, was now affected by the pressure and could barely stay awake.
Meanwhile, the king and the others were looking towards the castle to understand what was happening. Esna suddenly noticed something and said, "Your Majesty, Mr. Shun is still inside. Could it be...?" She couldn't finish her sentence. She only thought that such an event could have been initiated by him, but now it was something that even a god, let alone a being beyond human limits, would doubt could be done!
The king trembled visibly upon hearing this, and the women and boys around him looked at him in astonishment. The mature-looking women were the king's wives, and most had been his companions for a long time, but this was the first time they had witnessed their husbands trembling, a sign of fear they had never seen even in the presence of the empress of the empire, except for a slight bow! The boys and girls looked at their father with equally shocked expressions. Whenever they saw their father, he always maintained his royal air, always proud and defiant. They could never have imagined their father trembling like this!
The king didn't have time to consider their thoughts. After calming down for a while, he looked at an area where the energy had now materialized and, trembling slightly again, spoke, "Yes, it can't be anyone else!"
His wives and children were unaware of what was happening, for they didn't know who Shun was, where he came from, or why he had come to the castle. However, Esna and the other elves knew him very well, and upon seeing these words and the energy gathered in a certain area of the castle, their eyes widened in astonishment, and they began to look at that area. The area where the energy was gathering was, of course, the room where Shun was.
Meanwhile, huge crowds were gathering, from the shadows to the kingdom's capital, and from there to the area around the castle. Those from the empire and powerful beings nearby, those curious about the center of the energy, had begun to gather, and like Esna, they were all staring at the area where the energy was gathering, their eyes clearly showing shock. Even those who had come here with greed were frozen in place, unable to move, and could only watch the area where the energy was gathering
, upon seeing the energy mass and the pressure it brought. The magnificent energy from existence was gathering around Shun. The dance of the energy was like the dance of millions of colorful and bright stars, coming from the heavens, from the earth, from everywhere, around the castle and from there to Shun. This visual spectacle of energy was the only miracle that could not be repeated in existence, and those gathered around this castle were the luckiest people in existence to witness this spectacle.
Separated from the crowd gazing at the castle, captivated by the visual spectacle, the energy gathering around Shun had long ago enveloped him like an egg, shimmering with points of color like stars. Time within him passed millions of times faster than in the real world! Changes were constantly occurring within Shun's body. But these changes weren't limited to his body!
Even his consciousness and soul began to undergo a magnificent awakening and transformation! Four different colored souls—bright white, multicolored, pitch black, and a small, normally transparent soul—began to merge!
The merging and evolution of his soul, the strengthening of his consciousness as it transitioned to a different dimension, and the evolution of his body, transforming into a completely different being through the power of energies from his soul and the outside world... It might sound simple to describe, but the process and the uncertain outcome were highly variable and risky!
Within the colorful energy egg that formed, each change in Shun's body and soul took years, perhaps decades! But due to the time and space difference between inside and outside the energy egg, only a few seconds had passed outside.
Outside, the crowd watching the energy spectacle had already filled the kingdom's capital, even the tops of the city walls and houses filled with people watching the spectacle!
An hour had already passed, but they felt they would never tire of watching this spectacle. Although, no matter how bored they were, they lacked the courage to move, because the pressure from the energy was increasing, and they could no longer even move their fingers!
At that very moment, the energy was instantly drawn into the energy reservoir of the castle, and the pressure completely disappeared.
Everything happened so fast that people didn't even know how to react. After a while, some people started moving towards the castle. But then,
BOOOOOOOOMM!!!
The energy reservoir of the castle exploded with a huge bang, and a dazzlingly bright, multicolored egg rose upwards. It was about 2 meters tall and so bright that people could barely open their eyes to look at the egg.
Thanks to its brightness, even those on the city walls could easily see the egg. Shortly after the egg emerged, people fell into a great commotion and began running towards it with great greed.
Apparently, they saw the egg as the most powerful treasure ever, born from the energy of the world. So much so that it was born having absorbed the energy of everything in the world! As they ran, most of them attacked from behind to prevent others from snatching it. But there were also many people who were smart enough to stay put. It didn't matter whether such an egg was a treasure or something else; they knew that with so many powerful people gathered here, they couldn't protect it!
There were also those who didn't move, and those were Esna, the other elves, and the king. Of course, they didn't dare move because they knew what was inside that egg-shaped thing!
One of the king's wives, a mature beauty with large breasts and a sharp jaw, could no longer bear it and asked, "Husband, why don't you send troops to retrieve the treasure? You won't sit here while the treasure found in our own kingdom falls into the hands of others, will you?"
She knew her husband was a wise and sensible man, so she couldn't understand why he wasn't doing anything. Could he have another plan?
The king turned his head and looked at his wives and children, and when he saw them all looking at him with confused expressions, as if they agreed with what the woman had said, he smiled strangely and said, "It's not a treasure..." He looked at Sily, her eyes shining with love and respect as she gazed at the gleaming egg. A clever girl, wasn't she? She had already realized that this was the man who had saved her...
The women and children were even more confused. They didn't understand why the king had looked at the frail and weak girl after saying 'it's not a treasure,' but they didn't ask any more questions and turned their heads to look at the magnificent, gleaming egg. But, the events that were about to happen took their breath away...
Those running around greedily had entered the castle grounds and were very close to the egg. In fact, some were so close that it seemed they could grab the egg and run away in a few steps! But then;
Crack!
The whole world froze. Even those who had been rushing about greedily forgot who they were and froze in place! Even those who could have touched the egg with their outstretched hands were frozen in place. The King, his wives, his children, Esna, the other elves, Sily, and everyone watching from afar, were completely frozen in place.
There was a small, almost invisible crack on the egg. But when that crack cracked, the entire universe trembled! So much so that everyone felt the tremor and the cracking sound deep within their souls. It was a very strange and terrifying event!
But it didn't end there; the crack continued to grow, and all the cracking sounds continued to echo deeply in everyone's souls.
Finally, the crack split right down the middle. The egg slowly began to lose its color and slowly split in two. As it fell to the ground, its dust mingled with the air until nothing remained of the egg. But those around didn't have time to pay attention, because something emerged from the egg!
It had a pair of curved horns, tinged with purplish, on its head, but it emitted an aura darker than darkness itself! Such was her horns that those who looked at them feared losing their souls in the darkness and dared not look again.
She had long, purplish-black hair that reached her waist. Like her horns, she emitted an energy darker than darkness itself, and people recoiled from looking at her.
A pair of wings protruded from her back. The right wing was filled with colorful feathers, burning like fire. It was a magnificent and elegant wing, offering a far more beautiful visual spectacle than the energy display that had just occurred.
The wing on the left was a dragon's wing, covered in white scales, radiating an aura of magnificent power, and shining a million times more beautifully than the multicolored fiery wing on the right, a light a million times more beautiful than the stars! People couldn't help but kneel before its power and majesty as they gazed upon it; the king, the merchants, and any onlookers had already knelt, and dared not rise!
Its entire body was similarly covered in white dragon scales, radiating majesty and power. No one dared look at the claws extending from its hands and feet, for they felt a strange sensation that their souls would instantly be torn apart if they did!
Those eyes... the most striking feature of its entire body was its eyes. Its right eye, like its right wing, shone with multicolored fire, but the brightness of the fire emanating from its wing was inconceivably different from the brightness of its eye! Only one eye; people tried to look at that shining eye, but those who looked for more than a second were already lying on the ground, breathless! After seeing this, other people stopped looking into its eyes.
But a large portion of them succumbed to curiosity and wondered about its left eye. As they suspected, its left eye radiated more brilliance than its right, giving off a magnificent sense of power and majesty!
When this entity appeared, the only change around them was people kneeling and those who saw its eyes lying breathless on the ground; no pressure was exerted.
However, the people around knew that this entity didn't need to exert any pressure. Why would someone who could easily kill those they looked at bother to exert pressure?
Regardless, they continued to kneel with their heads down, unable to dare move. They swore they would remain like this forever unless the entity gave the order!
Meanwhile, Shun looked at his own hands and checked his body with his spirit. After a while, he chuckled softly.
"I think it was successful."