The Primeval Era-Chapter 103: Replication! I

Now, it had only been two days since he first uttered that letter of Persevere.

He’d felt powerful each time he used it. The flames had healed his body, raised mountains, transformed walls into living barriers. Each invocation had expanded what he thought was possible.

But at this moment...

The jump of his power was truly immense.

That golden branding from cycling the blue flames through this Noble Beast had done something to him that went beyond simple cultivation. It felt like he’d replicated whatever made her lineage unique and brought it into himself. It felt like he’d taken whatever Physique this entity possessed and copied it into his own flesh.

He’d only done this partially with Serala.

That had been his first time. He hadn’t understood what was happening, hadn’t controlled the process, hadn’t even realized a connection was being formed until afterward. The faint awareness of her location, the link that transcended distance, those had been side effects he’d stumbled into by accident.

But now he understood.

If he flooded her with his flames again, he could fully replicate whatever made her special. Whatever her Land and Sky Physique was. The Wings of the Radiant Dawn that let her take to the skies on power alone.

Of course, all of this was still just conjecture.

His theory.

It was absurd to make the leap that from utilizing a letter of the Primordial Tongue, he could gain a Land and Sky Physique. The very concept seemed to violate everything he’d ever been taught about cultivation and bloodlines and the nature of inherited power.

But hey...

There was a marking on the back of his hand.

And he felt like if he flooded it with Mana, it would cause a change!

He didn’t know what this change was, so he didn’t touch it for now. The golden inscription pulsed beneath his skin, hidden by the cluster of blue flames he’d wrapped around his hand, waiting for him to explore its secrets.

But that exploration would have to wait.

"Ah..."

He heard the soft voice of exclamation from Tiaret.

He refocused on her, realizing that the scar on her chest had actually entirely disappeared. Where that rope of corrupted green flesh had been, there was now only smooth golden skin. No trace of the infection remained. No hint of the sickness that had been slowly killing her.

She was healed.

Completely healed.

And in the next moment...

BOOM!

A pillar of primal and regal golden light erupted from Tiaret!

Damian and Masamuk were both pushed from the eruption of this pillar, their bodies flung backward by force that couldn’t be resisted. The slime tumbled through the air with a sound of surprise, its obsidian body spinning end over end. Damian twisted and caught himself, The Winds of Solomon technique stabilizing him before he could crash into the vegetation surrounding the lake.

The pillar of golden light rose higher.

Higher than the Ancestral Pillars.

Higher than the trees around them.

Higher than anything Damian had ever seen, a column of pure radiance that burned with an air of nobility so profound it made his chest ache just to witness it. This wasn’t mere Mana. This... was bloodline power that had been suppressed by sickness finally breaking free.

The figure of Tiaret floated at the center of that pillar.

Her hair shone like captured sunlight, strands of gold flowing around her as if gravity had forgotten she existed. Her skin, which had been pale and grayish moments ago, now radiated with health and vitality that seemed impossible for any being to possess. Her sunken eyes had filled out, her thin frame had strengthened, her entire appearance had transformed from a woman on the edge of death to something magnificent.

She no longer had any sickly appearance.

She seemed full of life.

And in the next moment, she opened her mouth as if to moan with relief.

But what erupted from her was a roar.

ROOOAAARRR!

The sound was nothing human.

It was the cry of a lioness who had reclaimed her throne, a declaration of power that had been chained and was now free. It swept across the clearing and up the mountain and through the forests surrounding Mount Vorrath with force that made the very air tremble.

And shockingly, many nearby beasts fell to the ground in submission!

Some Organ Sanctification creatures. Behemoths. Primal Beasts whose power should have made them bow to nothing.

They knelt as the Inkanyamba was among them!

They pressed their massive forms against the earth.

They acknowledged the return of their princess with reverence that spoke of bloodline authority older than memory!

Damian stood his ground and watched in astonishment.

The small figure of Tiaret, who had seemed so fragile in his arms, who had thanked him and apologized as if she expected him to die...

He noticed a shining golden marking on her forehead.

It seemed oddly familiar.

Too familiar.

His eyes widened slightly as he recognized the pattern. It was similar to the inscription that had formed on the back of his hand. Not identical, but clearly related. As if they’d been written in the same language, carved by the same authority.

And as this marker shone with intensity that rivaled the sun...

Tiaret began to transform.

Her humanoid form started to shift, bones rearranging, muscles restructuring, flesh flowing like water into new configurations. Her golden hair spread and thickened, becoming a mane that framed a face that was elongating, sharpening, becoming something far from human.

The transformation was grand.

It was terrifying, and it was beautiful!

She morphed from woman to beast with fluidity that made the process seem natural, inevitable, as if she’d been waiting her entire life to take this form and had finally been given permission. Her limbs shortened and strengthened, her body expanded with muscle that hadn’t existed moments before, her features refined into something that belonged to legends rather than reality.

Where a sickly young woman had floated moments ago, a regal female lioness now commanded the sky.

Her fur was gold that seemed to contain captured starlight, shimmering with inner radiance that made her difficult to look at directly. Her eyes, still those vertical pupils, burned with power that went beyond simple cultivation. Her form was massive, larger than the Noble Simbas who had accompanied her, larger than anything Damian had expected.

And above her head, a terrifying golden crown of Mana formed.

It spun slowly, a construct of pure power that declared her royalty without words. Nine golden tails flowed behind her, each one crackling with energy that could level mountains. Her feet burned with gold Mana that kept her afloat, flames of nobility that needed no technique to generate.

The aura she emanated was terrifying.

It was regal!

Many beasts across the mountain felt a unique sense of power flowing in their bloodlines as they knelt to pay their respects. Even creatures who couldn’t see her directly, who only felt the pressure of her presence, pressed themselves against stone and soil in recognition of authority they couldn’t deny.

A moment later, Damian saw those golden pupils lock onto him.

Her face showed disbelief.

Then she frowned an instant later, as if deeply troubled.

And then her voice rang out in haste, sent traveling through Mana directly into Damian’s ears alone.

"I literally cannot thank you for this impossible thing, nor do I even understand it. But you are now in grave danger."

Her voice carried urgency that made his heart pound.

"Run from here. Take Masamuk with you. I will advise him to give you whatever you need."

...!