The Primeval Era-Chapter 154: I Remember You! II

Damian saw and felt them enter the Cradle of First Flames.

His consciousness spread across every inch of this paradise, awareness painted through clouds above and soil below and vegetation throughout. He felt the first Velociraptor’s clawed foot press into sacred earth. He felt the grass bend and break beneath that weight. He felt the tremor of violation spreading through ground that had been virgin moments ago.

And he felt the invaders not care at all.

They trampled blue grass that had sprouted from his Mana without a second glance. They crushed flowers that bloomed in colors belonging to legends. Their Velociraptors tore furrows through soil enriched by rain he had personally released from clouds he personally inhabited. The crimson tide spread across his garden like a stain, destroying beauty with every step forward.

Captain Alex walked at the head of this desecration, those star-filled eyes sweeping across wonders with nothing but calculation and greed.

Damian’s fury surged fucking higher.

He had already sent warnings. Uncle Adam had pulled the harvesting parties back toward the Purple Stone Tribe the moment Damian detected the approaching army. Serala had positioned herself near the mountain’s base, her cultivation stabilized and ready. Grandmother Essun was organizing the newly awakened Warriors into something resembling defensive formations, her sharp tongue cutting through confusion with practiced efficiency.

And the massive Inkanyamba had coiled itself behind the mountain he had raised, its serpentine body hidden from view but ready to strike at his command, his Beast Form was beside it.

The tribesmen who had been harvesting were all withdrawn now.

At this moment, it was him monitoring everything.

He didn’t fully know how to quantify the enemies that had entered his domain. Their Mana signatures were powerful, yes, but power came in many forms. Vessel Completion Warriors were dangerous, but he had killed one already. Whatever lay beyond Vessel Completion was territory he hadn’t explored.

So he let them be surrounded by his Mana first.

The energy permeating every blade of grass and every drop of moisture and every particle of air in the Cradle of First Flames responded to his will. It wrapped around the invaders without their knowledge, touching their flesh, sensing their cultivation, measuring their power with precision that only intimacy could provide.

And then he asked his Mana to give him their information.

White words bloomed before his eyes.

|Entity Analysis: Sir Alex.|

|Title: Royal Captain of the Dominion of Crimson Stone. Former Vakochev Royal Captain.|

|Age: 127 summers.|

|Cultivation: Half-Step Eighth Circle - Physique Master.|

|Note: Has achieved partial mastery over Land and Sky Physique. Power output exceeds standard Seventh Circle by factor of three.|

|Land and Sky Physique: Stellar Sovereign Gaze.|

|Threat Assessment: Extreme.|

...!

Half-Step Eighth Circle!

More information flowed.

|Entity Analysis: Imperator Valdris.|

|Age: 94 summers.|

|Cultivation: Seventh Circle - Physique Awakening.|

|Land and Sky Physique: Crimson Storm Heart.|

|Capabilities Detected: Can generate and control storms infused with crimson lightning. Storm intensity scales with emotional state. Lightning strikes carry corrosive properties that damage cultivation channels.|

|Threat Assessment: High.|

|Entity Analysis: Imperator Morath.|

|Age: 118 summers.|

|Cultivation: Seventh Circle - Physique Awakening.|

|Land and Sky Physique: Stone Titan’s Flesh.|

|Capabilities Detected: Skin can harden to density exceeding mountain stone. Physical strength amplified by factor of fifty when Physique is active. Regeneration accelerated while standing on natural earth.|

|Threat Assessment: High.|

|Entity Analysis: Imperator Serath.|

|Age: 89 summers.|

|Cultivation: Seventh Circle - Physique Awakening.|

|Land and Sky Physique: Phantom Step.|

|Capabilities Detected: Can phase through physical matter for brief intervals. Movement speed approaches instantaneous during phase transitions. Can partially exist in two locations simultaneously.|

|Threat Assessment: High.|

Damian observed these details with burning eyes.

Three Seventh Circle Warriors with awakened Second Tier Physiques. One Half-Step Eighth Circle monster with a partially mastered Third Tier Physique. And behind them, an army of thousands whose individual weakness became collective threat through sheer numbers.

Could he take them on?

He gauged the level of Mana within himself and his beast body resting on the mountain above. He measured the white droplets of dense Mana that had formed from his Primordial Mana Core throughout the night. He calculated the reserves stored within clouds spanning more than twenty miles. He considered the vegetation and soil and water of an entire paradise that responded to his will.

The discrepancy in cultivation was vast.

His Second Doctrine facing Seventh and Eighth Circle Warriors.

But Damian’s expression grew firm.

His Second Doctrine didn’t follow reasonable measures.

Who decided that Seventh and Eighth Circle Warriors could not be faced by him? Who wrote the rules saying that cultivation circles were the only metric of power? Who declared that a being whose consciousness spanned twenty miles of sky and whose blood painted an entire paradise couldn’t challenge those who had simply lived longer?

Today might be a day for answers.

He stood atop one of the massive Ancient Pillars, those Land Trees that stretched miles toward the heavens. The canopy around him rustled with wind that responded to his mood, leaves of impossible colors dancing in patterns that matched his heartbeat. From this height, the army below looked like insects crawling across his garden.

Insects that needed to be reminded whose garden this was.

His human body was wrapped in simple Dross garments, rough-woven cloth that concealed nothing of the power radiating from his flesh. His dark hair glinted with blue-gold light, strands catching luminescence that had no external source. His eyes burned with blue-gold flames, pupils shaped like wings framing irises that held depth belonging to something far older than eighteen summers.

He jumped.

The descent was glorious.

Wind rushed past him as he fell through open air, miles of altitude bleeding away in moments that stretched like hours. His aura blazed around him, blue-gold flames trailing from his form like the tail of a comet. The clouds above rumbled in response to his movement, thunder echoing across the Cradle of First Flames as their master made his presence known!

Oh!

He did not fall like someone subject to gravity.

He descended like a king returning to claim what was his.

Sir Alex looked up first. Those nine-pointed star pupils widened as they detected the approaching signature, power readings that shouldn’t belong to anything descending from the sky. The Imperators around him followed his gaze, hands moving toward weapons, stances shifting toward combat readiness.

The army below stirred with confusion.

Damian floated down gently, his descent slowing as he approached the ground. He landed without sound, feet touching grass that bent to welcome him rather than breaking beneath his weight. The vegetation around him seemed to lean toward his presence, flowers turning like they were facing a sun!

He stood before the army of thousands.

He stood before the Imperators with their awakened Physiques.

He stood before Sir Alex, the traitor who had helped destroy everything he once loved.

And he kept his gaze fixed on those star-filled eyes without flinching.

"Royal Captain Alex."

His voice emerged calm and cold, carrying across the sudden silence with clarity that needed no amplification.

"You seem to have done well for yourself after all these years."

A smile crossed his features, but it held no warmth.

"Betraying my father must have been very profitable."

BOOM!

The words landed like physical blows.

He left any fear behind. He left any pretenses of being a simple Dross farmer surviving in the Threshold Lands. He was not his old self, the powerless prince hiding in anonymity while enemies celebrated the destruction of his bloodline.

He was something else now.

And today, he wanted answers.

His presence pressed against the garden he controlled, Mana responding to his will throughout every inch of the Cradle of First Flames. The ground beneath the army’s feet trembled. The vegetation around them rustled with sounds that had nothing to do with wind. The very air grew thick with power that announced ownership in terms no cultivator could misunderstand.

Sir Alex’s eyes opened wide with incredulity and shock.

...!

Those eyes.

Oh, those eyes!

The traitor almost moved back instinctively, his body responding to recognition before his mind could process what he was seeing. It was like looking at an illusion, like gazing upon a ghost that had crawled from memories he had buried years ago.

Emperor Vakochev.

For a single heartbeat, Sir Alex saw the Emperor himself standing before him, those burning eyes filled with cold rage, that presence commanding absolute attention, that aura declaring sovereignty over everything it touched!

But no.

Not the Emperor.

The son!

The heir whose fate had never been confirmed, whose body had never been found among the ruins, whose survival had been dismissed as impossible by everyone who had participated in the empire’s destruction.

Sir Alex recognized the older Young Lugal who many thought dead.

He recognized and remembered Damian Vakochev!