Chapter 150: Ascension
Carl activated the remodelling skill and added an extra room just of the lounge and then followed the instructs Kyubi gave and fulfilled the requests she made.
"...Lastly, a little station over there, in case any of the children want to learn."
Carl nodded and fulfilled the final request and Kyubi carefully passed Kitsunoko over to Klaire so she could hug Carl, but as she stepped towards him, he collapsed.
"Carl!" They both shouted, but went unheard, Kyubi examined him but there was nothing wrong that she could see.
"It's like he's a normal person undergoing cultivation, just catatonic." Klaire said as Kyubi knelt down and placed his head on her lap.
"I agree, there's nothing wrong with his mind or soul that I can feel. Tiamutael, Sweetie, can you fetch Sis? She might shed some light on the situation."
"Sorry Mum, looks like she disappeared. I think I can kind of see her inside him, but I'm really not sure. Dad doesn't look like other people most of the time, so I can't see what's wrong with him when something's wrong."
"Don't worry Sweetie, you did your best. Can you fetch Lydia and Lillim please, they might know more."
"Good idea, Lydia can watch for normal ailments, since he's not im-..." Kyubi cocked her head to one side. "...Tiamutael, sorry but could you send us all to the sparring room, then you need to bring everyone of the immortals over. You all need to lay down as well."
Tiamutael wasted no time doing as his mum asked of him, laying down where he appeared. "What's going on Mum? Are we sick?"
"No. Sorry I wasn't clear, you need to bring Levi, Omedra and Squidge too..." Kyubi let him bring the others over, then continued. "...Carl's cultivation is creation based, he passed out after making me a room to make clothes, I think he just reached five stars."
As Kyubi finished speaking the others all went into something like a trance as a system message display and the immortals each approached one of them conjuring pillows and blankets.
Lillim went to Squidge, Faylorna went to Klaire, Bahamut went to Levi, Tiamat went to Omedra, Tiamutael placed his sisters between realms then brought their beds in and pulled them back into them.
[ CARL HAS REACHED FIVE STARS ]
[ KLAIRE HAS REACHED FIVE STARS ]
[ SQUIDGE HAS REACHED FIVE STARS ]
[ LEVI HAS REACHED FIVE STARS ]
[ KITSUNOKO HAS REACHED FIVE STARS ]
[ OMEDRA HAS REACHED FIVE STARS ]
[ RAZIEL HAS REACHED FIVE STARS ]
"Mum, I'm still awake."
"Sorry Sweetie, I was so surprised I forgot you were already immortal."
Faylorna and Lillim looked at him, then at Kyubi. "You could have told us."
"I didn't know until this morning, it seems only the twins did."
"Indeed, we weren't actually allies at that point so we had no reason not to look..." Tiamat answered.
"...But when Carl asked us to keep it to ourselves we were hardly going to risk angering the man who had just created an immortal in front of us like it was nothing."
Kyubi smiled as she stroked Carl's face. "I'm surprised you two honestly honoured that little request of his."
Her eyes never left Carl, but Lillim and Faylorna knew she was referring to them and each made a transparent excuse in some feeble attempt to mask that they had done so out of respect.
Kyubi smiled again then shifted to the otherside to check on Klaire.
"Mum, what's happening?"
"They're bodies are changing, much the same as how no living being remembers the trauma of their own birth, the same applies to their rebirth into immortals."
"How long has it been since the last creature actually achieved the fifth star?" Faylorna asked, genuinely curious because of the nature of her own rebirth and lack of interest in anything but filling the void the loss of her clan left.
"Hmm.. I suppose most who have it are born with it, I think it was probably either that human variant about six-hundred years ago, or maybe one of my daughters... Not sure which one happened first with the time difference."
"And how long exactly since the last time a creature became the first of their kind to become a five star creature."
"Well, to put it simply, the last time it happened; stars didn't even exist. We called it ascension back then and it was the very man that seems to be Carl's antithesis, Gilgamesh. Kyubi, may we call on Nergal? I think he should be here for this."
"Fine, he helped Carl train, but I swear I won't let a casual death-threat slide this time."
Lillim looked to Tiamutael, who gave her a playful salute he had clearly picked up from his kid-vids and then immediately after that Nergal appeared along with one of the death-lions.
Nergal looked around, confused by his surroundings, then he walked over before realising that Tiamutael had brought one of his pets along with him. "Hold. Young man, please remember they are dangerous, now what's going on here?"
"They are ascending, we thought you'd like to be here to honour the occasion." Lillim explained, far more casually than she usually did.
"Ascending? Five thousand years since the first of a species and now seven achieve it at once.Indeed, I'll pass it along. Unfortunately though, this will draw attention, are you sure you want me to?"
Kyubi sighed. "I don't, but it's not my choice, you'll have to ask my loves and children what they want."
"Well, whatever they decide, we're throwing a damn party for us at least. Anyway, we should prepare, we'll form a full defence right from the start.
"Mum? Their auras Sweetie, they will pulse like Mummy's did when she evolved on Lugaria, but there will be seven of them."
"I'm not sure I can help."
"That's okay, just step back and give it your all in case it gets past us. It won't hurt you or anyone, but it will be unpleasant. Like Scylla felt when you looked at her, but far more intense."
Tiamutael nodded then, squeezed the hands he was holding as he sat between two of his siblings and then followed his mother's instructions.
The gathered immortals each wished them all an easy ascension, then stepped back and activated their barriers to contain the impending storm of aura release.
"Don't waste the energy separating them from each other, if I know my grandson and the others at all, their auras will probably only reach out and defend them from any potential threats. Our job is containment because we already Carl's can encompass the entire world if he doesn't control its output." Lillim barked like she was commanding her forces.
When everyone else had organised and acted, Nergal extended his own, reinforcing and binding the others together to make it far more solid than they had at the duel. "I'm not underestimating them this time, if they break me, I'll sign over my services."
As he said it, Tiamutael tried to recreate what he had seen Nergal do to great effect. The result was a unified barrier that was layered with a dispersing field that would simply neutralise any aura that touched it by sending it to the space between realms.
"Did I do it right Mum?"
"You did amazing Sweetie, but remember to focus. Now what were you saying Nergal?"
Nergal just rolled his eyes, which was a strange expression given the leonin features of the upper half of his face. "That doesn't count, I said if they break it, not make it indestructible in this circumstance... You're raising a fine son."
"Shut up, we're raising two fine sons and four fine daughters."
As Kyubi finished talking, the others snickered and then the combined auras of those contained smashed into the barrier.
"What in the laws is going on? How did it even reach the barrier?"
"It must be Carl, his is unifying everyone else's and finding the gaps in Tiamutael's, admit it; if it weren't for Tiamutael, we'd be struggling right now."
"Denying it is pretty pointless, If they can pull this off at will, they'll be a nightmare for anyone they face."
"Would be, yes. If we ever intended to let the children fight alongside us, which we don't."
Nergal let slip a sigh of relief as covertly as possible.
"Thank the laws for protective parents, I'm glad you have a different style to Lillim."
"I am here you know. If my daughters posed this much of a threat, I'd never let them run wild, my duty is to be a dedicated life-taker in opposition to those who are dedicated life-givers. It's just balance on a grander scale, I would never let them take more life than is given."
Faylorna suddenly yelped as the second pulse smashed into the barrier. "Tch, it seems I've been replaced entirely, retirement here I come."
"Don't you even think of retiring before me Fay, I was working in time to steal your first kiss." Lillim spat bitterly. "You can wait til my little black sheep awakens to her full potential."
Then as the third pulse smashed into them, they were all taken by surprise enough to lose a bit of ground with the barrier as Aegis spoke.
"Mistress, while the others are occupied, would you like me to take the young master to keep him occupied?"
"Aegis, if you take him, this barrier will fall and we'll have to deal with Nergal lingering."
"I will refrain then, the Master's opinion may have improved, but it would sour his mood greatly to see him on a regular basis. Would you like any snacks or refreshments bringing?"
"Aegis, seriously, I appreciate the sentiment but we need to focus. It may be wise to let anyone that was with Sis what happened so they don't panic."
"She was with Grandmas Leanna and Alisha."
With that, the fourth pulse smashed into the barrier and Faylorna admitted to feeling a little strain.
"This is why Lillim and I told you to practice and grow. You got lazy and wasted a lot of potential..."
As they bantered the pulses kept coming increasingly aggressive and powerful. Showing no signs of slowing down, by the fifteenth minute Tiamat and Faylorna had both expressed feeling the strain.
"Mum, can I try something? I want to see if my skills can help."
"Swe-"
"Let him, this is getting rough and laws know what this combined aura of theirs will do to those of us not considered family. It can't get any worse, but chances are we're going to be in trouble before the end."
"Fine. Do it Tiamutael."
"Yes!..." Kyubi rolled her eyes at his excitement, thinking it was his sister's influence, but then giggled to herself as he pulled a series of strange poses and helped her realise it was the kid-vids again. "...Scales of Order, Scales of Chaos, Unite!..."
With that the others couldn't help chuckling to themselves over his shameless enjoyment of youth.
"...Scales of Balance!" Then they all realised that he wasn't just using skills, he was playing with laws and what was more, they were letting him.
The laws sensed his desires and the vivid image he had of his mind, then enacted it.
In an instant the barrier and the aura release from those within became perfectly balance in power, turning it to a spear that can pierce everything and a shield that truly couldn't pierce anything.
It was instantly brought to a total stalemate.
"Well done, Sweetie! You're amazing, but stay focused."
Despite Kyubi's warning the next two hours of containment barely felt like light daily-exercise, right up until everyone woke up.
---Message from the author---
A hundred and fifty chapters and sitting at 1.04K collections at time of writing. Seriously guys, thank you so much.
If you want to join the discord I've set up, I'd love to hear your theories regarding the story and welcome name suggestions as I struggle with them so damn much... Sorry Sis.
Message from the author.
By the way every, please keep an eye out for my new book "Guarding The Final Boss" It won't effect this books releases, just more content to enjoy.
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