I Can Assimilate Everything

He was already there!

Such terrifying words caused General Lydia to remain utterly still as she looked over Achilles up and down.

As if she was trying to gauge the depths of his existence.

"Okay."

She could give a light nod.

"Let me know what region you arrive in…"

General Lydia stood as well, understanding that their meeting had reached its conclusion.

She pulled her silver cloak back around herself, the fabric flowing like liquid moonlight until she was once again shrouded in pragmatic invisibility.

"I'll send you the location of the General- this one stemming from the Void Dominion Empire" she said. "His current assignment, his defenses, his known capabilities. What you do with that information is up to you but please…do not get yourself killed before you grow."

General Lydia moved toward the portal that would take her back to her ship, but paused at the threshold. She looked back at him, and for the first time since entering, something like hope flickered in her amber eyes.

"I never knew your father as I only heard stories about him and the Empire that he led, but if he were here, I am sure that your father would be proud," she said quietly. "Not of the vengeance, but of the vision. The possibility that his son might succeed where all previous Emperor Kings failed."

…!

Then she was gone, the portal sealing behind her with the sound of possibility crystallizing into plan.

Achilles stood alone in the private room that existed outside normal space, surrounded by vistas of other planes, his reflection caught in the crystal of his empty glass.

General Kaelus Dravenhold.

From the memories of his father that he had seen in the lineage dreams, which one was this entity?

The Last Adrastia Emperor King smiled as he thought of the future. For now…he had to get stronger!

—

In an entirely different region of the vast Star Seas, another body of Achilles floated in the serene emptiness between worlds.

This version of him wore no crown, bore no suit of impossible materials…he simply existed in the void, his form sustained by will alone as he gazed at distant constellations that told stories in languages older than matter itself.

The meeting with General Lydia played through his consciousness like a symphony being analyzed note by note.

But it wasn't her words about alliance or revenge that occupied his thoughts…it was that single word she had used with such weight- Regulations.

Something that a certain Singularity had given him even more information about!

"So," he spoke aloud, his voice carrying through vacuum that shouldn't have conducted sound, knowing that only one entity could hear him in this absolute isolation. "Regulations…"

He rotated slowly in the weightlessness, his purple-gold hair drifting like solar flares in slow motion.

"Regulations are not laws in any sense," he continued, addressing the nothingness that was everything. "They're not rules that can be broken or codes that can be rewritten. They are the pillars…no, more than that. They are the very bones upon which the flesh of existence hangs. The structural integrity of reality itself."

A meteor passed in the distance, its tail of burning ice creating temporary beauty before physics claimed it.

"When existences tap into enough breadth of their being, when they build foundations tremendous enough to rival stellar bodies…suns that burn for billions of years, neutron stars that warp space-time with their density, black holes that redefine what their 'existence' even means…only then do they become capable of perceiving and truly understanding Regulations. Like…whats a good analogy? Like children finally tall enough to see over a wall that was always there."

Achilles extended his hand, watching cosmic radiation play across his fingers in patterns that would have killed a normal being instantly.

"The Monkey King, Sun, is fascinating in this regard. A selected champion of the Cosmic Singularity who could sense and utilize the Regulation of Destiny despite never building the traditional foundation. His selection gave him a shortcut, a cheat code to perceive what should have taken eons to understand."

He paused, considering his own situation with something approaching amusement.

"And then there was someone like me…."

He had gone through brute force to first take the Regulation of Destiny!

The implications cascaded through his consciousness as he continued his words to the listening void.

"Once someone understands a Regulation, they've essentially grasped part of the very structure of the Star Seas. And if one can alter or manipulate something that others depend on for their very existence... the power becomes terrifying in scope."

His Great Great…Grandfather had said this! That Regulations were everything!

He began listing examples of which The Cosmic Singularity, Ethemia, had told him about.

"Beyond the obvious ones like Destiny or Fate, beyond the elemental simplicities of Fire or Water, there are Regulations that others do not even aspire to grasp due to how grand they are. The Regulation of Entropy, The Regulation of Quantum Coherence…determining when possibilities collapse into realities. The Regulation of Dimensional Membrane…"

His voice grew more contemplative as he delved deeper into the Regulations as if he was picking and choosing!

"The Regulation of Causal Chains…the threads that connect action to consequence across space and time. The Regulation of Information Density…how much knowledge can exist in a given space before it collapses into paradox. The Regulation of Consciousness Resonance…why some beings can communicate across impossible distances while others remain forever isolated."

Achilles turned his attention to a nearby nebula, its clouds of cosmic dust creating new stars even as he watched.

He sighed and continued as he put all the knowledge he had together.

"Each Regulation is both independent and interconnected. Master one, and you gain insight into others. Master enough, and you begin to see the blueprint of existence itself. Is this correct…Ethemia?"

He was talking to thr void, but there was a listener!

The response came as certainty inserted directly into reality.

|Yes|

HUUM!

The single word from the Cosmic Singularity carried more weight than libraries of explanation.

Achilles smiled, the expression holding both satisfaction and anticipation.

"So for someone like me," he said, stretching out his hand toward the apparent emptiness of space, "who can assimilate absolutely anything, what of the Regulation of..."

He paused, his enhanced perception focusing on something that most beings couldn't even conceptualize, let alone perceive.

"Spatial Tension."

The words emerged with the weight of revelation.

"The invisible framework that keeps space from collapsing into itself, that maintains the distance between atoms, between planets, between galaxies. The thing that makes 'here' different from 'there,' that allows movement and separation to exist at all. It makes up the surrounding existence itself…we swim through it like fish through water, never realizing the medium that enables our very being."

His hand remained extended, and his next words carried the confidence of someone about to violate fundamental principles of reality.

"Today, I shall assimilate it!"

…!