I Can Assimilate Everything

If he could use their terrifying power, assimilate enough of their higher-scale authority… he might just be able to cut himself free!

This was the thought Achilles had as one of his Constellation Dream Bodies struggled against the crushing narrative weight of three Level Zero Scale Nar'Thyss in Star Sea Beta-13.

The universe itself seemed to hold its breath around the trapped insect.

Away from Star Sea Beta-13, in The Void.

Here, where absence was the only certainty, another of Achilles's Constellation Dream Bodies appeared beside Rose. This one wasn't engaged in battle; it was the anchor, the observer, the consciousness coordinating the impossible.

Rose, in her watery form, turned instantly.

Even across the non-distance of The Void, she could feel the pressure being exerted on his other self, the terrifying weight of a higher Scale of Existence.

Emerald fire, now tinged with sapphire resonance, blazed within her crystalline eyes. "Little Fatty!" Her voice was a symphony of cracking glaciers and boiling seas.

"What is happening?! That pressure… it's beyond anything Null Scale! How can I help?!" Rage radiated from her, the protective fury of the Primordial Genome Empress sensing a threat to her mate.

Achilles's Dream Body beside her remained calm, his platinum-laced form a stark contrast to her fiery agitation.

He reached out. "Easy... It's only slightly intense. They laid a trap, using the Tier 9s as bait. Three Level Zero Scale Nar'Thyss came."

…!

Rose's form pulsed violently. "Three?! Level Zero?! Let me go! I can…I can…!"

She stopped.

What…could she do exactly?

"…"

Her existence pulsed heavily.

"Its okay," Achilles interrupted gently but firmly. "This… this might even be an opportunity."

Rose froze, her fiery gaze locking onto his ethereal face. "Opportunity?"

"Yes," he confirmed, his eyes gleaming with the cold fire of calculation. "Assimilating their aura, the pressure they're exerting… it allowed me to see something. Chains. Countless chains binding my core existence, anchoring me to the Null Scale. I couldn't see them before. Their power is revealing the prison of existence itself."

His smile was sharp and dangerous. "And if I can see the prison bars, maybe I can use their own force to help me break them. This could be the chance. The chance to break the shackles of the Null Scale!"

HUUM!

Rose stared at him, processing the insane, audacious brilliance of his plan.

The rage in her eyes didn't vanish, but it shifted, solidifying into something colder, crueler. She looked at him closely, her voice dropping to a low, dangerous chime.

"Okay. When you do it, Little Fatty. When you get the power to suppress them… don't kill them. Not right away. Don't assimilate them just yet." Her crystalline hand clenched, radiating chilling intent.

"Allow me… to dissect them first. Let them feel just a bit of the pain they inflicted on you for their Fables. Just… a bit. Let me understand the Scale of those daring to touch you..."

…!

Achilles looked at his terrifying, magnificent woman and felt a surge of warmth that had nothing to do with stellar power. She did seem a bit crazy but...he adored thst craziness! So. He simply nodded.

"As you wish." He then closed his eyes, his consciousness focusing entirely on the other Dream Body, on the crushing purple aura, and on the newly visible chains binding his true existence!

In Star Sea Beta-13.

Pinned under the absolute narrative weight of Elara, Achilles raised his head.

The movement was infinitesimally small, achieved only by Assimilating fractions of her oppressive aura and converting it into defiance. His void-shrouded face tilted upward, an act that should have been impossible.

And he roared. Not with sound, but with pure, unadulterated will projected into the purple void.

"I! CAN! MOVE!"

He wanted her enraged. He needed her furious.

He needed more pressure, more power to drink, more force to turn against his own limitations!

Elara, the world-sized titan-butterfly, paused in her languid observation. Her many eyes narrowed. Disrespect.

Utter, infuriating disrespect from the insect she was merely playing with!

"Impudent!" Her voice was a shockwave that made the purple veil tremble.

"Just finish it, Elara," Va'thos's blood-red form pulsed with impatience. "Its Fable is growing tedious."

"Agreed," Xylar's monotone resonated.

Elara harrumphed, a sound like galaxies colliding gently. "Patience, my brothers. True narrative flavor comes from crushing hope utterly. I want to see him grovel! On his knees! Begging for an ending! Only then will I devour his Fable!"

And because of that.

Oh, because of that magnificent, predictable arrogance… she poured more authority down onto Achilles.

The purple seas of pressure became a singularity of narrative weight, intent on forcing him to his knees, on breaking his spirit before breaking his existence.

Achilles roared again, this time internally, a silent explosion of defiance.

He drank the aura, Assimilating the crushing weight faster, harder, pushing his Dream Body to the absolute brink of dissolution. The sheer volume of Level Zero authority flooding him was agony, but it was also fuel, power, the hammer he needed!

He focused all of it, every assimilated strand of higher-scale power, not outward, but inward, against the shimmering chains only he could see.

He focused on nine specific links. Nine points where the chains felt… marginally weaker, perhaps older, perhaps simply the ones his current level of borrowed power could affect. He focused his will, the assimilated Level Zero aura, and pushed.

SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP!

Nine distinct cracks resonated through his core existence, not audible sounds but the feeling of fundamental release. Nine chains, out of countless millions, shattered!

The moment they broke, a sensation of pure exhilaration flooded his being. It was like a baptism in pure potential!

His existence felt lighter, less dense, less weighed down by the rules and regulations that had defined the Null Scale.

He could perceive… more. Faint whispers of Level Zero reality, glimpses of wonders that operated beyond his previous comprehension. It was a profound, intoxicating moment of liberation!

And yet… Achilles's expression, hidden behind the void-mist, became utterly heavy. The broken chain fragments shimmered before his inner perception, beginning to fade, their purpose served, ready to dissipate back into the nothingness from which they were forged.

He roared internally, a command that shook his very soul.

'Assimilate!'

BOOM!

Towards a single, impossible target.

Towards the very Chains of Limitation that had held his existence down!

He could innately feel it – he couldn't assimilate the complete, working chains.

They were part of the fundamental structure of the Scale itself, beyond his current grasp. But the shattered chains? The broken fragments, momentarily disconnected from the grand architecture of limitation?

BOOM!

An explosion occurred within his existence, a supernova of conceptual integration. The shimmering pieces of the nine shattered chains, which had been about to fade away, were forcefully, violently drawn towards his core.

His existence, his very soul, Assimilated the very thing he had just broken free from! He didn't just break the rules; he ate them.

Glorious sets of prompts bloomed before him, blazing with platinum and void-touched light.

|IMPOSSIBILITY ACHIEVED! You have Assimilated an Aspect of Existence Itself: The Concept of Limitation (Shattered Fragment)!|

|Due to Assimilating a fundamental Aspect, your understanding of Existence has deepened.|

|New Capability Unlocked: Perception of Existential Architecture – You can now perceive the underlying structures, rules, and limitations governing different Scales of Existence.|

|Boon Granted: Corruption Nullification (Partial) – All potential Existential Corruption gained from Assimilating any weavings of Existence within the Null Scale is reduced by 95%.|

|New Capability Unlocked: Aspect Assimilation – You have gained the conceptual framework to Assimilate other fundamental Aspects of Existence, should you encounter shattered or accessible fragments.|

|Boon Granted: Resistance to Binding – Your Existence is now fundamentally more resistant to effects, authorities, or narratives that seek to limit, bind, or shackle you.|

|Existential Authority of Fables has received a conceptual boost due to Assimilating a Limitation. Narrative weight of your actions significantly increased.|

…!

Achilles stared at the prompts, his mind reeling with the implications.

He hadn't just broken the nine chains; he had learned the nature of chains. He had assimilated the idea of limitation itself, albeit a tiny fragment!

He could see Existence more clearly now, understand its rules not as immutable laws but as constructs.

The crippling threat of Existential Corruption within his own Scale was now negligible. And he could… Assimilate Aspects? Not just Regulations or Authorities, but the fundamental concepts that underpinned reality?!

…!

Oh!

Oh!!!