Lowly Ascent

When someone reaches the Fusion Stage, they typically don't try to fuse all or any of their harnessed souls, instead taking the less dangerous path and becoming one with them. This created many different characters throughout the history of the Spirits Lands.

However, for Cain, he didn't plan to use such a method. Instead, he wished to devour the souls in his body and turn their powers into his own.

To do this, he needed their origins. It was a battle of souls, where the Cultivator would devour the souls of those he harnessed or have their own eaten, all the while they were bombarded with heavenly calamities.

With the Heavenly Spirit gone, the calamities were weaker, only instinctively reacting to the energy released by Cain.

"Hahaha! So exciting!"

In his mindscape, multiple figures appeared. They were the souls once housed in Cain's body, but now they were fusing with his soul.

The Desire Demon frowned. "Shit, this bastard plans to-"

In the sky, a large round orb opened to reveal a blood red eye, watching the six souls with interest.

"What type of soul is this!" The Demon of Desire never saw the features of Cain's soul other than the blood-covered ground. He was frightened to see such an object.

From the realm of blood, a charming voice echoed.

"I've been called many names, Monster, God of Destruction, Friend, Murderer, Horror of Unknown, Food, Imperial Demon. I've lived for a long while and I must say, this Territory has the strongest populous, be it the humans or you creatures born from Heaven and Earth. Your weaknesses aren't overwhelming and your strengths are evident. I am happy to devour you to advance myself!"

The blood rippled and the world rumbled, from the horizon a massive figure was coming toward the six souls.

"H-He's coming!"

Before the souls could run, bones floated to the surface and constructed into mismatched bodies, using their hands to keep the souls in place.

"No! Let go! Damn it all!"

None of the spirits struggled except the Heavenly Spirit, all the while the Thousand-Faced Spider gave up, shivering in the back of the group.

It was too late, Cain was before them, his soul in the form of a giant centipede. Thousands of other souls were in his shell, their faces crying out or silent, accepting their fate.

Cain's voice was horrifying.

"Join me!"

The Demon of Desire began to mentally collapse. "No! No! I refuse! No! Anything but this! I don't want such an end!" It was worn out but its freedom was so close, how could he let it end now?

...

Cain opened his eyes, licking his lips. The calamities stopped, his destroyed body regenerating at a fast pace.

"Hahaha! Now these abilities truly belong to me!"

No matter how much they resisted, the Heavenly Spirit and the Desire Demon were no match for Cain who specialized in consuming and devouring souls. Their origins left them before they could even counterattack.

"Although I haven't completed the Dao it doesn't matter if I have the core! It's time for the finale!"

Cain's hands grabbed the core and he directly fused with it without hesitation.

As a result, he fell into a dream. Murky murmurs and cloudy objects filled the world. 

"Above mortals, above Immortals, there was the Dao." These words reverberated.

In his sight, Cain could see powerful people and frightening demons, countless worlds with a few thousand of these Worlds glowing brighter than the rest.

One world shined the most, around it were thousands of strange formations. From it, Cain could sense many eyes looking at him, but they were only phantoms of the past.

Above this glowing world, there was a staircase enshrouded in beautiful clouds.

Cain blinked and was on this staircase, walking up it, trying to reach the top. Along the way, he saw many other people also walking on the staircase, they came from all walks of life and had differing appearances.

The dream continued, Cain took step after step, but after reaching a certain point, he stopped.

A voice entered his ears, "That's far enough. I can't help you anymore, now you must help yourself."

Cain turned but he only saw himself. This self had glowing white eyes, the clouds around them were fusing with this strange copy of him.

It was the Dao.

The dream ended and Cain woke up. The first thing he did was feel his chest.

"It fused in an instant...."

Because Cain cultivated to this point, and with the weird dream, the core rapidly melted and fused with his soul. This was the fastest digestion to date.

"So the core was a fragment of the Dao. It seems that the Dao was grand before, no wonder this territory was not like the rest."

Cain grinned, with the Dao Core, his strength increased by a large degree.

"During that Dream, I connected with the Different Dao's. Fire, Deception, Desire, Heaven, Sword, and Space. It could be said I pulled these Dao's from the main one, and when I fused with the Dao Core I gained the fragments of these Dao's, allowing me to keep my powers..."

This was a massive gain for Cain. He was excited, he finally got his objective and could now try out his new powers.

"Time to have some fun, It's time to show these mortals what a god looks like! Hahaha!" Power surged from Cain, Six projections appeared behind his back while red ascended upward, destroying the secluded grove and opening it up to the outside world.

...

"Look!"

"What's that!"

"Why is there a red pillar?!"

Everyone had the same thoughts, but only a select few understood what the pillar meant.

The Living Immortal could already feel it, he was connected deeply with the territory and had measures in place to sense such a change.

"He....he took the core! No! No this can't be!"

This entire time, the Immortal was fighting against the enemy only to have another sneak up behind and ruin everything. His plans failed, he could do nothing but watch this territory eventually die and the powers that made it so grand wither.

"I'll kill you, I'll kill the both of you invaders!" The Immortal no longer cared for his life, he was like a berserker as he charged at the Sky Ruler.

Meanwhile, Cain took in the sight of the new scenery.

"So the system struck, I would guess so. Does that mean I should leave? At least let me try my new abilities first!"

With the new core, Cain had gained another pillar. With it in place, the recovery of the Dream Core also increased.

"Let's see, there's some fighting over there, let me check it out!"

Before Cain could move, thousands of lightning bolts descended on his head.

"I don't think so."

His hand spread out and he grabbed the lighting with his bare fists.

"Do you think using power that belongs to the territory I just devoured will help? You dare use the power I hold against me?!"

A blue screen appeared, [Insolent Defiance!]

Hundreds of thousands of bolts gathered, their black sheen blotting out the clouds that formed them.

"How daft." Waving his hand, the earth crunched and split under Cain's command.

Rumble!

Pillars of magma exploded from the crevices of the earth, climbing towards the sky. Hundreds of columns hit thousands of bolts. Stray electricity and magma flew everywhere, mortal villages were destroyed like ant hills, and cities were ravaged by liquid fire that flowed like a river.

The world cried.

"Hahaha! More! Give me more!"

[Insolent Insolent Insolent!]

Far away, the Sky Ruler's screen changed.

"Forceful teleportation?! What!" Before he could let out his grievances, he was put before Cain, his screen changing again.

[Eliminate Anomaly! Reward: Any request the System can Grant!]

"This....this!" The Sky Ruler's next actions were set in stone.

"I must kill this anomaly!"

In the next moment, red-infused silk webs wrapped around his body. The wires began to heat up and the Sky Ruler quickly found he was stuck in place, as if the space around him refused for him to move.

"This?"

With the tug of the string, the projection of the Sky Ruler was turned to mince meat. The fragments floating upwards, collected by the System.

"Next." Cain's attitude was overbearing.

Even the system was silent, thankfully someone was closing in on Cain for it.

"Imperial Demon!"