In the skies of the Kingdom of Neon, the figure of Rose did not sit still.
She had been granted a Limited Assimilation of an entire planet. With the physiology of a terrifying phoenix, she now bore the power of nine solid stars burning overhead.
Even though she hadn't reached Dharma Manifestation, the power she held was unlike anything others at her stage could withstand. At the very least, she displayed the same firepower as one of the Solareth and Myxilith Constructs.
Her eyes flashed with terrifying heat as, around her, the form of the green phoenix emerged—this time, astoundingly real.
Verdant feathers bloomed along its wings, glimmering tails trailing waves of exotic beauty that seemed almost forbidden, as though only an illegal phoenix could bear them.
It truly looked genuine. A legendary, ten-meter-tall phoenix soared in the skies, opening its beak to unleash scorching green rays of flame. The flames twisted into tendrils that surged forward, joining the onslaught of attacks aimed at Judge Zerrion Draal.
She had promised her Little Fatty she would be his Queen. The least she could do was fight at his side.
Nearby, Luna stood with a fervent expression. Behind her hung a dazzling silver moon—so massive it seemed like a second moon suspended above the Kingdom of Neon. Its size continued to grow as it unleashed beams of lunar brilliance that smashed downward with intense gravity toward Zerrion Draal.
Elsewhere, another daughter of Lunaris—a past princess—roared. Nyxaria Moonveil Lunaris exploded with power, her body wrapped in darkness as a Winged Obsidian Panther appeared beside her, cloaked in billowing dark flames and bearing four pairs of wings.
Its eyes pulsed with fury as it unleashed a rain of darkness that thundered toward Zerrion Draal.
Every entity was giving their all, even the figures of Selene, Major Inu, Major David, and Eloise, who appeared below—helpless in a battle far beyond them.
"Puny worm! You know not who you offend!"
Judge Zerrion Draal roared with malice and power. Every strike he hurled was matched and dispersed by six Solar and Lunar Constructs and Humanoid-Draconic Hybrids who once had been his guards.
Now, they blocked his every move, preventing him from reaching the one he needed to destroy—the one who had orchestrated it all- Achilles Maxwell.
To actually declare independence from a dynasty as grand as the Lunaris Throne... to claim this city as a kingdom of its own? How utterly preposterous.
Judge Zerrion Draal wanted to end the words—and the very existence—of such a being. But he couldn't even get past the minions summoned by him.
And worst of all, he hadn't even made a move himself yet.
When he finally did, what level of power would he unleash?
The thought only deepened his fury, and he roared again.
"You! Do! Not! Know! Anything!"
The stars behind him shifted, and the massive manifestation that cloaked him surged from fifteen meters to twenty as he went all out.
Down below, Achilles slowly rose, observing the terrifying manifestation.
It reminded him how true the scattered memories from the Ancient Ones had been—those who could summon manifestations of their Dharmic Ethereal Selves were not to be underestimated.
Every time his Constructs opposed Zerrion's strikes, their bodies nearly shattered, until the flames of the Nirvanic Sun Moon Phoenix healed them.
The Humanoid-Draconic Hybrids, his Mindless Beasts, were only able to withstand Zerrion's strikes because they possessed nine solid stars. Even so, they suffered grievous injuries and required constant healing to keep going.
Yet somehow, they managed to keep the terrifying Judge Zerrion Draal at bay.
Yes, the Judge was powerful. But Achilles... he couldn't be measured by the same standards as the ancient beings of this world—or the ones rising now.
His power scaled beyond walls thought unbreakable. And in this moment, he sought to cross the chasm between Ethereal Physiology and Dharma Manifestation.
He leaned on his most potent assimilations.
Limited Astronomical Physiology III.
Descent of the Nirvanic Sun Moon Phoenix III.
Qualities from the two strongest things he had ever assimilated.
"Keep her safe," he whispered to his Primordial Avatar III, commanding it to protect Rose from any harm.
"Descent…of the Nirvanic Sun Moon Phoenix."
Space distorted around him, as though something utterly pure in temperature began to manifest. Inside him, a white flaming sea ballooned outward, swallowing his very existence.
His lungs. His heart. His bones. The blood in his veins. Every cell in his body was engulfed by this flaming sea. And then, he began to grow.
From human...into something else.
The transformation was instantaneous.
One moment, he stood a two-meter-tall man. In the next—
A thunderous cry shattered the air, nearly destabilizing Zerrion's manifestation. In Achilles' place now hovered a radiant, majestic phoenix cloaked in luminous white flame.
These weren't ordinary flames. They shimmered like molten moonlight and gleamed like liquid starlight.
From within the inferno, Achilles was reborn.
A phoenix, regal and immense, its wings stretched wide, feathers laced with solar and lunar brilliance. Each plume glowed with pulses of sun-gold and moon-silver radiance, destruction and rebirth balanced in harmony.
Its talons glistened like forged starfire. Its head pulsed with royal might, and its eyes…bore the shape of a nine-pointed star.
Above its crown, burning halos spun—moons and suns orbiting in heavy rhythm. This…this was Achilles now!
The sight left all breathless. His form towered at twenty meters—equal in size to Zerrion Draal's manifestation.
"Limited Astronomical Physiology." He whispered.
His phoenix body began to grow again- rapidly, terrifyingly. From twenty meters to thirty. Thirty to fifty.
Where once the Dharma Manifestation had seemed insurmountable, now he looked down at it—Zerrion's size barely reaching half his new height.
His eyes burned with purpose.
From him, Dragon King's Haki V spread outward, and when paired with the weight of the Nirvanic Sun Moon Phoenix's pressure, he became something unimaginable.
A celestial beast, ready to scorch the world!