The Magitech Colony Dynasty began to act as soon as it received the news.
Across the Cenotaph Wild Lands, where corridors of Evolutius Catacombs snaked endlessly across the earth—filled with swarms of beasts wading through—it still found a way to spread. The news, once it entered one dynasty, would quickly bleed into another, and so on and so forth.
It would continue to spread… until the highest echelon of power—the Dynasty Keepers—were alerted to the incident.
The one responsible for all of this was currently floating outside the Kingdom of Neon.
He could see the massive satellite hovering above, gazing down like a piercing eye overseeing all of Neon.
He saw the calm vessels floating around it, as well as the towering pylons that surrounded Neon—pulsing and projecting a transparent barrier that prevented Aerial Evolutius Beasts from entering its airspace.
All of it required the coordination of multiple entities. Achilles paid close attention to this, knowing that individuals like Dr. Shaw had become crucial to keeping everything functional.
Had Shaw not overridden the commands of the Lunaris Throne, Neon would be suffering a blackout right now. Even the transparent barrier would have collapsed.
Achilles could do many things—but there were still tasks he had to entrust to others so that he wouldn't be weighed down.
After all, he still needed the freedom to roam the Cenotaph Wild Lands and claim the treasures blooming across it.
The Primordial Avatar would remain within Neon, while he moved unhindered—to seek out more to assimilate.
His thoughts were interrupted as Rose floated beside him, staring at the hundreds of thousands of Evolutius Beasts surrounding Neon.
"Little Fatty, what would you gain if you ate all of these?"
She always had the craziest thoughts. The first thing that came to her mind when she saw the tidal waves of beasts… was how her Little Fatty would benefit if he assimilated them all.
It was an amusing idea. Achilles glanced at the endless sea of beasts, his Ecological Empathy III continuously expanding outward—searching for a singular presence.
The aura of the Clockwork Ancient One, Seraphelle the Eidolarch.
She was the one stirring these beasts. She had to be controlling them remotely, which meant she couldn't be far.
He also sensed the presence of the Apex Ethereal Physiology Master, who always stood watch outside Neon. He now stood at the forefront of the maze of reinforced walls, surrounded by dozens of warships—ready to defend the city with his life.
"But if I can find the Eidolarch… no one may need to fight at all."
Rose blinked and turned to him. "What is this Eidolarch?"
It was a critical question. Achilles grew serious, recalling everything he knew from the memories of Ancient Ones he had already assimilated—and from Judge Zerrion Draal.
He turned his gaze toward a specific direction, where he had begun sensing a unique power spreading and coloring everything in its presence.
"The Eidolarch… is one of those Ancient One names people feared. She earned the title Clockwork Ancient One because of her control over time. Some say she could reverse it. Others say she could speed it up. There are whispers that she could even see glimpses of the future—or past. No one truly knew her full power, but everyone feared it. Based on what I've learned from Zerrion Draal, I'm confident enough to face her… since she shouldn't have fully recovered her strength yet. Stay close, okay?"
He said to Rose, wrapping his arm around her waist. And as his honed focus reached a distant location—dozens of miles away amid the waves of beasts—his form disappeared from that spot, along with Rose, in an instant.
The roars of beasts were deafening in this new region. As Achilles and Rose appeared in the skies, hundreds of eyes turned to them—filled with bloodlust and rage. There was no empathy in those eyes.
But Achilles looked down with a single, stern gaze. Dragon King's Haki exploded outward, crashing into the ground below. Every beast in the vicinity fell silent. Their eyes lowered.
They felt it—the imminent threat to their existence. Their instincts screamed that if they moved or made a sound, they would die.
Even the Meridian Transformation Evolutius Beasts and Ethereal Behemoths, though fewer in number, trembled under the weight of Achilles' unleashed Haki.
And in that silence, Achilles kept his gaze locked on one direction and calmly called out.
"The Clockwork Ancient One, Seraphelle the Eidolarch. It's not in your nature to hide among the weak. Or have you grown so pitifully weak since your long entombment?"
His voice was sharp. He wielded every piece of information he had, aiming to draw her out—whether she wanted to appear or not.
Massive, dogwood-like trees erupted from the ground, skewering nearby Evolutius Beasts and drinking their blood as nourishment.
In moments, a small, dark forest bloomed.
Atop one of the tallest trees, a woman in a dark purple robe appeared, legs swinging on a branch as she stared at Achilles with curious eyes.
She didn't release even a trace of power. Most wouldn't even know she was there.
And yet, Achilles had found her.
"Well, this is… unfathomably unique," she mused. "You look human in every way, and yet… you carry Primordial Energy? And Evolutius Energy, too? Did you accomplish what the Lunaris Throne is slaughtering entire cities to achieve?"
Her words shimmered with intensity.
Achilles stared at her coldly. Rose, meanwhile, was visibly astonished.
She blinked. And every time she did, the figure of the Eidolarch would flicker—appearing and vanishing—as if she existed and didn't at the same time.
Around Achilles and Rose, white flames began to burn. Subtle. Silent. Instinctive. Achilles was shielding them from something others might not even sense.
He turned to the Eidolarch, ignoring her question entirely.
"I never thought I'd see the day when the so-called Clockwork Ancient One would serve humans. The same kind you used to enslave and toy with. What exactly are you doing here now? And choose your answer carefully. The beasts you've stirred are watching my home. If you move them against it… that will mean war. And the last person who waged war against me—the one who recruited you to do this under the Lunaris Throne—is already dead."
The threat hung heavy in the air.
The woman, perched atop the dark tree, blinked. Her expression shifted into something unreadable.
Her eyes sparkled with even more curiosity as she smiled, and waves of brilliance exploded around her right after!