He could distinctly feel that this mountain held an unsolved, subtle danger—alongside the growing realization that at the peak of the Holy Hyacinthus Mountain Flower, something waited.
Something a hundred times grander than the Aeonic Evolutius Core he had swallowed from Luna and the Lunar Dreadnought vessel not long ago.
He had a general understanding that with the resurgence of Ancient Ones, Aeonic Treasures were also blooming across the Cenotaph Wild Lands, but he didn't know why. Or how.
He knew the answers would come with time. For now, white flames began to gather around him and Rose, both adorned in the gloriously beautiful and exotic purple-gold Primordium Evolutius Magitech Suits.
He reached for the nearby communication device and voiced a message into it, glancing back at the cluster of over a dozen suits he was leaving behind atop the Primal Neon Tower.
"There's a little present for you all to try on on the Primal Neon Tower. Also distribute them to those you trust—Major David, Eloise… Rose and I are heading down to see what's happening around the Holy Hyacinthus Mountain Flower."
He sent the message to Luna, Nyxaria, and Dr. Shaw. Then, in the next instant, light wrapped around him as teleportation took him from the heart of Neon to the outer fringes—where his swirling legions of Draconic Hybrids circled.
Their gazes were fierce, and the closer they drew to the Holy Hyacinthus Mountain Flower, the more aggression stirred from the nearby beasts. Still, Achilles continued to expand his Draconian Pathogenicity V- an unseen wave of Spores pressing steadily toward the mountain.
But just as the spores began rolling toward the base of the mountain to delve deep into it...
He felt resistance. His spores weren't able to blanket or pierce the mountain's depth!
As though a powerful, natural force shielded it—one of the same terrifying energies surrounding the unknown Aeonic Treasure that Entities were now ascending the mountain to claim.
"What is it?" Rose asked, noticing the shift in his expression.
"It's the first thing I've found that actually feels like a mystery."
He answered slowly, the two of them flying down toward the base of the mountain-sized flower.
"Somehow, this mountain holds a powerful Aeonic Treasure—but it's not something you can just walk up to and take. It's either buried in danger or surrounded by energy so volatile, only a Sky Dharma King or an Astral Core Ascension entity could break through. And even then, others will be waiting to fight you for it…"
He tried to articulate what he sensed as he activated Ecological Empathy III, studying the mountain before them that… wasn't really a mountain.
A mountain-sized flower.
Rose nodded thoughtfully at his words.
"If my Little Fatty gets that Aeonic Treasure, just assimilate it right away. Don't even give anyone a chance. Better yet—why not just assimilate the whole dang mountain?"
She said it so casually, Achilles froze in the sky.
She was right. Couldn't he… just do that?
Rose blinked as she noticed him pause, then gave him a mischievous look.
Could he ignore the rules and restrictions around the treasure? His spores couldn't enter through the silent, invisible barrier—but beasts and Ancient Ones were managing just fine.
So what if he sent his vines which were an extension of himself? If he reached the base—touching the stalk of the flower, could he assimilate the whole thing?
A slow, brilliant smile stretched across his face. He imagined the Ancient Ones, some already at Land and Sea Dharma King levels, maybe even two Sky Dharma Kings gathering around as he...he could possibly take the very thing they all sought!
"Well, we won't know until we try…"
He tapped his feet mid-air. From them, transparent crystal veins spread and extended toward the distant mountain ahead.
The Evolutius Beasts and Behemoths bellowed below.
Achilles looked down, eyes flashing dangerously.
Every single beast nearby trembled- and went quiet.
Even though his spores couldn't enter the mountain, they had already covered the surrounding region. Every beast here held his spores inside them, and with a thought, he could change everything about their Existence.
After the silence settled, he neared the perimeter, an invisible barrier enclosing the mountain, and as his vines moved toward it.
He felt something. A strange flash, like a scan.
Something was checking to confirm he was organic- or at least carried the breath of life.
His vines passed through effortlessly.
So even without stepping into the mountain himself, his vines crept toward the hazy, glowing purple base…
If they could just touch it...
He wouldn't have to compete for the Aeonic Treasure.
He could devour the entire Holy Hyacinthus Mountain Flower.
But just as that was about to begin.
A cry shattered the air from far, far away.
A fearsome, ancient cry that brought suffocating dread with it. Rose froze- shocked, eyes wide.
A cry from the depths of her lineage.
The cry of the Ancient Millennium Acheron Phoenix!
She turned toward it—toward the massive creature, a mile long, flying in from the horizon. Even from hundreds of miles away, its majesty rippled outward.
Behind it, an entire flock of phoenixes echoed its arrival. A collection of living fire and fury.
Achilles turned stern, his expression shifting.
That....was an Astral Core Ascension entity!
He could feel it. The difference. Land, Sea, even Sky Dharma Kings—none compared to this.
Before that cry, even he felt…small.
Rose's eyes gleamed with a somber light. She touched her chest.
"That cry… it made my physiology react. A Phoenix cry. You don't think… my Ethereal Physiology brought them here, right?!"
She asked with seriousness and complex emotions as Achilles shook his head heavily.
"I don't know. But… be ready for anything."
Astral Core Ascension.
He wasn't ready to face a powerhouse like that- and he didn't even know how much of its strength had returned.
He pushed his body to leap toward Dharma Manifestation at such a perilous turn of events.
They reached for the massive stalk of the Holy Hyacinthus Mountain Flower…