Achilles stepped back, his gaze locked with the eyes of the Princess of the Atlantian Behemoth Tribes.
For a moment, he felt like the villain.
Atlana's figure trembled, his words finally registering fully in her mind. He'd told her, plainly, that he would use her to do exactly what her people feared most.
And now, bound, unable to move or access her Primordial Energy, her mind teetered on the edge of breaking.
Even Rose, who had been glaring at the fish-tailed royal moments before, shifted her attention toward Achilles, her interest in slapping Atlana entirely gone.
"So, my King is playing mind games now?"
She called him with his other distinction with familiar affection, even as Achilles glanced down at Atlana's frozen form. His eyes drifted toward the horizon outside the Kingdom of Neon, where one Atlantian Commander and an Ancient Millennium Acheron Phoenix still waited for a signal from the princess herself.
"The Heart of Thalassara is powerful, so powerful it's making a distant continent, ruled by one of the Nine Supreme Forces, feel threatened. Until I figure out how to completely mask whatever it is that's drawing attention, I'll need to mislead both the Thalassphere Arx of the Atlantian Behemoth Tribes and the Everburn Aerie Continent."
He paused, frowning as his voice dropped lower.
"But the most concerning force of all isn't even those continents or the terrifying powerhouses they hold. No, it's something else, something I've gotten barely a whisper of from the fragmented memories of the Phoenix and Atlantian I've brought down. A figure that forced the rulers of both the Thalassphere Arx and the Everburn Aerie to bow."
"A figure known only as... the Primordial Light of Darkness."
The Primordial Light of Darkness.
Even Achilles felt a chill thread through him.
Anyone capable of commanding the movements of such massive forces was a being to be feared. Achilles knew he had to tread carefully. Drawing that being's attention before he was ready would be suicide.
He already had a vision for the future, a path that didn't involve becoming prey to a creature older, more complex, and more mysterious than even the Nine Supreme Forces.
His plan was simple: travel across the vast Plane and assimilate everything he could. Grow stronger. Use the Adrastia Imperium Vitae Ascension Codex to refine his lineage, again and again, until he reached the higher stages of existence. All while protecting the land he came from and every floating stretch that dared to rise beside it.
He had to survive the Ancient Ones.
And now, this new mystery.
The Primordial Light of Darkness.
His ultimate goal wasn't even here, in this impossibly wide Plane. It lay beyond, in the endless Star Seas where his grandfather once roamed. In the Unknown Empire where his father reigned.
Bit by bit, flashes of memories had started to return, scattered images like still frames from a forgotten dream. All thanks to the Codex, which awakened lineage-bound echoes from across generations.
He wanted more of those memories. Of his father. His grandfather. The Adrastia Emperor Kings who came before him.
Because if he could understand what destroyed them, he could destroy it in return.
That was his distant goal.
To become powerful enough, complex enough, to exact revenge on those who slaughtered the Adrastia line.
But that would take time.
Right now, he had immediate threats to handle. Threats that could kill him and Rose long before his legacy had a chance to blossom.
He needed to return to refining his bloodline, but before that, the misinformation game had to play out. The dance of shadows had to be finished.
"My other body will return soon, along with multiple Colony Cities…"
He muttered the words to himself, then turned his full attention back to Atlana's motionless figure.
"Let's put you to use, shall we? Send a message to the Atlantian Commander you left behind with that little phoenix. Tell them… there are other floating continents moving toward this stronghold. They must be stopped. Have them split up."
His gaze darkened, gleaming with a chilling brilliance as his mind already began strategizing how to gain control over the other two Astral Core Ascension entities.
He turned to Rose, his eyes glowing with purple-gold fire.
"Let's go hunt a fish and a phoenix, shall we?"
His blood pulsed. The starlight within it danced wildly, vibrating with movement and demand, begging him to return to his lineage refinement. As if it resented any moment wasted on anything else.
'Just a little longer,' he told it. 'Hold on… just a little bit longer.'
He would move swiftly.
In the skies, a few dozen miles from the Kingdom of Neon.
The Atlantian Commander and the Ancient Millennium Acheron Phoenix had been still for some time when suddenly, the Commander rose, his eyes flashing.
Silent ripples of water, faint vibrations only Atlantians could perceive, began to spread across the skies.
From Princess Atlana.
His expression brightened as he read the unseen signal.
"Haha! The princess succeeded in her infiltration. She's already gathering information on the human who harbors something strong enough to threaten even the Heart of the Sea. We can't let him continue building power. There are other humans approaching on floating cities, she's ordered us to intercept them. Split up. You go east, and I'll go…"
He trailed off, adjusting his direction toward the far-off Kingdom of Neon.
The Ancient Phoenix snorted in distaste, it didn't enjoy being ordered. But the stronger one among them had risked her life for this infiltration. The least he could do was follow her lead and prevent their enemies from growing stronger.
With twin flashes of brilliance, the two Astral Core Ascension entities split, soaring off in opposite directions.
Completely unaware of what waited for them.
Above a colossal floating city, the Colony Capital of the Magitech Dynasty.
Achilles sat atop the shimmering, nearly invisible Ancient Impenetrable Titanwall Dome, its surface glowing softly with purple-gold light. Beside him stood none other than the Magitech Throne herself.
Her expression was tense, her thoughts caught on the upcoming convergence of Dynasty Keepers and the chaos due to arrive in just two days.
And yet, Achilles's voice cut through her thoughts.
"A little flaming Astral Core Ascension chicken is going to fly this way soon. Set the ambush. I'll finish it."