(Meanwhile, forty kilometers away from the Ascension Site, Anderson Silva’s POV)
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
*Tremble*
The distant earth kept shaking in rhythmic pulses, each one rolling beneath Anderson Silva’s boots like a buried heartbeat, as faint ripples of dust rose every time another surge of Leo’s aura burst outward from the direction of the Ascension Site.
Anderson stood atop a shattered ridge, his greatsword resting against his shoulder, as he kept watch over the corrupted plains with an unblinking gaze.
He refused to let a single creature draw even a step closer to the site, for Chaosbringer had been very clear in his instructions that Leo’s breakthrough site required absolute protection.
However, while he had come here confident in his strength, the truth was that the past thirty minutes had shaken him in ways he never expected.
*Thrum*
*THRUM*
A fresh wave of pressure rippled through the air, brushing across the mountains like a physical force, battering Anderson’s senses despite the forty kilometer distance between them.
*Roll*
Sweat rolled down the side of his face, as his fingers tightened around the hilt of his sword.
’The Lord’s aura... it is too strong...’
He thought, swallowing hard as the next pulse hit him, heavier than the last.
It did not feel like the aura of a Transcendent undergoing a breakthrough.
It felt like the awakening roar of something ancient rising from the earth.
Each surge pressed against his chest.
Each pulse scraped against his lungs.
Each wave forced him to instinctively brace his stance.
Anderson was a Monarch.
A warrior who stood at the very peak of mortal strength.
Yet even he found his knees threatening to buckle whenever Leo’s aura expanded too violently.
*TREMBLE*
Another quake rolled across the land.
Small rocks tumbled down from the ridge.
While the surrounding trees bent as though caught in a sudden storm.
"Huff—"
Anderson exhaled slowly, trying to stabilize his breathing.
"Unbelievable..." he muttered under his breath, his voice barely audible above the distant tremors.
"Lord Leo... how are you producing an aura like this without even fully stepping in the Monarch tier?"
He questioned, as he wiped his forehead with the back of his hand.
*GROAN*
At this moment, a corrupted boar monster slowly approached him.
But the moment another pulse of Leo’s aura swept over the land, the beast’s legs collapsed beneath it and it fell to the ground whimpering, too terrified to move.
Even monsters corrupted by tainted mana cowered like afraid animals under Leo’s aura, as Anderson looked toward the distant mountains once more, unable to hide the awe slowly creeping into his expression.
Every pulse of Leo’s aura pressed outward like a giant’s invisible hand, crushing the air and shaking the world itself.
The sky flickered each time it happened.
While the clouds twisted and stretched as though reacting to something primal.
Sand lifted.
Stone vibrated.
The very soil beneath Anderson shimmered with cracks that grew wider each time the pressure struck.
’This is not normal... this is not normal at all...’
He thought, feeling his heartbeat accelerate against his will, as he gulped in anticipation of just how strong the Lord was going to be in the future.
—---------
(Meanwhile, The Ascension Site, Leo’s POV)
For yet another half hour, despite the odds stacked against him, Leo continued to keep the surge of mana within him in check, as beating all expectations, he refused to break, refused to collapse, refused to let the mutation tear him apart before it finished reshaping him into something stronger.
*Thrum*
*THRUM*
The pulses inside him kept rising in force, each wave sharper than the last, as though the potion seemed to test the very edge of his will, pushing his nerves toward the breaking point while his muscles locked and trembled under the strain.
His skin burned.
His blood boiled.
His breath scraped his throat with every inhale.
Yet he endured.
His aura rose again, swelling like a storm trapped inside a shrinking vessel, pressing outward in violent expanding rings that cracked the earth beneath his feet and sent fresh shockwaves crawling across the plains.
"Come on... come on..." he muttered, as his fingers curled into the trembling soil.
Then it happened.
*CRACK*
A sudden snap echoed through his body, not from bone or muscle, but from deep inside the marrow where the mutation finally reached its peak.....
As for a single instant everything froze, as though the world held its breath with him.
Then—
*BOOOOM*
The pressure inside him detonated outward in one colossal surge as the excess mana exploded from his pores in a blinding pillar of violet light that shot into the sky, ripping open the clouds above the Ascension Site as the ground cratered beneath him.
Mountains trembled.
Distant monsters fled.
While the air itself warped and bent under the sheer weight of his awakening presence.
*TRRRR!*
*TRRRR!*
In Skyshard City, four hundred kilometers away, thousands of civilians gasped and clutched their chests as a crushing wave of aura rolled over them, not violent enough to injure, but heavy enough to make their hearts skip.
As for the first time in decades, full blown panic gripped the streets.
"What’s going on here?"
"Are we under attack?"
A few citizens asked, looking confused, as within the crater, Leo stood unmoving.
The mutation had finally reached its conclusion, as the boiling heat rising inside his body began to slowly fade in strength, the chaotic mana finally bubbling back down instead of out of his cells.
*Pant*
*Pant*
He panted violently, as in a delightful turn of events, his veins felt clear, his body impossibly light, while his core pulsed with a depth he had never felt before.
"So this... is Monarch..." he whispered, as the words left him in a slow breath.
For a while, he simply lay there exhausted on the ground, until a wave of foreign clarity swept through him, subtle yet profound, as the ambient mana around him brushed against his skin like something alive, waiting for his intent.
’Oh really? Is it really that easy once you reach this realm?’
He wondered, as he raised one foot slightly off the ground.....
And to his joy, mana gathered from the surroundings, responding to his will, as the air currents around him shifted and his body lifted off the ground without much effort.
"Hahaha—"
A small laugh slipped out of him, quiet yet genuine, as he hovered there in the twilight air of the Stilled World, the realization settling deeper into his chest with every heartbeat.
"I did it..." he whispered, as his gaze softened with relief, for a thousand burdens suddenly felt lighter.
Being able to float in the air was proof that he had crossed the final threshold of mortality....
That he had in fact, finally become a Monarch!
Which marked yet another milestone in his journey to become the strongest in the universe.