Darian held Niara's gaze for a second that felt like an eternity. With a brief sigh, his lips moved softly.
"Wait a bit... I'm almost done."
He didn't run to her. Instead, Darian closed his eyes and opened his arms, as if embracing the very universal void.
**BUZZ!!**
Space-time began to vibrate violently, letting out a hum that made reality tremble. In mere seconds, every drop of Slaughter power that existed there was absorbed by him.
His body was wrapped in a visceral scarlet light. Then... his body, his soul, and his mind began to fragment, breaking apart to be rebuilt.
At that moment, the real chaos began.
The devastating Slaughter power collided and fused with the sacred glow of his Celestial Cultivation. At the epicenter of that fusion, Darian's body also pulsed, being added into the mix.
A normal immortal from other universes was considered average. A Celestial cultivator who reached that level was always an incomparable high-tier existence. But Darian...
The fusion of that anomalous power, something that existed in this universe and that only Primordial Beasts could benefit from, combined with his abnormal body and celestial power... now gave birth to a true abomination.
A colossal vortex rose around him. Everything within that small world was covered in glowing cracks, as if the fabric of existence itself was about to tear apart.
If he were in the real universe, just this uncontrolled aura would already destroy everything with ease. But luckily, his father had foreseen this and prepared everything for him to break through in this closed space.
Niara seemed to be in the middle of an apocalyptic storm. Her body became covered in scales, and she was forced to activate all her power without holding anything back.
**BOOM!**
A primordial sound echoed, crossing the barriers of the Sacred World and spreading across the entire universe. It was just a sound, but all forms of life widened their eyes, feeling the tremor in their souls.
Until...
Black and white lightning — the physical manifestation of all the power capable of destroying and creating life within the Laws of the World — tore through the sky, being drawn toward a single point.
"!"
Niara's eyes widened, and an unparalleled despair took over her. That... was at least ten times more powerful than when she broke through!
But, contrary to expectations...
They didn't fall to punish; they converged into Darian's chest, feeding the radiant light pulsing there. There was no explosion, no negative reaction from him.
That wasn't a power equivalent to a tribulation. It was Recognition.
Unlike all mortals who, when trying to defy the heavens to reach immortality, were met with fury and destruction, a Celestial Cultivator was different.
All Celestial cultivators at this stage had already become Divinities. So he wasn't going against the laws of the world; he was just taking his rightful place, since he was already part of those laws. Now, he only needed to break the shackles of mortality to exercise his sovereign freedom.
Niara watched everything, her heart racing. She only understood a glimpse of what was happening, because what she was seeing was something she had never imagined possible.
Millions of years ago, she had nearly perished facing the fury of the heavens during her own ascension. She had to fight against a fraction of that power, destroying it just to survive. But Darian...
He was devouring it, absorbing the very essence of the universe.
The world twisted in one final spasm until the infinite power of the laws came to a halt.
*CRACK!*
The sound of something solid breaking echoed through the void.
It was the shackles of mortality. It sounded like transcendent chains shattering, like divine thunder.
The first and second seals, of the soul and mind, were broken.
A pressure Darian didn't even know had existed within him disappeared, replaced by a lightness that defied his understanding.
*CRACK!!*
The third seal was destroyed.
Darian's body shone with a crystalline transparency. He became a living alloy, the perfect meeting point between the physical and the spiritual plane.
Niara swallowed hard, clenching her fists. That was the sign that he had broken through.
Now, Darian was officially an immortal. His natural power right after breaking through was already something incalculable, but...
The process didn't stop there.
Deep within his veins, something that had been dormant finally awakened at full power.
**RUMBLE!!!**
A roar from the core of the universe silenced everything. A pillar of multicolored light descended from the highest point of the sky, striking Darian directly.
Inside the pillar of light, Darian's silhouette transformed. His hair floated as if submerged in divine waters. When he opened his eyes, he was no longer a man. His pupils contained a transcendental light, pure and infinite.
At that moment, all forms of life in the universe froze. Their souls trembled in submission. It was as if an entity that should not exist had finally awakened.
Even Niara was left stunned. Her bloodline, her soul, and her very existence were completely suppressed by his presence. Nothing in the world could compare to what stood before her.
The light slowly faded, revealing Darian hovering in the air.
His aura was as vast as the ocean and as silent as the abyss. He no longer needed effort to distort reality; the world simply bent, recognizing him as its master.
His Celestial Bloodline was finally fully awakened. He was the focal point of all creation and destruction.
Besides him, only his father, his mother, and his older sister existed at the same level of power. Obviously, his father was on a 'slightly' higher level. He had only been taught the basics about his abilities, and now he could finally dive deep into them.
Darian snorted and lowered his gaze. The divine glow in his eyes softened as it landed on Niara.
He turned toward her, and that subtle smile from before returned, but now it carried an infinite weight.
Then...
Darian took a deep breath, feeling the weight of the guilt he carried. Ashamed, he lowered his head slightly, avoiding her gaze. His voice came out in a murmur:
"Forgive me..."
He couldn't even begin to measure the abyss of loneliness he had thrown her into. It had been millions of years. He knew her, and he was sure that for her, every single day must have been torture.
He swallowed hard, trying to find the right words through his tight throat.
"I... I didn't mean to...!"
Mid-sentence, the world seemed to hit him.
It was like a meteor had crashed into his chest. But there was no pain. The impact was soft, burning, and filled with a desperation he would recognize in any lifetime.
A soft, familiar scent filled his senses. Then came the pressure: an embrace so tight and possessive it felt like it wanted to fuse their flesh into a single existence.
Darian was caught off guard, only seeing the top of her head. Niara had her face buried firmly in his chest, and a violent tremor ran through her entire body.
After a few seconds—
"Dan... you... what the hell... are you talking about?" Her voice came out muffled against his clothes, broken by sobs she tried, and failed, to hold back.
Darian forgot how to breathe. He felt the warmth of her tears soaking his chest, and her trembling only grew stronger.
"You lived alone for so long and..." he tried to start apologizing again.
"I promised you once," she cut him off sharply, slowly lifting her face. Her amber eyes, once sovereign, were now red and flooded, staring at him with an intensity that left him stunned. "I promised I would never stop trusting you again, remember?"
She took a deep breath, trying to steady her voice.
"After everything you did... for me, for my universe, and for every living being... do you really think I'd hold any resentment? I knew you would come back. You've never let me down... and you've always been, to me, far more than I deserved. I just needed to be patient... but I failed. I got impatient and tried to find you before the right time."
"But you..." Darian stammered, disarmed by the clarity, loyalty, and love in every word she spoke.
She shook her head, a gentle smile forming through her tears.
"Did I cry? Yes. Did I miss you with every beat of my heart? Yes. Of course, I also dreamed about this moment a million times. But none of that matters now. If you really feel any guilt... then promise me this: promise you won't spend even a single day away from me again."
Darian was speechless for a second, but facing that gaze, he nodded. "Everything's different now... I promise we won't be separated again."
Niara had matured through the ages. The pain hadn't made her bitter; it had only made her obsession and will stronger. In truth... she was the one who had never disappointed him. There was no one else like her, and there never had been.
In the middle of those thoughts, Darian suddenly felt the atmosphere change.
Niara tilted her head slightly, and the light in her eyes shifted from "tenderness" to something far more dangerous. She let out a low chuckle, her hands sliding over Darian's now broad chest.
"Hehe... you're a lot taller now. And stronger. Your appearance changed... but I can feel your 'taste' is still the same, just way more intense."
Her gaze and hands slowly traced over Darian's young, renewed body. Before, the height difference between them was just a few centimeters, but now Darian was over two meters tall, creating a noticeable gap. On top of that, his beauty was undeniably more striking.
She floated slightly upward, bringing her face closer to his, until their breaths mixed.
"Oh? That's right... this body of yours is young and pure in this life, isn't it? Well... I'll take your twice—"
She stopped mid-sentence when she saw Darian's expression shift into absolute shock.
Darian let out a sigh. It had been a long time since she acted so vulgarly. Still, he couldn't deny he liked that side of her.
"Hehe..." A dazzling, intention-filled smile bloomed on her face. The predatory glint in her eyes made it clear she intended to make up for lost time.
Darian snorted, letting out a nasal laugh. In the end, she hadn't changed at all. And she had also realized that he hadn't changed either.
They had both become immortals and lived through unique experiences, but the connection between them remained intact, completely unchanged.
After that, Niara looked into his eyes, waiting for something. He nodded and leaned in, giving her that new first time.
...
She didn't want to let go of him for a long time.
When she finally accepted to part, her bright smile seemed to completely fill Darian. It was as if something inside him had always been empty, but now everything had returned to where it should be.
Her face was slightly flushed, and in two high points of her clothing, it was physically visible what she was feeling. "Let's go to my universe..." she murmured with a seductive look.
Darian shook his head. "We still have things to take care of here. But it shouldn't take long."
She took a deep breath and nodded, suppressing it with effort. Now, she remembered the reason she had come there in the first place.
Both of them turned their gaze toward the center of everything.
There was a small planet there, and on it stood a small Temple.
Finally, after so many adventures and missed encounters, he was heading to the last Temple.
Niara tightly interlocked her fingers with his. Then, the two of them moved smoothly toward that place.
