271 Ascension Ceremony

Draco spawned in a strange realm. There was no sky, no earth and no stars. It was eerily similar to the Anomaly Realm, just that the color of this world was pitch black. 

It reminded him of the 'astral plane' where he had fought Caelo, only that this one had no twinkling lights in the background. 

Another fact was that there was scarce light. It was just enough to illuminate Draco and 3 kilometers around his body. Within his field of view were hundreds of statues. 

They were arranged by size, and there were three prominent ones at the fore. The one on the left was that of a handsome man whose looks could make all the women in the world go mad. 

He had two bird-like wings behind his back, and he wore angelic robes that covered his form. Behind him were various other statues, numbering fifty. Draco could see succubi, incubi and other devilkin there. 

Suddenly it all made sense. He didn't gain the Devil bloodline in Boundless because of his General Aspect. He had it because it was a subset of a Dark Angel. 

What was a Dark Angel? It was an angel who had crossed God's bottom line, having his wings blackened and his body tossed from heaven straight to purgatory. 

As such, a Dark Angel was half Angel, half Devil. He was the strongest of all Devils and his abilities surpassed theirs. Now, Draco realized why the Dark Angel Inheritance was one that focused on the mind. 

Devils were also species that focused on mental abilities first and foremost! Not only that, because Dark Angels retained some Angelic traits, they were able to perform Angelic skills and abilities as well, only that they were corrupted. 

Draco looked to the right. There stood a statue of a thick and robust man with endless muscles coating his body, yet he remained somewhat compact. 

Two long horns grew from his forehead, curling upwards. His upper body was bare, and he only wore some coarse linen pants. Two large Hellfire wings stood at his back, and he had a long tail that was plain. 

Behind him were many monstrous species. Draco could tell that they were all the fabled demons of hell. However, right behind him were 9 prominent statues. 

They were all styled after a level of hell, encompassing the element of each level, from Limbo down to Treachery. Behind them were the same Four Horsemen Draco saw in the Demon Emperor procedure. 

Even they, who were just below the supposed Demon Supreme, were two levels behind Draco's Horned Demon. 

In the center of these statues was a large Black Dragon. His scales glowed in the dim light and his red eyes were almost life-like. Behind him were many statues, depicting Nuwa, Quetzalcoatl, Jormangundr, Orochi, Ouroboros and co. 

｢System to Player Announcement 

Beginning Abyssal Prime Class Up Procedure. Standby.｣ 

｢Abyssal Prime – Divine Class Up Procedure 

Rewards: Divine Class - Abyssal Prime｣ 

｢System to Player Announcement 

The objective of the Abyssal Prime Class Up Procedure has been set. Player Draco must complete the ascension ceremony to clear this task.｣ 

'Complete the ascension ceremony, huh?' Draco thought. 

Even though he wasn't told anything concrete, he instinctively knew what he had to do. It felt like he was simply being guided by his very soul on what steps to take next, like this was a pre-ordained event. 

He first walked over to the Dark Angel altar. There, he knelt and receded his armor, leaving himself bare to the world. He gazed at the bowl of feathers that had appeared at the foot of the statue. 

He picked them up and hardened his expression. Draco channeled his Dark Angel Inheritance to the maximum and concentrated on his back. 

With a roar of pain, his back was blown open by two thin skeletal wings that lacked feathers. Draco's healthy and powerful red blood splashed everywhere, forming a truly gruesome sight. 

Despite this, he calmly brought the two skeletal wings forward and began lining up the feathers on them one-by-one. This was a strange task for one to perform, but Draco silently worked on it for an untold amount of time. 

He never paused, never doubted his placement and this arduous task didn't make him tired. He made sure to attach each and every feather that was in the bowl before him onto his wings, slowly giving them shape. 

Each time the bowl was emptied, new feathers would appear. Once Draco completed one wing, he moved to the other one and began anew. This type of tedious work would make most people dizzy, but he persevered. 

Soon enough, he had accomplished his task. He flapped his now perfect and beautiful wings to test them out and found that they felt amazing, like they had always been part of his body, only that he didn't notice it up until now. 

He rose to his feet and walked over to the altar for the Horned Demon. He got to his knees once again and activated his Horned Demon Inheritance to the maximum. 

A basin of blood appeared beneath the statue of the Horned Demon, and Draco picked it up slowly. After gazing at the lush and power-rich red-gold blood bubbling in the basin for a second, he drank a mouthful of it. 

It tasted - surprisingly - pleasant, but he had little time to enjoy it. Draco felt the tyrannical liquid pass through his body into his stomach, before it was absorbed into his blood cells. 

The new blood conflicted with his old blood, and despite the blood his rebuilt body gave him being superior to any other existence in the world, it was suppressed by this powerful blood easily. 

Draco's body stretched and twitched like he was having a seizure, and he felt like his body was being boiled in soup. Soon, a layer of redness coated his skin, and Draco's eyes became red. 

From every pore on his body, small droplets of vibrant red-blood were being expelled, getting replaced by the red-gold blood from the basin. Draco shakily picked up the basin and took another mouthful. 

As was to be expected, the process restarted itself. His old blood fought bitterly, but was shamefully defeated and more of it was cast out by the new blood. 

Draco took another mouthful, and this happened again. However, Draco noticed that as the quantity of old blood in his body reduced, his pain also receded. 

He also felt that the new blood was truly powerful. Every cell it came into contact with shattered and was rebuilt to become even studier than before. It glistened in a slightly gold color that made it look resilient. 

After five mouthfuls, Draco was left with two more. At this point, he no longer felt pain from the replacement, but utter pleasure and refreshment. In fact, the dredges of the old blood in his body now felt like impurities to his system. 

After taking the final two mouthfuls, Draco put down the basin and felt his innards being reborn. From the previously black color of his internals, most of his soft tissue became gold in color. 

His black mass remained untouched, but it seemed much livelier than before with the infusion of this new blood. It was like it had been running on average fuel before, but now received top-grade petrol. 

Draco stood up from the Horned Demon statue's feet and all the blood that had accumulated on his skin fell off like water on those popular stainless fabrics. Draco was dry as hay in a matter of seconds. 

The old blood turned to dust when it hit the ground, disappearing to system knows where. Draco remained silent for a few seconds before walking over to the Black Dragon's statue. 

There, he kneeled down a third time and activated his Serpent God Inheritance to the maximum. Soon, a layer of scales surrounded his skin, and he resembled a dragonman. 

This was similar to using the Advanced Transformation Technique, but in this case, the transformation was much more precise. Draco's scales were black, and his visage became unrecognizable to anyone who didn't know this form. 

A bowl appeared at the foot of this statue, and in it lay many scales that were just like those Draco had currently, though they were much larger and finer. 

Their sharpness and gleaming color made his current scales look like they were dead and withering, while those in the bowl were fresh and healthy. 

Draco placed his finger over one of his scales and ripped it out quickly. The force required to do so was tremendous, as Dragon scales were very hard to penetrate. 

Draco grimaced heavily as he felt the pain of ripping what was his own skin, but he continued. From the tip of his right hand to his wrist, then to his elbow, Draco peeled of scales that were already there and replaced them with those provided by the bowl. 

Strangely enough, these new scales stuck onto his skin firmly, and even Draco was unable to tear them off in the same manner as the old ones. He continued his gory task, ripping the surface of his flesh and replacing it systematically with something better. 

Oh, Draco could switch off the pain with Control, but he felt like this was something sacrilegious. This ceremony wasn't just symbolic, Draco felt like something really important was developing from this. 

He didn't know how he knew, it was an instinctive feeling. Besides, Draco was not scared of pain. It was only when the pain was unending, like when he got killed many times over and over, that he could not bear it. 

Soon, Draco started with his torso, his other arm, his right legs, his left leg and then his head. 

By the time he had reached this point, Draco looked drastically different. It was like he had upgraded from trash-tier armor to Legendary armor, a change that was visible and subtle at the same time. 

However, there was still a certain incompleteness to the picture he painted with his scales. This was buttressed by the fact that Draco took the last scale from the bowl, which was the reverse of all the others. 

Draco also placed his hand on the same type of scale on his body, located right at his heart. He gingerly touched it for a second or two before resolutely ripping it off and placing the new one on. 

"ARRRGHHH!!" Draco roared in pain. 

The pain of feathering his wings, having his blood replaced and ripping off his scales paled in comparison to the one act of ripping off his reverse scale. 

In that moment, Draco felt like he was about to die, and it wouldn't be just a digital death too. However, he had anticipated this, so he was already moving to put the new scale on, otherwise the pain would have overwhelmed him. 

The moment the new scale was connected, the painting was complete. A gleam moved across Draco's whole body, like someone had flashed a lens over his scales. A synergy formed between them, using the reverse scale as a source of power. 

What was even crazier was that his Dragorugio armor was being assimilated by the scales, and it melded with him even further than before. At first, he could only recede it into his body or outward, or dislodge it to fight for him with his control, but now… 

Now, he felt like each scale was an armor set on its own. Draco was flabbergasted by this feeling, and even more so when his Draconic, Devil/Angelic and Demonic sides formed a grand circuit in his system, creating a perfect synergy that even his bloodline would have struggled to do. 

Draco rose to his feet and gazed at the three statues. They suddenly came to life, and so did all the statues behind them. 

Each and every one of them fell to one knee and lowered their heads towards something behind Draco. 

Naturally, the fellow turned around to investigate. 

There, he saw a new statue. It was a man seated on a throne with a smirk on his lips, his legs crossed in a lazy manner, and his chin resting on his knuckles. 

That man... was Draco himself.