Everything that's occurred in the last few minutes rushes through my mind as I watch the stone statue disappear and the massive cluster of housing and residents fall toward me.
The words of the artifact, and the memories it shared, are eye-opening, but after leaving its tomb, I'm even more confused about its origins and cryptic texts than when I entered. Even after viewing the millions of millennia of fuzzy memories it showed me, they all lacked detail, and none were from before the artifact's death.
For all I know, this object was never alive... or it could be falsely calling itself an originator after seeing my memories and telling me exactly what I want to hear.
While I sense no malice, as I fall toward the sea and watch the black cube rotate around me in a lifeless state after putting me in this mess, I can't help but wonder what exactly this odd, sentient artifact really is.
Despite these questions, there is a real voice that echoes in my head, full of fear and worry.
"S-Sir Flame Emperor—what has happened? We've been waiting for you—Is this all part of your plan? Is the island of Palmyra destined to sink into the sea... Have you asked everyone to stare into the sky only to show them their deaths are near... Is—"
I roll my eyes and allow my true core's aura to leak out while forming a plan and replying.
"No, Marcus. I just ran into some unforeseen trouble... Hold onto something, I'll fix this."
I stare up at the enormous size of the falling city housing 70 thousand residents and believe it might be possible to use mana manipulation tethered with my divine energy to carry them all and fly somewhere to safety. But I'm sure being at such close range with such immense power would kill many and destroy most, if not all, of their personal possessions on the island.
First impressions are everything, and I'm unsure how well destroying everything they own and killing most of them will work in my favor when asking them to swear loyalty to me.
So, instead of airstepping up to catch the island, I plunge downward, activating my plunderer skill to begin draining the atmosphere of any and all ambient mana while flying headfirst back toward the massive hole in the ocean where the black statue used to stand.
Enormous waves crash in, and city-sized whirlpools form as the empty space is filled by the vast endless sea.
While violent waves crash against each other, kilometers high, as the water displacement equalizes, I plunge headfirst into the sea and head down to take advantage of the enormous hole in the ocean floor.
If there was once an island here, I can make it again.
Once I'm deep enough underwater, I let the true power of my divine core loose and activate ice magic with it, while expanding my greater form to become larger than it ever has before.
A shockwave of light blue ice, mixed with yellow divine threads, pulses through the ocean, and everywhere within a 50-kilometer radius below the sea freezes in a matter of seconds.
All of the water that filled the space deep below the planet's crust freezes solid, tethered with divine threads so strong, even the overwhelming heat that boiled seawater before can't melt this ice.
I propel myself upward while the ocean above the floor freezes, and as I leave the surface, all that's left behind is light blue waves and whirlpools frozen in place as I set my sights on the island that still falls my way.
I activate telekinesis from a long distance away and create dozens of sports-field-sized mana barriers below the bottoms of the largest chunks of floating islands and large buildings.
At first, I use as much of my aura as I can, and the entire collection of falling structures lurches and cracks, making it seem like massive earthquakes are taking place for the citizens that watch as the sun continues to rise, and the clouds move upward while they fall down.
There are screams, panic, and some hunters with higher mana control levels attempting to jump off the island, but Marcus keeps a majority of them in line and orders the other B-Class hunters on the island to make sure everyone holds on and trusts that it is under control.
Meanwhile, I use every drop of mana in the atmosphere for dozens of kilometers, and in turn, the island above me starts to slow its fall.
It definitely doesn't come to a halt, as there are hundreds of buildings, and a mind-boggling amount of imported dirt and stone. However, instead of a catastrophe where everyone dies and the infrastructure hits the violent waves at terminal velocity, I've created a far safer result.
As the island slows, I'm able to use less divine energy, and more pure mana control and soul energy to keep the island's slow rate of descent, and this in turn allows me to be much closer to it as it meets the icy ocean surface.
Being closer means far less mana has to be used, by the time it makes contact with the artificial icy island I've created, it's falling at less than 1 kmph.
Even so, there's a city-wide thud that makes an echo ripple throughout the ocean to compete with the endless waves.
While most of the residents are still confused, shocked, angered, and scared, the fact that there's miraculously been a safe landing leads to a citywide cheer and claps as they're all just happy to be alive.
The sun finally rises all the way above the horizon as well.
High up in the sky above the island, light debris continues to fall, reflecting light. Even the light blue dungeon portals glow in the sky above, as they are geo-locked to a position in space and do not fall with gravity like normal matter.
I take advantage of the positive moment and fly to the center of the city where many still stand, with Marcus floating above the densest part of them.
A familiar sounding ding echoes through my inner ear while I say a final statement.
"Marcus will keep you all company until my subordinates return. I know you all have many questions; they will be answered in time. I thank you all for putting your trust in me, and guarantee it will not be in vain. Continue your farming if you wish, or head back to your quarters to rest. There are no longer quotas, deadlines, or higher-ups to fear your life from disappointing... If you wish to fight with me in this upcoming war, tell a Crimson Army soldier that you wish to join when they stop by."
I smile and make my massive face in the sky disappear, then share my screech skill with the red core I've left in charge so his voice can project through the entire city as well.
I send him a telepathy message while pulling a teleport crystal from my storage.
"Bri and Rodrigo will be on their way back soon with my double and more of my stronger recruits to make transportation easier and bring the supplies I've promised. I know I've tossed you into this position, but I'll make it worth it in the end for you."
A few seconds pass, and I get a response.
"It is already worth it. You're doing a good thing here, I've always wanted to be free of that king and queen too, I just never believed it was possible. I won't let you down."
I crush the teleport crystal in my hand and blip back to the bunker beneath the Crimson City.
With four orange cores collecting large amounts of yellow divine threads all around me, I finally open up my status interface once I'm here to see what the notifications said before.
[Congratulations! Rising Emperor's Domain Milestone Reached!]
[60822/50000 Links of Loyalty Created]
[New Perk Unlocked: Rising Emperor's Authority]
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Info:
The caster may appoint 5 generals to share the Rising Emperor's power.
Combined, the generals may borrow 5% of all Base Stat Points and Mana Control efficiency from all subordinates under the allegiance of the Rising Emperor. In addition, 5% of the generals' Base Stat Points and Mana Control may be temporarily distributed to any subordinate under the allegiance of the Rising Emperor.
The maximum amount borrowed or shared per general is 1%. All generals acting together may control 5%.
When not in use, the Rising Emperor may use all 5% of this untapped power. The Rising Emperor has total authority and can override the generals' power sharing even if they are activated.
The caster may only borrow or share exclusively; both actions cannot be performed simultaneously.
Members affected by this perk are not required to be within range of the Rising Emperor's Domain.
This additional buff stacks with the [Power Holder] perk and [Ruler's Gaze] perk if used simultaneously.
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I come to the conclusion that not only did the number of subordinates in my interface rise by 20 times, now the total amount of stats and mana control I can borrow or grant has risen from 15% to 20%.
Five percent of which can be controlled by five generals of my choosing. This means to gain additional power, it doesn't have to come directly from me; they too can benefit from the Rising Emperor's domain as well as grant their own power to whoever they're fighting with.
As the possibilities of what this new perk can do rush through my mind, another phenomenon hits my senses.
Ember's mind is far more active than it was just yesterday within the isolation pod, and I can sense his core through the mana-imbued metal casing with ease.
It's much larger than it was before, as it's cycling the yellow divine threads through the room just as it did for the orange threads previously.
Instead of just making the circulation in the room faster and more efficient for my teammates, this time, Ember's core is retaining a large amount of the yellow threads with every rotation.
It is clear his healing and rest process from overusing his immortal core has come to an end. Now, he is using this perfect environment to train; it appears as though he is attempting to awaken his True Core.