CHAPTER 367: EMPYREAN! II

Achilles floated in perfect stillness, his consciousness expanded beyond the boundaries of flesh and bone, drinking in the majesty of space that surrounded him on all sides.

Five minutes.

It had been exactly five minutes since he had crossed the threshold, since he had left behind the sheltered confines of his home plane to embrace the infinite cathedral of space!

Five minutes of steady, uninterrupted assimilation of Space, his being drawing in the very fabric of reality without the crushing weight of Existence Corruption that had once threatened to tear him apart.

And then, in the space between one heartbeat and the next, everything changed.

The transformation began as a whisper of light deep within his core, a gentle luminescence that pulsed in rhythm with something far greater than his physical heart.

His blood sang first.

Every drop, every cell, every microscopic component of his life force suddenly blazed with concentrated starlight!

HUUM!

The Luminblood stage of Astral Core Ascension was nothing compared to this. His veins became rivers of liquid radiance, coursing through his body with such intensity that they painted patterns of gold and silver beneath his skin.

The light wasn’t harsh or burning; it was warm, welcoming!

Then came his bones.

The Celestbone stage felt like the ultimate achievement to others as his skeleton transformed into something harder than the finest metals, reinforced by the power of the stars themselves.

But now, as waves of transformation cascaded through his form, those bones began to shine with an inner light that put stellar bodies to shame. Gold!

Pure, radiant gold that seemed to contain the concentrated essence of every star that had ever burned in the void. He could feel them resonating, vibrating!

His nervous system followed- synapses, vessels, neural pathways- all transformed as the Neuronova stage reached its ultimate crescendo.

But this too was merely a stepping stone to something infinitely greater. His consciousness expanded, his perception sharpened until he could feel the gravitational dance of distant planets, the solar winds that carried messages between stars, the very pulse of space-time itself bending around massive celestial bodies!

All of this- blood, bone, nerve- came together in a symphony of transformation that defied existence.

An Empyrean Star Nexus was forming!

This was the threshold, the great divide that separated those who could merely dream of traversing the Star Seas from those who could claim them as their birthright.

His entire physiology was being rewritten, elevated, transformed into something that could house the power of a genuine star.

But even as his body prepared for this ultimate metamorphosis, Achilles felt something shift in the forces around him.

Above his head- or what passed for "above" in the directionless void of space- the Imperial Sun of Adrastia pulsed with increasing intensity.

His sun. His inheritance. The celestial embodiment of his lineage that had floated near his Imperial Crown like a faithful guardian.

It had been spinning slowly, almost lazily, its purple-gold radiance painting the surrounding space in hues that had names. But now, as his transformation reached its critical moment, the star began to move.

The Imperial Sun descended with the gravity of inevitability itself, its trajectory carrying it not toward his head or his hands, but toward the very center of his being!

As it approached, Achilles felt no fear, no concern for the unimaginable temperatures that should have reduced him to cinders!

The sun touched his chest and...

Entered!

The sensation defied every law of physics, every understanding of matter and energy he had thougt he knew. A genuine star, complete with its own fusion reactions and gravitational field, settled into the cavity of his torso as naturally as a key finding its lock. But there was no burning, no pain, no sense of his flesh being consumed by nuclear fire.

Instead, there was only wholeness.

The Imperial Sun took its place at the center of his being, and immediately began to draw things in.

Starlight from across the spatial expanse answered its call, streaming toward Achilles in visible ribbons of radiance that painted spiral patterns through the void.

Space itself bent and flowed toward him, adding its essence to the growing maelstrom of power that centered on his form.

His transformation accelerated beyond anything he had ever experienced. The gravitational pull emanating from his body increased exponentially, creating distortions in the local space-time that made nearby dust particles orbit him like tiny moons.

Him!

His body! Orbited by dust particles like moons!

Ah!

The beauty of it was overwhelming- he had become a celestial body in his own right!

Then, cutting through the symphony of his transformation, came the whispers of knowledge directly into his consciousness.

|Your Physiology has transcended set limitations. You have gained the mass and density of the Unique Imperial Sun of Adrastia. A single movement from your form now carries the pressure and authority of a genuine star. In the Empyrean Star Nexus Transcendence Realm, your power shall be unparalleled among peers.|

BOOM!

The words resonated through his being like a bell tolling in the depths of space. He could feel the truth of them in every fiber of his transformed existence.

His body had become something beyond flesh and blood- he was living stellar matter now, contained and controlled but no less magnificent for its restraint!

Living, stellar matter!

Another pulse of awareness flooded his mind.

|Due to your unprecedented Physiology and the Foundation laid by your Lineage, the concentration of starlight and reserves of power flowing through your existence exceed standard parameters by a factor of fifty. Your potential energy reserves are 50x greater than any other being of equivalent realm.|

...!

Fifty times.

Where others might draw upon pools of power, he commanded oceans. Where they might channel streams of starlight, he wielded rivers!

But even as he marveled at the scope of his transformation, one final message crystallized in his awareness, and this one sent shockwaves through him.

|The Bloodline Refinement stage of Emperor’s Genome Alignment approaches.|

Emperor’s Genome Alignment!

He was close now- so close he could taste it on his tongue!

As the last waves of transformation settled into his being, Achilles opened his eyes and truly saw himself for the first time.

His body glowed with the soft radiance of contained starlight, every line and curve of his form painted in hues of purple and gold that shifted like aurora. When he moved- just the slightest adjustment of his position- space itself rippled around him, responding to the gravitational presence he now commanded.

He was no longer merely Achilles Adrastia Maxwell!

He was something new. Something unprecedented.

The Imperial Sun pulsed once within his chest, and Achilles smiled- an expression that carried all the patient fury of a star preparing to go fucking nuts!