Chapter 370: The Weight of Legacy! I

The knowledge burned in his mind like a stellar flame!

Five Kings of the Virgo Stellar Expanse, each one a master of the Regulation of Carnage, each one a monster that wore the face of a human while feasting on the screams of innocents.

And above them, like a shadow cast by something too vast to comprehend, loomed the Sovereign Void Imperium- a power so great that it reduced these predators to mere tributaries paying homage with entire civilizations.

For two months, they had been hunting!

Searching through the Star Seas for new worlds to harvest, new planes of existence to present as offerings to their masters!

Half for their own twisted appetites, half for tribute. The idea of genocide reduced to simple numbers!

“…”

His eyes were chilly at thr thought.

As Achilles continued his drift through the spatial void, his transformed body drawing in stellar matter and spatial essence with each breath, the Imperial Sun within his chest pulsed with increasing density.

The star was growing more compact, more terrible, its gravitational influence reaching out to bend light itself around his form.

His Empyrean Star Nexus was evolving, becoming something unprecedented in its scope and power!

But even as his strength grew, questions plagued his mind.

The Sovereign Void Imperium- were they the ones King Edmond had fled to when he heard the Adrastia name?

Were they in any way connected to the architects of his father’s destruction, or merely another piece on a board too vast for him to see?

Every hour that passed brought another opportunity to peer through the river of time, to use his Continuum Vision to unravel the threads of past and future.

But patience, he had learned, was its own weapon. Each vision would be carefully chosen, each glimpse of truth earned through methodical planning!

His Primordial Avatar would handle the hunt for information while his true body, his heart, remained where it belonged.

—

Half a day had passed since he had witnessed the horror of the Five Kings’ feast, and in the depths of the Sea of Thalassara, a different kind of wonder was unfolding.

The incandescent blue waters held them like liquid starlight, warm and welcoming, responding to their presence with gentle currents.

Here, in this underwater sanctuary that existed between the mundane, Achilles floated with everything that mattered to him.

Rose sat cross-legged on the sea floor that felt as solid as crystal beneath them, her fingers working through their daughter’s hair with the patient devotion of someone who had found perfect contentment.

Her emerald flames danced around her like living jewelry, while at the center of her being, a radiant green star pulsed with the authority of her own Empyrean Star Nexus.

The transformation had come to her as naturally as breathing when she had Arya!

And beside her, chattering with the unstoppable enthusiasm of childhood while somehow managing to sound like an adult, was Arya.

“Father, Father! Look at this!” She now looked like a three-year-old that pointed with chubby fingers at a school of luminescent fish that swirled around them in perfect spirals. “These fish will go to war with the Aurelfins in 11 days and come out on top!”

…!

She was using her time vision that seemed to work much differently than his to see thr future of fish.

Fish!

Achilles couldn’t help but smile at the contradiction she presented.

Her face was round with baby fat, her silver-green hair catching the light in the surroundings.

At her core, a silver moon spun with quiet authority, marking her as an Empyrean Star Nexus Transcendent at an age when most children were still learning to talk.

She was terrifying and adorable in equal measure, and watching Rose braid her hair while she expounded on the underlying weavings of life around them filled him with a warmth that nothing else could match.

“Arya,” he said, his voice gentle but serious enough to capture her attention. “Have you tapped into our Lineage Memory yet?”

The question brought an immediate shift in her demeanor. Her bright chatter faded, replaced by something that looked almost like uncertainty.

She shook her head, her small hands fidgeting with the hem of her starlight dress. “I’ve been… unsure about doing so. The memories feel so big, Father. So heavy. What if I see something terrible?”

The vulnerability in her voice reminded him that despite her impossible intelligence and power, she was still just a child who had been alive for barely more than days.

The weight of their lineage’s history was not something to be shouldered lightly.

“I want you to do so now,” he said, reaching out to take her tiny hands in his. “But we’ll do it together. And I want you to target the Lineage Memory specifically…to your grandfather.”

Her eyes widened with something that looked like wonder mixed with apprehension.

Her grandfather!

His Father!

The Eighth Adrastia Emperor King!

Even thinking the words sent a tremor through his chest.

His father, the Eighth Adrastia Emperor King, who had died on this Plane of Existence eventually succumbing to his injuries while protecting his mother from unfathomably weak Evolutius Beasts.

“I want him to know,” Achilles said softly, “that he has a granddaughter.”

Rose’s hands stilled in Arya’s hair, and when he looked at her, she only nodded with encouragement!

Arya straightened, her expression transforming into something far more mature than her apparent age should have allowed. “Yes, Father. I want to meet him too.”

He nodded and prepared himself as a stellar glow surrounded him.

They closed their eyes together, their consciousness sinking into the deeper currents of memory and blood, following threads of inheritance that stretched back through generations of Emperor Kings.

Doing it with another being was a first, but since she had the Adrastia Emperor King lineage flowing through her, it was actually easy!

The transition was gentler than he had expected, like simply falling asleep.

Behind them, Rose watched their peaceful forms with an expression that cycled between love and something that looked almost like longing.

Her hand rose unconsciously toward them, then fell back to her lap as she turned away, not wanting them to see the sadness that flickered across her features.

She would give anything to see what they saw, to share in the memories that connected father and daughter to something greater than themselves!

She would give absolutely anything!