The first Ancestor of humanity, the one to signal the dawn of a new era, Rhachis Ancestor Dawn. Followed by his proclamation, his aura seeped into the pagoda walls, travelling through it without damaging it.
The moment the aura seeped into it, the pagoda walls shone with a magenta hue, carrying out its designed functions. Seeing its condition, Rhachis Ancestor Dawn smiled, "I shall gratefully accept this gift, Marble."
His aura travelled through the pagoda, travelling from the first tile to the seventh tile, before seeping into the ground. Without causing any disturbance to the city's stability, the aura arrived at the earth's mantle.
There, it mixed with a certain lava flow, selected after a lot of calculation and deduction. The lava flowed like a stream, slow in motion. Time passed in such a manner; eventually, the lava flow arrived at a certain region.
There, the aura seeped out and followed some volcanic channels, soon arriving at the tip of the crust. It subtly seeped into the ground, creating a change without being detected by anyone else.
Above ground, the Colossal Bawling Sheep and Rhachis Ancestor Earth tried their best to suppress the flames. But, the moment they took a step back, the noticed that the sea of flames had risen by another metre in height. Its area had also increased a little and seemed to be expanding bit by bit.
Moreover, the aura in it interacted and converted the surrounding aura into its own, steadily increasing in size. Seeing that the situation was worsening, Rhachis Ancestor Parasite frowned, looking troubled for the first time in centuries.
It patted the hill it sat upon a couple of times before unleashing its aura. The moment it did, the sea of flames began to visibly shrink, soon suppressed to twenty metres in height. From time to time, flame tongues escaped the suppressed region before being pulled back into the mix. The scene was similar to the phenomenon happening on the sun.
"Dawn…" The humanoid figure muttered, gazing around to look at the figures of all the Tier 6 Frenzy Beasts on its continent. Sensing the commotion, most of them had arrived, waiting beyond the sea of flames, awaiting further instructions.
"Four in Dawn City, Three in Marble City, Three in Reef City, Two in Floating City, and Two in Desert City; Humanity has a total of 14 Ancestors now. Just the Frenzy Beast Ancestors surrounding Marble City number 7, not to mention the rest of the world."
It gazed at Psychic Ancestor Crash, "But, despite our superior numbers, we fail to annihilate humanity every single time. Dawn, Reef, and Light were able to stall me before. Now that Dawn has surpassed me in the system of aura, their advantage has increased."
"Among all the Tier 6 Frenzy Beasts, only Warlord can fight one-on-one against a Human Ancestor. The rest are all weak." The humanoid figure gazed at the Colossal Bawling Sheep, "You are different from others. Before our decisive battle against humanity, I'll make you strong enough to fight against Light, and possibly even kill him."
…
'It arrived in the nick of time.' Jyorta felt a sense of relief, using his Hoberman sphere on the Frenzy Beast that had burrowed out from under him. It opened its mouth wide and was about to clamp on his legs, intending to sever it.
Just when it was about to sever his legs, its mouth stopped moving. On seeing that it was a Crust-Mantle, Jyorta directed part of his aura personification of hallucination at it, stopping its movements. It was then he noticed the presence of a psychic arm on his back, about to coil around him.
Before he could react, it disappeared. 'Was it the psychic arm of a staff that was about to pull me out? Seeing that I still have control over the situation, the staff retracted it?'
He didn't have time to think, his forehead heating up from the mental exertion. He widened his legs a little, landing on the Crust-Mantle's teeth. He jumped once and landed on its back, grabbing hold of a crevice in its exoskeleton for support. Seeing that he was able to manipulate it through his aura personification of hallucination, he retracted the Hoberman Sphere.
Since a staff was monitoring his fight, he didn't want to leave behind any strange points that were beyond his abilities. That was why when whenever he used his Hoberman sphere, he simultaneously activated his aura personification and retracted it the moment his aura personification took effect.
It was just a Tier 1 Frenzy Beast. But in this situation, it was to his advantage. He didn't have enough capacity to influence a Tier 2 Crust-Mantle given the situation. The Crust-Mantle began to run, stepping on a couple of Steel Porcupines in its way as it broke out of the encirclement.
Jyorta held the sword in his hand, using his thumb to prick at a small crevice. The crevice turned to reveal a small protrusion, only a millimetre high. He pressed his thumb on it, squinting once at the prickling pain.
His blood flowed into it, soon filling up a thin container within the handle. The container was placed in its centre, protected by tough materials to prevent leakage or a breakdown. It was thanks to this property that Jyorta had selected this sword.
Once his blood filled the contained, the crevice turned around, sealing the hole. Jyorta infused a large portion of his aura, overlaying it with the aura personification of betrayal. He turned around and threw it with all his might, aiming it at a certain spot he had deduced based on their exchange.
As the Crust-Mantle broke out of the encirclement, the sword flew into the dust cloud and landed at a certain spot, lodging halfway into the sand. Jyorta panted at the exertion, feeling tired. When the Crust-Mantle charged out and had stomped a couple of Steel Porcupines to death, he had to expend more mental energy to make the others hallucinate it as if the cause was the Amplifier Steel Porcupine—the Frenzy Beast that was a culmination of the three races in the hallucination.
This caused many gaps to emerge in his hallucination, causing some Steel Porcupines to break out. But, before they regained clarity, his hallucination covered them again.
"Faster!" He urged the Crust-Mantle to run, manipulating it through the hallucination it was induced into. A hallucination to make the Crust-Mantle run, a hallucination to prevent the Amplifier Steel Porcupine from grasping his actual location, and a hallucination to make the Steel Porcupines target it; Jyorta was hovering the borders to a mental collapse.
He no longer had the capacity to maintain the other two aura personifications. But, the moment he threw his sword, he had managed to buy some time. As the Crust-Mantle created some distance from the battle, his aura personification no longer affected them.
Its effect wasn't potent enough to affect them any longer. Having known that beforehand, Jyorta retracted his aura and collapsed on the Crust-Mantle's back.
The sword landed near the Amplifier Steel Porcupine. The sword was first aimed at its midsection but the Amplifier Steel Porcupine adjusted its position, watching the sword land on the sand.
But, it was a mistake on its part to remain curled around it. From his blood within the handle, the aura personification of betrayal was emitted. It was weak, unable to affect the Amplifier Steel Porcupine.
The moment Jyorta retracted his aura personifications, the Amplifier Steel Porcupine sensed his fleeing figure. The spikes on its back trembled in fury as it hissed in response. But before it could chase him, a hail of spikes landed on it.
Under his manipulation, all the Steel Porcupines had shot their body-length spikes when they noticed their Tier 2 brethren was on the verge of dying. Once he escaped from the area, they broke free of the hallucination one by one.
It was then they noticed the situation that was different from what they had witnessed till now. Their brethren, an unsurpassable figure in their minds was currently injured. Blood leaked out through its injuries.
And through the injuries, the places with lacking defences, the aura personification of betrayal seeped into it, subtly affecting the thoughts of the Amplifier Steel Porcupine. It hissed, transmitting the anger-filled contents through their language.
The Tier 1 Steel Porcupines hurriedly replied with what they had witnessed, expressing their confusion. For a couple of seconds, the Steel Porcupine was unwilling to trust their words, looking at them with anger.
It then noticed the retreating figure, linking the details before amounting him as the cause for everything. The aura personification of betrayal emitted by the sword also vanished. It only possessed the limited quantity Jyorta had infused into it. But, its job was done. It had bought him that crucial few seconds to escape.
It was difficult to traverse the sandy terrain on foot. Even while fighting the Steel Porcupine, all Jyorta did was roll on the sand, which was faster than dodging by foot in the situation. Thankfully, the Crust-Mantle could maintain considerable speed on it.
Within four seconds, it had traversed around 40 metres. By the time the Amplifier Steel Porcupine had reacted, seven seconds had passed. Only 60 metres remained until he reached the end of the second layer and took the stairs to the first layer.
The Steel Porcupine hissed as the spikes on its back trembled, producing sounds similar to those generated by a flute. Despite its anger, the sound generated by it was pleasant to hear. When Jyorta heard it, he was surprised to notice his mood was affected.
His tension, the sense of crisis, and his fighting spirit diminished as he entered a state of peace and relaxation. His mental state was instantly affected, shattering his aura personification of hallucination.
The running Crust-Mantle immediately slowed down and noticed the figure standing on its back, regaining its sense of clarity. It emitted killing intent at him, starting to attack him.
With the Amplifier Steel Porcupine at the lead, the Steel Porcupines sped towards his location.