Power of Runes

Chapter 462: The First Heartbeat

Inside Ash’s body, an absurd and terrifying transformation was unfolding with every passing moment.

The Crimson Heavenly Lightning that should have completely erased his existence was instead being forcefully dragged deeper into his body through [Energy Devour], while [Assimilation] and [Synthesis] continuously worked without pause to integrate that terrifying power into Ash’s very existence.

His body was being destroyed at an alarming speed.

At the same time, however, it was also reconstructing itself just as rapidly.

Every strand of flesh burned away by the Crimson Heavenly Lightning would regenerate once again through [Eternal Rebirth], [Crimson Regeneration], [Blood Heal], and the overwhelming vitality granted by [Titan Physique].

Plus, one can’t forget the passive effects of the Runes.

And the moment the regenerated flesh appeared, the Crimson Lightning would violently tear it apart once more.

The same process repeated endlessly inside his body.

Yet despite all of that destruction, subtle changes had already begun appearing throughout his body.

The newly regenerated flesh was no longer identical to what it had been before.

At first, the difference was incredibly small.

Small enough that most beings would never notice it even if they observed him carefully.

But Eva noticed every single change happening within Ash’s body.

Tiny traces of Crimson Heavenly Lightning had begun remaining behind inside his muscles, blood vessels, bones, nerves, and energy pathways after every regeneration cycle.

The Lightning was no longer rejecting him as violently as it did in the beginning.

Instead, it was gradually beginning to settle within his body.

It was almost as though Ash’s body itself was adapting to become capable of containing the Crimson Heavenly Lightning.

And according to Eva’s calculations, it was nothing but the passive effect of the Rune of Harmony.

The passive effect of the Rune of Harmony literally said...

<>

Which meant that everything inside Ash would continuously move toward harmony, while anything foreign entering his body would slowly begin adapting itself to his existence as well.

Normally, such a process would take a very long time.

But because Ash’s body was currently being destroyed and regenerated countless times every second, that adaptation process had accelerated to an absurd level.

But what was causing trouble even to Eva was the Heavenly Will and the Will of the Calamity Phoenix.

They were relentless in their drive to destroy Ash, and thus Assimilating those Wills was proving to be extremely difficult.

One had to remember, Ash’s analysis had said that his body would get destroyed in just one second.

But more than a second had already passed, yet Ash’s body was still fighting against the Crimson Lightning somehow.

The reason behind it was actually very simple.

As soon as the Crimson Lightning touched his body and during the time when nearly one fourth of his body had already been destroyed, Ash had already directed most of the Crimson Lightning toward his heart.

The moment his Heart was stimulated by the Crimson Lightning, it shuddered violently, and at that exact moment Ash activated all his abilities before losing consciousness.

But till now, it had yet to beat.

{Failed to reach the conclusion as to why the analysis was proven wrong.}

Even Eva had no answer as to why Ash’s analysis turned out to be wrong.

But she knew one thing with certainty.

It was related to his Heart.

As the only true organ remaining inside his body, his Heart was extremely special.

Far more special than anything else, as an embryonic form of Universe, could it actually be destroyed by merely a Tribulation Lightning?

And because of that, it was somehow attracting most of the Crimson Lightning toward itself.

Right now, if someone opened Ash’s body and looked inside, they would witness a terrifying scene.

A motionless heart completely clad in raging Crimson Lightning.

Countless strands of destructive crimson electricity continuously surged around it without pause, yet the Heart itself remained intact despite not beating even once.

If not for his Heart attracting most of the Crimson Lightning toward itself, Ash’s analysis might have actually proven true long ago.

But this was also the reason why the Assimilation process was proceeding so smoothly and also the reason why his body was getting the time it needed to adapt to the Crimson Lightning.

Because most of the destructive power was being drawn toward the Heart, the burden on the rest of his body had reduced slightly, allowing his regenerative abilities to continuously repair the damage fast enough to maintain balance.

Unseen by anyone, the Rivers of Fortune and Destiny silently churned around Ash’s existence.

And then...

A very small beat echoed from inside Ash’s body.

Ba-dum!!!!

----

Far away from the center of destruction, Seris stood silently among the gathered figures while violent winds swept across the ocean and waves continued rising endlessly.

Her long dark hair danced wildly behind her, yet her gaze never shifted away from the depths of the ocean where Ash’s body had disappeared after falling down from the sky, his body surrounded by Crimson Lightning.

The surrounding atmosphere had already become extremely tense long ago.

Especially after everyone witnessed two Celestial Rank beings suddenly rushing toward the depths below without hesitation.

The sight itself had deeply shaken the surrounding crowd.

After all, beings at the level of Celestials rarely moved personally unless something truly important was involved.

Yet both Perseus and the Vampire Prince had abandoned all caution and rushed after the person who was supposedly already dead.

That alone was enough to make countless thoughts appear within everyone’s minds.

Gill’s brows remained deeply furrowed as he stared toward the ocean below.

Earlier, he genuinely believed the person undergoing the Heavenly Tribulation had died the moment the Celestial Calamity Phoenix swallowed him whole.

After all, that power was simply too terrifying.

Even now, merely remembering that crimson bird made his instincts feel cold.

No Demi-God should have been capable of surviving something like that.

Yet...

The actions of the Celestial Rank beings completely contradicted that assumption.

Something is wrong...

Gill slowly narrowed his eyes.

No...something was already wrong from the very beginning.

A person capable of causing Golden Heavenly Lightning to evolve into Red Heavenly Lightning during Immortal Seal formation alone was already monstrous enough.

Then the manifestation of the Celestial Calamity Phoenix appeared.

And now even Celestial Rank beings were personally rushing toward him.

The more Gill thought about it, the heavier his heart became.

That bastard....is he actually still alive?

Meanwhile, the Ocean Elf Princess also remained unusually silent while staring toward the depths below, her eyes no longer carrying the calm certainty she had shown earlier.

Her calm expression had long since disappeared, replaced instead by a subtle but undeniable tension that she could not fully conceal.

Earlier, she also believed Seris’s words about hearing a rhythm sounded too vague and abstract to fully trust, especially when there was no visible evidence supporting such a claim.

But now...

After witnessing the reactions of the Celestial Rank beings and the terrifying phenomena occurring one after another, her certainty had begun to fracture in ways she did not openly admit.

She no longer dared dismiss Seris’s senses as mere illusion or misinterpretation.

Especially when Seris herself was becoming more serious with every passing moment, as though she was gradually confirming something the rest of them still could not perceive.

The Ocean Elf Princess slowly looked toward Seris from the corner of her eyes, studying her carefully in silence.

The current Seris no longer looked merely confused or uncertain.

No...

She looked disturbed.

As though she was listening to something far beyond everyone’s understanding, something that did not belong to their level of perception, nor even to their understanding of how the world normally functioned.

And that expression alone caused uneasiness to rise within the Ocean Elf Princess’s heart, a quiet tension that slowly settled in her chest as she continued observing Seris without blinking.

That person below the ocean...he is definitely doing something.

But what exactly...?

Meanwhile, Seris herself no longer paid attention to the people around her.

Her senses had already completely immersed themselves within the strange rhythm echoing throughout the surroundings, a rhythm that did not come from a single source but seemed to resonate from the very structure of reality itself.

Earlier, before everything escalated to this extent, the rhythm she sensed was incredibly faint, almost indistinguishable from the natural flow of the ocean and the subtle disturbances caused by energy dispersing in the atmosphere.

So faint that she almost thought it was related to the Heart of Ocean or something else entirely, a misunderstanding born from her own sensitivity to aquatic rhythms. At that moment, she even considered the possibility that destiny itself might be trying to convey something to her in a language only she could vaguely interpret.

Indeed, the rhythm that she had been hearing all this time was connected to destiny and fortune, though she could not explain how she knew this so clearly despite never encountering such a phenomenon before.

Although it was her first time ever hearing something like this, she somehow knew it instinctively, as if it was her destiny to recognize it the moment it appeared.

The reason why she was looking so disturbed was because the rhythm was becoming clearer with every passing second, no longer vague or fragmented, but gradually forming into something coherent and overwhelming.

It was becoming more profound and more defined, as though it was no longer something distant that could be ignored or misunderstood.

It no longer felt like something that wanted to hide or remain beneath perception.

Instead, it felt as though countless invisible currents flowing throughout the world itself had begun converging somewhere below the ocean, gathering toward a single unavoidable point.

As one of the most gifted children of the Siren race, Seris possessed terrifying sensitivity and affinity toward sound, rhythm, frequencies, and invisible as well as unseen vibrations that ordinary beings could never even begin to comprehend.

To Sirens, everything possessed rhythm.

The ocean possessed rhythm.

Souls possessed rhythm.

Even emotions, life force, energy flow, and natural laws all possessed frequencies hidden beneath existence itself, layered so deeply that most beings would never realize they were there.

And what Seris was hearing right now...

Was unlike anything she had ever experienced before in her entire life.

The rhythm sounded ancient.

Boundless.

Heavy enough to make her soul tremble unconsciously, as though her very existence was reacting to something far above her understanding.

It felt as though countless unseen Rivers of Destiny and Universal Fortune hidden throughout existence had begun flowing toward one single point beneath the ocean.

The surrounding figures naturally noticed the change in her expression, because they were all thinking about her earlier said words.

And because of everything that had happened till now nobody questioned her words either.

The atmosphere gradually became heavier.

Then suddenly...

Ba-dum!!!!

A heartbeat echoed throughout the surroundings.

The moment that sound appeared, the entire ocean trembled violently.

As though the surroundings itself had momentarily pulsed once.

-BOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!

Towering waves exploded upward throughout the surrounding sea while enormous whirlpools suddenly formed across the ocean surface one after another.

And then...

A terrifying phenomenon unfolded before everyone’s eyes.

High above the ocean, countless enormous translucent rivers suddenly appeared throughout the sky itself, spreading across the heavens as if reality had been torn open to reveal something that should have never been visible, resembling countless colors of Aurora unfolding simultaneously across existence.

Those rivers did not look like ordinary water, nor did they resemble any known substance found within the natural world.

Instead, they resembled flowing streams of divine light stretching endlessly across the heavens, moving with a rhythm that felt both structured and alive at the same time.

Some glowed with deep golden radiance resembling liquid sunlight that carried the weight of authority and order.

Some shone silver like moonlight flowing through the stars, calm yet overwhelming in its quiet pressure.

Others carried crimson brilliance similar to blood mixed with lightning, violent and unstable, as though containing destruction itself.

Blue rivers flowed calmly like cosmic oceans drifting through the heavens themselves, vast and endless, carrying an unfathomable depth within their motion.

Every single river looked ethereal and unreal, as though they did not belong to the material world at all, yet their presence was undeniably real, pressing upon the senses of everyone who witnessed them.

Countless symbols and fragmented lights drifted within those rivers endlessly while faint ancient aura spread throughout the Endless Oceans.

And the most terrifying part was...

All of those rivers were flowing toward the same location beneath the ocean.

Toward Ash.

Gill’s pupils contracted violently as he stared at the sky in disbelief, his entire perception of reality beginning to fracture under what he was witnessing.

The Ocean Elf Princess herself had completely lost composure, her earlier calm replaced by shock so profound that she could no longer even form a coherent thought for a brief moment.

Because although the phenomenon lasted for less than a second...

Everyone saw it clearly.

Invisible Rivers flowing through the heavens themselves, the vast currents of destiny and fortune made visible for an instant, all converging around Ash as if he were the center of all causality.

And the moment those rivers appeared, Seris’s breathing became heavier, her entire body reacting instinctively to the rhythm she had been sensing all this time.

Because the rhythm she heard earlier had become incomparably clearer now.

No...

It was growing stronger.

Ba-dum!!!!

And with every passing moment...

The rhythm only continued becoming louder, more dominant, more impossible to ignore.

Ba-dam Ba-dam Ba-dam.....BOOM!!!!

And then suddenly a screen popped up in front of everyone connected to the Universal System.

< UNIVERSAL SYSTEM NOTIFICATION >

< REALM QUEST - [The Absolute Anomaly] HAS BEEN UPDATED >