Chapter 1676 The Celestial Ceremony. II
1676 The Celestial Ceremony II.
Even Asna didn"t seem to have felt or noticed his eyes on her...With a cold emotionless expression, she floated down and sat next to the three rulers.
Felix immediately broke out of his daze and shouted her name at her core agitatedly. "Asna! Asna, can you hear me?!"
Sadly, neither Asna heard him nor did her core react to his shouts.
"Why? She is outside of the dimensional pocket. She is supposed to have full connection with her core and even command it." Felix asked with a deep frown.
"Look at her head. Is that something normal?" Thor shared as he pointed at a brilliant golden tiara on top of Asna"s head.
"No." Felix narrowed his eyes in seriousness, "It has to be something related to the three rulers."
Felix knew that Asna was never a fan of too much jewelry and one of her most disliked types were tiaras, crowns, and such.
"Maybe it"s some sort of a movable seal?" J?rmungandr suggested, "If they can seal the entire dimensional pocket, it"s not too farfetched that they could create jewelry-based seals. Remember, the sealing hall was also related to them."
Everyone nodded in agreement. This was the most reasonable explanation for the situation as the three rulers would never allow Asna out without necessary precautions.
"Now, what?" Candace inquired, "The crux of the plan was Asna being left in the dimensional pocket while the three rulers watched the event."
"This indeed complicates things." Lady Sphinx frowned, "It will be another set of challenges to try and approach her while near them."
"I don"t care." Felix said with a cold tone, "This changes nothing."
In his eyes, the plan already had an abysmal chance of success and this development wouldn"t change anything since Felix would be going against the three rulers either way.
"Felix...You are doing it again." Thor reminded calmly.
"..."
Felix went silent for a few moments after hearing this...He closed his eyes and took deep breaths and then opened them, feeling like himself again.
He realized that this time his l.u.s.t and desire had taken control over him as it was responsible for his emotions related to intimacy, love, s.e.x, etc.
Thus, when he saw Asna after such a long period and he couldn"t get to her, his desires took control over him again.
"I am still going to commit." Felix shared with a stern tone, "I have a strong feeling that the three rulers will return Asna to the dimensional pocket after I kick off my plan."
"Are you sure?"
"After what I am about to do, they won"t have time to watch over her." Felix commentated with a cold tone.
"I..."
Boom!! Booom!! Boom!!
Suddenly, the discussion was interrupted by a new set of divine fireworks painting the sky in a mesmerizing color that ended up being turned into a long name.
It was of Apollo"s and his t.i.tle.
"They are starting with me?" Zeus remarked with a nonchalant gaze as he watched his citizens, their procession thundering down the main avenue like a storm on the horizon.
Each bearer held up a ma.s.sive gla.s.s sphere, displaying captured celestial energy. It was harvested from the boundless skies of Zeus"s domain in the past century.
There were more than a thousand gla.s.s spheres and all of them were filled to the brim.
Following them closely were the citizens of Athena, draped in robes of metal and crystal, advanced with a more measured pace.
They had collected more or less the same amount of Zeus.
Besides Apollo and Poseidon, the rest of the unigins delivered in an average of one thousand spheres.
This sight while extraordinary, didn"t please most of the unigins or the three rulers.
"The numbers are going down each cycle." Athena remarked with a solemn tone, "We delivered in an extra ten spheres last cycle."
"The universe"s heart keeps spewing less and less celestial energy." Artemis murmured with a worried look, "I genuinely don"t like this."
Celestial energy was the lifeline of the unigins and if it ever ran it, they would realize that there was nothing much to live for in their eternal lives.
The chase for strength, improvement, and even the constant battles among each other, while bothersome, made them feel alive.
Without celestial energy, an important resource to fight for, all of this would be gone and their lives would become like Apollo.
Everyone turned to glance at Apollo and when they saw him clapping with a childlike laugh as he observed his pitiful portion of celestial energy being paraded, they felt s.h.i.+vers at such a dreadful thought.
Last but not least, the parade welcomed the devotees of Poseidon, moving like a flowing tide through the streets.
Their spheres swirled with captured energy that mimicked the ocean"s depth and mystery. When the unigins saw that he had close to double their number of spheres, they turned their envious looks at Poseidon.
"Watch and weep," Posiedon smirked smugly, leaving them with irritated expressions.
"Enjoy it while it lasts, you won"t be in hold of them for long," Zeus sneered.
While the others hadn"t said anything, most of them had the same att.i.tude.
Poseidon wasn"t too bothered by this since he knew that only one could fight him in the event.
All the unigins had the right to challenge once and accept it once...This meant he had two fights, but he could avoid one if he didn"t feel like challenging anyone.
Since this event was held for the sake of unigins" entertainment, most of them actively partic.i.p.ated in the challenges.
Boom!! Boom!! Boom!!
With one final set of fireworks, the parade was concluded and all the celestial gla.s.s spheres were gathered in one place, creating a small mountain of celestial energy.
From a citizen to a unigin, everyone"s eyes could be seen to have a tint of greed and desire as they stared at this beautiful piece of artwork...But, they knew better not to have such thoughts before the three rulers.
With a flash of light from the third ruler, the array of celestial spheres manifested before them, each pulsating with energy harvested by the citizens of the various unigins.
As the moment of divinity allocation approached, a hush fell over the crowd, the air thick with antic.i.p.ation.
Turning to the unigins, the second ruler addressed them with a feminine voice that resonated like the very heartbeat of the universe. "Esteemed unigins, the time has come to declare your preference for the divinity split. Your selections will shape the destinies of your domains and their balance until the next cycle."
The Celestial Ceremony was termed to as a cycle by everyone since it was the only time when the three rulers showed up, accepted the celestial energy from lesser celestial unigins, and converted it into the picked divinities.
Naturally, the three rulers obtained their portion each cycle and it was 40% for each unigin, which was more or less the same percentage of taxes in many countries.
The remaining 60% was split into a portion to be used for the bets in the battles and the rest was turned straightway into divinities.
In this manner, everyone got to win something each cycle while at the same time having some entertainment.
Following the same order as shown in the parade, Zeus was the first to speak.
"Let the spheres allocated to my domain be infused with 10% runic divinity, 20% radiant divinity, 9% resplendent divinity, and 1% incandescent divinity to spark the fires of inspiration among my people. The remaining 20% will be used in my battles."
Zeus said the last part while staring at Poseidon, making him understand that he was coming for him.
Posiedon merely scoffed and continued ignoring him. "Idiot, he may not even win the first challenge lot and still give me such looks...Embarra.s.sing."
Next was Athena.
"I seek 30% runic divinity, 10% radiant divinity, 10% resplendent divinity, and the remaining 10% will be used for battles."
The rest of the unigins followed suit one by one until it was Poseidion"s turn again. Without an ounce of hesitation, he called out, "I seek 20% runic divinity, 20% radiant divinity, 10% resplendent divinity, and the remaining 10% will be used for battles."
"Tsk, coward." Zeus clicked his tongue in irritation.
10% was the lowest amount needed to join the battles and whether a unigin desired to join or not, he had to put in 10% and accept one challenge at least.
This would ensure having some battles each cycle, which was a must to maintain the tradition.
After the unigins had made their decision, the three rulers took action.
The first ruler began to chant in the universal codex language, which was older than the stars themselves.
Ethereal threads of light wove around the spheres, tracing intricate patterns in the air as the celestial energy within it began to transform in front of everyone"s eyes into a divinity!
The second rulerjoined the incantation, her voice harmonizing with the first, adding layers of complexity and depth to the magical weave.
The third ruler raised his arms higher, and the very fabric of reality seemed to pulse in response.
The air s.h.i.+mmered with potential, and the celestial energy within the spheres began to coalesce, condensing into crystalline forms of pure divinity!
As the incantation reached its crescendo, a brilliant flash of light enveloped the palace, so intense that it momentarily eclipsed the celestial bodies overhead.
The spheres, once aglow with raw energy, now radiated with the distinct hues of divinities, runic, radiant, resplendent, and incandescent, each color a reflection of the unigins" choices, their desires made manifest!
"Is it possible for me to also create my own divinities?" Felix wondered as he observed the show.