Dorian activated his Speedy State, causing the world around him to slow. At the same time, he continued to maintain his Pride Super State, keeping both powers simultaneously active.
The influx of energy was very difficult to control. The two types of power were extraordinary in their own right. They naturally melded together very poorly and were constantly trying to clash and cannibalize each other.
However, his Balance Demon form's unique powers made that control much easier to handle and practice. The more he worked at it, the easier it became to do both. Soon, he felt he wouldn't need to rely upon his Balance Demon form at all to control both States at once. The experience he gained was unique, like training a muscle that he had rarely used before.
At the same time, he landed down on the barren ground of Taprisha, turning with a small smile to face the east.
Roughly 1,000 meters away from him was a set of jagged rock pillars. Each one was hardened and chipped, durable enough to withstand Taprisha's brutal wind.
He crouched down, setting his clawed feet to dig into the stony earth. The muscles in his legs bulged up as he tensed, energy in his body condensing down. Around him, two perfectly balanced Auras created a visible twist of color in the air.
An instant later…
He began to run.
A shockwave blasted out as the earth was blown apart behind him. A huge, 50-meter wide crater of cracked stone spread in a millisecond, shards of rock shooting up into the air purely from the force of Dorian's first step.
Dorian's body was harnessed to the extreme, pulling all the way on the full force of both States, layered on top with the activation of his Perfect Body Ability.
In less than a second, he crossed more than 1,000 meters to reach those jagged rocks.
He continued to run.
Every step he took smashed down on the ground with tremendous force. The combined strength of his Speedy State and his Super State gave him unprecedented agility, but also made his newfound power very difficult to control.
He was barely able to keep himself running low to the ground, using his Auras to 'cling' to the earth and prevent himself from flying off into the air.
His movement speed had reached such an extreme level, it was approaching that of short-range teleportation. Of all the trillions of beings in the 30,000 Worlds, there were less than a dozen that could move as fast as Dorian was right now, in terms of raw, continuous speed without the use of portals or Artifacts.
The accumulation of two Demonic Laws, one focused on physical power while the other focused on perception of time, was not something that could be understood using normal terms.
With this single gain, Dorian had fully thrust himself to the level of the supreme elites.
After running for a dozen seconds, Dorian had covered more than 15,000 meters, or a bit less than 10 miles as he remembered from Earth. After running so much, he could feel the huge drain of energy that persisted in his soul, drawing through his Soul Spell Matrix.
And while he felt that huge draw of energy, he noticed something.
He didn't feel even the slightest bit tired.
'Ausra, what are my energy levels looking like?' He sent a mental inquiry to the passive Genie. This was the first time he had checked how powerful he had become after he began his meditation session.
His focus, this time, had been so centered on increasing his understanding of the Laws, he had ignored tracking any other increases. His heart tightened with anticipation as he waited to see the increase.
He had mastered 2 Demonic Laws to Completion, and 5 other ones to 90%+, plus the Origin Law of Original Sin to a bit more than 50%. He figured he should've gained quite a bit.
–
Dorian – Soul Status
Soul Stage: King Class (Peak)
Health: Perfect
Energy: 26,768,995 / 26,822,017
–
The results exceeded his expectations to an absurd degree.
"What?!" Dorian froze mid-step, his eyes opening wide in shock. As a result of this, his next step skipped off the ground and sent him smashing down into the earth.
A rippling explosion shook the air as he decimated one of Taprisha's rare forests, blowing apart more than 300 trees as he rocketed through the air. A cascade of stone-like leaves, broken trunks, and shattered bark flew up into the air, pelting Dorian mercilessly.
He managed to forcibly come to a halt, smashing down into the earth with a clawed hand and gouging out a 30-meter long path in the stone. His body was completely uninjured, though the same couldn't be said for the dignity of this stalwart forest.
It had withstood centuries of ferocious, Law-imbued wind only to be trampled on by a confused Balance Demon.
However, Dorian ignored all of that as he looked at the result, a huge smile covering his face.
The current state of energy in his soul was simply too absurd.
"This… this is roughly 5 times the Energy Level that the Diamond Wall of the Borrel Autarchy had, right?" He spoke aloud to himself, remembering when he ran into the Head of the Diamond Department back on Magmor.
The Head was famed for his power and was a Pseudo-Angelic Class expert.
Dorian's current power level no longer put him on the level of a powerful King Class expert.
No, he was more like an enormous leviathan, condensed into a humanoid form. In fact, his energy level even exceeded the raw power of the first Pseudo-Angelic Class beast he had run into, the enormous Flame Empyrean Turtle on Magmor.
As Dorian felt at the full scale of energy he could draw, he realized how seemingly limitless it felt.
With an energy base like this, the number of Abilities, Laws, and raw power he could call upon had increased to a ridiculous degree.
"Hahaha… hahaha… HAHAHA!" He couldn't help but laugh, a huge grin appearing on his face. His Balance Demon form made that grin seem evil, making him into a nefarious evil-doer.
The results of his training, of all the preparation he had done, were finally beginning to pay off.
All the various Laws he gained access to helped him expand the maximum limit of energy his soul could hold. His powerful forms further expanded that, granting him the ability and the endurance to handle such a fount of energy. His incredible control over his will allowed him to unconsciously control such energy with ease, to a degree that he didn't even fully notice the increase in power till he focused on it.
His entire existence in the 30,000 Worlds seemed to have led up to this moment, the fruit of all of his efforts revealed.
There was probably nobody under the Angelic Class, apart from a small number of truly gargantuan beasts that were rarely seen, that had a higher Energy Level than he did.
"I used up around 50,000 units of energy running for about a dozen seconds." He muttered out loud, looking at the results. He accounted for any previous use of energy, able to easily remember and scale back each result thanks to his perfect memory.
"However, the more practice I get at maintaining both States, the lesser an energy drain it should become over time. At the rate that I increase, it may even be feasible for me to drop the drain to just 1,000 units of energy a second, or perhaps even less. Ability energy drain will still be hard to mitigate, though." He nodded his head slightly, feeling as if his conclusion was accurate.
If any other King Class cultivator had heard his remarks, most of them would've been struck dumb.
To control even a single type of energy perfectly was extremely difficult. Even if you reached King Class and had a complete understanding of a Law, that didn't mean your body and soul would be able to control that energy to an absolutely perfect degree.
Controlling two types of energy, and going further, controlling two hyper-powered Energy States, was such an absurd achievement that it simply wouldn't ever be considered as possible.
The only being that had likely ever achieved such powers before was the previous, mystical Demon Emperor.
Even Yukeli himself never achieved such a state, though it could be argued that that was because he never tried to.
"This… this will help me out quite a bit." Dorian smiled as he looked down at his fists. He then turned back into the direction he had been running again, tensing his body up once more.
Another explosion rang out as he continued his journey, sprinting madly to the east.
.. .. .. .. .. ..
A short amount of time later…
.. .. .. .. .. ..
In a quaint room within a small Inn in Potor City, a calm looking Vampire was looking down at a letter, reading over several lines that had been written into it. The letter sat on a desk, next to a quill and ink.
Dorian looked down at the letter he was writing, thinking intently over how he should end it.
He had returned to his graceful, Empyrean Vampire, a body he wore when he was out and about, moving in public on Taprisha. Its appearance was very similar to a regular Vampire, but was also his most physically powerful form. He would be able to react best to attacks in this form, while also staying on the down-low.
His Vampyrean appearance wouldn't draw too much attention if he kept his head down. His Balance Demon form, however… well, he would immediately incite a riot wherever he went if he tried that body out. He had learned that from experience.
The letter he was writing was to none other than the woman he had come to love. Helena Aurelius.
This was the fourth letter he had written Helena, in between some of his breaks from meditation and study. His correspondence with her was a mix of serious and silly topics. Sometimes they talked about stories or interesting things they had seen, while others they talked about the dangerous state of the world, of Yukeli, and of Anomalies.
The talks served as something that kept Dorian motivated. Helena hid it well, but he could feel the fear she felt. Not because of him, but because of how Marcus Aurelius was acting.
Word of the invasion of the Draconic Tribes, led by Yukeli into the territory of the Borrel Autarchy, had long since passed into the ears of the leadership of the Aurelius, the Augustus, and the Caesar Families.
The treaty with the Shades had gone well, but the disaster striking the other sides of the 30,000 Worlds was making waves that could not be ignored.
Helena remarked that Marcus was constantly on edge and had ordered the full military might of the Aurelius Family to operate on standby. She didn't know exactly what the man she loved as a father planned on doing, and the worry she suffered as a result was heart-wrenching.
Dorian felt powerless, but did everything he could to comfort her. He informed her of all of his progress, building up an image of a fearless hero that had obtained absolute power.
She didn't sound fully convinced, but he could tell that his words had at least some positive impact.
As he finished writing the letter, he nodded at it sharply and signed his name. In it, he'd let her know this would be his last update for a while and shared how much stronger he had become. The letter had then gone on to be a bit sappy as he shared his feelings for her through a series of silly poems. He smiled as he looked at it, a feeling of relief washing over him.
He didn't plan on dying anytime soon, but if the worst should come to pass, a letter like this wouldn't be that bad of a final goodbye.
After he finished writing out that letter, he slowly turned his attention to a smaller letter he had finished writing and set off to the side.
It wasn't another letter to Helena, but instead, a letter to Leader.
After hearing back from Leader, he had responded with a few letters back and forth. All of the letters were possible largely due to the well-connected communication system of the Aurelius Family, allowing him to purely focus on increasing his power while occasionally writing short dispatches.
After a few inquisitive questions, Leader had, eventually, admitted that he had decided to ally himself with, and join, the Demonic Council.
Dorian's shenanigans that saw him labeled as 'Obelisk' the inheritor of the Demon Emperor had ingrained the Council to his will. The fact that they were now staunch supporters of him seemed enough to make Leader forgive them for any past transgressions.
It was how Leader found out what he did about their actions and intentions.
In fact, amusingly enough, Leader had been sent here by the Council to bring their greetings and inform him of the Council's actions. Leader had said the Council was split between asking for his approval or inviting him to formally join them before sharing anything.
Despite the authenticity they showed, power was something very few people were willing to give up, especially Demonic Cultivators. In the end, the Council had compromised and simply told him everything, without asking for approval or demanding he join them.
Their ancient plans to take revenge were already put into gear and nothing would stop them. The vengeance of a thousand years was not one that could go unrequited.
'Well, if I really went at it, I might be able to stop them, or at least adjust their plans.' Dorian thought after a moment, considering. He didn't plan on doing that, not yet at least, however.
They likely had a better grasp of their own powers and planning, far moreso than he did. It was probably wiser to let them plan how to take on Yukeli on their own, while he focused on growing as powerful as possible.
His eyes hardened after a moment.
'Even if they only slow Yukeli down, it might still be worth it.' The thought was callous, but he faced it head-on. Yukeli was simply too much of a monster to look at with normal logic.
After he finished writing both letters, he wrapped both of them up and prepared to have them delivered. All he needed to do was drop them off at a specific warehouse in the city, one where they would promptly be transported.
After that…
It would be time to leave.
"The Aurelius Family intel better be right about this." He muttered quietly to himself as he thought about where he was going next.
His first step to the Greater World of Monta involved returning back to Blizzaria.
The Greater World of Monta was located on the other side of the 30,000 Worlds. If he travelled there by foot, it would take months, even if he moved in insanely quick spurts. The distance between there and here was so incredibly large it was difficult to fully fathom.
However… there were ways to move very quickly between different parts of the 30,000 Worlds. One of those methods involved the extremely abstruse and complex art of teleportation. Another involved the use of magical portals.
The creation of any portal was extremely difficult, and it was even more difficult to successfully program it to go anywhere, let alone somewhere specific.
However, over the course of his travels and journey, Dorian just so happened to know where a certain magical portal was located.
And, according to the top-secret records held by the Aurelius Family, it was possible to redirect that portal to a location within the territory of the Draconic Tribes.
Specifically, the Exotic World of Phenshrip, a planet only 4 World Bridges distant from the Greater World of Monta.
A planet known as the 'Birthplace of Giants.'
.
