You would think that this was a simple answer for me, but it really was not, because I was truly tempted, and this temptation was not necessarily about the power; no, that was a rather simplistic way of looking at it; the true temptation was now.
There is always a reason for now. My continent was being destroyed by the Conclave, my parents were dead, my sister was on the run, and there was no Moon Fox to keep her safe... There were Sovereigns above me that would tear me apart in the blink of an eye, and I believed I could feel the cold gaze of that demon god at the bottom of the ocean on my back.
I did not even include the assurance that the Sovereign of the Stars was most assuredly coming for me, because in this timeline, he knew about the loop and understood the dangers of my freedom from the Soul Flayer and reaching the Sovereign level.
Every one of those is a perfectly good argument for being strong today instead of reaching an unknown potential in the future.
This voice in my head was stronger than I would like to admit, because I believed that even with a fractured domain, I would be a force to be reckoned with if my soul could cross into the Sovereign Tier, and so much of my grief could begin to vanish at the moment I made this choice, and I could finally bring the fight to those who were tearing the world apart.
I could truly bring death to those who deserved it. By all the lights in heaven, after hundreds of deaths, it was so tempting to make this choice and take to the skies, but I forced myself to remember the lines on my status screen... What is not complete at ascension is never completed.
If I take this chance to reach Sovereign, I could never go back, and the loop could not save me from it. That is what decided who I would become.
It would not be a death that took those eight Laws from me, with the loop, death was now a cost of acquiring power; instead, it would be my own choice that would forge my soul into this path.
Perhaps if my enemies were the Sovereigns in this battlefield, then I would have taken this step, but my enemies were transcendental demons, and the Sovereign of the Stars himself, a man who could easily manipulate other Sovereigns.
"No." My voice came out of me as a rasp. I have suffered hundreds of deaths to get to this point, and I will suffer a hundred more for me to keep my promises.
If I were fighting alone, I would make this choice, but I have committed so many wrongs, and no matter the fact that my soul could not be scarred by the weight of my actions, my memories still remained, and I would be letting down all the people that I have failed if, at this moment, I took the quick path.
My road was longer, and it was a very lonely road, but this was a road that I would walk to the end... no matter the cost.
[ Ascension declined. ]
[ Anima Depth: 119 (Arcanist)]
Ah, the power that I could have held in my palm...
∞
Setbacks and failures were my closest friends, and the moment I let go of my desire to raise my soul to the Sovereign Tier, I had already begun working on what was next; there was just too much for me to do.
The first thought that entered my head was nearly immediate... I had not reached the Sovereign Tier, but I had a complete Lightning Law, and if Adamantium Titan and the Law of Flesh had taught me anything, a Law was a key to many doors.
I called myself an Arcnaist, but Sovereign Caldus had called me a Proto-Sovereign, and I looked deep into myself, looking for what I could change with the Law in my grasp, and my soul immediately fell on one of the most crucial foundations of my power... Lightning Resonance.
My Lightning Resonance had been at the peak of the Arcanist Tier for a long time now, unable to cross, and a thought entered my head... I had flesh at the Sovereign level, Channels I was sure could rival anything a Sovereign could have, and if I could have Lightning Resonance that could elevate my spells to the level nearing those of a Sovereign... perhaps I would not need a completed domain to fight.
The Law of Stillness was not frozen in place like the rest of my Lightning Shards; it resembled a living blue wisp that made soft cries that almost felt like the cry of a newly born child.
It felt my attention, and flowed into my soul, and without any prompting from my part, it reached into my skin, touching all the channels that were connected with my Lightning Resonance.
The lightning does not travel. It arrives.
I pressed this law firmly into this part of me, and I heard a soft click echo through my soul like a key turning in a lock, and I immediately felt the shift in my Lightning Resonance as the Law of Stillness settled into the channels that carried lightning through my body and infused with it.
I gasped in shock and delight as I felt the truth of this Law reach into the very fabric of how I wielded lightning. My Resonance, which had been pressed against the ceiling of Arcanist for so long, finally had a door to push against and not an unbreakable barrier.
This sensation almost made me want to cry out with relief... it was extremely uncomfortable to feel all this power held back by a wall that I could not even touch, and to have this Law quietly create a door in this barrier, I truly wanted to scream out in joy.
I placed my consciousness against this door. I pushed, and this door opened more smoothly than I thought it would.
[Lightning Resonance: 119 → 120 (Sovereign)]
The number changed by a single digit, and I felt the world shift around me. Not the world itself, but my perception of it. The air was suddenly full of paths. Every charged particle, every potential difference, every place where lightning could be, I could see them all, laid out before me like roads on a map.
My eyes began to blaze with blue light, and the same light was flowing through my channels, and even through my robes, you could see it.
[Attunement Skill Evolution: Lightning Resonance — Sovereign Tier]
[New Properties Unlocked:]
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