"This is the correct choice Alyssa as Malikai is more suited to form a Runic Bond with me." Virgo spoke up after Malikai placed his palm upon the final barrier which surrounded Virgo's two forms.
Virgo's statement caused the twins to look upon her with questioning gazes and she simply responded by stating; "The explanation as to why that is will become clear to you both in the future."
The last barrier which surrounded Virgo was condensed using her own Mana and Star qi and was engraved with countless complex Runes which linked into a myriad of complicated Runic Arrays representing her understanding of the Aria.
Virgo gazed into Malikai's eyes with an impish smile from the center of the barrier and asked; "Are you ready to begin?"
Malikai turned back to look at Alyssa, causing gazes to meet in the air before he turned back to Virgo with determination filling his voice and eyes and responded. "Yes."
"Good," Virgo said as the impish light disappeared from her gaze causing it to become more solemn. The barrier broke apart into countless particles of light made up of Mana and Star Qi which rushed into Malikai's body through the palm of his right hand. They flowed through his body, and both bonded with both his Runic Pathways and affected the blood flowing within him, causing numerous changes to his genetic make-up.
The process caused him excruciating pain as his inherent Runic Arrays broke apart and began to recombine in new sequences as Virgo's Runic Arrays bonded with them, forming something entirely new. The energy that made up the barrier fused with his blood causing it to boil as it became purer and began to glow with a silvery light as it rushed through his veins.
Vast amounts of Mana and Star Qi were emitted from his body as the airflow around him became chaotic. The air caused his clothes to billow before they eventually burst apart when subjected to increasing air pressure.
He released deep and continuous roars of pain as cracks began to appear on his skin releasing silvery white, blue, and black flashes of Runic Light. The Runic Light began to form phantasmal images of Runes which surrounded him in the air.
His roars of pain grew progressively deeper as the cracks along his skin expanded and his hair began to stand upwards in defiance of gravity.
Complex geometric and multi-layered Runic Arrays began to appear within his eyes. The Runic Arrays glowed in a light similar to the light escaping the cracks in his body. He lowered his right hand and clenched both of his fists as his body became tense due to the changes happening within.
The Runes inscribed on Virgo's physical body began to glow in silvery white light as a finger sized point of light appeared before her Core Rune1 The central Rune of a runic Array all power typically flows through it and it binds the effects of the other Runes together. More affects to be explained/explored later on. . The point of light started to absorb vast amounts of Mana and Star Qi within the armory and as it began to emit a vast and overwhelmingly oppressive pressure which caused the gravity of the surrounding area to increase exponentially. This resulted in a greater pressure pushing upon Malikai's body as blood began to leak from his seven orifices.
Even though both the point of light, now reminiscent of a black hole, and Malikai's body absorbed a vast amount of Mana and Star Qi the amounts of the Origin Forces in the surroundings did not decrease as they instead continued to increase dramatically.
This was because Runic Arrays present along the Armory's walls, floor, and ceiling began to glow as Origin Forces surrounding The Mountain of Twin Sprites flowed into the armory at an alarming rate.
Since the moment the barrier had broken apart into countless particles of light Alyssa had been drawing a single super complex human-sized Rune. The Rune was a female angel which possessed a single pair of wings which stood beneath the canopy of a massive tree glowing in resplendent golden light. She completed the process of drawing the Rune and infusing it with Mana at the moment Malikai's seven orifices began to bleed.
She slapped her palm against it and it flew towards Malikai before smashing against his back and breaking apart into pieces of Runic Light.
The Runic Light then seeped into the cracks along his skin which led deep into his body.
The Runic Light suppressed the pain within his body while calming his tumultuous blood and healing the cracks which had begun to form on his bones. As this happened his roar of pain slowly decreased in volume before eventually coming to an end as some of the tension left his body.
Alyssa took a deep breath as a relieved light flashed through her eyes and she clenched her fist and bit her bottom lip softly. She then began to draw another Rune this one much more complex than the last.
She became focused on this singular task as she attempted to ignore her surroundings as she fought against the other two attractive forces to gather Mana towards the Rune she was drawing in the air.
After the golden Runic Light seeped into his skin Malikai took even breaths and stared into the eyes of Virgo's spiritual body.
Both Malikai and Virgo nodded to one another before Virgo raised her right arm upwards to shoulder level and opened her palm before pulling her arm back and swinging it towards Malikai.
Along with the forward movement of her hand, a finger thick beam of super condensed Mana shot out of the point of light. The beam of Mana traveled on a curved trajectory and smashed into Malikai's forehead.
The beam never broke and continuously spewed forth from the point of light and was completely covered in Runic Arrays similar to the ones which had been inscribed upon the previous barrier. The Mana contained within the beam rushed into Malikai's sea of consciousness.
Within Malikai's Sea of Consciousness was a massive forest filled with trees giving off a vibrant lifeforce and vitality. The smallest tree was several kilometers tall with a circumference of over 100 meters. Lightning storms were prevalent inside of the forest along with many belts of chaotic wind, thunderous booms, and electromagnetic pulses. The forest was inhabited by countless Wind, Thunder, and Lightning sprites along with many other unique organisms.
There were ten mystical mountains which floated above the center of the forest due to the unique Geocentric Laws contained within Malikai's Sea of Consciousness. Nine of the mountains were inscribed with complex Runic Arrays. The Runic Arrays inscribed upon the mountains were all linked into a single Compound Runic Array2A Runic Array created by linking multiple Runic Arrays together (Pretty Self-explanatory). . The nine mountains were separated into three orbits which traveled around the tenth and final mountain which was the largest and had no Runes carved upon it.
The Central Mountain floated inside of a hurricane shaped cloud of Mana which was created from Mana which Malikai had absorbed from the outside world and was in the process of assimilating into his Sea of Consciousness. Said hurricane contained different attributes of Mana and small amounts of pure Star Qi which all swirled around chaotically.
Clouds of Mana "fell" off of the Hurricane in some places and coiled throughout the sky of the entire space like Flood Dragons and Heaven Devouring Pythons. Some of the branches ended within the forest causing Mana to surge into the ground and the surrounding area. The Star Qi was directly absorbed by the Central Mountain and used to refine itself.
Malikai's spiritual body sat on a cliff near the peak of the Central Mountain with his legs crossed and his hands resting upon his thighs. He wore a pair of steel-gray linen pants and nothing else as Runes floated in the air around him refining the ambient Mana before funneling it into his body, Sky laid on the ground next to him as she slumbered and absorbed Mana from her surroundings.
Malikai suddenly opened his eyes and peered through the whirlpool as silver and white streams of Mana surged through the clouds and reconverged in the space between the floating mountains and the forest.
The Mana condensed into a Super-sized Compound Runic Array which was made of 99 Single layer Runic Arrays of various shapes and sizes which were placed vertically between heaven and earth. Each subsequent Array's change in size had no particular pattern with the largest Array being the size of a lake and the smallest being the size of a bowl.
The distance between each subsequent Array also varied; being between 2 centimeters and 3 meters. Some of the Arrays rotated at various speeds either clockwise or counterclockwise, while others expanded and contracted, and the rest remained stationary. The Sub-Arrays of the Compound Array were condensed from east to west with the first being pure angelic white and the last being a mystical silver.
After he watched the formation of the Compound Array Malikai stood up and patted Skye gently on her head in order to wake her up while the Runes floating around him in the air faded away. Afterward, Skye slowly opened her eyes and Malikai sat in the space between her shoulders and her neck before she stood up.
She walked to the edge of the cliff as they both peered through the Mana Hurricane surrounding the Central Mountain and gazed at the Compound Runic Array. They watched it for a moment as Skye unfurled her wings before she leapt off of the cliff and into the air.
She flapped her wings a single time before she appeared outside of the confines of the hurricane.
She then flew around the whirlpool in a clockwise spiral with her long tail trailing behind them. They gazed at the Orbital Mountains as they flew. One of the orbiting paths was horizontal while the other two were diagonal and intersected like an "X". The mountains made the Mana flow around them chaotic as they traveled through the air.
The Orbital Mountains were surrounded by swirls of Mana which they attracted from the Mana which surrounded the Central Mountain. Giant rocks were also present as they were affected by the same Geocentric Laws which caused the Mountains to float. The rocks had various lifeforms such as trees, vines and other plants living on them.
Both the rocks and lifeforms present absorbed the Ambient Mana changing their internal properties and structure.
After a brief flight through what Malikai had chosen to name "The Zone of Archaic Mountains," the two arrived above the center of "The Thundering Forest.".
In the center of The Thundering Frest was a group of Ancient Treants which could manipulate Thunder and Lightning. Skye landed on the branch of one of the Ancient Treants
"Stay here." Malikai said assertively to Skye before he got off of her back and stood in the air beside her atop the Ancient Treant's branch.
She looked towards him questioning with slight concern visible in her midnight-like eyes.
He patted her on the head once again and calmly said; "I'll be fine."
Skye released a small purr and closed her eyes as she enjoyed the sensation of his large palm rubbing gently against her head.
"Haha..." Malikai released a gentle laugh in response to Skye's adorable expression before he removed his hand from her head.
He then turned away from her and looked towards the Compound Runic Array which was in the sky above them. Malikai then vanished from that place and reappeared directly above the Runic Array.
"Time to begin," Malikai said to himself after he appeared in front of the first layer. He then bit through the skin of his right index finger. Afterward, he removed the finger from his mouth and fused Ambient Mana into his blood as it flowed from his finger. The blood was crimson red and contained black, gold, and silver Runes which were microscopic in size yet emitted a brilliant light. He had to suppress his body's vitality in order to keep his wound from healing as he used the Mana infused blood to draw a Complex Rune in the air before him. The Mana around him became so dense that it was visible to the naked eye as it gathered towards his extended finger and the Rune he was in the process of drawing.
The Rune was 3-dimensional and looked identical to The Zone of Archaic Mountains, and it took up 1 cubic meter of space when he completed it. The moment he finished drawing the Rune the area's Mana became even more rampant and condensed while space became more prone to collapse. Along with the completion of the Rune, The Orbital Mountains stopped Moving and the Runic Arrays inscribed onto them began to release rays of blue, green, black, purple, brown, and golden-yellow Runic Light.
99 Chains formed out of Runes which glowed in similar Runic Lights appeared from within Malikai's Sea of Consciousness. 33 stretched upwards from within The Thundering Forest, 33 entered the sky directly from the void through spatial cracks, and the final 33 came from within The Zone of Archaic Mountains.
Malikai then allowed the wound on his finger heal as he watched the Runic Chains move through the air.
Malikai released a draconic roar towards the heavens as the wings, tail, and horns he had recently gained resurfaced. Along with these features came scales similar to Skye's which covered his arms, back, upper left and right chest, and his lower abdomen. They were also present on his shoulders and the back of his neck.
He stretched his arms and released a roar which caused the entire Forest to tremble as the creatures living within it kneeled in submission. Mana wildly surged towards him from the Forest and condensed into ball shapes 1 meter in diameter in front of both of his palms.
Skye similarly released a draconic roar towards the Heavens and unfurled her wings in acknowledgment before she laid back down to slumber.
As Malikai's roar slowly came to an end the Mana also stopped rampantly surging towards his palms. He gave the slumbering Skye a small smile as he slammed the two balls of Mana into the Rune from either side. The Rune began to madly absorb the Mana as the Runic Light the Orbital Mountains released became brighter and the Runic Chains became thicker while releasing a greater sense of strength.
As the Mana from his Palms surged into the Rune Malikai spoke in Ancestral Elf; "Bind and Assimilate".
The Runic Chains then surged forth as the Compound Runic Array's 99 Sub-Arrays spread throughout the Sky no longer in a single line as they hung in the sky.
Each Runic Chain pierced through the center of a single Sub-Array before emitting Heaven Devouring Runic Flames which refined the Sub-Arrays causing them to crumble apart.
As the Sub-Arrays crumbled apart into various Runes they released surges of Mana into Malikai's Sea of Consciousness. The Mana caused the Runes to fly to various places within His Sea of Consciousness.
As the Array's crumble apart so did the Chains which became small finger sized Runic Flames which refined the Runes and imprinted them with the Aria contained within Malikai's Sea of Consciousness which were unique and inherent to him.3 I.e. they became one with the laws of existence which belonged to him.
As this process took place Malikai's spiritual body became weaker as he used his entire Sea of Consciousness as a Cauldron. He was able to slow this process by using his wings to absorb large amounts of Mana.
After he refined each Rune Malikai then exerted even more of his exhausted will to recondense the 99 Runic Sub-Arrays. The Sub-Arrays were slightly different now as they were less aggressive towards the surrounding space as Malikai seemed able to exert some control over them. The Sub-Arrays also released shades of Runic Light similar to those released by the Runic Chains.
He then removed his palms from the sides of the Rune resemblant of The Zone of Archaic Mountains.
He released a deep breath as sweat rolled down his forehead and he gazed at the Sub-Arrays before him. He then exerted Mana to move the Rune so that it was directly in between the center of The Thundering Forest and The Zone of Archaic Mountains. The Rune then began to rotate in a clockwise direction.
He then manipulated the Sub-Arrays through Mana and had them form a sphere around the Rune.
Following that, he linked the Rune and Sub-Arrays together into a new Compound Runic Array. In order to complete it, he once more bit his finger; this time drawing only a single drop of blood which he infused a large amount of Mana into.
He flicked the blood towards the Compound Runic Array and it turned into 100 individual strands which bonded with each part of the Array.
The Array then began to expand and contract uniformly as all of the Mana present within Malikai's Sea of Consciousness Surged towards the Compound Runic Array.
