Currently residing in the lower regions of the lab commonly used for testing, a dome-like structure supported by anchors branched out, connecting to the edges of the room whilst it rested at the center. The room was in complete silence, the atmosphere was tense and overbearing. Waves of energy would occasionally escape the grasp of the metal dome and assault the area around it.

With time, fewer and fewer waves of energy escaped the grasp of the protective barrier, as it adjusted itself to the excessive output being released and dissipated it before it could cause any damage to the surroundings.

Taking a glimpse inside the structure, Z'akk could be seen sitting in a lotus position. He had already absorbed the three council members' essences and his mind was now at a profound level of concentration as he remained in his subconscious world. His body was like a husk, releasing a blast of heat so intense, it emitted a light that was beyond blinding.

In his world of essences, Z'akk was currently floating with three incredibly small orbs resting in front of him. The three orbs contained the essence of the three council members, but the amount was too small. To make up for the lack of quantity, he began synthesizing the blood he had received, thus increasing the quality that rested in his body. He continuously channeled energy into the relatively small balls of essence holding the blood of the three council members.

The orbs continued to grow in size as it was repeatedly tempered and refined by Z'akk's energy feeding it, but not only were they increasing in size but also started to radiate their unique hue. The two that he had received from K'hym and Cay'an shone in brilliant vivid color, signifying the green heritage they held from their faction of the race.

Ma'alefa'ak's blood on the other hand, was much more unique than the ones seen thus far, despite the lack of quantity, the quality compared to the others was unmatched. It held a higher concentration of DNA than the others, allowing it to be much more potent in comparison to the common green and white Martians. The synthesizing process had taken only a few hours, but the orbs of essence were now matching the orange fiery orb that he had placed at the edge of his subconscious world.

Taking all four of the orbs containing the essence of the Martians he had synthesized and enhanced, he converged them all in front of him and raised his hands towards them. Just now, he remembered another detail he was missing.

"Don't even think I forgot about that bonus I got during the rebellion!"

Peering above him, Z'akk observed the cloud of orbs containing the essence of dozens of white Martians that he absorbed during the defense. Promptly he gestured for the cloud to come towards him. Slowly, the cloud began to fade as the essences began to separate from it in succession whilst steadily descending before him, one by one. Once all of the essences approached him, he directed them to fuse all into a larger ball of white Martian essence.

Z'akk began to compress the ball down into a smaller, condensed size. This time around, he did such whilst receiving a minuscule amount of resistance against his intentions. This unity was much more profound in its quality due to the sheer amount of residual energy residing within it. Once the ball had completely compressed into another orange fiery orb matching the first one he made, he brought them all together.

Seeing as he was already experienced with this process, it all came without much resistance, but the final phase is what would prove to be a challenge.

"From only two white Martian essences, I went all the way to fighting in a small scale war. Let's see if all this trouble I went through was worth it…"

Closing his eyes for the moment to help in his concentration, he began the process of awakening whatever secrets lay within the Martian's DNA sequence. Exiting from his subconscious, the room that he was in remained unchanged and unscathed. However delving deeper beyond the surface and into the dome he was residing in, the walls from the inside were turned crimson as the heat that he was emanating from his body grew to an immense degree, scorching the very atmosphere that remained in the dome. It was nothing less of an inferno.

Gradually Z'akk began to burn as the heat generated from his body increased to higher levels. Vibrant blue flames began to erupt from his body while his flesh became more jagged in its appearance. The flames flowed through the fissures that formed over his body, taking to the cracked surface of a volcano. The entire process took only a few moments, but the changes were drastic.

Returning to his subconscious world, Z'akk had successfully fused the two fiery orange spheres containing the concentrated essence of the Martians into one pure blue sphere. Unlike the two spheres before it, the blue sphere was engulfed in an elegant flame matching its lustrous color. The flame flickered and swayed gently in the space in front of Z'akk.

Observing it once, he approached the flickering flaming blue essence before him. Holding it in the palm of his right hand and admiring its radiance up close, he could sense the power held within it, continuously driving him closer with its temptations. However, he was not finished.

Placing the sphere to the side, he looked at the others gravitating around him. Grabbing the two virid colored spheres he threw them towards the flaming blue ball only to be quickly absorbed by it.

The flame flickered once again upon the absorption before abruptly settling. Afterward, Z'akk placed his sights on the very last sphere before him holding martian DNA, the crimson ball of essence containing the blood of Ma'alefa'ak.

"Let's make this count. I'm not waiting any longer than I have already."

Summoning the crimson orb forward, he held it in his left as he called the flaming orb to his right. He then slowly began bringing the two closer together. A large blast of energy was released as the orbs approached one another. The gust of energy reaches to the outside and causes the dome to expand like a balloon, struggling to keep the energy being released contained within itself.

Z'akk began to push the orbs closer and closer together as the energy being released continued to grow. He was expecting the two orbs to reject each other and fight against him, but it was quite the opposite, the flaming orb and the crimson orb were coming together in unison. The once blue flame began to flicker in an aggressive yet dignified manner, shifting its hue into a much deeper purple tone, burning uncontrollably as its light illuminated the entirety of his inner world.

Everything came to an end as the fusion was complete, the burst of energy and heat being released from his body in the outer world ceased and the dome was still intact. His inner world was only left with two spheres, the one containing the countless dinosaurs he had assimilated, and the radiant purple flame of essence that illuminated the world within him.

Z'akk only stood near and admired the flame.

"The feeling I am getting from this thing is no joke!"

Finally leaving his inner world, Z'akk opened his eyes and immediately gave a mental command for the dome to open. In an instant, it split in half and opened to reveal Z'akk in his new body. He stepped out of the boundaries of the dome and stood within the room examining himself, his feet slowly sinking into the metal floors beneath.

Directly he could see the extreme changes that his martian form had undertaken. The most noticeable being that his body was under a perpetual blaze. No real skin remained on his body, only the semblance of a carapace like somewhat organic material, engulfed in raging purple flames that covered every inch of his frame.

"I'm impressed! I must have become a special variant of a burning martian or something of the sort… I'll have to test my strength some other time, can't risk destroying this place."

Gradually the purple flames surrounding his body proceeded to dissipate as green skin began to form. He was back to being a "normal" green martian. After the process was finished, the black stretchy, battle outfit formed over his body, completing his previous look.

"Hex, Report!"

"[Certainly, host.]

[Structural integrity: 38%]

[Branch stability: 46%]

[Energy absorbed: 3082MW]

[Status: recovering]"

Hex spoke out the statistics of what it had to endure while containing his energy. Hearing the level of energy that was absorbed, Z'akk was even more impressed with his creation than he was before.

"How long will it take for you to recover completely using the stored energy?" he asked.

"[Roughly 5 minutes.]"

"Well get to it, commence with the necessary upgrades while you're at it!"

"[Yes, host.]"

After stating his command to Hex, all of the constructs that were set up within the room to contain him began to liquify and converge at his left biceps. The braces on the walls all turned back into the targets, and the dome returned to being an arm cuff. Seeing that everything was back to how it was, he nonchalantly made his way back to the upper lab where Bey'on was currently residing.

Reaching the top floor after some time, he entered the room through the automatic doors to see Bey'on huddled into a ball covering her head, trembling. Immediately going on alert, he scanned the room for a potential reason for why she was left like this, but he found nothing, which made him even more confused.

Walking up to her and crouching on one knee, he placed his hand on her shoulder.

"What is wrong with you?"

She immediately moved away from his hand and looked at him with some fear in her eyes, leaving him somewhat concerned for her.

"S-such terrifying vile energy! Trying to sense you felt as if my body was about to burst into flames! W-what were you doing down there?!"

Suddenly realizing he was most likely the cause for her distress, he looked at her for a moment before sighing.

"I might as well just get on with it since I'm leaving soon anyway."

Hearing him, the fear she was feeling dissipated and was quickly replaced by curiosity by what he meant. Standing up, Z'akk slowly began to change back into his original form. His once green skin became rosy and paler in tone, his frame began to shift and change as his muscles bulged. Platinum hair began to grow to his shoulders, and his eyes became reptilian-like, whilst his irises and sclera glowed a purple and blue hue.

"My real name is not Z'akk. Call me Spencer."

=====

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