Reborn: Evolving From Nothing

Dorian settled down, his clawed feet digging into the rock as he planted himself opposite of the Giant and the Gworen Ice waterfall. The air around him seemed electric, the various Laws he was using giving off a powerful and Demonic Aura.

The Giant, throughout all of this, didn't slow down.

As it dashed through Icicar, it obliterated dozens of buildings, creating a storm of rock and ice. Grakon bodies were constantly sent flying, not a single one of them able to halt the creature. Without the Grakon King that used to be here, they were essentially helpless.

In just a few scant seconds, it arrived.

BOOM

The Giant had eyes for only him, ignoring everything else.

It attacked the moment it got in range, swinging its huge blade out to the right and cutting in from the side. The sword tore a huge gouge in the earth, smashing up the rocky ground as it slashed towards Dorian extremely quickly. The shrapnel from the blow scattered up into the air, forming a small cloud of debris.

In his enhanced state, with the foresight and knowledge that it was going to attack him, Dorian was able to react this time.

He did that by jumping up into the air.

WHOOSH

The huge blade passed beneath him, ripping up the ground but missing him by a solid dozen meters.

Right after that, the middle of the blade collided with the Gworen Ice waterfall.

SHHHHKKK

As soon as the blade made contact, a screeching sound echoed out. A mass of ice formed over the middle of the blade, spreading out a good dozen meters. The magical Gworen Ice wrapped around and fell over the blade, shivering.

When this happened, the blade's momentum vanished and it stayed frozen in the air.

The Giant stumbled forward slightly, its feet shaking the earth. Its head turned to stare at the frozen blade. It then began to pull on it, a raw, King Class Aura blasting outward as it tugged with all its might.

CREEEEEAK

The blade shifted slightly. At the same time, however, the Gworen Ice waterfall reacted violently as well. The magical ice that distorted the air seemed to object to the movement, and a huge stream diverted from the main flow, splashing all the way up to the hilt of the blade.

The Gworen Ice waterfall was not a being and the reaction was not a conscious one. Rather, it seemed to be a built-in reaction to anything interfering with the waterfall's state.

Immediately, the entire blade all the way up to the hilt was covered in a huge chunk of extremely solid ice. The frozen mass spread over past the hilt and onto the giant's lone arm, solidifying and preventing it from letting go.

When the Giant saw this, its Aura flushed out even more powerfully. Slowly, the ice began to melt off as the powerful King Class Cutting Aura whittled away at it. The stream of Gworen Ice had only shot out only briefly as a reaction. The waterfall had already returned back to its normal state. Lacking the Gworen Ice's influence, the mass of ice wasn't able to put up any defense.

Of course, as all of this happened, Dorian wasn't just standing still.

The moment he saw the blade become trapped, he knew his plan had worked. An evil looking grin appeared on his face, made worse by his Demonic appearance.

Dorian's perception of time slowed as both his Perfect Body Ability and Law of Lust flared. His muscles bulged as, the moment he landed, he crouched down, concentrating all of his strength into his legs.

BOOM

The ground beneath him exploded as he leapt off it, forming a crater due to the amount of force behind his jump. He shot through the air like a bullet, racing towards the one armed Giant with abandon.

It took him around a second to reach the height of the Giant's shoulder.

The Giant was aware of him this entire time. Its urgent efforts to free its arm and blade showed that as it slowly turned its head to stare at him.

"Sorry, friend." Dorian's words were accompanied by him raising both of his hands.

Immediately, 52 more Hyperion Beams formed in the air, infused with Black Flames. It took him only a fraction of a second to form them.

In that split moment, Dorian could see the Giant's eyes close up. They gave off a subtle glow of blue light. Its head was huge, far larger than he was.

For a single moment, the two stood frozen in time.

That moment ended.

Dorian's Combined Hyperion Beam shot directly towards the Giant's face…

And then pierced through it.

BOOM

An explosion of light flash out as the Giant was near-instantly killed, its consciousness destroyed. Its skull cracked and then shattered, its body collapsing as it lost the power to move of its own accord. It rapidly slumped down, held up only by the blade that was frozen in the Gworen Ice waterfall.

Dorian was flung backwards from the shockwave. However, before he hit the ground, he transformed into his Sun Eagle form, allowing himself to fly freely.

'I need to absorb its Soul Spell Matrix!' The only thought on his mind was one of small urgency as he rushed forward, flapping his wings without hesitation. A small trail of flames fizzled out behind him as he shot forward and landed on the shoulder of the dead Giant.

"Absorb!"

The moment Dorian arrived, he was able to sense the presence of the creature's rapidly vanishing soul. He took that time to immediately absorb the remnant Soul Spell Matrix.

He would be able to keep the Soul Spell Matrix intact for use, while still also copying down all the information and taking in a large amount of Growth Energy.

And, as expected, Growth Energy rushed into Dorian's soul, a huge torrent gained from defeating the King Class Giant. At the same time, Dorian was able to notice something different.

When it came to Lord Class Desiccated beings, he was unable to absorb a complete Soul Spell Matrix from them. However, when it was a King Class Desiccated being, that rule didn't seem to apply. Perhaps it had something to do with their full comprehension of a Law. Even if the power of their soul was limited, it seemed that their Soul Spell Matrix was complete enough to function fully.

As a result of that… Dorian was able to fully absorb almost everything!

'Giant Bloodline obtained.' Ausra's cool, mechanical voice echoed softly in his head as Dorian felt a new line of knowledge appear.

"Yes!" He couldn't help but grin, a feeling of victory arising. He didn't plan on growing the Giant Bloodline fully till after he was all done with his business here, but grabbing the Bloodline successfully was still important. It was an immensely powerful Bloodline, after all.

Right after that, he sent Aursa a mental question.

'Ausra, is this Soul Spell Matrix I absorbed enough to help me form the Empyrean Vampire form?' He waited patiently.

Ausra was silent for a moment before replying,

'Yes, it is likely sufficient material. If you make use of the Giant's corpse in front of you, it should provide a 100% guarantee of success.'

"The bones? I need to absorb its body?" Dorian muttered out loud, looking down at the huge creature. The shoulder he was standing on, alone, was much bigger than many buildings back on earth.

'The latent energy in its body, and the energy signatures left behind, will be used up. The corpse itself will stay as it is, though with the energy from it removed, it should dissipate soon after. Given the conditions of the environment around you, it may remain frozen for an extended period, however.' Ausra gave a rather clear response.

'Alright. I want to do it, right now.' Dorian nodded his head as he sat down, crossing his legs atop the Giant's shoulder.

'Absorb everything you need and let's go.' His eyes flashed.

'Evolve me.'

.. .. .. .. .. ..

2 day later…

.. .. .. .. .. ..

The City of Icicar had restored itself to its former state, before the one armed Giant and Dorian wrecked large tracts of it. The magic curse that controlled these lands restored all damage to the area over a number of hours, reconstructing everything.

Grakons continued to patrol the city in seemingly endless numbers as they went about their regular patrol, back and forth covering the land. The freezing cold that covered this world continued on its path, unimpeded.

At the center of Icicar, however, stood something that had never been.

The corpse of a huge, frozen one armed Giant that was sealed in a thick layer of ice.

The Giant's arm was stuck out, the massive blade that it wielded still frozen in the middle of the waterfall of Gworen Ice, unmoving.

On the shoulder of this Giant's corpse stood an elegant, handsome figure.

It was a man with lustrous, white hair that ran down his shoulders, a lean, but muscular physique, and red pupils that gleamed ominously in the cold air. This man gave off a feeling of complete control and majesty, of absolute power, the air of a ruler. He was dressed in a set of slim black slacks and an elegant, silk grey shirt.

This figure was Dorian.

"Ahh." Dorian took a deep breath, his eyes glowing as he looked at the world around him.

"That went well." He smiled.

After he absorbed the Giant's Soul Spell Matrix and immediately tapped on Ausra to help him Evolve, the Evolution process began.

It was a rather unique undertaking. Ausra's cool touch helped guide everything as he absorbed energy from the bones of the enormous, undead creature, drawing upon the remnant essence of the fallen Giant. He then combined that with the Soul Spell Matrix he had absorbed.

The energy was mixed up in hundreds of different ways, with dozens of strands of energy tying various things together. Then, Ausra helped guide an even more complex process using these things to combine with various Bloodlines he had absorbed, forming a massive experimental creation, all within his Soul Spell Matrix.

Such a thing would be very dangerous for any creature to do. For Ausra, however, it came off as something that took just a few minutes of calculation, her work guaranteeing him a 100% success rate. While the calculations only took a few minutes, the actual Evolution and combination of Bloodlines took a very large amount of time.

It seemed upgrading his Soul Spell Matrix to King Class without actually having reached a full understanding of any Law had put a large burden on him, and, as a result, the Evolution had to happen slowly.

He had adopted a meditative pose, focused purely on the upgrade. He was aware of his surroundings and could pause it at any time, meaning he wasn't helpless, but he opted to get it all done in one shot.

And… after two days…

He successfully became an Empyrean Vampire and his Soul Spell Matrix reached King Class.

"Shift." He spoke aloud.

Immediately, the space before him trembled. A visible distortion formed in the air as Dorian casually waved his hand. This distortion was shaped like a solid, meter by meter block.

Dorian flicked his wrist to the right.

Immediately, this block of frozen air rushed sideways. A small gust of wind burst out around Dorian as it bashed to the right before freezing again, all sat his command.

He smiled and waved his hand again, releasing it.

This was the Void Control ability he'd picked up from the Empyrean Vampire. It was a powerful Ability that gave him an inborn control of the world around him, able to use his will to manipulate it.

When he combined this with his Law of Envy, a Law that focused on spatial manipulation, his powers when it came to controlling space became substantial.

'Ausra, show me the description of the Empyrean Vampire Bloodline again.' He mentally commanded.

-

Empyrean Vampire - King Class (Early)

Maximum Energy Level: 312,820

Ability: Void Control, Black Luster, Blood Sense, Constant Regeneration, Bat Transformation, Blood Contract, Demonic Eyes, Exuberant Grace

Empyrean Vampires are a previously unknown species that arose as a result of a mutation of the Ancestral Vampire line, bearing a very similar appearance to regular Vampires, with a lean physique, white hair, and dark red eyes. The strongest possible form a Vampire can grow into, Empyrean Vampires have precise control over the world around them, able to manipulate space with their will, forming invisible barriers or attacking with invisible blows. They are protected by a powerful layer of black energy, shielding them from injury.

Empyrean Vampires are naturally graceful and can transform into a discreet bat form, can form contracts with lesser Vampires, have enhanced vision, and enhanced regeneration. They are the natural rulers of the Vampire Race.

-

'Hmm…' Dorian looked it over. Apart from the Void Control Ability, most of the other abilities were ones he already had. One in particular, however, was not.

The Black Luster Ability.

After he glanced at it, he could feel how the power worked in his head.

A near invisible flicker of light covered Dorian as a layer of black energy appeared on his skin. The energy was near formless, only clinging to his body at an extremely fine level.

He nodded as he felt it.

'It seems to be a direct upgrade to my Mystic Armored Body Ability. A passive protective power. I might as well use this one now.' Keeping both Abilities active was pointless. Only one of them could be used at a time due to their unique functions.

After gathering his bearings, Dorian let out a laugh.

He had finally reached King Class!

.