Ash smiled.
"Now… shall we negotiate?"
The Prime Humans looked at him in a new light—favorable, wary, and undeniably intrigued.
The meeting had begun.
Ash stood calmly before the dais with a sly smile, wings folded neatly, bronze skin catching the light from the open ceiling. The throne hall was alive with tension—pillars of crystal refracting the blue sky into rainbows, the air scented with blooming light-flowers and the faint hum of ancient runes.
"I am Ash Originat, Leader of the Unrated Originat Clan," he said, voice steady and resonant.
"Nice to meet you."
The Patriarch nodded slowly, his Sixth Calamity aura like a distant storm. "I am Thorne Astral, Patriarch of the Galactic Astral Clan. This is Matriarch Elara, and our heir, Elias."
Raven and the other two raised a brow at this, sharing similar thoughts as they exchanged glances.
'An entire Galactic Clan was locked away?'
Polite murmurs rippled through the elders, but their gazes held doubt.
Ash continued.
"My offer is simple: an alliance between the Astral Clan and the Originat Clan."
Outrage erupted instantly.
An elder slammed a fist on the jade table. "An alliance? With an Unrated Clan? Two ranks below Galactic? Laughable!"
Another sneered. "He's only Third Calamity! His members must be even weaker—how dare he propose equality?"
Elias, the young heir, leaned forward. "Our ancestors have endured three eras. What makes you think your fledgling clan is worthy?"
The hall buzzed with jeers and murmurs, the Matriarch's earlier command for silence lost in the heat of the moment. They longed for freedom, knowing they could still leave through the Realms Opening. But doing so meant abandoning everything—something they didn't mind, rather than forming an alliance of equality with those they deemed weak.
Ash's smile didn't falter.
He raised a hand. "Let's make it a bet."
Murmurs quieted, curiosity piqued.
"But before that," he warned, voice turning low and grave, "if I win, I won't just want an alliance. I'll take the world of Astralis itself."
Gasps echoed through the hall.
Before tempers could flare again, a Sixth Calamity ancestor appeared in a ripple of space—an old man in flowing white robes, his aura bursting like a supernova, pressing down with the weight of countless ages.
The air grew thick, gravity multiplying, the blue sky outside seeming to dim under his presence.
"You dare threaten us, boy?" the ancestor thundered, aura flaring to crush Ash flat.
Raven, Summer, and Katherine dropped to their knees, gasping, bones creaking under the pressure.
Ash's eyes narrowed, rage igniting like rose-pink fire. He didn't even speak a word, the moment he felt the three women behind him kneel, he moved.
He called upon the Law of Protection, weaving invisible threads of mana around the women, easing their burden until they could stand.
Then he pushed further.
The Law of Time dragged the ancestor's aura into a sluggish crawl.
The Law of Paradox hurled the crushing force back at its origin.
The Law of Creation conjured obsidian chains that shackled the old man's limbs—and his very soul.
At last came his Calamity Law: the Law of Infinite Wants.
A mirror-domain locked into place, endlessly reflecting the ancestor's desires—pride, dominance, legacy, and freedom—until one craving multiplied into billions, twisting his own power back on him in endless loops.
Time fractured inside the mirrors. Fire burned through reflections. Space collapsed.
The ancestor roared, struggling, but his aura shattered under the infinite weight.
Ash swung his sword, channeling Whispering Apocalypse Fists through the blade.
SHK!!!!!
The ancestor unraveled.... with 500 trillion impacts, blood chaining soul and Laws, his Sixth Calamity aura dissolving into nothing.
He dropped, body crumbling to dust.
The hall fell silent, horrified.
Ash stood upright, bloodied figure unbowed, head tilted slightly.
"I don't have much patience for bullshit," he said, voice calm but edged with steel.
"So, tell me… Deal or No Deal?"
Alliance or no Alliance.
Before anyone could speak, the Seventh Calamity ancestor appeared in a flash of light—a beautiful woman in ethereal white robes that seemed woven from captured starlight, long silver hair flowing like starlit rivers down her back, aura like a gentle yet unyielding dawn that warmed the soul while reminding it of vast, untouchable power.
She raised a hand, silencing the room with effortless grace. "We… agree to the deal."
Ash nodded as a smile bloomed on his face (slow, satisfied, knowing).
'Ah, there you are~' he thought, gaze locking on her as he pulled up her status.
[Celeste Astral
Age - 1.5 Million
Title - Daughter of the Stars
Rank - Mid Stellar Sovereign
Race - Prime Human (Stellar Primordial Bloodline (Divine)
Talent(s) - (View?)
Law(s) - Space 100 %, Gravity 100 %, Destruction 100 %, Fate 100 %, Illusion 100 %, Star 100 %
Stellar Law - (View?)
Physique - Celestial Astral Physique
Aspect - Infinite Starweave (Paragon)
Remarks The oldest ancestor of the Astral Clan, believed by most to be just the Seventh Calamity, died at the age of 500 during a world-ending catastrophe. Her soul merged with the very essence of the stars before she was reborn as a monster....]
"And you are?" Ash asked, acting oblivious, voice polite but eyes gleaming with quiet amusement.
Celeste's starlit gaze met his, calm and ancient.
"I am Celeste Astral," she said, voice like the first light of dawn. "Daughter of the Stars… and the one who speaks for the clan in this matter."
The hall remained silent, all eyes on the two figures.... one a Third Calamity "intruder," the other the clan's hidden monster.
The negotiation had taken an unexpected turn.
But Ash's smile only widened....