Rowan flew through the air, moving faster than he had ever been before without using Astrolabe. Using Telekinesis he tore space apart and his body seemed to be teleporting across the distance.
Lightning clouds and raging winds blasted him, but he tore through it like a bullet.
"GODLESS INFIDEL, YOUR ATROCITY SHALL DAMN YOU TO THE DEPTH OF PERDITION. YOUR BODY AND SPIRIT SHALL BE BURNED WITH MY FLAMES FOR ALL ETERNITY."
The voice of Dao Ma encircled the planet as the growth of his body stopped. A shockwave erupted from his body and he turned to stone that glowed a greenish color like a mountain made of jade.
Blinding light escaped from the chest, forehead, and shoulder of the statue as Dao Ma's voice resounded over the planet.
"I CALL ON MY AUTHORITY AS LORD OVER ALL THINGS GREEN IN THE GREAT DEPTHS. I SUMMON YOU WITH MY AUTHORITY OVER THE LIFE OF THE SCALES IN ALL THE OCEANS, COME TO YOUR GOD'S CALL, TEAR MY ENEMIES ASUNDER."
The light in his chest opened wide, where it was revealed that it was the gates to his Divine Kingdom.
Dao Ma was no longer playing it safe, or else he would be slowly ground to death, he was risking it all on this bet, pushing all the power and authority he had accumulated for the 175,000 years he had been a Minor god, after countless years where he remained an Earth god.
The chest of this green statue of Dao Ma was broader than an island, extending for more than eight thousand miles, the Divine Gate that was opened was gigantic, and from it countless howls that stirred the skies and cracked the earth erupted and massive beasts began to spew forth from the gate.
From afar they resembled ants, but each of these beasts was larger than fifty feet, with some among them growing up to a thousand feet and more.
They were all reptilian creatures like crocodiles, snakes, lizards, turtles, and many others. All these made up the bulk of the creatures but there were special beasts here that drew Rowan's attention like Gnomes, Ogres, Lizardfolks, Wyverns, and so many stranger beasts, and they came out like a flood.
A force was ejecting them from the Divine Kingdom at astonishing speeds and in a short while the front of the state was being filled up.
From a few thousand to hundreds of thousands to millions, they poured out in an unstoppable flood, and the world broke in half, as multiple quakes sundered the earth.
By now this area resembled a field of massive metallic asteroids, but every beast here was at least at the third great circle and they could travel through the void with no hindrance.
The roars from millions of beasts rushing towards Rowan continued to grow until their numbers began hitting hundreds of millions approaching a billion.
Rowan stopped and seeing the immensity of this horde laughed in joy, not because they represented a massive amount of Soul Energy, but at this moment he was simply genuinely happy.
It was a happiness that could only be felt when you could stand in the void of space while holding a God Killing Weapon in a shattered world where millions of foul creatures from the depth of the darkest rivers surged towards you, their numbers so massive they covered the horizon leaving no single gap from the earth to the skies.
Rowan had always wanted to see the beauty and horror of the universe, whatever was presented to him filled him with a sense of life and contentment, he would rather be, right at this present moment, than anywhere else in the universe.
He could feel the strong heartbeats of all his Angels, he could hear the roars of his Ouroboros Serpent as his bloodline boiled with such intensity it could melt diamonds, and he no longer felt any hesitation in his heart about the brutality in his bloodline.
His laughter carried through the horizon and Envy in his arm shrieked a call of unbridled joy, over time the weight of this weapon had steadily increased to 275,000 kilograms, but to Rowan it was light as a feather, as no matter how heavy it would ever get, in Rowan's hand it would ever be as light.
Normally, Envy was not supposed to behave in this manner, her wielders would always have to bear her weight in full as a test that they were worthy of wielding her but for Rowan, she was aware that it was impossible.
How could she compare to a being whose potential was infinite? There could not be anyone more worthy than him in all of existence, this she was sure about.
On the left shoulder of the great statue, Dao Ma appeared, and his appearance was more beastly as his figure could not stand straight and he resembled a humanoid crocodile. Whatever he just did had drained a lot of power from his body, but if he succeeded, it would all be worth it.
He looked at the charging figure of Rowan and he sneered. Turning to the glowing light in the head of the statue he began to recite the Incantation for Ascension, and with every word that streamed from his lips, a massive green flower would emerge from the light in the forehead of the statue, which should be an Anima.
As he continued chanting the flowers began to descend creating a staircase that would lead to the head. This flower was called the Eternity Flower, and for everyone it was different.
In total, there were seventy-seven flowers that emerged and if he succeeded in climbing every single one of them, his Essence would transform and he would become a Major God.
He relaxed when the Eternity Flowers were completed, seventy-seven was not too high and not too low. It was a perfect number for Dao Ma, and his slight regret at Ascending a full ten thousand years earlier than he expected was eliminated. Perhaps there was a silver lining in this tribulation he was facing, after all, he had ignored his Ascension for so long because of fear of failure.
Now he either ascended or died, such stark choices before him, made every argument against Ascension pointless.
