Like six black holes, millions of bodies were sucked into those vortexes and the ball of flesh began to drastically shrink. At the first roar, Dao Ma shuddered, and his eyes were filled with fear and desire.
As a reptilian god, he had a certain resonance with the Ouroboros Serpents, and he could feel the power of whatever these beasts were and it left him in amazement. Could he tame and control such a power? If he could, he could transform the very essence of his being, and become a greater creature, perhaps surpassing a Major god and becoming a High god.
He had already resolved himself that the beast he saw was an illusion, his enemy was capable, but nothing he had shown him had proven he could ever control a power such as this and the sound he heard was just the last gasp of an imprisoned foe.
But then he heard the second roar and the third, he was shaken and his Ascension was nearly disrupted but when he heard more roars, he was relieved, for surely the existence of even one of such creatures was improbable, to have six of them was sheer insanity.
'This should be among the damned illusion he must be creating, my mind must not be shaken by this!'
He waited for a short while and nothing changed and he decided it was all fake.
He stepped on the third Eternal Flower, and even as the pain and information flooded his mind, he still felt a bit of relief. He would have no chance to quickly finish Rowan off because he was occupied, but if his enemy had resorted to using illusion to battle, then he must be quite desperate, he had a bigger threat consuming his Divine Kingdom, that should be what should be taking most of his attention.
His consolation was short-lived when he sensed it, even while his mind was occupied and his flesh was in intense pain, he still felt a sensation like what a mouse would feel when it is gazed upon by a snake. It was this chilling sensation in the back of the neck that mortals felt when fear had overtaken their hearts, and their death would come in the next breath.
'By the Heavens! Don't tell me creatures like these can exist inside the universe. No, I will not believe it, this is not real, it's an illusion.'
Because he was going through a trial, he could not sense what was happening outside the Eternal Flower unless he surpassed this trial.
What he could do however was to accelerate the rate by which his beasts exited his kingdom, yet he could not burn too much power in his Divine Spark else his Ascension would fail, but he had built up enough resources to power his offense and defense at full speed for an entire year even without his direct supervision against a dozen Minor gods attacking at the same time.
There was no way his foundation could be destroyed this quickly, he would win this fight, after all, if he was successful his Ascension should take at most six months.
He no longer throttled the speed he used in releasing his beasts and his Divine Gate was cracked open to its limit as he fully unleashed his Divine Might, he could now feel how deeply his Divine Kingdom was being corrupted by the golden tendrils that had overtaken the World Consciousness.
This brought the full weight of this threat to the forefront, if he did not Ascend he would truly die and his passing would not be a long one, like all gods were fated, but he would be gone so quickly it would seem like he had never existed. Such a fate horrified him to the core.
What were gods but endless egos and the thought that in a short moment, barely a blink in his long lifespan, he would just cease to exist, his power, soul, and spirit all gone made him understand that whoever he was dealing with was more dreadful than any gods or powers he had ever known.
Gritting his teeth he pushed through the third flower and into the fourth, and for the first time he wanted his potential to be reduced and his Trials shortened as fear filled his mind.
®
The massive ball of flesh withered at an increasingly steadier pace. Rowan could feel six spots of heat growing in his chest as the Ouroboros Serpents devoured everything inside their endless stomach which was all rapidly converted into energy that fed the six void hearts.
This was the first time he was having this sensation, maybe it was because this was the first time he had ever fed such massive amounts of energy to these beasts at once. With every passing moment they were devouring millions of beasts, many of them were at the fourth great circle.
The important thing was that they were beginning to grow to their full size.
Rowan's Absolute Body had grown a lot from devouring the Berserker Tribulation and Seeding 212 Minor Worlds, and this growth was better reflected in the body of his Ouroboros Serpents.
The flesh ball had been growing steadily larger with the influx of new beasts furiously pushed by Dao Ma, but his Ouroboros Serpent did not feel any pressure, in fact, it was the opposite.
Rowan had always limited their movements, it was because he was not powerful enough to allow them to express their full nature, but that day was growing ever closer when they would no longer be bound, and for a battle such as this one, Rowan no longer bound them by any rules except to unleash their might.
With a roar, the six Ouroboros Serpents burst out from the flesh ball and began to ascend to the skies as their sizes increased until they filled the horizon.
What a sight they were! Their massive shapes coiling in the air were beautiful to behold as the golden scales on their bodies were darker and each of the scales felt as if it was indestructible. The pointed bony spine with the appearance of spears that were growing on their back resembled diamonds.
This bony spine began from the end of their tail to their heads where it curled into an elaborate crown.
