2239 2239. Phoenix

Alexander felt odd, and that didn't come from his awful state. He struggled to regain control of his injured body and suppress his cough, but strange thoughts filled his mind once he could focus on the scene.

Ulpia seemed to have lost interest in her surroundings. She was nothing more than a floating head immersed in her thoughts. She probably wanted to speak, but she found it pointless since her death was coming.

Alexander forced himself to straighten his back and improve the efficiency of his healing abilities. A layer of metallic skin grew over his figure to contain all the new blood and flesh that his body was generating, but his attention soon moved elsewhere.

Ulpia had expressed the power of a completely different field during the battle, and she had almost managed to overcome Alexander. She could also show superiority, but Alexander had managed to seize victory due to his incredible body.

'What am I even thinking now?' Alexander wondered as he sorted out his jumbled thoughts.

Ulpia's head was disappearing quickly. Her face remained in one piece since her will still kept it together, but her light never stopped dimming. It wouldn't take long before she stopped existing in the higher plane.

Alexander found himself glancing at different spots of the battlefield. He felt deep respect toward all his companions, but there was someone that he put even above them.

It was safe to say that Noah had saved Alexander's life. The latter would have remained a crazy mess of innate abilities without Noah's help. He had also allowed Alexander to reach higher realms of the cultivation journey, and the current battlefield only proved how incredible he was.

Moreover, Noah was a being that stood beyond hybrids. Alexander almost saw him as the natural evolution that every member of his kind had to strive to achieve and surpass.

Their connection went beyond normal feelings. Noah's pride could affect Alexander, but that didn't come from a difference of power. Alexander had acknowledged Noah as his leader, so his orders could influence his mindset.

Alexander ended up looking for June at that point. She had turned her side of the battlefield into a mess of lightning bolts and sparks. Her body was full of injuries, but her face expressed pure ecstasy. She was crazy, but Alexander found similarities between her and Ulpia.

The details behind Noah and June's relationships weren't exactly a secret. Noah never spoke too much about it, but he had been together with his core allies for entire millennia. Even random short statements could depict a relatively complete picture after so long.

Noah and June were quite different, but their paths were suitable for each other. They could draw out the best of their aspects when they were together. That part actually was quite necessary for their relationship.

Alexander respected Noah so much that he felt the need to imitate that part of his life. He obviously wouldn't have come up with that idea randomly. He had to meet a suitable expert to consider that option.

<br/>"You said that your debt with Heaven and Earth is no more," Alexander commented as he tried to retain a human voice.

"What?" Ulpia asked when Alexander pulled her out of her helplessness. "They have given me time and resources to perfect my techniques. I used those arts to damage you. The rulers can't ask anything else from me."

"I see," Alexander sighed as a scarlet vortex appeared at the center of his right palm.

"Do you plan to eat me?" Ulpia wondered. "Hurry up. I don't have much energy left."

"I wouldn't have hesitated to take a glimpse of your determination if you were a magical beast," Alexander explained.

"What are you doing then?" Ulpia asked.

Alexander didn't answer. His concentration was far from ideal, and his injuries only worsened his efforts. Still, he could spare some attention for a single innate ability.

The scarlet vortex shrunk until it transformed into a dark-red pebble that contained the energy generated by the innate ability. Ulpia couldn't understand its purpose, but her consciousness was too weak to perform a thorough inspection.

Alexander moved the pebble on his forefinger before reaching for Ulpia's vanishing head. She couldn't oppose the process, but understanding dawned upon her when the item fused with her disappearing light.

The pebble reached the center of Ulpia's head before sending scarlet tendrils that expanded throughout her vanishing fabric. The item resembled a seed feeding off her energy, but she found it odd how her thoughts remained clear.

The seed wasn't hurting her. Actually, Ulpia noticed how her consciousness stopped striving toward dark areas. A warm and cozy sensation filled her thoughts and made her feel safe, but that also brought answers to her doubts.

"That's," Ulpia gasped. "Why?"

"Superiority isn't an eternal power," Alexander revealed. "I stand on a sea of innate abilities gathered during my long life, but that might not be enough after leaving the higher plane. I need something else, someone else."

"I won't become a slave," Ulpia coldly remarked.

"You won't," Alexander stated. "It would be pointless to remove your free will. I want you to keep improving without the limits of your human body."

"You know who I am," Ulpia uttered. "You know the nature of my world. I will fight you again to test the limits of my hard work."

"And I will defeat you again," Alexander replied. "I will defeat you as many times as I need to remain superior to everyone else."

Ulpia fell silent. Her head started to disappear as the tendrils absorbed her energy, but the process didn't hurt at all. It was actually pleasant. Ulpia felt as if she was going back to the safety of a womb.

"I'll have a lot to learn about hybrids," Ulpai eventually continued. "I'll have to review all my arts and adapt them to my new form. It will take me a long time."

"That's the only thing existences like us have," Alexander declared. "You'll be reborn through the fire of the ancestral phoenix without losing your memories or world. Who knows? I might even decide to learn something as you adapt your techniques to your new form."

"I'll let you see them if you teach me how to be a hybrid," Ulpia responded.

"That should be a good deal," Alexander laughed. "I bet even Heaven and Earth couldn't offer something so good."

"They can," Ulpia corrected. "Their power is immense and stretches past what you can imagine. Still, I might prefer this deal."

"Did you finally acknowledge the hybrids' superiority?" Alexander proudly asked.

"No, I acknowledged yours," Ulpia replied. "Though I won't let it stand unmatched."

"You'll have to work hard to overcome me," Alexander sneered.

"That's not a problem," Ulpia smiled before her mouth completely vanished.

Alexander could only see Ulpia's eyes at that point, and they seemed to express some conflicting emotions. They glanced at the sky, at Noah, and at June before falling back on Alexander.

"Don't think that I'll be overwhelmed by instincts," Ulpia's voice came out of the pebble as the last traces of her face vanished. "You won't win me over so easily."

"I didn't expect anything less," Alexander announced. "I wouldn't have chosen to do this otherwise."

"Good," Ulpia's voice resounded again as the tendrils returned inside the pebble. "I guess I'll consider you if I wake up in a world without Heaven and Earth."

Alexander wore a smirk as he retracted the pebble. Ulpia's consciousness went silent as the rebirth started. It would take her a while to generate a suitable hybrid body, but that was fine. Alexander had far different matters to handle now.