1074 An Experiment, A Hybrid And Two Slivers

On the 8th floor of the Imperial Palace, Sia sat cross-legged and meditated. The ceiling moved away by itself and the 9th floor was withdrawn into the building, resulting in a situation where the 8th floor was revealed to the sky.

Under the soft light of the morning, Sia focused on her powers. She felt her own power—Mind. She touched Enigma's power of Gravity. She controlled 'Her' power of darkness.

She couldn't control 'Darkness' until recently. Then something happened. 'She' was weakened and could no longer deny Sia access to the power.

But Sia could feel it.

As she moved closer and closer to the Celestial rank, 'She' was slowly waking up.

'Who the hell are you?' Sia tried to ask.

There was only a scoff in reply. A derisive laugh at her and a mix of negative emotions. Sia didn't understand why this woman she'd never seen disliked her so much. It was perhaps a bit too much to call it hatred but it's clear that they couldn't be friends.

"Calm your mind." Varian's voice sounded in her head and Sia's chaotic thoughts stilled. "Whatever happens, I'll face it with you."

Her tense body relaxed and the breath she was holding unconsciously was released. "Do your best, Sia."

A shining potion bottle cracked in front of her and entered her body.

Sia froze and gasped. The veins under her soft white skin lit up with red, yellow, and blue colors.

"Arghh!"

The three origins inside her reacted to this potion containing the powers of Order and Chaos. Sia already had the powers of four slivers in her origin and now, with the last two powers, the Origins reached a critical point.

A six-colored light enveloped her and a shockwave only visible to celestial rankers swept the solar system.

Sia's brown hair changed into a mix of blue, red, and yellow. It was similar to her battle form when she fought at her full power but something was different.

Now, she gave off a completely different feeling. She was enigmatic earlier, Now, she was divine…angelic, and mystical.

Her realm also climbed up and caught up with Sarah's. They're both Sovereigns now.

"Let's begin Synergy and push you two to Celestial ranks. It'll take time but no worries, we got plenty." Varian's mischievous voice rang in her mind and Sarah's coquettish scream followed.

Sia blushed and 'Synergy' began.

— — — —

"Third Primal Union body." The 7th Prince scoffed. "When was this feat impossible even for the Jai Empire become so easy?"

"Careful, Sameal." A woman shrouded in starlight said in an indifferent tone. "There is nothing impossible for the Empire. It's only a matter of time. And 'He' has eternity."

"Of course he does. But we aren't called to discuss the obvious. Get to the point." A deep voice interrupted from the side.

The three, perhaps the most influential people in the Empire, barring the Emperor himself, were seated across a round table.

It was a table built of angelic dust—the remains of a beast that reached the divine rank. The table was large and round, with concentric circles, each circle glowing with a different colored light. The center of the table was transparent and underneath it was a mini-star, shining at its brightest.

Just the sight of the table was beautiful, divine, and breath taking. The light from it shone on the three members seated around and made it impossible to observe their expressions as they spoke.

The 7th Prince, Sameal Asteras, turned to the man who just spoke, his half-brother, the 2nd Prince. "Can we drop the bullshit and go to war? We already know slivers are back. Why are we still holding meetings?"

"We don't know the precise location. It could be anywhere in the Alliance." Victor Earendel replied impassively.

"The leader of Conqueror Faction gives such a spineless response. No wonder the Alliance bugs are still alive and kicking." The 7th Prince sneered in contempt.

"Unfortunately for you, provocations don't work on me. The Naraka faction can keep dreaming of encroaching on our power and keep getting disappointed." Victor said in a neutral tone and turned to the woman bathed in starlight. "Eshala, you're yet to answer, why convey the tri-faction meeting?"

Eshala Starlight looked at her two half-brothers with a faint smile. "There is an interesting discovery. Primal Union Body needs the powers of all six slivers. Two are with us, two with the Alliance. The Order-Chaos slivers have surfaced recently. So, the four known sliver powers have interacted with the two lost ones."

Victor hummed. "At some point in the past, there was already a being created with the power of four slivers? But isn't that too unstable? That's the reason why our experiments were shelved. So was the case for the Alliance."

"You're half-right. We shut it down because it's too unstable. But the Alliance did not. They're too desperate to counter our might. They succeeded in creating 3-origin hybrids with the power of four slivers. But all of them quickly died off.

Without three pairs of slivers, tri-origin hybrids are impossible. But our intelligence gathered that the Alliance did have a small portion of Order and Chaos powers. Not enough to stabilize the hybrid but enough to sustain it for a while.

…And the creature, once created, hypothetically could seek the slivers it's missing. Do you understand? It'd be able to search for the slivers of Order & Chaos.

They almost succeeded. So, 'He' made a move by himself and destroyed the experiments of Alliance…500 years ago. Since then, there's no being born with the power of four slivers."

It was a lot to take in but the two princes quickly figured out the implications.

"No way. It escaped not only 'His' wrath but it sustained for 500 years?" Samael shook his head, dumbfounded.

The 7th Prince was always calm. He'd be the one to rile up others, but now, he got riled up. "This is bullshit."

"You said they only had a little bit of order and chaos power. So, I'm assuming it's enough for one experiment. So, why do we have three Primal Union physiques?" Victor Earendel asked in a solemn tone.

Eshala gave a wry smile. "That is something I do understand either. There was only one experimental creature at that time. Even if it survived, why three physiques?"

"Maybe they're able to fuse their powers successfully? The hybrid gives its four powers and the holder of slivers gives his two powers." Samael proposed a possibility.

Eshala sighed in exasperation. "…Sliver powers just don't mix that easily. If that's the case, 'He' wouldn't have to wait so long for the fusion of space-time slivers. And even if they did mix, a creature simply cannot bear that fusion. They'll explode and die."

"There will always be a solution to these problems." Victor didn't agree with her assessment.

"Not without deep knowledge of all the slivers. No Kingdom has access to it. Only the Jai empire and the Alliance do. It's clear that these physiques weren't born in these places." Eshala's reasoning was solid.

"We have no clues. To find them, we need more information on that hybrid. Conqueror Faction is willing to dedicate resources."

"Narak Faction is also willing."

"Warring Faction agrees to join."

A mission was created by that meeting. Search for the remains of the experiment 500 years ago. Even the life or aura signature of that creature would be enough. Once they get it, the hybrid could run to the depths of the universe and still wouldn't abe able to hide.