For three days, Orion tore through the primordial Devonian hellscape.
Running wasn't a necessity—he felt no fatigue—but it was the fastest way to test his new body. He sprinted through dense, razor-sharp fern forests, vaulted over boiling sulfuric geysers, and shattered petrified trees with his bare shoulders.
The world was entirely hostile. Every few miles, he encountered another horrific remnant of the Godwar. Packs of corrupted, multi-limbed raptors. Massive, gelatinous acidic blobs. Swarms of parasitic insects the size of modern cars.
He didn't avoid them. He hunted them.
Every battle was a slaughter. He didn't even need to touch them physically. With Crimson Dominion, he boiled their blood in their veins, crystalized it into internal spikes, or simply ripped it out of their bodies to consume. With every kill, the silent engine of his Limit Breaker Ω hummed, processing the divine and demonic energies, filtering the corruption, and converting it into raw, permanent power.
Orion skidded to a halt in a clearing, dropping the drained, husked corpse of a massive saber-toothed amphibian. He wiped a stray drop of purified blood from his chin and mentally pulled up his interface.
[STATUS PROFILE UPDATE]
Evolution Stage: 1 — Progenitor Origin (Progress: 0.18%)
Power Level: Prehistoric Apex / Continental Threat
Current Core Status: Strength, Agility, and Demonic Resistance have increased by 14% cumulatively over 72 hours.
'At last, some visible progress,' Orion thought, stretching his neck until it cracked. 'It's a slow grind, but it's steady. A fraction of a percent every few days. Over four hundred million years, that's going to add up to absolute conceptual supremacy. I just need to keep eating.'
Suddenly, the ground beneath his boots violently lurched.
It wasn't an earthquake. It was targeted. The thick, muddy soil beneath him split open like a massive maw. Orion fell, but before he could catch himself, thick, glowing green roots the size of subway trains erupted from the dirt and wrapped around his arms, legs, and torso.
The pressure was immense, easily enough to crush a modern tank into tin foil. The roots squeezed, snapping his ribs and shattering his forearms.
Orion didn't panic. He just sighed as his Absolute Immortality Ω instantly knitted his shattered bones back together faster than the roots could break them.
'Shit, the environment is fighting back,' Orion realized, his crimson eyes glowing in the gloom of the root-trap. 'She senses me. Gaea.'
To the Mother of Earth, every living thing on the planet was part of her biosphere. They were made of the Demiurge's life force. But Orion wasn't. He was a foreign concept—a walking embodiment of stasis, blood, and immortality that had suddenly appeared in her domain, consuming her corrupted brothers' remnants. To her, he probably felt like a cosmic void walking across her skin.
The roots tightened further, secreting a highly corrosive, divine acid that began to burn through his blood-woven coat.
"Shit, stop throwing trees at me! I'm cleaning up your demonic mess" !!!!!! Orion roared, his voice echoing violently from the pit.
The roots didn't stop. They attempted to drag him deeper into the earth, trying to bury the anomaly.
'Fine. You want to talk through the dirt? Let's talk.'
Orion stopped resisting the physical pressure. Instead, he forced his fangs into his own tongue, filling his mouth with glowing, hyper-potent Progenitor blood. He spat a mouthful of it directly onto the glowing green roots binding him.
"Consume," he commanded through his Crimson Dominion.
His blood didn't just sit on the bark. It rapidly multiplied, turning into a parasitic crimson liquid that burrowed directly into the root system. Orion used his domain not to attack, but to hijack the planet's leylines. He forced his consciousness into the sap of the roots, shooting a telepathic signal directly down into the Earth's magical nervous system.
Through the crimson connection, he projected his voice directly into the soul of the planet.
"I am not one of your degenerate brothers, Goddess" !!!!!! Orion's voice boomed through the subterranean leylines, absolute and unyielding. "I am the Progenitor. And I am coming to see you. Stop treating me like a weed, or I'll bleed this entire forest dry" !!!!!!
For a second, there was silence.
Then, the oppressive crushing force vanished. The massive roots instantly retreated, uncoiling from his body and slithering back into the deep earth as if they had been burned.
Orion floated gracefully out of the pit, landing softly on the muddy ground. He brushed off his coat, the corrosive burns already healing over with fresh blood-fabric.
The atmosphere in the clearing abruptly shifted. The ambient noise of the primordial jungle—the buzzing insects, the distant roars of predators—went dead silent. The thick purple sky seemed to press down heavier.
The ambient magic in the air condensed, swirling violently a few yards in front of Orion.
The ferns and moss on the ground began to rapidly accelerate in growth, blooming with bioluminescent flowers that released a heavy, intoxicating scent of raw life.
From the swirling emerald magic and blooming flora, a figure began to take shape. It wasn't her true, physical body—she was likely still resting deep in the Cradle of Life—but an avatar woven from the earth itself.
The avatar took the form of a towering, impossibly beautiful woman made of glowing green vines, rich soil, and pure magical light. Her eyes were pools of ancient, weary gold. The sheer pressure of her divine presence was enough to make the air crackle.
She looked down at the pale, crimson-eyed anomaly standing in her forest.
Orion stood tall, unaffected by her divine gravity. He offered a sharp, dangerous smile, exposing his fangs.
"At last, the Goddess shows her face" !!!!!! Orion said aloud, crossing his arms over his chest. "Tell me, Gaea... are you ready to meet your new King?" !!!!!!
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