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【Vision of an Alternate Future】

Arc 2: Return of the Crystal Guardians

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【VAF】Chapter║: 61 ─ The Power of a Crystal Guardian

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A partially Recovered Aurora joins General Holnari and Commander Elrig on the CCS Nalen’s command Deck.

Gen-Holnari : " It looks like your Knoras are finally ready to show their true strength."

Aurora : “ I should have never involved them.”

Spoke Aurora in a dispirited tone.

Gen-Holnari : " Don’t fault yourself too harshly young warrior; it is in the nature of the Migon to bring about the chaotic in all things. Though it surprises me that they chose this particular moment to test the resolve of the Crystalans. Normally they would wait until they have the upper hand on the interstellar battlefield to take a look at the capabilities of their opponents."

Aurora : “ So it’s happened before?”

Gen-Holnari : " It is their method! Overwhelm their target with military power; then force them into direct confrontation to determine if their opponent is a worthy species in their eyes. Though they don’t normally bring out their Diacs until the last moment to render final judgment."

DCmd-Isan : “ And what happens when a species is deemed unworthy?”

Spoke deputy commander Isan as he joins the conversation along with commander Arog.

Gen-Holnari : " The Migon have proclaimed themselves the final arbiters of this galaxy. If a civilization cannot survive the onslaught of their lesser Migon they are deemed to be unworthy!"

Holnari has a solemn look on his face.

Cmdr-Arog : “ So they are lesser Migons after all?”

Gen-Holnari : " Unfortunately these endless wars they engage in are nothing more than proving grounds for their brood. The Diac is likely the firs true Migon any of you have ever seen. They normally leave all the stages of their infernal brood wars to the Lesser Migon. It’s not worth their time to send over even a single Ascended Migon into battle; let alone a late Stage Ascended Migon like a Diac."

The shock that went through the room was palpable as the Crystalans realized that the information they had on the Migon had been lacking to an extraordinarily dangerous extent. As the information filtered through the shock would extend to all of Crystalorb.

Aurora : “ Wait! What?”

Gen-Holnari : " Oh! Your Ancestral Spirit must have thought you too young or somehow not ready to properly understand the nature of your circumstances. But your Knoras don’t seem surprised by the powers of a Diac since as Middle Phase Corporeal Ascended Beings they can sense the structure of Ascendance. Given that the truth seems set to be revealed you are bound to find out."

DCmd-Isan : “ You make it sound as though Ascendance is nothing special?!”

Cmdr-Arog : “ But otherwise common?!”

Gen-Holnari : " When your entire race is Corporeal Ascended it is common."

It felt like a bombshell had been dropped on the Crystalans.

Aurora : “ So it’s just like father suspected! The older races are born Corporeal Ascended.”

DCmd-Isan : “ As expected the Knoras didn’t bother telling the rest of us!”

Aurora : “ Isan; It’s not like they could prove such a thing.”

Gen-Holnari : " For it is Through Bonding that we achieve immortality; unbound by death and with a chosen Attunement to order we become paragons of virtue that shines across the stars as a beacon of Order! Awakening the Soul is merely the first step."

Cmdr-Arog : “ Bonding? Like elder Might?!”

Gen-Holnari : " For Awakened the Souls of Crystalans have rather sparse Spiritual endowerments; likely a consequence of your abnormal physical endowerments.!"

Aurora : “ The bloodline inheritance is limiting us?!”

Gen-Holnari : " The average Crystalan has surprisingly low Spiritual Resonance for such an advanced people; a clear indication that the initial souls you are born with must be a fraction of what is normal for naturally evolved beings. Humans as a group seem somewhat engineered to some extent and as such have 25% the Spiritual Resonance of the naturally evolved; clearly whoever modified the Earth Hominid knew how to limit the damage to Spiritual Resonance. However since Crystalans are an accidental creation the dispassionate Realm Administrator likely regards Crystalans as artificial life-forms which results in your low Spiritual Resonance. There is a reason this universe is not dominated by Digital Super-Intelligences!"

DCmd-Isan : “ But we are able to Reach Corporeal Ascendance!”

Aurora : “ Yes! Why? I mean the humans are barely scratching at the surface even after all this time.”

Cmdr-Arog: “ That is likely because there are groups amongst humans actively misleading humans with false religions and focusing them towards digital technology.”

Aurora : “ Oh!”

Gen-Holnari : " Your Ancestral Spirit or Crystal Heart as you call it is probably aware of the Crystalan deficiencies and actively supports your spiritual development. Otherwise it would be impossible for beings so firmly tethered to this Reality to even step on the path of Transcendence."

DCmd-Isan : “ Transcendence is the goal after all!”

The Crystalans look on with understanding.

Gen-Holnari : " Transcendent Beings like the Phaylon and the Elder Dragons have gone beyond the limits of the reality. We believe that they have been summoned to the higher realms by the will of the Creator!"

Aurora : “ What is the Creator?!”

Gen-Holnari : " The answer to that question is a mystery wrapped in an enigma! Andronians believe that existence is Thought Given Form by will in order to answer that question."

Cmdr-Arog: “ What? The creator asked itself a question and the Multiverse came into existence in response?”

The Entig chimes in.

Cmdr-Elrig: “ For all we know the are lots of creators out there; each with its own Multiverse cluster in response to the question; What am I!”

Gen-Holnari : " Looks like the Crystalan Knoras are about to begin!"

Their focus returns to the planet.

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Vortices appear delivering 11 new Crystal Armours to the Knoras.

Gen-Zadoc : “ Looks like you are finally ready to get things started!”

Hilan : “ Our Attunement to Order puts us at a disadvantage when doing combat with someone Attuned to Chaos therefore adequate preparation is always a necessity.”

Gen-Zadoc : “ You think your surface level cosmetic changes will make a substantial difference?!”

Hilan : “ At the very least I don’t have to hold back!”

Gen-Zadoc : “ I didn’t know you were at such leisure? Though it didn’t look like it from my perspective.”

Hilan : “ My previous body was simply too aged to support my full power, but thanks to you I’ve been restored to my peak. It would have taken me hundreds of years to achieve Physical immortality the way our Spiritual Ancestor demanded, but by triggering the Bonded Energy Charms that Protect Crystalorb’s Knoras a shortcut was made available.”

Gen-Zadoc : “ Well; let’s see what you’ve got!”

The Diac pulls back from the energy barrier protecting the Crystalans and their allies as Knora Hilan speaks the Oath that activates the new Crystal Armour.

To everyone’s surprise the Crystal Armour Hilan is wearing is read with jiggered lines of black and includes a black tail double Hilan’s height.

Naole : “ That’s New!”

Hilan : “ It seems the Crystal Heart thinks we can handle a little black now.”

Hilan turns to face the only 2 Clear Crystal Knoras.

Hilan : “ Pay attention to my energy flows, and remember the control methods I exhibit”

Onat : “ Yes Master!”

Xoxa : “ Yes Master!”

Hilan sighs at the thought that his former disciples refuse to treat him as an equal despite being Knoras now. As he begins powering up and steps outside the barrier.

The moment his foot steps outside the barrier a red Aura flashes outward covering the area in a read hue as all energy in the area transforms to the Red Spectrum Energy.

Gen-Zadoc : “ A Quasi-Domain?!”

Hilan rose into the air as he powered up to his maximum.

Hilan : “ When we encountered the Ascendants of the other species it became obvious that Crystalan Ascendants have profoundly inferior Spiritual Resonance. In fact it should not be possible for Crystalans to achieve Ascendance!”

Gen-Zadoc : “ But here you are!”

Hilan : “ That is intimately tied to the Powers of a Crystal Guardian!”

Gen-Zadoc : “ Right! Your innate species protection Spiritual Abilities.”

Hilan : “ Exactly! The true Power of a Crystal Guardian flows from the Heart! The power of a Crystal Guardian comes in response to a need. The power of a Crystal Guardian emanates from a choice. Choosing to protect Crystalans is what it means to be a Crystal Guardian. The Power of a Crystal Guardian is the Crystallization of Bloodline Spiritual Resonant Will of Crystalans that Bonds Crystalans who need protection and a Courageous Crystalan Consciousness. The Crystalan version of Quasi-Ascendance!”

Gen-Zadoc : “ Ah! Because you did not evolve any of your abilities yourselves but gained them through the genetic infusion of material from highly evolved beings it is probable that the Laws of this Reality regard you as artificial life-forms akin to organic robots. That means your initial souls are vastly inferior to naturally evolved beings. To compensate for that your Crystal Heart found a method to connect your Souls to evolve Champions or Heroes of the Crystalan collective. That means that Spirit Stone of yours is at least at the Spiritual Ascendance Tier.”

Hilan : “ We have never encountered a being of the Spiritual Ascendance Tier; so we wouldn’t know!”

Gen-Zadoc : “ Given your interactions with the Older Civilizations you have probably encountered more than a few Spiritual Ascendants; It’s just that the Laws of this Reality gave you souls that are functionally limited in the types of innate traits. Most of your traits are likely focused on harmonizing your bodies with the reality. So you are unlikely to pick up on the energy of a Spiritual Ascendant projecting into an Avatar body.”

Hilan : “ So it’s as we suspected! The Older Civilizations are colluding with Migon in some kind of Grand Game.”

Gen-Zadoc : “ Make no mistake; this is not some trivial Game! This war is not some amusement for Older Civilizations! What is happening has serious consequences for all of us! The limitations on what type of powers can participate is to prevent the depletion of the major forces; which would leave the galaxy vulnerable to invasion by a number of covetous powers.”

Hilan : “ I see!”

Gen-Zadoc : “ The power flowing into you from other Crystalans is what allows you to manifest your Soul in the form of this Quasi-Domain; An Ability usually reserved for those on the cusp of Spiritual Ascendance. Now that I know that you are mostly powered by the souls of your Crystalan collective I’m eager to see what you can do!”

Hilan : “ Then let’s begin!”

Their titanic battle begins

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Hilan starts things off with a focused beam of Red Spectral energy which results in a bright red flash as Zadoc blocks with is Chaos Energy shield and moves in closer to Hilan at speed he had not bothered to use until this point.

What is most surprising is the fact that Hilan is able to respond Zadoc’s a speed easily surpassing any movement speed the Crystalans have shown so far. The speed of combat continues to rise as the Dragon and the Armoured Knora exchange blows that are either blocked by their own personal shields or counter-blow. The deafening shockwaves from their encounter generates winds and a storm begins to gather from the energized atmosphere.

The rumble of thunder in the sky is indistinguishable from the sound of the exchange of their blows. Red Lightning flashes everywhere as the energised atmosphere releases pent-up energy. The two combatants are moving so fast that they seem to ignite the air as hot streaks of fire can be seen blinking in and out of existence. Those who can tell realise that the speed of combat is slowly but steadily rising, and they can’t help wondering when the two will run-up against the hard limits of operating in a planet’s atmosphere.

Then Hilan receives an energized claw capable of breaking through his shield and the armour receives a pronounced gash. However in the next instant the Crystal Armour self-repairs and the fighting grows fiercer. Zadoc has no time to contemplate why the new Crystal Armour has a sudden jump in capabilities as he is forced to defend himself from the swipe of a tail that somehow disrupts his own shielding damaging his own armour and forcing him to pull back to allow his armour to heal.

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On the CCS Nalen’s command Deck no detail of the fight escapes their notice thanks to Crystalan Ship’s sensors. Naole Joins in Via Holographic Projection.

Naole : “ I knew Senior Hilan was Strong but this is ridiculous!”

Aurora : “ Father was one of the big 5, but this new transformation likely puts him in the top 3 most powerful Crystalans of all time. The other 4 are in seclusion at the proclamation of the Spirit Stone.”

Gen-Holnari : " So your Ancestral Spirit is already preparing your elite for Spiritual Ascendance?"

Aurora : “ I don’t know what that means, but father said that the Spirit Stone wants them to reach Immortality Through Spiritual”

Gen-Holnari : " That is the natural path to Spiritual Ascendance. Your Ancestral Spirit clearly already knows of the limitations of Naole’s Corporeal Immortality; which is more like Digital Immortality."

DCmd-Isan : “ Hilan’s combat power seems to be at a different level!”

Naole : “ Yeah! About five times what I’m able to muster; even in this new draconic form.”

Cmdr-Arog : “ Really?!”

Naole : “ Yeah!”

Cmdr-Elrig : “ And a Domain to boot!”

Gen-Holnari : " Simply put; by having a better Spiritual Foundation Hilan is able to manifest his Soul into a Quasi-Domain thanks to a much higher Spiritual Resonance that is able to draw Power from other Crystalans!"

Aurora : “ But can he win!”

Gen-Holnari : " Unlikely!"

DCmd-Isan : “ But he’s fighting on par with the Diac?”

Cmdr-Arog : “ Maybe if they all fight together?”

Gen-Holnari : " There’s the Third and Fourth Seals of Elder Might!"

Cmdr-Elrig: “ Could it be Hilan is jus buying time for the activation of the Third and Fourth Seals of Elder Might?”

Naole : “ The Third Seal is Collective Spiritual Energy Resonance! ”

Aurora : “ Father is the only Knora that can operate Collective Spiritual Energy Resonance! As long as the Third Seal is Unlocked Father has access to the entirety of Crystalorb’s Energy Reservoirs.”

Gen-Holnari : " However if I’m reading the way this Elder Might is weaved into the souls of the Knora it seems to be connecting their consciousnesses as well. They are all gaining experience in fighting the Diac as Hilan continues to fight. Oh! It seems that one of the natural traits of the Red Crystalan is Thought Acceleration, The blue have Parallel Thinking, and the Clear Crystalans have Timeline Mapping. The Clear Crystalans are the most Phaylon of all Crystalans."

Holnari seemed almost Amused.

DCmd-Isan : “ What the hell?!”

Cmdr-Arog : “ You can see the Bonded Energy Charm?!”

Naole : “ As expected you are much more than you seem!”

Cmdr-Elrig : “ Wait! Could it be…?”

Holnari interrupts Elrig.

Gen-Holnari : " The Red Energy is a bad match-up against a Diac, but since Hilan has near endless amounts of Energy the fact that the Diac is feeding on the Chaotic energy of the confrontation means nothing to Hilan. This could theoretically go on forever!"

Holnari is behaving like he’s watching something truly interesting.

Gen-Holnari : " So the answer has to be the Fourth Seal of Elder Might! Hilan is only laying the ground work for the activation of the Fourth Seal of Elder Might, and if my reading is correct then Someone is about to be Elevated to the Level of a Quasi-Transcendent"

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