From The Ashes - 027

Chapter 027 – Infusion

[2012]

Even standing at a distance, Johann felt the oppressive aura bursting out of his Lord, the dust around him being blown away into a storm while the atmosphere trembled.

He himself was a result of an imperfect Super Soldier Serum, his strength incomparable to normal humans, but even then, despite the distance, he felt a huge weight on his shoulders as well as great mental pressure.

Looking at the rather enigmatic man that had appeared out of nowhere from afar and seeing the incredible power that he wielded, Johann instinctively understood the incredible gap between them even without counting the Infinity Stones.

'Noah' was what he called himself, his eyes carrying a strange trace of desolation and serenity.

Seconds, minutes, and eventually hours passed but the dominating intent around the Lord didn't dissipate.

Instead, it fluctuated, condensed, and even spread out explosively from time to time, the ground around the sitting figure of the man cracking and shattering, the bright orange flame on his forehead flickering fiercely.

Johann didn't know what Noah was doing but he could sense that every burst of pressure seemed more condensed than the last, the movements of the oppressive domain seeming more fluid and intentional as time passed.

It was easy to guess that he was learning and adapting, his control over the spiritual pressure he exuded rising at breakneck speed while black 'traces' followed the oppressive aura.

It took him a moment to recognize these traces before Johann understood that they were tears in space that looked like bolts of black lightning, thunderous wails of atmospheric pressure accompanying these tears.

This continued for hours as Noah was seemingly immersed in his practice, the oppressive aura condensing around his figure like a living storm.

Though suddenly, a change occurred as the aura storm vanished without a trace, the bright flame on his forehead turning much brighter as it shrunk for an instant. A moment later, blood splattered as the skin of Noah's right arm tore open as if an unknown force had broken through it from the inside.

His Lord's countenance though didn't change much, a light frown appearing on his face before blue fire rose from his body and his flesh was reborn under the mythical flames.

This wasn't the end though as blood continued to taint the surroundings of the seated figure, wounds appearing all over his body before they were restored by blazing blue flames.

At one point even his eyes were destroyed, blood running down his face like a river, his eyelids seemingly hiding hollow depressions. Thankfully, even those grave and gruesome injuries could be healed under the phoenix' flames.

Johann didn't know the reason for what was happening but that didn't stop him from feeling a chill crawl down his spine as he knew that even he himself couldn't keep calm with such injuries and forge on.

It didn't matter if those wounds were healed the next moment, the pain would still be excruciating.

Noah's ruthlessness though seemed to know no bounds as he continued his actions without pause. Though the injuries he suffered were getting less and less as time passed until he sat on the black land of Vormir without any wounds appearing anymore.

Tainted by his own blood that had partly been burned to ashes, he opened his eyes again and the world stilled for a moment as black lightning tears danced around his seated figure.

Hundreds of meters away, standing at the edge of the giant crater, Johann's breath got caught in his throat as he 'felt' Noah open his eyes, the bright orange flame on his forehead burning with calm rage.

His whole body gave off the aura of an ancient predator ready to swallow the sky, the dominating aura having fused with his very flesh and blood, the atmosphere splitting and tearing under the pressure of his presence.

He rose to his feet surrounded by dark bolts of lightning swimming around his body and limbs, and as he took a single step forward, the already cracked and bloodied ground shattered into fragments, unable to endure the strain of his movements.

The exerted force was so great that the Lord's figure directly shot forward and crashed into a dark-grey cliff under the gloomy light that illuminated this dead world, his whole body deeply embedded into the hard rock.

*BOOM*

An explosive sound rang out the next moment as half the cliff exploded, the dark rock shattering by an unimaginable force.

The ground under his feet trembling as the earth quaked, Johann turned into a specter to avoid losing his footing while looking at Noah's figure that had landed on the ground again in the distance, large cracks spreading from the point of impact.

Moving again, the sound of destruction rang out for another few hours before Noah seemed to adapt to his newfound strength and learned to restrain himself, the orange flame on his forehead never extinguishing.

Finally, arriving in front of Johann, the Lord cracked the joints in his neck as he sighed in mild exhaustion. His tattered clothes did nothing to distract from the sheer overwhelming power that he exuded nor the black tears in the atmosphere surrounding his figure.

He gave off the feeling of a mythical creature staring down at you from the peak of a sky-breaking mountain, the air around him seemingly too thin to breathe while every movement in his presence was forcing one to one's limits.

Johann finally understood that what looked like black lightning was a result of the overwhelming aura of the Lord that caused such an atmospheric phenomenon under the release of spiritual energy.

A moment later, the aura that it hard for him to even breathe withdrew as the orange flame shrunk greatly in size until it was only as tall as a candle flame that burned in the space before Noah's forehead, his eyes the only parts of his body that didn't lose their oppressive presence even though it diminished greatly.

"Are you ready to see Asgard with your own eyes, Johann?", Noah asked, a calm smile on his face.

Trying to calm his wildly beating heart, it took him a moment to register Noah's words but when he did, his eyes widened as he asked with a stammer and glowing eyes: "I-It really exists?"

“It does.”, Noah replied, his smile widening imperceptible before a dark and dangerous glint appeared in his eyes, the small orange flame flickering angrily, “And its King owes me a debt.”

…

Fusing the Conqueror's Spirit into my own body without relying on the protection of Armament was much more dangerous than I had thought.

I had still insisted on doing so though as I wanted to feel the Colour of the King with my own flesh and blood and experience its strength in the purest and most direct way. Thankfully, the flames of a phoenix slumbered in my blood so I had survived this rather reckless experiment without any long-term injuries.

Still, it was the Soul Stone that had given me the opportunity to truly awaken and understand this special type of Haki, and it allowed me to realize why those that could utilize it were called Supreme Rulers.

It truly gave one strength that was incomparable to the other two types of Haki.

I still had a long way to go to master this strength though even if I now had a basic understanding of Haki Infusion, so I simply used the Soul Stone to allow me to keep it active at all times, enabling me to study and train it by simply breathing.

Though now that I had some control over this Haki as well as the Soul Stone, it was time to return to Asgard and fulfill my promise to Thor.

For a price, naturally.