Chapter 305: Absurd Power.
"But Alpha said that our stamina; our strength was duplicated and then the duplicate was turned into a mana pool, it would make sense that the power I possess is far beyond hers," Keele looked at Dina, but Arla shook her head and gestured to the mage next to her.
"If it is mere comparison which you base your strengths on then her mana still far exceeds yours, Keele," Arla gave her a small smile and clasped her hands going into tutor mode.
"The mana which has been converted within you has been done so in its simplest form, I as an example possess Cosmic mana, for every count of mana that I possess you would need a thousand counts of your mana to match it," She explained.
"There is a large chasm between the potency of normal and divine mana, even if your physical strength exceeds hers by leaps and bounds using Ms Cecelia as an example, you are still leagues inferior magically, there is no debate." She looked at Ikaris who nodded in agreement.
"Mana is not an easy way out, it is not just another simple source of power to utilise, and it comes with many risks which take many different forms," Ikaris explained to Keele as she began walking towards the doorway portal.
"It has a mind and will of its own, it can give and bless just as easily as it can take and curse; along with you three the system has been granted permission to gift the blessing of mana to all the Vatui refugees on Rhoss, and I know that mana's original intent is no that of a weapon but we don't have much of a choice as things stand, the Emporium is powerful, I need your strengths."
"Do you intend to rebuild, princess?" Cecelia asked and Ikaris nodded, gesturing with Dina and Arla going through the spacial anomaly first.
"I do," Ikaris answered after the others had gone through, leaving just the two of them standing and facing each other.
"I know it is asking a lot, especially from me who disappeared and caused a lot of the problems I intend to rectify, but we need more warriors on our side, I want to crush the Emporium as Master intended me to do, we will destroy them and everything they stand for, saving as many of our allies along the way as we possibly can."
"It would be my pleasure and an honour to fight for your cause once more your Highness, there would be no greater joy and no greater sacrifice than to live as your retainer once more...!" Cecelia declared once more
"I know from the way you talk to me that we used to be close, but please Cecelia, I urge you to remember-"
"The Ikaris before me and the Ikaris I know from the past are two separate entities and minds, you have no recollection of anything which happened before you were a Divine; I know," Cecelia repeated what she had heard almost on a daily basis whenever the topic of Ikaris or the Emporium was raised while her or Sol was present.
"I still find the time to make comparisons, though, and as I have said on many occasions, your past self is not that different from the person you are now, the only great change that happened has to be your kindness and the way you treat the others around you," Cecelia walked through the doorway and sucked in a breath when the Estate's warm and welcoming atmosphere was immediately replaced with the wild winds of an explosion.
"What the devils...?" Cecelia shielded her eyes from the bright flash of light and then glanced behind herself at the settlement where her family as well as the rest of the clan resided.
"Apologies," I could not help my curiosity," Keele raised her voice approaching Ikaris and lowering her head in a sincere kowtow. "I wanted to know the difference between a count of regular mana versus the count of divine mana; I needed an example." She explained shyly while Ikaris watched Dina descend towards them.
"I made sure to detonate it safely in the air where no land or structure would be harmed," Dina explained with a sheepish smile after causing an explosion equivalent to the size of a football field in the air and then turned from Ikaris to Keele with her hand outstretched and her palm open creating a tiny burst of raw mana the size of a football.
"That in comparison is the scale of a count of your basic mana."
"If I may," Jenifer raised her hand as if she was a student in the middle of a lecture, thinking of the time Sol had faked arrogance when he was sending her back to the Emporium.
"If those scales are accurate according to the math you have given us calculating the potency of different stages of mana, then what of Sir?" She asked, and Dina's smile faltered as she thought of Sol as an entity of mass destruction and creation like everyone else seemed to do and not as her spouse and Master.
"Can you give us the measurement needed to calculate such an absurd power?" Jenifer asked, but both Dina and Arla looked at Ikaris since they had never once asked him for an accurate measurement, and he hadn't ever offered one, but also because Godslayer mana was something neither of them knew how to explain with words.
"Here is your example," Ikaris spoke up, conjuring a small mass of golden mana in her palm and turning it solid and holding it firmly. "Godslayer mana cannot be measured using numbers, it is infinite, so we never bothered calculating an equivalent medium, however, this is an estimate of what such a medium would be."
The orb was no larger than a softball, and it seemed incredibly light by the way Ikaris casually held it while she spoke. "Come on, try holding it," She gestured to the inquisitive and skeptical woman, and Keele took the bait and grasped the orb from the top and then glanced at Ikaris's smile and held her hand beneath hers as well, expecting something incredibly heavyweight.
When Ikaris removed her hand however, the orb stayed stationary, causing Keele great confusion when she found moving the object from the space in the air where Ikaris had left it impossible no matter how much force she exerted, causing veins to pop up in her forehead as she ground her teeth until Ikaris rested her hand on her shoulder and shook her head. "Enough."
"What is this?" Keele gestured to the object, wiping the sweat off her forehead and staring at everyone else, including Cecelia who regarded her with a glance of pity whilst she slowly shook her head.
"Godslayer mana," Ikaris answered.
"This is why it is impossible to measure his power, it is mana born from a realm exceeding divinity, immeasurable, unmovable, pure and most importantly, every single count, or what should have been considered a count is infinite; I have a finite amount stored within me, residual of his mass quantities, but that small amount is infinite, it can be used infinitely; that is to say I have a very limited view of his power and am still confused by it.
"I have also attempted to make calculations of Master's mana, my calculations have always come up inconclusive with an error, his power is immeasurable." Alpha added appearing while the doorway leading back to earth closed and the encampment began moving towards them.
"My attempts yielded repeated failure after failure; it would be a better investment of your intelligence to spend your time studying mana and its many applications rather than trying to attain an impossible comparison between the stages it goes through to reach that level; unless you have evolved your mana to make it comparable in potency to Master's, or are another being of greater power like Lumi, you will never be able to grasp his power."
Damn, no wonder I never even tried," Dina chuckled.
"I pretty much came to the same conclusion on the day he became Godslayer, he was always powerful, even before then he was leagues more powerful than you guys with the exemption of Ikaris and the demon Void he was ultimately the strongest, but the moment that Master became Godslayer his mana disappeared from our senses, his power multiplied until we could no longer sense or ascertain its limits, hie first act as a Godslayer was eating the core of the collective and replacing it with another he created on the spot; why bother trying to figure someone's power after they eat the largest Black hole known in existence like a casual snack and then recreate a brand new one?" Dina stared at them.
"He is a mystery, and I like being unable to understand everything about his power."
"Agreed," Arla added with a chuckle. "There is no point to it."
Greeting Her Majesty and her subsidiaries," Zara approached first and curtseyed while the area continued to fill with more Vatui.
"We all received a message in our heads about mana and assimilation, we do not know what any of that means but we obeyed the voice under the assumption that it was Her Highness's doing," She made another gesture of respect to Ikaris and then closed her arms before herself and nodded to her sister. "We all received another telling us to be here promptly."
"Let's wait for everyone to gather then," Ikaris stood, facing the encampment with a serious gaze, and seeing her attitude shift the others all adjusted themselves and did the same, taking her right and left with none while Zara retreated several paces back and stood ready to hear more.
[Casting Voice Amplification]
*ahem*