Way of the Knights

Chapter 654 - Lord Knight

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*Boom!!!*

A loud explosion occurred...

The sound echoed throughout the whole palace, the vibrations could felt from miles away and an overwhelming presence announced itself to the world. 

There, floating at an empty space, was Raven. Still has his eyes closed as if in deep slumber. His aqua-marine hair gently fell down on his back. He was in a fetal position, wearing gray robes which were made out of laws. He was bare footed and a faint curtain of aurora lights covered his body. 

A pulsating sound echoed out of his body, this sound was being produced by his heart. The sound was strong and vigorous, akin to war drums. It also carried a faint hymn that contained profound mysteries that could catch the attention of it's listeners. 

Slowly but surely, the aurora curtain disappeared. After it's disappearance, Raven's body slowly unfurled, still floating several inches above the ground. All of a sudden, all noise disappeared. Even the gusts of wind didn't dare to create an disturbances on the surrounding area. It was so quiet that it would seem that time momentarily halted. 

Raven's eyes slowly fluttered open...

As if beacons of light in the darkness, golden light appeared fro a brief second before dissipating and revealing Raven's rainbow colored irises. At first, his gaze was unfocused but it didn't take before his eyes gained some consciousness in them. 

Now conscious of his surroundings, the first thing Raven felt was a stifling feeling on his chest. It was as if there something there wanting to break free from its restraints. He frowned but didn't feel that it was something bad. Out of nowhere then, Raven suddenly released a visible pulse. 

It swept through the surroundings, forming a massive dome that covered most of the area around him. Raven felt a rush of comfort drowning him, causing him to puff his chest out and close his eyes to marvel at the feeling. Raven then opened his eyes to observe what's going on and to his shock, a stunning spectacle was occurring in front of him. 

Though it is not visible to the naked eye, Raven who was the cause of this spectacle could see and feel it clearly...

The Laws were paying their respects to them...

He felt like he was riding above the clouds, looking beneath his loyal subjects. The very fundamental knowledge of the world was paying respects to him, it was such a bizarre feeling which also feels addicting.

This sensation could just be something that he could feel due to his elation or something. Such phenomenon might only occur once in his entire life but Raven was sure that what he could personally gleam from this even was genuine. 

Raven felt as if he reached very high place and he's looking at the fantastic view below. He could see and sense everything. He also felt as if he knew everything, it was an absurd feeling yet it's unmistakable. 

A smile appeared on Raven's lips. He clenched his hands as he murmured...

"What a boon...I didn't expect that me breaking through the third concept of my Laws will also push me to undergo my 9th Transformation and achieve Lord Knight Realm."

9th Transformation, the last part of his metamorphosis was done. Right now, Raven's body has completely changed. Every single cell on his body was nurtured with Cosmic Energy. He felt unprecedentedly calm and peaceful but also brimming with strength. Raven had an impression that he could probably shatter a meteor with a single serious punch. 

Raven's appearance couldn't be any more perfect. Not a single speck of blemish was visible on his face. His skin was fair and soft but it's resilience was top-notch, his charm was otherworldly and his aura was befitting to that of a Lord. 

Reaching Lord Knight Realm allows an individual's domain to expand greatly. Normally it would be the size of an empire or two but Raven's domain could cover an entire country. Additionally, thanks to his foundations and law insights, whenever he's within his domain Raven would always release the suppression of a Lord. 

His very presence was akin to a ruler that forces enemies to submission, no questions asked. Even the laws were paying respects to him right now.

Indeed, this is such an unexpected boon. Originally, he just wanted to reach the 3rd Concepts for his Laws however something happened which he can't remember but it pushed him to experience his 9th Transformation. 

Raven was currently unaware of how much time has passed, and frankly at the current moment, he couldn't care less. He felt greatly satisfied with this unexpected gain that he felt euphoria drowning every single cell of his body. 

Experiencing the 9th Transformation means that the 1st Chapter of the 'Book of Chaos' is now done. From here on out, he would be cultivating the 2nd Chapter provided to him by Geezer. That being said, cultivating from this point forward only gets harder, especially for him since he's following an unorthodox path in cultivation. 

"One step closer to the stage I was at before I experienced Soul Rebirth..." Raven whispered, "Feels good."

However, although Raven felt glad that he experienced a breakthrough, he still couldn't shake the feeling that he's missing something. It also didn't help that his intuition tells him that the thing he missed was such an important event. 

Raven consulted the Avatars, asking them what happened while he's unconscious. The Avatars didn't know. Raven's cultivation area was miles away from the where the Avatars were since he didn't want to disturb their practice. That's why the Avatars had no idea what occurred to him at all...

All they knew is they saw his Destruction Domain and Spacetime Domain accurately split in half. After that, it disappeared miraculously and everything went quiet. 

"That just makes it even more suspicious then..." Raven frowned. "What in the world happened?" 

Raven was puzzled for a bit before he released a sigh and decided to investigate later. His foot then touched the ground and his domain disappeared. He sat down and closed his eyes to inspect the changes on his body closer. 

"...as expected." Raven muttered, "My body and soul has completely transformed."

Indeed, Raven's body was now at its perfect state. Each cell of his was filled with Cosmic Energy, every activity his body does helps with the production of Cosmic Energy as well. His Energy Channels have completely melded with his body, turning into something which looked like astral veins. Pure milky white Cosmic Energy flowed in them, circulating at every corner of Raven's body. 

To top this all of, Raven's soul has now completely recovered at last. The sense of wonder and elation that he felt earlier was mostly due to this. His soul was no longer injured, and it not only completely recovered, it's state was even better than before. 

He could tell that his thoughts were smoother and he had more reign with his emotions. He felt his connection to the world and even just but existing, he receives insight from the Heavenly Laws. It is such a mystical and a long lost feeling. It felt familiar but also mysterious at the same time. 

"Now, I only need to reach Empyrean Knight Realm and I would be able to say that I am truly back." Raven had a thin smile on his face. 

He didn't get up from his position though since he's still isn't done. He wanted to check his core as well and see if there's any development in them. 

"Eh!?" Raven's eyes snapped wide open in surprise. He shook his head and sank his perception back into his core and saw the same spectacle that surprised him the first time. 

The cosmic swirl inside Raven's core remained mostly the same only...there are certainly more things in there that he didn't remember putting there before. 

"...Destruction and Spacetime! Why are these laws dominating this place?" 

The first time that Raven sank his perception in his core, he was surprised since he felt like he arrived at the wrong place, however it turns out that this place was indeed his Inner Cosmos, only it was currently being dominated by Destruction and Spacetime principles. 

Raven observed this for a bit. As he watched closely, he could feel that not only his cosmos felt more stable and real, he could also feel that the constellations within his Inner Cosmos were surprisingly adapting to the intrusion of his Destruction and Spacetime Laws. 

"What is going on?" Raven was confused. 

He didn't understand how in the world his Destruction and Spacetime Laws suddenly dominated his Inner Cosmos. From what he can remember, these two were originally gathered in a star similar to his Slaughter Intent - which was also adjusting to this current even as well, as of the moment. 

Raven was so confused that he really didn't know what to expect. He didn't even know that something like this possible in the first place. And even though he wanted to stop this development, he can't since it already started and blew up way out of his control, additionally his intuition told him that this is for his own good. 

"What the hell?" Raven muttered, flabbergasted.