OP Sister Chapter 549: Awakening The Seven Cursed Seals

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To complete this Formation, they would use over a hundred different items. Most had been donated by Gilgamesh and a few others, while some Anna had gathered herself.

The most important materials were ten Cosmic Beast Hearts. Anna procured two herself, both from decaying corpses where she had battled Lesser Cosmic Beasts to obtain them, all within Mars.

The other materials they needed were three Crystalized Stars. For this, they would need to find a suitable star uncontaminated by Void Miasma and refine it using the power of the Constellations aiding them.

The refinement process normally took a year, but with their combined efforts, it should only take a couple of days each. The truly dangerous part was procuring and locating the exact positions of these stars.

Lastly, for the core of the Formation, aside from Anna's own Natal Dao Treasure, Kronos' Heart, they needed something else of similar quality: a large concentration of Cosmic Power.

After some discussion, they discovered that the Azure Orb of the Dragon King of the East Sea was sealed in the depths of the Great Beyond's Seven Iridescent Oceans, within the East Sea Dragon King Palace.

This was the closest valuable cosmic treasure capable of powering such a massive formation. For the rest, they planned to employ the four planets nearest to Mars as the primary nodes of the formation, while Mars remained the core with Anna on its surface.

Preparations had already begun. Ares and Gilgamesh had been moving across the planet, placing special Arrays composed of Cosmic Runes. Each Rune was a small Epic, positioned at key points across the planet's surface.

To locate the timeline itself, Buddha would use a Worldline and Fate Origin Technique, which would track the origin of Anna and Jack's original timeline and worldlines.

Additionally, although the hole through which they arrived had "disappeared," the wormhole remained beneath the dimensional membranes. Thus, the formation's primary purpose was to force that hole to reopen a wound through the dimensions.

The entire formation would be fueled by Anna's Kronos Heart, which also served as the central component of Buddha's special technique. Without a Natal Dao Treasure like Kronos' Heart, returning would have been impossible.

Of course, this Formation would only allow those originating from that Timeline to return. The other Constellations would remain trapped in this ruined future, unfortunately.

"Such a massive formation...! Is it even possible to create something so ridiculous in time?" Jack asked.

"Even if we hurry, it will take a while," Anna said. "But that's why we must hurry even more. Jack, I've been waiting for you and doing everything I could, but I'll need your help."

"I... wish I could help, but I'm so weak now. I think the System was destroyed," Jack said. "I can't feel it."

"Gilgamesh checked your Dao Root before," Buddha said. "He said you once had something similar to Anna's, but with Fenrir's death, that system seed was destroyed."

"...Damn it," Jack groaned, feeling frustrated. "All of my power... it was in that thing. Now that I don't have it... what am I? Still a weakling like before I met Fenrir... so nothing has changed."

"However," Buddha said, "the power the System granted your body remains! It has been directly imprinted into your very existence. Although you can never draw it exactly as before, these lingering fragments still reside within your body and soul. You simply must train, learn new techniques, cultivate, and attain new power through these remnants."

"Can I do it quickly?" Jack asked.

"Hm, I do have a special method, if we enlist the help of a friend," Buddha said. "A certain sleepy god... Perhaps he could aid us."

"Sleepy god?" Anna asked. "Wait, how?"

"If we want to maximize time and training," Buddha said, "then the path is to use the power of Dreams. While you dream, your perception of time can warp. The Plane of Dreams operates differently from reality, after all."

"Dreams?!" Jack asked. "But my body won't exercise while I sleep..."

"Certainly, you'll learn everything necessary in dreams. Then you will apply it to your body using elixirs, intense training methods, and regimens with Ares's help to force adaptation to what you learned in Dreams," Buddha smiled.

"Woah, why haven't you offered me that?" Anna asked, feeling a little jealous.

"My dear Anna, you didn't need it," Buddha said. "However, if we can convince the Constellation to help us, you two could train inside Dreams together."

"Nice!" Anna said. "How long do you think we can accelerate time inside Dreams, Buddha?"

"Hmm, it's hard to say. That's hardly my Authority," Buddha said. "I know some Dream Path Cultivation Methods, but... it's not my expertise. It would be better if we spoke with that person first. Anyway, I will arrange it by tomorrow. For now, Jack should rest and recover your strength."

"Take it easy... even a day is precious. Another day of Henrietta worrying..." Jack sighed. "I left my pregnant lover in the past... I can't... I can't relax even if you ask me to."

"Hm, it's understandable. Then how about meditation?" Buddha asked. "Anna, can you teach him?"

"Although you didn't want me to, I've written Manuals of your Techniques, Master," Anna said with a cocky smile, handing them to her brother. "Here, read!"

"Hahahah, you're indeed quite mischievous... Well, I expected you would do that," Buddha shrugged. "For now, I'll get going. There's an Avatar in the depths of the lake if you need anything."

Buddha disappeared in a bright explosion of light, moving elsewhere. Meanwhile, Jack began reading the manuals Anna had given him, while she started inscribing more Cursed Seals on his back.

After that agonizing nightmare where he was sent into the depths of the Netherworld, Jack had asked Anna to inscribe all seven seals into him.

Although the natural method involved training to acquire them and sometimes manifesting them independently, Jack was in a hurry and needed power as quickly as possible.

Anna nodded and, using her Ki and Cosmic Energy to draw pathways across his back, noticed the scars covering his body, feeling sorrow for him.

"Brother, what exactly happened in that nightmare?" she asked. "What did you see?"

"..." Jack remained silent while enduring the pain of Anna inscribing the patterns into his skin. "Well..."

He slowly narrated what he saw and felt, causing Anna to pause and reflect on everything, feeling the deepest sympathy for him.

"So you went through something similar to what I did at the beginning here... no, it was much worse, to be honest," Anna sighed. "I'm sorry..."

"It's fine..." Jack sighed. "Are you done yet?"

"Halfway through," Anna said. "I will place them all at once, and then you can unlock them rapidly... though it might hurt... a lot."

"It's not as bad as rotting and decaying away," Jack said with a faint smile.

"I guess so..." Anna nodded. "So... about that unpaid debt? What was that about?"

"...I have no idea," Jack said. "Maybe something the Void King... my alternate self... was involved in. Perhaps he sought power from that entity, and now it demands repayment from my future self."

"But he's gone, and then it targeted you, thinking you and the Void King were one and the same..." Anna said.

"He even seemed surprised when he realized I wasn't, but he still wanted to consume me or something... ugh..." Jack shivered at the memory. "It was terrifying... I don't want to recall any of that anymore..."

"Hm..." Anna nodded.

Anna suspected who this entity might be: one of the few existences in the Realm of Transcendent Mythos, always operating in the shadows, though the novel concluded before fully exploring or confronting them.

The Netherworld Emperor, whom Ares had warned was growing stronger in this ruined world by devouring death to expand his domain.

Some Constellations claimed that even amidst this chaos, those in the Realm of Transcendent Mythos remained largely unaffected. Rumors suggested the Netherworld Emperor was preparing for Ascension, seeking the Realm beyond Transcendent Mythos.

"What would they even gain from taking your life?" Anna wondered. "We are so far beneath them... it would be pointless, and they'd likely gain nothing."

"I guess..." Jack sighed. "But this is a misunderstanding I don't know if we can resolve..."

"Hmm... Okay, I'm done," Anna sighed, wiping sweat from her forehead.

They had talked extensively, so time passed quickly, but she had spent three full hours on this.

Jack nodded, sat down, and began practicing the Meditation Technique from Buddha.

The Eightfold Lotus Mind Awakening Meditation Technique was an excellent method for cultivating Mind and Soul.

The moment Jack memorized and practiced it, his restless mind finally calmed.

Afterward, he was confronted with the pain and negative emotions he had experienced before.

He especially recalled that horrendous nightmare and everything he had endured.

In this way, his Cursed Demonic Seals flared up and glowed brightly, imprinting themselves into him.

[Hatred (恨)], [Sorrow (悲)], and [Frenzy (狂)] were already inscribed in his body, growing stronger as he channeled grief, suffering, powerlessness, pain, agony, and hatred into himself.

Then, amid that suffering, a powerful desire emerged—a dream so intense and obsessive it drove him to madness: the desire to return home, to reach his beloved Henrietta before it was too late.

The Fourth Seal, [Desire (欲)], manifested.

A bizarre, poisonous fog spread around Jack, which he then reabsorbed through his mouth and nose, gathering it within his body and containing the toxic, noxious element.

Afterward, Jack gathered all his resentment, hatred, and frustration, erupting in red-black flames across his body. His face contorted in unprecedented anger, his skin turning red with fury.

The Fifth Seal, [Frustration (憋)], manifested.

Once Frustration manifested, Jack grew colder. His aura transformed into white fog, spreading around him and transforming into a calm, lonely, detached stillness unlike anything Anna had witnessed. The Sixth Seal she possessed was the Seal of the Martyr; however, Jack manifested something new. It conveyed a profound desolation, quickly revealing its nature to her.

The Sixth Seal, [Loneliness (寞)], manifested.

Embodying Jack's "lonely" nature and his tendency to shoulder everything alone, it was the most fitting seal for him at that moment.

Finally, the culmination of Jack's accumulated suffering and agony manifested as the seventh seal. He recalled the horrors not just from the nightmare but from his entire life since the Apocalypse began.

All that pain became his power now, transformed into usable essence, allowing him to sense the tremendous quantities of power flowing within him!

The Seventh Seal, [Pain (痛)], manifested.

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