Chapter 237: The Ineffable Artisan - Who Am I?
Seraphiel watched Ash with a deeper intensity than before, and as his zafu nudged him toward the center of the stage, she noticed sothing she’d seen him use once before.
In his hand was a black book adorned with an indescribable symbol.
"His progenitor’s artifact?" she asked, as it was the only thing that ca to mind.
It carried the sa aura she had felt from him as a progenitor, prompting her to raise another brow—he was becoming an even greater mystery.
’So, he’s a true progenitor like us... not one of those phonies. But how did he avoid those damned records?’ She couldn’t wrap her head around it—she knew as much as the oldest beings in this Lower Dinsion, those who had lived far longer than before the 21st cycle.
There weren’t many left anymore, as most had vanished, seemingly lost to the passing cycles.
Only a few remained, like the Dragon of Chaos, though even his case was different—a truth perhaps known only to Seraphiel and the Elven progenitor.
Since the ergence of the records, any being born afterward stood no chance of avoiding being added to them. Not even the scions of the progenitors or the Arch Eternal clans were spared.
It was like a complete infestation.
She pushed the thoughts aside and turned her attention to Ash.
To her, it seed like he was just jotting down words, nothing more.
She couldn’t even figure out what the book was for. She could try to dig deeper, but her instincts warned her not to... which, of course, only made her all the more curious.
---
Ash smiled as he finished writing in the codex.
This ti, he didn’t rely on Authoring Potential, feeling he had already mastered all its intricacies.
Now, it was ti to move on to the next ability that intrigued him the most—Paradoxical Inscription.
In simple terms, the ability let him grant powers to himself or others.
It was purely imaginative and they evolved with the user, ensuring it never beca useless. From what he instinctively knew, there were so limits when it ca to raw power.
These powers would adjust to match the user’s own limits, but there was sothing beyond that—sothing oddly similar to titles, yet different in many ways.
It was the ability to give traits.
Traits were similar to titles in that they could sotis take the form of one.
For example, Ash could simply grant soone a progenitor’s title, which would accomplish the sa thing and more.
However, traits were different because they could completely alter a person’s existence.... instantly.
They could bestow the most outrageous abilities imaginable—like Infinite Mana, which he had also intended. But in this mont, he simply wrote sothing that resembled a title.
The Ineffable Artisan
As ntioned before, Ash had been enjoying the showcase and felt compelled to learn so of these art forms.
So, why not beco the living embodint of every art form within the Lower Dinsion?
For most, this would transform them into the very concept of Art itself... but for Ash, it was like adding a drop of water to an already boundless ocean—hardly sothing he minded.
"This might blow these people’s minds," Elysia remarked as she floated around him.
He smiled and shrugged.
"They’ll be fine. I just need to send a ssage to a few people before things get ssy," he said aloud before beginning.
He closed his eyes for a mont, then opened them, releasing an essence that was no longer just desire, but sothing more ethereal.
As it spread, the hall transford into a vast cosmic canvas.
Around the participants were not stars or celestial bodies, but visions of Ash ford from unreadable symbols and paintings of words blooming and breaking apart—symbolic portrayals of who he was.
At the center, floating slightly above Ash as he sat on his Zafu, was a self-portrait fractured into infinite layers, each representing a different ’becoming.’ The portrait shifted and ca alive as his layered voice reached the ears of all.
-----
"Who Am I?
I am the blank that becos the stroke,
The silence that births the note,
The void that paints the light,
The question that devours the answer in the night,
Who Am I?"
-----
As the poem lingered in the ears of participants and onlookers, they found themselves strangely captivated by the shifting self-portrait above.
Each person saw sothing different, uncovering their own aning in the words.
It wasn’t a mont of enlightennt, but more a fleeting glimpse into the questions that quietly haunted their thoughts, and for so, the weight of the art felt almost too much to bear.
Ash had one aim for the showcase—to silence the curious or perhaps leave them even more intrigued.
From the Eternal Observation Spire, two onlookers were seeing visions entirely unlike those of the other leaders and progenitors.
Seraphiel, in particular, witnessed sothing that left her stunned and, if she was honest, a little uneasy.
It was a pure mory from Ash, taken from the dawn of the Third Cycle—slightly altered.
It was the mont the Second revealed to him the birth of the first progenitors.
Among them, there had been one more beautiful than all the rest—Seraphiel herself.
She watched the mont of her own birth play out, flas raging for ages until only a lone, newborn spark remained. Ash held it tenderly, then looked up to et Seraphiel’s gaze.
"I see you for what you truly are... eternal, unparalleled... and my desires are sothing even progenitors can’t resist.~"
---
Layla sat frozen, staring at the ever-changing portrait as a completely different scene played in her mind. They were the secrets she had kept close to her heart since the day she t the man himself.
Ash reached out, embracing her hidden desires without judgnt, her secrets laid bare. Warmth washed over her as he gently brushed her black hair behind her ear and pressed a soft kiss to her lips.
Then he whispered, "Follow your heart to its fullest... love without regret, because desires are not ant to be hidden."
----
Back down at the center of it all, Ash continued to recite his poem.
"Who am I?
The paradox that walks,
The desire that refuses chains,
The fla that burns what cannot burn,
The end that ever begins again,"
----
His words were irresistibly vivid, drawing everyone deeper into the mystery of who he was... even if it was just a glimpse.
The more he spoke; the more people felt their curiosity begin to ease.
To Aurelia, it was as if she and Ash were gliding through marvels, his touch lingering endlessly, her mischief ever present. But as the mont reached its height, he t her gaze with a smile brimming with pure desire.
"You played with fire, my unruly phoenix~ Now be ready to be forever bound to a man whose flas never die~"
Elara found herself caught in a tender mont, watching Ash laid bare, encircled by countless won—his most cherished lovers—and the vast expanse of his inner cosmos. He ended with a gentle smile, leaving just one ssage echoing in her mind:
"This is who I am, my nature... See
as I truly am, and beco more with ~"
Shia found herself rewatching so of the painful monts she had caused Ash.
It wasn’t to relive the guilt she was trying to redeem herself from, but rather because the scene revealed more—it gave her a clearer view of who Ash truly was now, not the version she’d built in her mind.
He wasn’t soone who needed coddling or protection. No, he was the protector... and also the one his enemies needed to be shielded from.
"Prove your redemption," he said with a smile that mirrored the madness simring beneath Shia’s beauty.
"How far is the oh-so-crazed Asura willing to go for the ’brother’ who needs no protection, yet protects all and brings ruin wherever he sees fit?"
At last, two people saw the world in different ways, though no one else realized it.
Madison, heir to the beast progenitor, envisioned Ash in a raw, untad wilderness.
He stood among countless beasts, not subduing them, but reigning as Alpha through pure, unrestrained desire.
Then the vision shifted—she was beside him, her own beastly nature heightened, running wild yet tethered to him only by exhilarating freedom. It all faded with words ant for her alone:
"You’ve felt the pull already... and I see you too~ Oh, heir of the beast progenitor... That wild heart of yours is locked in my sights~ So co find ... or I’ll co for you."
Finally, while everyone else caught a brief, haunting glimpse of Ash—showing himself as the ultimate nightmare, the end of their civilizations, and the start of sothing new—Kha’Zul saw a far more savage vision.
It was brief but deeply unsettling, rattling him to his core.
Before him stood the Dragon of Absolute Endings, a figure he’d only ever heard about in tales, ntioned by only one other dragon.
The Dragon of Chaos... the very sa now lying lifeless in its jaws. Then, in an instant, the terrifying dragon dissolved into Ash, and the scene shifted again, showing Aurelia cradled in Ash’s arms.
"She’s mine... so forget your useless thoughts... or lose the head that makes them."
It was the final scene witnessed by all, the self-moving portrait concluding with the closing lines of his poem.
"I’m the blank canvas, the tune not yet played,
the poem still waiting to be written—but in every heart,
I’ve already started to take shape."
---
The hall returned to its original state, leaving millions swaying between mixed emotions, while a select few clutched direct ssages.
"And by now, I’m sure they’ve got a hint of who you are... just a little," Elysia said with a playful giggle.
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