Chapter 1066: Mortal Shenanigans Rowan felt the mortal heart of this body quicken, and he had to admit, battling with immortals was something he desired over challenging an infinite number of mortals, this mortal body had never slain an immortal, and Rowan began to feel his battle intent rising, "What matter of treachery is this? How dare you speak to the Divine Ascendant with such terms. Kneel and beg for your quick execution!" A loud voice that carried disdain and anger came from a mortal, the Ruler of Stone Reach, dressed in a regal robe of silver and a crown with large jewels, he stood ahead of hundreds of Explorers, all dressed similarly. The elites of Stone Reach are all here and they had thousands of Explorers in armor all holding powerful weapons standing behind them. Rowan ignored them, his gaze on the Divine Ascendant alone, it would take more than mere words from mortals to shake him, "Intruder, are you deaf to what the Ruler has ordered you to do? Know your place when you stand before the divine. Kneel immediately and plead for your quick death or your family line up to your ninth generation would be drawn and quartered!" For a moment Rowan was a bit stunned at the words from the mortal, he knew of mortal politics and shenanigans, their shortsightedness and arrogance among other things were clear to him, and yet he had never once experienced it, he had to admit, it was almost... cute, but he could see how others would find it annoying. Rowan did not look away from the Ascendant despite all the amusing distractions, he began to agitate the Ascendant Energies inside his body, he pointed towards the Ascendant and a blue glow began to gather over his fingertips, but a roar of outrage erupted from the ruler of Stone Reach, spit flying out of his mouth, "Heresy! You not only do not kneel, you dare hold up your hands against the heaven, and attempt a strike..." For the first time since he entered this floor level, Rowan's eyes shifted to the mortals, and the ruler must have seen something inside their endless depths for his mouth snapped shut with so much force that he bit off a sizable portion of his tongue and nearly choked on the blood that erupted from his wound. "Attacking me inside my domain is foolish," the whispery voice of the Divine Ascendant took center stage once again, he had never looked away from Rowan all this while and Rowan could feel the weight of his gaze trying to force its way through his skin. The Ascendant took a step forward in that air and pointed at Rowan with a sharp finger that ended at a needlepoint, and although his flesh resembled smoke, the sharpness of his finger left a bleeding trail of power through the air as it easily sliced space apart, whatever Rank an Ascendant was, it was surely not low, "I will assume from the powerful presence from your body that you must be a Blood Bound, only they have the disgusting smell of flesh surrounding their bodies kike that, and you must also be an ancient one of your cursed race, I have always thought that rumor was farfetched, it is a rare thing that I find myself ecstatic when I am wrong, but are you sure that angering an Ascendant would not lead to the eradication of your line, or at best increase the suffering already imposed on all of you?" "You all talk too much," Rowan said, the blue energy gathering over Rowan's finger reached its peak, except for the Ascendant who appeared calm, the hall went tense and then the bright light unexpectedly fizzled out, and a slight trail of black smoke encircled Rowan's finger as if it was burnt. It was as if the tension was a bubble that had been burst with a pin, the ruler of Stone Reach chuckled, his amusement echoed by the elites around him, he spat out with clear bitterness in his tone, "Fool, do you think you can use the energy of Ascendancy in the presence of an Ascendant? The Silver Alliance has always been against the trade and utilization of Blood Bound as slaves, but I promise you, that is all about to change, your people shall regret this day and your name shall be a curse on their lips for all eternity." Rowan cocked his head to the side, and started at his fingers, making them glow several more times, "Indeed, I think I can use Ascendant energy quite well, although you will forgive me if you have to wait for a moment for its effects to show." "What effects?" one of the braver elite spoke out, Rowan's apparent powerlessness breaking the shackle he had over their mind, and as if in response to his question, hundreds of Explorers on the floor held their heads and began to scream in pain. Their cries were gut-wrenching and before anyone here could determine what was wrong, the heads of the screaming Explorers exploded, and their headless bodies staggered and in a weird synchronicity, they all fell on their knees with arms splayed out by their side. However what was strange was that no blood erupted from their bodies, and their position made it seem as if they were not dead, only waiting. "That effect," Rowan pointed at the bodies. The astonished gaze of every Explorer turned towards him, and the shaking finger of the Ruler of Stone Reach rose up as he pointed at Rowan, "How dare you attack in front of the Divine Ascendant?" he looked around him and his voice broke a little when he noticed that some of his direct descendants had perished, "What did you do?" "I think it's better if you experience it by yourself," Rowan coldly spoke, "Words sometimes cannot do it justice, don't worry, it would be any moment now." Rowan's body left the ground and began to rise until he was on the same level as the Ascendant. "Interesting," the Divine Ascendant whispered, as every Explorer below including the ruler of Stone Reach grabbed their head and began to scream, a few seconds later, their heads all exploded, and the ground reverberated as thousands of knees thudded to the floor. Rowan stroked his chin and regarded the bodies below as he asked in curiosity, "What do you find particularly interesting about this matter, all your subordinates are dead, and you did nothing to defend them, their trust in you it seemed was indeed misplaced." The Ascendant dismissively waved his hand, "Their deaths do not matter as much to me as how you were able to achieve it... you somehow were able to use my influence that had seeped into the grounds of Stone Reach for thousands of years against them, you killed with a borrowed knife by agitating my Ascendant energy traces... who taught you such a thing and how can a Deific Ascendant hold such a potent Ascendant Aura?" Rowan smiled, "I think you know how I was able to do it." The Divine Ascendant brought up his hand and touched the air in front of him, picking at it with his fingers like a string and then he stopped, "I can see your energy, but it is... impossible, there is no taint in it. Why is it so pure? Did you reach the Deific Rank by consuming only the Aura of Ascendant?" "Yes," The Ascendant hand shook, "You are an abomination!" "Yes, I do believe that I have been called such a thing before, many times in the past."