Titan King: Ascension of the Giant

Chapter 1651: Fragments of the Divine Heart

The World Tree’s canopy blotted out the sky, its colossal roots piercing both heaven and earth.

This was an awakening of the Titanion Realm’s The World Soul. It hadn’t suddenly gained sentience, but a primal instinct recognized the stalemate: Orion, The Lifeless Dreadgod, and the others needed a catalyst to break the deadlock.

The World Tree wove its roots into a cage of cosmic law, entombing the Four Gods’ Divine Idols. The tendrils burrowed into the statues like parasitic veins, ruthlessly devouring the divine laws sustaining them while constantly thrashing against the stone to inflict brutal physical damage.

Sensing the shift, Orion, Lifeless Dreadgod, Archbishop Kysar, and Moriphara immediately channeled their Authority into the World Tree’s roots.

In a grinding war of attrition, the Divine Idols were completely drained of their power. Their divine shells withered and fractured.

Yet, as the idols shattered, absolute frenzy seized everyone present—Orion included.

Beneath the cracked shells, a beating divine heart lay exposed.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Its rhythm echoed in the chests of everyone watching. Even the World Tree’s roots sensed the profound power, violently lashing out at the exposed heart.

"No!" The Lifeless Dreadgod roared, caught between desperate greed and absolute horror. But he was too late.

The root’s strike shattered the complete divine heart into four jagged fragments of varying sizes.

No one dared hesitate. Laws and divine power erupted right across the battlefield. Even Archbishop Kysar, who had been focused on anchoring the world from his throne, manifested a projection of himself and lunged straight for the largest fragment. No one cared that Kysar had been hiding his true strength, playing the vulture to reap the spoils.

Simultaneously, Orion’s Stoneheart titan projection tore toward the smallest fragment, while the World Tree roots anchored in his Divine Kingdom coiled around the second-largest piece. The largest chunk was already caught in a brutal tug-of-war between Archbishop Kysar and the Titanion Realm’s World Tree roots.

The Lifeless Dreadgod, Maximilien, Kendry, and Eryx swarmed the final fragment, simply because it was the closest.

"Get out of my way!" Orion bellowed. The Progenitor Insect phantom phantom trailed right behind him, aiming to snatch the smallest fragment.

As if acting on a cue, Moriphara abandoned her observation point. An elegant projection stepped out from her true body and ambushed Orion. He knew exactly what she was doing. She was running interference to buy the Progenitor Insect phantom time.

"You really have no idea who rules the Titanion Realm, do you?"

With a deafening roar, the four-headed, eight-armed Stoneheart titan projection spun around, trapping Moriphara’s phantom will in a crushing embrace. It ruthlessly eroded and devoured her essence, deliberately humiliating her in the process.

"You dare touch what’s mine? Die!"

Under Moriphara’s horrified gaze, Orion rose from his throne on the World Tree branch. With a single step, he breached the realm of the Four Gods.

At that exact second, the Progenitor Insect phantom’s phantom brushed against the divine fragment.

It’s mine! The Wyrm’s eyes blazed with triumph. This fragment was the key to pushing past its limits.

"You dare touch what’s mine." It wasn’t a question. It wasn’t even a reprimand. It was a cold statement of fact—a prelude to an execution.

Orion materialized right beside the Progenitor Insect phantom. His hand curled into a vicious claw, holding absolutely nothing back as he crushed the phantom into nothingness.

"No... spare me!" the Wyrm shrieked. "How—how can you leave the World Tree? How are you here?"

Staring death in the face, the Progenitor Insect phantom was consumed by sheer, desperate disbelief.

"You all seem to have forgotten something. I assimilated into the Titanion Realm through a Divine Vessel. I am nothing like you rootless parasites."

Even if it was just a single phalanx bone, it was still a Divine Vessel. It elevated Orion above the rest. It was the absolute foundation that allowed him to temporarily sever his anchor to the World Tree.

Orion’s voice was freezing, yet laced with a subtle thrill. After swatting the Progenitor Insect phantom out of existence, the smallest fragment of the divine heart found its new host. It sank directly into Orion’s flesh.

The sensation was indescribable. It was as if his previous form had been nothing more than a hollow husk. Now, with the fragment assimilated, new veins rapidly formed, pumping vibrant, life-rich blood throughout his previously barren shell.

Is this the next step?

Orion could feel it. The elusive threshold of the demigod sixth stage—he had just taken a tangible bite out of it. It was a fraction of the whole, but progress was progress. And progress meant raw, overwhelming power.

Fully acclimating to his surging strength, Orion snapped his gaze toward the remaining fragments, intent on claiming more. But he was too late. The other pieces had already been secured.

The Titanion Realm’s World Tree roots had successfully ripped away the largest fragment, leaving Archbishop Kysar howling in impotent rage. The second-largest piece had been claimed by the World Tree roots of Orion’s own Divine Kingdom. It was instantly absorbed, triggering an earth-shattering evolution within his realm.

As for the final fragment, The Lifeless Dreadgod held it tightly in his grasp. Yet, he didn’t absorb it. In truth, it wasn’t that he didn’t want to—he simply couldn’t.

"You ignorant fools!" Securing the fragment had sent The Lifeless Dreadgod into a gloating frenzy. "Do you even realize what this is? A divine heart. A sliver of the divine origin left behind by the Four Gods. It is a supreme treasure, nurtured for hundreds of thousands of years through endless faith and World Essence!"

The Lifeless Dreadgod bared his teeth in a wicked grin. Ignoring the murderous glares from the other three Archbishops of the Cult of Four, he encapsulated the fragment within his own divine power laws, burying it deep into his chest cavity.

"A treasure of this caliber... did you really think you could just grab it and absorb it on the spot? Hmph. Other than Orion and his Divine Vessel, no one here has the right to assimilate it so easily."

The Lifeless Dreadgod chuckled darkly. His actions just now weren’t a true assimilation. He was employing an agonizingly complex ritual that demanded a massive investment of time—a forbidden method to replace his mortal core with the divine heart entirely.

It was a grueling process. He had to meticulously corrupt the divine fragment with his own divine power laws, slowly warping its pure essence to match his rotting affinities. Only upon complete corruption could The Lifeless Dreadgod truly fuse with it, launching himself straight into the demigod sixth stage to stand among the apex entities of the mortal plane.

It would drain immense time and effort, but he had found the staircase to the sixth stage. That fact alone placed him leagues ahead of Maximilien, Kendry, Eryx, the Progenitor Insect phantom, and Moriphara.

The Lifeless Dreadgod was a true victor today.

Yet, Orion was also a victor—and undoubtedly the greatest one among them.

Because at that exact moment, a scene played out that left everyone utterly paralyzed with shock.

The World Tree roots that had snatched the largest fragment suddenly tore through the void directly above Orion. Slowly, reverently, they lowered the massive chunk of the divine heart and plunged it straight into Orion’s body.

Orion hadn’t anticipated this. The Lifeless Dreadgod hadn’t anticipated this. No one had.

Total, suffocating silence descended upon the battlefield. The atmosphere grew bizarrely tense as every single gaze locked onto Orion, stupefied.