Chapter 473: Cruotis Prime’s Apocalypse and Bewusstsein’s Awakening
It was an Apocalypse.
Amidst the chaos, the once-vibrant metropolis now lay in ruins, its towering spires reduced to rubble and ashes.
The air was thick with the acrid scent of burning debris and the distant rumble of destruction.
From above, the sky was a canvas of fiery hues as spacecrafts plummeted to the earth in a fiery spectacle, their impact shaking the very foundations of the planet.
In the streets below, panicked screams mingled with the roar of collapsing buildings, a symphony of terror that echoed through the destruction.
Nucleus detonations lit up the horizon, casting an eerie glow across the landscape as mushroom clouds billowed into the sky, heralding the planet’s descent into nuclear winter.
Volcanoes erupted with fury, spewing molten rock and ash into the atmosphere, further adding to the planet’s misery. From the depths of space, asteroids hurtled towards the doomed world, their impact sending shockwaves rippling through the already ravaged terrain.
But perhaps the most harrowing sight of all was the plight of the planet’s inhabitants.
Once vibrant and full of life, they now lay strewn across the ground, their bodies twisted and broken, their souls consumed by the very Planet they once called home.
In the blink of an eye, all 15,636,150,867 existences of Planet Cruotis Prime were extinguished.
Regardless of their existence realms which ranged from the Master Realm to the Low-Tier-Deity Realm, all met the same tragic end in the cataclysmic apocalypse of this Prime World.
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Location Inapplicable
Month and Day Inapplicable
Year Inapplicable
The scene of that apocalypse flickered and faded away like an illusion, for it was nothing but a projection of a past event.
When Planet Cruotis Prime of the Orithyia Galaxy devoured all the existences on it in a single day. Both those from it and those who were visiting from other worlds.
All the energy devoured from their souls was used to break and sever the Karmic and Causality bonds that bound the Planet’s Consciousness to the Planet.
With this, the Consciousness of the Planet escaped its bounds, armed with Spatial, Destruction, Temporal, Karmic, Life, Death, Slaughter, Fate, and Elemental powers.
The Consciousness sought Evolution, to become even stronger and break the final bond that tied it to that planet.
"Did you just see that, Akasha?"
"I did."
’The One Who Governed Causality and Laws’ looked at this rare situation that occurred in the Valmone Universe and sighed.
"The last time it was a Star...the ’Star of Lightning’.
This time, it’s a Prime World.
Both are occurring in the same Galaxy. It seems there’s a bug in this galaxy we need to fix."
This existence spoke about this with a grave tone as he pulled up a projection of the spiral galaxy floating within the void.
"You have not forced it back to its place, have you?"
’The One Who Governed Wisdom and Knowledge’, Akasha, posed this question to his companion who nodded in affirmation.
"I left it so I could show you the situation.
Otherwise, it would have automatically been forced back into its place.
It was born as a ’Celestial Body Consciousness’, and it is to remain as such until the planet’s lifespan runs out.
Such, is its fate."
"No."
"...what?"
’The One Who Governed Causality and Laws’ let out a confused voice when he heard Akasha’s reply, and seeing this, Akasha explained.
"We have been looking at normal Sentient Existences, searching for a Candidate who’d be accepted by ’Time and Destruction’.
But this Planetary Consciousness...let’s nurture it to be a Candidate and see what happens.
If it succeeds, we will be able to control it.
Your action of not putting it back in its place the instant it escaped would be treated as a favour; one it would spend its whole life repaying us for."
Hearing Akasha’s explanation, the other man shook his head and responded.
"It would not work out as easily as you think. But, you of all people should know that."
The man got up from his throne and turned around before saying.
"Do whatever you wish. But make sure to clean up after yourself if it fails. That place is within ’his’ territory, after all."
After saying this, the man vanished into thin air, leaving behind Akasha, whose heavy sigh resounded in this empty space.
Eternals.
Beings who Governed over the Major Concepts of the Cosmos and kept these volatile things in check.
They were Higher Dimensional Existences who possessed unimaginable power, unconstrained by the trivial joys and woes of all other beings.
With their great power that let them rule the Cosmos, one would never imagine that something like ’Death’ could happen to any one of them.
They were beyond it, after all.
Yet, the reality was different.
One of them had died. To be precise, he/she was not killed but Erased from Existence.
That was the only way to end the existence of an Eternal, after all.
’The One Who Governed Time and Destruction’ no longer existed.
No debris or leftovers from their existence as they had been completely removed from reality.
No memories or knowledge of them existed anymore as well, with the only evidence of the fact that they once existed being the Empty Seat of the Eternal of Time and Destruction.
If there was any consolation, it was the fact that the ’Aggressor’ who was responsible for this, was also erased as well.
Over the years, the Eternals have sought a replacement for their fallen comrade.
The Candidate Selection was their means of finding one.
It was basically a Battle Royale between chosen beings who possessed outstanding powers over the Laws of Time and Destruction.
They were granted ’Aspects’ of these concepts and ’Candidate Sigils’ to signify their status.
Candidates of Time sought to kill other Time Candidates to collect their Sigils and increase their power, while Candidates of Destruction did the same with their fellow Destruction Candidates.
For Phase 1 of the Selection, Time Candidates were barred from harming Destruction Candidates and Vice Versa.
When Phase 2 commenced, however, that ban was lifted and the Candidates remaining could now attempt to gain powers of the other Concept.
There had been numerous Victors over the years.
Unfortunately, they had all failed at the last step—being accepted by the Concepts of Time and Destruction.
These Major Concepts were very volatile and though they did not possess wills or consciousnesses, they could still somehow select who gained their power.
None of the Candidates produced so far had succeeded, with the lucky ones simply failing to gain the seat of Eternal.
The unlucky ones, had their existences erased by the Concept of Destruction.
"What if we’re going about this Selection in the wrong way?
Let me test and see what happens if a Candidate starts with not one of the two, but both Sigils at once.
Bringing the ’Dual Candidacy’ reserved for the Phase 2 to Phase 1."
With that decision made, Akasha took action immediately.
The Sigils required to gain Candidate Status were things that could only be created by Two Specific Eternals.
The ones serving as the Interim Governors for the Concepts.
For the Concept of ’Time’, its Interim Governor was the Eternal of Space, and the first person Akasha went to meet.
◇ ◇ ◇
In the heart of a casino, neon lights flickered and danced, casting a kaleidoscope of colours across the room.
The air was alive with the sound of spinning roulette wheels, chiming slot machines, and the murmurs of hopeful gamblers. Cocktails flow freely as the night unfolded, enticing patrons to try their luck in the game of chance.
Akasha silently appeared in this casino and headed towards the poker table, where a suit-wearing man with black hair styled in a simple side-parted undercut sat.
"Ranus. I have a request."
Despite being physically present in the room, no other person besides the being he called out to could perceive Akasha’s existence.
The man looked up to Akasha with his mesmerising reddish purple triangular-shaped pupils that spun in a regular rhythm.
"I’ve discovered a promising potential Candidate of Time. I need a ’Sigil’."
"Promising? You mean that Planetary Consciousness who escaped recently?"
The ’Eternal of Space’ replied as he turned over his cards and displayed all Aces. Though Akasha was internally surprised he knew of the Cruotis Prime situation, he did not show it and responded calmly.
"You knew? That makes things easier."
"Of course, I know. Valmone is in the Second Multiverse.
Another thing I know is what you plan to do with that little poor one."
Akasha’s calm was finally broken when he heard the second part of Ranus’ statement and seeing this, the other Eternal laughed.
"Next time, don’t think out loud in my territory. I may just happen to overhear you."
Knowing that his plan would violate the rules of the Candidate Selection that the Eternals had agreed on, Akasha already lost hope of gaining a Sigil from the Ranus.
Which was precisely why he was surprised by the actions the other Eternal took next.
Ranus raised his hand and an enormous sigil made of blue light appeared in front of him and then floated over to Akasha.
No, it wasn’t light. It was cosmic energy.
It was woven together from an unnatural amount and density of cosmic energy and simply being in the presence of it made all the other beings in the entire building collapse and fall unconscious.
It was a mass of overwhelming power. The same kind of power that both he and Akasha possessed.
"...why?"
Rather than joy at the thought that Ranus did this, doubt welled up within Akasha.
"You’re not the only one who has thought we’re looking at things from the wrong perspective. Others are just too unbothered to take action.
I’d like to see how your plan turns out."
Akasha remained silent for a moment before raising his hand and grabbing the Sigil. He turned around to leave when Ranus’ voice rang out again.
"Good luck getting the Destruction Sigil from her."
Glancing back, he caught a smirk playing on Ranus’ lips, indicating that the other Eternal would certainly relish witnessing his upcoming encounter with the next Eternal on his list.
He clicked his tongue in distaste before vanishing from the Casino, right before the unconscious people regained their consciousnesses.
◇ ◇ ◇
In the Dwarven-ruled Universe of Bracken, Akasha appeared in a casino cum bar called the Golden Glass.
Fun fact, this was where Arthur’s parents had first met each other over five millennia ago.
Akasha headed up to the counter stools and took a seat there, beside a woman dressed in a jet-black gown that contrasted her white hair.
Her upturned eyes glowed with a faint silver light as she downed glass after glass of wine.
"What?"
She questioned Akasha who had silently taken up a seat beside her, prompting the Eternal of Wisdom to ready himself, marshalling all his knowledge and wit before offering a reply.
"I have discovered a promising potential Candidate of Destruction.
I need a Sigil."
The Eternal of Space was the one with the Authority to grant Sigils of Time.
As for the Sigils of Destruction, who else would hold that Authority, besides the Eternal of Creation?
The problem here was that Akasha found it difficult to deal with her.
The First and Second ranked Eternals, the Ones who Governed ’Creation’ and ’Space and Reality’ respectively, were the most powerful and most enigmatic of the bunch.
Akasha, however, found the Eternal of Creation much more of a hassle than he did the Eternal of Space.
The reason was the fact that she always liked to mess with him.
The man was sure she already knew about his plan and was prepared for her to nitpick at him, start listing out reasons why his plan was crazy, and end it all with a big fat NO.
However, she did none of that.
She just silently nodded and raised her left hand, conjuring a ’Destruction Sigil’ like Ranus had done and passed it over to Akasha.
"...what?"
Akasha was dumbfounded.
He used his powers to scan the woman before him from head to toe, to make sure he was looking at the real thing and not an imposter.
That showed just how unexpected her agreement seemed to him.
"What are you doing? Get out already."
Akasha snapped back to reality when she spoke, taking the Sigil and leaving the Universe quickly before she changed her mind.
Luckily for Akasha, he just so happened to encounter the woman when she was depressed from having made a bad romantic decision, and did not have the time or energy to mess with him like always.
◇ ◇ ◇
Akasha headed to his last and final destination, collecting a piece of power from the Eternal of Life so he could allow the Planetary Consciousness to gain a physical Incarnation not bound to the planet and be able to move freely across the Universe.
This was to enable the Planetary Consciousness to have ’Life’ in the truest sense.
After this, he returned to the Orithya Galaxy where Cruotis Prime was located.
Unlike other Candidates, he did not intend to place a ’Watcher’ on this one, intending to keep this little ’Dual Candidacy’ experiment of his a secret.
As it was not a Sentient being but the Consciousness of a Planet that had gained power after devouring the lives of all beings on it, he did not intend to use normal conventions on it.
◇ ◇ ◇
Cruotis Prime’s Consciousness who had technically gone Rogue, was laying low, trying not to draw the attention of any of the Universe’s Race Kings until it gained sufficient power.
It believed no one had figured out what had happened on the planet was the work of the planet’s sentience, which was why when Akasha appeared and drew it out from its core, it was shocked to no end.
Its incarnation had the form of a ’man’, with sharp piercing eyes that shone with iridescent light, and long black hair tied in a ponytail below the base of ’his’ head.
This incarnation of the planetary consciousness exuded an aura of power, yet as ’he’ looked upon Akasha, ’he’ felt a surge of fear coursing through ’him’ as the cosmic energy ’he’ felt rolling off the Eternal was on a different order of magnitude.
’What the hell...’
Sweat suddenly formed on ’his’ brow.
Even though Akasha was merely looking at ’him’, the Eternal gave off an intimidating aura that sent shivers right down to the centre of ’his’ core.
The air seemed to thicken around ’him’, suffocating him with the sheer power radiating from the Eternal.
’What sort of Existence is this? Did he come to Erase me?
I expected the Race Lords of this Galaxy or the ’Enforcers of Causality’, but this... there’s no way this guy is an ’Enforcer’.’
Simply standing before Akasha made ’him’ sick to his stomach.
|There’s not much time so I would get straight to the point.
I am Akasha, the Eternal of Knowledge.
As for why I am here, it is because of you. |
Akasha’s words with his True Voice carried the weight of millennia of cosmic knowledge, his tone firm yet tinged with a hint of solemnity
Upon his introduction, the Planetary consciousness listened intently, ’his’ apprehension growing as Akasha spoke of ’his’ violation of the Universal Laws.
|You, as the Sentience of a Celestial Body, have strayed from your ordained path, and it falls upon me to rectify this deviation.
But fear not, for I offer you a chance at redemption. |
It went without saying that the incarnation displayed a look of utter bewilderment as Akasha’s words resonated with ’him’.
Instead of delivering judgment, Akasha offered ’him’ a choice – either to become the new Eternal of Time and Destruction or face elimination.
Producing the Time Sigil and the Destruction Sigil, Akasha shocked the Incarnation with the immense power they held.
Akasha branded ’him’ with these sigils and outlined the details of the Candidate Selection and his experiment.
"You have two choices.
Either Become the new Eternal or die trying.
Do not forget, you would also be eliminated if another being were to succeed in becoming the new Eternal before you do."
As Akasha’s form began to fade away, he issued a final warning to the Planetary consciousness.
"Do not disappoint me...What did you call yourself again?"
The Planetary consciousness hesitated for a moment, unsure of how to respond. However, using his ’Authority of Knowledge’, Akasha swiftly uncovered the answer.
"Ah, that. It’s rather ironic that you’ve chosen to name yourself what you attempted to run from.
Oh well.
Do not disappoint me, Bewusstsein."
