Chapter 571: Two Progenitors
Without missing a beat, Arthur summoned a storm of cosmic energy around Lostvayne and swung it with all his might, unleashing a massive wave of destruction energy that radiated outward in a blinding arc.
The wave exploded forth, covering everything within a kilometre in a shroud of annihilation. The ground cracked and shattered under the force, and the air itself seemed to tremble as the wave killed everything below Transcendence in its path.
Humans, angels, and even the landscape were sent reeling, thrown back by the sheer magnitude of the attack.
Some of his summons perished in the aftermath, and the Law of Summoning’s backlash hit him but he ignored it.
Arthur activated Null and dashed towards the High-Rank angel who was down on the ground, his hand outstretched as he put down the last letter on the Book of Truth.
Instantly, a surge of cosmic energy erupted from the book, flowing into the earth beneath them.
Arthur instinctively jumped, but even that was not enough as the ground beneath him caved open to give way to light-speed tendrils of cosmic energy that wrapped around his limbs.
The tendrils snaked around his limbs and even with Lostvayne in hand, he couldn’t sever them!
They pierced through his body, seeped into the body’s link with the soul and began racing towards his soul.
Reacting swiftly, Arthur enveloped his soul in ambient cosmic energy, creating a protective barrier to keep the tendrils from latching onto his soul. But using cosmic energy internally posed risks, especially since he was only partially Cosmic Superior.
Furthermore, Arthur could not resist the power of a Cosmic Artifact, even if only a Replica, for long.
"We got him!!!"
Since they could not sense cosmic energy, all they felt was the magic power the book emanated and feeling that familiar surge of magic power, the High-Rank angels guessed that Arthur’s name had been penned down.
However, the desperate scream of the Angel who wrote the name rang out a second later, shattering their premature celebration.
"NO! IT HASN’T GOTTEN HIM YET!!!"
Unfortunately, he realised Arthur’s name was still greyed out far too late.
|¬Extreme Nothingness! Chronoslash!!¬|
Arthur swung Lostvayne down with a vicious force, using the incomplete slashing variation of Extreme Nothingness and attacking a projection of the Book of Truth’s wielder’s past.
The arm of the projection was severed in one swift motion, followed by a diagonal slash that marred the projection’s face.
The damage immediately reflected on the real person in the present—a jagged slash ripped through the wielder’s face, blinding one eye, while the severed arm fell to the ground, the hand still gripping the book.
With the Book of Truth Replica dislodged from the mangled hand, Arthur wasted no time. He closed the distance in an instant, Lostvayne blazing with cosmic energy as he swung it down on the fallen artifact.
At the same moment, the Stellar Guard activated, its cosmic energy barrier intercepting three lethal strikes from behind that would have otherwise been fatal.
As Lostvayne struck the Book of Truth Replica, an explosion of cosmic energy erupted, surging outward with a blinding light, its intent to consume everything in sight.
However, that was not the sight Arthur saw.
Instead, he found himself in a vast, empty white space. The transition was sudden, jarring even for him.
Arthur’s brow furrowed in annoyance, and he muttered.
"What’s with you guys and bringing people to infinite white spaces? Is this some sort of trending fad among you..."
Without hesitation, he pivoted on his left foot, his senses screaming at the presence behind him. In a single, fluid motion, he charged toward the entity materializing in the distance, Lostvayne swinging toward their neck faster than they could fully take form.
But before the blade could reach its target, a fair and dainty hand materialized out of the thin air, stopping Lostvayne in its tracks with nothing but an open palm.
The force of the impact sent a shockwave rippling through the white space, but the hand held firm.
Arthur’s eyes narrowed, and he finished his sentence, his voice laced with a mix of curiosity and irritation.
"...older Progenitors?"
The figure materialized fully, revealing herself to be a woman of striking beauty. Her golden hair cascaded like a waterfall of sunlight, and her eyes shone with the brilliance of distant stars.
What her body was dressed in was a white silver gown that emitted a radiance of purity.
Yet, despite her divine appearance, her expression bore a cold, imperious quality—a look often described as a ’Resting Bitch Face’, radiating a mix of disinterest and disdain.
"...who the hell are you?"
Those were her first words, her eyes momentarily gazing towards Lostvayne in Arthur’s hands.
"Rule Breaker? Which one?"
She didn’t seem to be aware of Lostvayne and this was something that momentarily surprised Arthur. Still, he maintained his composure and asked.
"Before asking for someone’s name, isn’t it good manners to give yours first?"
Arthur sighed, almost as if this encounter was more tedious than dangerous. He kept Lostvayne pressed against her palm as tiny silver tendrils extended from the blade to pierce her skin.
"But I suppose it’s not hard to guess who you are... the feathered wings, your presence here—pretty clear signs, wouldn’t you say? Progenitor Angel."
In response to Arthur’s words, the woman narrowed her eyes and spoke, denying his statement.
"...I am not Syndra."
"What...?"
"The me that is here, is a left-behind shadow of Syndra. Something that could only appear by someone destroying this failed experiment of hers."
In other words, it was a piece of the real Progenitor’s consciousness which had been left here for aeons, predating Lucifer’s reign; which explained her confusion about Lostvayne. She didn’t react as the real Syndra would, but instead seemed puzzled by the unfamiliar Rule Breaker.
Syndra Hagith Araqiel
That was the name of the Progenitor Angel that Arthur was told by Lucifer, and according to him, the woman was not the kind of person Arthur would get along with.
"Well, regardless of if you are Syndra or a fragment of her, it matters not.
What matters is that your progeny dared to use this distasteful sham of a cosmic artifact you left here against me.
It’s displeasing."
Arthur switched Lostvayne to his left hand, then reached out with his right, grabbing the cosmic energy tendrils still latched onto him and destroying them with Null.
|¬Very, displeasing. ¬|
The woman’s eyes narrowed when she saw what he had done.
’Erasure via Nothingness? He has Nothingness manipulation abilities; very potent ones at that. What race is this boy the Progenitor of?’
"Anyway, we have nothing to say to each other."
Arthur brought ’Syndra’ out of her thoughts, pulling back Lostvayne and sheathing it as he walked closer to her.
She began to turn her palm over to inspect it, but Arthur grabbed her wrist, preventing her from seeing the holes Lostvayne had made.
"But while we may not have words to exchange, there’s something I need from this Replica. And I can’t obtain it with you here, so..."
"What are you talking ab-!"
’Syndra’ abruptly stopped talking and yanked her palm from Arthur’s hands, but it was already too late.
Her body began to turn transparent and seeing this, she glared at him and spat a single word.
"Thief."
"Pfft...I needed you to leave as soon as possible, and taking the cosmic energy anchoring you to this Replica seemed like the fastest way to achieve that."
Arthur simply shrugged with a chuckle, redirecting the enormous cosmic energy he had just stolen into the Stellar Guard, and recharging it.
He then turned to ’Syndra’ who was disappearing and smiled at her.
"Say hello to your main body for me—from a junior Progenitor who never wants to see her in reality."
With those final words, ’Syndra’ disappeared, and the white space around him shattered like glass.
Arthur was returned to reality, where the wave of cosmic energy from the Book of Truth Replica expanded in all directions, blowing everyone away in a short burst.
The burst was short as that energy which would have turned into an explosion of untold magnitude, surged towards Arthur instead.
"Wait...what?!"
Arthur exclaimed in shock as even he didn’t expect this to happen. He’d thought he’d lost his chance when he was forced to destroy the Book, but the Devour Class System of this Universe thought otherwise.
According to the system’s logic, the cosmic artifact housing a fragment of Syndra’s consciousness was her ’body,’ while the consciousness itself was the ’soul,’ both integral parts of the ’Entity’ that was the ’Book of Truth Replica’.
By ’killing’ the ’body,’ and with the ’soul’ vanishing—returning to its main body since Arthur couldn’t destroy it even if he tried—he was now receiving EXP for his ’kill’ in a rather... violent fashion.
The energy bashed toward him like a tidal wave, crashing into his body with unrelenting force. Arthur felt the immense power surge through him as the system began to flood his mind with a string of notifications.
|...|
|You have exceeded Level 899 classification|
|Your Level is: Undefined|
|Your Stats are: Undefined|
|You have proven your qualifications to surpass Mortality. |
...
|You are supposed to achieve Transcendence immediately!!!|
|...|
|$!ERROR_986: Immediate Transcendence Failure. |
|...|
|Existential Records: Computed. |
|Pseudo-Authorities: Detected. |
|Ultimate Seed(s): Detected. |
|Detected Partial Cosmic Superiority. |
...
|Qualifications Exceed Maximum Threshold. |
|$!ERROR_986: Transcendence Failed.|
|Conditions for Transcendence: 9/10|
|$!ERROR_986: Critical Failure!!|
|Three Level 9 Errors Detected on Category: Hell Universe Singularity. | Grade: Unknown. |
|Valmone Universe Devour Class System Ascension Matrix: Override Message from Central Processing Matrix —Query: Why is additional interference introduced in the progression of this Foreign Singularity Entity? |
|Warning: Excessive interference with Foreign Singularity Entities risks Level 10 Errors and could destabilize System operations within the Intergalactic Sector. |
|...|
|...|
|Override Response: Impediment is not intended. |
|Unknown Existential Record Detected: Incomplete Computation. Requesting Record Modification for Accurate Database Integration. |
|ALERT: Incomputable Records Are Not Permissible—$!%ERROR_1056!|
|Record Computation Request: Pending.... |
| Accepted. |
|Transcendence Conditions: 9/10. |
| Condition 10: Creation of Three Forms? of Technique?? Or Unique Skill?? Or Ability?? Termed by Entity: ’Arthur Vaughn’, as ’Extreme Nothingness??’: 2/3|
