Chapter 731: Cosmic Conundrums
|The name’s Ranus.
Nice to meet you, Progenitor godslayer.|
When Ranus revealed his identity as the Eternal of Space and Reality, Arthur simply stared at him in silence before saying.
"Oh, then I suppose this is about Bewússtsein, isn’t it? I see, makes perfect sense."
His reaction was calm. Too calm.
So calm that Ranus just blinked at him, momentarily dumbfounded. Then, with a snap of his fingers, reality froze—everything and everyone around them coming to an abrupt halt.
[You’re reacting a lot less intensely than I expected,] Ranus remarked, eyeing him curiously.
Arthur tilted his head, blinking in apparent confusion as he asked. "Ah, did you perhaps expect me to—"
Then, all at once, his expression changed. His eyes widened in sheer disbelief, lips parting in a sharp gasp. One hand flew to his mouth as he exclaimed, voice trembling with exaggerated awe.
"Oh my goodness! It’s the Eternal of Space and Reality!"
And just as suddenly as the act appeared, it vanished. His face returned to its usual composed state as he finished his question, "—React like that?"
[...]
Ranus gave Arthur a long, strange look, before finally finding his words.
[No, thank you. I wouldn’t like that reaction either.]
Arthur just shrugged, not particularly bothered by his response.
"Well, I wasn’t going to react the way you expected, either.
Based on what you just told me, and Jamie’s reaction earlier today, I can safely assume you were watching our battle against Bewússtsein.
This means you should already know from my reaction afterwards—I don’t really like you guys.
So you shouldn’t expect me to be shocked or happy to see you."
’Just annoyed...’
Arthur kept that last thought to himself, though he doubted it would make a difference. After a moment of silence, he continued speaking.
"Besides, I was kind of expecting something like this to happen anyway."
This statement made Ranus raise an eyebrow in question.
[You were?]
Arthur gave a silent nod and Ranus let out a sigh, shaking his head.
[Really, kid?]
Knowing exactly what it was that made Ranus sigh, Arthur shrugged again and repeated.
"It’s the truth. The reality of things, if you will. I don’t like you guys. Especially that colleague of yours who governs Wisdom and Knowledge."
Naturally, Arthur was referring to Akasha. And he had deliberately avoided mentioning his name, a little something that Ranus immediately picked up on.
[What do you mean you don’t like him? You haven’t even met him before.]
To Ranus’ question, Arthur scoffed.
"Yeah, I haven’t. But I’ve heard enough to hate the guy for three and a quarter lifetimes. And I’m saying that as a Progenitor with a virtually infinite lifespan."
Once again, Ranus raised an eyebrow in question, his confusion evident as he asked.
[Rather than your perspective as a Progenitor, I’m more concerned about why it’s ’three and a quarter.’ Why exactly a quarter? Why not just round it up or estimate it or... whatever math thing applies here?]
"Because it’s exactly three and a quarter," Arthur replied calmly, offering no further explanation to the still-obviously-confused Ranus.
An odd silence stretched between them for nearly ten seconds, broken only when Arthur casually waved his hand and spoke.
"Anyway, leaving that psycho-control freak out of this—"
[Pfft—BAHAHAHA!!!!]
Ranus burst into laughter, leaning back in his seat as he barely contained his amusement.
Arthur’s audacity to call one of the strongest beings in the Cosmos a psycho-control freak right to the face of that being’s colleague was honestly hilarious to him.
Though Arthur knew Ranus found his words and actions entertaining, he didn’t care and went on with his question.
"So, you’re the Eternal of Space and Reality. That means you can pretty much control all of reality, right?"
Hearing Arthur’s question and his emphasis on the word ’Reality,’ Ranus toned down his laughter. A second later, he leaned forward with a mischievous smile, like a kid about to pull off a prank, and responded cryptically.
[Most of it, yes.]
Snapping his fingers, he unfroze the reality around them. People resumed their movements, sounds returned to normal, and the casino came back to life as if nothing had happened.
Ignoring that display of power, Arthur’s eyes widened, and for the first time since arriving here, they betrayed genuine shock.
Ranus’ grin grew wider, and he was just about to speak when Arthur suddenly slammed his right fist into his left palm.
"Oh...! Now it makes sense! Oh my goodness!" The boy smacked his forehead and facepalmed. "Of course! It was so fucking obvious!"
Literal question marks formed above Ranus’ head, sparing him the effort of voicing his confusion—but he did so anyway.
[Mind explaining what exactly was so obvious?]
Deciding to put his little prank on hold, he leaned in, curious to hear whatever thoughts Arthur was cooking.
But the moment Arthur started talking, Ranus found himself wishing he’d just gone through with the prank instead.
"Your Authority over the Concepts of Space and Reality only extends to the Numbered Multiverses."
[...say what?]
Ranus blinked in shock, but Arthur, deep in his thoughts, didn’t notice.
"Wait a sec..."
[No, YOU wait a sec!]
"...you guys created the Numbered Multiverses, so there’s no way you originate from them. That means the Eternals must come from either the Origin Multiverse or the Dark Multiverse."
Arthur placed a hand on his chin, mulling it over for a moment before concluding.
"I’m gonna go with Origin. I doubt an existence from the Dark Multiverse would ever become an Eternal since that place is under the Aggressors’ control.
Besides, the Progenitors—who basically own the Origin Multiverse for reasons I don’t understand—have way too much say in the Candidate Selection.
So I’m assuming that’s where you’re from. Either that, or your Authorities as Eternals only govern the ’Existence’ of the Origin Multiverse and, by extension, the Numbered Multiverses you created.
Which is why, when I asked if you controlled all of Reality, you responded with ’Most of it.’"
[...kid, that answer was supposed to be a joke...]
"Jokes don’t just pop out of thin air, do they? There’s always some bit of truth behind them."
Arthur shrugged, then fell silent for a moment, his expression thoughtful before he continued.
"Now that I think about it, the answer has been staring me in the face this whole time.
The Aspects of the Concepts I currently possess are undeniably Chaotic in nature, and they originated from an Eternal.
If ’Chaos’ exists, then logically, there must be an ’Order’ to counteract it.
If there are Chaotic Concepts, then Ordered Concepts must exist as well. And if the Eternals hold the Chaotic ones, then it makes perfect sense that the Ordered Concepts would belong to the only other Major Cosmic Power that not only rivals the Eternals but also matches them in numbers, with members bearing similar titles—the Aggressors.
So the Aggressors must wield the Ordered Concepts.
Using your opposite as an example; The Aggressor of Space and Reality likely governs, maintains, and influences the Space and Reality of the Dark Multiverse under their rule.
Because if the Chaotic Concepts could affect the Dark Multiverse, or the Ordered Concepts could influence the Numbered Multiverses, this war between you two would have ended billions of years ago.
The fact that it hasn’t... means they can’t."
Arthur paused for a moment, the gears in his head turning before he corrected himself.
"No... it’s not that they can’t—it’s that they’re being stopped."
Arthur’s eyes gleamed.
"I guess it’s more of an influence thing. The Chaotic Concepts’ influence can extend across the entire Cosmos, but it gets stopped at the boundary where the influence of the Ordered Concepts begins. And vice versa.
Both Concepts could theoretically extend across all existence, but they don’t, because they’re locked in a cosmic stalemate, counteracting each other and keeping a fragile B—"
|Stop right there, kid.|
"?!"
A chill ran down Arthur’s spine as Ranus’ tone darkened without warning. The sudden shift yanked him out of his thoughts, and when he turned, he found the Eternal watching him with narrowed eyes.
A moment later, Ranus sighed and ran a hand down his face.
[Did Lucifer tell you all this?]
"...he knows this? Well, it makes sense he does..."
Arthur’s eyes widened as he shot the question back, and from that reaction, Ranus could already tell that Lucifer hadn’t told him a damn thing.
Exhaling another sigh, Ranus spoke in the tired tone of an adult lecturing a child.
[Kid... do yourself a favour. Keep most of your thoughts to yourself.]
Arthur raised his hands in surrender.
"Noted. Absolutely noted. I will take that advice. Thank you very much."
The boy knew he’d said too much. But then again, could anyone really blame him?
He had just gotten clues to the mysteries that had plagued him for years. Ever since those strange dreams he had after his near-death experience during the Nemo Galaxy incident.
As he pieced them together, they started forming the answers he had been searching for.
In his excitement, he got carried away and momentarily forgot where he was.
’Come to think of this, where is this place?’
While Arthur was questioning his surroundings, Ranus was still dumbfounded.
For someone who had witnessed and done all manner of crazy things over billions of years, the fact that Arthur had genuinely baffled him—without him faking it—was an achievement worthy of the Cosmic Hall of Fame.
’All I did was throw out a cryptic answer to mess with him. Somehow, he ran with it and figured out far more than the half-truths I was going to feed him just to mess with him even more.’
Ranus knew Arthur would figure some things out—truths he had a right to know as an Eternal Candidate.
But Arthur had gone above and beyond, nearly wandering into dangerous territory without even realizing it.
’I expected him to reach the obvious conclusion that Ordered Concepts existed. But he somehow linked it to the range of influence Concepts have on the Cosmic scale, unintentionally deducing the existence of the ’Cosmic Forces,’ and nearly stumbling upon the ’Theoretical Third Force’ without even realizing it.
What in Lucifer’s genes resulted in this kid?’
As that thought crossed his mind, Ranus blinked, recalling something.
’Oh, right. His dad is Kronos’ son, isn’t he? Well... that makes two of them.’
"...Um..."
Hearing Arthur’s voice, Ranus looked up, half-lidded eyes meeting the boy’s inquisitive gaze as he asked.
"So... judging by your reaction, I’m gonna assume most of what I just said is true?"
[...are you seriously asking me that?]
"Just wanted to be sure. I’ve got plenty more questions, but I’ll try not to ask anything I shouldn’t know."
[You say that after going on a three-minute deduction spree about things you DEFINITELY shouldn’t know?!]
Ranus groaned, rubbing his temples.
[I swear, I’d love to take a peek inside that head of yours—but I’ll restrain myself. I stopped doing that anyway... made things too boring.]
