Chapter 824: Desperate Reach [Monthly Bonus 1]
Arthur wasn’t joking when he said he was going to sleep.
He truly went to sleep for about ten hours straight.
But during his sleep, strange events unfolded elsewhere in the Cosmos.
◇ ◇ ◇
First off, in a part of the Cosmos that fewer than 10 of its inhabitants could even conceive of, was a universe brimming with hundreds of trillions of galaxies and even more stars and planets, each teeming with flora and fauna, their conditions perfect for sustaining life in almost every form.
Yet, not a trace of sentient life could be found within this universe.
Even the planets in this universe lacked wills or consciousnesses.
The only ’sentient’ in it was a woman seated in the centre of a vast garden, leisurely sipping her afternoon tea.
She had tanned brown skin, with white irises set against black sclera, glowing lightly and leaving faint trails of light with every movement. Her long hair, darker than midnight, flowed straight down her back, adorned with a pale white ever-changing floral pin that contrasted against it.
Though her beauty was undeniable, it carried with it an unsettling chill, as if her presence pressed heavily against the soul.
Clad in flowing garments of pale shades that accentuated the dark tone of her skin, only her head, neck, and hands were visible, their elegance made more striking by the white clothes that concealed the rest of her body.
Suddenly, she flinched, her hand trembling and causing a little of her tea to spill onto the saucer beneath the cup.
"...what?"
Her eyebrows lifted, her eyes glowing brighter as she remained silent for a moment.
"Oh...Lady Celestia has properly woken up..."
As soon as she spoke those words, her expression darkened, and upon sensing another presence in the same direction as the one that startled her, she frowned deeply.
"Lostvayne’s in the same area? This interference... was Lostvayne trying to hide it?"
With an exasperated sigh, she shook her head.
"If you wanted to hide it, perhaps don’t linger in the same area?!"
Setting her tea aside, she pressed her fingers against her temple and clicked her tongue.
"First it was that incident with Lostvayne, Lady Celestia, and Galaxy gathered in one place. Astravalor wasn’t far either, and for some reason, Starbreaker showed up there after they had gone.
Just what exactly happened during that time?"
’Galaxy’ naturally referred to Rule Breaker No. 4, the Galaxy Sword, and the incident where the Galaxy Sword had been in the same place as Lostvayne and Celestia was the battle against Bewússtsein, the incarnated consciousness of Cruotis Prime.
Somehow, this woman, who wasn’t even within the same multiverse, had sensed not only that, but also that Rule Breaker No. 6, Astravalor, had been present in the area, and that No. 5, Starbreaker, had gone there after they had departed.
"Now, Lady Celestia has properly awakened, and Lostvayne is trying to conceal it..."
From her expression, it was evident that this wasn’t an event she welcomed.
"Lostvayne knows where I am, so I need to hide. Who knows if he would suddenly decide to bring Lady Celestia here?"
With that thought, she waved her hand, summoning a dozen additional concealment, perception-blocking, and dimensional inhibition barriers, further cloaking this universe from the perception of even higher-dimensional beings capable of seeing beyond three dimensions of space.
"Hmm... Lostvayne might not see through this, but Galaxy might."
The Cosmic Blade of ’Dimensional Severance’ needed to be able to ’see’ what it was actually ’severing,’ after all.
They kept frowning as they thought about this, clicking their tongue in frustration since no method came to mind that could prevent the Galaxy Sword from seeing through their concealment.
Even though this universe lacked sentient life, it still possessed dimensions of space and time, and because of that, the Galaxy Sword could notice it if it happened to be in the area.
"I just want some peace and quiet. I tried so hard in Harmonia, but in the end, nothing even mattered."
Clenching her fist, she muttered, her eyes glowing with an obsessive light.
"I won’t let anyone disturb my peace and quiet, not even you, Lady Celestia."
As she spoke, she added several dozen more layers of dimensional concealment to further obscure the universe.
"It’s best if I stay dormant for a while too..."
With that thought, she snapped her fingers, turning the table and chair set into a bed with pillows, her clothes into a nightgown, and the star in the sky into a moon.
Pulling a quilt over herself, she gradually shut down all her functions except her consciousness, which she placed into sleep mode.
And in this way, Lostvayne’s ’direct opposite’ entered into deep slumber.
◇ ◇ ◇
The Cosmos.
All of Existence—reality, the multiverses, the constituent universes and dimensions.
The Void.
All of Non-existence—the nothingness that is the absence of everything that is.
The two were not as separate as most would like to believe.
In truth, they were far closer than one might imagine.
The Void, the absence of time, space, matter, energy, and concepts, was the blank state upon which the Cosmos, the presence of everything, was layered.
Nothingness was the canvas, and the Cosmos was the painting stretched across it.
The Cosmos and the Void existed as parallel layers, simultaneously bound in existence and non-existence, inseparable from one another.
Within that nothingness lay a pocket of ’existence’ distinct from the Cosmos, a point where the Cosmic Force of Chaos’ unmaking influence and the Cosmic Force of Order’s absolute stillness perfectly cancelled one another, forming a bubble where the laws of the Cosmos held, sealed away from the rest of the canvas.
It was a place without time and without change, a solitary island of "is-ness" adrift in a vast sea of "is-not-ness."
It was the ultimate sanctuary, cut off from reality, perfectly shielded and perfectly confined.
In the current Cosmos, there were four known survivors of the previous iteration of all existence.
The First was aware of the Second, but knew nothing of the Third and Fourth.
The Second knew of the First and the Third, but was uncertain about the Fourth.
The Third knew of both the First and Second, and was the cause of the Fourth’s awakening.
The Fourth had once been unaware of their identity as a survivor, let alone the existence of the other three, but now they understood.
Each had awakened at different times, for different reasons, and pursued different goals.
Yet none of them knew of her.
None knew of the ’Fifth,’ who lay dormant within the pocket of ’existence’ in the void, suspended in a bubble beyond time and change.
Inside was a capsule, the kind meant to preserve one in cold or cryogenic sleep, cylindrical in shape, silver in colour, about six feet in length and two feet in width.
It had a transparent cover, allowing a clear view of the figure resting on the white cushion within.
Inside lay a beautiful, fair-skinned young woman of slender build, her long, untamed black hair cascading down to her waist. Though her frame was delicate, her figure was well-defined, her curves undeniable, and she wore a black one-piece sundress that carried a strange blend of childish innocence and quiet maturity.
Covering her hands were black fingerless gloves, adorned with tiny diamonds that shimmered faintly in the dim light.
For the first time in the trillions of years since the new iteration of the Cosmos began, her eyes slowly fluttered open, all traces of slumber completely gone.
"..."
Her mind was blank.
She did not know who she was.
She did not know what she was.
She did not know why she was.
She did not know where she was.
But piece by piece, her memories began to return.
The failed attempt to halt the apocalypse of Harmonia.
The endless deaths and destruction.
And above all... the reason she had not been among the countless heaps of bloody corpses that fell on that day.
The one who had cast her into this void, even at the risk to themselves.
"....!!"
Her mind shook, emotions erupting all at once.
Her soul trembled as she felt the faint ’link’ to that existence, the reason she had awakened.
It was fragile, barely there...but it was real.
They had become aware of her.
They still existed, and they remembered her.
She wasn’t going to wait for them to come to her.
She would go to them.
Without hesitation, she seized that link.
An immense amount of Cosmic energy erupted from her body, shattering the capsule around her, her eyes faintly glowing as deep darkness poured from her shadow, consuming everything nearby.
The conceptual power she wielded was enough to make the current Eternals and Aggressors recoil in shock, fear stirring even though they knew that they Governors of Concepts could only fall to one another.
This girl didn’t resemble a Governor of a concept, she seemed more like the Concept itself in humanoid form.
She stretched out her hands, clawing at the pocket of reality and tearing into the void, then from within the void, clawing at the fabric of the Cosmos itself.
She ripped through the layers of space, time, and dimensions woven over the nothingness as she tried to force her existence out of the void and into reality.
However—
*CHINK!
—she was destined to fail.
Transparent chains of neutral cosmic energy burst out from the nothingness and coiled tightly around her arms, legs, and waist, dragging her back into the pocket of reality she had just broken through.
"no...nooOOO!!!"
She thrashed against the bindings, straining with all her might, but even with the vastness of her cosmic power, the chains refused to yield.
"LET...ME...GOOOO!!|
In her fury, she unleashed all her strength into one final strike, tearing open a breach into the Cosmos and reaching outward.
But just as her finger crossed the threshold, the chains snapped her back, and the tear in existence began to mend.
"...!!"
With her Authority, she tore her soul from her body, rushing toward the fracture in reality.
She didn’t care if it was only her soul. It was enough even if her body stayed behind.
However, the chains coiled around her spiritual body, dragging it back toward her flesh, while the tear she had forced into the Cosmos slowly sealed shut.
|NOOO! LET ME GO!!! WHY ARE YOU STOPPING ME!? WHAT EVEN ARE YOU—?!|
She screamed, thrashing as she clung to the rift in the Cosmos, refusing to release her grip.
And then, a voice echoed in answer.
—Child.—
—It. Is. Not. Yet. Time.—
At that moment, the chains’ pull grew exponentially stronger, wrenching her soul back into her material body.
But just before she was pulled away, the crack she clung to sealed shut, slicing off a fragment of her spiritual body, leaving behind a tiny pinkie finger that fell through to the other side.
She was immediately dragged back into her body, the pocket of ’existence’ closing around her once again as she glared at it with tear-filled eyes, cursing in fury.
—Your. Actions. Would. Only. Bring. Harm. To. The. One. You. Hold. Dear.—
"...!"
—When. The. Time. Is. Right. You. Shall. Be. Reunited.—
With those words, the chains pulled her into her reconstructed capsule, sealing her inside and cutting her consciousness off.
—. . . —
And as the Forgotten Fifth drifted into unconsciousness, Balance once more sank into THEIR slumber.
