Chapter 832: A Secret Reunion
Celestia blinked, her eyes taking a moment to adjust to the dimmer lighting of the place she suddenly found herself in.
She turned around and caught sight of a dormant grey orb, quietly walking over to it and running her palm across its surface.
The Ego Weapon sighed softly as she sensed the emptiness of what was once the core of the Harmonia Era’s Planet at the End of Existence, before turning around and moving past the faintly glowing, vacant throne.
Celestia continued for more than a hundred metres until she reached a cliff that overlooked a field of green, and with a light hop, she dropped down, landing on the grass and walking across it with her bare feet.
She was still dressed exactly as she had been only moments ago on the beach in Chazat, in a string bikini with a large bow in front, a swim skirt with ruffled layers beneath, and a grey, long-sleeved cover-up over it.
Her eyes lifted toward the other enormous grey orb suspended in the sky, floating in silence, unmoving, and unresponsive even to the mysterious winds drifting across the field.
She walked until she reached the edge of the green field, gazing out over another cliff that dropped into darkness.
This time, she didn’t jump down, as she instinctively understood that even if she did, she’d only be met with endless darkness, unable to find anything within.
After all, she wasn’t ’permitted’ to enter that darkness.
At that moment, there was a distortion in the space behind her, and Celestia calmly turned her gaze, silver eyes meeting the iridescent orbs of the one who had brought her into this place.
While Arthur and the Levites were distracted by Aleksas, Celestia had quietly disappeared. Arthur hadn’t given it much thought, since he could still sense her presence, and the Levites were far more concerned with Aleksas’ long-expected appearance.
What Arthur didn’t know was that the location he could sense wasn’t where she truly was, but the result of her manipulating their connection so he believed she was in that direction.
The reality was that Celestia wasn’t in the place Arthur thought she was.
After all, Celestia wasn’t in the Cosmos.
She was inside the pocket of existence within the void where ’Death’ slumbered.
The one who had brought her here stood before her, a humanoid figure wrapped in a long, black, hooded robe. There was no visible face, only a dark void where one should have been, with two glowing, iridescent lights where eyes ought to be.
Celestia was silent for a moment before muttering.
[...Elle...]
"!"
The First Progenitor froze, then lowered their head and spoke quietly.
"I...can’t remember."
[Remember what?] Celestia asked.
"The last time someone called me by name...even if it was only a piece of it."
After making that emotionally heavy admission, the First Progenitor—’Elle’—raised their head to meet Celestia’s eyes and spoke.
"It’s good to see you again, Celestial Darkness."
[Just call me ’Cel’, like you used to.]
Elle silently nodded, and at that, Celestia spread her arms wide without a word.
For a moment, silence reigned, and by the next, Elle was flying into Celestia’s arms, embracing her so tightly it seemed as though they meant to squish her.
Their hood slipped from their head, revealing their face, though they paid no attention to it. Celestia already knew what they looked like anyway.
Right now, they were overcome with more emotion than they had felt in the past trillion years.
There were no words that could explain it.
The feeling of meeting again a friend they had once thought lost forever.
The feeling of reuniting more with someone who shared the same burden of knowledge, even if only in part.
The feeling of dearly holding someone they had endured so much with.
[What took you so long? I expected you to show up not long after you forced that SOS into Master’s mind.]
At Celestia’s words, Elle, still holding her tightly, shook their head and replied.
"If I had, the Levites would have sensed me. They keep a closer watch over ’Last’ than I ever expected."
[!]
Celestia’s eyes widened, and she pushed Elle back, her expression darkening as she asked.
[Master...is the Last? Again?]
"...yes," Elle answered. "After your Master, no new Progenitors will be born."
At those words, Celestia’s body trembled, and she bit her lips in silence.
[That means—]
"Balance’s Plan has already begun."
[...]
Celestia remained quiet, and at that, Elle smiled faintly, drawing in a deep breath before speaking.
"The relief of being able to speak freely without fear of discovery is something words can’t truly capture."
As Celestia stayed silent, Elle slowly clenched their fist, their smile turning sorrowful.
"It’s unfortunate that you won’t remember what happens here once you leave."
[I thought as much,] Celestia finally muttered.
Just as Elle had said, Celestia was bound to lose every memory of this meeting, and she had already suspected something like that would happen.
"If it were within my power, I’d let you keep your memories, but—"
[Don’t.]
Celestia cut them off, and as Elle turned to her with surprised eyes, she continued.
[Right now, Master has a direct connection to Chaos through those Aspects he holds. He channels that power through me in combat.
We... I can’t risk it.]
Elle nodded in agreement, unclenching their fist as they replied.
"It’s because of that I haven’t appeared before Last. The moment I do, THEY would notice his existence, and if that happens, even the Primary Spell would be meaningless."
[Primary Spell?]
When Celestia echoed the words, Elle gestured toward the nearby cliff and spoke.
"Let’s sit. This...is going to take a while."
The two sat at the cliff’s edge, and as the breeze moved through their hair, Elle continued.
"You know about the SOS I redirected to Last, right?
I did that because Last caused the Secondary Spell to weaken far sooner than expected. While it was made primarily to conceal the existence of the Primary Spell, with most of its strength focused on that purpose, and its ability to make people ’forget’ was designed to erode gradually over time, Last’s actions are accelerating that decline."
Elle’s words revealed that memory manipulation wasn’t the main role of Balance’s Secondary Spell. Its true function was to conceal the existence of the Primary Spell, whose purpose still remained unknown.
"As he’s still the perfect vessel for Cosmic Conceptual Powers that he’s always been, it’s only natural that the Chaotic Aspects were drawn to him.
But the answers he seeks and the realisations he reaches are causing the Secondary Spell to weaken, and the effect is even greater now that he wields Chaotic Conceptual Power."
[Elle, you can’t expect Master to NOT want answers.]
"But he can’t pursue those answers, because doing so would bring about a repeat of Harmonia’s end. It’s no different from me appearing before him.
Even the Primary Spell would become useless!"
At the mention of the Primary Spell once more, Celestia turned to Elle with narrowed eyes and asked.
[What is the Primary Spell?]
"..."
Elle didn’t answer right away.
After a moment, they took a deep breath and spoke.
"Even with a direct link to THEM through those Aspects, THEY still don’t know Last exists.
Even though one lurks in every corner where disorder reigns, and the other dwells in every space where disorder doesn’t dare to tread."
Those statements, often used to describe the Cosmic Forces, were NOT figurative.
"THEY know about the Secondary Spell, and they know it makes Harmonia’s Survivors and the Rule Breakers ’forget’ Balance’s intentions for Harmonia before THEY ended it.
But that’s only what Balance wants THEM to believe, since it’s impossible for Balance to hide the existence of a Spell that affects all existence from THEM, so the Secondary Spell is nothing more than a decoy hiding the more important Primary Spell, which has been active since Harmonia."
At Elle’s explanation, Celestia narrowed her eyes slightly and asked.
[Then the reason for Harmonia’s end...?]
She didn’t finish her question, but Elle understood what she meant and nodded.
"Yes. That’s why Harmonia ended prematurely.
The Primary Spell’s function has only been slightly altered for this Era.
It’s also why, even though Last became a Cosmic Being ahead of schedule and shifted the time axis, pushing events forward, THEY still don’t realise it was him."
To Elle, the future was entirely unpredictable.
Even visions through Future Sight were only the most likely among an endless number of possibilities.
The powers of the Cosmic Forces constantly pressed against one another, their push and pull making the flow of events that formed the Future shift without end.
"But even those countless paths still move in a general direction, and that direction has recently changed."
Elle paused, a wry smile forming on their lips as they added, "Well, by your standards, it’s been nearly fifty years."
Celestia nodded silently before glancing at Elle and asking.
[The Secondary Spell’s weakening is why Lostvayne remembers that Failed Experiment, isn’t it?]
Elle sighed at the derogatory term Celestia used for ’Death’, shaking their head.
"Even though the Era has changed, you’re still the same."
[The Era doesn’t matter. A failed experiment today is still a failed experiment tomorrow.]
"You know Last doesn’t like it when you call her that."
Elle’s words finally elicited a frown from Celestia, but knowing Elle was right, she turned her gaze away and clicked her tongue.
Elle shook their head again before quickly returning to the main point.
"How much do you remember?"
[Enough to keep Master away from Cosmic Force trouble for a while,] Celestia answered evenly.
"And how much of Balance’s Plan do you remember?"
Celestia shook her head at the question.
[Only THEIR end goal.]
After answering, Celestia glanced around and added.
[I don’t sense Balance.]
"THEY’re still slumbering. It’s necessary for the plan, after all."
Elle’s response kept Celestia silent for a while, but before she could say anything, Elle pulled her into another embrace.
"I hope Las—no... your Master grows stronger as quickly as possible. I hope you can recover as many fragments of your existence as you can, as quickly as you can.
Enough to use your Weapon Authority, at least."
Celestia nodded silently, and Elle, biting their lip, added,
"We’re running out of time. Gaia and Hyperion have been stalling, using the Candidate Selection as their excuse, sabotaging it again and again for billions of years, but they can only buy so much time."
Elle’s words just casually revealed the true reason why the Candidate Selection to choose a new Eternal of Time and Destruction had remained unfinished all this time.
The Eternal and Aggressor of Creation had been sabotaging the process at the final stage, preventing anyone from being accepted by the Concepts of Time and Destruction, even if it meant the deaths of those who had been chosen.
Sixteen Candidate Selections had taken place, each lasting anywhere from hundreds of millions to billions of years, and sixteen times they had sabotaged it at the final stage.
Using that and many other reasons, Gaia and Hyperion had managed to delay the resurgence of a full-scale war between the Eternals and Aggressors.
But, as Elle had said, they could only hold it back for so long.
The conflict between the two factions would inevitably begin again.
No, it HAD to begin again.
And if the point came where Gaia and Hyperion were forced to restart it, then it might already be too late, leaving them with no choice but to start over in a new Era.
[I know, Elle.]
Celestia spoke as she pulled away from Elle’s arms and rose to her feet, her eyes narrowing as she added, [Tell Hyperion not to try anything foolish like coming after Master again. I’ll kill him if he makes that rigid bitch discover Master’s existence.]
At this, Elle smiled wryly and replied.
"He’s your Creator, you know?"
[30%]
"Hmm?"
[Hyperion is only responsible for 30% of my existence.]
With those words, Celestia began walking away from the cliff, and a portal appeared several metres ahead of her, widening gradually as she drew closer.
Elle rose to their feet as well, eyes lingering on Celestia’s back as they asked.
"And the remaining 70%?"
Hearing that, Celestia paused, turned with a raised brow, and responded.
[I wonder. The one responsible doesn’t seem to ’exist’ anymore.]
Elle smiled knowingly, a quiet chuckle slipping out, their first genuine laugh in an age. Meeting Celestia’s gaze, they nodded lightly.
"Indeed. They don’t ’exist’ anymore."
As long as the Primary Spell remained active, they truly didn’t ’exist’.
Celestia smiled at Elle before stepping back and into the portal, vanishing into the Cosmos, and left behind, Elle exhaled softly.
—Return.—
—They. Have. Noticed. You. Are. Missing.—
"!!"
Elle—no, the First Progenitor’s eyes widened, and then they took in a deep breath, every trace of emotion fading from their face as they pulled their hood back over their head and vanished from the space beyond time.
They reappeared in the Cosmos, at one end of the habitable expanse, casting a glance toward the Planet at the Beginning of Existence, hidden by the Eternals and sought after by the Aggressors.
In silence, their gaze shifted to the ever-expanding hyperverse, where the Origin and Dark Multiverses hovered above one another, and the Numbered Multiverses drifted slowly around the midpoint between them.
The glow in their eyes brightened, and a line etched itself across the lower half of their face as they spoke.
|For Balance.|
With those words, they turned away and vanished beyond a Cosmic Gate.
