Chapter 986: A Chessboard of a Cosmos
Residential Planetoid
Training Pocket Universe
Draco Sirus
9th of Fifth
9440th Draconic Year
When Arthur opened his eyes, his Temporal Authority informed him that a new day had passed on the outside.
Considering that time moved 3 times faster within this pocket universe, that meant he had been sleeping for 3 days or 75 hours.
After the events of the 8th, however, it was only natural that Arthur’s body and mind were exhausted and required that much rest.
Getting up from his bed, he used simple lifestyle magic to clean his body, and then headed down the hallway to the only other occupied room in this building.
Tucked into the sole bed within the room designed in a minimalistic manner was a completely still young woman, her eyes tightly shut. If it wasn’t for the slow rise and fall of her chest as she breathed, one wouldn’t know she was merely unconscious and hadn’t shuttled off the mortal coil.
Arthur took a seat beside the unconscious Elaine, reaching out to touch her head and sending a pulse of cosmic energy through her body, but he didn’t detect even the slightest anomaly in her body or soul.
If there was anything that was different, it was the fact that far more ambient cosmic energy gathered around her than usual.
"Celestia."
At his call, Celestia silently manifested in her humanoid form on the other side of the bed, her usual bright expression nowhere to be seen, and Arthur knew it wasn’t only because of Elaine’s presence.
Still, Elaine was his priority, so he set aside whatever misgivings Celestia had with him and asked, "You heard what Berlal described, right? Any ideas what’s wrong with her?"
Berlal had informed Arthur about what had happened to Elaine during his confrontation with Luka, and it was painfully obvious to all of them that what had happened to him had been the trigger.
The problem was that Elaine still hadn’t regained consciousness even after multiple days had passed, and not even Berlal could determine what was wrong with her.
"Celestia?"
Arthur called out again after seeing the Ego Weapon remain silent, and with a heavy sigh, Celestia finally spoke.
[It’s very likely she tried to summon the rest of her existence.]
"She can do that?" Arthur asked with a raised eyebrow.
[Clearly. I wasn’t aware since I don’t remember all her capabilities,] Celestia answered, her frown deepening as she noticed Arthur moving some of Elaine’s hair behind her ear.
Arthur noticed this change in her expression, and without taking his eyes off Elaine, he asked, "Do you think it’s unnatural?"
[...what?]
"The affection I have towards Elaine," Arthur clarified. "I certainly believe a great portion of it is unnatural."
His words caused Celestia to give him a strange look, but Arthur didn’t mind and continued speaking.
"She’s the only Ancient Breed godslayer I’ve discovered, and the only other existence I’ve met who also bleeds the same silver as me. Plus, it’s hard not to be fond of her when she’s so attached to me.
But besides all of that, I feel like there’s this extra layer of affection for her that doesn’t come from me, but from someone that used to be me."
[Master...!]
Celestia immediately sat up, but before she could say anything further, Arthur waved his hand dismissively.
"Don’t worry, I won’t say anything that will attract any attention."
He yawned lightly, looking out at the massive garden beyond the window, and then continued speaking, "It’s been a while since I’ve had proper sleep. Good thing Gervod’s domain is affected by his constitution."
His words reminded Celestia of the reason why they were currently in Gervod’s house and not Arthur’s on the Residential Planetoid that Wyndella and Barda created.
[...Inability to dream.]
Gervod Levite had, for some reason, given up his ability to "Dream," and was, as such, completely unaffected by the Concept of Dreams.
It was likely related to a Sub-Edict of his, as that effect of being unable to dream influenced the reality surrounding places that he spent extended periods of time in, and this house was one of them.
As such, it was impossible for one to dream while they were within this building, and Arthur had come here on purpose because he didn’t want to dream, or rather, experience any nightmares.
[Master, that god you spoke to...] Celestia suddenly said, bringing up one of the main reasons for her current unpleasant mood, and hearing this, Arthur couldn’t help but sigh.
"You’re still on this?"
Celestia had sensed traces of Alkosh’s presence from after the god King left, and she really wanted to know what Arthur and Alkosh had spoken about.
Arthur hadn’t even hinted at who he had spoken to, but the way Celestia acted, it was as if she already knew who it was.
’Did Lostvayne tell her something? Or did she remember me mentioning his name from that time on Girex?’
That thought crossed Arthur’s mind for a moment, but he didn’t dwell on it for long and instead spoke to Celestia.
"If you’re so curious about what we talked about, then how about you tell me since when you were capable of using your Authority?"
Celestia’s expression immediately became difficult at this question.
When Arthur had been pulled into the Conceptual Space with the Concept of Destruction during his confrontation with Luka, the Concept had tried to do something to him, which Celestia had ’DENIED’ with her Authority.
"Authority of Nihility, you called it? And here I was thinking three fragments weren’t enough for you to recover your Authority."
[I haven’t recovered it,] Celestia corrected. [I was only able to exert a portion of its power because of the special circumstances.]
"And what were those ’special circumstances’? Being faced with the Concept of Destruction itself?"
Celestia didn’t answer immediately, and Arthur continued speaking.
"That thing was sentient, wasn’t it? Last I checked, Concepts are abstractions and shouldn’t be sentient."
[You’re right. Concepts are abstractions and don’t have any level of sentience. What you saw was simply a manifestation of the abstraction in reality.]
At Celestia’s words, Arthur blinked, then his eyes widened as realisation dawned on him.
"First Concretization..."
The Concretizations were the stages of embodying and mastering Aspects, progressing along the endless journey toward Conceptuality, the root of all laws.
The first of these Concretizations was ’Aspect Manifestation’, manifesting the abstract Aspect into tangible reality, exactly what Celestia had just described.
"That was a Concept Manifestation?"
Celestia nodded once in response to that question, and at this, Arthur rubbed his chin in silence.
"It said some rather interesting things. That is, if those voices screaming in my head belonged to it. It said that it chose me for something. It said that ’THEY’ chose me and it tried to make me a ’PROXY’ for something, but you didn’t let it finish its words."
If Celestia’s expression wasn’t already dark, then each word Arthur spoke would have changed the look on her face in real time.
"When it said that ’IT’ chose me, you could have stopped it there, but you didn’t. When it said that ’THEY’ chose me, you could have stopped it there, but you didn’t. But when it then mentioned ’PROXY’, that’s what set you off."
Arthur leaned forward, resting his hands on his lap as he asked Celestia,
"What was it trying to make me a Proxy of?"
Celestia didn’t answer that question. It wasn’t that she couldn’t. She just didn’t want to.
Arthur, on the other hand, didn’t seem too bothered by her silence, as he had already expected this, and continued speaking.
"Luka also said some rather interesting things, too."
Holding up his fingers, he began listing the words that he had taken note of despite the chaos of the previous day.
"She mentioned a ’First Progenitor’, and that didn’t seem like she was talking about herself or Hyperion. But let’s leave that aside for now since that’s not my main focus.
My main focus is what Luka described this Cosmos as."
Arthur couldn’t forget Luka’s words even if he wanted to.
[This chessboard of a Cosmos.]
Celestia didn’t say a word even as Arthur used magic to replay Luka’s voice from his memory, and Arthur began counting down on his fingers as he spoke.
"The Concept of Destruction tried to make me a ’PROXY’ of something, even going as far as to fill my body with cosmic energy, forcefully imprint the entire High-Rank Law of Destruction into my soul, and would have gone further if you hadn’t intervened.
You also said something that caught my attention, Celestia. You told the Concept to keep its ’Proxy Wars’ to itself.
Luka called this Cosmos a ’Chessboard’, and last I checked, Chess is essentially a war game."
Arthur clasped his hands, tapping his fingertips against one another as he began to draw connections between these different statements from separate events.
"A cosmic war game involving Concepts. That sounds awfully familiar, doesn’t it?"
Celestia didn’t answer Arthur’s question, and Arthur, not really minding, continued.
"If you’re not going to answer that, then at least answer me this. How many of the Concepts governed by the Eternals are really ’Major Concepts’?"
The moment he asked that question, Lostvayne manifested in her human form, right in front of Arthur and spoke.
[That’s enough, Master.]
"You do realise that stopping me at this point only confirms that I’m on the right track, right?"
[Yes,] Lostvayne admitted without hesitation. [Which is exactly why I have to stop you there.
Did you forget what Nash said about the Concept of Knowledge being able to source information from the thoughts of the masses? What do you think the Cosmic Force that Concept originated from would be capable of?]
"..."
Lostvayne’s question made Arthur go silent, and after a moment of thought, he heaved a soft sigh and leaned back in his seat.
[You always say it yourself. You don’t like burdening yourself with knowledge of things you’re not going to need anytime soon.]
Seeing Lostvayne use his own words against him, Arthur couldn’t help but scoff.
"Well, would you look at that?"
He got up from his seat and headed toward the door, but right before he left, he turned to Celestia and spoke.
"As for what you wanted to know, well, that information would only be a burden to you now."
And with that, he closed the door behind him and headed out of the building, leaving the two Ego Weapons in the room.
