★210
HINATA'S POV
I was pulled again, abruptly, into a place I didn't recognise. The world shifted around me so suddenly that my stomach pitched, and when it settled, I found myself somewhere between nothing and everything.
From this vantage, I could see the battle raging, Quantum Quake against the countless versions of Asteri, but it was distant, removed, almost unreal. And yet, despite how close it seemed, I knew with certainty that they could not see me.
A voice spoke behind me, low and deliberate, and it confirmed my suspicion.
"No one can detect this place."
It was the same voice that had greeted us the moment we arrived, and my chest tightened at hearing it again. I wanted to turn and then I realised I had to. I had to see him.
Hinamatsuri moved before me, slowly, cautiously, and when she turned, my breath caught. In front of her stood the kid Asteri had once shown her.
He had grown only slightly taller, but every detail was unmistakable. The white of his robes, the soft sweep of his short white hair, the clarity of his voice, all unmistakably him. Antares, it was him.
"As..."
Hinamatsuri's hand trembled slightly as she shook her head, her long white hair drifting around her shoulders, a soft curtain of light in the dimness.
"Antares?"
"Hinata."
He stepped closer, and took her hands in his. She froze, caught between disbelief and awe, her eyes searching his as if to confirm that this was real, that he was real.
"I'm sorry for putting you through a lot.."
'And there's more to come.'
A voice whispered in his head, but he ignored it as usual.
"I..I.. "
Tears began sliding down her cheeks, unbidden and relentless, and for a moment she didn't even try to stop them.
"Come on, are you going to be the Goddess of Crying now?"
He teased, his tone light but filled with warmth.
She let out a soft giggle, wiping at her cheeks even as more tears fell, betraying her helplessness.
"I… I..."
He didn't let her finish. Instead, he pulled her gently into his arms. She buried her face against his shoulder, letting her sobs shake her frame while her voice broke into muffled complaints.
"Your energy… it's gone. I healed you, yet you didn't wake. I thought… I thought I lost you."
She admitted, trembling against him.
"I told you, didn't I? I am Immortal."
He replied, a small, reassuring smile tugging at his lips.
"I'll never lie low and leave you. I promise."
He whispered, clutching him tighter.
Her voice faltered again.
"Atlas… and Elaine… they never came back."
He held her closer, murmuring soft words that seemed to settle around her like a warm blanket. Slowly, her sobs softened, fading into quiet, uneven breaths, and he gently brushed the remaining tears from her cheeks.
"You're still beautiful when you cry."
He teased, his tone effortless, his focus only on her, ignoring the absence of the two lost Stars.
"W...where are they?"
"I can't say for certain. They should've sent another vessel. Don't worry about them."
Even though Atlas might've faced true end at the hands of Spectre, and Elaine still weakened against Sabaki's azure lighting, Antares couldn't care much.
'If they died, they should blame their carelessness.'
'You literally sent Atlas. That's your fault.'
Entares replied, accusing Antares. He knows Antares wouldn't let those two die, but now his feelings weight more than the lives of his friends.
"I..if you say so...I heard the Kingdom of Raja..and Towa was..."
She continued, sobbing between words.
"Don't worry about anything, Hinata."
He said, his voice steady, calm. His words carried a weight that made her pause, and though she could feel the worry still tucked in the corners of her chest, she obediently let herself follow his lead.
"I… I will always be worried. But I believe you."
She admitted, straightening slightly as she regained herself.
He opened his mouth to explain, but the space beyond them trembled, subtle at first and then more insistently, pulling their attention back to the battlefield.
His eyes narrowed.
"I'm surprised he's been holding his own without going all out. Things are about to get messy."
"Timeline Disruptor, the Quantum Quake… why has your clone gone so far as to massacre their own?"
"It's… strange."
He admitted, his voice steady despite the chaos unfolding. "But don't worry."
The 'don't worry' was too much. But it made one thing clear, Antares was behind it and has total control over it.
"But still."
She murmured, her eyes fixed on the battlefield.
"One against an entire timeline… I can't see him winning."
"How many timelines do you think exist?"
"Infinite? What do you think?"
She asked, though her voice carried more curiosity than certainty.
"Every decision point could branch a new timeline."
He began.
"I only created Asteri, the Misfit Scourge you know of. But even the smallest choice he made, as small as blinking, stepping left instead of right, created a divergence. I didn't expect my clone to be bound by the timeline."
He explained, his tone measured.
"Any quantum-level variation could spawn a new branch.
Combined with every decision by every being in the universe, the total branches explode beyond counting."
Unlike matter or energy, possibilities are combinatorial. Even if the universe itself is finite, the permutations of events could be infinite.
"So, practically speaking: timelines are uncountably infinite, far beyond human comprehension."
"H… w..."
She stammered, struggling to grasp the scale of what he was saying.
"The Code."
He added simply.
"Huh?"
"The Code."
He repeated, more deliberately this time.
"I embedded a code within Asteri. With it, and with my powers, he can influence the other timelines."
"So the Hero has it?"
She asked, piecing it together.
"No, he earned it.. Based on the timeline he occupies, he has attained Enlightenment, Godhood, in essence, and can modify the data. Three Asteris were responsible for giving him the Code."
"So that means the Quantum Quake is the last?"
"No. The final one isn't here. Not yet."
"H… how can that be?"
"Well, you'll find out."
He replied, a small, almost teasing edge in his voice.
Even outnumbered, Quantum Quake struck with precision. Each movement tore through his opponents effortlessly, obliterating them as though they were nothing more than shadows.
"Now that I think about it."
She murmured, eyes narrowing.
"The Quantum Quake isn't a mere title someone would choose lightly."
"What is it then?"
"You honestly think my clone would provoke a reaction from a Star like Sensei?"
He asked quietly, letting the weight of the words hang in the air.
She remained silent, recognising the unspoken truth: the Prodigy of the Pond was not easily stirred, and yet, here was the spark.
"During the O-Class, a being from a higher level of reality above ours invaded the Star Realm. It absorbed all the Stars present, systematically eliminating them. The battle was brutal, but through the alliance of Dark Stars and Stars, they eventually emerged victorious.
So you can imagine the weight of such a threat, and for this imposter to wield that name, a name that strikes terror into the hearts of Stars, it means this individual is not to be underestimated."
Hinata couldn't fully comprehend the power of the O-Class Stars, but she understood they were akin to gods, wielding control over the Star Realm itself. For a single being to challenge those gods, even after their union with the Dark Stars, its threat level was almost incomprehensible.
The Quantum Quake's cloak disintegrated as a Pulsar Ray washed over his frame, revealing his dark inner outfit. In his hands gleamed the infamous, aura-shaped sword.
"Immobilise, him!"
One of the Asteri shouted. The group unleashed a coordinated barrage of Arts, combining their skills to restrain his movements. Asteri leapt forward, Mystic Class in hand, aiming straight for his head.
(Cliche xd)
He growls, unleashing his aura, Destruction, and clearing the spaceless area.
"Why isn't he using his Dark Art? He's been relying solely on Destruction, and not a single bit of void is laced on those destructive attacks."
Antares noted.
"Heh? I thought void is.."
"No, Destruction is different from Dark Art. Both can trigger erasure, but Destruction can be countered, prevented, and reduced while void, on the other hand, can not.
The only situations where one can save themselves from a Dark Art are if the user has access to a higher void or the opposition's existence/skill can surpass that lesser void."
The Quantum Quake had begun to turn the tide, but still, there seemed to be no end to the timelines pressing against him. Blow after blow fell relentlessly, each strike more precise, more relentless than the last, and slowly, almost imperceptibly, he was being forced backward.
His breaths came in shallow, controlled bursts, not from exhaustion, but from frustration. He could end it all in an instant with a void, yet he held back, letting the struggle continue.
I felt the change before I saw it, the sudden tension, the way the air seemed to warp around him. His sword flickered and dissolved into fragments, and his body began to glitch unnaturally, emitting strange, discordant noises that set my teeth on edge.
"Death cry! Charge! Demolish him!"
The command cut through the chaos like a blade, and the timelines responded immediately.
Every version, every iteration, surged forward simultaneously, each one striking in its own way. Blasts of energy collided with him, spectral weapons materialised and shattered, and for a moment, the Quantum Quake seemed surrounded, pressed from all sides by the combined fury of infinity itself.
Five small magic circles flared to life at his fingertips, spinning in perfect harmony as he twisted his arm. From their motion, two enormous crimson circles bloomed before him, hovering in alignment like mirrors of raw power.
Between them, space itself seemed to bend, folding in on itself beneath a thin veil of darkness that pulsed as though alive. That darkness twisted and condensed into a cannon of pure, unstable energy, its form flickering and quivering with menace.
At its tip, the dark mass coalesced into a violent swirl, dense enough to bend the surrounding air, distorting reality around it.
The world around the cannon seemed to hold its breath. The edges of existence itself flickered and glitched, the very fabric of reality straining under the pressure, waiting for the inevitable.
The first Asteri came within its range, he was gone, evaporated without a trace, leaving nothing behind.
'Huh? That is no ordinary erasure.'
"Void?..no.. retreat!"
The Hero barked, but it was too late.
"Egil Thane Ulmra."
(Black Flame of Nonexistence)
For the first time, it spoke, and waves of unstable black flames erupted from the cannon, tearing outward in every direction, devouring the abyss itself.
Before any of them could even react, the flames had already claimed their first effect: targets frozen unconsciously, caught in a suspended state of inevitability. Essereos had met its end before the Black Flames even touched it, leaving only a void where it had been.
"He's… good."
Ton muttered, his eyes narrowing as he summoned Deva's Protection, a barrier wrought by the Goddess of Creation herself. The silver shimmer of the barrier flickered to life, attempting to shield Antares and Hinata from the encroaching darkness.
But the flames were relentless. Silvery motes of energy, invisible until now, pushed against the barrier, bending its path, forcing it aside, and redirecting the Black Flames downward.
Silence fell. Nothing was left, no space, no abyss, no void. An environment almost identical to ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇.
"S...such destruction power."
'Erasure at such a level, almost an entropy level scale Destruction. Wait, entropy? Don't tell me this is Nihilith's scale?'
Antares found it absurd. But it's HIM, so it's not impossible.
The attacker wasn't left unscathed, dark energy flickered across his form, signs of strain and backlash, but the Hero remained untouched, calm and unyielding.
'A blessing?'
I thought, noting the faint shimmer that seemed to cling to him. He had borrowed the Art bestowed by the Goddess of Creation herself, yet the scale of his summoning meant he wouldn't be able to wield it again for some time.
"Impressive."
The Divine Hero said, his voice carrying easily across the void.
"Not only did you execute your timeline, you've halted their existence entirely."
A faint azure light began to glow around his form, suffusing his body with a calm, almost ethereal radiance. A luminous sword materialised in his palm, gleaming with a resonance that seemed to hum against reality itself.
"I only summoned the timeline to wear you out."
The Divine Hero said, his voice low, measured.
"It seems you haven't even used the Dark Art. The real showdown begins now."
He drew his sword slowly, deliberately, the edge resonating with a divine tone that made the air itself vibrate. Every movement spoke of precision, power, and an inevitability that set the battlefield on edge.
[[IMAGE]]
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To be continued...