★214
True Illusion, Spectre's ultimate technique, which allows him to take things further rather than merely swapping.
Once activated, True Illusion twists existence inside-out. Illusions become reality, and reality becomes illusion simultaneously, blurring the line between real and unreal.
Only the caster decides what counts as real. Only he determines what can exist.
There is no lag, no limit, no drain, because these are all real factors that can be unwritten as illusion.
As long as he envisions himself as the strongest, Reality reshapes to match that belief. A being who cannot be outmatched, outpaced, or outlasted, because anything that could defeat him can simply be declared unreal.
An unstoppable monster born from the collapse of reality itself.
A spark of dark amethyst flared violently, and Entares emerged from it, his flesh charred and blackened beyond recognition. In moments, it began knitting itself back together, scar tissue and wounds closing as if mocking death itself.
"Death, huh? I died… I died… Kfufufufufu!"
He laughed, the sound low, menacing, carrying a thrill of chaos.
"I want to die one more time!"
He exclaimed, eyes alight with excitement, craving the sensation as if it were a drug. Spectre chose to indulge him.
"Be swallowed by the Abyss of Hell."
The ground beneath him vanished into a bottomless pit, darkness stretching endlessly as it yawned wide, pulling him into its infinite depths.
"Fall for eternity and be lost in the darkness."
The voice commanded, and yet Entares was undeterred. He summoned a solid aura around himself, its radiance flaring until the very air trembled with its intensity.
Just as the gates of the abyss were about to close, he unleashed a sweeping arc, shattering the void barrier and rocketing straight for Spectre. But the instant the arc of void reached him, it unravelled, dissolving into a cascade of shimmering, multicoloured flowers that scattered across the space like a surreal storm.
Unfazed, Spectre raised his hand, summoning darkness that twisted and writhed like a living entity. The shadows surged downward in a sharp, slicing wave aimed at me. I swung the solid aura to intercept, but it passed through effortlessly, as though my defence was nothing more than air before the force of his power.
'Darkness submits to the lowest void. What's this...'
(Tables got turned, darkness > void because Spectre wills it.)
Destruction erupted, consuming everything around him, and for a moment, it seemed as though Entares had been erased once more. Yet even under Spectre's overwhelming influence, he resisted, stubborn and unyielding, his will standing firm against a silence as absolute as Existential Death itself.
Darkness coalesced where his body had collapsed, reshaping him from nothing into a living reality, defying Spectre's control without permission.
"I get it now."
He murmured, eyes narrowing.
"Making illusions reality."
Spectre's confidence didn't waver.
"It's clear as daylight. You can't win. The odds are in my hands."
Entares tilted his head, a faint smirk tugging at his lips.
"Are you sure?"
He lifted a hand and casually wiped away the thin trail of blood that had appeared on his forehead. His head should have been obliterated, destroyed beyond recognition. Yet all that remained was a single, shallow cut, almost laughable in its insignificance.
"I don't know why, but I can't interact with you directly. Maybe it's that weird armour. Doesn't mean I can't use the surroundings to get rid of you."
One declared. Just because Entares was unpinned didn't mean he couldn't manipulate the World itself to strike. To him, winning was few steps away.
"Heh… it's not the Void Armour. It's just me."
Entares replied casually, mimicking Errai's declaration as the strongest Supergod.
'Thanks to True Void Singularity, I exist as a mirage within Reality, flickering in and out at once. His illusions strike at existence and nonexistence, but I am neither, and yet both, slipping through the divide untouched.
Without the Singularity, I wouldn't even have time to counter him. He's strong. They're strong. They're worthy of their titles."
For the first time in a long while, the Quantum Quake acknowledged the power of his enemies.
'Spectre is a god-killer on his own.'
He admitted.
'But when all three Phantoms unite, I am positive even an Omni beside the Supreme Star would struggle against them."
Entares spoke from the depths of his void-bound heart, having lived long enough to recognise true strength and those who should never be underestimated.
Yet even as he acknowledged it, a smirk crept across his face.
'Winning is impossible for Antares, but not me.'
The solid, dark amethyst void dissolved into nothing, replaced instantly by a weapon forged from pure Energy. In his hands, the blade, White, shimmered, a creation crafted by Antares himself.
"Sorry, I'll have to end this now."
'I'm low on time, and the third Phantom isn't here yet. Not to mention him…'
The moment his fingers closed around the dagger, his armour splintered along the forearm, shards scattering as if resisting the touch.
"Come on, if I can't use it, who can?"
Entares lunged toward Spectre, catching his glare, but his hidden attack faltered. Before he could react, White pierced through his neck. He skidded to a halt on the far side of the hall, his speed slipping beyond his control.
Spectre's hand was on his neck, his eyes widened in surprise.
'True Illusion isn't working?'
"Focus!"
He was wide open, and Entares took the advantage, snapping him out. The victim quickly spread his palm, turning the space behind him into a gateway to the Abyss.
"I reject."
Entares declared, then slammed a punch that sent Spectre flying into the rubble. But he barely hit the ground before springing back up, trident in hand, aiming to strike Entares from behind.
"I said, I reject."
The Evil Child repeated, tilting his head as he studied Spectre with a chilling calm.
Noticing this, Spectre tried to recall his trident, but it was too late; it had already turned to a mere wooden stick. He dropped it and spun around, scanning for a way to escape now that the situation was firmly in his grasp.
'This is bad. When did he insert True Illusion Worlde within his own domain?'
True Illusion is active with or without a domain, because its range isn't limited, it's inapplicable. It encompasses reality as a whole.
(NOTE: Reality is a container, and existence is what's occupying it. Nonexistence is the absence of being, it doesn't 'reside' anyway. So everything outside reality = non-existence.
However, Existence as in Existential Shell holds Realities with what's beyond being the Outer Space, not non-existence. Reality with capital 'R' is the Ontic Layers. This is just the structure of this Shell.)
"Welcome to my Inner World."
Entares introduced, spreading his hands and gesturing to the space. He did so after predicting his opponent had figured out their trap.
Inner World, an absolute, limitless world Entares just created. This inner reality is an endless plane that resides within the user, which grants them true omnipotence within this world, making them extremely powerful if not the most powerful being in such an inner reality.
In short, Entares sealed himself alongside Spectre in his Inner World.
(xd)
'I can't fight him like this. He's already playing with me. I need to get us back to the real real world.'
Up above, Entares summoned the same tridents Spectre used to destroy Antares's home.
"Taste it for yourself."
Unlike Spectre's rampage, every trident was directed toward him alone, none missing its target. Spectre stood still, his eyes locked onto the raining trident, and he smiled.
"Your heart is betraying you."
Entares noted as he sensed his heart pounding faster.
"Excitement. I haven't felt this in billions."
Spectre grabs his chest, ignoring Entares' analysis.
'I need to be fast so he can't block it. It may cost me my True Body, but once I'm out, his defeat is inevitable.'
Spectre thought, releasing his aura for the first time. His aura was azure unlike any other Dark Star because he wasn't a Dark Star.
(Yeah, I'm indirectly giving off his race.)
"Behold, you lesser. The Lost Child of Azyrion has awakened."
His aura flared violently, coalescing into a brilliant azure halo that hovered above his head, pulsing with raw, unfathomable power.
Then, shockingly, his eyes ruptured, crimson blood spilling from them in a torrent, cascading like a dam torn apart, staining everything in its path.
"I see."
He murmured, voice low and distant, heavy with something impossible to name. What did he see exactly?
Upon activating the God's Eye of Detection, a field visible only to the caster unfolded. Within it, Spectre saw himself reflected in a single orb, a world unto itself, the Inner World.
'He materialised it to maximise his defence. He knew I might escape.'
Spectre thought, a faint smile tugging at his lips.
The Inner World hovered between the outstretched palms of Entares, who grinned wickedly, toying with it as though it were nothing more than a fragile plaything.
'What rests behind him is the real, real world.'
"I see."
He murmured, and the halo darkened to pitch black. His tears turned black, streaking his face before jagged spikes of azure and darkness erupted grotesquely from his right side, and then he vanished. Not teleportation, but ejection.
"Shit!"
Entares caught off guard cursed before slipping away. He returned to the real world and met Spectre standing as if waiting for him.
"How, you may ask?"
Spectre welcome him with those words.
"By activating a forbidden Art, I was able to spot the boundary between your Inner World encasing my True Illusion Worlde. Taking you with me won't work as you'll enhance your defence, so I took myself knowing you'll follow me and there you go."
He explained.
"It'll be all for nought if I decide to activate it again."
Entares noted, and Spectre pointed at his damaged eye.
"It's useless. I can see the boundary between us, the one writing, the ones reading, and even the ones standing above them as well."
'The Supreme Art, God's Eye. I can't let Antares know about it... yet. But they are moving faster than usual, faster then planned. He has to join the trend. After all, he's the reason behind it.'
"Impressive feat. But as long as you can't interact with the higher Realities, your efforts are useless."
The solid aura in hand, he closed the distance.
"I say it's over when it's over, Jagarette."
At his words, she appeared at Entares's side, palm outstretched, Void Acid surging to devour him.
'Damn bitch.'
He ducked and reappeared beside her, spinning once before launching a kick that sent her crashing across the hall. The moment she slammed into the wall, black rods shot out, impaling and pinning her in place.
He materialised behind Spectre, dark amethyst scythe in hand, ready to strike, but his attention was immediately drawn to Jagarette as she sprinted toward the door.
'The door?'
Rods jabbed from the ground and chains coiled, binding Spectre completely. Entares hurled the scythe with lethal precision, severing Jagarette's legs, yet she didn't falter. With a desperate beat of her wings, she soared into the air.
'Tch, stupid girl.'
The scythe seemed to act of its own will, tracking her as she flew, and in an instant it cut through her wings before vanishing into the air.
"This should be enough."
Spectre muttered, and Jagarette responded with a defiant motion.
She lowered herself slightly, drawing in a breath, and let out a roar, pure, draconic, a sound so immense and piercing it dwarfed everything I had ever heard. The force slammed into Entares, driving him to the floor as he pressed his hands desperately to his ears, agony blazing through him.
'I… I need to turn off the senses…'
His eyes snapped shut. Blood burst from his ears and nose, as dark amethyst mist spilling outward. Free from mortal sensed, he moved.
He stretched his hand, and White responded instantly, carving a deadly arc behind Jagarette before reappearing in front of her, driving the blade toward her throat. She gurgled, struggling, as he twisted it with a single, brutal motion, silencing her completely.
"You noisy… bitch, I had..."
He froze mid-sentence, noticing Spectre already running in the opposite direction, and for the first time, hesitation flickered across his face.
'Why are they running? Jagarette ran to the door within, Spectre heading to the exit. I don't understand this escape plan.'
"Come to me once more."
The dark amethyst scythe materialised, and Entares was on his mark.
He channelled his strength into his legs before he hit the road. He was behind Spectre in that instant, his strength now distributed to his arm as he swung down the scythe with all his might.
"See ya, godkiller."
He winked, striking down.
The scythe cut through half the distance when the door Jagarette had been heading toward creaked open, a faint gap letting in a shadowed aura that spilled into the hall, swallowing the light.
Heavy, suffocating killing intent radiated from beyond, a pressure so thick that a single bead of sweat traced down Entares' face.
'Ignore it and kill the prey in front of you.'
He reminded himself, forcing focus back onto Spectre, trying to push the oppressive weight aside.
The scythe struck, but the sound was wrong. A sharp, grinding crack split the air as the amethyst void weapon shattered on impact. Entares' eyes widened in disbelief, and Spectre cracked a small, knowing smile.
Blocking the scythe was a single arm, sheathed in black draconic scales. It was 0.
To be continued..