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ANTARES'S POV
"Good. Now that the weaklings are gone, you can fight freely."
He smiled, a smile drenched in malice, as the darkness around him began to shimmer with fragments of Star Dust.
[[IMAGE]]
[[IMAGE]]
"Trust me, Xamidimaru..."
I paused deliberately, drifting past him with my arm poised to do what it loves most.
"I don't need to get serious to avenge my Constellation."
My fingers closed around his small head like a vice. With a single, effortless motion, I slammed it into the ground, Azrith shuddering beneath the blow.
I can end this fight sooner, so Essen coiled itself around the Art of Creation. The balance flipped; Destruction took the lead as I tore across Azrith, dragging him by the face and gouging the earth in my wake.
I threw him like a rag, carving a huge devastating White arc blasting through Kalidor's barrier reacting to the Pond.
Xamidimaru's scream twisted into laughter as a bolt of darkness descended to strike me down. I caught it with my bare hand and redirected it straight back at him.
He walked through it as though it wasn't there, his form slipping past the attack like a spectre.
'That's…'
Before I could finish the thought, he moved.
His speed surged beyond measure as his fist drove towards my face, yet it struck nothing, passing clean through the air.
In that same breath, my fingers closed around the back of his head, and I invoked Noctylium. His physical and archetypal forms decayed in unison, collapsing into oblivion before he could even register the act.
Yet, from the void of his unravelling, he reformed beyond the very constraints I had just annihilated. Even within the Etherium Plane, where truth itself can be dissected, I found no trace, no pattern, no key behind his Rebirth. Still... he returned.
"Heh-heh-heh..."
The laugh was faint but sharp, carrying both madness and defiance.
His speed surged again, faster and more precise, and in the span of an eternal instant he was already on me. I knocked his hand aside and drove White straight into his skull.
The blast tore through him from within, rupturing his head and bursting it outward, yet even then he did not stop. He kept advancing, as though nothing had happened.
His body, half-consumed by Destruction, trembled, resisting the inevitable. And then, through ruin, through death, through the unravelling of his being, his fingers finally reached me, pressing weakly yet inexorably against my chest.
"Absence."
He whispered it like a curse, and something struck me, something potent enough to consume even Destruction itself, though the Arts remained untouched.
His face reformed as if nothing had happened, calm and composed, that infuriating smirk etched into it once more. Void Eater surged forward, it's mist-like form bathing his body as it erased his presence entirely.
For a moment, I couldn't make sense of it, but he was already back. And this time, with Destruction taking the lead within me, even I couldn't regenerate fast enough.
"How unprecedented. This will take longer than expected."
I murmured, as Essen wrapped itself around the Art of Destruction, while the Art of Creation had its way, restoring my form instantly, reforging what had been lost.
With that, Essen took a break, my body resuming its endlessly Creation-Destruction form.
'Absence. What absence does he embody?'
The question lingered. Yet there was no time to seek its answer.
I lunged forward, Essen channelling the Art of Destruction through my fist, each strike obliterating his unknowable form. But every void I left behind was him.
'Oh...'
Realisation flickered across my mind. I drew Nihiliths into my left hand, it's energy folding and condensing until Creation itself faltered, unable to match the collapse. When the power reached its apex, I threw a single punch and obliterated everything.
Not just him, even the Energy Fragments within the field were annihilated, erased to restore balance. The shockwave cleared Azrith and Velorith alike, Reality bending beneath the weight of its own unmaking.
'This was me releasing the smallest field.'
The erasure was absolute, catastrophic in silence. There was nothing left, not even the echoes of what once was. Existence itself recoiled, for even Energy had gone absent.
'Huh?'
A thought passed through me as I came up with a way to truly gauge his strength.
"I told you, I'm absent. Not void, not Absence just..."
I wasn't ready for lectures when White and Void Eater negated the distance, immobilising him, their combined force dragging him down. His darkness is unable to take form.
'Nihiliths is used for void entities beyond Energy. Apparently, he's clearly above that. Void Eater is stronger than him as expected. He's just too stubborn to remain still.'
I raised one arm, spreading my fingers towards Xamidimaru, summoning five silver rings that ignited around my fingers.
"Let's recreate Egil Thane Ulmra, shall we?"
In my words, the silver rings emit threadlike strands woven that arc like silver lightning to form a vast silver arcane circle in front of me.
From the centre of this great circle, a monolithic white turret spirals into being by the Art of Creation. The turret's exterior is cracked and pulsates with inscriptions, glowing faintly with white light, while veins of black corrosion ripple across it. Pitch-black smoke bleeds from the turret's seams, living destruction gnawing at the structure/turret even as it forms.
The black smoke begins to converge into the barrel, forming a core of apocalyptic fire that burns off Concepts, Meta, and Reality around the gun fractures like glass. Inside this circle, black fire swirls inward like a collapsing nebula. The flames are dense, forming a solid, vibrating sphere about the size of a cannonball.
The turret is made from Creation, but it contains Destruction, creating an inherent paradox. The longer it remains, the greater the chance the black flames consume the turret, and by extension, the caster.
If overused, the spell can reverse the flow of Energy and Begin to undo the Ontologions of the caster, their legacy & even erase them from Akasharytes and the Goddess's Book. Nonetheless, I've taken huge risk to give up on this.
To be continued...
THIRD POV
'With Antares taking care of Xamidumaru, the War has officially ended. Yet, why does it feel.....incomplete.'
Acamar thought to himself, the Omnis, Belenos, Lusath, Adhara & Zhou standing behind him.
"Am I the only one who feels like something's wrong?"
Belenos asked, the star on her forehead vanished, her body radiating faint light without trying.
"Like the war ended easily."
Adhara added his True Form crackling with azure lightning.
"We all had our preys, but I, too, felt Achernar's hesitation."
Lusath added.
"Achernar is different. He never had the intention of killing you. He was merely a catalyst for Lusath's awakening."
Belenos replied.
"Something intervened and killed Mors. Algol didn't fight earnestly, and I spared Kenos. Something really is wrong about this war."
"Maybe you'll just overthink it."
Zhou stepped in. Every gaze snapped towards him, yet he didn't flinch, not even slightly.
And perhaps he was right.
But something about it never sat well with me. The war had moved too smoothly, too cleanly. The Dark Stars hadn't gone all out, not like they did during the O-Class, and yet… they were gone.
...
..
.
Meanwhile, in the Divine Land, the Star God remained seated, watching everything unfold.
"He's strong."
He admitted, his voice steady, almost thoughtful.
"But I won't allow you to destroy my creation."
Resting his arm against the armrest, he lifted a single finger.
'He loves it too much. I might as well keep the original name.'
Antares thought, ready to end the traitor once and for all.
"Begun, Egris Grone Ankara."
Noticing Kalidor had vapourised before the main attack, he took them somewhere else.
In the same breath, He made his move.
"No. You will not escape."
The Star God said, his voice unwavering, his action final.
"I won't allow you to evolve beyond my control."
Light gathered at his fingertip, condensing into a spear. Its tip hummed with Star Dust and Silver Dust alike, the air around it trembling under the pressure.
ANTARES POV
Then a soundless shockwave of disintegration rushes out in red-black. This flame doesn't burn, it writes over Ether's rules with a null value, denying them.
It erases all the components of all the Planes of Existence, even the highest Meta-Narrative Layers of the Goddess of Creation, undoing her Plot/Creation importance.
The Outer Space peels backwards, a towering infernal plume of flame shoots skywards, black with crimson tendrils, a mushroom cloud of red-black apocalyptic fire, mimicking a nuclear explosion.
The truth about The True Scale of Oblivion is that it isn't Destruction, the destructive part of Energy or the Art of Destruction itself. No. It is the collapse of Creation & Destruction simultaneously, even the logic behind the system pulling them into the oblivion beyond.
(Is that....? Yes, it is.)
I sighed, my body breaking down also as a result of Egris Grone Ankara. I was just there in the absence of Existence and Non-Existence, an unknowing null space, suspended without meaning and reason.
"Is it time to rest?"
I asked, my question directed to none other than him.
"That's a high-tier feat right there. I never thought a mortal like me could survive this even with Rebirth. But....Rebirth isn't the only thing preserving me."
Xamidimaru spoke from behind, completely unscathed. I needn't move to end this.
"Thanks to Egris Grone Ankara, I know exactly where you stand."
I said, turning to meet his gaze.
I raised my Silver Dust-stained fingers, feeling the faint pulse of something caught within my grasp. Yet this time, the Dust was no longer purely silver. It shimmered in flux, oscillating between the brilliance of Star Dust and the luminance of Silver Dust, a fusion of transcendence and origin.
Xamidimaru halted mid-breath, the faint shock breaking through his composure. For the first time, he hesitated, his eyes reflecting the gleam radiating from my hand..
"Practising Nihilglyphs is one thing, embodying it is also something else."
I pulled my arm downward, yanking him toward me with irresistible force.
"Embodying ABSENCE beyond Creation is also the same thing."
I turned sharply, spreading my arms wide, and in that moment, he collided with me, his body slamming into mine, the impact sending ripples through like waves across a cosmic sea. The Silver Dust ignited upon contact, spiralling around us.
"Absence and Anti-Being are two different things. As long as there's a space, void, absence, and the like, be it in Existence or Non-Existence, you'll be indestructible."
'That includes the space within & between the alphabets, words, and numbers you're reading.'
He struggled, but it was futile, the Silver Dust tightening its grip. With a soundless pull, it drew him into me, merging our forms, his resistance fading beneath the inevitable pull of transcendence.
"Nihilglyphs are different. It's just the Anti-Being beyond Existence. It could be the Outer Space, the Non-Existence, or even the Nether Void. It's still a mystery how much it covers."
I smirked, watching his childlike form slowly sink into mine, his outline dissolving into streams of pale light.
"This isn't the end..."
His voice came muffled and distant, echoing as his essence was swallowed within me, fading like a final whisper lost to the depths of my being.
I stood victorious once again. My body is breaking down beyond repair, and the Art of Creation is unable to keep up with the Art of Destruction.
Currently, I don't have the power to affect all absences beyond my current Existential Shell and what's beyond. If I can't do that, he'll still be here, indestructible.
The Information Particles did a great job rewriting off the absence he embodies, making it irrelevant from the original thing it knows.
Metaphorically speaking, the Information Particles acted as an (IDS/Integrity Verification System) and saw him as a Trojan Horse hidden in the Operating Kernel/Arche Matrix.
(Computer-stuff terms:|
That way, I can defeat him without altering all ABSENCES, which I don't have the power to do. Thanks to Ether, I won.
'I don't know. No one has ever made it to this stage.'
"Another contradiction."
I said with a smile.
'What do you mean?'
It asked, replaying to our conversations to figure out where we had gone wrong, which in itself is a contradiction on its own.
'Poor ego."
Void Eater said with a smile.
"You know where to go once I'm gone."
"We're already there."
Void Eater replied.
"Just faint echoes that keep you company in your last moments."
I smiled in response. It was amusing how everything turned out.
"With all my might, I never saw all this coming."
'Heheh. He knows not too.'
Void Eater giggled. I don't need to see his face, but he's giving that Entares evil grin.
THIRD POV
"Lord First took care of Algol. Achernar, Phoenix & Magisa are gone. Mors was killed by something. What's suspicious about winning? I mean, the master mind will be too stupid to let go of such valuable forces."
Zhou stepped in, explaining how the Dark Star mastermind won't risk his valuable pieces.
"What if his plans rest beyond the Star Wars itself?"
Acamar broke the silence, now standing without moving.
"Zhou's right, though. It'll be a waste to let figures like Mors and Algol go to waste."
"It's best to consider the what ifs."
Acamar said, turning to face them.
Back to the Divine Land.
"Destroy and rewire him, Information Particles."
His finger slowly tapped the armrest rest, and the spear took off.
ANTARES POV
I closed my eyes, a victorious smile on my lips.
"Just kike you, Xamidumaru. This isn't the end for me..."
'Speaking of Evil. Entares have been inactive for too long...'
My awareness spiked, but it was already too late. As I opened my eyes, it struck me. My thoughts, consciousness, and form disappeared immediately without a time lag.
THIRD POV(ago)
The Línglì spear negated distance, striking Antares head-on. It came into contact with his head before realising a blinding radiance that illuminated the Outer Space.
As the light dissipated, Antares was nowhere to be found. Not destroyed or erased, but just gone...
.....
....
...
..
.
To be continued...
Meanwhile, somewhere in the Abyss, the Void Emperor, Kenos, appeared. Nah, he was there to begin with. His destination was something within yet, beyond the Abyss.
After walking aimlessly for what felt like forever, his foot brushed against something unseen, a boundary. A barrier, or perhaps a passage, leading precisely where he intended. This was a place no one should reach. No one except Algol and himself.
He stepped through without hesitation.
A Violet Void unfolded before him. Vast, endless, and eerily silent. At its centre burned a purple mass, a condensed storm of unbound force twisting in slow, deliberate pulses. Its light did not illuminate or devoured. It's simply there.
Floating beside that pulsing core was a corpse, preserved & prepared by something greater than death itself.
He drew closer, each step echoing across the soundless expanse. When he finally reached the heart of the void, he stood still, watching as the corpse began to merge with the purple mass, threads of violet energy weaving through its flesh and essence alike.
He waited patiently and silently for the fusion to complete.
"Xamidumaru has fallen, and the Star God took down Antares."
He spoke more to himself than anyone listening.
"You're glad Antares is out of the picture?"
A voice asked.
"No. He's too unpredictable, death is beyond his reach."
He replied.
"He'll come back...for sure..."
"And when he does, he'll be stronger than ever."
The voice cut him off.
"SEQUENCE or not. With this, the end is inevitable."
Kenos replied, confident of this.
"The Star Realm, the Star God, that immature Outer God and his Shells will all be invited to The End."
Kenos replied, an evil grin carving across his lips.
"We lost the war.... as I've expected. But it's all for nought once inevitability takes over."
He raised his palm toward the purple mass, its surface writhing.
The moment his hand aligned with it, the corpse beside him stirred, its hollow eyes igniting with a dim, purple flame as the Violet Void itself began to tremble in recognition.
To be continued...