★288
ANTARES POV
With the two Goddesses taking care of Towa, I left for the Star Realm, to Kalidor, specifically. The World of Doom is one of Ereshkigal's personal domains which exists beyond Creation. So the Notion of Distance between World of Doom and Creation itself is irrelevant, yet I embodied the Meta Speed, the highest expression of speed second only to Aeolynths as I make my way out.
'It's outside Creation, I wonder where I'll end up after escaping.'
I questioned myself and White replied.
'The Outer Space, the space beyond Creation. The canvas holding the Existential Shells. It's only logical you'll end up out there.'
'It's beyond Creation but it's not logical for it to exist in the Outer Space.'
'Exactly. Leaving the World of Doom wouldn't place us in outer space. The World of Doom exists beyond Creation, yet it still lies within the same Existential Shell, whereas outer space exists beyond all Shells entirely.'
Void Eater backed me on that, proving the so-called near-omniscient ego wrong. That alone unsettled me more than I cared to admit.
This is what's been bothering me. I can only hope it doesn't turn out the way I'm thinking.
'If it does, then so be it.'
Void Eater said it, it's as simple as that.
I ejected from the World of Doom and immediately felt the warmth of Creation wash over me. It was subtle, yet unmistakable, grounding me in something familiar. As expected, I was still within the Shell.
I took a single breath to steady myself, then drove downward without hesitation.
I still had no idea where we were, but that didn't matter. I needed to locate the Beta–Omega Layer and dive straight into the Originverse.
The distance wasn't something measurable in any ordinary sense. It was Meta Distance, something that expanded or multiplied depending on where you stood. And if we were already beyond the Beta–Omega Layer, then that distance had only grown further beyond reach.
(Beyond because Meta Notions differs from one Layer to the other. The Meta Distance in Beta-Omega is different from the Meta Distance in Gamma-Time.)
The gate to Doom can only manifest in one place within Creation.
'Where?'
I asked and Void Eater answered without hesitation.
'The Delta–Singularity. Obviously.'
'That must've explained the similar effects in ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇. But unfortunately, we were unaffected.'
Just as Void Eater said, my position placed me both within and beyond Creation and Destruction at once, aligned with the Singularity that strips everything away, even Meta notions themselves.
With that, I surged forward, crossing past the Singularity at peak Meta speed, not knowing what awaited me beyond it.
The moment I entered the field of Gamma-Time, I felt it immediately. Their gaze, the Architects of Time were watching.
I did not slow. The presence I carried was enough of a warning. No one should interfere with my descent.
Yet someone did. My movement faltered, not abruptly, but gradually, as though something unseen was tightening around me. My speed began to collapse, reduced by an external force.
Someone was interfering with the fabric of Time itself. Meta Time.
'How foolish of you, Architect of Pause.'
This was undoubtedly his Aspect and only he can freeze time across all Layers of Reality.
'The Architects need no Arcanocysts to bend Time. This is the work of someone in Originverse. Someone's who's Art can affect not one Meta Time but all Meta Times across all Realities simultaneously. Pause is simply ensuring no one escapes his Aspect.'
Thanks to White for being specific, I finally know this is the work of a Star, an Omni to be precise. However, I don't care who it is nor will I let their Art halt me down.
Without hesitation, I invoked Aeolynths before my Meta Embodiment could succumb to its fate. Essen coiled around Aeolynths like a living parasite, stealing, absorbing, and delivering information at speeds unbound by Time itself.
Simultaneously, Essen began to restructure, as Ascendrons forced my Essen forward, driving me toward the advanced state and embodiment of the Fragment of Dynamics itself.
The weight of transcendence bore down upon me, surpassing the limits of flesh and defying even my indestructible form, its pressure made real through the Art of Creation itself. My left eye ruptured under the strain, the once-azure pupil igniting crimson a divine flare marking the price, the power, and the culmination of my transcendence.
In that moment, I embodied Aeolynths, the Fragment of Motion. All resistance vanished, Meta, Concepts, Distance, even Existence itself dissolving into irrelevance as Reality failed to keep pace with me.
I did not move through the Layers; they yielded, unfolding and collapsing in response to my presence, their Realms pierced not by traversal but by inevitability.
I no longer moved within Speed, I had become it; the absolute expression of Motion, where every instant was both arrival and departure, every thought resolving across and beyond infinity at once.
It was then I perceived Hinata's signature, and beside her, another presence, newly blooming. My heart pulsed between Creation and Destruction, unsettled by the unfamiliar aura.
Without hesitation, I released Silver Dust, shaping it into a protective veil around her, not cast across distance but established as already present, lest my descent fracture the lesser verses within the Originverse.
The chaotic resonance beside her, and the ominous signal converging upon them, were acknowledged yet irrelevant; destination held no meaning when presence had already been determined.
I did not cross Beta-Omega, Kyrexiom, the Megaverse, or the Transverse; they aligned, one after another, to reconcile my existence, each layer fracturing in the attempt. The Unknown Space ruptured, the Etheric Barrier of the Star Realm screamed and splintered, not from impact, but from its inability to contain Motion in its absolute form.
In less than an instant, beyond calculation and distance, I was already in Azrith, and the mere assertion of my existence there caused the entirety of the Star Realm to tilt.
The sheer weight of my transcendence tipped the balance of the entire Star Realm, bending its cosmic equilibrium as I landed, a living singularity of Motion and Divinity. As expected of the Star Realm, it completely converted the destructive landing into harmless structural alteration.
Noticing it'll be overkill to face him like this, Essen rejected Aeolynths and I was back to normal, my body a living bridge between Creation and Destruction.
The Azrith I once knew was gone. What remained was fractured, most of the Monarchs' signatures hanging on the brink of collapse.
Mystralis and Arthur Lys held the line, straining under the weight of it all, keeping the remaining Monarchs and Sovereigns alive. They were the only ones still capable of affecting the boy.
Yin and Yang worked alongside them, moving in perfect coordination, maintaining what little order remained as everything else threatened to fall apart.
That's when he turned, his body flaring with a volatile fusion of void and darkness. Tendrils of shadow coiled and snapped around him as jagged spikes erupted across his back, each one glinting with the faint shimmer of collapsing light.
The air warped under his presence, the ground fracturing beneath his steps as if the Abyss itself was breathing through him.
"Yo, Antares."
He said with a smile. Ignoring the Dragons behind him. He was definitely playing with them, buying time, waiting for me.
I was halfway through summoning my Perfect Form to erase the traitor when a child's cry pierced the chaos, soft & fragile, yet resounding through the very marrow of Existence.
It was an ordinary cry, and yet it shook the foundation of my Being, the essence that defined my being.
(Ontologions)
In that moment, Existence itself held its breath. The Art of Destruction ceased its collapse, and even the Art of Creation faltered, both listening, bracing, as if the cosmos awaited the will of the one whose voice had just been born.
To be continued...