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Chapter 164 - Glimpse the Unthinkable
🕑 Added 2022-02-21 16:35:35 +0000 UTCLuna, the perpetrator of this atrocity, has disappeared into the depths of the tesseract. The wounded Sintress, the highest authority on healing imagination, was also separated from everybody. All my companions have been scattered into different rooms, except for the three heavily wounded girls before me.
Kamii has lost her cursed arm, but aside from the excruciating pain from having her wound cauterized on the spot, her life is in no danger. Aurelia is kneeling on the ground while looking down at the hole in her stomach, unmoving. Hestia is in an impossible to discern state, with her wings burned and her back armor ripped open by the explosion.
This was Shelnir's doing. I have no idea why she thinks this would make me try to kill Luna and force Rolan into defending her against me. The duel to the death that she prophesized in Zohigal would never happen at this point.
But even as I comprehend all these matters, all I can do is stare at the carnage. I have no idea how to reattach a limb that has been burned off like Kamii's. Aurelia's body is made of gold, so how would I even go mending it? And Hestia's wounds are so extensive that I'm not sure my healing imagination is enough.
What good is my perception of infinity and bending of reality when I can't help those I love?
"What appears to be the matter? Have you lost your wits after-" Shelnir begins, but I turn around and gesture at her. Her voice disappears as if cut off, and her sardonic grin freezes. Then she begins to claw at her throat, and her eyeballs bulge out.
"Weak." Elaine comments and waves her hand at Shelnir. The vacuum around her head is dispelled, and the Guide of Tomorrow gasps for air. The Goddess of the Sun wasn't referring to my attempt at killing Shelnir but the latter's inability to counteract my imagination. An Old Human who lacks the imagination to breathe in a vacuum is indeed weak.
I could have erased Shelnir by compressing her into nothingness, but one part of me wants to drag out her punishment for all that she has done. Dying instantly is too light a death for her crimes.
"Help them!" Kamii jumps up from the floor despite her pain and grabs my shoulder with her left hand. Since the wound was cauterized, she's in no danger of bleeding out. That's why she has the leeway to worry about the others.
I turn to stare at Hestia and Aurelia, both of whom aren't moving. My Chaos senses can tell that they're both close to dying, the light fading throughout their bodies as their cells shut down. One part of me watches in fascination as the life ebbs from my beloved girls, but Kamii shakes me from these decidedly inhuman thoughts.
Without wasting another moment, I gesture at the floor around Aurelia, where the molten gold has pooled. It begins to flow back toward the hole in her stomach and returns to her circulation that I monitor with my Chaos senses. Even if the makeup of her body is beyond human, it doesn't change that her physical system still functions like one. If I made the golden blood flow backward, it could destroy her circulation as a whole.
At the same time, I wave at Hestia, who floats up from the floor. I have all the genetic information I need to remake her entire body from scratch, so it should be a simple task to mend her wounds. Her wings are barely connected by some strands of muscles, and underneath all the blood and charred flesh, I can see her damaged spine and exposed ribs.
Waving one hand, I create gold out of the very air itself, with which I replace the lost parts in Aurelia's stomach. She's still not moving, but I can tell that she's aware of what I'm doing and merely waiting for it to be finished.
Waving my other hand, I use my imagination to grow back organic matter all across Hestia's back. Her wings are reconnected with new bones that disappear under tendons, muscles, and finally, skin before black feathers sprout once more. The severed spine reconnects as nerves appear from thin air.
I walk toward Aurelia while having Hestia float over to me. The Golden Queen finally stirs when I put the finishing touches on her abdominal muscles and coat it all in a layer of golden skin. At the same time, the unconscious fallen Fata is lowered to the ground as her wounds are fully mended. Within my Chaos senses, they are both back to how they were before Luna's sudden attack.
Shelnir stares at us with her mouth hanging open. This has nothing to do with surpassing her calculations or breaking her prophecy; this is an ability she didn't think I would have. Perhaps even Sintress can't do what I just did. On the other hand, Elaine regards the Guide of Tomorrow with disdain. She has been working with the Imagination Engine since before it existed, so she knows that there are no limitations within this tesseract.
I turn to Kamii, who is kneeling on the floor next to her severed cursed arm, looking thoroughly exhausted. Still, her expression lights up when she sees that Hestia and Aurelia are safe. But when she notices my gaze, her eyebrows draw together slightly.
"What will it be, Kamii?" I cover the few steps separating us and ask while looking at the crab pincer on the floor beside her. Now is her chance to be rid of that arm and all the difficulties that come with it.
"Without it, I can't fight." The little dark elf replies in a sullen tone. In reality, she knows that with how powerful I have become, she no longer needs to fight. But that's not the reason she's hesitant; if she had a normal right arm, she would be no different from any other dark elf. She fears that I would lose interest in her.
I remember the day we first met. Since then, I have often expressed that I like her cursed arm's appearance. It wasn't a falsehood or out of pity, but genuine admiration for the aesthetic of a petite girl with an oversized crab pincer for her right arm. The fact that she hid an incredible power within it was secondary to me.
But that's not why I love her. If it were, I would be no different from those that discriminated against her for it. I love Kamii as a person, with or without the cool red pincer that could potentially destroy an entire planet after the combo counter goes high enough.
Kamii's eyes light up when she sees through my thoughts. Then she averts her gaze and bites her lower lip in self-loathing. To have such doubts after all we've been through shows that her fear stemmed from a lack of self-confidence.
I smile wryly and gesture toward her with one hand. The cauterized stump that remains of her right arm just below the shoulder opens up, and she gasps in pain. But no blood flows from the wound while the damaged parts are cleared and turned into a clean cut with open blood vessels, severed nerves, muscle fibers, and the exposed humerus.
Then, atoms appear out of nothing and gather to form bonds that create organic matter. It swirls around the wound like dust and assembles into larger structures connecting the severed tissue. A regular arm with spotless mauve purple skin shapes within moments.
Unlike how I repaired the damage to Hestia, I made something completely new that didn't exist before. In Kamii's genetic material, there was no information on her right arm being anything but the corrupted crab pincer. Thus, I created it from scratch out of my imagination, using her left arm as a base.
The little dark elf stares at her new arm and raises it gingerly. Caressing her skin with her left hand, she senses the touch and blinks in wonder. Then, she turns her right hand and moves her fingers one by one.
My Crawling Chaos heart warms at the sight of Kamii discovering the use of a normal right arm. Although her face doesn't show it, she's overcome with emotion. If it weren't for our current circumstances, it would call for celebration.
"Thank you for waiting." I look up at Shelnir and Elaine, who watched the matter creation with varying degrees of wonder. It would seem that the God of the Sun isn't surprised to see this being done inside this tesseract, but the Guide of Tomorrow is utterly baffled.
"How... what..." She can't even form a working sentence as she points at us. I so easily nullified the results of Luna's sneak attack, and with it, Shelnir's final attempt at breaking me.
"Did you truly think that this would make me kill Luna?" I walk past Kamii, who turns around when she notices that a battle might break out now. She clenches her right fist and looks up at our two enemies before joining me. I throw my head back slightly and glare down at Shelnir. "You are clearly the mastermind, controlling Luna's actions. I will put an end to that, and I will smile with her after everything is over."
Shelnir stumbles back a few steps, and her lips quiver in frustration. She has lost control of the situation once more, and this time, Serent isn't here to save her. But there is still Elaine, who watched everything unfold calmly as if showing that she's not afraid of me.
As somebody who has been researching the Outer One's tear in space and the limits of the Imagination Engine, she should have the greatest knowledge among all Old Humans on how to utilize them. Even if Exla possesses the greatest imagination - although that might have been bragging on her part - Elaine has the knowledge to back hers up.
"What will you do?" I turn to the God of the Sun, whose eyes narrow at being addressed so casually by her enemy.
"I only wish to know how you erased the solar storm. After that, I will kill all of you." She replies in a neutral tone. It's neither a threat nor a display of overconfidence; to her, ending us all is a matter of course. Her attitude makes it clear that she has no doubts about her abilities to match me even after my earlier display.
"I'm not here to kill you, so I will tell you." Shrugging, I show that I'm not the least intimidated by Elaine's aura of superiority. If not for Kerry, I wouldn't hesitate to end her life right here, right now. But I undo the transformation of my face and continue. "I ate the storm."
Elaine's eyes widen, but she doesn't falter. Meanwhile, Shelnir screams and stumbles backward in terror, her bloodshot eyes fixed on me, although it's clear that she wants to look away. I ignore the Guide of Tomorrow and watch the God of the Sun's minute muscle motions to determine her thoughts about this form.
"You are just like Mataku." She spits out in disgust and points at me. A beam of concentrated light shoots out from a rift in space before her for a split second and burns a hole into my chest. But unlike Luna's plasma beam, this isn't a manifestation of imagination or a hidden technological weapon. She opened a gate to the surface of the Sun and gave me a glimpse of its raw energy.
I look down at the hole in my chest, then at Elaine again. Her expression doesn't change despite my lack of reaction. It seems that she was testing my resilience with that attack and found the result satisfactory. She must think that if she can throw me into the Sun, I would die.
The hole closes itself again with matter from inside me. After swallowing the energy of the solar storm, I was able to convert it into mass. At this point, I have enough to grow to Tokomaha's size when she stopped the Moon from falling. I have nothing to fear from physical attacks such as this one.
"I cannot have you comparing me to a fledgling such as her." Suddenly, a familiar voice declares throughout the room in a sardonic tone. Everybody looks around, but there's no sign of its owner.
A spot above the massive glowing spherical barrier in the room distorts, and Mithra appears from within. The bandage-covered figure floats in midair with his staff in hand, unmoving and watching silently. But it was not his voice that called out to us.
Behind Elaine, darkness gathers into a solid form and takes the shape of a human-looking man in a white business suit with slicked-back black hair. The God of the Sun notices him and turns around on the spot to blast him with a glimpse of the Sun as she did against me.
When the rift opens, Mataku's hand is there to catch the beam. Much like I would, he gathers it into a small sphere with a mere gesture of his fingers. But instead of letting it fizzle out or swallowing it, he flicks it back at Elaine.
She's slow in dodging it and is blasted with a split second of raw fusion energy. But as I thought, her imagination is strong enough to withstand and control it. The explosion of energy moves back inward and gathers around the God of the Sun's torso in a radiant ring.
"Even if you are a creature from the other side, this is my domain." Elaine declares and lets the ring explode outward. It cuts through Mataku and the surroundings but dissipates against the room's walls. Still, it does force me to bend space a little so that it doesn't hit Kamii and Aurelia behind me.
"Oh, foolish mortal. What you call your domain is merely a pale imitation of my home." The Primordial Terror shakes his head and reconnects his severed body as if it were nothing. "Have a glimpse of the unthinkable."
At those words, reality bends and folds away, and the massive chamber of the Imagination Engine core fades into infinity. It reveals the endless reaches of space, filled with distant stars, galaxies, and nebulae. Gravity disappears once more, and everybody floats freely. It's clear that this isn't really space, as Kamii is breathing just fine. Perhaps all of this is an illusion?
"Take a look at the insignificant specks that dare to compare themselves to you, father." Mataku spreads his arms and announces into the vast unknown. I swivel my head upon his words and look around; if this is truly the other side of the tears in space, we will have entered the belly of the beast far earlier than I wanted to. And with Kamii, Aurelia, and the unconscious Hestia no less.
For a moment, there is only the silence of space. The deafening noise of one's own circulation and nerve signals should be playing in all those who have them. I've heard somewhere that it can cause insanity after prolonged exposure.
But then, space itself shifts. As if the universe were a pattern on an unfathomably large creature's body, the stars, distant galaxies, and massive nebulae undulate like the countless tentacles that form a Crawling Chaos's body. Entire galactic sectors disappear under the movements of the Outer One as all of existence itself seems to turn toward us.
Then, myriad holes open in space - tears in the fabric of reality itself that show neither light nor dark but sheer nothingness. I perceive them to be unblinking eyes that have turned on us after their owner has been called so frivolously by Mataku.
"Is that all?" Elaine looks around as if hoping for more. Her attitude does seem to surprise Mataku, who raises an eyebrow in skepticism. But he should know that there is no acting strong when faced with a cosmic horror; either one falls prey to its effects, or one can withstand it in one way or another.
Before Mataku can comment on this, Shelnir screams from the depths of her lungs and claws out her own eyes. It would seem that her mind has given out upon seeing the truth of the Outer One, and she would sooner lose her sight than continue to perceive it. However, as blood streams down her cheeks like tears, and she holds her own squashed eyes in her hands, she turns her head left and right.
"I still see them! They are still watching me! Peering into my mind! Make it stop!" She squeals while trying to shield herself with her arms. Rather than a physical gaze, the Outer One appears to be looking at her very soul - something she can perceive even without eyes.
I try to bask in the terror emanating from her, but I sense that the Outer One is actively sucking it away as if denying either Mataku or me the pleasure. Not a shred of the unholy energy that I would normally feel upon being in the presence of somebody experiencing this level of horror reaches me.
Although the Outer One isn't staring directly at her, Elaine seems unnaturally composed despite this situation. She must have plenty of experience with the core of the Imagination Engine and its emanations to know that this is what lurks on the other side of the tears in space. In fact, she appears to look around in curiosity, as if to memorize it all for her research.
Suddenly, several swords made of gold fly through space and pierce Shelnir's body. Her wailing is silenced in an instant, and I feel her life energy fade away. I turn to Aurelia, who stands behind me silently with a hand raised toward the Guide of Tomorrow. Her expression suggests that she's conflicted about her own actions.
Killing Shelnir so quickly was a mercy. Her mind was already broken, but she would continue to suffer until she decided that only death would free her from the torment of being under the scrutinizing gaze of the Outer One. But in doing so, Aurelia cut short her revenge against the Old Human responsible for the death of her beloved Vanadia. She would no longer be able to suffer for all the crimes she committed.
But then, an ethereal scream echoes in our minds, and I spin around to look at where it's coming from. Shelnir's corpse floats freely and unmoving, but light separates from it and takes the rough shape of a human. The tormented face of Shelnir appears on this ghostly emanation's surface as it gets drawn out of the physical body. The Outer One is pulling out her soul to continue her suffering.
Aurelia watches in horror as the Guide of Tomorrow's soul finally separates from the lifeless body and floats off into the distance, screeching all the while. As the body turns to dust and scatters into nothingness, Shelnir's soul disappears from sight as well, leaving behind only the echo of her agonized wailing.
Despite watching her comrade get killed, Elaine shows no hint of emotions. It would seem that any sense of caring about others has disappeared in her after the death of her beloved son Alverost. Now, all that's left is professional curiosity and seething vengeance. The latter has taken a backseat after witnessing this mind-bending spectacle.
I feel jealous of the Outer One for being able to feast on such delectable terror for the foreseeable future. Kamii nudges me with her newly grown right arm, and I realize what I just contemplated. Sighing, I push the cosmic horror thoughts aside and concentrate on our situation.
"This isn't real, is it?" I state and tilt my head back to regard Mataku with a look of disdain. As if my words flipped a switch, the walls of the Imagination Engine core snap back out of nowhere, and we're back in the massive but mostly dark room illuminated only by the spherical barrier in the center.
"I am surprised that you would limit yourself so, sister." Mataku shakes his head and glances at the unimpressed Elaine. I know that what we saw a moment ago was real, but I had to make us return here.
Although neither Kamii nor Aurelia seemed affected by the Outer One's presence, I would rather not have the Outer One turn his attention to them. Who knows what would have happened if he had looked directly at them like he did with Shelnir?
"What happened, senpai?" Exla calls out to me from behind, and I glance back to find that the cloud girl has found her way back to the room outside the core chamber. She looks at the unconscious but healed Hestia on the floor, then lets her gaze sweep across the people before her. There is no trace of Shelnir, so she must be wondering about that.
"I think it would be best to explain it once everybody is here." I say while turning to Mataku. "You have no problem with that, do you?"
Kamii, Aurelia, and Exla stare at me in surprise when I address the Primordial Terror so casually. And they're baffled when he merely shrugs in response. We should be enemies, so why would I need to ask him for permission? Furthermore, why would he give it so carelessly?
My words turn to reality, and everybody appears in the room behind Exla. Luna has lost consciousness after Shelnir's death but is still locked inside Sintress's Perfect Sanctuary prison. The others stand around her as they were when the room separated them earlier, staring at the repeated sudden change in their surroundings with widened eyes.
Sintress's legs are still missing, showing that even her powerful healing imagination doesn't allow her to regrow lost limbs. I would help her, but I can't avert my gaze from Elaine or Mataku right now.
"What happened?" Korenga looks across everybody's faces, then turns to peer into the core chamber. Her eyes widen when she beholds Mataku, and she bursts out into her Black God form with a roar.
"Uh oh." He makes with a wry smile, then addresses me in an exaggerated accusing tone. "You could have kept that rabid beast away. Now, negotiations have broken down."
In the next moment, Korenga practically flies through the room and crashes into the Primordial Terror, who deflects her into a wall. The heavy impact leaves not even a dent in the seemingly otherworldly material the core is made of, and the Black God bounces off it to go for another charge.
"There were never going to be any negotiations." I reply calmly. Then I raise a hand toward Mataku, who tilts his head back with a wry smile. Before he can do anything, I compress him into a tiny sphere and make him disappear into nothingness.
Or that's what I feel happened. But nothing changes, and he raises an eyebrow in a challenging expression. It's as if there are two versions of reality before me: One in which I defeated him in an instant and another in which he overruled my fantasy. That must be what happened then.
Korenga slams into Mataku from behind and tries to squash him in a bear hug. Her anti-Crawling Chaos properties cause him to shy away from her touch and lose his shape. But in reality, he delivers a back-handed punch into the Black God that sends her flying backward.
Once again, I perceive two outcomes at once, with the unfavorable one playing out as the other fades into memory. I now realize that this is the true effect of the Imagination Engine's core; they are possibilities manifested through imagination. And it would seem that Mataku's is overwriting the more probable outcome.
Suddenly, the barrier in the chamber disappears, and a storm blows around us. I identify the tear in space that the shield was holding in check: A perfectly spherical hole that is neither black nor white. It is merely the lack of existence itself, like a wound on reality - a missing piece of perception.
The atmosphere is rushing inside it, meaning that the oxygen here will be depleted sooner rather than later. The realm of the Outer One is space itself, so it's only natural for the vacuum to pull the air in. But I notice that the machine that created the spherical barrier seems to be disintegrating on a subatomic level. Its entire shape is wavering slightly, and particles are pulled toward the hole.
If left unchecked, surely this entire structure will follow soon. And if it expands, the whole Rhodos station will be in danger. Of course, knowing the scope of the Outer One, perhaps this entire dimension will eventually be swallowed up.
"We are done here." Mithra, who is floating above that hole to the realm of the Outer One, calls out to Mataku. I get a sense of déjà vu from this.
"I will leave you to it then." The Primordial Terror raises a hand toward Elaine, who has watched the situation between us unfold in silence. Her nature as a scientist and observer of many millennia has led to her indecision.
"Yes, go back where you came from, creature." She waves him off, and I realize that it's not indecision but that she lacks interest in him - or indeed anything else. All she wants is revenge on us for killing her son, and she's willing to overlook what could amount to the end of reality itself.
But I won't explain to her that we need to stop Mataku. I will take down Elaine here and deal with him afterward. There are no doubts in my mind that I will succeed. And that's all the imagination I need.
Korenga rushes at the Primordial Terror once more, but he phases through her and moves toward the hole. Meanwhile, Elaine raises her hands, and the walls of the room retreat in all directions, much like how Mataku gave us a glimpse of the Outer One's realm. But unlike before, we're now right in front of the Sun itself.
A massive coronal mass ejection comes our way. Elaine wants to erase us all in a single strike, but I extend a hand toward the approaching plasma wave many times the size of Earth itself and grasp it as if it were a physical object. A large section of it stops and falls back toward the Sun, and we're spared.
"Impressive." Mataku comments and glances back at me only a few meters away from the tear in space. But to everybody's surprise, a streak of light shoots past Elaine and cuts through his neck. "Oh?"
His head separates from his body, but that won't kill a Crawling Chaos. And the person responsible for the attack does know this.
"You are not going anywhere." Rolan, the fallen hero, declares while standing between the Primordial Terror and his destination. His missing prosthetic arm has been replaced with an immaterial one made from light, and he wields Roshanee with both hands. "This ends here."
