Minutes later Gareth and Soul's bodies had returned to their original forms though still remaining a whole meter taller than the average human, but perhaps due to the influence of her ascendence earlier her hair still retained an almost ethereal like quality to it.
A portal opened up from underneath and engulfed them as they were returned to their original realm atop one of the many celestial satellites residing within it, but just moments later her body began fading away into pixilated bits until nothing was left.
Gareth had placed her 'lifeless' form into the system space atop a king-sized bed he had bought from the shop for 50 EXP, just as a way to ensure that no further harm would ever be able to befall her and also for the comfort it brought his guilt-ridden heart.
[[Host, the quests have been completed and as per the original agreement, in 3 hours you shall be returning to your original reality]].
[[Would you still like to be automatically sent back, or do you wish to start a new adventure in another]].
[[And would you like to claim this reality as another World Origin you possess]].
He raised his head up but gave no quick reply to the inquiries of the system, instead choosing to mull and reflect on every inch of his lives and the decisions that got him here. From the time when he was simply a normal human living on Earth and then dying prematurely only to have his soul meet the system which offered him a second chance at life in return for completing it's main mission and possibly returning him if he so wished.
As of the time he had made that decision, Home was truly where his first life was, but coming here had opened him to an entirely different life beyond his expectations, he had met with and bonded with his greatest targets, they truly had become the people closest to his heart which was something he never saw coming, another one being power.
Gareth had never once believed himself someone with a craving for power as his humble beginnings and way of life instilled into him. But now things had changed, to imagine himself going back to the mundane made a chill go down his spine, he had changed and he knew it.
Still even then he never wanted himself to lose all hold over his morals, there were times when it was difficult, those moments of weakness where you look down upon the world around you and realize that you're practically a living god amongst men, that reality does actually bend to your will and that the lives of all were simply yours to play with as you so wished at any moment.....and then you come to realize just how amazingly intoxicating it all is.
Yeah....he had indeed experienced those, but still he always made sure to overcome it every time. Gareth looked down at the resting form of Soul's 'corpse' on the bed, his answer had already been decided a long time ago.
"More adventures await us system" he replied.
"Oh, and you can proceed with claiming this reality".
And with that said, all that remained was a waiting game until he would eventually leave this place while the system went to work in claiming a second -World Origin- for him. With the free time he had on his hands Gareth went ahead in checking the rewards he had received properly this time, but first he took another look at his current self and called out "Status".
A screen appeared before him detailing all as it pertained to him in it's listed functions:-
[[Name]]: Gareth Moss.
[[Sex]]: Male.
[[Race]]: Advanced human.
[[Strength]]: 7.9,000,000.
[[Speed]]: 8.6,000,000.
[[Agility]]: 8.8,000,000.
[[Defense]]: 10,000,000.
[[Health]]: 100/100.
[[Endurance]]: 10.0 (MAX).
[[INT]]: 10.0 (MAX).
[[Abilities]]: Teleportation (LEVEL III).
Manipulation (LEVEL IV).
Absorption (LEVEL III).
Regeneration (LEVEL IV).
Nothing new but nothing out of place either which was lucky for a battle such as this one, but now onto the rewards.
One particular item sparked the greatest interest to him, the -Timestop orb-. It was such an extraordinary thing that he almost couldn't believe it, from the descriptions provided by clicking the system screen he could infer that it had an incredibly short cooldown period of five seconds and more than that was how true it was to it's name, the orb allowed him the ability to stop time dead in it's tracks for a full minute.
But there was more, he could reverse it by the same amount too and if fused into himself, he could speed up his own time and perception by a full minute higher which was more than an eternity enough to cause irreparable damage.
He remembered the Ascension core he had on him and brought it out, this was something that had the power to rewrite aspects of reality to the user's will and was what the Empire's fleet had fought hard in an attempt to reclaim, at least on the surface that is.
Now we come to -Core of transcendence- which was the only thing powerful enough to power a suit on the level of the -Overlord class- and he could see why, quite honestly this armor embodied the absolute definition of god-like in his definition of the word due to how unfair it was.
He remembered thanking his stars before that Soul never got to the level where she could access such a suit as the Emperor class one from the system but this? With this she would have killed a thousand of him a million times over while dancing to the beat as the bodies piled up and this was no exaggeration on his part of just how terribly bad this could go.
The spec's on this thing was divine, he had no idea how long it would take him to find an opponent worthy of testing it out on let alone one to push him to the absolute limits of the suit's abilities.
He took a look at the -Emperor class mech-puppets- next, it was like having two extra lives and also two perfect replicas of himself down to his powers on the battlefield because through their effect of synchronization even if he himself takes the damage with his real body, it gets transferred to a puppet and depending on it's severity including the one's capable of causing death, this time the puppet can be recovered in the span of a few seconds.
Still an eternity for a being like him but still more feasible than an hour and something he could stall long enough to achieve if need be, another boon to the puppets was the fusion effect which could improve their strength multiple times over to a point where they could even surpass Soul by a good bit which goes to show how monstrous she truly was if two of his current selves combined were what it took to surpass her by that much.
Now last and certainly not least even when compared to the other top rewards he had received were the -Mythic class ability cubes- which were certainly a level above the -Wyvern class- he had at current. Only something like this new version could be worthy of being equipped onto the -Overlord class- armor, the juicy variety of wonderful new abilities he could try out were eating at him but he knew he had to exercise patience.
Feeling quite a high from all the excitement bubbling inside, Gareth fell back on a mattress he had quickly purchased and draped an arm over his eyes for a few seconds in an attempt to calm his senses which was proving effective and once he felt himself calming to an acceptable point he heaved a breath and smiled.
Perhaps it would do him well to get some shut eye in the time that he had left before the travel began, even if he had long since grown past the point where he needed sleep at all, this was one of the rare few times he would find himself in need of it regardless. And so he quickly let himself drift off into a deep rest, relieving a particular dream that began a month ago, one where he was struggling and giving his all against the Darkness yet only managing to sink endlessly into it no matter what, losing pieces of himself in the eternity of that terror until there was nothing left.....
After hours of deep sleep, he awoke with a start from his lengthy dream, heart and mind racing feeling great tremors rippling through the system space and loud alarms with red alert screens popping up everywhere around him in warning of the danger.
"S–System!?" He called out with a great sense of urgency in his voice not understanding what and how this could be happening.
"System, what's happening?" He articulated himself a little more better this time and luckily the reply came quick.
[[Host, we have encountered a great issue]].
[[Remnants of a great power knocked us out of the designated co-ordinates into a reality of unknown origins]].
[[And from my scans, this is not a place we're ever supposed to touch even in a million years]].
[[Right now we're facing some very minor rejection and can't be allowed to leave either as being rejected means absolute destruction and the only option we have is to successfully infiltrate]].
[[But we also do not possess the power to do so and forcefully trying to achieve this comes with the dangers of alerting the beings here and so we are forced to be discreet and allocate power into maintaining our anonymity at the same time]].
[[If this continues in such a way, our destruction is ensured in five minutes at most]].
Gareth's heart sank to it's depths upon hearing those words, he looked over to Soul's form laying there on the bed and felt a great sense of disbelief at how quickly his own luck could turn on him just in the span of a few hours.
"Is there nothing we can do system, there has to be something in the shop that can help".
There was a small period of silence that only served to escalate the impending sense of doom, it was at this point that his eyes slowly widened upon realizing that he would be getting no chance at an inkling of hope.
[[There is none Host, I apologize]].
The response finally came but he could barely hear it now, everything felt like white noise to him and his world was spinning unbelievably fast. But just then an amazing thing happened...
[[Host, we are being granted entry by an unknown entity]].
It came like a rumbling shock to his senses-"What!?".
He had no room for further inquiries as they were now suddenly within the world, a huge crystal white orb landed gently onto the earth and Gareth who was still within the system space called for a view of the outside.
It was then he saw it, standing a few meters away from the orb was a most ethereal being with silvery white hair cascading all the way down his back and eyes like that of the starry void, he was clad in the purest white of an unknown material that behaved in a nature similar to flames with little wisps of it emanating off his form and he possessed a face so divinely beautiful yet young with a hint of childish cuteness.
A weird feeling arose in Gareth's heart seeing such an entity causing him to scrunch his brows in suspicion, something was wrong and he had no idea why or how but he could tell that something was amiss.
"System, can you analyze that guy for me".
He requested while silently hoping in his heart that it wouldn't be as bad as he thought but the results came very quickly to vanquish that hope.
[[Name]]: Unknown.
[[Race]]: Unknown.
[[Strength]]: ????????
[[Agility]]: ????????
[[Speed]]: ????????
[[Defense]]: ????????
[[Abilities]]: Unknown – Unknown – Unknown – ?????
[[Threat level]]: Divine – Error – Unable to determine
He simply scoffed in amazement and shook his head with a defeated smile on his face "bastard".
The system's ability to analyze worked in two ways, by reading the target and it's history through Time or by gleaning information from the World itself about said target and failure could only occur if he was way too weak to comprehend such information and not necessarily be the case that said target surpassed the system's abilities or if the World itself in some cases did not have the answer either or was simply above the system's capabilities to read it.
In this case it was a third option, not only was the target far above him but also far above the system itself and so too was the World.
Still, the one lucky thing concerning all this was the fact no hostile intent had been recorded by the system and he couldn't exactly stay in here forever. Of course if he could go back he would take that option in a heartbeat, now he had no option to step outside but not before a little notification arrived from the system.
[[Host, I have scanned some of the weaker residents around that fall within my abilities and gleaned the language spoken here]].
[[You shall now be able to speak it with the same proficiency as they also]].
He raised a brow and facepalmed a little upon realizing now that he had forgotten such a thing as the possible language barrier that could exist between both parties "ah yes, thank you system".
With that out of the way he finally stepped out of the system space and made an oval shaped opening on the sphere before setting foot on this world for the first time. Instantly he could feel how terribly suffocating those eyes felt when locking onto him as if he were the only thing in the world, a description that normally would be flattering but here it felt like Death was standing right behind him and would be following his every step which was what those eyes did as he walked forward.
He could feel himself being scanned from head to toe like an exotic new animal and it took all of Gareth's will not to trigger his automatic defense systems which were dangerously close to activating due to how incredibly nervous he was and once he came to a stop after having felt like he'd come close enough, Gareth cleared his throat and tried introducing himself.
"Greetings..." He began but held his tongue upon realizing how much this made him sound like the aliens depicted in those cartoons and movies back on Earth, although in actuality right now he was indeed the alien here from those scenarios.
"I speak English".
And that did it, the huge spike in his emotions and fright at the sudden response finally triggered his defense systems which nearly sent him into psychosis at how bad his luck was going today.
'Oh I'm dead, I'm so dead' he chanted to himself mentally like a mantra as he was clad in an armor suit and more than twenty gigantic canons created by the nano machines began floating around him all pointed towards the being standing before him who was seemingly tilting his head in amusement at the current situation.
For seconds there was not a word spoken between them except for the low hums of the gearing canons, but the next second they began fading away like dust and receding into Gareth's body upon finally regaining full control over himself but his heart still remained turbulent as he could not predict how anything goes from here on out with the entity before him who still looked to be quite a bit amused until he spoke again
"Do not look so frightened".
"Though a first for me seeing one as advanced as yours, you're not the first machine-based entity I've met".
"Seems like an automatic defense system is a common thing you employ within yourselves".
During the period of their many conquests in that other realm, some of the entities Emrys met during their stops was one such as this but far lesser and naturally Elias being a piece of his soul knew such information.
Although there was something quite odd about this one, perhaps not him specifically but something he had with him, was it inside his soul or was it someplace else entirely and this quite intrigued him because such an abstract existence attached to someone like that as if it were some parasite but quite different made little sense.
[[Host, there is a problem]].
'Huh?' Gareth instinctively became a little on guard but hearing the next words of the system made his eyes widen to their limits.
[[He can sense my existence]].
His mind raced at Lightspeed trying to find a silver lining in this new predicament he faced until an idea came to him 'Wait, even if he can that doesn't mean he understands what you are right?'.
[[Yes, but he's also trying to find me which could spell disaster if he attempts to...
'Yeah, I know' The system did not to complete it's words as Gareth already understood the dangers being implied here, he could only hope the words he feared wouldn't be uttered.
'System, I know we can't leave this realm now'.
'But we still do possess the ability to leave this world especially correct?' Gareth inquired as new plans began formulating in his head.
[[Correct Host, I have already located another world Universes away from this one to hide us for a little while]].
This seemed to have calmed his nerves quite a bit, now he could focus on making sure that they could leave while still on good terms as a form of double insurance but the next words that came out of that beings mouth brought terror like never felt before to the very depths of his source.
"Would requesting that I meet that thing really be that bad of an outcome?".
"To the point of making plans to flee from me like that, it's a bit excessive".
Elias could both see and feel the palpable terror emanating from not just the strange visitor but that abstract existence too, something of it turned red and hostile like it had suffered an attack and was preparing to retaliate which only served to confuse him as to why.
He had wondered why it seemed like Gareth's consciousness had short gaps where it just seemingly vanished out of existence only to return again even though it was always there in technicality, that abstract thing was pinpointed as the cause and it didn't take him long to find their very secret telepathic link which he also found interesting in the way it was used.
But even then he felt like he had to warn them of a little error with their plans–
"And you also cannot leave this world, any attempt at doing so would mean your protection ends and signal your destruction".
Gareth cursed passionately at his absurdly terrible luck upon hearing those words, other than the fact that he had never felt so...naked in his life as he did now, what was he to do now in this situation when even his communication with the system has been compromised and he was facing the threat of death out of nowhere from the entity before him.
Should he fight knowing with certainty that his death was sure or should he surrender and play some Russian roulette as to what his fate might be?
He already knew the answer to that question and no matter how bad of a taste it might leave in his mouth, Gareth had far too much to lose now so he chose the second option, a choice corroborated by the system even if as a temporary solution just to buy time.
'Hm, it would seem they have greatly misunderstood my intentions'. As foreign entities who shouldn't be here, they were under the temporary protection of Aine whom had purposefully shielded them within the boundaries of this world and nothing else and the moment they stepped out of it, the realm would resume it's intent to obliterate them on the spot which would be an unfortunate loss of some interesting new things Fate had brought to his doorstep.
But perhaps now when thinking about it, the violent intent laden within his thoughts were still present as that would mean he was in fact keeping them prisoner like a caged animal and wouldn't have allowed them exit whether they wanted it or not so in the end, they were still correct to view him as a hostile entity which made no difference either way.
'Still, it's quite colorful how quickly the mind can spiral into a galaxy of it's own conclusions and biases whether misguided or not'.
'Is that how it works with me also when I engage myself with theories'.
Elias knew not the answer to that one but perhaps he learned something new today, now what to do with his little strange visitor here and that little thing with him as he began offering his surrender but that only caused his smile to widen a bit more. He had never fought a machine-based lifeform before, Emrys had but even that couldn't be called a fight as it ended pretty quickly and he was curious as to what they could do or how it would interact with him.
This could be another chance to learn some more before collecting the spoils of war in the end, with his decision made Elias smiled "Let us battle instead".
The proposal was refused and with that Gareth felt his last thread of sanity snap with the loudest bang before it got reattached again the next instant, he didn't know where this new calm came from as he simply stood there processing this with an arm on his face and his head held down. No matter how he thought about it this still couldn't make sense, it was much too absurd how he went from the top of the world to this in such little time.
Were they signs he missed or ignored, anything that warned him because he just wanted to believe this was his fault somehow and that in a way he was deserving of this as the second option felt much too disheartening to entertain.
Unbeknownst to him tears had begun running down his cheeks and upon noticing it, the only thing he could do was scoff and smile before breaking out into a laugh and ending with a long hearty sigh as he wiped them off his face.
"System" he called out verbally to it, a strange sense of mental fortitude encasing him as he smiled.
"I am going to survive this, no matter what I shall survive".
"I can't die here....We can't die here".
"Even if I have to sell my soul to the Devil himself".
And one of the two firsts that he would come to experience occurred at this moment, a physical manifestation unhidden to the world and an avatar of the system floating before him, looking like a small child with the wildest dark hair but with the clearest blue eyes and a wide smile plastered onto it's face.
[[Then that goal, I shall try my best to help you achieve it...Gareth]].
And the second, his name. Gareth had never thought much about it that he had never been called by his name from the system, although there were moments where he tried to change or teach it only to get a little annoyed but in the end giving up because he practically thought it a non-sentient entity with a fixed direction no matter how advanced it may be beyond his understanding.
But now he had heard it for the first time, not just that but also seen it for the first time, the shock and stupefied look on his face was washed away with a playful head shake and replaced with smile "heh, yeah".
"Thank you, System".
"Let's go".
[[Commencing safety protocol (-0-)]].
With no need of input from Gareth the system went ahead with restoring his destroyed space and creating a six meter tall orb around them which served as the outer shell to the realm's creation and in moments Elias found himself floating in an endless sea of pitch black which soon began morphing to mimic the same structure as the cosmos as creations began appearing all over but with some differences to it's design, a major one being the uncountable number of black holes and stars of an impressively large size lighting up with an array of colors as if making a performance.
But their size was such that he imagined something like the former would be enough to serve as a good resting pillow for a full-grown World eater with inbuilt massage functions, next were the planets ranging from a quarter of the former two's sizes to a little below and then an uncountable number of other things scattered about in this realm each making a crazy little performance of their own.
[[Commencing final assimilation]].
[[Activating Overlord class armor]].
The next string of sudden announcements brought him out of his daze as he saw parts of the realm liquify and begin flowing towards the strange visitor now standing as tall as the stars and wearing a violet blue armor but under the influence of the absorbed realm now turning a starry black on different parts of him.
Floating behind him in a spherical formation were twenty metallic cubes with a spinning blue core encased in what seemed to be a crystal and on the armor was a giant pair of metallic wings with what seemed to be circuit lines engrained all over it and firing off immense levels of energy.
The metallic cubes moved to begin merging with the armored suit as five merged into each of it's arms with inbuilt compartments made for them, and the last ten merged into the core within it's chest turning it a crimson red which spread to every bit of the armor until it began releasing copious amounts of it which sent tiny vibrations through the very fabric of this realm and changed something within it.
Seeing all that material just made Elias think of one thing, that Mavion would be ecstatic to get and tinker with something like this, perhaps if he brought this as a gift it would help speed up his master's goal of making friends with the rest of his peers as he was sent there to do by their family.
Now with this goal in mind Elias would have to change his whole approach with this so as to cause little to no damage with the suit, while also putting it at the back of his mind that none of his attacks reach that thing he calls -System-.
"You're quite a funny one".
"Why does your heart beat like you are fighting to die".
From the giant's view Elias would be no smaller than a speck of dust in comparison, yet his voice still reached him clear as day and carrying in it a presence that seemed to linger over the entirety of this realm.
But he received no answer from the strange visitor which only caused a small smile to grace his lips, then he took one step, sending out a wave of power that near instantly shattered the planets surrounding him and spilling out trillions of universes forming over like an endless sea that stood before he and his opponent.
With the next step he suppressed the potency of his power below the third circle of magic, and with the next his form began growing by leaps and bounds until he took the next, a step which turned into an immediate sprint as he began running, faster and faster until he crossed over an entire universe in but a fraction of a second but that was still too slow, he kept moving, faster and faster and faster, tweaking his magic all the while trying to get it at just the right level with his opponent until the entire sea warped before his senses in a final step as he crossed over it's entirety with such force and such speed that the entire sea was near instantly eradicated until he came to a final stop, now standing now toe to toe with the being of such magnificent height.
"Now then, I have brought myself exactly down to your level".
"Shall we begin?".
Gareth knew that from here on out and with such a stage set up for him, he had to take advantage of every bit of underestimation he would receive, every opening he would be given and if possible try to create one himself for the sole purpose of inflicting maximum damage in as little time as possible before the entity before him would have the thought of even upping his level by the slightest bit and change the game entirely.
It didn't matter how overwhelming he would come to feel, he couldn't let himself get swept up in despair or awe, there was just only one goal on his mind, he had to kill him.
[Dimensional separation].
A single thin line appeared on the fabric of this realm, all encompassing in it's entirety and a stark difference to the one cast by it's original owner, but all it amounted to was nothing.
The line only persisted for a short while, existing diagonally across reality and from an outside perspective seeming like it had severed Elias in two as reality and he seemed to be sliding downwards but just then it faded away to nothing as the realm was restored to it's normal state and Elias floating there remained perfectly unharmed by the little phenomenon.
Gareth's mental fortitude remained unshaken by this and only went ahead with the next step of attack, a black orb no bigger than his hands appeared in their midsts and near instantly time was frozen to a halt. With that done he created a good distance between them and activated all ten metallic cubes in each of his hands to call upon something almost illusory and yet in fact far more real than anything will ever come to be–
Law infusion - [Destruction].
It wasn't even the real thing, just a shadow of a shadow of the real thing with an incomparable tiny piece of it's presence and yet even that was so overwhelming. And right then Elias broke free of the restraints of his frozen time just moments before it's manifestation and began walking steadily towards the strange visitor just as the -Law- came into being, present within a flame as fragile as a candlelight and bearing no specific properties nor a heightened increase to it's heat most especially, it just burned as it was and yet the power contained within it was something that should not be.
Something that would have near instantly destroyed the entirety of this realm had it not been for his presence within it, something that was burning time itself in this place and just then the flames grew, blazing a tsunami of waves threatening to wash over him and yet as they grew it shrank back further and further with each step he took towards it.
It was a strange sight indeed, every moment that passed caused that power to burn incomparably brighter than ever before yet somehow it's light was only getting smaller and smaller, never once going past the ridges of his hands, almost as if it couldn't dare but stay within those bounds right until he came face to face with the strange visitor once again and the light met it's final demise.
The -Law- was gone, the presence of time was restored and all that remained was the same flame burning just as weakly yet it's light proved stronger and unrestrained in it's natural reach beyond the ridges of his hands as it seemed to bask the entirety of this realm in it's warm and gentle glow.
EnD.