★239
My restored consciousness and senses began to ebb, slipping away like sand through fingers.
'Huh?'
I muttered, startled. My Essereos, too, felt like it was evaporating.
'What's happening?'
There were no dimensions, no movement, nothing to grasp, yet I could feel something tearing at me from within, disintegrating me, pulling me toward an unseen core.
"Welcome to Delta-Singularity."
Came a voice, low and burning with violet darkness. Ot was Noir. Her presence seared the edges of the Layer, unaffected by the Singularity.
"It needs no name, but that is what we call the Ontic Layer that once existed here."
She added.
I could not see her, yet every remaining fragment of my senses carried her words, echoing in the hollow of my fading awareness.
"In ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇, even Meta Notions falls into the Delta-Singularity."
Just like Antares's ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇, but existing somewhere, higher in Existence.
Yet, unlike Antares's, the Delta-Singularity is a fault in this Existential Shell, a Singularity pulling everything and nothing all the way to the highest form of abstraction, Meta Notions to the energies flowing form the Alpha-Prime Layer.
They're no Meta Notions,Conceptiliths to create Major and Minor Concepts. No Meta Notions, Energy Fragments can't interact with their creations because the Meta Notions are the bridge between the Fragments and Existence.
The Dual Fragments, Ontospheres make this a Singularity, and the twin, Ontologions, defines it.
(If you refer to that extra chapter, you'll know these two are unpinned by Meta but create Metacrons, the Fragment of Meta-Laws, and make Meta, Meta, not a Concept.)
As a higher Reality than the Beta-Omega Layer, the Delta-Singularity naturally isn't the home for fictional creatures and stories. This means they're no Fictarions, Narravine & Mythaeon, so fiction, narrative & narrative realities that manages to get to this higher Reality converge into the Singularity.
All the infinite layers of realities from the preceding and succeeding Layers are gradually drawn to this Singularity.
(NOTE, a reality in a higher Reality (Layer) > a Reality of a lower Reality (Layer). A prime example is the Beta-Omega Layer and the Realities above it.)
This means, logically, structurally, and existentially, the storytelling of Tensura STARVERSE should've collapsed once again. But a mysterious power beyond the Singularity is currently ensuring that doesn't happen. This story must reach its end no matter what.
(My only guess is Karma.)
The story is protected, but Alter isn't. As for Noir, the Violet Darkness field has unpinned her from Narravine. She's currently inheriting the powers of her species, beings from higher Realities, a being now capable of resisting and utilising this Singularity.
'I'm going to fall into the Singularity, lost and forgotten. Was this truly the opponent I had planned to face?'
I whispered to myself, spiralling helplessly into the inescapable void.
'No… the real question is, is this who she was meant to fight?'
I corrected, the thought cutting deeper than any wound.
Something within me stirred, a faint flicker of awareness, even as my Essereos, my archetype, and my physical form disintegrated beyond repair.
"It's almost time."
I murmured, my voice dissolving into the Singularity itself.
Broken down to nothing, reduced to a single Essereos, I, the Paragon of Absolute, Alter of Pisces, released a final radiance, soft but unyielding, like the dying glow of a star. It shimmered for an instant, illuminating the void, then vanished, swallowed entirely by the infinite darkness.
THIRD POV
Noir stood victorious in the Delta-Singularity, no trace of the Paragon of Singularity left.
"I'll stabilise my powers before going back."
Noir remained still, her presence coiling like a shadow around the void, patient and poised. Her Darkness, once a raging torrent, now thinned and calmed, revealing glimpses of her intent. Next time, she was preparing to strike with precision, not recklessness.
Then, without warning, a searing explosion of silver light erupted, brilliant and blinding, ripping through the Singularity. The radiance was overwhelming, swallowing the void itself, painting everything in stark brilliance, leaving only fragments of shadow and movement behind.
"Huh? Impossible!"
Noir recoiled, not expecting something cinematic to happen in ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇.
"Actually not."
A familiar voice replied, calm yet deadly.
Stars don't have a core yet, My Light made one for me. An unstable, ever-changing core. That core is my last essence particle holding the Essereos of Alter.
'When that moment comes, it'll trigger your Astral Body.'
My Light said.
Every Star has a True Body, their rightful, truest & purest form of themselves. With a True Body, we can create vessels and use them to inhabit fragile Worlds and Realms or for experimental purposes. But, the Astral Body is different.
This form is different from the True Body and Battle Form, which holds insurmountable energy. Behind each 100% True Body/ Battle Form is the 10% of their Astral Body.
According to My Light, the Supreme Star God holds each Star's Astral Form and forbids them from breaking the Astral Seal, even though that's not enough to summon the Astral Body into being.
As for me, an artificial Star of the Divine Deity of Sun, I have control over my Astral Seal. The collapse of my core triggers the breakage of my Seal. This is the first time I've been reduced to this state, and I'm eager to see the powers of the Astral Body of the Paragon of Singularity, Alter.
The light coalesced, and Alter began taking shape. When it was complete, he regained his physical form, pure, unscathed, impossibly whole.
"H.. how?"
Noir breathed, astonished, watching the impossible unfold. Alter didn't spare her a glance, nor was he aware of the scene he's causing. The Astral Body demanded undivided and unwavering focus to emerge, else, the metamorphosis won't be complete. And an incomplete transformation isn't celestial and divine, leading to self destruction.
The silver light dimmed, and his body began to unravel once more, unprotected from the Singularity, yet preparing for something far more ethereal to emerge.
Just as he stood ready to endure destruction again, a searing, blinding silver light erupted, forcing Noir backward under its sheer intensity.
"Here."
His voice was swallowed by the radiance itself. In a swift, brutal motion, he drove his right fist into his own chest, fingers digging in as if to tear out the very core of his being.
(Not a contradiction from what I've said. Earlier, his core and its essence were destroyed. The last piece carries the most weight. So even if the last piece of his essence is left, that's still his core. When destroyed, it reacts and releases the seal. What's he gripping is his new Astral Body core.)
His grip tightened around his core, trying to contain what's within and prevent the awakening of his Astral Body. The silver light dimmed, retreating inwards until all that's left is a faint glow pulsing from his body.
'Change of plans. I don't need my Astral Body to defeat this lowly creature.'
His pride would not permit it.
Wraith or not, creature of a higher Reality or otherwise, Alter could not grant his Astral Form to anyone, something not even his Light had ever beheld. A lowly, impure being did not deserve even a fragment of his divine radiance.
It seemed that Alter had restrained his Astral Body from fully manifesting, yet a portion of him had already begun its transformation
His once golden hair had turned pure silver, radiating a faint ethereal glow. Though he never manifested wings before, six pairs of immaculate, feathered wings now unfurled from his half-Astral Body as if they had always belonged there.
Above his head burned an incomplete halo, fractured yet divine, casting shards of light across the Singularity. His hand clutched his wounded chest, and a blinding radiance poured from the injury.
'I can't keep suppressing this core forever. I have to end this quickly.'
Just then, Thaumelyne was born.
Thanks to Alter's unyielding presence, Ascendrons were solidifying his transcendence above the Delta-Singularity itself. He was no longer hiding in the imperfect version of the Star Realm of this immature Shell, he was aiming higher, for the pure Star Realm, a plane of where every Celestial Being burned with perfect consciousness and the essence of Divinity that premated every quivering threat of of the Arché Verse's totality.
A secret only two Stars in the Star Realm knows.
"You shouldn't be alive. Don't give me that crap!"
Noir clutched her face, fury and despair twisting through her so violently that her flesh began to tear beneath her own grasp.
"I...I'll destroy you!"
She began concentrating her destruction, probably to conclude it.
To be continued...