[MA] 421. Blinked Out of Existence (Patreon)

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[A/N: Sorry I'm late. Last week was difficult. I'll release the two late chapters this week.

At least this chapter is 50% longer than usual!

Announcement: I'll take a week off in June, from the 1st to the 8th. I need the time to organize a lot of stuff in my life.

Chapters this week: 1/3

Late chapters: 2

Next chapter: Tomorrow (Wednesday)]

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The entire universe was surrounded by and infused with purple and violet energy—if you knew how to look for it. Few did. The energy grew so thick at the center of the universe that you didn't need any ability to see it surrounding the entire galaxy. Even then, it was faint, resembling cosmic dust. It was only when you got to the star system at the centermost point of that galaxy that the energy looked like fluid light moving around and inside every planet.

The white star in the middle was called Primordia. It was the Seat of the Primordial Race, the Throne of the Agalath Multiverse.

The Throne was a physical thing. Made of the darker-than-black bones of the only Void Impersonator to have ever been slain in Agalath, it released a dreadful aura that could unmake the entire galaxy if left unchecked. The intimidating Throne stood on top of a massive pillar of white fire coming from Primordia. The purple and violet energy was the heaviest around the star, blanketing and moving wildly around it. The chaotic energy turned into structures resembling tendrils as they approached the elevated Throne, and lightning could be seen moving inside, going toward the sitting Co-Ruler of the Agalath Multiverse.

It was hard to notice the translucent Dhar sitting there. He was made of purple energy like all Primoridals, barely visible against the dark Throne amid so much energy. His eyes were closed as his head rested on his closed fist, the elbow on the Throne's arm. The nine tentacle-like appendages coming out from the back of his head lay over his shoulders like hair, not moving. Energy and lightning were pumped into him, and he seemed wholly unaffected.

The Primordial Sovereign kept absorbing the Heavenly Tribulation offered by the Multiverse Alliance as repayment for the mana that allowed them to keep the Void at bay. It was also payment for the Covenant the Primordials and the Alliance's Founders had once made: in it, the Primordials had promised not to mistreat the surviving races of the Multiverse Alliance when Dhar came to rule over all. No one alive remembered it but Dhar himself, as every Alliance founder had taken the secret to the grave with them.

That was the actual reason the Primordials should Purge the Alliance occasionally: for their own good. The Primordials could wait for eternity before they became strong enough for Dhar's Investiture, but the Alliance would cease to exist without help. Sometimes, the Alliance needed an actual erasal of corruption. Other times, merely a common enemy. The Heavenly Lightning could actually be harvested in much cheaper and more effective ways. Yet, the Primordials had taken on the burden out of the good of the heart of the first Primordial Maiden. It was out of love for her that the Primordial Sovereign allowed it.

Yet, the holiest sacrifice in Agalath's history had come to be reinterpreted as something motivated by greed. All because of the comprehensively unwilling Heavens. They had twisted people's hearts to oppose the Primordials in every way possible.

Not even the Primordials recalled that they should care about the Alliance instead of treating them as unimportant animals. Most recently, even Chorus politics had turned the righteous Purge into a game. It had taken the Heavens countless ages to pierce the protections of Primordia, but the Primordials had been affected by their manipulation in the end. It was almost inevitable, as they commanded the Heavens through their Heavenly Voice. They couldn't Sever themselves without losing their power, and only someone Severed from the Heavens could wholly resist their influence—or a Co-Ruler.

The Primordial Sovereign remained free of the Heavens' influence but did nothing to save his people. Not any longer, and not yet. He had learned it was a lost cause, for using his Co-Ruler Authority delayed his Investiture. That could keep happening forever, as the Heavens always found a way to indirectly affect him. If things went as the Heavens wanted, someone would eventually grow powerful enough to kill Dhar. The Agalath Multiverse would then become completely Unclaimed. Even the killer wouldn't be able to step up to the position. At least, not if they wanted to leave. A Co-Ruler required an army of S-ranks to stay in power—or something close enough, as Dhar had formed with the Chorus.

Therefore, it was wiser for him to let the Heavens act as they wanted and keep gathering power. It had cost him his lover, but it would be better for everyone in the long term. He could revive her after he took absolute control of the multiverse. He would make everything right as soon as he got his Mandate.

But meanwhile, he watched.

Suddenly, the corner of his lips arched up. The latest Deep Anomaly had just been Severed. He almost chuckled. That was yet another failure by the Heavens, and he hadn't needed to move a single finger.

Alas, his smile died when he recalled that the Abyss had absorbed the essence of a Primordial's Voice when the stupid former Maiden died. Even he hadn't seen that that could happen; the Heavens had been very sneaky with that one.

In fact, the Heavens had timed it perfectly. If Dhar acted to unmake that, the timing remaining for him to accumulate power for his Investiture would double. It wasn't worth it. That had happened before. The Heavens were placing their pawns where they needed to be for the final clash during his Investiture.

Indeed, the Final War was coming. Potentially. It would be the Final one if he won.

He would win.

Dhar hadn't been so sure of it a few other times, especially when the dragons summoned the Abyss out of nowhere. However, even that random Idealist wraith had helped him with the Anomaly this time.

The Anomaly had been the piece he had been the most worried about. It might be a C-rank currently, but it had been on a course to absorb the World Tree and its S-rank Warden. The power of an S-rank merged with an entire universe, fueled by a Will of Absolute Power, with an essence replaced by the Heavens?

That would be the strongest Heavenly Avatar that Dhar had ever heard of.

Still, even worried, he had been confident of his victory.

He looked down and almost ordered his people to stop building the Hunter Abomination. Not even the former Maiden, stupid as she had been, deserved to be turned that. But he couldn't interfere without delaying his Investiture. His people were almost completely gone. The Heavens had all but replaced their agency, and moving against the Heavens required using his Authority. The only thing the Heavens couldn't do was turn a Co-Ruler's Guardians directly against the Co-Ruler. They would defend him when the time came.

Ah, Guardians. Another name the Alliance had taken from the Primordials. Yet, their Guardians would fight for the Heavens when the time came.

How perverse.

Dhar sighed and stopped paying attention to the Abomination. It hurt him to see his people so twisted. They were warriors, yes, not beings who would be soft with their lessers. But they were meant to fight for grand ideals, not pettiness. It was with greatness that they had gotten where they were.

Nowadays, it even hurt his heart to listen to the twisted thing they called the Great Song. He would have stopped communing with his people altogether if he didn't need the Great Song to send them the Heavenly Lightning they required to use their Voice—a loophole he had exploited to strengthen them without using his Authority.

Dhar didn't blame the other races for being twisted by the Heavens. Or even for not wanting to be under another's rule. He might be the same as them in their place. He wouldn't exterminate them for it; not entirely.

He had a Covenant to honor. Honor, not obey. He was no longer subject to its binding power. But a true Primordial never went back on their word. His people would need to relearn that after his victory.

Still, he wouldn't allow any B-rank or stronger to survive after baring their fangs against him out of their own volition. He would remove the Heavens' influence from their hearts and kill any who still wanted to go against him.

Dhar didn't revel in senseless slaughter, but the Agalath Multiverse would be his and his alone.

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High above the skies, an Eye made of the very fabric of Reality opened. Very few people in all of Reality could see it. It was being especially furtive, doing all it could to ensure a specific living being wouldn't detect it.

A wraith looked up and sighed.

"Mom was right; meddling in other people's business will be the death of me. But be that as it may, I warned you there would be consequences if you used your Eye against me again. Do not involve the innocent in our business! I told you I would come here for a few days to avoid hurting the local Node with my quick passage. I told you! But you never listen, do you?! We'll see if you'll like another multiverse with a system." She disappeared.

The Eye trembled for a moment, then looked around. It didn't find the Idealist. It closed itself and dissolved as delicately as it could; at its level of power and existence, any tiny movement it made could cause terrible ripples.

It wasn't subtle enough. Space itself closed with the eye. A galaxy blinked out of existence.

The Void invaded a universe that was not ready to deal with it.

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"The Ghost Doctor herself in my humble abode," said the Planitum Associate as the wraith materialized in his Universe.

He didn't like the fact that he couldn't stop her, but he was more interested in the reason for her presence than his emotions. So, he smiled and opened his four arms for a hug he knew she wouldn't give him. She was a bit of a prude. She was also a humanoid purist. His six leg-tentacles—and their intimate uses—disgusted her for some reason.

The wraith looked around, checking on the people in Lightcity. Crystal, light, and nebula diamonds were woven together in divine architecture at the depths of the dark sea, blooming into one of the most beautiful cities the Associate had ever visited. He was very proud of that and wondered if he would have to kill her for offending one of his masterpieces. She was so very interesting! He would rather not.

"Beautiful," she assessed with almost an awed breath. "One of the top three underwater cities I have ever seen. How long did it take you to build it?"

"Less than two hundred thousand years!" he replied, quoting the time since they had last seen each other. He wasn't about to tell her how good he was at gathering the resources and connections to build that place. It could be used against him in the future.

She snickered. "Afraid of me, are you?" She didn't wait for him to finish talking. "I found something in Agalath that you might be interested in."

Then, she nonchalantly took a Galaxy Seed from her spatial treasure.

The galaxy they were in shook under the thing's weight, but only he, as its Warden, would feel it. And maybe the Ghost Doctor. Who knows precisely what she was or her power level?

The Seed was a tiny black hole surrounded by a white orb-like aura the size of a fist. He was surprised when his Allvision pierced it and found it was filled with information.

How rich was the Ghost Doctor to use a Galaxy Seed for data storage?!

"You said it's related to the Agalath Multiverse?" he asked, still looking at the information inside. She would've hidden it from him if he couldn't read. "Last I heard, someone called Dhar was almost becoming its Mandatary."

"That's right. This thing here comes from Dhar's little Multiverse Alliance."

He looked at her. "Those pests? I'm surprised they haven't brought the Void to every universe in Agalath yet." Everyone knew the Void followed them wherever they went. Their presence was a death sentence.

"Agalath is too big. Two hundred seventy-five universes. Even then, the Co-Ruler had to interfere once to reclaim about fifty of them. He would have to do it again soon enough, but it's as you said; he's about to become a Divine Mandatary."

The Platinum Associate smiled. "Does that make you jealous?" He wasn't sure about her power, but he knew she had Severed herself. She could never become a Mandatary. She was walking a different Path.

She snickered again. "I'm not interested in becoming a babysitter for Reality. Didn't I tell you last time? I'm sure there's more to cultivation than Wardenship and Investitures. There has to be more."

"If you say so," he said dismissively.

But honestly, her words sang true to his heart. He had almost given up on being a Warden once and became an Idealist, seeking more extraordinary things in life. But he had belayed the decision until after he became a Warden, and when he accomplished it, he became satisfied with having a very whole lot of power over his universe and the Heavens' assistance in maintaining some level of Order in it. He wouldn't give it up easily.

Who knows? If he became strong enough one day, he might even try to go for Investiture himself. It was a much safer Path than hers.

"Are you interested or not?" she asked, pushing the Galaxy Seed to float between both. The galaxy they were in trembled again. "It's something called Guardian System. Very useful. I even changed it a little so it can use qi and, even if you want to also use mana, it won't steal people's tribulation from them. Your universe could benefit a lot from it."

He widened his three eyes in interest. "It can steal tribulations? Can I use it against my enemies?"

She pulled the Seed back to her. "I just said I changed it so it cannot steal tribulations. I won't give it to you without a Covenant promising you won't do it, facilitate it, influence people to do it, or tell others it can be done. And you'll have to stop anyone who tries to do it."

He licked his left eye to show slight annoyance. "Boring. But I think I heard about a Guardian System before, in passing. Someone called Horizon-something who came to buy some weapons. He was bragging about how a new system would allow him to take control of his organization as soon as he hacked into it. He didn't want to tell me which organization it was."

The wraith nodded. "It was the Multiverse Alliance. Look into the Seed. Seek for the section labeled 322-12-A-22-A-B. It introduces the system. You have ten seconds to decide whether you want it before I must leave."

The Platinum Associate didn't like being pressured to make a decision, but he checked the section in the Galaxy Seed. He liked what he saw but could also tell other universes in his multiverse would get jealous of him and maybe start a war over it. A war he was likely to lose.

"I'll pass," he said.

"It's free," she countered. "The Seed, too."

That gave him pause. He had estimated he would be plunged into war after spending what he believed the system to be worth, about a third of his riches. Then, half his resources would be used to put every piece of the system in place if he wanted it to cover the whole universe. The more people in the system, the better it became, so he would want it to cover everything. He wouldn't have enough resources left for a war.

As a Warden, he had a lot of planets at his disposal, but most of them were worth nothing to the people who owned the resources the system needed. 

But if it was free and with a Galaxy Seed included...

The most expensive part of building the system was finding Galaxy and Star Seeds to host its Hubs. They were rare and could only be found in Deep Phaspace. Some multiverses were known to have more of them, but his multiverse was not one of them.

This Galaxy Seed was also already Neutered—a service almost as expensive as a raw Seed was worth—so it could quickly and cheaply become the Mainframe Hub. And he knew of two or three people that might sell him a Star Seed, enough for him to test the system in a few isolated places. Mana looked useful, but mainly against the Void, which he didn't have an issue with. So, he didn't even need to build the very expensive Mana Converters!

He asked, "Why would you give it to me for free?"

The wraith replied honestly, "The system makes cultivating easier and helps with governance, so your people will grow stronger faster. It can also help you grow if you use the Path Analyser well. That'll upset this multiverse's power balance eventually and, thus, upset the Heavens. I'm using this to send a message. I'm showing Reality that I don't care about using resources if they keep doing something I told them to stop doing. I'm willing to spread the system to even more places if Reality doesn't stop. But only you will get it in your multiverse; don't worry."

The Associate laughed. He didn't hate the current power balance in his multiverse, but only an idiot would say no to free and effortless power.

He asked, "What was that Covenant about?"

He couldn't peer into the darkness of the Ghost Doctor's hood, but somehow, he knew she was smiling.

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