NOVEL NEXT Chapter 70: When a soul shivers.
I blink slowly as I look around in confusion. With a frown I thought, ‘Wasn’t I just resting beside Barghest? How the fuck did I-’
My train of thought was interrupted by the sound of a large explosion behind me, causing my frown to morph into confusion when I turned around to look at the source. In front of me was a massive field of battle, or more to say, what was the aftermath of such a battle. Starting from the bottom of the little hill I was standing on, there was a body every half a metre or so.
All the corpses had varying degrees of gear and types, as well as quality. From simple leather armour, to knight armour, to even what seemed to be farmers. I guessed that last one because they had nothing on but simple clothes and pitchforks in their hands.
The state of all the corpses were just as varied as their attire. Some had simply suffered a beheading, while others were petrified, soggy as if drowned, mutilated as if torn limb from limb by bare hands, and a few were even cut cleanly in half vertically; the list went on. The final thing I noted was the age of everyone was all over the place as well. Some seemed to be as young as teens, while others were clearly in retirement.
My frown deepened as I thought, ‘I missed out on something like this? There are bodies as far as I can see!’
Just then there was a soft chuckle that sounded like the stars themselves as a large fox tail softly gave me a head pat. Not having any of my instincts go off, and recognizing the voice I turned and asked, “Mother? What is going on?”
Before answering me, she scooped me up on another one of her tails and lifted me closer to her as she said, “Hello my daughter, my little Artoria~.”
She smiled as she gave me another head pat before continuing, “I felt your soul shiver as more of your memories were shunted loose because of your recent ‘conquest.’ Good choice by the way, Barghest is such a sweet little child~.”
She then cast her gaze to the remnants of the battlefield and sighed with a slight smile on her lips as she said, “I remember this day. This was the final atrocity you committed to have Tearwyn born~.”
I raised an eyebrow in question, and Mother Lilith chuckled lightly before answering, “While I am sure you would agree that Tearwyn is a special little kit, it goes well beyond that~. You remember how I had told Raven and Salem they were soul-mates?”
I gave a small nod before my eyes widened a little as a thought crossed my mind. Mother's smile widened as she said, “You’re so quick on the uptake, little Artoria~. Yes, Tearwyn is your soul-mate. Soul-mates don’t always have to be romantic in nature, but can also be family or even simply friend oriented~.”
I nodded slightly at the revelation as I turned back to the remnant of the battlefield. With a gesture of my hand towards it, I asked, “And this?”
She placed a hand directly on my head as she said, “The final battlefield, of the final atrocity as I said. Birthing a god isn’t simple, or else every faction would be doing it after all~. This planet is actually a Nexus World for several trillion omniverses.”
She must have taken up a seated position, because I suddenly found myself in her lap with her resting her chin on my head as she continued, “And you killed every last one of them. From kings and emperors, to peasant children and wives~.”
I blinked and suddenly we were in another place, surrounded by what seemed to be an endless tide of corpses and broken armaments. As I was looking around, movement suddenly drew my attention. Shifting my gaze, what I saw brought a wide and wild smile to my face.
It was me. Looking exactly like Saber Alter, but I was absolutely covered in blood. My armour was shattered in several places as well, and I had some nasty looking wounds. But through it all, my sword was pristine! If not covered in as much blood as I was, but otherwise it looked as if it was brand new.
With her voice low, Mother Lilith said, “This was also the day you achieved your Major Authority in War~. And the moment your Noble Phantasm became so much more~.”
As I gazed at my past self walking slowly with a bit of an awkward limp, but with purpose, I noticed she was bleeding black blood. I felt Mother Lilith shake her head as she corrected my observation, “That is not blood. It’s what you’ve come to call ‘Black Water’~. That was your first Major Authority unlock: Corruption.”
My past self had come to a halt as she stared at a pair of monstrous doors that blocked her way. They were as large as a two story house if I had to guess, and made from some kind of white looking marble. I quickly noticed that along the doors and walls all around it, were what seemed to be shadows burning into them. The walls themselves seemed to go on forever as well in both length and height.
With a hum, Mother Lilith said, “That was a brilliant spell you used, albeit a bit risky~. You didn’t have infinite mana at the time, and you used nearly your entire reserve that you had left to kill everything between you and those doors~.”
She chuckled lightly before continuing, “It was so amusing to watch the last bastion of the defenders become nothing but shadows burned into a wall. Their faces of pure despair and outrage at being denied a battle was priceless~! Do you see those shadows high above the others, on the door itself?”
I followed her hand, and saw two massive shadows with what looked to be wings, seared onto the door. As I gave a nod Mother Lilith said, “Those were two of the highest seraphim the Light and Dark Faction had that they could send~. And they died before your magical might as if they were but pigeons. Even ‘She’ was surprised you managed to kill the two seraphim like that~.”
Tilting my head and frowning as the word ‘She’ sounded warped and odd, Mother Lilith just shook her head before saying, “Don’t worry about it for now, Little Artoria. I’ll just say that she is this Cycle’s Goddess of Creation; my antithesis.”
My eyes widened at the implication and I just numbly nodded my head. Taking mothers advice though, I pushed it from my mind as I turned my attention back to my past self as she pushed open the doors.
Another blink, and I found that we had moved once again. Looking around, it was the room my past self had just opened as I could see her making her way into it from the giant doors. My eyes widened in wonder and surprise as I looked around.
The room we were in was not a room at all! There was a long pathway that my past self was limping down, made of rainbow. Much like the Bifrost from the Thor movies. At the end of the path, it split two ways to form a massive circle around an equally massive beam of light or energy.
Look outwards, there were no walls but instead what seemed to be universes. All of them fading in and out, displaying seemingly random events and people. Or rather, their dead corpses for the most part. I was quick to notice that everything that had displayed something other than a waste land, was me creating said waste lands.
With another gentle hum Mother Lilith spoke up, “And here is the Nexus of the Nexus world~. While not anywhere close in power to the Nexus world you originally came from, that is to say the first Nexus World, this one is still quite powerful~. Everything you are seeing beyond the path are the events that led up to this point, infinitely playing out by copies of you.”
Turning to look up at her in confusion I asked, “Copies? I have copies of me running around?”
Before I could dwell on that fact, she answered, “Not anymore, no~. Watch~.”
Nodding my head, I turned my attention back to my past self who had just reached the giant pillar of energy/light. She held up her sword to her face and even though she was whispering I was still able to hear, “There must only be one. For my family I want, and need. For Tearwyn and our unending future.”
Then much to my surprise, she stabbed herself with the sword and jumped into the pillar of energy. The effects were immediate, as it turned black. Seconds later, a huge wave of power rippled out of the beam, and shook the very shape of reality itself. Sounds of glass cracking echoed out all around us, before every single universe and event shattered into uncountable pieces.
Soon all that was left was only the path and beam of blackness. I glanced back, and even the world beyond the doors was gone. Before I could wonder what exactly had happened, soon all of the shards and pieces of the universes started to swirl and converge on the black beam. As the swirl of broken reality started to converge near the platform that was still around, the beam started to compress itself and very quickly formed a ball shape.
I struggled to see exactly what was going on, as the whirlwind of reality shards was hard to see through, and the energy pillar had compressed so much that it was roughly the size of a golf ball now. Suddenly, a random bell tolled out, and all of the reality shards started to rush to the ball to be absorbed.
It didn’t take long before the only thing left was a rather large ball of darkness in the shape of what seemed to be an egg. If I had to guess, I’d say it was as large as a single story house. I felt another pulse of power and one of the sides of the egg like thing rippled, and then my past self was suddenly ejected.
She was completely naked and only had her sword left in her right hand. I took note that the corruption lines on her body did not match the shape of the ones I have now. I was broken out of my musing when Mother Lilith said, “And then there were two~.”
Tilting my head I asked, “Two?”
I felt her gently nod her head as her chin bobbed on mine as she answered, “Yes~. That action you did, was the final atrocity. You killed every single version of yourself, and every version of every entity you had killed previously by destroying the Nexus World and absorbing it along with every omniverse it was connected to.”
She then pointed at the large egg and said, “And then you gave up all that power, willingly and with pure intentions, to have Tearwyn be born~. She is in that God Egg.”
My eyes widened before I frowned in thought. Once again, Mother Lilith answered before I could voice my question, “The key words I said before were ‘pure intentions.’ You didn’t want to birth a new god for power. For help in a war, or anything like that~. You wanted a body for your soul-mate that would enable her to live eternally by your side. This is why it is hard to intentionally create a new god/dess, exactly as ‘She’ and I intended~. Otherwise, the little play that the factions have going on would just become exhausting to watch~.”
With a small chuckle she added, “And most would not be willing to give up their powers either. You had attained goddesshood by destroying a Nexus World, and absorbing it all. But you gave it up without even a second thought, or any hesitation~.”
With a gesture to my past self she finished, “And I do mean everything. All that was left was the power of your soul and your Authorities. Nothing of the powers you gained in the millions of years you had towards this goal remained~.”
My past self started to glow a purple that I instantly recognised before she flaked away like a victim of a Thanos snap. With an eyebrow raised I turned and gave my mother a pointed look.
She just giggled before saying, “What~? You held up your end of the bargain, and so I held up mine.”
Noticing my confused face she elaborated, “I won’t reveal it all right now, for dramatic purposes~. But what I will tell you, is that part of the bargain was to help Tearwyn a little bit~. But let’s be honest, I would have done that anyway most likely. She’s so cute after all~!”
It was my turn to chuckle, and I could only nod my head as I agreed. Tearwyn was indeed very cute and adorable. I was broken out of my thoughts by the sudden flickering of the world around us.
With a sigh, Mother Lilith said, “It seems you are awakening, so that’s all for this little reminiscence of the past~. More and more of your past will start to leak out of your soul's memory, so just be warned little Artoria~.”
I gave her a nod before I started to feel a bit dizzy and the world was turning black. As my mind left my soulspace, I didn’t register what Mother Lilith quietly said, “I’ll be watching my daughters. Watching, and hoping you two will finally be the ones who…”
