Chapter 123: Dawn Of The Endless Dream (2)
"Nara... you seriously have to teach me the Script of Gods."
Amaterasu floated in the ruined sky, pure white hair still faintly simmering from the residual heat of her restored solar flames.
Her voice carried a mix of frustration and reluctant admiration as she stared at the space where Izanami had vanished.
Nara’s two remaining forms merged into one, and she slowly shook her head, her long green hair flowing like living vines in the wild, chaotic wind.
"You could have learned it already," she replied, voice calm but edged with quiet exasperation, "if you hadn’t wasted so many eras co-ruling this darn star system."
Amaterasu offered a faint, weary smile, the glow of solar fire shimmering dimly across her pale skin.
"You know I had to give my people a fighting chance," she murmured. "Kami are still Kami... whether they walk bathed in fire or shrouded in death. I couldn’t bring myself to be some tyrant."
The two Supreme Goddesses fell silent for a moment, the weight of sixty trillion years of war settling between them once more.
Then Amaterasu’s golden eyes sharpened as she looked toward the vast ocean-like portal leading to the Topside.
"More importantly... who could have been strong enough to watch over Kalpa all this time—and even intervene to save her?"
Nara’s green eyes narrowed with a hint of tension.
"It could have been anyone," she murmured, her voice low but steady. "Right now... the Celestial Accord is teetering on the edge of total collapse. Someone’s uncovered our plans."
Amaterasu’s head whipped toward her, the lingering solar flames dancing more wildly around her form, flaring with the force of her surprise.
"What—?"
Before she could say more, Nara pressed on without pause, her voice calm but weighted with meaning.
"On top of that, your territory—the Orin Star System—is already in chaos. Each of the five other worlds has been taken by smaller Pantheos... and some might be on par with our own."
Amaterasu’s expression shifted through several emotions in rapid succession—disbelief, anger, then a cold, dawning dread.
Her hands tightened around the hilt of her pure white sword until the solar fire along the blade trembled.
"Five worlds... already claimed? And beings to us?"
The thought alone made the light in her eyes waver.
"Did our war... truly cause this much damage?"
She started to speak again, but another realization struck her first.
"And our decrees..." she murmured, looking down at her own hands. "They all vanished at the same moment. That’s something that doesn’t happen... unless."
In that moment, Nara’s gaze swept the ruined realm, equally troubled.
----
Thousands of kilometers away, hidden within a pocket of dream-space, Akasha sat cross-legged, the Dreamer’s Scythe resting across his lap.
The turbulent sky of the goddesses’ battlefield mirrored perfectly in the soft haze surrounding him.
From the moment their decrees faded, he had been silently observing, seeing no reason to step in.
’Well, since they’ve handled most of it... let’s see what they can bring to the table.’
In that moment, his abyss-black eyes moved slowly across the two Supreme Goddesses as he scanned them.
----
[Amaterasu Helion
Age: 145 Eras
Rank: Cosmic Union (Tier 21) (BP +30) (Total Power Output = Tier 51)
Race: Sun Kami Goddess (Bloodline: Solar’s Heir (God)
Affinity: Solar Fire, Light, Purification
Divinity: ???
Star: The Goddess Star of Eternal Solar Flames (Above Origin)
Decree(s): Celestial (3/3), Stellar (2/3)
Emperorship Authority: Eternal Solar Expanse
Aura(s) - Sword (Tier 7/21) Fire (Tier 7/21)
Battle Arts: Eternal Solar Domination (Above Origin)
Innate Powers: Absolute Flaming Purity (Above Origin), Radiant Writing (Above Origin), All-Consuming Light (Above Origin), Sun of Purity (Origin), Flame of Eternal Dawn (Origin)
Skills: Solar Mantle (Above Origin) (Tier 21/21)
Weapon: Sword (???) Mastery - 100/100
Hidden Info: ???]
--
[Nara Lewyn
Age: 170 Eras
Rank: Cosmic Union (Tier 21) (BP +41) (Total Power Output = Tier 62)
Race: Celestial Elven Goddess (Bloodline: Celestial Tree Elf (God)
Affinity: Nature, Light, Life, Growth
Divinity: ???
Star: The Goddess Star of Luminous Nature (Above Origin)
Decree(s): Celestial Decrees (3/3), Stellar Decrees (2/3)
Emperorship Authority: Eternal Luminous Nature Expanse
Aura(s) - Nature (Tier 7/21) Life (Tier 7/21), Life (7/21)
Battle Arts: Ultimate Luminous Grove Style (Above Origin)
Innate Powers: Luminous Bloom (Above Origin), Vitality Cascade (Above Origin), Living Ecosystem (Above Origin), Luminous Veil (Origin), Bloom of Eternal Glow (Origin)
Skills: Blooming Reservoir (Above Origin) (Tier 21/21), Vitality Cascade (Above Origin) (Tier 21/21)
Weapon: Scepter (???) Mastery - 100/100
Hidden Info: ????]
----
Akasha’s fingers tapped once against the scythe’s shaft.
"Come again... say fucking what?"
In that moment, he was just glad he hadn’t rushed in like an idiot.
Realizing their power was nearly on par with his—maybe even greater—put him on high alert.
And the fact that certain information was hidden from him only added to his frustration.
A rare flicker of annoyance crossed his face.
"What exactly does my eyes need before they stop leaving me half-blind?"
He usually paid little attention to their progress, figuring that the kind of advancement they pursued would happen eventually.
But now, he was starting to feel more out of the loop than he preferred.
Leaning back a bit, he mulled over the simplest ways forward.
He considered the simplest paths forward—pull them both into Dream Land and negotiate or erase them....
Either would be efficient.
Yet something about the situation made him stay still a moment longer, watching.
----
Nara’s green eyes continued to scan the ruined sky. Her voice dropped into the Language of Gods, each syllable bending the fabric of the realm itself.
"Reveal every hidden presence within this battlefield. Show them... now."
The words rang out like pure authority given form.
Thousands of kilometers away, the dream-space around Akasha shattered without warning.
One moment, he was hidden away in stillness.
The next, he was just there—cross-legged in the empty void, scythe resting across his lap, floating right in front of the two Supreme Goddesses.
His jet-black eyes widened just a touch, black-and-white hair tousled by the unruly wind.
For a fleeting moment, the graceful, measured composure he always carried gave way to unguarded surprise.
’Shit... I forgot about that!’
He paused for a moment, clearly noticing Nara using the Language of Gods, but the display of their power on their status quickly overshadowed that detail.
In the same instant, he began to channel an affinity.
[Space Affinity]
He began to rise, Space Affinity curling lazily around him—
Nara tilted her head just a touch, her green eyes fixed on him with steady, unshakable focus. Once more, she spoke in the Language of Gods.
"Within this realm, no escape, no teleportation, no concealment of any kind shall succeed without my permission."
The words settled over the void like an invisible net.
Akasha felt the restriction close around him—clean, absolute, and utterly unyielding.
His fingers curled a little tighter around the scythe’s shaft, a subtle shift that sharpened the cautious edge in his stance.
Still, he stayed seated, letting his expression settle back into a mask of steady neutrality, those abyss-black eyes fixed on the two goddesses, watching them with a calm yet calculating intensity.
Amaterasu and Nara exchanged a quick, tense glance.
The pressure rolling off the unknown man was not loud or explosive—it was quiet, dense, and strangely layered.
The solar fire dancing along Amaterasu’s arms flickered briefly, while Nara’s green hair shifted, as though sensing something that didn’t belong.
’What is this...’ Amaterasu’s golden eyes narrowed.
’Something with elven grace, vampire blood, dragon presence... and even things I can’t even recognize. And... I’m sure it’s not native to the Orin Star system...’
Nara’s thoughts ran parallel, colder and sharper.
’Is he from one of those pantheons?’
They both knew all too well that, given the state of affairs between the Dead Sun and Celestial Sun Pantheons, it was unthinkable for a native to be born of races from both sides.
While such a thing might have been possible in another time, the ongoing war made them doubt it could ever truly happen—yet here they were, faced with the reality of beings born with an astonishing mix of races.
Amaterasu’s pure white sword swept upward in a smooth, deadly arc, solar flames bursting to life along its edge, the tip now leveled at Akasha’s throat.
But before the blow could land, Nara’s voice rang out once more in the Language of Gods—each word carrying absolute authority, warping the very air around them.
"You... reveal your true identity, origin, and purpose within this star system. Speak without falsehood."