With the Originats handling business as they should, a few eyes had started watching themâtwo in particular focused on Niaâs battle.
Seraphiel and Aeloris had already torn through the Eternal Spire, cutting down twenty leaders and lesser progenitors with effortless, devastating precision.
Blades flashed, power rippled through the air, and their enemies fell one after another, unable to mount even the faintest resistance. When Lady Truth and The Eternal Deceiver claimed sixteen, it left ten each for them to finish without breaking a sweat.
Afterward, Seraphiel intended to deal with Absence too, but he was already gone long before they were done.
Nyx had given him a single mission, and once it was completed, he considered his role finished. The table was set for the Tyrannus Clan, and so he withdrew, waiting until he was called upon again.
Her gaze lingered on all the Originats, but especially on Nia.
She could sense that each of them carried her phoenix bloodline, weaker than hers and Ashâs, yet still slightly stronger than her own daughterâs.
It didnât make sense at all.
Watching Nia, who wielded flames of every color and had essentially claimed the entire Infernal Crucibleâa place Seraphiel had forged through her own powerâonly deepened the mystery.
"These beings are pretty unique, arenât they?" Aeloris remarked with an arched brow.
She could feel the resemblance too, though for now, she should just be glad Ash hadnât crossed paths with any elf who caught his eye.
[A/N: Uhh Fay hasnât been forgotten, but her role has been significantly reduced. Unless thereâs a strong preference for her character, a new Elf Waifu might be making an appearance soon!]
"Unique is an understatement," Seraphiel said as her gaze shifted from Nia, scanning for Ash... truth be told, she was worried. Ash had claimed he would handle it, and she believed he was the Dragon of Absolute Endingsâor something close to it.
She knew the Dragon of Chaos was on an entirely different levelânot just in power, but in existence itself.
What she couldnât have known was that Ash was, in truth, the same kind of being.
Across the void, the Eternal Deceiver watched Nia with a different sort of interest. It wasnât lust or anything of that nature, but pure, unfiltered curiosity.
"Just what did you do little brother?" He asked himself as he was also a bit shocked at how diverse and powerful the Primavus were.
"You even made the golden child into a conceptual existence?"
[A/N: The questions arenât typos! In this form of his true self, if he makes a statement that isnât already a falsehood, it will become a lie!]
His eyes closed for a moment as he sifted through millions of lives, countless faces he had worn long before the term became so familiar.
Then one life surfacedâa time when he was the eldest prince of a kingdom, the chosen Champion of a âgoddess,â who was suddenly and inexplicably sent away to a small, unknown planet he had never even heard of before.
"Ah! Is this it? ... Aster... little brother, will you lead me to the promised land?" he said, eyes snapping open with a smile.
If it wasnât obvious by now, Aster was the eldest brother to Ash and his siblingsâthe mastermind, the snake, and so much more.
He was a clone, though even he didnât know it.
Or rather, he wasnât a clone at all... not with The Eternal Deceiver having anything to say about it.
Aster was simply one of millions of clones placed across universes, worlds, realms, and every corner of the Lower Dimension.
It was simple, reallyâon the day he chose, his lie became reality.
"I have countless clones spread throughout every known and unknown universe, world, realm, or domain. They all remember my existence and possess none of my random personality traits. Their main goal is to remain weak and never find the way forward."
A blatant lie, of course. Yet reality obeyed. Across the entire Lower Dimension, countless clones appeared, each holding a random fragment of his personality, and all with one hidden purpose.
To find the way to more power!
Aster had a slight problem though.
Heâd been sent to Earth, a world no one from the Lower Dimension had even heard of before. But as soon as he arrived, the connection he could always access with his clones was abruptly cut.
Not completely severedâhe could still faintly sense himâbut he couldnât perceive anything beyond the first few moments. He wanted to find this world himself, not just for the sake of a clone, but because of the mystery it held.
For the briefest instant, he had felt itâEarth had the strongest concentration of anything he had ever encountered.
Mana, Laws, Concepts, Talents, and even the taint, faint though it was, burned brighter here than anywhere else.
It was strange, intriguing, and he needed to know more.
After all, this was a lead... to more power.
Even with everything that had happened, he was still waiting for the grand show his "younger" brother would put on.
But ever since it all began, the guy had been absent and off the radar.
It didnât bother himâhe was sure heâd turn up eventually.
Still, it only made him more curious about what he was doing.
The answer, simply... Art.
Unseen by anyone, Ash hadnât been gone at all.
He had hollowed out his presence, becoming completely undetectable, and for the past few hours had been creating art with his new ability.
He knew the Dragon of Chaos was close, so he used the time to craft an absolute masterpiece.
Sure, Ash could kill the Dragon in countless ways with minimal effort, but when had he ever chosen the simple route? Especially in a situation as sweet as this.
The difference between Ash and the Dragon of Absolute Endings was clearâthe Third had never witnessed the birth of the true progenitors at the start of the cycle, having been born eons later.
But Ash? He could name every True Progenitor from the Third Cycle.
As for the Dragon of Chaos, he wasnât one of themânot even close.
So, Ash planned to go beyond mere destruction.
This would be his first step toward the Records themselves.