After resting for a while, the group had started to show signs of recovery. Being able to fight to a certain extent allowed them to be more confident. Arlesk checked the time on his phone, which he hasn't used for some time. "Midnight, already half a month on the expedition..." "Arlesk, are resources are starting to run out, but considering the hall in the next area, I believe we're at the very end." Pantheon reported to Arlesk the state of their supplies and what was in the next hall after he had scouted the area. "Well, I've traced the area, it seems to be a room filled with a bunch of relics and artifacts." "Haaah... Finally at the end of this journey..." Ulysses sighed in relief as they had finally finished the dungeon. "There's also a teleportation circle nearby. It's connected to the surface." "I'm rather glad that we don't have to pass through that hall again. Now that I think about it, why did Arlesk decide to just run away from the behemoth?" Claude, who realized Arlesk's frustration, from the communication earlier, asked why they couldn't just eliminate the behemoth. "Yeah, you did say something about [Transduality], what is that?" Pantheon remembered his words and probed in the question. "That monster is in a state of transcendence, any attacks that are connected to the world or the divine, are rendered useless. It's something that exists beyond the dimensional properties of the world. That thing exists, at the same time, it doesn't... It's very hard to explain but I think it's something about dual-systems of the universe..." Arlesk pondered deeply, and questioned himself as to how he understood the threat and ability that he had faced. In that second, he felt something off. "My head..." He started clutching his head from the pain, as his Cyberdivinity starts activating even without his input. "[Second Batch of Memories Unsealed]."
Arlesk found himself in infinite space once again. This time, with full knowledge that this was only a batch of memories, he started to explore the area.
But this time, he immediately realized that he wasn't exactly in the infinite space of the universe.
"Aren't you --------- puppet? It seems you wandered a little too far from your authority." "Authority...? I am the [God of Cyberspace], I manage creation of all things, even among Gods, and Men..." Arlesk was met with silence as he pushed his authority. He looked around to search for the voice that came around him. But despite being a [God from Infinite Space], he felt somewhat threatened by the silence. "I see... It seems you accidentally stumbled upon here... Searching for my puppet..." "Puppets? What exactly do you mean by that." An even longer silence passed through, while waiting, he realized that he knows next to nothing. "You're... Extracting information from me... This means you're something beyond the [Prime] are you...?" "You're quite an astute one... To recognize that information is being extracted from yourself. As [Puppet God of Cyberspace], I have expected this outcome." Arlesk, who is in the [God of Cyberspace]'s memories, smiled as he has somewhat started to figure out the the being the voice. But what was spoken next, had completely shocked him. "But as [Arlesk Finlay], you know too much." Arlesk was instantly speechless, he couldn't think of a good response towards the voice as he started to think more about how he was found out despite only unsealing memories of his godhood. "I gathered enough data from you. Return to the multiverse you came from. You are outside the testing range, and you wouldn't want the [Prime] to die don't you?" "The [Prime]...? Right! What wa-" Before Arlesk could form a question, he was forcibly returned to his main body.
"I'll provide you the information you wished for earlier, puppet of --------..."
With those words, he woke up in the cave where the three heroes waited. "What the hell happened Arlesk? You alright?" Ulysses took notice quickly, and Arlesk made a light response. "Yeah... I just got some memories back..." "Memories again huh...? What did you find?" "The monster we fought was something that we can't generally harm with just regular magic or swordsmanship. Let's think of it like this, the being is between existing and non-existent, and then alive and dead. It only exists independently from those two fundamentals. Basically, even if we send all the armies in the world, they won't be able to kill it." "The world can't kill it...? What about you Arlesk?" "I can... But it's gonna take too much from me. Attacking the fundamental concept directly would work. That monster exists in both existent and non-existent state. If I create an attack that harms both fundamental concepts, then I can kill it." "How much would it take you though?" Claude asked the more specific details of how much it would take Arlesk, but the answer shocked him. "Everything in my current level... The same goes for Draxus and Remuel, Serkyrio may have an easier time since he understands how those transcendental abilities work. Harold has a solid chance because of his knowledge. Aside from them, nobody else can kill those." The four of them continued to advance while talking, before long they arrived to the chamber that seemed to be well maintained.
"This place..."
The hall was built similarly to an underground facility.
The four of them split up, with the agreement that they communicate at the first sign of threats. They entered separate rooms, and all of them found things that they wouldn't like.
"What the actual fuck...?" Ulysses arrived to a room with a gigantic portal, it was not a teleportation magic circle that Arlesk had spoken to him about, but a portal that leads somewhere. He looked around to see what he can do with the giant portal.
Pantheon found himself in a giant death-pit arena. "This place... Is teeming with monsters... Some look too dangerous..." he glanced over to the side and saw the weapons. "These are..." It was then he noticed that the shapes and forms of the weapons. "Wait... Isn't this the gilded sword of Santuria's hero...?"
Claude found himself in a row with a gigantic map. The map displayed everything the continent they are in, the data of the population, mana hotspots, locations of sentient monsters, and even arcane dragons.
But what Arlesk had found, a single letter with no addressee. He opened the letter and started reading the contents. "We have recovered the spirits and the cards of the fallen heroes... Everything else is left to those who manage them in the Floating Continent. Our next invasion will be joined by your forces. This time, the goal is to kill the heroes, retrieve their souls and cards and cause as much damage as possible so we can send down a new threat. This [Amalgamation of Heroic Spirits] can defeat even the [Gods of Infinite Space] in their current form... We can get the heroic soul in Quisterion due to a deal... No..." Arlesk reached the end of the letter, and looked around the card and noticed a signature behind. "Cronus... Behind...?" With the back of the letter signifying to look behind him, Arlesk instantly activated his Cyberdivinity and activated the [Absorber] at full power behind him. Because of that reaction, he barely managed to defend against an unknown force. But a deathly pressure passed through the absorption barrier he had created. He got a good look of the enemies as he communicated the danger to the three heroes to regroup instantly.
"For the [God of Cyberspace] himself to take our trap alone, it seems you're truly careful at managing your team." "Ghh!" Arlesk had created laser cannons from every direction to attack what was in front of him in one instant. Without even charging, he unleashed a torrent of lasers into their position. Yet despite clearly aiming for the three enemies in front, none of the lasers struck them. "You have a mastery of aiming many things at once, but I could just make everything, even fate uncertain. You can't touch me, in your current power." Seeing the power of the unknown, a feeling of death, and uncertainty in his attacks, Arlesk now fully understood, by what Serkyrio meant.
"This is the true massive trouble huh...?"