Chapter 456: Enter the Class 1 Abstract Entities
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Godmother raised a hand, her eyes on Neji's throat. "Soul Devour."
A red and black suction force rushed at Neji, and he prepared to block it. Lady Luck appeared just at that time to weave her fingers through the strings of probability once more and cause the technique to miss.
"Annoyance." Godmother turned to Lady Luck, preparing to take her out, but Lady Life stepped beside her to help her.
"You, Ra?" Neji turned to the tall man beside him. The Life Golem turned to him, his expression placid. Neji pointed at Chaos, "Keep her safe, alright?"
"Understood." the Golem slowly nodded.
As for Neji himself, he had a plan—at least he hoped it could be counted as one. He had notified his backup a while ago, but it wasn't here yet. Was the blockage of teleportation too much for-?
"Papa!"
"There you are!"
A voice rang, and Neji looked to the side. A flash of light brought Kurai beside him. Her rich black fur glistened under the star lights as she jumped at his arms.
Although normal teleportation was blocked, it seemed the reverse summon worked. Or maybe it was because she was his familiar? It didn't matter. Kurai must have sensed the desperation of the situation through their Familiar connection so she did her best to come back from Fate World as soon as possible.
"Let's do it, quick!" She urged him and pushed her pinky against his. Light flashed again as Neji and Kurai were reborn—renewed into a new form.
The [Fusion] looked like it failed before it could be completed, but Lady Luck raised a hand to pour Luck essence into him as it changed into succession. The light vanished and Neji came out with a cat tail swirling behind him and cat ears on his head.
[Neji Hado – Level 17676]
The Fusion worked. Neji felt much less pressure from these powerhouses around him.
"How annoying. Cancel Fusion." with a wave of her hand, the Godmother used the same command that Eurynome had used back in the underworld.
However, Neji resisted this command. A thread of pristine white flashed through the air as it tore into two, vanishing as soon as it appeared, and the command failed.
Godmother blinked. "What- ah…"
Neji called forth something to match the Godmother. Kurai had a divinity called the [Death Icon], and Neji had one called the [Dragon Icon]. Neither of them had ever manifested those Divinities into those hexagon symbols, but Neji tried it now.
The cosmos shimmered; stars in the far distance blasted like balloons, making it seem like fireworks, as Neji called forth his willpower into shape.
Two Hexagon shapes slowly began to form above his head, joining with the Joy Icon. Reality glitched and two new Icons formed. Neji's two and Lady Life's one clashed against Godmother's five.
[Ding! Two of your Divinities have evolved and attained the status of Icons. Usually, Divinities are incapable of doing something like this. However, the Gamer System can level up anything. Dragon Icon and Death Icon have evolved.]
But that wasn't enough. Neji clutched his hand around Ea, the Sword of Rapture, the Sword Before Swords, the Blade that existed before the concept of Swords came to be. Neji channeled his willpower through Ea, and tried to call forth another symbol.
One by one, the [Dragon Icon], the [Death Icon], and the [Sword Icon] took shape in the air. Lady Luck's Icon gained back its light, as now it was four vs five.
[Using Ea's special existence, you've manifested another Icon.]
[The Sword Icon has manifested.]
The system notification let him know about something that only Neji could do. Once again, the Gamer System proved its worth and danger.
"Let me help," Nejire had a wound on her side as she walked back from her fight, where the Sin of Pride had been killed and devoured.
Nejire looked at the Icons for a second and closed her eyes. Willpower filled her existence as another symbol formed in the air.
In the air formed a hexagon symbol with the Chinese letter -[空]- meaning 'empty'.
[The Void Icon has manifested.]
Nejire's own system notified her, as she opened her eyes and looked at Godmother. Now, there were Five Icons from either side.
Nejire tested out the power of her Icon by spreading her hand to a direction and clutching it into a fist. A hole blinked into reality in the distance—and devoured a million galaxies at once.
Thanks to Nejire's [Azaroth, God of Void] skill, all the abilities from the trillion who died in those distant galaxies rushed into her. She grew a little stronger.
"Powerful," Nejire commented, and Neji agreed. These Icons were oceans of pure power. He felt like, with his [Sword Icon], he could cut this universe in a million pieces.
The Godmother laughed at this display.
"What a stupid sight," Godmother said as she looked at Nejire. "It took me millennia to earn these, and this brat just closed her eyes and got it? Even an extension of the Gamer System is this much of a cheat?"
She looked at Neji, "On that note, it is very odd to see a Gamer use Icons. The First didn't have these."
"Of course, Icons only appeared not too long ago in this Omniverse." Lady Life said, even as the clash intensified. The universe was blurring around them, as if everything was melting.
Lady Life pushed suddenly, and their surroundings changed once more. They were far from the DxD Planet now, in a further corner of the universe.
"Well. It doesn't matter," Godmother let out a strong pressure. Instantly the nearby galaxies collapsed. If not for the fact that Lady Luck was trying to hold the universe in place, and perhaps even the Omniverse's Will was doing the same, the universe would have fallen a long time ago.
"I can still kill you individually since while you only have one or three, I have five. Besides, Icons are just a new power system. It is not my main abilities, anyway. Show me what you can do in a direct confrontation." the Godmother vanished from her spot.
She moved through space and time at a speed that was beyond perception.
She appeared beside Nejire, slapping her side and sending her flying away from this universe. Nejire managed to throw an attack of her own before she got hit, an orb of void that Godmother dodged. The orb shot through space and collided with a galaxy in the distance, devouring it.
Godmother appeared behind Luck, who tried to manipulate the threads of probability again, but Godmother cleaved downwards on her left shoulder as her arm fell off. Golden blood gushed out of the wound as Luck yelled in pain.
Then she appeared beside Life, who Neji hoped would manage to confront her, but Godmother looked at Ra, the Life Golem, and fired a black beam of conceptual death at him. Lady Life quickly left Neji to protect her son.
All of this happened at a speed far, far beyond light. Godmother stood in front of Neji now as she threw a hyper-fast fist toward his head without wasting time.
Neji was able to see it, he could perceive the incoming blow. He called forth his Nigh Omnipotence to teleport her away or to stop her punch, but neither of them worked. He tried to make himself forcefully dodge, to make himself teleport, but while he felt the gears of reality shifting, it was too slow.
The punch touched his forehead, Neji felt his brain about to get busted.
Lady Life and Lady Luck yelled, the former sounded guilty since she had left him in harm's way for her son. While Neji didn't like that, he didn't blame her.
Their mouths moved in slow motion, as the sound of their cries moved slowly too. It seemed as if time had slowed down for Neji, like how the world slowed down before death.
Except, this was artificial.
"You are going too far, mother-in-law."
Someone had intentionally slowed down time. Someone so powerful that the spell affected even Godmother.
A witch woman with a soft smile walked into reality. Her body and outfit were translucent white, like the sketch and linearts of a painting, made out of stars instead of ink.
Neji's eyes flickered at her face.
[The Director of the Last Act]
Even [Observe] only provided her title.
"Apologies if you can't see anything. The System recognizes me as a VIP; it was a gift from my late husband. Looks like it's sticking to this day."
'What the fuck does that mean?' Neji was unable to move, but he could think.
"It means you can't use inspect-type skills on me, sweetheart."
"...."
'Did she just bypass [Gamer's Mind]-'
"Ah, sorry, I was not trying to read your mind. I am not, actually. It's a prediction. An average estimation of what you might be thinking. Since I'm running a simulation of your existence in my mind a thousand times a second, I can predict those things."
"...."
She walked between Godmother and Neji and gently shoved the punch to the side. With a snap of her finger, time regained its speed as Godmother almost stumbled.
"What is the meaning of this, las?" the old woman scowled at the witch. "He is not cooperative. He ruined your plan."
"And can use Icons," the Director smiled. Neji found it eerie for some reason. "Even if he did choose the Demon Path, it'd have been impossible to get a synchronization of 100% since my husband didn't have access to Icons. Mhm, yes, things do go beyond expectations from time to time. How bothersome."
'So it's true.' Neji wasn't expecting the Director to be really planning to sacrifice him to bring back the first Gamer. Mistress Death told him that the Director was close to the First Gamer. To compare, Death had said that the director could be said to be the First Gamer's Kimi.
If he thought it like that, he couldn't hate this woman. If Neji died, he was sure Kimi, of all girls, would challenge everything in the Omniverse to bring him back. In that sense, he understood why the Director was doing all this.
Still, that didn't mean he was going to give up his life.
"You… bitch." Lady Life called as the Director paused. She was sitting beside Luck, having just healed Lady Luck's wound with her Life powers.
The director slowly looked at Lady Life with a solemn expression. At least, that's what Neji thought her expression was—it was hard to make out thanks to how her appearance was made out of only line art and no flesh.
"Leave him be." Lady Life stood up and demanded her old friend.
The director smiled hearing that. "Isn't it beautiful how varying love can be? You know, I hated you at first when you said you wouldn't help bring him back. But now I understand. Somewhat. Despite his wishes, I love him so much that I want him back. And you love him so much that you don't want him back, just because he doesn't want to be back. How beautiful, isn't it?"
"Stop saying meaningless words. Don't ruin his life because of your obsession," Lady Life pointed a finger at Neji. "What would you have felt if, back then, some higher being came and messed up with us? Let the new generation be, come on."
"No."
Lady Life frowned at her stubborn old buddy. With a grumble, she hesitated and then opened her mouth. Then she closed it.
She looked at Neji.
Then, she looked back at the Director.
"Kimi... Don't be like this. Stop already."
"...."
"...."
Neji's brain skipped a second when he heard the name. What? He slowly looked at the… Director. His head spun.
"I don't know if Neji's maid was actually you or you just used an [Avatar], but don't you think it's going too far? You played with his heart for years, and now you're about to sacrifice him like this? Don't you feel even a tad bit guilty?!" Life continued, but Neji was focused on the witch.
"....Kimi?"
"...."
The director didn't look at him and deeply frowned at Lady Life. "So you figured it out… You shouldn't have said it here."
"I thought it was just the same name, even if that seemed too big of a coincidence for both Gamer's first girls to be named Kimi. But when I heard that the maid Kimi was nowhere to be found in the Omniverse, I realized what was happening."
Lady Luck was agape at the scene. Nejire returned from where she was sent flying as she joined Chaos who was frowning in disbelief.
"You…" Neji's eyes trembled. "What did you do to her?"
He lunged forward and gripped her collar. He knew full well she could destroy him a million times if she wanted to – heck, she had been planning to do just that, even without him getting in her face – but his rage was just too much to stay still.
"You are not her; I know that. I know for sure. My Kimi wouldn't do something like this, and she was never some Omniversal existence. That's for sure, otherwise she'd have stopped so many bad things from happening. So this must be the same thing that happened with Nawab before. My Kimi was your Avatar of some kind, right? Where is Kimi- where is my Kimi?!"
"Don't be so dramatic. Let go of me." The Director gently pushed him back, which sent him tossed across miles.
He quickly reappeared, glaring at her. "If she is harmed, I will not sit still."
"Haah," the Director sighed. "You make me angry. If not for-"
The director couldn't finish her words.
A massive crack formed in the air above; time and space trembled. Three giant faces attached to a head peeked out as Buddha himself stepped into reality.
[The Buddha – Peak of Class 1]
A thousand spaceships followed, coming out of portals, and a thousand soldiers on horses or foot walked out behind them. Beside Buddha himself, there stood imposing figures of other Class 1 Abstract Entities.
[Mistress Death – High Class 1]
[Contessa Fate – High Class 1]
[Maestro Myth – High Class 1]
[Lord Limitless – High Class 1]
Due to the Fusion, Neji was now strong enough to see beyond Class 6. [Observe] could see the power level of all these abstract entities, which meant he may not be far from them…
"As expected, the Gamer appears to be much stronger than he was just a few hours ago."
Buddha asked himself as he looked down at the gathering. Since even the Director was here, that confirmed his suspicion.
"So, was I right."
His six golden eyes focused on everyone present in this universe.
"Guardians of the Cosmic Equilibrium," he referred to the spaceships and army. "Capture the two Prisoners, and annihilate the criminals. Destroy the Gamer as well, as he appears to be an accomplice to both parties."
Just like that, things turned violent. More violent than it already was till now.
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