Chapter 475: Who Knows, Maybe He Will Make It?
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She sighed while stepping into the Lane of Existence, quickly immersing herself in the blue world of flowing energy – the very essence of reality. This energy swiftly carried her out of the Archverse, teleporting her at a speed transcending time.
She materialized inside a wooden house, its windows bathing the room in light and revealing a green garden outside; this was her home.
Contrasting with the hut in the Archverse and its encompassing magnificent forest, this house and the surrounding area were relatively mundane. Despite it being the living quarter of a high-class abstract, located within the Dimension of Manifestations, the view outside the window was a simple garden with a multicolored sky hanging over it.
She liked it this way, she found more 'life' in mundane things than opulent ones.
Sitting down on the old-looking, yet well-maintained, couch, she let out a breath. Her back leaned into the softness and she sighed again.
"A lot of sighs for someone who just returned home, my lady," a voice boomed out as a man in a butler walked into the room, a tray of tea in his hand. With his gray hair, clean-shaven face, and an old-fashioned outfit, he presented an image of aged dignity.
As the assistant of a Class 1 Abstract Entity, the concept of aging didn't exist for him, but he liked it anyway. Moreover, as the Personification of Aging itself, that concept didn't exist for him anyhow.
"Age," she looked at him and shook her head. "I'm just confused… unsure if I have done something wrong." Was it a good idea to teach such a cruel and dangerous man how to use the Power of Tale? – she wondered. "If I have made a bad decision or not."
"Tea, my lady," the butler walked over and handed her a cup. She stared at it for a second before accepting it. She took a sip, feeling relieved.
While she, as the Concept of Life, could effortlessly bring relief to anyone with a mere flick of her finger, it required a special talent to elicit the same feeling in her. While Aging was primarily related to time, it also embodied wisdom and calmness. So a tea from him helped.
That was one reason why she took him in after Princess Perpetuity's death. After Perpetuity who reigned over Time, the concept of Aging found its closest alignment with Life and Death. Since Life's little sister didn't want him, she took him in.
"Has it been thirty billion years since then, my lady?" he suddenly asked while she took a sip and nodded.
"Around that, yes," it had been that long since he'd been working for her. It still felt like yesterday. How odd… It didn't feel like a long time to her at all. Yet the last four months felt like forever.
"I was stupefied that day, when my empress Perpetuity, the embodiment of time itself, lost to the Director in a duel of time. If not for you arriving in time, Perpetuity would have been absorbed by that woman, she'd have grown a lot stronger than she is now," he said, which made her wonder where he was getting at. "Unfortunately, even if lady Perpetuity was never absorbed, her existence was harmed so much that she hasn't Materialized yet. It's sad, but it's better than the alternative which hadn't come to pass solely because of you."
"What is your point?"
"I am simply saying you can't make a wrong choice. You never did. Despite everyone's disagreement, you rushed to that battlefield and stopped the Director." The butler continued as he poured her another cup. "Whatever you're worried about, I'm certain it'll be taken care of. Your decision is always right."
"…." Life paused, staring at the tea for a few seconds. She closed her eyes and sighed. Once she opened her eyes she took a sip and nodded, "I want to believe that too. Anyhow, is there any work I should be doing right now? I need something to distract myself."
"None," the butler shook his head. "Mistress Death has been taking care of them all. It's easy enough for her, but recently Contessa Fate has been helping her too."
That made her raise an eyebrow, "Fate? Why?"
"Apparently she found your fate blurring to her senses the longer you were away," the butler said. "As if you were intertwining yourself with something that was beyond her perception. She wanted to go visit you a few times, but Mistress Death stopped her, as she wanted you to enjoy a vacation. I'm glad she's such a nice sister."
Though that was touching, Lady Life frowned. Contessa Fate couldn't see the threads of fate? Although true that she couldn't perceive the destiny of Abstract Entities, as they had no destiny but to 'exist', it meant something when she claimed things were getting blurry.
She stood up. "Such news is pretty serious to ignore and enjoy a vacation. Unprofessional, you should have let me know about this right away."
"I apologize," he didn't seem apologetic, bowing slowly. "Would you like me to prepare a herbal bath?"
"No," she opened another gate to the Lane of Existence. "I shall go meet Fate. I need to know what all of this is about."
With that, her vision blurred as the blue world sucked her in, and a second later spat her out in a new place.
It wasn't a room like before, it was under the open skies, on top of the surface of a moon. With nothing but rocks and mountains layered on the surface, along with skulls and bones, the only highlights here were the two women who were sitting on black skull chairs and playing poker on the table in front of them.
"No way you're not cheating, Fate~!" whined the goth-cosplaying girl, Mistress Death, glaring at her opponent.
Contessa Fate shrugged, her red hair swaying in tandem with her movement. "Just because you can't win doesn't mean I am a cheater, stop being a child."
They were having fun, and as much as Life liked seeing her emo sister having fun, even if she seemed to have been losing, she had come here for a worrying reason. "Girls, can I have a moment?"
The ladies turned to her as Life stepped out of the Lane; Mistress Death threw the cards out of the way and leaped from her chair. Hugging her elder sister, she grinned. Anyone else found it creepy that 'Death', the concept of the end, acted like a cheerful teenage girl, but Life found it adorable. She hoped her sister would never change.
"Did you enjoy your vacation, sister?" asked Death, and Life's smile slowly vanished.
Did she…? Anyone else might deny it, but she did. She did enjoy it. Even if he hadn't been what she thought he was, and even if their departure wasn't well. She had enjoyed the four months, they felt… long. Lively.
That was a compliment as big as the Omniverse coming from herself.
"You're back," Contessa Fate looked at her, though she didn't rise from her chair. Her face morphed in curiosity, "Odd. Your direct line of destiny is clear now. It wasn't just until a while ago. So weird. It's as if you were caught in one of Luck's power outbursts and everything was unpredictable, plus something else. So blurry."
Fate blinked, standing up now and approaching Life. "Huh, there is still a path leading to blur, but that's not guaranteed. You are mostly clean otherwise," she stopped. "Hey, just what have you been doing these past few months? This type of thing rarely happened to me before."
Death looked curious too, and under the gazes of these two, Life sighed. "I don't want to talk about it. I-"
"You know what? I'll just track it," Fate turned to the side, waving a hand as red energy weaved into a screen in front of her. "Now that you are separated from the source of whatever the blur was, I can find it with a bit of focus, and then see who it is."
"Stop." The air changed. Lady Life let out a pressure that crushed the moon under her, causing a magnitude earthquake that left the planet into rubble. Ground turned into dust as their footing disappeared, turning into cosmic dust that'd float endlessly.
"Oh." Fate bit her tongue apologetically, as the three of them floated in space. "Sorry."
Death looked serious now, turning to Life, "It's rare seeing you like this, sister. Just what's going on?"
Lady Life wanted to stay silent but sighed in the end. She had to give them something, otherwise they wouldn't leave her alone. "It's a guy," she said. "I met a guy."
"Oh."
"Oh."
Both girls blinked, turning to look at one another. Unlike Life, they had had romance in their lives. There were a lot of people who danced with death and destiny throughout the history of existence, and naturally, these two Abstracts sometimes got closer to those enigmas. One reason Fate was curious about what was messing with her powers this bad was because she hoped it was a person; no matter the gender, even if she was mostly into the female figure.
But Life? In the eon they existed, Life had always been a motherly figure without the requirement of a fatherly partner. But that had changed. In a mere four months?
"I'm sorry," Fate looked at Life. "I at least want to see his face, can I? I won't go into the history or anything since you don't like it, but I'm really curious who this guy is that he had our Life fumbled."
"I didn't fumble!"
"Right."
"Sister, I want to see too! Can Fate bring him up? Please?" Death asked, using the same cute voice she used when begging Life to lend her some souls, leading to miscarriages and early death across reality.
Lady Life wanted to deny, reject, and move on, but… she too was curious about what Neji was doing right now. Since the girls were curious about how he looked, they could see it while Life would know where he was. Not that she was attached to him or anything, but… she just wanted to know how he was taking it.
"Fine," she finally admitted, looking at the red screen in front of Fate. "Bring up the scene of what he is doing right now."
Fate turned toward the screen quickly and then frowned, "Huh. Only thing I can do really, it seems. I can only view his present, both past and future are more than just blurry. What the hell?" she frowned, and though Life was surprised, it wasn't much. She had been unable to view his 'life story' herself, so it wasn't surprising that Fate couldn't see his destiny. "And even the present isn't fully clear. Anyways, let me bring it up."
With a snap of concentration, the screen blitzed. It trembled and a scene formed, a scene of destruction and chaos. Lady Life's jaws clenched immediately, 'Has he been destroying everything in his past the moment we parted?'
A few moments later, her jaws relaxed. Her forehead went cold and her stomach fell.
He hadn't been destroying things, no. "Ugh—!" He had been getting destroyed.
A punch fell to his gut, coming from a tall blue-skinned man as he was blasted across space. He broke through the fabrics of space, breaking the speed of light, as he slammed into three planets, going through them which caused their destruction.
"I… I can't believe this!" a cheerful voice said from within the screen, a red-haired girl who was watching the fight. She clapped her hands, "It's just been four months, but you are holding yourself against Zephyr a lot better! How can someone grow this fast?? Oh~ my pet is so powerful!"
She continued, while the fight grew intense; Neji was on the losing side. "I was suuuuper mad that I couldn't find you, where were you hiding?? When I finally found your trace, I found an Abstract Entity guarding you, what a dilemma. Papa warned me to not mess with those people during my trip. I'm glad I waited till you two parted, this is so nice~!"
Mistress Death and Contessa Fate were frowning at the screen, they recognized who she was. Lady Life felt her entire body go cold. On the screen, the blue-skinned man's punches broke Neji's jaw, his teeth floating in space, while his eyes burned with violent light.
"What's that ring~" the red-haired girl noticed the ring on his hand that he had been keeping safe even during his punches, in case he didn't break it. "Why are you so scared as to not break it, huh? Can't you just teleport it away like you teleported the neck collar last time? Oh wait,"
She teleported beside him, and as he attempted to attack, the blue-skinned man restrained Neji, preventing him from harming her. "Is that a source of power or something? Ah, that must be why you're so strong. Did the Abstract Entity give it to you?" she grinned. "I like how it shines. Oh my, it's on your ring finger. Did the Abstract Entity give it to you? How romantic. I want it~" she grabbed his hand, and though he tried to attack her immediately, Zephyr broke his hand with a twist.
She laughed, gently grasping the ring and trying to take it off his broken hand. "Huh, it's hard to remove," she slowly began to pull it out. "Hopefully you'll stop rampaging so much when it's gone. You'll be a lot weaker without it, after all." She pulled it out, holding the green ring between her fingers. "Hmm, would it suit my red color dynamic? I-"
She couldn't finish her words. The screen of red, made out of Fate energy, blitzed and trembled out of existence. The last thing the Abstract Entities saw was pure rage that took over Neji's expression, as his humanoid body began to transform into that of a magnificent White Dragon.
"I- I need to go there!" Life yelled, quickly turning around and opening a Lane, but it didn't open.
"You can't," Death's voice was serious as she stopped her elder sister. "That's the Primordial God's daughter. It's too risky to mess with them. It's just four months, sister, forget about the man. You didn't seem that fond of him anyway at first."
"Death, I have to go!" Lady Life slammed her authority against Death's as a Lane began to open again, which made Death frown and sweat.
"It's not a good idea," Contessa Fate sided her willpower with Death's as the Lane collapsed again. Life glared at the two who wore grim expressions. "Hey, who knows, if Destiny has it, he might survive," Fate said, trying to cheer her up. "We never know with an entity as unstable yet stable as him. I can see why you fell for him."
Silence enveloped the area until Lady Life closed her eyes and sighed, a sound heavy with defeat. The thought that her last words to him had been 'stay away from me in the future' lingered heavily in her mind.
For the first time in her existence, Entity Life uttered a curse under her breath.
"God-fucking-dammit."
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