Chapter 492: The Hundred-Year War
—
Although the Primordial God managed to find the Dreamweaver's Fortress in no time, in the future timeline, it was not the case now. Time passed fast, and Neji and friends operated from the fortress for years to come, while shaping the Omniverse to their will.
In the swirling chaos that was the War of Omniverses, between this reality woven with threads of destinies both Primordial and Divine, Neji found himself at the heart of this tumultuous change. The years following the victory over Lord Oblivion were a blur of many things.
Just Leveling up by killing wasn't cutting it, so Neji began to train as well. But training for an entity of his caliber was not easy. Each session took years, which thankfully could be managed due to Kimi's Hyperbolic Time Chambers. He would delve into the depths of the Void, sharpening his control over nonexistence, and then another time he'd wield the power of omniversal quasars like a holy sword.
With Kimi's guidance, he earned mastery over the concept of Time too, allowing him to manipulate temporal streams with unprecedented precision. Unlike her, he could pull off huge feats without any need for spells.
The power of omnipotent willpower was incredible like that.
The cosmos served as his sparring partner, allowing him to test out his abilities, and challenging him to push beyond the limits of what was thought possible.
'Each moment of struggle,' Neji would often muse while clashing with entities who can devour hyperverses, 'brings me closer to the Final Boss.'
He'd often not win, but it was easier for him to flee a scene than anyone else. So while he failed to defeat his enemies a few times, he never faced defeat.
The Omniverse War, on the other hand, was constant and never-ending. An ever-present specter that loomed over Neji's desire to keep this possibility of timeline aligned with the other one. He was unsure if anything was aligned at all at this point, even discarding the death of Maestro Myth. He had no framework to follow, so it was all up to luck… Luck that he still had plenty.
Still, as much as training alone and finding enemies remotely helped, war times provided an unending supply of strong enemies. So following the plan provided by Contessa Fate, Neji, alongside Kimi and their other allies, became a harbinger of change on the battlefield.
He swept in, he killed opponents, and he left.
Sometimes he'd capture certain enemies if they were compatible with his allies' powers.
They partook in conflicts that shaped the destiny of both realms, their presence tipping the scales in favor of those who were lucky—because Neji didn't discriminate Prime from Cube. If their death would help them, they had no choice but to die.
The Omniversal political landscape trembled at the mention of their names, frontlines crumbled, and adversaries fell before their might. Godmother, Kimi, and Anodi's prowess in combat was unmatched, Fate's strategies and his powers scorched ruins in their wake.
"To forge a path to my peace, I have no choice but to weave through the storm of war," that was his resolution, his resolve unwavering amidst the carnage.
…..
Nine months after their heartfelt decision, Neji and Lady Life welcomed their son into the Omniverse.
They named him Ra, not only as an homage to the Egyptian deity of the sun, symbolizing the light he brought into their lives but also because Neji remembered Life saying how Ra received his name from the Beings Beyond Omnipotence.
To his surprise, She Beyond Omnipotence reached out to him another time, just to confirm that. "Yeah, name him that. It's cute," she had said. "It's the initials of me and my brother's name. R – A."
Neji didn't expect that. He initially thought it was the initials of her first and last name, as he recalled her name was [Raki Amonorthine]. Then, did that mean her brother's name was Amonorthine Raki? Weird name, but sure.
Regardless, to both keep the timelines aligned and to obey the Outer God's cute request, he named his son Ra.
However, joy was dampened with concern, as it became apparent that Ra was unlike other children. This time, he wasn't a Life Golem, but he wasn't much better anyway. His gaze, though filled with innocence, held a void where the spark of a soul should have flickered.
Perhaps this was fated because the timelines wanted to say the same and did therefore did this to the boy, or perhaps because despite Neji's vast powers he couldn't entirely break the Abstract Entities' natural rules, or perhaps Neji had 'willed' his son to be similar to the Life Golem when conceiving him, or maybe a mix of all that, this Ra was similar in mind to the Life Golem Ra.
Despite Neji's vast powers and Lady Life's nurturing essence, they could not remedy the absence within their son. He was hollow, even if he was conscious.
"He's perfect," Lady Life whispered, her love unconditional, "he couldn't have been any better."
Neji wanted to console her, but… she wanted to believe there was nothing to be consoled about since her son was fine and perfect. So, he agreed with her and focused on the larger side of his life again.
* * *
Kimi and Neji strategized tirelessly, weaving plans that spanned at the expense of many lives. They orchestrated assaults on key targets, dismantling the power structures of those who stood in opposition to their vision. They weren't just trying to make Neji stronger, the goal was to make Neji's path easier when the 'main point' in their plan would come true.
The political powers of the Omniverse, from the draconic sovereigns of the Andromeda Entente to the arcane matriarchs of the Nebular Witches, as well as Monarchs that ruled the different directions of the cosmos, all recognized the power shift.
Bloodlines that had ruled unchallenged for eons found themselves at the mercy of Neji's existence, only years after he became active. Once again, like many times before, he realized why the Primordial God feared the Gamer System in the future. It was too powerful.
"Our enemies are vast," Kimi said one day as she pointed at an ethereal map on the table, her eyes alight with the thrill of the challenge, "but with the Gamer System by our side, it's not even a challenge to pull this plan off. We have almost a century on our hands, we'll use it well and only when we're ready will we take out the big fish."
As the wheel of time rolled, and they weaved through Omniversal politics, Neji and his allies encountered beings of immense power and ancient lineage. The Celestial Lords, architects of reality's framework, a derived bloodline of Celestialsapien from the distant past, eyed Neji with a mixture of interest and apprehension.
The Temporal Sentries, guardians of time's flow, realized they were trying to change the future, although unsure what, and tried to stop them. Yet, through cunning, strength, and unity, Neji and his friends emerged victorious, their legend, their [Fables] growing with each conquered realm and defeated opposition.
Throughout these tumultuous years, Neji had a new personal quest: to find a way to imbue his son with the soul he so dearly lacked. Despite being omnipotent, there didn't seem to be a way. It just didn't make sense to him.
"There must be a way," he often said, gazing into the vastness of the stars, "Sisty, can't I initiate a quest with my Admin Privileges with the reward being a way to fix him?"
[I'm sorry, Master, but no. It's extremely hard to affect Ra's existence unless taking a long-planned action, due to his lineage of being the son of an Abstract Entity and a special mutant Celestialsapien like you. We can start that now, but it will take hundreds or thousands of years before we can use its output.]
"…Do it." In the end, he decided. He already had a plan he could output as a quest.
* * *
In the vast expanse where the threads of time and the essence of space intertwine, Neji stood alone, confronting an alliance of overpowered entities. The Temporal Sentries and The Celestial Lords stood united against him.
The stage for this upcoming clash was the cosmos itself, and Neji could feel countless eyes watching this from many parts of the omniverse.
"Temporal Cascade!" one of the Sentries cries, unleashing a storm of temporal energies designed to ensnare Neji in a relentless cycle of past failures.
At the same time, a Celestial Lord bathed in the ethereal glow of the cosmos, summoned forth a vortex of celestial might. "Celestial Maelstrom!" the bearded man thundered, his command warping the very fabric of reality, directing a tempest of obliteration at Neji.
Neji shrugged, he didn't appear bothered at all. Surrounded by these embodiments of cosmic power, he remained undaunted. His humanoid form, a blend of the cosmos' vastness, and his horns a draconic fury thrummed with the raw energies of the omniverse as he prepared a counterattack.
A smirk played across his lips and he delved deep into his essence, where the abyss of the void met the infinite expanse of creation, the [Void Icon] shone overhead. As did a new Icon, the [Joy Icon] that represented life and creation.
"Is this the extent of your prowess?" Neji taunted while slapping the beams away, his words echoing through the cosmos.
The two armies clenched their jaws and attacked again, but in a flash, Neji sprang into action, his movements a blur to even these beings, defying the very laws that governed existence. As the battlefield lit up with the exchange of spells and cosmic forces, it transformed into a breathtaking display of light and darkness, mixed with raw energies that represented time and reality, each clash a moment frozen in eternity.
But despite their ancient might and wisdom, the Sentries and Lords found themselves outmatched by Neji's relentless assault. A Celestialdraconicsapien was stronger than a normal Celestialsapien, and a normal Celestialsapien was stronger than the hybrids that were the Celestial Lords. The Temporal Sentries didn't even count.
"Void Eclipse!" Neji's voice, laced with the power of emptiness, cut through the chaos, his attack piercing the heart of the Celestial Lord, its enveloping darkness consuming the light of the purple and white entity.
In a desperate bid to change the course of the battle, the Temporal Sentries combined their might, barely stopping the attack, and aimed to ensnare Neji in their final gambit. It was an attack compared to a suicide bombing.
Yet, Neji couldn't look any less bothered. Standing at the confluence of his powers, he was an unstoppable force. With a mere gesture of a finger, he conjured a barrier of blinding luminescence, the brilliance of his Lumomancer abilities repelling the temporal onslaught.
A magnificent temporal explosion unfolded, but Lumomancer's own explosion shrouded it, and the Voidmancer's hunger devoured it.
"Pitiful. This ends now," Neji declared, his voice confident. Unleashing the full spectrum of his powers, Neji transformed into a titanic dragon, bigger than an Archverse, with his wing expanse even beyond that. His titanic dragon jaws widened, and he growled out an attack, "Celestial Dragon's Fury!"
The cosmos itself seemed to heed his call, as a dragon, his scales a mosaic of starlight, he let out a roar of superheated void, something impossible, that echoed the fundamental truths of creation and destruction.
The Celestial Lords had their majestic forms dimmed by the dragon's breath, freezing before its magnificence. The few Temporal Sentries that were still alive, also paused, in front of the conceptual beam that erased reality where it passed, they could do nothing but watch in despair as their unity disintegrated under it.
As the breath subsided, Neji let out a puff of smoke and returned to his humanoid form. He remained a solitary figure amidst the aftermath of his victory. The silence that followed was a mirror of the stunned reactions from all the hidden observers who saw this fight, and Neji let them enjoy it.
The alliance of the Sentries and Lords, was a planned test for him by the other players of the Omniverse, besides the Abstracts. Though this alliance would have proved to be a formidable challenge for anyone else, they were nothing but a mere obstacle on Neji's path.
For a while, everyone avoided Neji and fled on scene.
However, the omniverse was filled with those who are arrogant, so that time didn't last long.
* * *
"Be sure to rest, young master," Kimi would often say when he was going too far with his fights and training, "Remember, our battle is not just for dominion, but for understanding. You need to observe the Primordial's actions, his mindset, and all the other things that make him – him. So don't just fight and battle all day, read some history books too."
In the quiet moments between battles, when the sounds of war faded into the background, Neji and Lady Life cherished their time with Ra. They would watch as he played with the energies of creation, his soft smile a balm to their weary spirits. He'd never leave out Kimi from this, of course, as they'd read the zillions of years of omniversal history together.
Years turned into decades, as the destiny and landscape of the Omniverse were irrevocably altered. Neji Hado, a young man once a mere pawn in the cosmic chess game, had become a key player in its unfolding drama as Prima, the First Gamer.
The battles he fought, the alliances he forged, and the love he nurtured were all threads in the grand tapestry of his destiny.
"We are shaping history," Neji reflected, his gaze fixed on the horizon of possibilities that stretched before them. "For Kimi, for Life, for Ra, for myself, and for those girls who are not here with me right now. The time for the Final Battle is… near." Neji felt unsure.
And so, amidst the chaos of the cosmos, the wheel of time slowed down when Neji stepped into the 10th decade of his time in the past.
**
**
**
Author Note: This is OFFICIALLY the last week of The Cursed Gamer. I've halfway written the last chapter, chapter 500, so this is indeed the end. I'll be posting two chapters every day for the next couple of days, so I pray for power stones... one last time!
Read the next chapter right away, along with an entire month's worth, ahead in my Patreon.
Link: Patreon.com/Master4thWall