On one of the edges of the Exosphere, there lay an entire army of wanderers, struggling to deal with the imminent threat in front of them. But not just in front, but also by the sides and behind them. It was everywhere as if it manifested from the very vacuum and blackness of space. They could not touch it by themselves, and when the thing did touch them, it simply vanished them into no more. Just seeing it would be enough to turn one mad, thus many fell before even leaving their positions.
Such was the nature of the thirdborn who was emptier than emptiness. But Zophades did not lose his calm. He who was in the backline of the army calmly observed the situation at large from his privileged position. His spaceship, Sagitaurus, existed in another dimension, separated from all laws of physics, causality, eventuality, and logic. It was his safe space, but also a powerful weapon.
"Let's test the waters first. Prepare the X-Cannon."
Two spaceships that were by side suddenly took a certain distance from Sagitaurus. A cannon was deployed from the spaceship's bottom side. It started charging, with its light being as bright as a supernova.
"Fire."
The X-Cannon. A powerful weapon imbued within Sagitaurus, crafted by Zophades himself. By warping quantum mechanics and dimensions to an extreme degree, it can take a random universe out of the Material, compress it, and shoot it from a cannon. An infinite universe in the form of a beam.
And so it was done.
A clear and direct shot.
It crossed the distance between the cannon and Penumbra in an instant. The explosion was powerful enough to destroy sixty-two dimensions and big enough to encompass his allies, but Zophades did not care. His troops were very well aware of the risks they were taking in this war.
Zophades observed the results of the impact.
...
...
"Oh? Did something hit me? My apologies, I could barely notice."
It was proven useless. The entity did not even flinch. Worse, it did not even feel as much as a mosquito bite.
"As I thought," said Zophades. "It will take nothing other than our strongest weapons to have a chance against this. Expected nothing less than an immutable form."
And that was true, for Penumbra was an unchanging, eternal, timeless, and spaceless form. Tied to darkness itself, he represented the ideal form of darkness, the objective form of a perfect void. He is not eternal in the sense of existing forever. This nature transcends time and space altogether. In a sense, it is something deeper than archetypal forms.
Penumbra thinks for a second and decides to reply, even though he could not hear Zophades nor see him.
"I couldn't help but think there was someone else watching me from afar. After this event though, I now know that you are hiding in here somewhere. Perhaps not in this plane of existence, I'm afraid. But no matter. It's only a matter of time before I spot your location. I suspect you only have three chances. You better make it worth it."
Penumbra, who had perplexing intellect, would be able to analyze any situation and develop a counter to it. If he did not know where Zophades was located, he soon would. And he would do this by using Zophades' very tactics. By observing and analyzing the attacks he suffers from Sagitaurus, it was possible to detect the point of origin, even if it is situated in a place beyond dimensions.
"So that's how you wanna play." Says Zophades "Very well. But this time, it will not go the way you think it will."
Zophades stands up from his throne and walks to the control room of the ship, where several of his men managed the system of Sagitaurus.
"Tell our troops to perform the O-Assault."
"Understood."
The command was then given to every spaceship that was still alive on the battlefield. Each and every one of them immediately understood what they had to do. And so they did. They quickly activated their boosts and encircled the thirdborn.
Then each and every one of those spaceships deployed their own cannons, which then started to glow from their very charging. They were preparing to shoot.
"You are a very peculiar individual, sir Penumbra. But I think even you have limits. Let's see if I can exploit them."
And so every spaceship fired from their cannons. But what came out was neither a beam nor any kind of projectile.
"Oh?"
An all-encompassing wave encompassed the humanoid darkness. It was a massive forcefield enclosing Penumbra. A prison of sorts? But what would this amount to, if the entire Exosphere was inhabited by the Void?
"Our goal is beyond your understanding."
The forcefield that contained the fraction of the thirdborn started to glow red.
"This is..."
"It's too late now, activate X-System!"
An event beyond understanding took place. By defying the very laws of logic, the X-System was able to influence the very conception of reality and its fractality. The very nature of Penumbra started to be absorbed into the forcefield and therefore contained in that fraction. Similar to how a pool starts to empty out once you remove the drain, the X-System performed a hole in the canvas of the multiverse, emptying out and filtering the ink that the X-System specifically wished, paradoxically and systematically affecting the very conception of the multiverse's frames of logic. A hole in the wholeness. Penumbra's true form now was not across the entire Exosphere anymore, but only within a bubble the size of a planet. Penumbra was able to realize what was happening mid-event and instantly performed countermeasures on an ectocausal level, but not before most of his form was drained away, leaving him with only a fraction of himself.
Penumbra takes a moment to understand the situation.
"Now that's interesting. I had to admit that this is a first for me. Not even the Hex pulled something like this before. Should I applaud you?"
"..."
Zophades is mildly annoyed by Penumbra's cockiness, but he decides to ignore it.
"Surely my domain of influence is now limited, but that's all. You cannot get rid of me, I'm afraid. How long until I discover your location and deal with you myself even in this limited form? Because surely it would be enough."
Penumbra now, seeing how there would be no point in trying to maintain his spread-out form, recoalesced himself into his humanoid shape.
"How many more of these will you send against me until you are satisfied? Don't forget that you only have two attempts left. And this bubble, too, is nothing but temporary. The clock is ticking."
"Newborn brat...", says Zophades. "I'll teach you to respect your elders."
"Commander, how do we proceed now?"
"It's simple. Now that his all-encompassing presence is gone, we send out the last nail necessary for the coffin."
"You mean..."
"It's time. Send him."
With that command, his soldiers present around him already knew what they were meant to do. By activating a mechanism from his spaceship, it ejected a capsule, big enough to contain an adult human. It flew directly into the bubble created by the X-Syste, where Penumbra's humanoid form, which was currently the whole of him, resided.
The capsule enters the bubble and then stops moving. Penumbra observes from a distance.
"Open it.", says Zophades as he gives the order.
The capsule explodes, revealing smoke and a familiar silhouette covered by a purple aura.
"I see, so this was your trump card."
The smokes disperse away, revealing the figure of a man that was thought to be dead.
"Amadeus Volstander."
An accursed that had previously fought the secondborn and thirdborn, before being eliminated by the latter.
"A quick look at you tells me you are not exactly the same Amadeus I interacted with. Something is changed. Your mind is not there, is it?"
"...."
Amadeus says nothing. He is just standing there, in the vacuum, emotionless.
"You are certainly correct, ethernal one.", says Zophades, although Penumbra cannot hear him. "We resurrected Amadeus with an old magic trick I learned from a man in black kimono ages ago. The current Amadeus may not have a mind but he will obey my every order and it still is just as powerful, with extra qualities this time. This time, there will be no room for errors."
Amadeus takes a fighting stance, preparing himself to attack.
Penumbra sees this but does nothing, as he does not need any stance to fight to begin with. He calmly waited for his opponent to act.
"One more dance, then."
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At the center of the Exosphere, specifically inside a peculiar metaworld, governed by abstractions of logic that the human mind would not be able to conceive, there lay a conflict that, if not contained by the metaworld itself, would lay pure destruction across the multiverse.
The statue that looked like an angel swung its sword down with speeds that defied comprehension, with power that could devastate entire planes of existence. However, its opponent, who was just as ridiculous, did not even attempt to dodge, she simply deflected the continuous blows with her pinky finger, as a way of mocking the opposition.
"You better pull up something impressive. I'm starting to get bored."
Metatron, realizing that it couldn't actually deal damage on the ethernal this way, tried other methods, looking for a way of winning.
Its sword suddenly gets covered in a light blue aura, then he points the sword in Venus' direction.
"ᏝᎧᎶᎧᏕ: ᎮᏋᏁᎥᏖᏋᏁፈᏋ"
"!!!"
Suddenly and abruptly, Venus feels in her body a massive feeling of pain, accumulated from the beginning of her life to the current moment, all at once. It was a level of pain extremely close to that of Iron Maiden's.
"Ahh..this is actually painful...but that's all there is to it. Thank you for the nostalgic memories though."
Venus regains her composure, despite what she is currently feeling. The current pain running through her body would be strong enough to cause shock in most bodies and mental instability in most minds. Yet, she resisted. She would not be taken down by a simple trick like this.
"I do wonder where your power comes from. It's different from everything I've seen. Are you interested in telling me?"
The entity says nothing back. It observes Venus with its dead cold eyes, devoid of life and emotions, like a robot.
"I assume that is a no. Then, I'll have to study you by force."
Venus raises her hand into outer space above.
"How about a taste of my Gungnir?"
Suddenly, at the top of the metaworld, a massive gate is opened. From it, a foreign structure gradually descends, revealing what seems to be a spear-shaped cosmos. This was Gungnir, one of Venus' weapons. The spear consisted of trillions of universes, each the size of the Material Substrate, condensed into the shape of a spear the size of a planet.
"Now be smitten by the will of God, my will."
The spear is shot toward Metatron at incomprehensible speeds, bypassing any kind of finite measurements. In truth, this spear completely pierced through the principle of speed. At the same moment that Venus threw it, it already reached the target. No concept of movement could be applied here.
It was a direct hit, causing an explosion that tore a hole open in space-time.
Numerous universes were atomized by the shockwaves alone, quantum fluctuations started to bend, mathematical principles began to scramble, science principles were split in half, effects happened without causation, and even distinctions ceased to be.
However...
"Peculiar.", Venus says in response to the results of the impact.
Metratron was standing still in the same place, unharmed. It was covered by an omnidirectional blue forcefield, which presumably protected it from the spear. It was able to activate it while the spear had yet to reach it, an action that required no less than instantaneous movement.
"Let's confirm something."
In the moment Venus said that, she did the unthinkable. She instantly appeared behind Metratron. "Instantly" here is not supposed to be metaphorical or an exaggeration, but a literal instantaneous movement that disregarded any amount of distance. Next, Venus tried to karate chop the back of Metratron's head. Such a blow would be powerful enough to not only decapitate the head of the angel but lay waste to the entire metaworld.
But it was able to dodge it. Metatron, without even turning its back, somehow sensed the attack and fancily dodged flawlessly, in addition to counterattacking with its sword with a speed greater than Venus assaulted it. It aimed its sword at Venus' neck and tried to cut it at that short distance. Its movement, likewise, was also infinitely fast. Venus was easily able to react with a speed even faster than before and punched it in the chest. The impact was strong enough to throw the angel to the other side of the metaworld.
All of these events happened in no more than exactly zero seconds.
Before Metatron could even regain its position after the impact, Venus was already behind its back and grabbed it by the arm, launching it into the core of an infinite star, destroying it completely.
Metratron quickly regains its stance and spots Venus who is a considerable distance away from it. The entity guards its sword in another dimension, and proceeds to join hands, forming the sign of prey.
"ᏝᎧᎶᎧᏕ: ᏰᏝᏋᏕᏕᎥᏁᎶ."
At the same moment, its body is covered in yellow light. Venus could instantly tell the entity was boosting its physical capabilities with its unknown energy source.
"You are certainly different from the small fishes I'm used to seeing. Perhaps you can really spark the feeling of excitement I've been craving for a while."
Next, the conflict would grow beyond massive proportions.
Venus approached Metatron by stepping through time. As simple as it sounds, her movement allowed her to step through different time periods. For Venus, all past, present, and future were simply another road she could walk into. Her speed was now impossible to measure even in infinite terms. In truth, this was a natural movement for Venus, one that she could have done since the beginning, but opted not to due to not finding it necessary...until now.
Nevertheless, Metatron could strike back. It could promptly perceive her movements and properly counterattack. Each of their strikes destroyed billions of planes of existence, higher dimensions, and ultra dimensions. They kept doing this dance that went beyond simple descriptions and definitions, and they would not stop soon.
Or so it was thought.
"Ah, no, no, this is not good.", says Venus as she binds Metatron's body with chains created out of thin air. "I'm not interested in a contest of will with us doing the same things over and over."
She pulls her sword from an alternate dimension. The sword is axiomatically shaped like [SEVERANCE]. She raises her sword and speaks in a different tone.
"By swinging my sword, Zetta, I thereby submit you to my power, which is enacted in truth. En Garde."
Venus swings her sword, which in turn cuts the SHAPE of Metatron in half, denying any possible kind of regeneration or resurrection. A strike at the very essence of it, despite not being alive. After all, the SHAPE exists in all things, be they living beings or inorganic. As the primal essence of being, it is the insubstantial, archetypal form that in turn gives them material (or immaterial) substance in the world, an essence that transcends time, space, and causality. It would be erroneous to call this a concept or even an idea, as it is more foundational than such things.
Yet...
"ᎴᏗᏁᏕᏠፈᏉᏂᎥᏬᏋᎤፈᏰᏰᎴᎤᏇᎴᏗᏁᏕᏠፈᏉᏂᎥᏬᏋᎤፈᏰᏰᎴᎤᏇᎴᏗᏁᏕᏠፈᏉᏂᎥᏬᏋᎤፈᏰᏰᎴᎤᏇ."
Metatron's body, now fundamentally severed, struggles to keep itself functioning.
"So even after a direct hit at your SHAPE you still try to resist. But this isn't a matter of willpower, no...The energy inside you. It's special, I want it."
Venus quickly approaches Metatron, which is in a severe state of instability. Venus disregards the risks and advances recklessly. A spark of curiosity fills the entirety of her thoughts.
*THUM*
The sound of something being abruptly penetrated. Venus impaled Metatron's chest with her hand, reaching the very core that houses its source of unknown energy.
"Show me your secrets."
But this was a bad idea.
And Venus would soon realize it.