It's been several hours since Tearwyn and I have been changing things to our dimension, tweaking things with the Apocalypse System. And for everything we couldn't change via my System, Tearwyn would step in and use her godly powers instead.
While it's true she didn't have infinite mana (technically) when not interacting through my System, she was still a Goddess. And she wasn't sitting around doing nothing while I was hunting the Light shits in her worlds, oh no. She was quite active, and was listening to tips from Lady Lilith, growing her power and influence.
Which all leads to a single thing, my little sister is a badass. Though, she did like to keep reminding me that a lot of what she was doing to our dimension was because of exactly that: It was OUR dimension. It seems that it was much easier for her to mould since we united the two.
Tearwyn: "It's because your barrier is keeping out Divine Law, Artoria! I don't have it pushing back on any changes anymore."
Is the reason she had given when I had asked her. In all honesty, I just didn't really care as long as she was having fun moulding our dimension to her liking. I also appreciated that she would also always ask for my opinion as well before she would change something.
'Not like I could say no to her, like… ever.'
In the end, our dimension had several "floors" as it were, and I honestly loved it. The first floor was the one we were on. We ended up leaving it looking exactly like it was. The only thing on this floor was my Dark Water on the ground, with the massive Apocalypse System. The sky drop was just a muted grey, and had no clouds. It most likely gave off a depressing atmosphere, exactly how we wanted a floor housing something called "The Apocalypse System" to be. But to us it felt comfortable, because of the amount of Black Water that was around.
For the second floor, we left it as Tearwyn's Sakura Forest. We did however, add in some Black Water lakes and ponds. While some might say a black pool of water in a pink forest might look ugly, we both would disagree. It gave a nice contrast to the whole thing, while also giving off the comfortable feeling when we were around it. We didn't care if we, and those blessed by it, were the only ones to feel relaxed around it.
The third floor was modelled after Heaven's old one, but with a Dark twist. This was where the believers of Tearwyn (and myself eventually she said) would end up after they died. Funnily enough, this was also where the old believers of Heaven will end up too. Though they would show up as playthings for our believers, and when they were all but broken, the used up souls would be thrown into the sea of reincarnation. Eventually.
When we had finished setting up that floor, Tearwyn and I were able to hear light laughter from far away. Tearwyn and I both had an inkling that Lady Lilith was enjoying the situation the souls found themselves in. As not even a picosecond after we had finished creating it, souls started to pour in from both the sides. The contrast of looks on each believer's faces when they looked around really was funny, and I could see why Lady Lilith enjoyed the outcome.
The fourth and final floor was the floor Tearwyn wanted for "annoying" entities. This floor was pretty much our own Hell so to speak. Now, at first I was worried that we might one day end up with an entity that we couldn't control if we brought them into our dimension instead of killing it. But Tearwyn had put my unease to rest rather fast.
Tearwyn: "Don't worry, Artoria! Remember, I have unlimited mana through your System! As such, I can use it to enforce our own sets of Divine Law so to speak to anything in our dimension. It's very likely that only Big Sister Lilith would be able to resist our will inside our dimension at this point."
That had caused me to ask what was stopping us from creating a weapon or some such and taking outside to just instantly kill all the gods of Light.
Tearwyn: "Divine Law, simply. Maybe one day when we're strong like Big Sister Lilith, we could do that, but the moment you step out of our dimension you are subject to Divine Law again. And it would simply erase whatever you brought out.
Honestly, Divine Law is super finicky, and no one really understands how it works exactly. I had asked Big Sister Lilith once, and she said I was simply too young to know. She did say it was much easier to block Divine Law from entering a personal dimension, than to disobey it out in 'the wild.'"
That brought up another question that I had asked her. Was she able to use that to grow in power?
Tearwyn: "I could but it would be ultimately useless, for the same reason why you can't make a weapon. The moment I would try to exert myself outside of our dimension, Divine Law would suppress my influence/power to the level I would be at without the power up. The only way to truly power up is to wait for your ascension."
I was a little sad she couldn't permanently power up until I had ascended, but it was what it was. This Divine Law was annoying, but it was a force that covered the True Omniverse, so I expected it to be near Lady Lilith in terms of power. At least somewhat anyway.
But the main thing was that as long as Tearwyn stayed inside our dimension, she was unbeatable, unkillable, and all powerful. My drive to ascend to Goddesshood only heightened in response however. I did not want our dimension to become a gilded cage for her.
As we were finishing up and I was getting ready to head out to finish the hunt for the current Agent of Light, I remembered something.
Artoria: "Oh, right. Tearwyn, what happened to all the entities that Heaven had locked up?"
Tearwyn: "I simply shattered all of their souls and forced a reset on them so to speak. I really didn't want to bother with any of them, to be honest."
She looked down a little and blushed a tiny bit. I couldn't help but smile and shake my head.
Artoria: "So, if I remember correctly. That basically means they are now like brand new souls?"
She looked back up to me with a nod, "Yup! After I was done with all of them, I threw them all back into the sea of reincarnation."
She got a mischievous look in her eyes as she continued, "Though, I may or may not have sent them to worlds under my control."
I let out a good chuckle and nodded my head at that, "That was a good idea, Tearwyn. Now, before I go there was one Sacred Gear I wanted to mess with before I leave."
With a snap of my fingers and a thought later, the Sacred Gear I wanted to use appeared before me. Tearwyn was quick to teach me how to instantly control the System without having to navigate its menus.
Floating before me was one of the, well technically it was three, "Holy Relics." Sephiroth Graal. Though, like all relics and such of the DxD world, it now had a much MUCH weaker holy presence for obvious reasons. With another thought, I forced the three cups back into one via my control from my System. I reached out and grabbed the singular Sacred Gear and brought it up to my face.
Artoria: "Huh. Not what I expected. It's just a fancy golden cup. Why do I feel so disappointed?"
With a shrug and a head tilt from Tearwyn, I tried to connect to the Sacred Gear and bind it to me. But after standing there for a few moments, nothing was happening. I tilted my head in confusion and asked Tearwyn if she knew what was going on.
Tearwyn: "Oh! I know, yeah! It's simple, you can't use it because-"
She suddenly stopped talking, and a second later her tails and ears drooped down. With my head still tilted I asked what was wrong.
Tearwyn: "I am sorry, Artoria… Big Sister Lilith said that I can't tell you. She said it would be spoilers."
Raising an eyebrow at that, I simply nodded my head.
Artoria: "Don't worry about it, Tearwyn. Lady Lilith wants me to find out some other way, which means it'll be more interesting for her and myself I guess!"
I walked over to Tearwyn and gave her some head pats to emphasise that I wasn't really that disappointed. She narrowed her eyes in content as she nodded her head. With that, I just dismissed the floating Sacred Gear back to the system to find a new user.
Giving Tearwyn a quick hug, I stood back up and resummoned all my armour. An idle thought I had back when I was in the overlord universe came back to me though, and I just had to ask Tearwyn.
Artoria: "Tearwyn? Do you know why I am ageing?"
She gave me a smile and nodded her head a few times, "Yup! Because your body (soul) is adapting to your increases in power. And it is also taking in your unconscious desires as it changes. So it's likely to change slightly every time you gain power and have to adapt to it. It also changes a bit when your 'Black Water,' as you call it, changes or grows in power and abilities."
I hum in acknowledgment and then start to cast my dimensional jump spell.
Artoria: "Alrighty, Tearwyn. Back to work for me! I'll make sure to stop by every now and then now that we can see each other beyond just me going to a new world."
She beamed a smile at me and said, "Okay! Have fun, Artoria!"
I flashed her a smile just before the spell took effect and reality melted away around me, before it reformed itself as I appeared in Sirzechs office. This caused him to look up from his paperwork in surprise for a second before he smiled.
Sirzechs: "Ah, Lady Artoria. Perfect, just who I needed to see! Do you have time for a quick inquiry?"
Raising an eyebrow I asked, "'Lady'?"
Sirzechs rolled his eyes slightly and said, "It doesn't hurt to be extra polite to an entity who can wipe out a dimension such as Heaven in less than a day."
A smirk appeared on my face as I motioned for him to continue.
Sirzechs: "Thank you. I have a few questions if you wouldn't mind. The first being how you are responsible for the change in the world regarding 'Holy power'. As it is completely gone now baring anyone that can naturally generate it, which is frankly next to no one outside of the angels."
Nodding my head I say, "That's because when I took over Heaven, I also took over the System left behind by the Biblical 'God.' That system was where most of the Holy power was being generated and supplied from. Next question?"
He nodded in thought for a few seconds before continuing.
Sirzechs: "Secondly, I take it you were the one responsible for the death of my sister's Pawn? One Issei Hyoudou."
Again I nodded my head in confirmation as I spoke up, "Yes. I had a better use for the Sacred Gear that was bound to him."
Sirzechs leaned back into his chair with curiosity gleaming in his eyes.
Sirzechs: "Could you have taken the Gear without killing him?"
A cruel smile crept up my face as I dismissed my visor so I could look him directly in his eyes.
Artoria: "I could have, yes."
We stared at each other for a few seconds before he started to chuckle.
Sirzechs: "My little sister is better off without that little shit, honestly. Sure, he was loyal. But honestly, it felt like he was loyal to her tits, not her…"
He shuddered in disgust and I could only nod my head and agree with him. Resummoning my visor I was about to ask him a question when all of a sudden, a bright white sigil appeared underneath me. Tilting my head in confusion as Sirzechs stood up in alarm as he looked down at it with anger.
Sirzechs: "That's the magic sigil Gilgamesh has! She is summoning you?! The audacity of-"
I didn't get to hear him finish his outburst when my vision went white. Several seconds after basically being magically flashbanged my vision cleared up. Looking around in curiosity I was standing on the damn moon of all places. Taking a passing look at the blue globe, I turned my attention to who was in front of me when I heard someone speak up.
???: "So, it really is you, Saber. Though, you look… different than how a normal 'Alter' looks like."
Before me was Gilgamesh. And flanking her back and sides was a host of Angels and other races. A small little army one could say. But nearly my entire focus was on Gilgamesh.
My voice spoke out with an absolute alarming amount of venom to it.
Artoria: "Gilgamesh. Or rather, a fake using his face."
Something in me snapped. Something primal, core to my very being rose up from within. And that something was pure, unadulterated hate. Hate for the face of the person who stood in front of me. I knew that wasn't really Gilgamesh. I knew it was just some pissant mortal using his powers and body. But, it didn't matter.
My power exploded out of me, uncontrolled and raging wildly. My new Aura also formed around myself as I summoned my beloved Excalibur. Space around me was whining and screaming from the pressure I was giving off as my Mana Burst also exploded out. And finally, Black Water started to drip from my body and pooled behind me. Several bodies rose from the Waters in a kneeling position.
Artoria: "You will rue the day you took up that face. I will drown you in Darkness for opposing my Goddess."
The area of the moon I was standing on exploded as I rushed Gilgamesh. Her eyes widened as I instantly appeared in front of her with a fully primed Burst Air.
Artoria: "DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
[author] *Laughs in cliffhanger~![/author]