Chapter 252:
Jean gulped next to me. She had already exhausted herself roasting Ego and now a drastically more powerful being had popped up in front of us. "Are we going to have to fight again, Layla?" She whispered to me. "This thing looks like the Iron Giant had a baby with the Death Star!" She exclaimed.
"That's…not an inaccurate way to describe him." I replied while gripping the Power Stone tightly in my palm. If I had to fight Arishem here, I could handle using the stone for 2 or 3 minutes at most. I grimaced, that wasn't going to be near long enough to bring down a being over 100 levels above me.
"Someone's coming." Jean said.
I felt something rapidly approaching the two of us from behind. I turned my head to see what it was. Captain Marvel was rapidly speeding over from my ship. I cracked a small smile at the fact that she didn't choose to run away like everyone else.
She came to a stop near where Jean and I were floating in space. Carol glanced off into the distance nervously.
Arishem had been staring at us, with his six red eyes, in silence since he arrived in this sector of space. He hadn't done anything else. His giant body didn't move even an inch.
It was a bit unnerving… I'd never dealt with a being that acted so inhuman. Even Mephisto, the Marvel Devil, has acted more normal than this Celestial so far.
"This is exactly what I warned you about!" Carol whispered aggressively at me. "Killing a Celestial ended up pissing the others off! Now this freak has shown up too! I didn't even believe he was real until now!" Carol complained. "Arishem was supposed to be a myth, one of the boogeymen of the Cosmos!"
"Don't put this situation on, Layla. You were offering to help us get rid of Ego not even a half hour ago." Jean stuck up for me and pointed out.
Carol shook her head. "I wasn't blaming Layla. I was just trying to remind her that actions have consequences." Carol said back to Jean before turning back to me. "It didn't help that you both killed Ego so quickly, and in the flashiest manner possible! You made the Celestials look really weak to the wider Galaxy. They're supposed to be incredibly prideful beings, they won't let that go easily…" She trailed off. Her eyes drifted over my shoulder towards Arishem. Carol was under the impression he was here as a show of strength. I supposed that was possible, myself. Despite that, his massive form still hadn't moved since he had arrived. He must have been deep in thought about something.
"Ego wasn't even a real Celestial. That's obvious now. He died way too easily." I said. "Arishem shouldn't even care." I had no idea why Arishem turned up here. He never gave a shit when the Guardians killed Ego in the movie! I made my thoughts known to the two of them.
"Didn't the Phoenix tell us that Ego was a Celestial?" Jean asked me nervously. "Although, she could have been wrong I guess."
I shrugged at her. "Maybe he was a Celestial's inbred cousin or something." I joked to try and lighten the mood. I shook my head when I noticed neither girl smiled. "It doesn't really matter anyway, since he's dead now."
[Ego went out with a great bang too! I rate his death explosion a solid 9/10.]
Carol let out a sigh. "Regardless of whether he was one or not, his death brought Arishem here." Carol said before pointing at me. "You announced to the whole Galaxy that Ego WAS a Celestial. They all think you killed one now, and you did it easily." She explained.
"Oh, I see your point." I said. In hindsight, there were probably more subtle ways I could have liked Ego over. I was just too lazy to try them. I wanted to finish his Quest and return home as soon as possible.
"I doubt the Judge will let us escape now without an explanation." Carol said. "From the stories I've heard about him, that I thought were not even real until now, Arishem has his own weird sense of judgment. Entire planets and Empires have been wiped out by him for the pettiest of reasons." She explained.
Jean frowned at Carol's words. "We have an explanation, Ego was trying to absorb the whole Galaxy!"
"We're about to find out whether that's a good enough explanation or not." Carol replied to Jean.
I frowned and took her words as a challenge. "I'd like to see Arishem even try to stop us from leaving." I called on my Orb of Infinity. I summoned a small portal towards my Warship's bridge.
If Arishem was just going to passively float there and stare at us, then we might as well leave. I floated forwards to go through my portal.
BONK!
{-5HP}
"Ow!" My head ended up smacking something solid! I looked up to see what I had just collided with. "That's new…" Directly in front of my portal was a red energy barrier. In fact, the barrier completely surrounded my portal on all sides, completely blocking my access to it. It was pretty obvious who the barrier blocking me came from.
I called on my Orb of Infinity again and tried to open another portal. Immediately, another red energy barrier sprang up around it.
I glared at it in annoyance! "Amaterasu!"
{-5000MP!}
Black flames impacted the barrier and started burning away at it. This barrier was proving even stronger than the Collector's Infinity Stone prison barrier had been. My flames failed to eat away at it after almost a full minute. I willed them away and turned back to Carol. "Ok, we might be trapped here…" I relented. Arishem couldn't stop me from creating portals, but he could stop me from going through them. I didn't expect him to be that clever…
[He's literally millions of years old…]
"If we die here, I'm going to haunt you…" Carol's eye was twitching.
"If we die here, I'll just revive myself and then you guys a few days later." I replied.
I'd stash the Power Stone in my inventory as well, so Arishem wouldn't be able to take it. I would be a petty bitch like that…
[What if he can reach into your inventory like the Ancient One was able to do over a year ago?]
'Fuck…'
"Oh right, I forgot you could do that." Jean said, some of the tension had lightened after my statement. You can be a lot braver when you know death isn't permanent.
"I'm not worried about us, I'm worried about what Arishem could do to Earth in retaliation!" Carol hissed out worriedly. I decided not to tell her that Arishem was already planning on destroying the Earth. There was a baby Celestial growing in the center of the planet that I was going to have to kill at some point. The more humans in the world, the faster it would develop. When the Earth Marvel and DxD fuse back together, the baby Celestial will grow much faster than in MCU Canon as well. I was going to have to kill it sooner rather than later.
"..."
"I have come to pass judgment!" Arishem's voice boomed from all around us. He had finally spoken.
…
–Arishem–
Arishem gazed across the void of space. His vision was locked on the three very tiny beings. All of them were decently powerful, but he felt like they were no threat to him. He wasn't even wary of the one holding the Infinity Stone.
Arishem had spent the past few minutes reading the minds of the mortals onboard the only remaining spaceship in the small section of space. From them, he understood the situation…for the most part.
The being known as Ego was not a Celestial, but he was still a unique existence. Arishem might even go as far as to say that Ego was interesting. Arishem pondered if, maybe one day, Ego could have evolved himself into becoming a true Celestial? And if that process involved Ego devouring countless mortal planets, well…Arishem didn't actually mind. He would consider those mortal lives as having served a more noble purpose.
It was incredibly difficult for the Celestial race to spawn new members. Therefore, Arishem saw Ego's death to be a waste. What were the lives of a few trillion mortals, compared to that of a new Celestial? Unfortunately, it was not to be.
Ego, the living planet, was dead. His soul forever lost to Lady Death's realm. Arishem would not be able to bring it back. Arishem found himself…feeling irritated. It had been a long time since he had felt such a mortal emotion.
"I have come to pass judgment!" Arishem declared. "I judge Ego's death to have been a waste to the Cosmos! A detriment to the prosperity of the greater Universe! You must prove to me that your existence was more valuable than his or you will be punished!" Arishem declared. He did not believe that any of the three women would be able to prove their worth, but he had to at least give them a chance to defend themselves.
He was a fair Judge after all…
"How the Hell do we do that!?" The one with the 14 Black Wings asked Arishem. He noted that her voice projected across space with a rudimentary use of Cosmic Energy.
"You will allow me access to your minds. I will judge for myself from all of your memories." Arishem declared, as was his right. He had been trying to read all three of their minds since he arrived, unfortunately all of their minds were all protected by higher powers. Those powers felt familiar to Arishem, but he couldn't recall from where or when he was familiar with them. Even for him, some memories become hard to properly recall after tens of millions of years.
"Absolutely not!" The same woman declared again. He could see that she was channeling more and more power from the Power Stone into herself.
"I'm never letting anyone I don't know in my head ever again!" The girl who was glowing with cosmic fire declared to him.
The third woman powered up as well. A bright Golden Aura surrounded her next.
Arishem wondered if they were going to attempt to actually fight him? 'How long has it been since any beings have challenged me?' He was almost amused…almost. "You will follow my judgment or be destroyed!" Arishem declared with finality.
He wasn't planning on indulging them in pointless battle. They would submit to his judgment like any other sane sentient would. He didn't believe they would truly attempt to fight him.
Arishem was wrong.
"COSMIC SUSANOO!" The woman with 14 Black Wings screamed loudly. An enormous well of Divine and Cosmic Power combined and surged around her being!
'Where did that come from!?' Arishem had not sensed any of that hidden power!
The next thing he knew, he was getting punched in the face by an ethereal purple fist the size of a small moon…
…
–Layla–
This asshole thought he could root around in my mind! That wasn't happening! I was the Gamer here!
{-100,000,000 Faith Energy!}
I loved being a Goddess, but the truth was, I wasn't really a fan of Faith Energy. It could only be acquired from people's faith, and it was slow to accumulate. Despite that, I was very thankful that I currently had so much of it saved up. It was exactly for a situation like this. I channeled an absurd amount of Faith Energy and combined it with Cosmic Energy and the Power Stone. The amount of power I felt flowing through me was staggering!
I grabbed Jean and Carol and pulled them both close to myself. I appreciated their eagerness to fight, but they would only be a liability outside of my protection.
"COSMIC SUSANOO!" An ethereal skeleton rapidly formed around me. It was quickly followed by muscle, and then skin, and then armor.
"Oh my God, Layla!" Jean's eyes were bulging wide.
"How is this possible!?" Carol exclaimed in disbelief.
[Holy shit…]
Holy shit was right. 100,000,000 Faith Energy created the largest SUSANOO that's ever existed. My construct was as big as Arishem himself!
My Susanoo was the size of an entire planet and I was controlling all of it seamlessly. I raised my hand and clenched my fist. My construct perfectly mirrored my action. I felt that this fist had the power to shatter an entire planet if I felt like it.
{Emergency Quest Initiated: Kick Arishem's Ass!}
{Reward: Level Up x 10!! Eternal Bragging Rights! ???}
A smirk formed on my face. I was going to kick Arishem's arrogant ass anyway, but I wouldn't turn down some rewards for it.
[Keep in mind, you're on a time limit. The Power Stone is already starting to damage you internally!]
'I won't hold back.' I told the System. I was losing about 200 HP a second from the strain of holding the Stone.
Wings the size of continents emerged from my Susanoo's back. With them, I surged forward towards Arishem, faster than I thought possible! In the span of only a few seconds, I had crossed hundreds of thousands of Kilometers!
I reeled back my fist and punched the massive Celestial directly in the face!
BOOM!
His head whipped backwards. I think I actually managed to leave a dent in his face, but it quickly regenerated. All true Celestials were supposed to be incredibly durable and resilient.
I reeled back my other fist and punched him again! This time I landed a devastating body blow that would have knocked the air out of him–if he even needed to breathe.
[Hell yeah! Kick his ass, Host!]
Arishem was caught off guard by the sudden violence, and possibly even the fact that I was actually hurting him. His face wasn't readable, but I imagined it would be showing shock if it was.
{-1,000,000 Faith Energy!}
"You want to judge me!?" A massive Lightspear formed in my Susanoo's right hand. "You're not qualified!" I stabbed forwards with the spear. Before it made contact, he was enveloped by a red aura. It was almost impossible how quickly the planet sized being vanished from my sight!
An instant later, I sensed that space had shifted behind me. A powerful blow splashed across my Susanoo's back, just underneath her massive wings. I felt an echo of pain from the blow and let out a grunt.
[Another rapid teleporter! How annoying!]
{-2,000,000 Faith Energy!}
I had a solution for that now. I felt my Orb of Infinity emit a feeling of -Glee- as I fed it all that power. Once again, on a much larger scale, space became impossible to teleport through. Even for a being like Arishem.
I recovered from his sneak attack and quickly spun around. I lashed forwards with my giant spear a second time.
Arishem seemed to have caught on quicker, at what I had done, than the Collector had. Instead of trying to teleport again, Arishem swung his arms forward towards my incoming spear.
CLAAAAAANG!
A massive greatsword appeared in the pathway of my spear. The two world destroying weapons clashed momentarily before we both pulled back.
"It has been a long time since I was last injured. Millions of years…" Arishem declared.
"Well, it's about to happen again in a few seconds." I replied smugly.
"Yeah! You're not so tough!" Jean cheered next to me from inside my construct.
Carol looked like she wanted to speak as well, but was too tongue tied to say anything. I could understand that, two planet sized giants were currently battling it out and she was literally inside one of them.
"You have proven you have more worth than I initially believed. It is not often I admit I was mistaken. I offer you one last chance. Submit to my judgment, and I will pardon you for attacking me!" Arishem declared once again.
Where did this guy get off!? Of course, there was no way I was going to submit to him!
[Layla of the Fallen]
[Title: Fourteen Winged Angel, Goddess of Angels, Death's Favored.]
[Level: 87]
[Sacred Gears: Purger of Darkness, Orb of Infinity]
[HP: 54,000→57,000 / 114,000→117,000]
[MP: 5500 / 120,000]
[Faith Energy: 39,555,675]
[Vigor: 10,000→10,300]
[Strength: 5,200]
[Intelligence: 12,200]
[Luck: 2300]
[Available Free Stat Points: 300→0]
I quickly put my remaining free stat points into Vigor to give myself a few extra seconds to hold the Power Stone. Every second counted right now!
"You have no right to judge any of us! I refuse!" I yelled at him. My Susanoo flapped her wings and rushed towards him again. Once again, my spear met his sword. We both quickly started to trade blows back and forth.
The greatsword he had created was even bigger than my Lightspear, and he wielded it with some skill, but it was evident that he was severely out of practice. After all, why should he bother training when no one has challenged him in longer than eons.
CLANG! CLANG! CLASH!
I batted his greatsword to the side when he overextended himself. My Lightspear lashed out towards his left shoulder. I poured even more Faith Energy into the massive weapon the moment it made contact with his shoulder. My Lightspear burned right through!
{-1,000,000 Faith Energy!}
"Raaaaaaaggghhh!" Arishem let out a wail of pain. He had been dealt heavy damage. A colossal arm was separated from his body and rapidly started flying off into the void. Arishem dropped his greatsword and clutched at the wound. My Light along with energy from the Power Stone was infecting his wound and preventing it from healing. Otherwise he would have immediately been able to grow another arm. His six eyes glowed burning red in fury. The rage he was emitting was so intense that it was palpable. "No more! I judge you guilty!"
He raised his remaining arm towards me and all of my instincts warned me about what was coming. He wasn't playing around anymore!
I threw both of my arms forwards and my Susanoo mimicked my actions.
"Disappear!" A beam of pure cosmic power blasted forth from Arishem's remaining arm. I knew if it hit me, we would be goners, regardless of my massive Susanoo or not.
{38,555,675 Faith Energy!}
{-40,000HP!}
I channeled absolutely all of my remaining power and combined it with everything left I could squeeze out of the Power Stone! "Fuck off, Arishem! Almighty Push!"
[What the fuck!?]
When I released all of that power in one targeted attack, something strange happened. The Space in front of me trembled…and then cracked. The wave of gravity surged forwards and crashed into Arishem with an incompressible amount of force! For a moment, the Laws of Physics shattered.
Arishem was hit with so much force, that one instant he was in front of us, and the second…he vanished. That was the only way I could describe it. He was simply gone…
"Damn, Layla! Did you just knock him into the next Galaxy!?" Jean exclaimed with a shocked laugh. "Where did he go?"
"What the fuck…" Carol finally spoke after Arishem vanished in front of us.
[Wait, did you knock him into the next Galaxy!?]
Wherever I just sent him, I hoped he wouldn't be coming back for a while at least. I lowered my arms and let out a tired sigh. My planet-sized Susanoo faded away around us. I was completely spent. My MP was close to zero, my Faith Energy was drained and I only had a few thousand remaining HP. Despite that, I realized there was a massive grin on my face!
"Ha! Get fucked Arishem! I hit him so hard he ended up recoiling away faster than the speed of light!" I bellowed out with a laugh. "Haha! I literally broke Physics with pure force!"
"Is that what happened!?" Jean asked me in shock.
"He's not dead is he?" Carol asked next. Somehow, she looked even more nervous at that prospect.
I shook my head. I would have gotten a notification if he was. "I honestly have no idea what happened to him. Why don't we get out of here before he comes back?" I suggested as I started flying back to my Warship. I was kind of hoping Rocket had recorded my fight just now because it would be awesome to show to people!
{Quest Completed! You have Leveled up x 10! You have acquired a #####!}
[Layla of the Fallen]
[Title: Fourteen Winged Angel, Goddess of Angels, Death's Favored.]
[Level: 97]
[Sacred Gears: Purger of Darkness, Orb of Infinity]
[HP: 5,000 / 117,000]
[MP: 4,000 / 120,000]
[Faith Energy: 0]
[Vigor: 10,300]
[Strength: 5,200]
[Intelligence: 12,200]
[Luck: 2300]
[Available Free Stat Points: 1000]
[Perks and Skills:]
-Goddess of Angels (10x Increase in all Stat Points. Access to all Angelic Abilities. Can turn other races into white or black winged Angels depending on the person's Karma.)
-Death's Favored (Resurrect on Death after 24 hours. Can resurrect up to three people a day.)
-Daughter of Heaven's Will (Passive Skill: Ask and you shall receive! The universe bends to your whims and circumstances that you wish for are far more likely to occur!)
-Observe (Max: No one's level is hidden from your gaze. No one can detect you using Observe on them.)
-Light Manipulation (Max: All Light Abilities Cost 10x less MP to Cast.)
-Senjutsu (Max: Passively regenerate 1000 MP/Min.)
-Rinnegan (Max: All Rinnegan abilities cost 5x less MP.)
-Faith Pool (Can draw upon Faith Energy when MP runs out.)
-Cosmic Energy (Instead of air, you know breathe Cosmic Energy. All abilities are drastically improved along with access to Cosmic powers.)
XXX
–(Canon?) Omake, A Celestial Lost in Time–
It took Arishem a surprising amount of time to bleed off the momentum. He had never been hit with that much force in his entire existence! He didn't think he had ever been so injured. All of his limbs were broken and bent out of place. There was a massive indent in the center of his torso, where the full power of the blow had struck him.
As the mortals say…he needed a minute.
Arishem would recover from the damage shortly, but that wasn't the most pressing issue!
Somehow, the 14 winged woman had managed to hit him so hard that she sent him through time itself! He could sense the faint traces of Temporal Energies around him. He was not where he was supposed to be…or WHEN he was supposed to be would be the more accurate statement. He didn't know whether or not he had even been sent to the past or the future. He had absolutely no control when he was forcibly launched through time itself.
Arishem took a few moments to recover from his injuries and grow back another arm. Once he was healed, he opened a portal towards Terra. The winged woman was from that small blue world. Maybe he could find her there and exact judgment on her properly. This time, he wouldn't underestimate her.
A massive portal swallowed him whole and transported him to his destination. Arishem arrived near the moon of Terra an instant later. His arrival did not go unnoticed. Numerous spaceships nearby all stopped traffic as their pilots stared at him in wonder. A few seconds later, all nearby spaceships spun around and immediately started to flee from him.
"I am in the future then." Arishem commented to himself. He had read the memories of the Half-Terran known as Peter Quill. Terra was not even close to space travel as far as the mortal knew. And there definitely was not a colony of people openly living on the moon…
Arishem's eyes drifted towards Terra. He had a feeling the woman he was after would be there. "Woman with 14 wings! Come out and meet your judgment!" Arishem declared. His voice echoed across the entire planet!
"Jeez. Did you have to yell so loudly!? Also, who the hell are you, and why are you so needlessly big?" A woman's voice spoke from nearby.
Very nearby!
Arishem's eyes almost became crossed as he glanced down. Hovering directly in front of his face was the woman with 14 Black Wings! No–it wasn't her. This woman looked almost identical, but her aura felt different.
"Who are you, mortal? Where is the woman I seek? Where is Layla of the Fallen!?" He demanded to know.
"Mom? She's out right now, probably touring another weird universe with my sisters. She's left me in charge of the planet while she is out. Nice to meet you giant dude. I'm Hilga…" She introduced herself confidently.
She wasn't gazing at him with reverence or fear, but looking at him as if they were equals. Arishem was once again annoyed at the audacity of lesser beings. "Your mother hit me so hard that she sent me through time itself! That is but a single one of the crimes she must face my judgment for! Bring her to me!"
Hilga had a pondering look on her face before she snapped her fingers in realization. "Oh, I know who you are! You're Arishem! They talked about you in history class! You ended up disappearing for a few years after my mom first fought you decades ago. No one knew where you went during that period. So, she ended up hitting you so hard that she sent you through time? I didn't know that was even possible!" Hilga said excitedly.
"It is." Arishem confirmed. "I must now find a way back. It will be tedious, even for a Celestial."
Hilga tilted her head. "Is that so? Why don't I help you out then?" She suggested. "Want me to try sending you back myself? It shouldn't be too hard for me."
"How would you do that?" Arishem asked.
Hilga Heladottir raised her palm towards Arishem's face nonchalantly.
Suddenly, all of his senses screamed at him in warning! It was only now that he truly sensed the power lurking inside the girl in front of him! She was even more powerful than himself somehow! Far mar powerful! 'How is that possible!?'
Hilga smiled. "See you later giant dude, Almighty Push!"
Arishem once again found himself being blasted through time…
XXX
A/N: A fun little addition at the end there XD