Chapter 191: The Gate of Heavens
Note: Added an image at the end of the last chapter, showing Pangeal. Check it out!
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Pangeal was much larger than Earth, and I recall it to be much prettier too from space. Yet more than beautiful, right now it was awe-inspiring and disconcerting.
The blue spheric planet, suspended in a dark lake that was the cosmos, was tainted with unsettling anomalies. Two massive, crimson pillars of blood and void energy were erected from both poles, spiraling into the void like grotesque corkscrews, distorting the planet's beauty. Each of them had to be thousands of kilometers tall for them to look like thick iron nails sticking out of a tennis ball.
"What the fuck is that?" Quetzalcoatl scowled at the sight. Even to an outsider, those two things were clearly unnatural.
They weren't the only thing. Vast patches of red and yellow sprawled across the landscape; the red regions glowed with swirling chaotic energy, while the yellow areas lacked any light of life, they were deserts in the middle of forests, clearly not made by my Goddess. Swirling clouds and storms danced around other regions, painting a picture of a world in desperate need of salvation. There was also a purple spheric barrier surrounding the planet, which I don't think was set up by an ally.
"...Three of the moons are gone," I looked around and noted. Pangeal used to have six moons, that's how big it was. Only three remained. As we've guessed before, the enemies were at least Planetary Level.
"Two were destroyed when I was here," Galaxara said. "The other must have been destroyed after… I am unsure how long it has been since I left. These pillars weren't present when I was here, and they exclude such metaphorical weight that I do not see them being built in a day."
"They can, in fact, be built in a day," I said, crossing my arms. "They are a construct called the [World Pearl Engine]. Each of those constructs absorbs a planet's energy and turns it into a little, pearl-sized orb. Some entities would consume it as a pill, while some might use it as a battery for galactic weapons of mass destruction."
"You seem to know a lot," Ranefer said, her tone laced with suspicion.
"I have seen it in a dream," I lied. I've used similar constructs in my 7th life, as the Emperor, and even in my 9th life, as the Venerable One. Both were different universes and so they used different names. Then one might ask, how am I so sure about those two pillar's names? It's because I recognized them.
The Order of the Crimson Abyss.
Those multi-dimensional fools who scrambled my mind and killed me, trying to stop my reincarnation for good.
They were a very grand and large organization, with more than thousands of smaller organizations under it, and more who were in alliance with them. Numbers were their power, they were rich in quantity. That was how they defeated me too, by grouping up with thousands of other multiversal entities against me.
However, I don't think they're directly involved in Pangeal's situation. Because they also sell their stuff as merchandise to unrelated groups and organizations.
Those two pillars were made by them; The Order. I could see the markings of their unique logo even from this distance. However, it was one of the lower-grade products. They'd have used a higher-grade pillar if the Order had been personally involved. I'm assuming this is some random interdimensional group that bought the pillars from The Oder and is plundering worlds using them.
It just happened to be my world.
…How fucking dare they?!
"Based on my knowledge, it should take about a year for such a product to absorb the energy of a planet this size and turn it into an energy pearl. Since there are two pillars, that time is halved to six months. From the damage seen in the land mass, it should have been four months by now. So it has been that long since the Goddess abandoned this world." I said, "On another note, that's the same time my Goddess spent on our earth too, so it's safe to assume the passage of time is similar if not the same."
"Hey, I didn't abandon it…"
Ai chimed in, "That means only two months are remaining until total destruction?"
"Yes, until Apocalypse."
"...."
A short silence paused, and Ai continued, "If so, doesn't that mean the process is about 80% done? So why does the planet not look worse? Based on what I'm seeing, while it does look to be in a bad state, that's only the case in some parts. Like 30%. I think we have more time at hand, Aqua."
"We don't. It looks good from the outside because it will speed up like crazy near the end. The last month will be hell incarnate, while the rest are used to spread its roots all over the landscape," I said. "We're lucky we weren't too late, but at the same time it makes me mad we weren't early. So many must have died…"
"What are we waiting for?" Ruby asked. "Should we be wasting time like this?"
"You're right, we shouldn't," I said.
"But there is an issue," my Goddess let us know. It was not a new issue, we've discussed this before. "As expected, teleportation in and out is blocked. My child, Ruby, please try to teleport us inside and see if it works."
Ruby looked at her and nodded. Closing her eyes, she focused and spread her purple mist. Once more it enveloped us, but when it vanished we still stood in the same spot. The teleportation didn't work.
"I-it didn't work? But why?"
"It's blocked by anti-teleportation barriers," I said. My Goddess and I expected such a thing from the get-go. And after seeing the World Pearl Engine, the guess was confirmed immediately. Leaving the planet free to teleport around would be unwise for such an important action to go smoothly.
"That means we must follow Plan B," Galaxara said and I nodded. "A large number of our group shall wait in Heaven, while a small group will go to Pangeal to unlock the Gates of Heaven in the Elven Forest. It's a portal that connects Heaven to Pangeal. Since they were made really resiliently, anti-teleportation barriers shouldn't matter."
"Why not just fly to the planet?" Ai asked. As a person with Supergirl abilities, she didn't see the issue with flying from the moon to the planet.
"They've set up blockage barriers of other kinds too, around the planet," Quetzalcoatl pointed at the planet. "You can't see it, but my Wisdom Eyes can. It's impossible to go through it without breaking it. Breaking it would alert the enemies and cause a fight from the get-go. That's not wise since we're unsure if the number of enemies is the same as the intel we received. If it's been seven months, how can we be sure that there isn't backup from them?"
"Indeed," I agreed. "I'll be going down there and opening the Gates of Heaven. You guys should go to heaven and wait for me to open the gates."
"Are we sure this heaven you're talking about still exists? It might have been destroyed too, for all we know," Yuzuru said, and Quetzalcoatl chuckled.
"It's right there," she pointed upward with one of her sharp fingers. As expected, she noticed.
Of the two suns in the sky, one was smaller. It was orbiting around the sun like how the moon would orbit around Earth. It was indeed a sun, but that's just its state in this dimension; it has another dimension inside it. That was where Heaven, Hell, and Valhalla existed.
I'll bet my fortune that the entirety of Vidas united can't destroy it; even with Shiva, the God of Destruction, unleashing his full power on its outskirts. After all, it was a star, one would need to be star-level to destroy it. That must be why it was left alone by the Outer Gods.
"Yes. Of the fourteen members, thirteen will go there, including the Goddess since without her you can't enter it. I will go down to Pangeal and open the gates as soon as possible."
Everyone looked at the smaller sun for a minute. It had an ethereal beauty to it, white in color, and luminous like a deity. Because of a celestial entity, it indeed was.
"Archangel of Light, Helion, the Living Star." I greeted the old entity, bowing a little. Some would say he is God himself, the oldest creature after my Goddess, yet he loyally chose to serve my Goddess instead of challenging her authority. "It has been a long time. I see you're as bright as always."
For a moment, the sun seemed to twinkle a little. He heard me, of course, he had. He was pretty much omnipresent in this solar system. I could sense the happiness in his light as he recognized who I was. I raised my head to meet his light, smiling, while everyone stared at the sun in awe.
He would be a safehold for my people. They'll be able to sleep there without worry until they'll have to come down and fight. I can rest assured about that.
****
We watched the sun in awe for a minute, everyone could feel the safety in that light. I'm glad he hasn't fallen yet, although that's to be expected as a living Sun. Does that mean the enemies aren't Star-Level and are limited to Planetary-Level?
Shoko was the first one to take her eyes off Helion and look at me. "But… How can you have to go alone? It'll be dangerous if they sense you. We won't be there to help you out, either."
"No need to worry about that," my Goddess smiled at Shoko. She turned toward me, a hand on her chest. "I suppose it's time for me to show off some of my miracles." She faced me with a purple light emanating out of her. "You should seal your powers, my Hero, I can't send you off without detection if you remain this strong."
That was part of the plan, too. We've discussed this already when we were measuring plans against a possible anti-teleportation barrier.
"Of course," I put a hand on my chest. "I suppose Five Seals should be enough. The first one should keep me at Jade, the next Gold, then Underlord, Overlord, and lastly, Archlord. Each seal will unlock such and such levels of my power when I take them off. I'll be freely able to access my Sage powers from Underlord, since then I'll have access to my Soul Fire." Taking them off is as easy as breathing to me, so unlike the seal on my magic powers, there are no repercussions.
Oh, and, even in my weakened state, I'll have an incredibly powerful body since I'm a pseudo-Herald due to my consumption of the vitality and aura of monsters over the past few months. Because while these seals will seal my Qi, it's not possible to seal all my physical strength.
I closed my eyes and focused. My Qi spread from my hands and my Sage willpower worked to instill it; my authority worked harder than usual. The process was quite a bit complex, but the only change that appeared to other people was how my presence became dimmer. A minute later, I opened my eyes to greet her. "Done, all five. I have the first seal opened, so I'm at Jade power level to anyone who would scan me." One with the physical strength of a Herald, mind you. "Should be enough to deal with most problems." And if a problem that'll need me to unseal more arises, I would just have to take a breath to take off the seals. Rather than a debuff, this was a stealth technique, after all.
"I apologize for making you go through this. It is my incompetence that I am unable to put you in Pangeal at your full power without them noticing," Galaxara sighed and reached out a hand, gently resting it on my head. "Are you ready?"
Everyone was watching us, twelve pairs of eyes locked at the scene. Among them all, Ai's expression was the most worried, she knew what needed to be done and yet she didn't want to let me go. Shoko was worried too.
"No he's not," Ruby interrupted, scowling at me. Unlike the concerned Ai, this girl looked furious. "Someone should go with him. He can't use magic, what if he gets in trouble? I'll go with him. Since he raised me to make up for his lack of magic side, I have all the spells he would ever need."
"Hey, what do you mean 'raised me to make up for his lack of magic side'? That makes me sound like I groomed you like I'm some villain." I scowled back.
"Unfortunately, child, we can't afford to send you too. That'll increase the chance of the Outer Gods noticing. If they notice your existence and attack you two, when the rest of us aren't here to fight them off, it'll be dangerous." My Goddess said.
"It'll be fine, we're twins, our energies are similar. They won't notice," Ruby argued. Galaxara opened her mouth to reject it again. Then, she stopped.
"Hmm, perhaps you have a point. Sure thing, I'll do it. If sending you speeds things up, that's not a bad thing," she smiled.
Ruby grinned and closed her eyes, a spell casting over her, and opened them. "Done. I'm also at Jade in my cultivation, and consequently the 4th Magic Circle." Ruby said and walked closer, and my Goddess put her glowing hand on her forehead too.
"Alright then," Both of our bodies shimmered, and my Goddess let out a sigh in an ethereal voice.
"I shall now explain for Ruby's sake since she's not up to date with the plan. This isn't going to be a usual teleportation, this is reality manipulation. so don't be surprised when you wake up. As the creator of the world, I'm going to manipulate its history and reality to fit you two into the world, I can do it so subtly that those Outer Gods wouldn't notice. When you open your eyes again, you'll have new identities, and will be in the safest place closest to the Elven Forest; the Continent's Best Academy, Eldein. The Academy right now should be busy training battle soldiers to fight the otherworldly demons. Because of that, you two should not face trouble gathering information about the current situation in the world and then traveling to the Elven Forest."
"H-huh? New identities?!" Ruby, who must have thought this was going to be a normal teleportation, was surprised to hear that. Perhaps she feared losing her current identity to the one, unable to cope with her new memories? I didn't know.
There was no need to worry, the new memories would be pretty blank. Our names will be the same, and we will be orphans. I have planned it with my Goddess before, all of our actions were planned. It's alright to take Ruby with me indeed because she's my twin, there was no need to change stuff up the planned backstory because of that.
I watched her confusion unravel while the purple light grew brighter and enveloped both of us. She shouted, but it was too late.
"See you soon, everyone," I said my goodbyes to those who were watching, my hand waving in the direction of Ai although I couldn't see her anymore due to the light, as my and Ruby's bodies vanished.
We vanished from the moon and appeared inside a royal magical classroom. I need to quickly leave this place.
****
[Third Person Point of View]
"So he's gone…" Shoko looked a little dejected after Aqua's departure.
"It's alright, they'll be fine," Ai, who was more worried than Shoko, consoled her by patting her shoulder. She looked at the second sun, which Galaxara already stared at.
"Helios," she commanded, "bring us to heaven." And beams of light shot toward all twelve of them. Quetzalcoatl would have fought back if she sensed any animosity in the light, but it was purely a transportation beam. Light touched all of them, and their bodies shot toward the second sun.
Everything blurred, they blitzed forward at a speed beyond light since spatial magic was also at work, and the cosmos twisted around them to pull them into another realm, another dimension. When the blurring surroundings calmed, they found themselves in a cloudy sky, dropping toward a grand majestic castle below.
"Please brace yourselves, my guests," Galaxara said, her purple eyes shining, and all of them stopped falling. They levitated, and she gently lowered themselves in a high balcony of the castle.
The castle was grand, dozens of floors high, and a whole kingdom-sized other castles and gardens spread before them. There was heavenly food everywhere, and so were people. Yet nobody touched any of the food. They stared at the large screens that were floating in the air, showcasing scenes that Ai assumed to be from Pangeal.
Wars, battles, death. Famine, orphans, and dying old people. The screens showed the worst things that Ai had ever seen, and the people in heaven watched those scenes with teary expressions. They cried, wept, and threw their food at the screen, in the hope that at least one of them might cross the dimension and reach them.
"What is Hero Jasmine doing?!" There weren't only sad people, however, there were also those who were angry. An old, muscular man the size of an ogre growled at the screen, where a woman wielding a sword was battling white-skinned demons. "How can she not even beat such weak demonic bastards! FUCK!"
He slammed his fist on the floor and the area exploded. Just from his size and aura, Ai could tell that the old man was someone powerful when alive.
[Image Here]
"O' King of the Barbarians," Galaxara said from beside Ai, and although they were a few hundred feet high in the sky and hundreds of meters away, her voice carried all over heaven. A billion or more heads turned toward her from all over heaven, and the Barbarian King was no exception. "Please do not be so angry."
"I…"
"Ah…"
"Is this a dream…?"
Many blinked at the scene, and a short silence passed. A moment later, screams of hope-filled heaven. The strongest entities in heaven, as well as Archangels, those very few who remained, rushed toward the palace to greet their mother. For the first time in months, the people of heaven who thought their Goddess was dead, felt hope.
…That hope burst into an uncontrollable cheer when they heard who she had sent to Pangeal. The King of the Barbarians laughed like a maniac, swiping the screens with his large hand to look for that guy.
His old rival, Pangeal's Last Hope, Sephiroth Babylon.
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Author Note: The old man is Barolt, the Valterian Warrior, from the "Survival Story of a Sword King in a Fantasy World". Its peak, I recommend it 🙏🔥
ALSO, chapters will be fewer for a while, like 4chaps/week. Goals aren't considered in this. I'm busy these days, and will grow even busier soon, might take a break then. Anyways goal is Top 5 this time, I'll post two chapters tommorow if we hit it, if not then 1. Good luck.