There was only silence as three people sat in the room. They were practically unmoving as well, as still as stones from the moment they gathered.
Caelum was staring at Erta but his attention was elsewhere entirely. Erta was staring at the burned simulacrum core before her with a serious expression, evidently ruminating on something even she with her rich base of knowledge could not figure out.
And Ceres... well, she had nothing much to do other than just looking at them alternately with an utterly confused look and a growing irritation. Finally, she could no longer take it uncomfortable silence.
"What is wrong with you two?! Will you just talk already?"
"Erta, does that thing still work?"
"No. The spell burned it entirely so it could follow the connection to the server."
"Damn it. I thought if I could drain that thing too, maybe reaching 100% will make this creation process faster. Anyway, what the hell is a Cephalon doing on Earth?"
No one answered his question. Erta's face grew darker as she pondered that very same question as well. Out of the three people in the room, only Ceres could not understand what they were talking about.
"If you're going to talk in someone else's room, at least make sure that someone understands the topic! What is a Cephalon?"
"A Cephalon is a different kind of living being. To be precise, it is a living program with an ego. It's basically an AI, but it wasn't created by any other race. It is its own race. It uses machines like its own limbs, but it's not restricted to only one. Just like the server robot that I fought earlier, it only had a fraction of the Cephalon's consciousness in it."
"Then what's wrong? If it came from a gate, then it's just another monster, right? Why do you and Sister look like you've seen a ghost?"
"Sister?"
Caelum was intrigued when he heard a word that he never thought would come from Ceres's mouth. Did they make up while he was away? He turned to Erta who seemed to have noticed his inquisitive gaze.
"It's because no Cephalon had ever dared to extend their consciousness outside their homeworld. Even if they send their armies to invade other worlds, they are just machines with pre-programmed systems of protocols over protocols.
The main reason is because, just like what happened today, when a Cephalon who personally invaded a world is killed, that part of their consciousness is literally destroyed and cannot be recovered. Especially in the case of the one who attacked today, Caelum has already devoured its consciousness."
"A Cephalon is basically a god of technology capable of manipulating any hardware or software within its reach. They are basically living supercomputers without the restrictions of having to rely on hardware for their computational processes. Their only real limit is the amount of power they have which ties directly to how much computational power they have. And now, one such being is actually being created within me, and I don't even know what to do!"
Indeed, Cephalons are the one of the strangest races in this Great War. All that is truly known about them is that they were born from their anchor called the Akashic Record. There were only very few them in existence, but with the amount of power each of them had, that was all they really needed.
Each Cephalon was an army of their own. In fact, one could say that the only inhabitants of Akasha are the Cephalon. They were the whole race and population fighting in this Great War. They were the only Avatars of the Akashic Record.
And now, one of them had personally invaded Earth. Even if it was just a scouting mission, it was enough to put them on alert. And as if that was not enough, a new Cephalon was being born inside Caelum.
Well, that answered his previous question. The thing he had been draining from the simulacra all this time were bits and pieces of the consciousness of a Cephalon. They were not enough to actually create one, but the server had an entire fragment of a consciousness within it.
And considering that Cephalons do not really have physical bodies, he was basically devouring their existence. A sudden voice snapped him out of his thoughts as his eyes grew sharp and alert.
[Cephalon creation complete. Please provide a name.]
Upon hearing the mechanical voice's announcement, Caelum noted how much it had changed. From its initial cold mechanical voice to now sounding indifferent but with a clear feminine touch, he truly did not know whether to be wary or happy about such a development. Erta was the one who replied in his stead.
"Ciel."
"What? Why Ciel?"
"Because it sounds like a girl, right?"
[Name accepted.]
[Cephalon Ciel has been created.]
[Beginning assimilation… Assimilation complete.]
[Resuming awakening process. Current progress: 100%]
[Awakening complete. Releasing third wing: Reason.]
Hearing the last words, Caelum's eyes grew wide in shock. How did a Cephalon get tied to his wings? And how was it the impetus to release his third wing? He had been wondering for some time now how to do it, but he did not know.
The Imaginary Tree never told him anything about how to awaken all his wings. He thought it would just happen over time as he grew stronger, but this changes things. There seems to be a trigger. And there was definitely no coincidence that the birth of a Cephalon was the trigger to releasing his Wing of Reason.
But before he could think too much, an intense and sharp cold pain pierced his back. The sudden intense pain made him collapse to the floor as he screamed and writhed. His colourless and black wings burst out as he was unable to contain the surging power coming from his stigmata.
"Cal! What's wrong?!"
"Brother?! Sister, what's going on?!"
The two were panicking as this was the first time they had seen him succumb to pain to such an extent. They did not know what to do nor could they move closer to him as his wings whipped around like wild beasts guarding their territory.
Caelum felt something from deep within him clawing its way out. It cut and shredded whatever was in the way even if it was his own body. But in the midst of all the pain, his mind plunged deeper and deeper into an empty blackness.
There was nothing there. There was no mana, no air, nothing at all.
It was the sort of emptiness one would think of when everything ceased to exist, but for Caelum, it felt like the beginning of something. Was this the origin of everything? Was this the beginning of something?
It was confounding how he could even exist in this place even as a mere thought. He did not know how long he had spent in that emptiness. It could have been mere seconds or perhaps decades if not millennia. But he tried exploring it however he could.
This empty space was devoid of everything. There was no time nor space here. He did not even know where 'here' was. Was it in his mind? Perhaps in his soul? Or perhaps he had died and was sent here to suffer a true and eternal imprisonment?
But soon he realised that was not the case. As he suddenly found himself surrounded by 'things'. They were incomplete, mere skeletons and frames of what they should be. But as he stared them more, Caelum noticed them visibly growing and becoming whole.
There was a strange power at work here, one that could exist in this emptiness. And it was creating these things... thrones. And as the word echoed in his mind, something else forced its way out of his mouth.
"O Serenity, long have I waited, yet Chaos comes so swiftly still! Though in that madness, Reason!"
As his words rang loud in both the emptiness and Ceres' room, light erupted from his back.
Several crystalline shards emerged and floated to his left. They arranged themselves into a long cerulean wing full of mana. They were sharp and steady like a cold sieve ready to pierce and cut through anything, but also carried an undisturbed aura like that of a calm lake.
Once the wing was formed, the pain immediately vanished and Caelum finally relaxed. The blood from his back slowly burned away from the Eternal Flame, intent on returning to him in full. His mind had now been fully dragged back into his body, leaving the emptiness behind.
Erta and Ceres were speechless to say the least.
"I don't know if I should be happy or angry. This damned wing..."
[Please do not curse your own power, Father.]
The mechanical voice from before spoke again, this time with an even more discernible femininity despite still being monotonous. Caelum looked at Erta the moment he heard it. Erta, who had been in shock a few seconds ago, was now looking at him with a dissatisfied expression.
"Father? I wonder who the mother is, Cal."
"Hey, why are you asking me?! You were here the whole time!"
[Do not be angry, Mother. You have given me my name. No one else can be my mother.]
With those words, Erta's face eased a bit. She was not truly angry, but she was uneasy when she heard Caelum being called a father. But now, she was a little confused. Before she could speak, however, Caelum snapped out.
"Hey, I'm not your father alright! And who are you anyway?!"
"Ciel? Is that you?"
[At least Mother recognizes me. Father, you are a failure as a parent and a creator.]
"This little shit! Come out and show yourself! You call us your parents, so let me discipline you a little!"
[I am behind you, Father.]
Caelum turned around and even Erta looked behind him, but they did not find anyone there. Ceres was now crawling further away from them, afraid of being affected by whatever mental sickness they have. She could not hear the voice, after all.
When Caelum did not find anyone behind him, he wondered if the voice, Ciel, was pranking him until he realised something and brought the new wing in front of him.
"You're my wing?"
[It is good that you finally noticed. To be precise, I exist within your Wing of Reason. Once again, it is an honour to meet you, Father and Mother.]