"So, are you faring, Kemet?" asked Varick as he appeared silently a couple of meters away from Pharaoh to watch him try to survive the last 20 minutes beneath the weight of forty-nine stars.
"So far so good," replied Pharaoh with a smile, "So please have my rewards on stand-by for when I win."
"HAHA! Someone is confident. Well then, may these last 18 minutes feel like heaven on Earth, Kemet, the Last Warrior of the Sun Tribe," commented Varick with malice as he flicked a ray of energy into the cluster of stars, leading to an unnatural and astronomical amount of weight descending upon Pharaoh.
Without warning, as if some unseen force sought to compress his entire existence into a single point of space, like a merciless garbage compactor crushing countless fragments of matter into a suffocating square.
"Hey, that wasn't part of the agreement, Varick!" shouted Pharaoh, his calm persona evaporating as the area around him fractured like a spiderweb. With that, his once-playful attitude gave way to the need to concentrate on staying conscious.
So that he would not succumb to the mounting mental and physical strain placed upon his body.
"Sorry, but I don't think you're in any shape to argue with me," smirked Varick as he whispered a single word, "Pharaoh."
"So, you knew all this time, huh?" Pharaoh said through clenched teeth, as he gazed into Varick's eyes with unconcealed rage.
"Of course, my dear friend, as only a few people are aware, Xavi was constructed by my own hands. But that is irrelevant, so what brings the infamous menace back to the land of the living? Is it to reclaim your past glory? Trample on Elizabeth? Or is it to break free from this accursed world's hold and return to Origin… the start of it all?" whispered Varick as he lowered himself to Rin's height and examined him closely with curiosity.
"Varick, do not play with fire, for some people are not meant to be pushed to the edge. Lest they become something far worse than fear itself. So, I'd advise you to think clearly and stop testing my patience."
Pharaoh shouted, causing the Star Realm to tremble like a stone cast into a pond, as a bluish cryptic energy exploded from Rin's body.
'Hmm, so even though he has lost most of his soul to *$%^&* following his previous attempts to leave. He still has access to his divinity and some other form of power,' Varick thought as he inspected the energy leaking from Rin's body with apprehension and fascination.
Snap.
"Relax, Pharaoh, I just wanted to see if you were still the same unstable, undying bastard I knew all those years ago," commented Varick with a sly chuckle as he silenced Pharaoh's tantrum while fortifying the Star Realm at the same time before it could suffer any damage.
"Tsk, some way to treat an old friend," muttered Pharaoh with frustration.
Considering that Varick did nothing to remove the energy he cast into the cluster of stars.
"Oh, shut up! You big crybaby and focus on the task at hand! Before everything you did ends up being pointless," shouted Varick.
'Sigh, why of all times, must you return, old friend... Is it true that the prophecy will come to fruition during our generation? A generation of serpents and sleeping dragons as new and old Kings arise... while Queens clash for Supremacy and the chance to claim the throne of Origin,' thought Varick as he contemplated ancient prophecies, the rise of new legends, and the passing of old relics in recent times.
"Tsk, just why must I always be the one to be placed in the middle of this bullshit?" Varick muttered with irritation as he kept a close eye on Pharaoh.
Who was quickly adjusting to the new pressure as the forty-nine stars surrounding him began to revolve like planets in a solar system, with Rin becoming their Sun. As the faint outline of a six-pointed star appeared above Rin's head, radiating a dim fluorescent neon color as it spun ever so slowly.
Causing the very air around Pharaoh to tremble as reality itself rippled with fleeting tears in space that opened and sealed in quiet succession. While a resonant hum filled the dimension—too pure to be an angel's hymn, yet too cruel for anything but a demon's laughter. Yet, with every slow revolution of the six-pointed star, the sound rose and fell like a cosmic breath.