Sakolomeh clenched his fist under the pounding rain. He knew they were about to face the greatest threat that could exist… and not exist. Absolute Resonance surpassed everything he had ever fought, and probably everything he could ever face. It wasn't just the ultimate adversary for him, but for everyone.
Sakolomeh: Where can I find this creature?
The Exentity replied, in a grave tone: I do not know. But as soon as it begins to attack, it won't stop. It will go all the way… It believes itself to be My0x, after all.
The creature raised its eyes to the rainy sky: We must unite to neutralize it. The nature you embody, if it were to be fully unleashed, could cause even more damage than Absolute Resonance itself. We must avoid the worst.
It added, in an almost meditative voice: I have limited the Chôrion to calm the Resonances, as they were becoming too frequent in the Meta-reality. I also created an impossible double here, so that these entities understand the situation.
Then, a slight silence before it continued: As for the Dream, we must prepare to welcome this thing.
The creature stepped toward Sakolomeh, extended its hand, and declared: I see that, willingly, you are not a danger. So… do you accept that we team up for this?
Sakolomeh nodded, determined, and extended his hand to seal this alliance.
Elsewhere, Bakuzan and Erasa advanced through a ruined castle, whose crumbling stones still seemed to carry the echo of an ancient catastrophe.
Bakuzan: What the hell could have happened here?
Erasa: According to the goddess Mü Thanatos… an Ineffable in the service of my father sowed chaos in these places.
Bakuzan frowned.
Bakuzan: In the service of your father? I wonder how many there are, in total…
Erasa did not reply. She observed the debris in silence, her gaze lost, as if the stones themselves were whispering something to her.
Bakuzan looked away. This story of Ineffables was becoming a colossal risk, and he was starting to wonder how far it would go.
The ruined castle seemed to swallow the light.
Bakuzan and Erasa progressed slowly between the collapsed columns, each scanning a direction, as if the stones themselves could breathe.
A murmur.
A shiver of wind.
Then… a presence.
With silent steps, a young girl emerged from the shadows, as if detaching herself from them.
She wore a cape with feathers fading from black to white, falling to the ground like a mantle of mingled night and dawn.
Her pale hair framed a glacial, almost inhuman face.
And above all… her red eyes shone with a fixed, emotionless gleam.
Erasa instantly donned her mask of impassivity — the one she could only activate in the face of real danger.
The girl did not speak.
She charged.
A shadow, a breath, a flurry of feathers.
Her speed was monstrous.
Bakuzan only had time to let out:
Bakuzan: Fuck— Who is this?!
He fell backward, pivoting in a series of somersaults, the air blade sliced by the attack passing a few centimeters from his face.
But the girl did not pursue him.
She had already changed targets.
She rushed straight at Erasa.
Erasa leaped forward, the ground cracking under her impulsion.
The clash was instantaneous.
An ultra-rapid exchange of blows made the air around them vibrate.
Arms, legs, feathered mantle — everything blended in a deadly dance.
Erasa drove her fist into the girl's stomach.
A clean, brutal impact.
The girl stepped back half a pace…
then responded exactly the same way.
The blow threw Erasa backward.
The two adversaries were repelled in opposite directions, their feet tracing two symmetrical marks in the dust.
Bakuzan, eyes wide, watched the scene, incredulous.
Bakuzan:
Am I dreaming or what…?
I see her, I feel her… it's clearly a living absence.
He raised his voice, trying to rationalize what he saw.
Bakuzan:
But it's impossible!
Ineffables shouldn't be able to hurt other Ineffables…
Not with their nature of absence!
The girl did not reply.
She simply stared at them…
her red eyes shining with an intention that belonged to nothing living.
Erasa took a step forward, her hand slowly sliding over the hilt of her sword.
A dark vibration coursed through the air around her.
Erasa:
I can sense in her… my father's flows.
Through the slits of her mask, her shadow eyes lit up with a murderous violet aura.
An almost suffocating pressure filled the room.
Erasa:
Bakuzan… let me slit her throat.
Bakuzan did not reply.
He knew this state: the one where Erasa became the true Apostle of Mü Thanatos.
In those moments, contradicting her was not only useless — it was dangerous.
Erasa leaped.
The girl raised her hand… and materialized a red fire sword with a strident sound.
The clash was instantaneous.
CLANG!
The blades clashed, the metallic echo ricocheting through the ruins.
Erasa, accustomed to crushing any meta-conceptual entity with a backhand, felt resistance.
True mastery.
Intention.
She narrowed her eyes under her mask.
The Apostle of Mü Thanatos recognized only one category of adversaries capable of standing up to her:
the apostles of other Origin Gods…
or those who had received a direct blessing from those primordial truths.
The girl before her was a living example.
Or rather… a living absence.
A burning flux emanated from her body.
Not ordinary mana, but the Order of Lucifer itself.
A red, incandescent order that trembled in the form of an inner fire.
Their blades crossed again.
Their faces drew close, almost touching.
Erasa's voice became a venomous breath:
Erasa:
You'll pay for this… Father.
She jumped backward.
The ground cracked under the power that then surged: a mix of deep blue and violet.
An aura of absolute order — the very essence of Mü Thanatos's conceptualizations.
Absolute Dream.
Erasa charged again, fast, sharp, infinitely precise.
The girl tried to counterattack.
But it was different, this time.
All her attacks — flames, blades, impulses — were absorbed before even reaching the world.
Erasa's mana devoured them in their embryonic state, nullifying them before they became real.
The girl opened her eyes wide.
She backed away, panicked, and tried to deploy Lucifer's order.
Her aura exploded like a red volcano.
The ground beneath her began to smoke.
She was about to charge again, ready to hurl herself at Erasa in an infernal rush—
BAM!
Her body crashed to the ground, violently pinned by an invisible force.
Neutralized.
Erasa turned abruptly toward Bakuzan, her mask twisted by a frown.
Erasa:
What the hell are you doing, Bakuzan?!
Bakuzan remained motionless, his arm still extended, his breathing heavier than usual.
His gaze was neither that of a frightened man…
nor that of a warrior on alert.
It was the gaze of someone who had just understood something grave.