We waited.
Time passed quietly, the garden still around us. Even Silver remained silent, his attention fixed on her.
After nearly ten minutes, the fluctuations settled.
Vivi’s eyes opened.
"Yayy, I can do what we discussed... and even better than we thought," she said, her voice bright with excitement.
"I would very much like to know what you discussed," Silver said, folding his arms slightly as he looked between us.
"Well, there are two things we had anticipated would happen if I took control over so many planets," she said. "One is that I would be able to provide my blessing or curse to the residents of those worlds. I just checked... and yes, I can do that."
"Blessing or curse?" Silver asked, narrowing his eyes slightly. "You mean something like a talent?"
"You can think of it like that," Vivi replied, nodding, "but it can be better than a talent. Much better. For example, I can grant someone access to the entire essence of Vaythos. That blessing would translate into something like infinite essence. Or I could give infinite vitality. And the system... recognizes both."
Silver let out a low breath before glancing at me. "So in a way, she’s overriding the system?"
"Yes," I said. "She can amplify a talent granted by the system... or completely suppress it by assigning an opposing curse."
He let out a small chuckle. "That’s... broken."
I ignored the comment and looked back at Vivi. "What about the other thing?"
"Well... yes, I can do that too," she said, her tone lifting again.
The next moment, her body flickered.
Then split.
One became two. Two became several.
Multiple Vivis appeared around us, each identical, each carrying the same presence. They floated in different directions, some closer, some further away, all moving independently.
"I can create multiple avatars of myself," she said, her voice echoing lightly as all of them spoke in perfect sync.
Silver looked around, unimpressed at first. "What’s so special about that?"
"They’re independent," Vivi replied. "I don’t need to stay near any specific planet anymore. That means I can be anywhere... with you, or across all the worlds I’ve devoured at the same time."
That made him pause.
But before he could respond, her tone shifted slightly.
"But... the other test failed," she added, her voice dropping just a little.
The avatars stilled.
I looked at her. "You don’t have it?"
She shook her head.
"No," she said quietly. "I’m still unable to sense any soul of my own. I’m still tethered to your soul and essence... through the null core."
I let out a slow breath.
"Well, we expected that much," I said. "I don’t think that’s something your evolution alone can solve. It’s something I’ll have to do."
She nodded, and the multiple avatars around us faded one by one until only two Vivis remained floating.
"Anyway," I continued, shifting the topic, "are you excited about what’s coming next?"
Her eyes lit up instantly, a bright glow returning to them.
"Yes," she said, unable to hide the excitement. "I can feel it... and it’s on its way."
I smiled faintly.
"Alright. Silver, you head back to Abor. Vivi and I need to make a trip."
"Where are you going?" he asked.
I glanced at him, then gave a small wink.
"Well... we have a galaxy to take over."
Before he could respond, I looked at Vivi. "Vivi, let’s go."
The space around us shifted in the next instant, folding smoothly as we disappeared from the garden and reappeared just outside Vaythos.
The planet stretched behind us.
I turned slightly toward her. "You’re sure you won’t have any issues if we move far away from Vaythos?"
"Nope," she said casually. "I left one of my avatars behind. We’re good to go."
I nodded and she landed on my shoulder.
A faint silver glow spread across my body as I activated my Saint body. Without another word, I shot forward, cutting through the void at immense speed, moving away from Vaythos.
Ahead of us, far beyond the empty expanse, something was approaching.
The galaxy core.
The void stretched endlessly around us as we left the bounds of the solar system behind.
Vaythos faded into the distance, its presence shrinking until it was nothing more than a faint glow among countless others. The stars grew sparse the further we moved, their light thinning as the vast emptiness of interstellar space surrounded us.
Silver glow burned steadily around me as I cut through the void.
"Do you want me to give you a blessing, Billion?" Vivi asked suddenly through our link.
"Not right now," I replied. "But one day... I’ll take it for sure."
"Ohh... you sound like you already have something in mind," she said, curiosity clear in her voice.
"I do," I answered.
Then I stopped. The space ahead had changed. The void was no longer empty. A presence was approaching us.
It pressed against everything, subtle at first, but impossible to ignore once felt. It was not hostile, or aggressive. The very fabric of space seemed to ripple, as if something vast was moving through it, bending it with its existence alone.
Vivi drifted slightly forward, her expression no longer playful.
"You feel it too..." she said softly.
I nodded.
My gaze remained fixed ahead. The darkness in front of us shifted.
At first, it looked like a distortion, a faint ripple spreading across the void. Then the ripple deepened, expanding, stretching, until it became something far larger.
Then it emerged.
A massive form began to take shape within the darkness.
Blue in color.
A deep, radiant blue that seemed to carry layers within it, like countless stars compressed into a single flowing existence. It moved slowly, yet each motion covered an unimaginable distance.
A serpent.
An enormous celestial serpent, its body stretching across the void, so vast that its full length could not be seen at once. Segments of its form phased in and out of visibility, as if it existed across multiple layers of space simultaneously.
Its scales shimmered with a soft glow, each one reflecting fragments of light that did not belong to any nearby star.
And its eyes... Twin orbs of luminous blue, ancient and immeasurable, locking onto us.
For a moment, everything stilled.
It did not feel like we were being looked at. It felt like we were being acknowledged. Vivi hovered beside me, unusually quiet now, her earlier excitement replaced by something far more focused.
"That’s..." she began, then stopped.
She didn’t need to finish.
I already knew. The presence, the scale, the way space itself yielded before it...
This was not just a being. This was the Galaxy Core.
The Blue Spiral, given form. The serpent’s body continued to move, coiling slowly through the void as it approached, its immense presence pressing against everything in its path. Yet there was no hostility in it, no immediate intent to attack.
I remained still, meeting its gaze without hesitation.
A faint smile formed on my face.
"So..." I said quietly, my voice steady despite the overwhelming presence before me.
"We finally meet."