Dream Rise House.
The door to Section IV was thrice thicker than the other sections. Unlike other sections, the door was made from a combination of six metals and stones.
Adamantine, Gallium, Vajra, World-mending stone, and two other unknown metals, which didn’t even exist in Earth’s record, were used to create the door and the surrounding walls.
Both Kiba and Claudia have spent a lot of efforts and resources to reinforce Section IV. Everything to prevent the outer world from destruction.
Now, though, the door has retraced and the section was open. Terrifying waves of energy, in the form of violet streams, boomed out, carrying the power of extermination.
The high-density force field covering the corridor and other sections, along with extremely durable metallic walls, prevented the energy from seeping outside.
Yet with such defense arrangements, the entire underground section was shaking. Claudia felt it was a matter of minutes before the force field was ruptured.
[[What do you want?]] Claudia asked.
From what she had seen so far, she believed the Cosmic Emperor knew every secret she and her master were hiding.
What truly stunned her was the ease by which Cosmic Emperor was standing in the face of violet energy. Even Agatha was fine, with not a single scratch on her body.
She knew even her master would have a hard time achieving this without spending a lot of efforts.
Section IV was something neither she or her master would want to use unless they were desperate and out of options. This was the reason why Kiba decided to rely on Desolate Blood Forest to find a cure for Felicity instead of using this option.
Cosmic Emperor didn’t answer her question. He stepped inside the section, carrying Agatha in his arms.
From outside, the section wouldn’t be longer than a standard living room. Yet, from inside, the area seemed endless with no boundaries.
There was no air or another medium. The entire region was cold, so cold that one would solidify to an ice cube in an instant.
Besides the bone-numbing chillness, the entrance was dark, save for the violet streams of energy.
~tap~
Cosmic Emperor walked forward. His feet landed on nothing, yet made a tapping sound. If one looks carefully, one would see below his feet, there was nothing but space.
Space which resembled outer space. There was no start or an end, it was an area without physical division or dimensions.
The laws of Earth didn’t apply here.
As he stepped ahead, indistinct objects came in sight. They were glittering with dazzling lights and colors.
But the lights and colors were confined, they didn’t spread in the darkness. It was like an invisible glass wall was preventing them from expanding out.
Some objects resembled planets and stars of various proportions while a few resembled giant landmass. There were few objects which couldn’t be made out as if they were on the process of being forged.
Every object was ethereal and incorporeal. Cosmic Emperor passed right through them and walked towards the source of violet streams of energy.
Just then, a fume of white mist appeared next to a star. In the blink of an eye, the mist morphed into a gigantic beast having thousands of tentacles. The end of tentacles was like proboscis, pointed and sharp, carrying a power to devour anything.
This beast was from an endangered species of Star Devourer. It relied on energy from solar bodies to survive and thrive.
Star Devourer stretched out its tentacles and surrounded the star from all sides. The tentacles penetrated the core of the star to suck every bit of its energy. In just a moment, the star reached the end of its life.
A supernova occurred right in front of Cosmic Emperor and it was a sight to behold, but for him, it held no interest at all. He continued to step without caring about the beast or the star.
The beast made delightful noises which spread in the soundless medium. It then noticed Cosmic Emperor and was startled by its presence.
In terms of size, if the beast was a giant than Cosmic Emperor was a grain.
Yet Star Devourer sensed an endless amount of vitality from him. It has a feeling that the energy from him was far greater than the star it has just devoured.
Delighted, the beast channeled its power to materialize its existence in this space. Its presence was not real but now, slowly, space began to flicker as its body appeared in the same space.
But this was not easy or without consequences. Star Devourer rapidly aged and deteriorated as if it has broken some sacred rule. Hundreds of its tentacles disintegrated into nothingness while dead skin fell from its body.
Star Devourer knew the cost but it didn’t hesitate for everything was a gamble. It whipped out its tentacles towards the puny human figure.
Star Devourer was sure the energy in him could be enough to make up for the loss and give it more power than before. Perhaps this human’s power could even give it a chance to leave this forsaken space.
"Insignificant vermin," Cosmic Emperor muttered in disgust. The robe of darkness on his body seethed in fury as the tentacles arrived at him.
Sss
The darkness stretched out from his robe and coiled around the coming tentacles.
The next second, Star Devourer felt its very soul trembling. The soul was nothing but a set of complex data, carrying vital essence which forms the very existence of an individual.
In every living being, the soul was the immortal part for it would survive even after physical death. The soul, through the laws of the world, would move to a new body which was basically reincarnation or rebirth.
Now, the beast felt its soul being corrupted by the menacing darkness. Its memories, its essence, and vitality, everything in it were corroded to something horrifying.
The beast roared in unspeakable agony and pain, trying to free from this darkness. It regretted its decision but alas, it didn’t even get a chance to beg, much less break free from darkness.
The soul was ripped apart and devoured by the darkness like it was some delicious dish. In less than a second, the body of the beast was covered with darkness and sucked inside.
Chhh
As the darkness retraced back, in place of the supreme beast, there was nothing but space. All traces of Star Devourer were wiped out from existence.
The darkness returned back to Cosmic Emperor’s robe as he continued ahead.
He passed by hundreds of what appeared to be planets, stars, landmass and other indistinct forms. In between, golden grains of sand resembling a galaxy appeared, carrying exuberant vital essence.
His pace seemed slow but so far, it has only taken him less than a minute to cover the unimaginable distance.
Finally, he appeared in front of what appeared to be the source of violet energy waves.
A casket.
The casket was floating in the space. Behind the casket, there was nothing, neither space or matter or anything.
If a powerful mutant with space abilities was present here, he could determine that the very space and everything within it originated from the casket.
The casket was white upon which mystical red runes were engraved in a beautiful manner. The runes were of multiple shapes and forms, some floral while the rest were of royal design.
On the center, there was a hole, the only area devoid of runes.
The hole was rather hollow and negligible in dimensions, but its presence was striking. At the end of the hole, a white surface was visible, making it clear that the hole didn’t extend to the insides of the casket.
If Castor Damon was alive, he would know what item could perfectly fill this hole.
An item that was in the shape of an amethyst crystal: A six-sided prism at the center and pyramids on both the ends.
Cosmic Spark!
Cosmic Emperor looked at the hole for a moment before shaking his head. His dark eyes gleamed as his vision passed right through the casket.
Inside, a female figure was resting, her body clad in a red robe. Even her face was covered with a thin veil.
It was impossible to see her body and facial features except for her silky violet hairs.
From time to time, violet waves of energy would cover her body like streams of current. A negligible amount of waves would then seep out through the edges of the casket.
The runes on the casket would devour most of the energy waves, using it to power this very space. The remaining energy waves, on the other hand, would land on the boundary of this space which was the walls of Section IV.
Cosmic Emperor’s eyes focused on the female’s face. Between her eyebrows, there was a violet jewel embedded in her skin.
"Scarlet Leila De Rose, it has been a while," Cosmic Emperor said almost like a whisper. "But then again, for you, it hasn’t. I wonder if you remember our conversation at the waterfall in Pearl Haze?"
Scarlet Leila De Rose continued to rest, her eyes shut. She has her hands above her chest, continuing a slumber from long ago, incapable of answering his question.
"Even long before that, when I was young, a naive part of me always believed life was like a waterfall," Cosmic Emperor said with a bit of melancholy in his voice. "It begins to end somewhere. How one arrives at the end from the beginning is up to oneself."
Cosmic Emperor’s appearance was young, rather very young, but his voice contained vicissitude of time like he was talking about a topic which thousands of years old.
"But the passings of time taught me to no longer believe in the ideas of my naive self," Cosmic Emperor continued. "After all, The Fate has everything predetermined from beginning to the end. Who would know it better than you, Princess?"
He let out a sigh before placing Agatha on the top of the casket. He positioned her body such that the back of her stomach was above the hole in the casket.
"This time, though, the end would be the beginning," Cosmic Emperor placed an index finger on Agatha’s belly.
On the tip of his finger, a dark flash of light concentrated. Just then, the violet crystal on the glabella of Scarlet Leila De Rose beamed out a violet light.
The violet light passed right through the casket and struck at the back of Agatha.
Inside Agatha’s womb, the fetus was in the process of growth. The golden eyes of the fetus were shut tight, but then they suddenly shook as the violet light and dark light struck the coating surrounding the fetus.
A fetus relied on the fluids from the mother to survive and grow. But now, two additional sources of energy coursed through its body along with energy from Agatha.
The fetus showed slight resistance to the violet light but none to the dark light as it grew adapted to them.
"What Fate wants, it shall have, but what I desire, I will definitely have, no matter the price."