Chapter 251: Congratulations! (1/2)
”So? What is this place?” Arima asked. He was standing in a sort of giant labyrinth. If you looked up you would also see that the maze continued upward, ignoring the rules of science. Every time Arima took a step forward, he would experience a change in his center of gravity.
”{This place has no name. But a fitting designation would be the 'Spiritual Realm',}” Krynox answered as Arima advanced in the labyrinth with a hand on the wall. ”{Let me ask you a question. What is the world made of?}”
Arima stopped and looked around. He had stopped because the ground in front of him was making a 90° angle downward. He wordlessly stepped forward and ended up standing in a completely different perspective from before. He looked back at where he came from and resumed his 'visit' while listening to Krynox.
”{Is it matter? Atoms? Molecules? Mana? Elements? Light? Darkness? None of these. The answer is Spirit. This Spiritual Realm is connected to the mind of every living being. What they think, how they think, everything is here. The world has always been made of the Spirit of the people living in it. If someone thinks about an animal and spreads that idea. When enough Spirits are assembled, that animal will be born.}”
Arima frowned. ”So, what you want to say is that this maze represents the mind of every thinking species, right?”
”{Yes. Humans, animals, beasts, monsters, everything…}”
”Who was the first then? Who was the one who became the first brick of this Realm?”
”{As expected of you. You ask the most difficult question of all,}” Krynox replied and fell silent of a few seconds. ”{…I don't know. Nor do the Creators. Even they were not the first ones composing this labyrinth. The moment they opened their eyes, this place was already so big that they couldn't even measure it.}”
”I see. Basically, you're telling me this is an ethereal world born from the boundless Spirit of sentient beings, where everything converges and is capable of creating things out of nowhere. I can assume that this place is also responsible for the apparition of new sub-realities, right?”
”{Yes. You're indeed correct.}”
”You're also telling me that the Creators are just insects compared to the immensity of the entire world. That means that there are things even above them.”
”{Affirmative. World, Universe, Existence, Creation… There's no word capable of accurately defining the 'Everything'. Simply because that's impossible. Not even you can do that. You could become the strongest man ever and you still wouldn't be able to see everything there is to see.}”
”I understand that. Angra Mainyu told me something similar as well,” Arima halted his march and squinted his eyes. ”Now, the only thing I want to know. What am I supposed to do now?” He uttered while admiring the sight offered to him.
While he was casually walking through the maze, he arrived in a large open area. In the center of that area, there was a sort of modern art piece. It looked like millions of mirrors had been shattered then glued together in the form of a tree before left there levitating whilst emitting a dazzling illuminance.
Arima hesitated a bit then circled the tree instead of going toward it.
”{This is the core of everything. This recollects an incalculable number of minds and is linked in real-time to even more. This is the power you sought. The fact that the core revealed itself to you means that it's accepting you. All of this because you've been engraved in the minds of trillions of minds.}”
The armies sent in the other Mother Realities hadn't been slacking. They performed their job splendidly and most of them used the same strategy. They summoned millions of servants, beasts, familiars, and spread them across the realities. Those Summonings had only one job, hoist Arima's name. And they did it beautifully.
While Arima was hunting the Pillars and Guardians, he also had produced billions of familiars that were given the same order with his infinite mana.
”{In the end, this core you see there considers you as one of its masters now. Normally, this tree would never show itself in front of you or even let you be near it. But since you destroyed the influence of the Creators and made yourself a reputation, you can now claim its power,}” Krynox, who was usually unemotional, laughed for the first time.
”{Congratulations, Arima! You've become a True Legend. You're now known across Existence as the Kind Demon. People will possibly worship you, tell stories about you to their children to scare them, treat you as their divinity, and even maybe try to summon you in a sort of malefic ritual.}”
”{The moment you touch that tree, the power you will earn is not the backup of some unknown energy but the support of minds transcending every border between worlds. You will become a True God. The more people know about you, the stronger you will be. That's what it means to be a Deity.}”
Arima snickered and shook his head. ”I never thought I'd hear you being dramatic,” he jested and neared the core. He smirked and extended his hand.
***
In the middle of the fight, Layla abruptly stopped moving and closed her eyes. She sighed in relief as if a huge load had been lifted from her shoulders. After using her trump card, she had become a lot colder but her expression and all of her movements still gave off a charming and pure impression.
She wasn't the only one being strange. Malum, Night, and Karma were also immobile with a very unnerving expression on their face.
”Hey, what's going on?!” Aergia shouted in her wolf form. ”If you suddenly stop like that, we won't hold on for long!” She shouted then was struck by a punch from the chimera. The Téras with the head of a tiger opened its mouth and roared.
Everyone around frowned but only Arima's companions were completely unaffected. Ahura who seemed to have sensed something moved close to Layla. ”Did something happen to him?”