183 Out Of Touch In The Right Way (1/2)

Itroch had disappeared. Every single remnant of the ancient city had been vaporized, removed from existence in an abrupt flash of brilliant light. In its place, an immense mushroom cloud now loomed over the glassed landscape, as if to serve as a warning.

From who, for what, and for whom was unknown. But the message was clear as day for all who observed the scorched land ahead — they were bugs.

Insignificant creatures. They were but water fleas skirting along the surface of an immeasurably deep ocean. That they merely stood atop an iceberg, unaware of how truly large it was beneath the murky waves below.

It was dead silent within the Spirit of Bountiful Charity. Not even a single breath could be heard across the entire ship. A heavy stillness filled the command bridge as everyone wordlessly gazed upon the macabre, crimson sky.

Today was fated to become a historical event, thought Velvund as he stared onward.

”No... It's going to be even more than that. This will become a legend,” muttered Velvund with an ecstatic expression. A thin layer of sweat formed on his face as he contemplated the fact.

Though he had worked hard in cultivating a heroic impression for Reed and Lu'um by manipulating facts and spinning a skewed version of real history, something told him that he would no longer have to do that anymore. Not after today.

Because on this day, those two had irrevocably shown the world undeniable proof of their true strength. What they had done here was their work alone, and a testament of what they were truly capable of.

If they wished for it, they had the power to destroy everything. To a naive onlooker, the devastation was all that they would be able to discern, but it was different for those in power — Chosen, Royalty, and Nobility.

To them, it meant that everything had now changed. The power structure they once relied upon for stability was no more. The Anima fluctuations they had felt pass across the continent relayed to them the real truth that mattered the most to them.

The Four Sovereigns had finally met their match. Two monstrous entities who matched their own martial prowess had appeared.

In truth though, some of the higher brass, especially Veteran Chosen, had already begun to correctly postulate that the Four Sovereigns were weaker than the new pair of wrathful divinities that hath descended upon their world...

Across the continent in loftier places, two particular names had now become a taboo to speak. Out of equal parts respect and fear, no longer would their names be used informally.

In fact, many Chosen had already begun to converge upon Itroch in order to bear witness and see for themselves the truth and to formally introduce themselves to their new superiors. Better to set a positive first impression while the iron was hot than to miss the opportunity entirely like a fool.

Unfortunately for them, the two individuals in question had seemingly disappeared in the chaos that ensued...

Out in the vast emptiness unbound by all the laws and conceptual niceties afforded in reality.

The Outside was as always, a madhouse of horrors for all who were composed of Structure — on a fundamental level, anything that was hailed from a place with any form of order, laws, or restrictions was doomed to endure pain.

For it was reality's natural desire to impose Structure on all things big and small.

The Outside, on the other hand, desired the opposite — Freedom. To unmake and therefore, liberate that which had been born without freedom.

Things born from one side were incompatible with the other side. It was the natural order of all things.

That is why all who dared to venture into the Outside suffered so — it wasn't that they were being rejected by the unbound emptiness outside. Far, far from it.

It was trying it save those who made it Outside.

”A-A-A-A-A-A-hhhhhhhhhh....!!!!!!!!!!”

A scream of pain and terror echoed outward in no particular direction towards nowhere. After all... the concept of directions did not exist Outside. Neither did the concept of distances.

Here and there were completely interchangeable. As was then and now. It was all blended together to the point that it all lost its meaning.

What one perceived to be a millisecond could become an eternity, and the inverse was also possible. One could be a hundred quintillion kilometers could be encompassed within the span of a single butterfly's wingbeat.

Suffice to say, it was a monstrous thing for anyone or anything made in reality to experience with their senses.

Feeling oneself become unwoven at the seams of their existence from both ends of time was arguably the worst possible suffering in all creation.

Reed, in the most literal sense, was experiencing the unique sensation of being disassembled simultaneously from every direction and edge in both space and time.

He was being unraveled.

But this was not an act of malice, for it was nothing more than a natural process. The Outside was merely acting as it had always done.

They were being saved. The Outside was simply trying to reformat Reed and Lu'um in order to rebuild them anew in accordance with its natural desire... to see that things be without any constraints, to be release things and render them undefined and thus, create it with limitless potential...

That, in its purest essence, was what defined the Outside of all Realities.

But they were resisting it with all their power, or rather, Lu'um was on their behalf. In the state Reed was, he could do little for himself aside cutting off all his senses.

It only lessened the pain. It did not eliminate it. To be honest, in certain aspects, the decision to flee away from the pain only meant that it would be hyperfocused in other ways.

His task was simple and at the same time immensely difficult and infuriating — to push a directionless chunk of ice, crystal, and souls on a course towards a place forever close-away in an instant.

It was beyond insane, which only served to heighten Lu'um's thrilling-seeking obsession for the unknown and induce a sensation of dread about Reed's current mental state.

Not even He would have dared something like this, even in his prime. Though she knew better than to ever compare Him and Reed.