Chapter 287: Chapter 286 – God Core / Chaos

"What was that?! How do you know the World Eater?"

Not long after Luna left, Vursoid appeared in front of Dream. He wasn't the only one. The rest of the asura gods appeared as well. 

7 gods stood around Dream, who continued to sit lazily in his chair. Truly, any demigod standing in here now might pass out from the stifling Wills. But Dream remained unaffected, simply because he understood far too much about Will. 

He scratched his head. 

Dream was honestly surprised. Not by Iris, but by how quicky everyone was able to figure out who he was. Ziji only needed to hear that single name, Dream, and he figured out who he was. 

Of course, Ziji also knew far more about the universe than Dream. Ziji knew the famous World Eater, Iris, and knew that she had come from a world with an Asura Craftsman. This was Dream's lie that he planted not just in Giros' head, but in his book as well. The book that Giros held carried all the information about the world he oversaw, and anybody above him could look at all the myriads of records in the books. 

So Ziji, along with thousands of other high ranking angels, had all studied this World Eater and knew about Dream. As soon as Ziji saw the World Eater call Dream by his name, he made the connection. Dream was the Seeker. 

As for the giant eyeball, Dream wasn't sure what that was. He only knew that someone had been searching for him, a small intuition given by the concepts. That eyeball was the stalker, and it seemed to be able to grasp all kinds of information from angels under Heaven. As soon as Ziji came to make the connection, the eyeball also seemed to discover it, ending in Dream's discovery. 

Now, there was no need to hide, leading to the asura gods appearing before Dream, the center of all this conflict. 

"The World Eater has a name. She's my wife, Iris."

"You're married to the World Eater..."

A few of the gods couldn't help but let out wry chuckles. Dream was confused though. 

"If you could, tell me about her. What's with the name?"

"The World Eater is a recently ascended demon. As you now know, she killed Asmodeus. But before then, she became famous after swallowing several worlds whole."

Vursoid scowled, obviously a bit fearful of the World Eater. 

"That monster has eaten trillions, both innocent and evil. She will eat both demons and angels, the powerful and powerless. If not for the fact that she were so indiscriminate in her massacres and genocides, she'd be one of the most heinous demons in Hell, only below the great demon kings. The fact that you're married to her..."

Everyone looked at Dream with solemn gazes. He just shrugged. 

"What can I say? My wives are good at what they do."

"This is a serious matter, Dream."

"Yes, yes. What am I supposed to do though? I didn't even know about her legend until now. Just take comfort in the fact that she at least won't eat you asuras."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because right now, there are only two people in this universe she cares about."

Dream smiled a bit. 

"I'm one of those people."

"And the second?"

"She'll meet with you eventually. When that time comes, do take her instructions to heart. Not even I can compare to her administrative skills."

Dream sighed a bit. Luna's ability to navigate the legions of Heaven was astonishing. The fact that her rule had only been under question when she rose to control a primary world went to show just how much influence she had over key angels. While many of her methods were dirty and underhanded, Dream didn't particularly care. Just how he didn't care about Iris eating trillions of people, innocent or otherwise. 

"So, what now?"

Aspharite, the bow goddess, chirped with the most important question. All of them were nervous. The Universal War had finally broken out, and the Asura clans would be the center of attention. They would be invaded by trillions and attacked by gods. Everyone would gather to either kill or protect the Seeker. 

This didn't seem to bother the man in question though. He just waved his hands in resignation. 

"My wife will handle things. She's currently becoming a goddess. Let's see, she left about 20 minutes ago..."

"I'm back!"

Just as Dream opened his pocket watch, an new aura flooded the room. The gods all looked over. 

A woman dressed in white and blue garments, looking like a greek goddess with a spear and a crown with the crest of the Dreamer Ascendency. It used to be that of the moon, a result of the blessing Luna once received from the moon goddess. But now, she attained the power to toss away her blessings and bear the crest she wanted. 

"Hey Dream, my mask also has the mark. When are we going to build our family tree?"

"Wha..?"

The asura gods felt a small shiver go up their spines. They pulled their gazes off of Luna, looking at Alice who had appeared on Dream's lap. 

She had totally evaded their senses, something that should be impossible to do in front of gods who were conceptual beings. 

"I don't think I can do that at the moment. I'd have to learn the concept first. Would that fall under the concept of Life?"

"It would. I've gotten glimpses of it in my comprehensions."

Luna chimed in, walking over and sitting on the arm of Dream's chair. Then, she faced the asura gods. Her bearing and power placed her no lower than them. 

"Hm, only 20 minutes ago you were all a bit more powerful than me. God Cores really are amazing."

"So what concepts did you take?"

Dream asked, prompting a smile from Luna. 

"I was able to take three of them. The concept of the Moon, the concept of Ice, and the concept of Motion. With these I can bring virtually anything to a standstill. I've removed material from existence solely because it has zero motion, and it either can't move through time because of that, or its buildings blocks can no longer differentiate its forms, leading it to becoming... nothing. I'm not entirely sure of the specifics, but that's how it works right now. Now I'm focusing on taking higher concepts, preferably Life."

"Wow. That's very impressive, honey."

"Huhu, thank you sweetie."

Luna leaned over and gave Dream a kiss. The gods around them just stared blankly as he turned to Alice. 

"And you?"

"Just one, that of Stealth, otherwise known as Dimensional Erasure. And I think it's worked pretty well."

Alice smiled brightly as she glanced at the asura gods. Indeed, none of them had the slightest clue of when she had entered. She could've passed right by them, and they were none the wiser. She was an extremely deadly individual. 

"Well then!"

Suddenly, Luna clapped, everyone's attention turning to her. 

"It's time we make war plans. Dream has his own work to focus on, so if you all could come with me."

Luna stood and waved her hand, a portal appearing next to her. The asura gods just nodded before walking in. While a few of them weren't pleased with the situation, they were all in this together. They would discover Luna's competence on their own. 

After Luna waved goodbye, Dream relaxed back into his chair. Alice remained cuddled against him. 

"And you?"

She asked worriedly. Dream was still pitifully weak. As the target of the universe, she couldn't help but be paranoid for him. 

Dream just smiled. 

"I've finally decided to kick things into gear."

"Oh? How so?"

"Well, you know those four highest concepts?"

"Creation, Life, Annihilation, and Death. 

"Correct. I'm planting myself in each of them."

"...Seriously?"

Alice shivered a bit. She knew Luna had a place in the concept of Life, but she also knew that it was incredibly straining on the soul to be anywhere near that concept. That was a place that only gods dared to tread, people who have already cemented their conceptual existence. Dream had nothing like that. Plus, being in concepts opposite to each other could only spell doom.

"I... don't think that's a good idea."

Alice hesitantly spoke her thoughts. Unfortunately, she knew it was futile. 

Dream looked into her eyes, a small sigh escaping his lips. 

"I'm sorry. It's risky, but I don't have many other options. The other concepts aren't doing it for me. I need to go to the root. I'm sure I'll find what I need there."

"Please tell me you at least have a plan, then."

[He doesn't.]

"I do. Don't worry. I'll figure it out."

Dream gave Alice a small kiss on the forehead, ignoring Sophia who chimed in. She closed her eyes before burying her face in his chest. 

"...For a man of logic and science, you do the stupidest things sometimes."

"I try my best."

Dream chuckled, just enjoying Alice's presence for a while. 

............

Luna and Alice were now true goddesses. While they didn't say anything upon their return, Dream was given a ton of information. 

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Turns out, concepts had cores. They called these God Cores, and they were basically the seeds of the concepts. To become a god, one needed to control this core, and they would attain control over the concept. 

If someone had the core, then it could be fought for. Turns out, there was an interesting phenomena associated with this that occurred every time someone engaged with a god. 

God Duels.

Turns out, the concepts truly were neutral. Whenever someone appeared that had fully comprehended the concept, they were allowed to duel for the God Core. The concept would relinquish total control over the core. While the original god could still wield its powers, they would no longer be in absolute control of the concept. This enabled the attacker to fight for it at all. 

The reason for this was that apparently, being the god of a concept made one immortal. They could never be killed by anything lesser than them. This was a result of their existence becoming almost wholly conceptual upon attaining a God Core. So the only way a demigod could kill a god was if they fully comprehended the concept and properly dueled for the Core. The concept would take away the god's immortality, giving the attacker a chance. 

Luna had comprehended several concepts, and with Alice's help, she had taken three of them. Surprisingly, two of them were relinquished willingly. 

Luna had once attained the blessing of the goddess of the moon. And this moon goddess, upon being challenged by Luna for the concept of the Moon, willingly handed over control of the God Core. Now, the title of Moon Goddess was Luna's, and the previous goddess was now a demigod once again. 

The same thing happened in the concept of Ice. The Ice god handed over the God Core, especially since Luna had stopped by that concept second. It had to be noted that a god usually wouldn't control more than one concept. Therefore, if one was challenged by an existing god and didn't have more than one concept under their belt, they would likely lose. 

With Alice's help, Luna easily attained the God Core of Ice. When that happened, Luna discovered yet another detail. One had to create multiple bodies to handle multiple God Cores. It couldn't be contained in a single existence. So with the God Core of Ice, Luna attained another body. 

After that, with both bodies, Luna helped Alice attain the God Core of Dimensional Erasure, killing that god directly. With Luna's control over two concepts and Alice initiating the duel to take away the god's immortality, the battle was set in stone. Luna couldn't even see that god during the battle, but Alice could, and with their soul bond, Luna had been able to cooperate fully. The one strength of that god had been stripped by Alice. 

Finally, Luna attained the God Core of Motion with Alice's help. The god of that concept hadn't gone down easily as Motion was a high concept under Physical Reality. He was much more powerful than the others. But Alice was able to avoid any detection with her newly acquired concept, and unlike the previous god, there was nobody who could see through her. Alice had been able to deal as much damage as she wanted, and with Luna's help, they successfully overwhelmed the god of motion. 

Luna now had three incarnations, each one controlling a concept. Two of them left to take care of various matters in Heaven while her Moon incarnation dealt with the asura gods. 

All this information was very valuable to Dream, so he was given all the details of the battles and processes to accept God Cores. 

Unfortunately, he couldn't yet make use of any information. Instead, he merely stored it in his catalog. Despite not even being able to understand most of the information, he could still save it for later. 

With that, he moved on to his next order of business. 

Alice remained with Dream at all times. So with her on his lap, Dream cast his awareness into conceptual space. 

Dream called upon all of his conceptual bodies. All 13 of them appeared and gathered, including the ones in his concepts of Physical Reality and Etheral Force. 

Upon gathering, they all shot back together, combining into one. After that, Dream waved his hand, and his Profile appeared. 

He looked at his title [Origin Seeker]. 

"Open the door."

He spoke, and it was as if the Wandered System was compelled to obey. The Profile rippled, distorting before becoming a black doorway. 

Dream entered this black portal with his single body. For a moment, his mind was distorted. But he quickly regained lucidity.

{Who is it?}

A low voice shook the new space Dream appeared in. He just turned calmly, facing an old friend. 

"Keeper! How's the wife and kids?"

{You?!}

The Keeper was baffled as Dream waved happily. Technically, several years had passed once more since Dream left. He had tried to comprehend concepts for so long that he actually lost his unfathomable power. Now, he appeared as a blank conceptual body. He also didn't go through the regular process of entering. 

Dream had used the connection of Origin Seeker to reach this place. 

"You know, I only figured it out after, but you sure are sneaky. How come you didn't tell me the legacy space was a conceptual world?"

{...Damn.}

The Keeper just cursed. Dream had figured it out. 

Dream snorted a bit. 

"I'm hurt. Don't you enjoy my presence? I thought we were best buds?"

{I remember no such thing. Why are you so weak?}

The Keeper quickly changed the topic. In fact, he really was shocked at Dream's weakness. He had none of the unfathomable aura as he did before he left. 

Dream sighed. 

"The concepts said I was too powerful and kicked me to the curb."

[That means he threw away all his comprehensions.]

{You what?}

The Keeper focused more on Sophia's words, and he was stunned once more. Then again, Dream had stuffed Dust into his soul before he could even handle it, so nothing was that surprising anymore. 

"Hey, my comprehensions were founded on a lie. How could I keep them? I took the only logical avenue."

[You can't even move rocks.]

"A totally unrelated issue."

[You're not aware of mana.]

"Mana sucks anyway."

[...]

Sophia didn't know how to respond. The Keeper cut in after shaking his head.

{What are you here for?}

"Those monoliths."

Dream pointed to the final 7 monoliths, those formed by the Archons themselves. 

"Seriously, did they really expect anyone to be able to make use of them? My appearance is a cosmic fluke possibly directed by a god. They couldn't have assumed that a successor would ever be able to reach this far. Why did they make things so difficult to comprehend then?"

{You didn't seem to have any problems.}

"I didn't. But seeing these 7 monoliths, I find myself a bit angry."

{Why?}

The Keeper asked with a bit of doubt. This was a legacy space designed to guide true advancement through the realms of power. Why would someone be mad at such a thing? 

"Because I feel like they were put here for me. Once again, I'm being led around. There was no way they would make things the way they did unless they knew someone like me would come here and make full use of it. It's like my entire life is a damn prophecy. Anyway!"

After grumbling, Dream clapped his hands. He stepped over to the 7 monoliths. 

"I've realized that these 7 monoliths don't hold comprehensions about their respective concepts. Instead, they're the gateway to the concepts. I wasn't blessed by any of those concepts, but I don't need to be. I'll just step into them through here."

Dream rubbed his chin. These 7 monoliths held conceptual comprehension of the greatest 7 concepts in the universe. 

Life and Death

Creation and Annihilation

Order and Chaos

Time

These 7 concepts were unlike all others. Half were on the side of Order, half on the side of Chaos, with Time somewhere in between. To enter both Life and Death would tear a soul apart as the opposing concepts clashed within the said soul. 

Dream was primarily a soul of Order, as he was comprised mainly of Dust. He had very little Ash in his soul, so his chaotic existence was limited. And because of this, he saw a problem. 

If he wanted to enter both sides, truly allowing himself to peek at the foundations of the universe and get back his power, then he would need to clearly assimilate both Dust and Ash. He would have to be equally orderly and chaotic. 

But he couldn't control Dust or Ash right now. He couldn't control anything. 

So he needed help. Help he could only get if he entered two specific concepts.

"Life and Annihilation."

He walked over, looking at those two conceptual monoliths. His transparent body then divided in two, each body touching those monoliths. 

"But I'm also one of Creation."

With those words, his body split again, touching upon the monolith of Creation.

"And she didn't tell me, but I know she's here. Gotta balance out Life, after all."

His body split yet again, a fourth incarnation touching the monolith of Death. 

"Now, we go."

It was as if he infused his being into those monoliths. Dream's incarnations sunk into them, disappearing from the Keeper's view. 

And in the real world, his body exploded with the darkness of Chaos.