Chapter 291: Chapter 290 – Sophia

Luna's armies had gathered. The arrival of the Wanderers was a welcome surprise, but it didn't change what she had to do. 

Iris had already begun attacking Heaven in her own chaotic way. She simply led her armies in and attacked head on. She had already taken a few worlds, one of which she ate whole. 

She even attacked one of Luna's worlds. Luna was barely able to drive out her armies after battling for a few weeks. The losses made her angry, but there wasn't anything she could do. 

Luna's priority was keeping Dream secure. She had already assembled billions of soldiers through her generals, and each of them were waiting. 

Waiting for the battle soon to come. 

And it wasn't long before that day came. 

She sat upon her primary world, one of her other incarnations handling business with the asura gods. 

This particular incarnation, the one that controlled the concept of the Moon, spent most of its time thinking. She planned and schemed, wondering about all the myriads of outcomes to this war. 

What did it indicate? Luna had questioned why everyone was so drawn to her cause several times. Surely the bare rumor of a new path couldn't attract even gods, right? Why did it pull in so many people? Heaven and Hell had even split over this issue. 

At some point she figured that there were some extraordinarily powerful beings that were manipulating things from behind the scenes. It made her think of that one god that Dream had a conflict with. 

To what extent could a god control the universe? To what extent could they bend the concepts? Only the concepts could affect the universe, affect gods. 

She gradually came to a single conclusion. 

Order and Chaos. It had to be those. Something beyond all of them was watching, waiting for things to play out. 

And there was only one reason they hadn't acted yet. 

They wanted what Dream had. Or, what he would come to have. 

Luna, although outwardly supportive, didn't particularly like the way Dream went about his attainment of knowledge. It was too impulsive. She couldn't understand how someone so smart could do something so stupid. 

But she let him tread his path. If anything happened, she was confident in either helping or saving him.

When that day came... Well, she still wanted children, and she had been pleasantly surprised by the formation of the ascendancy. Hopes of an eternity raising children that would grow to become powerful hegemons in their own right. Creating her very own family, their ascendancy becoming a galactic empire...

These buttery thoughts plagued her mind more than she liked to admit. But she couldn't do it without Dream. This war and their pursuits of power got in the way. They needed to finish what they started. They needed to reach the end of their paths. 

And becoming more powerful would make stronger children, right?

She shook her head. All those answers would come from the concept of Life. 

While dealing with gods, demigods, and armies of billions, Luna was also focusing on her concepts. She wanted to tackle the concepts of Life and Creation. Life was more where her specialty lay, with Creation being secondary. But she was gaining ground in both. 

She didn't seem to have a limit. Comprehensions came to her like a flowing river, constantly expanding the lake of knowledge that was her mind. There was just too much, so nothing would happen in a short amount of time. 

The only thing that bothered her though was this unknown sense of urgency. She didn't know why, but as she comprehended more, she felt more rushed, as if something bad was going to happen if she didn't hurry. 

Or, maybe it was telling her to hurry and do something. 

She was being compelled to fight. 

Suddenly, Luna stood from her throne of ice. Nothing immediately happened. Her surroundings were silent. 

"General Asber."

"My Queen."

At her call, a man instantly materialized before her. He bent his knee, kneeling before her in reverence. 

"Prepare your troops, and send them to this secondary planet in the Asura territories. Be ready to enter immediate combat."

"Your Will be done."

The general rose and disappeared. In her mind, Luna could see close to 600 billion angels leave the primary world through ships and teleporters. They were all being sent to a single world. 

She sat back down. She didn't know why, but she knew that the battle was coming. It felt like intuition, but Luna knew it was her attunement to the concepts. 

She could feel the life of the universe moving, the vast battle intent carried by entire legions. It alarmed her. 

But it wasn't a battle for her. She knew that it hadn't reached that scope yet. If this was the enemy she thought it was... then tactics and strategies would be involved. 

She sighed. She had made the schism in Heaven worse, and now, the time for talk was over. 

She could only watch as so many lives would be thrown away, as if inconsequential ants. 

...........

.......

"Mommy look! I made a snow angel!"

"That's a very beautiful snow angel, Sophia."

Sophia giggled before standing from the pile of snow she made and running to her mother. 

"Mommy, can I be an angel when I grow up?"

"Of course, sweetheart. You even have the wings!"

"Hehe."

She giggled as her mother ruffled the wings on her back. They were actually real wings, and she had grown them not long after being born. 

Sophia was only three years old, yet not only did she have wings, but she could talk fluently and run around as much as she wanted. 

Being born to the royal family on a secondary world had its perks. 

"Valesta!"

"Oh, sorry dear, that's your father. I'll be right back."

Suddenly, Sophia's mother stood and bound to the house. The house was actually a castle, and they had only been in one of the many gardens. 

Sophia watched her leave, then sighed. She fell on her back, staring up at the vast sky. It had cleared after a night of snowfall, giving way to the blue expands of ozone. 

Sophia raised a hand, holding it up to her face and looking at all the little fingers. 

"Hm, really, what better way to experience Time."

Her voice was light, but her words carried an unnatural depth. 

Then, Sophia's head picked back up. Valesta, her mother, came running back out with a pale face. 

"Sophia, we need to go."

"Go? What happened?"

"There's... We'll explain later, honey."

With tears forming in her eyes, Valesta scooped Sophia into her arms. She then ran back into the house, the surroundings blurring in Sophia's vision due to the sheer speed her mother was going. 

Then, she stopped in front of a portal. Her father was standing by it. Sophia recognized it. A short range planetary portal used to move across continents. 

They stepped through, and reappeared in some kind of military compound. Soldiers were running around, and the thick smell of blood was carried by the wind, stinging everyone's noses. 

Sophia was confused as they ran to the top of the stronghold. 

On the roof was another portal, but this one was much bigger than the previous one. It was a true spatial portal, capable of moving people between planets. 

But it wasn't glowing with power, like the other portal. In fact, Sophia could make out shattering in the enchantments. She had a certain level of attunement to mana, so she could detect the chaotic destruction that had ruined the portal. 

A man was on the floor by the portal, and Sophia's father was obviously distressed by the man's wounded appearance. 

"General! What happened?!"

"It's... too late..."

He just shook his head, his eyes filled with despair and resignation. 

Then, the air began to grow restless. The mana that always surrounded them, that peaceful, magical mana, began to quake as if fearful of what was coming. 

Then, the sky grew dark. Everyone froze, soldiers no longer running around. There weren't even any more screams. 

All eyes turned to the sky. Sophia watched as a figure grew. The figure was so massive it couldn't be described in words. 

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It was a monster out of the depths of hell. Or, more appropriately, this monster could rule the depths of hell. With a body of flame that burned even space, and maws that opened to reveal endless nothing. 

"World Eater..."

Valesta fell to her knees, her grip loosening on Sophia just a little bit. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the monster that approached them, larger than even a planet. 

It descended from the depths of space, its mouth opening to receive the planet like a spoonfed dinner. 

There were over a trillion people on this planet. It was within Heaven's territory, and every year, it would send out thousands and millions of capable soldiers who would go on to become angels. 

Sophia was already destined to become a renowned angel. Born to a royal family with a strong heavenly bloodline, she had awakened her powers almost immediately after being born. She was destined for greatness, to become someone who would lead heaven's armies to war against its hellish enemies. 

But now, doom incarnate approached, just about to swallow this secondary world whole. There were legends about the World Eater, many passing it off as some kind of fantastical rumor. How could an entire world be eaten whole? It was impossible. 

And yet, that... thing approached. It grew until the sun couldn't be seen. The maws of oblivion closed around them. 

Everyone was filled with the darkest despair, their very souls unable to face that being of annihilation. Yet they were forced to watch as they were swallowed. 

Then, the world trembled. Everything began to disintegrate. Or, it wasn't so much disintegration as simply ceasing to exist. Everything, everyone, began to fade into nothing. 

Meanwhile, Sophia looked up not with despair, fear, or any of the dark thoughts forced upon everyone's souls. 

Instead, her mouth twitched into an annoying grin. She cried out. 

"Dammit, Iris! You stupid fox! I just wanted a nice few years! Did you have to choose this planet?!"

Then, like everyone else, she was turned to nothing. 

Right before fading into darkness though, she swore she heard a voice.

'Heh, sorry...'

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

........

"Waaa! Waahhh!!!"

"Congratulations, madam! A healthy baby girl!"

A midwife handed a crying baby to the mother, who looked down with an exhausted but loving face. 

"Haha! Another beautiful child born to the noble Strider family! We shall name her Rita! As agreed upon."

The father nearby chuckled and looked at the child in his wife's arms. 

Suddenly though, the child stopped crying. Her eyes flashed before looking around. 

"Blabahaa! Hanebrlah henbra ben star dana hada!"

The baby flailed its fists, as if angry. The mother watched curiously. 

Meanwhile, Sophia was cursing inwardly.

"Iris! Stupid fox! You obliterate me and send me to another universe?! What kind of souls are these?! While the ties between mana and conceptual power are interesting here... This still doesn't help!"

She grumbled inwardly, the baby child doing the same. At some point, the mother became worried.

"Cecilia? Is she okay?"

"I don't know. She's not hurt."

The mother inspected the child worriedly. Suddenly, Sophia felt herself get pierced by that gaze. It felt like her very existence was being seen through.

"Abort!"

With a momentary thought, she retreated. The original soul of the body returned, taking back ownership, while hers disappeared. 

After that, the baby returned to crying, causing the mother to stop inspecting her child and coddle her with sweet words of comfort. 

Before she left though, Sophia touched the original child's soul. 

"The soul composition is interesting. Attunement to elements, huh? And connected to another Earth... Well, you can have full attunement to that so called dark mana, as an apology."

After touching the soul and altering some informational values, she fully retreated, disappearing from existence. She decided to scold Iris when she got back. 

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

.......

"..."

"Congratulations, miss. A healthy bab-"

"We get it!"

Sophia cried out in her new baby body, interrupting the midwife. To them, it only sounded like gibberish. Still, the midwife stopped talking with a smile. 

Sophia looked around, shifting her eyes as best she could. The room she was in was...painfully lavish. 

It was like the person who built this place thought gold should go on everything. Golden walls, golden ceiling, golden bed. At least the floor was marble, but even it had gold strewn throughout it. 

And even as a newborn baby, she could sense the atrociously powerful enchantments throughout the building. There was so much mana being radiated that the original soul of this body, which was still there alongside her, may have died from overstimulation of the mana senses. 

Whether this meant that the owner of this place was really powerful or really stupid remained to be seen. 

Either way, Sophia was glad that she was back in her original universe. She planned to investigate that other universe sometime, but she needed to grow up first. 

And with her endless patience, she rolled with this new life, her eyes of Information gathering every bit of said information as she could. 

........

Her father was stupid, but also stupid powerful. 

At least he was caring as well. 

Three years in, and Sophia was primed for success. Sure she was still a child, but laying the foundation as a child was important. 

And there was another thing she learned to do. It was backseat driving, but with a body. 

Sophia didn't purge the original soul of this body, instead deciding to live alongside it. Like that, the original soul, which was indeed a child, could control everything while she watched from the same perspective. 

Except she could also control the body, as well as the soul. She was in control, but she wasn't there to play child for years on end. 

She was experiencing Time, and she wanted to gather as much information as she could. Watching a child grow and being able to see through everything within her allowed her to get a much better grasp on how things evolved through time. 

She could watch the child grow through each year, watch as it made its soul more powerful. She could indirectly see the concepts in action, the ones that allowed mere mortals to do what Dream couldn't. She could watch as everything that didn't make sense worked. 

The child she was bound to had little idea of what was going on. It was her own preference, but Sophia wanted to work alongside the child, that growing soul, not play with it like a puppet master. 

This meant that she didn't expose herself much, but when she did, it was to give something like advice. Or increase this child's talent. 

She needed this child to grow powerful, after all. A little soul manipulation and informational change didn't hurt anyone. 

Like that, she watched as this child grew. From a baby to a teenager, watching through all the phases and episodes of her life. 

As expected, this particular child grew to become one of the most talented soldiers in her generation. Sophia was able to garner much information through her. The only problem was where she ended up. 

28 years pass, and Sophia watched as this child, now a full grown woman, marched onto a battlefield. She was now an angel, a class 5 archangel, to be specific. 

But in front of this army...

Sophia's face went blank when she saw the enemy. The 'fanatical heathens of Luna's unholy regime'. She recognized not just the name, but the ships that flew overhead. She recognized their design, and the millions of bots that jumped out of their hatches. 

She recognized the ruthlessly efficient attack patterns of those bots. She would know, since she programmed them. 

And so when her person, that child she had watched for nearly 30 years, had her soul sliced into pieces by a four armed bot, she wasn't sure what to say. 

"...Dammit Luna!" 

 

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