(chapter 12)The Truth

Why now? I had done such a good job of hiding and fighting as little as possible and now this happens.

"What the hell is that?" I said whipping round as I sensed an unimaginable.

That power… It's on the level of a Demon Rank. Did those bastards figure me out!?

In the distance, far off in the void of space was what could only be described as blue vortex of energy that had what looked like a thick red line down the middle of it.

"Guess I'm fine. None of the 6 Demon Ranks have energy of that colour scheme. Wait a minute!" I gasped not believing what I was seeing and beginning to realise. "That's not energy that's-"

Ethos…

And not just any Ethos either.

It's awakened.

Sentient.

"Not possible." I said shaking my head.

Not just that.

The awakening is recent.

Must have happened a few moments ago.

The Ethereal in question has become an Awakened Ethereal and automatically transformed into their Capere Form.

But that's all of it.

Your right.

The Capere Form is incomplete meaning the Ethereal is no longer in control over their own actions and words.

The Ethos is.

Yes, they are.

But they can't manifest all their power.

"No shit Trio." I snarled. "If they had fully manifested then the transformation would have destroyed The Beyond and everything below it."

Meaning you can defeat it.

I could almost feel the smile coming from Trio.

"I'm not using your power. I don't need to." I growled as a leapt off the planet I had been on, heading towards the direction of giant vortex.

Who they hell is the Awakened Ethereal anyway? Being an Awakened Ethereal myself I should be able to tell if one is going to awaken a whole 2-3 months before it actually happens.

I think you know that answer already Nova.

Shut up.

Come on Nova don't be like that.

You've known for a while now, but you have refused to believe it. Afterall, being an Awakened Ethereal makes you a target.

Doesn't the colour scheme of that vortex look familiar.

Have you seen it at all in the last few months?

I said shut up!

Why, it looks exactly like when Lazuli got angry at us after we told her how easy it was to beat Kuni.

I couldn't say anything because I knew it was true. The added red colour was new but the shade of blue and the feeling of the power is exactly the same, just on a larger scale.

So now you have to bring her back to her senses or…

"Kill her yes, I KNOW!" I shouted getting annoyed by the presence of Duo.

I began to hear the hysterical and maddening roar coming from the vortex as in drew closer.

"I really don't want to Lazuli." I muttered. "But if have to… If you leave me no choice."

I got closer and saw chunks of galaxy sized stars, planets and universe sized galaxies swirling around the vortex.

"If you leave me no choice, I will kill you. Lazuli."

I had been thrown across the Space of this Reality sized battle dimension and landed on some far-off planet from where I once was. Even though I was so far away I could still feel the force and power of the blue and red swirling vortex with Lazuli in the centre.

"Lazuli." I groaned as I tried to use my Ethos to heal up my broken bone, burns and my many other injuries as I lay on my front on a desert planet.

It had happened all so fast.

One moment I had been in colossal pain with the power of Solar Magic and Lunar Magic slowly killing me and the next minute I was flung into this planet so fast it was almost instantaneous. A blue and red vortex had completely swallowed up the galaxy I was in before with Lazuli's just barely visible, with the help of Ethos enhanced eyes, within the centre of it.

Except for…

Lazuli had completely changed. Her skin had seemingly disintegrated leaving what could only be described as glowing electric blue flesh while her eyes had been filled with neon red coloured flames. Her hair also had turned the same electric blue with red streaks in it. Her teeth, now razor sharp like needles, had also turned the same glowing colour as her eyes.

Lazuli then let out an animalistic roar that seemed to shake the whole battle dimension with it also sounding like it was made up of two voices.

"Lazuli," I groaned again. "What happened to you?"

Suddenly the vortex's motion began to change as it began to be drawn into Lazuli's body like she was absorbing it. At the same time the large, but still more small in comparison to Lazuli's, auras appeared.

Goren and Amber.

Amber's aura was a dark orange with black streaks in it while Goren's being the exact same except the colours were purple and black.

Lazuli's aura continued to shrink until it completely disappeared with only the outline of her body showing the same colours and glow as the vortex with Goren and Amber also doing the same.

She slowly floated down until she was at the same level as her two opponents and stopped. Nobody moved for what felt like the longest time.

Suddenly Amber and Goren lunged forward at speeds that were beyond that of what could be measured. The drew back their fists and threw the strongest punches they could.

"Where am I?" I wondered aloud.

I was standing on the surface of what looked to be a never-ending bed of water with no land in sight, yet I was standing on the calm water as if it was solid. It was dark but also as clear and light as the midday sky.

"Your inside yourself Lazuli."

A voice called out but it's origin could not be pin pointed.

"Who are you!?" I yelled getting scared.

I glowing blue figure came into view. The figure had the body of a woman that wore no clothes yet had no genitalia or nipples with her whole body being an electric blue colour minus the red pupils within her eyes and the fiery red hair.

"That's quite the question." The woman answered as she came closer, and I suddenly realised just how tall she was.

At least 6'5 but more likely 7ft.

"I am your Ethos," She said smoothly as she bent down to my level. "and my name is Stella the Cosmic Star Ethos."

The memories suddenly came flooding back into my head like a tidal wave punching me in the face.

"I-I remember." I stammered. "Awakened Ethereals, Sentient Ethos I remember everything he said but… why did he erase my memories of that?"

"A question which I do not have the answer to." Stella answered bringing me out of my thoughts.

Wait a minute!

"If I'm speaking to you then you have-"

"Awakened yes, as have you. You are currently evolving into an Awakened Ethereal and will soon be able to use my own abilities and wield/bend my power to your will." Stella said with an expressionless look.

"Wait what abilities will I be able to use." I said the statement piquing my interest.

My answer suddenly came as information slammed itself into my head along with Stella's voice.

Evolution to Awakened Ethereal has granted you the following abilities:

· Manipulation of Space-Time

· Nullification of durability

· Manipulation of the Soul

· Deletion of Existence

The first four of my abilities have been given access to you. The following shall now be given access to.

My brain hurt as more information and abilities were given to me over the course of five minutes until it was finally over.

"Your strong." I stared bewildered at Stella.

"We are not finished." She said walking past me.

"What do you mean?"

I turned round to face her.

"Awakened Ethereals not only gain access to their Ethos's power but also the knowledge and truth of the cosmos and existence itself."

"Hang on a second, what are you talking about?" I said.

"Name all the realms that you know of." Stella replied.

"What?"

"Name all the realms that you know of." Stella repeated firmly.

I raised an eyebrow but did as I was told.

"You have the Universes which are infinite in size and infinitely expanding, the Multiverses which contain the infinitely expanding number of Universes with there also being an infinite number of Multiverses. Next you have the Realities which contain the infinite Multiverses while also being infinite in number as well. After that you have The Beyond which transcends the very concepts of Space-Time which is also contained by The Null. A construct that contains everything previously mentioned and is only made of what I now assume is dormant Ethos, so corrupt and destructive that it completely erases everything that enters it. It should also be noted that each of the constructs from Universes to The Null, transcend the one before it. Happy?"

"You are partially right Lazuli." Stella said. "But there is much more that you don't know when it comes to these constructs and even more which remain unknown to you after that."

"What do you mean?"

Stella cleared her throat as images of what she started to explain appeared before us.

"Let me start off with adding to what you already to know. As you already mentioned each of the constructs transcend the previous however they transcend it more than you think. In fact, it's to the point where each construct views its predecessor as fiction."

"Th-then that means-"

"Yes, for example, beings who can destroy Realities view them along with everything they contain as fiction. This would mean that the being you call Viro Cosmos views all the infinite Realities and everything they hold as fiction."

I tried to process that.

"That means the Cosmos children (beings who can destroy Realities as well) would view me as something akin to a character from a movie, comic or book."

Stella nodded.

"This also naturally means that The Null views The Beyond (a construct that transcends the Concepts of Space-Time) and everything below as fiction as well. Not only this but The Null does not destroy everything it encounters. Awakened Ethereals and Sentient Ethos will pass through unharmed."

I…I am so weak and insignificant.

"Not by the time your evolution is complete." Stella said reading my thoughts.

"How strong am I going to get?"

"I need to tell you more before I answer that. It's best if you don't ask questions and listen until I have stopped speaking."

I nodded and sat down on a chair which materialised out of nothing as Stella began her long explanation.

"The constructs do not end at The Null. There is many more in fact with each one, as you've probably guessed, viewing the previous as fiction.

The one after The Null is known as the Genesis. This construct is also made from Ethos however the dormant Ethos is so pure that it puts those who have not mastered the power of Sentient Ethos into a permeant catatonic like state for all eternity. Not only this but it has an infinite number of layers within it with each layer transcending the previous.

The next are Omegas and Omegas are the constructs that house everything that has been mentioned with there being an infinite number of them as well. They also come in pairs, like twins of sorts, with the two pairs reflecting one another however even the pairs can still have vastly different aspects when compared to each other. The one we/you are in is known as The Primis with its twin and or pair known as The Abyss.

Now we have the second largest and most complex Construct known as the Chaos Void. The Chaos Void is a construct that exists outside and in-between the Omegas with it having three infinite hierarchies known as The Delta-Realms, Inner-Realms and Outer-Realms.

This part may hurt your brain but bear with me.

The Delta-Realms, being an infinite Hierarchy, have an infinite number of layers with each one transcending its predecessor and viewing it as fiction. This naturally also applies to the Inner and Outer-Realms. You should also bare in mind that just the first Delta-Realm is beyond concepts and laws that are associated to such things like dimensionality, we are talking about realms that transcend the concepts of the abstract.

Now this is the important part so listen carefully.

Each and every single Inner-Realm contains an infinite Hierarchy of Delta-Realms and each and every single Outer-Realm containing both infinite Hierarchies of Delta-Realms and Inner-Realms. What this means is that the Hierarchy Delta-Realms within the 100th Inner-Realm views all the previous Inner-Realms and Delta-Realms before it as Fiction. Another example is the Inner-Realms within the 50thOuter-Realm views all the previous Outer-Realms, and everything they hold as fiction. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

It hurt my head, but I had grasped the idea, so I nodded.

"Good, last thing now. Everything I have just said now is all housed within one Relic and there's an uncountable amount of these Relics with some being greater than others. The only thing outside the Relics is nonexistence, nothingness however you want to call it.

There is being known as The Celestial Ethos which is the strongest and most powerful thing in all of existence as it is the first thing to come into existence by creating itself. It is the creator of Ethos and all the constructs and realms I have mentioned. It never directly interferes with any affairs that go on within the Relics and the rest existence.

I am finished; you can speak now."

I just sat in my chair speechless, trying to comprehend what I had just heard.

"I-uh…" I tried to form words, but nothing came out.

"I-I need a few minutes to process this." I said with Stella nodding in response.

"Don't worry about time. The past 10 minutes equals to 5 seconds in real time."

I didn't really process what Stella said as I thought and thought and thought, just processing all the information that I had been told.

What felt like an hour had passed before I felt like I had digested it all a question appeared in my head.

"What does the… Celestial Ethos was it? What does it do now or to be more precise, how are Ethos transferred to Ethereals?"

Stella raised a glowing blue eyebrow.

"Interesting question. The Celestial Ethos dictates where all Ethos goes with the options being infused/sealed within an Ethereal baby at birth and become a part of The Null or The Genesis, forever in a dormant state." Stella looked at me with a blank expression. "We don't get to choose which. Before we are given one of those options we just "float about" outside the Relics."

"How old are you, Stella?" I wondered aloud.

"A number of years that you can't comprehend yet."

That old huh?

A few minutes of silence passed.

"How long am I going to be here?"

"That depends." Stella replied.

"On what."

"When an Ethereal first evolves into an Awakened Ethereal, all of their awakened power is given to them at once which reduces them into an animalistic and incomplete Capere Form leading to them getting progressively more aggressive and savage over time. The body then has 5 minutes to absorb and adapt to this power unharmed."

Wait, unharmed.

A very scary thought just came into my head.

"What happens if they don't adapt in that time." I said nervously and slowly.

"If 8 minutes pass the power will start to damage the Ethereal and will create injuries that will cause said Ethereal to pass out. Luckily this isn't uncommon and the Ethereal's body will adapt and absorb the power a few moments after passing out." Stella paused for a moment before looking straight into my eyes. "Once 10 minutes passes the power is too much to handle and the body gives out."

I stood up as I realised what she was saying.

"If 10 minutes pass you'll die, and I'll go along with you."

"How much time has already passed in real time." I asked not wanting to hear the answer.

"7 minutes have already passed. Three minutes are left to stop us from both dying."

My mouth dropped open as I watched Amber and Goren crumble to ash.

I had healed up a lot more and was now moving closer to the area where Lazuli currently was.

What had happened was is that both of Goren's and Amber's punches were stopped by an inch from hitting her like the Barrier Skill, before their arms were sliced off by Lazuli who was moving so fast that I couldn't even tell that she moved. The next moment after that Goren and Amber were consumed in a blue and red light which then disappeared revealing what looked like stone statues with looks of fear and pain frozen onto their faces. The statues then crumbled to ash.

As I got closer Lazuli let out another roar that released a shockwave that destroyed all my progress of getting closer.

"Ok let's speed this up."

I activated Light Speed and rocketed forward before clumsily landing a few feet away from Lazuli who was now on another planet.

"Lazuli." I called out leading her to whip round and look me up and down.

She growled at me.

"Lazuli… it's me, Shion. Are you still in there?"

A look of intrigue crossed her face as what was hopefully recognition appeared in her eyes. I reached out my hand and Lazuli stared at it for a few moments before slowly reaching out her own to take mine.

Just after that however, a black and purple portal opened and out walked three individuals who I recognised instantly.

Vide Blackstone, Ariel High and Eclipsis Hyde.

They spotted Lazuli and immediately got into battle stances.

"Wait-" I yelled but Vide breathed a massive blast of fire that could burn a whole universe to ash.

I just barely dodged it as I watched Lazuli be consumed in flames before her aura erupted out of the blaze, releasing shockwaves that sent me flying into a nearby planet and the 3 of the 6 Demon Ranks back slightly.

"You just pissed her off Vide." mumbled Eclipsis as she shieled her face from the gusts of wind coming from the vortex swirling around Lazuli.

"Shut it!" he yelled back. "Ariel!"

"On it!" Ariel leapt forward with Vide beside her, charging straight for Lazuli.

The vortex of an aura disappeared as Lazuli met their frontal assault head on, snarling like a rabid dog.

She leapt over what looked like an acid attack from Vide and slammed a kick into his face, sending him straight through the planet before jumping back as Ariel slammed her staff down where she once stood. The staff instantly increased its size and elongated at speeds exceeding light, gunning straight for Lazuli who jumped on top of it and bounded froward on all fours like an animal.

Ariel yelped in surprise before Lazuli started to pummel her with attacks leading them to crash through multiple planets and stars before crashing back down onto the one, they were originally on. Ariel suddenly grabbed one of Lazuli's arms and threw her over her shoulder into some mountains. She flew after her and tried to deliver a kick but was blocked and Lazuli grabbed her face before shooting up into the air.

"Elongate!" Ariel yelled as her staff suddenly came crashing down from the sky like a blot of lighting, crashing into Lazuli and smashing her into the ground.

"Vide go!"

Vide leapt up into the from out of nowhere and transformed into a black dragon which then breathed green fire onto the pinned Lazuli, covering her from view.

As Ariel fell, she flipped in the air and pulled back her fist before smashing into Lazuli annihilating the universe sized galaxy in an instant.

I was desperately and constantly moving so I wouldn't be caught in the crossfire.

Vide (now back in human form) and Ariel inspected the scene trying to find any signs of life within the scene.

A blast of blue and red energy erupted from the destruction and instantly consumed Ariel sending her flying before Lazuli smashed into Vide a moment later, burying her fist into his gut.

He coughed up blood as they were sent through a star while he also tried to shield himself from Lazuli's barrage of attacks.

"Damn it." He said through gritted teeth before instantly transforming into a mosquito.

The savage Lazuli stopped attacking, confused as Vide seemingly disappeared before her eyes as he then transformed back into his human state behind her almost instantly. He delivered a kick into her side with the impact sounding like a cannon as she was sent careering off through Space before landing on some other planet.

"You still alive Ariel?" Vide yelled.

A massive shockwave could be felt as bloody faced Ariel appeared way off in a completely different direction from Vide while holding her staff above her head. It was now the size of a universe.

"I'm doing just fine. Just a little pissed off is all!" She yelled as she threw the staff as hard as she could in the direction of Vide but a portal opened in front of the staff. Another portal opened above Lazuli with the staff coming crashing down on top her reducing that whole area of Space to chunks of stars and planets/rock.

"Now you decide to help." Vide shrieked at Eclipsis who was now beside Ariel and Vide, aiming her hands at Lazuli who let out a supernatural roar.

Her aura erupted out of her in brief but gigantic blue and red explosion that destroyed to the staff.

"Let's put this puppy down, shall we?" Eclipsis said before clapping her hands together.

A black hole that looked like it could swallow up a whole multiverse opened up far below Eclipsis but fairly close to Lazuli and began sucking in anything that came close.

Lazuli growled and instead getting away from it, she leapt off a chunk of debris and rocketed straight towards the black hole pulling back her fist. Blue and red energy began swirl around the fist as she got closer and closer before throwing her fist forward in a punch which somehow connected with black hole and shattered it completely.

Lazuli carried one flying forward and slammed another punch into Eclipsis sending her flying into the only other nearby and intact planet.

The one I was on.

Before Vide and Ariel could retaliate, Lazuli teleported in front of the two of and released a beam of blue and red Ethos/energy which sent them smashing into the same planet.

She crashed onto the planet, landing a few feet away from them causing a small explosion of dust to erupt as she hit the ground.

I stood and watched from the side, actually pretty close to them all.

The three of the 6 Demon Ranks sat and stood up battered, bloodied, burnt and bruised from all of Lazuli's attacks who looked relatively unharmed and started to charge an attack between her hands.

Shit, the power from that attack is insane and I don't have enough time to get away. If she fires that off, I'll be killed.

"Lazuli, stop!" I yelled causing her to whip her head to the side and face me.

Her neon red coloured eyes burned with an animalistic rage like two balls of fire, but she seemed to hesitate for a moment. Everything stopped as we just stared at each other and slowly her eyes turned to normal minus her pupils which stayed the fiery neon red colour.

"S-Shion?" Lazuli muttered her voice still sounding like it was split into two.

I smiled as relief began to fill my chest.

Blood suddenly exploded from her back and Lazuli's eyes went wide in pain and surprise before she collapsed to the ground. A massive bloody gash was sliced across her back with blood beginning to pool around her.

"Lazuli!" I yelled and ran over to her before stopping as I saw a familiar person standing over her with a bloody hand. I stopped because I recognised who the person was, and I felt immense power coming from them at the same time.

They were wearing a pitch-black outfit with a mask that had a red omega symbol on it in the centre of the forehead. I hated them so much at that current moment for what they had just did but I knew that if I made a move, I would be killed on the spot.

"Diablo?" I heard Ariel call from behind me. "Since when did you get here."

Diablo Cosmos, The Hybrid Mage, stepped over Lazuli's still body and started walking towards me and the Demon Ranks who began to heal themselves up.

"Since a competitor suddenly evolves into an out of control Awakened Ethereal." A female voice replied from behind me as well.

I turned round to find Kara Cosmos, wearing the same mask she wore before, standing in front of a portal that then closed behind her.

"You three are embarrassing." Diablo said pointing a finger at Vide, Ariel and Eclipsis.

His voice didn't have the changer it had before, and it now sounded familiar.

"How could you let someone as weak as that defeat you all at the same time." He continued before tapping the side of his mask causing it to peel back like it was dissolving, revealing his face.

No.

No.

No, no, no, no. That's not possible. It can't be true. He wouldn't do that to Lazuli.

I recognised the face that I saw before me.

His eyes may be red but that was definitely his face. The face… of Nova Laos.

Diablo (Nova) walked past me as if I wasn't even there with a small smile on his face.

"Eclipsis, evacuate all the competitors using your Wraith Soldiers or whatever you call them." Kara said and Eclipsis nodded before snapping her fingers.

Thousands, possibly even tens of thousands of armoured soldiers materialised around us. Any gaps in their armour or any visible skin was a glowing green colour while the rest of their bodies were a pitch black.

Three women (ages around 17-19) materialised kneeling in front of Eclipsis. They looked very normal with no green skin although their clothes were pitch black like the others. The one in the middle however did look unique. She had slightly reddish skin with two smallish horns that looked like a mix between the ones you see on a goat and devil sprouting out of her head.

"Evacuate anyone not in this vicinity." Eclipsis ordered.

"Yes ma'am." The three women said in unison before darting off in different directions along with the other soldiers.

"Why didn't you use those in your fight with the meat bag over there." Diablo said pointing thumb behind him at Lazuli's body.

"…Nova…" I breathed speechless.

There's no way. This isn't possible.

Everyone suddenly seemed realised I was here and looked at me with expressions that read "what should we do with her".

"Diablo." Ariel said pointing at the side of her face. "Mask, remember."

Diablo ignored her and was staring straight at me with his red eyes. He was not smiling. I realised Kara was also staring at me as well.

I flash of realisation crossed his face.

"Oh… I see what's going on here." Kara said putting a hand on her hip and brushing her red hair to the side while removing her mask. "Just tell her, doesn't matter since we can either wipe her mind or kill her, so it won't get out."

"Yeah." Diablo said. "I think you're a bit confused, Shion right? See my name isn't actually Nova. That's my younger twin brother's name."

I took a step back.

That doesn't mean what I-

"Now hold on a minute if your Diablo Cosmos-"

"The one and only." Diablo said with a smug grin.

"b-but you're not N-Nova even though you have t-the same face as him. Yet you say that's your b-brother's name." I stammered as I started to figure it all out.

"See you probably know my brother as The Yi-" Kara started to talk but stopped mid-sentence, her eyes widening, and she looked behind me.

I slowly turned round to find-

What the… NOVA!?

-Healing Lazuli's wound while Kuni was also there holding her in his arms.

"See," Diablo continued with an almost sadistic pleasure being heard in his voice. "although I have the same face as him, I'm not the Nova you know. I have a twin brother with the exact same name however who's recently gone missing, and I think your looking at him right now."

Diablo pointed a finger at Nova who was facing him but had his head lowered. His hair covering his eyes.

"Ain't that right little brother?" Diablo jeered lowering his hand.

I suddenly felt the whole battle dimension shaking slightly as I felt a power and rage that was almost suffocating coming from Nova.

Vide and Ariel suddenly had multiple knives deep in each of their throats with Ariel's robotic arm shattered, a bone deep gash across her face and multiple of what looked like holes that had been punched into her chest. Vide's right arm had been torn off and used as some sort of knife as it was now stabbed deep into his gut.

As their dead bodies fell, Eclipsis was suddenly crushed into the ground like something immensely heavy was on top of her causing her to moan in pain as she tried to lift herself up. She was then crushed into the ground again, even harder this time, denting it like she was being grinded into it.

"If your Diablo Cosmos." Kuni muttered now looking dead at him. "And you're not the Nova we know even though you have the same face, but you have a twin brother with the same name-"

"Then that means." I muttered as Nova lifted his head up.

His blue eyes flashed and changed completely for a brief moment before returning to normal. In that moment the irises in his eyes had been golden while the whites were a glowing purple colour that crawled up to his temples in a vein like patter.

"Then that means-" Kuni began but was interrupted by someone.

"It means I am not Nova Laos." Nova said and he was staring straight at Diablo who was grinning like a madman.

"My father is Viro Cosmos. I am the strongest member of the 6 Demon Ranks." Nova said as his aura erupted from him and swirled around him like a vortex.

Kara quickly created a portal just before that and had dragged Kuni and Lazuli through it, dumping them next to me.

Nova's aura was a deep purple on the outside but on the inside, it was a golden orange. His eyes had changed back into the strange colour scheme when they flashed earlier. The skin on his forearms was now a golden orange with glowing purple tattoos crawling up from his wrist to his elbow.

He uttered the next words in a voice that seemed to echo across the battle dimension.

"My name is Nova Cosmos, The Yin-Yang King."