494: The Looming Battle
Chapter 494: The Looming Battle
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"So according to my prediction," Contessa Fate said as she pushed her back further into his arms. Birds sang outside, the large windows showing a greenery scene outside, with white curtains covering the walls and a gentle wind filling the room. "He should find out about his daughter's true culprit about now. If we go by his past actions and personality, he should be rushing to Cube to find you now."
"I see."
"Yeah," she brought a cigarette close to her lips and let out a puff of smoke. An odd and complicated sense of dread was clouding her heart.
Just a few decades ago, she'd have been delighted. She'd have wanted Primordial to come and slay this arrogant man behind her, who was holding her with his strong arms and breathing down on her neck. But now… she didn't know. She felt scared of what would happen to him when the fight would actually happen.
It's not as if Prima wasn't strong. He was. He was one of the strongest to have ever lived in the history of the Cube Omniverse. But, going by the record… the Primordial was the strongest in both worlds. There was no argument or narrative around it, the Primordial God was the strongest.
He has zero history with defeat in the eons he's been alive for.
No matter how strong his opponent was, the answer was singular.
The Primordial God cannot lose. He has never, and he will never. He's unbeatable.
"Hey," Contessa Fate threw the cigarette away and turned her head to look at him. "Can't we just… leave in isolation and avoid confronting him? What is the point of this fight anyway? Even if you win…" she said to persuade him, "the Omniverses will be driven to chaos, trying to fill the power gap, and our lives won't be… as fun. Can't you reconsider?"
"It's impossible," he whispered to her ears with a sigh. "If this is where I meet my end, then be so. There are things that you don't know, things I can't tell you even if you ask me to, otherwise you'd have understood. I'm sorry."
"…."
"I've been planning this for a long time," he admitted. "This is the final act. Even if I win or lose, my next state… it'd be the same."
"What does that mean?"
"You'll see." He turned her face and kissed her on the lips, "Sorry you I got you tangled in this emotional turmoil. This would have been easier if you still hated me."
She groaned but said nothing. She pulled his face and kissed him again, as the two of them lost themselves in lovemaking once more.
* * *
"The Primordial God was seen in the Western cosmos," Kimi yawned as she reported to everyone who sat in the living room, calmly enjoying tea except for Ra. "He clashed with the Frontline General who was positioned there, and naturally, he won the battle and was seen advancing further inside."
"I presume the Cube entities are unaware of what he's up to, taking action himself?" Lady Life asked, sitting on the couch, with her hands playing with Ra's root-like hair who sat on the ground.
Kimi nodded in agreement, and Anodi chuckled nervously, "So this is actually happening, I am speechless."
"You'll be safe," Godmother said, again looking like an old lady nowadays. "His target is Prima. If Prima wins, he wins, and if he doesn't, we don't step in. After all, if he can't win, we can't make any differences ourselves."
"You're quite humble when it comes to the Primordial, Godmother," Neji looked at her and said, as her wrinkled lips formed a thin smile.
"He's the firstborn of both realities, his powers are unquestionable. He can never kill me, nobody can, but that doesn't give me enough reason to discard his dangers." She admitted.
"Understandable," Neji nodded. "Do you… think I will win?"
"I'm not sure," she said. "We've prepared well enough, but… I'm not sure. His Fables are a direct negation of everything, and he is called the Killer of Paradoxes. Few can actually kill Abstract Entities, even when Kimi killed Perpetuity, it wasn't a true death. That entity's return was only delayed, and as you saw, she returned a few decades ago."
Lady Perpetuity, the Personification of Time, proved a powerful buff for Kimi when I gave her true death and directed all her powers to Kimi. Kimi had tried the same last time herself, but she failed. But with my help, she managed to pull it off, which made her powers rise manyfold.
"Only you and a few of the Class Zero can kill Abstract Entities," she said. "And among those said Class Zero, Entity Omni is the strongest. As the personification of Omnipotence, there logically should be no match for them in all of reality. But even they faced defeat against the Primordial God back in the day. Then again, it's much better than how it ended for Sir Singularity, arguably the 2nd strongest of the Class Zeroes – although I admit that ranking Class Zeroes itself is odd. He was destroyed by the Primordial in ways that can't be described in tongue."
"…."
Singularity was a concept found in the heart of black holes, on a human level, but on this cosmic level, it's found at the origin of the universe, such as the True Big Bang that began it all, and the emptiness before that. Singularities are points where understanding of physics and rules breaks down, where density becomes infinite, and the laws of time and space as we know them cease to function in their usual manner.
An entity like Sir Singularity, therefore, represented not just a physical phenomenon but a metaphysical boundary between the known and the unknown, the seen and the unseen. He would have powers that both exist and powers that never did.
Everyone but two looked at Neji in worry, especially Life. Neji sighed seeing their gazes and spoke, "I clashed with two Class Zeroes myself, and survived, remember? Entropy Embodiment, being the first; we clashed seven decades ago, and I killed him. Although he didn't meet a true death due to a mishap on my part."
Indeed, Neji had another encounter with Entropy Embodiment; in which he didn't need anyone's intervention or help. He clashed with him, killed him, and stole a part of his powers. Though by now he had been reincarnated, as Neji failed to truly kill Entropy unlike what he did with Maestro Myth and Lord Oblivion.
"Later, I clashed with the Embodiment of Subatomic, Queen Quantum, too." He said, "Although this was much closer than the fight with Entropy, her powers were confusing and hard to counter. But in the end, I won, even if I failed to kill her."
She willingly handed over a part of her power and vowed friendship, and since Neji had always been soft-hearted toward strong women, he accepted it. They didn't have a heavy grudge between themselves in any way to kill her when she was surrendering.
"So," he said. "I think I'll be fine."
That sounded convincing on paper, especially for Neji, but to these girls, it wasn't enough. First of all, there wouldn't be any middle point in the upcoming confrontation. It's either the death of Neji or the death of the Primordial. And while Neji was strong, just as he mentioned his feat, the Primordial's feats were greater.
For these girls who've lived long enough in this omniverse and witnessed the Primordial's aforementioned feats, Neji's own feats weren't as impressive. Chronologically, he's still just 100 and something years old, so it was certainly impressive how strong he was, but in comparison, his feats still fell short.
In the end, Lady Life looked at her son, a terrible pain blooming in her heart, before she looked at Neji. "Hey… can't you reconsider?"
"That's what I've been telling him!" Before Neji could reply, Contessa Fate shot up from her seat and shouted. "He should reconsider! He keeps saying there is a reason he can't, but he never tells us what the reasons are! What is the meaning of this, why are we entangled by his choices?! Why does he refuse to understand the difference in power level?!"
Everyone looked at her, and Kimi frowned deeply.
"Kimi, don't-" Neji shouted to stop Kimi, but the witch shot up and walked over to Fate, grabbing her collar and slapping her across the face. Once, twice, thrice, and finally fourth.
Contessa Fate fell to the floor and Kimi glared down at her, "If you don't like that you are being entangled in this, then get out of here. Your use has long since ended anyway." she snapped her finger, and the shackles around Fate shattered and burst into dust. "If you are so scared that you're being pulled into this, return back to your safe little home and cry in a corner. The Abstract will easily accept you back since they think you were kidnapped. You fucking coward."
"…."
"Kimi." Neji frowned and walked up to her, he looked into her eyes with jaws clenched. "Don't be like this, she didn't mean it in that sense."
"I don't care." She blurted back. "She should have worded it better, she's not a child. If she doesn't love you enough to take a leap of danger, she shouldn't be here. Does she think she's the only one who's taking a risk? What a stupid bitch."
"Still-" he tried to say, but a red light glowed beside him, and he turned to find Contessa Fate teleporting away. Her body vanished from the Fortress, away from here.
A silence fell into the room, and everyone looked away from each other. Nobody spoke for minutes until Ra stood up. His huge 9-feet-tall body towered even Neji, as he walked over and declared.
"There is nothing to worry about, victory will be yours," he said, "and it does not… then I will protect Father. That is a promise."
Neji let out a heavy breath and smiled. He reached out a hand and ruffled Ra's wooden hair, "You already did." This time, he wouldn't need it.
This time, Neji will be the one to protect everyone.
All this time, there was a slight seed of doubt; doubt that if this was worth it, if he should continue training for a few hundred years, uncaring about the timeline, therefore making this the true one, forgetting everyone in the other part of his life. But no, that wouldn't be victory even if he won against the Primordial. To make things work… he'll have to follow the plan.
Neji will face the Primordial God head-on.
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