A ray of light emerged from Consimia's ring. Its radiance flashed towards the Elven King. Ocupas held his breath and sprinted forwards, but a delicate hand reached out and grasped his arm.
The coldness and hardness he felt halted his movement. He turned to the side and saw Princess's semi-transparent silhouette. She shook her head and placed her finger upon her dark lips. Though her appearance was inhuman, Ocupas could recognize her dull pupils.
"Peritia . . . why are you here?" he said and reached out for her, but his hand passed through her blurry figure, muddling her intangible appearance.
She pointed at her chest and shook her head. At her fingertip, a soft glow manifested and floated along with her motion. Its glitter weakened her illusionary silhouette, revealing the hollowness of her immaterial body.
"Are you real, or just my imagination?" Ocupas said as he closed his eyes and listened to the chaos from the battle outside. Strange cracklings and hymns resounded throughout the Holyground, distorted by the power beyond his imagination.
An untouchable yet patterned hand stroked his hair and pulled him in. Princess placed him on her chest, his ears on her heart. The world abruptly deafened while the heartbeat transmitted to Ocupas, filling his sealed vision with pulsating stars.
A familiar fragrance filled his mind. It was the scent of roses and milk mixed with the dusty air. In the past, Princess used to seal herself in her study room and bath in milky warm water. Medoria would dress her in thinly-veiled clothes and apply rose perfume for her.
"Peritia, why did you refuse to meet us, to meet me?" Ocupas opened his eyes and stared into the dull pupils.
Princess tilted her head before she moved her mouth, soundlessly speaking her reason. Though her voice wasn't real, Ocupas could easily read her lips.
"Ocupas, it's been a while. Forgive me for keeping you guys in the dark. I didn't wish to pull you into this mess."
"What about our promise? When you created the group, you were the one who suggested it. 'Pain and sorrow, happiness and comfort.' "
"The oath of the living does not affect the dead. Ocupas, I'm beyond my due, and only I am needed to accomplish my goal."
Princess backed away from Ocupas and smiled at him before turning her back on him. Her black sleeveless dress fluttered with her movement, filling the surrounding with an airy quality. Her silhouette slowly walked away from him.
"Peritia, if you're dying, then die beside us! You should spend your last moment with your friends, your fiance . . . not keeping it all alone, not like this," Ocupas said and attempted to grab for Princess, but his hand went through her.
"Why should I trouble you all when only I am needed? I make this mess, and that's why I'll be the one who fixes it."
"No, Peritia, not again. I won't lose you again. Do you know . . . how disappointed I was when I learnt that you kept everything to yourself?" Ocupas clasped his fist. His arm shook as his veins popped up. "I'm disappointed that I wasn't good enough, wasn't observant enough, wasn't understanding enough."
Princess grasped Ocupas's hand and pulled it towards her. Her pupils expanded as her mouth curved into a faint smile.
"Who said my fiance is lacking?" Princess suddenly grabbed Ocupas's jaw and raised his face to meet with hers. "It is not you who is lacking, but me who can't reach out. You don't need to drown yourself in sorrow, Ocupas. The past should remain in the past."
"Then prove that you've moved on. Show me that you are capable of opening your heart. Let us help you, just this once."
Ocupas waited, but no matter how long he watched, Princess never moved her mouth. Her soft lips remained tightly sealed. Her mellow eyes curved and danced around the sockets. The playfulness surrounding her disseminated into weariness. A sigh escaped her mouth.
"I'm a hypocrite, aren't I? Stagnation is death, and I've been dead since that time. It would be better if you all move on. As expected, we shouldn't have met."
"You are not stagnant, Peritia. You are anything but stagnation. You defied the impossible by using everything you could, so use us, use me, and do it again!"
"I don't want to use anyone anymore. The last time I used my friend, I don't even know if there is a way to bring her back. Ocupas, I'm no longer a part of the Great Races. I'm a wicked Arachna."
Princess drew her hands forwards and touched Ocupas's chest. Her gentle motion pushed him backwards. She turned around and glanced at him for one last time before she covered her face with her hands, her expression unknown.
As she walked forwards, a screech rang from behind. From the corner of her eyes, she saw countless fragments of a military medal, shattered from the raging impact of a throw.
"Peritia, let me ask you: be honest, be selfish, do you need help?" Ocupas asked Peritia, not as someone who served the Elven Kingdom, but as her friend and her fiance.
Princess merely half-turned to meet him. "No, I don't need your help."
"Then, do you want help?"
"No, I don't think so."
"Peritia, do you," Ocupas said as he made up his mind, "still love me?"
Princess paused for a moment before she lowered the hand she used to conceal her expression. "Ocupas, close your eyes."
She turned around to face him. Her eyes fixated on his face. Like the reunion of a pair of lovers, Princess stepped forwards and stood in front of Ocupas, her hair fluttering with the wind and touching his face.
While the world stopped and attentively watched, Princess leant against Ocupas and moved her head closer to him. Despite her cold, hard carapace, Ocupas felt the warmth of her breath coming closer and closer to his face. His eyelids slightly parted as his desire to peek overwhelmed him.
Princess closed her eyes and placed her moist, smooth lips upon his. Her arms wrapped around his body. The taste of her cherry lips seeped into his mouth, filling him with a sweet yet bitter aftertaste. Though it lasted for a mere instant, Ocupas felt his perception of time stretched before his eyes, extending the moment of surprise, happiness, and sorrow towards eternity.
Princess raised her head and gazed into the sky. Her hands moved away from Ocupas and pointed at her lips, which moved to form her confession.
"I cannot answer that question, for I am merely a part of myself. However, you can be assured that there is a place for you in my heart, though I do not know its size." Princess giggled, still her mouth produced no voice. "If you want to know the truth, you must ask my full self, but promise me: whatever happens, happens."
Princess's body softly glowed before she disintegrated into tiny particles. Ocupas reached out to her, but his movement blew her existence into the air, dispersed along with the tide of the windless atmosphere.
"Peritia, know that I'll help you, even if you don't want me to!" Ocupas shouted and looked at the horizon. "Maybe . . . just maybe . . . you might fall for me."
At the boundary of the sky, a gigantic floating castle emerged from the sea of clouds, travelling towards the Holyground. Though its feature was indiscernible from afar, Ocupas knew without the need to see it that Shifting Mist was coming, and within it, Peritia.
He turned to the Elven King. Beside his corpse, Consimia knelt and sobbed on his chest, her dress soaking on a puddle of crimson blood. Her messy dress and tangled hair stuck to everything, morphing her silhouette into that of a tree whose roots extended beyond its vicinity.
...
An enormous formation whose length spanned the border of the Elven Kingdom spewed countless symbols and holograms towards the sky. Despite the dizzy height of the Holyground, the auroras from below remained clear from the vantage point.
"So you take advantage of our complacent and build this formation?" the God of Light said. "A plan millenniums in working—to think that you would embark on a project bigger than the Library of Knowledge and succeed."
"It's only possible because of the tradition you created. You underestimate the goodness and the badness of humanity."
"It seems that your reach goes further than I thought." The God of Light turned towards the First Authority, the Leader of the Board of Science. "Why did you help them?"
"I've had my doubt, and I want to see it through, no matter the cost."
"You're still living in the past, aren't you? No one can reverse Fate, not even you."
"I can never move on, Light. Don't you understand that we're the same? I'm here because I must be here. To put an end to this chapter of history."
"With just you? This time, there is no second chance. Do you think that she would want this, after what she did for you?"
"Maybe she will understand, or maybe she won't. It doesn't matter."
"Very well," the God of Light said and raised his hand towards the Originator. "Let's see how well can mortals rebel against their Gods."
An artificial sun materialized at his fingertip and expanded into a massive ball of flame. It towered over the Holyground and ejected solar flares towards the Authorities, creating ripples of hypersonic pressures in their paths. The clash rendered the sky deafened and flattened the mountains below the sea of clouds.
A swarm of gigantic immaterial hands emerged from the void and captured the solar flares, crushing them with their exotic mixed of Domains. The colourful auroras curled around all the cities within the Elven Kingdom and generated countless rainbow barriers to protect against the falling meteors and the collapsing aircraft.
"Light, how is the Godfall Formation? Don't you think that it can counter your Domain?" Inemas sneered and said. "Thanks to your miracles and the past Root Ceremonies, we've collected all possible data of your Domains. We even used a Drop of Eternity to power it."
The false sun creaked and expanded while rising farther towards the Originator. Despite its continuous ascension, it could never shorten the distance between it and the Originator. From the ground, the sun seemingly stayed at the same place, but its size was magnifying.
"I shall reveal to you why Heaven has always been the ruler of this world. Mortals, watch carefully, for you will witness the might of the Gods," the God of Light said and snapped his finger.
The false sun collapsed onto itself. Its mass condensed at its centremost point before bouncing back and disintegrating into particles moving at the relativistic speed. The heat trail sent echoes of crackling winds and firestorms in all directions, simulating the violent eruption of a supernova.
The blinding light consumed the Holyground in an instant before extending outwards, covering the Elven Kingdom, the Human Empire, Elementia, the Demihuman Federation, and the wasteland of the Arachna.
The Godfall Formation produced countless hands to absorb the flames, only to be replaced by the other when they crumbled. The perpetual motion machine glowed as the Drop of Eternity at its centre continued to supply its endless energy into the formation, glowing brighter and brighter as it expended its power.
The First Authority stomped the ground, his mysterious power seeping out of his soul. Countless images of the false suns exploding began to overlap and merge into one, shifting timelines and changing the outcomes of the action.
The void assimilated the endless futures and redirected the current of Fate into the one where the sun failed to explode, but the overwhelming Divinity within Light Domain broke through the barrier between realities and flooded the void with its all-consuming light.
The First Authority coughed blood and knelt against the ground. He covered his mouth with his hand, but the blood endlessly leaked out. Despite his failed attempt, the reality shifted its course and reduced the sun's size.
In the wake of the destruction, white ashes fell from the sky and danced with the flow of a feeble wind. Around the Holyground, only black and white existed. Countless rifts to the void opened and closed, and above them, the shadow of the Originator was getting bigger.
