Book One
Volume 1
Ch. 2 Tsukuyomi
Pov.
-Kara-
After I finished showering I found Isis curled up in the middle of the bed with Coeus who Tora must've dropped off.
The bed's legs were broken. The frame itself had absorbed far more than it was meant to handle-evidence of how far I had pushed things still clung to the sheets and dripped from the edges. The floor was cracked. The pillars supporting the room looked ready to give way.
Unfortunate.
The bed was built to withstand even a supernova. I had assumed it would be fine.
Guess I got carried away.
The moment I took a single step the roof finally collapsed.
Without so much as blinking I restored everything to its original state. The room was clean and spotless again-everything except Isis.
I left her as she was, marked by the aftermath, and stepped over to the bedside.
I lay down beside her for a moment, then sat up against the frame.
She was still trembling.
Even her healing abilities were struggling to keep up. She would be herself again in a few minutes, but right now everything still hurt.
I patted my lap.
After a few seconds she sets her son aside, crawled over and wrapped her arms around my waist.
"What is it?" I asked.
"N-nothing." Her voice trembled. "It just hurts." She sniffed. "Everything hurts."
I clicked my tongue.
"Why are you like this?" she asked.
"Like what?"
"Don't you think you might find interest in things that don't include taking someone's life... or hurting someone?"
I didn't answer.
"Try holding Coeus... or take Odin out on a walk," she said.
"Ignia already took Odin out. And Coeus... I don't feel like dealing with something that can't even defend itself." I sat up.
"He is a child. Your child." Her voice tightened. "Love him just like you-"
Before she could finish, my tail closed around her throat and dragged her over the edge of the bed.
She choked.
"Say it." My eyes narrowed. "Finish what you were about to say so I can end this." I loosened my grip just enough for her to speak.
She gasped.
"Y-you won't kill me," she managed. "You always say that but you never do."
"I've ended your life more times than I can count. Are you stupid?"
"No... you know what I mean..."
Ah.
She knows.
"Yes," she whispered, eyes wet. "You've murdered me more times than even I can count. But you still refuse to get rid of me."
"You're right. Now why do you think that is?"
"W-well... if you ask me... you're a coward."
"Is that what you think?"
"Your biggest fear is being alone for an eternity."
"Fear? You really think so?"
"I-I know so," she choked.
"I am the very essence of evil. I cannot experience fear." I gave her a cold smile. "But you, my dear..." I lifted her chin. "You're special, aren't you?"
"L-let go," she muttered.
"No." My face was close to hers. She tried to turn away. "Look at me."
"I-I can't."
"Isisss..." I whispered against her ear, carefully threading memories into the sound of my voice.
She slowly opened her eyes.
And made the fatal mistake of meeting my gaze.
Her eyes widened as she fell into Tsukuyomi-the genjutsu I crafted to deliver an eternity worths of torment in the span of a heartbeat.
How long is an eternity?
I do not know.
But it is enough to drop even a Founding Titan like her.
She went limp. I released her and let the body fall.
After putting on my clothes I was ready to leave.
Then a small sound reached me.
I turned, mildly surprised to see her pulling herself back up.
"S-see? Y-you're weak," she huffed.
"Hey. Since when can you do that?"
I had ended her with that technique more times than I care. Seeing her still breathing was unexpected.
The stress of those endless moments would age a mortal into dust in an instant. That thought sparked something useful.
Fine then I smile, raising a single finger.
"Wh-what are you..." her face pales as I slowly point at her child.
She shakes her head
She quickly tosses herself overhim before I peirce a hole through both of them
"Now..." I smile "time to pay Ignia a little visit."
I blink, and in the next instant I stood before Ignia.
He was on his knees, tending to some wounded creature. I raised my foot. Before he could react I brought it down hard enough to crush the thing's head into the dirt.
He continued holding it as if it were still alive.
He raises it slightly.
A few seconds later the head began to reform. Ignia's work. Soft as ever.
Once the creature was whole again it scrambled back to life-an anteater. I had no idea why he had allowed it to evolve into something so pitiful.
"I transferred his consciousness into his nervous system," Ignia said.
"Yeah. Figures." I rolled my eyes.
"What is it you want?"
"Fight me."
"No."
"Why not?"
"I'm not a battle-hungry dog like you."
"Tell you what." I held out a hand. "Fight me and I'll give you the title of Omni King. You don't even have to win. The title is yours."
"That title means nothing to me. A fight between us will destroy reality as we know it."
"Do you not want to see what it's like? Go all out. Test the limits of your Flesh?"
Silence.
"Well I do. I've waited long enough. Now fight me, Ignia."
"Why do you keep asking?"
"I want to hear you say it."
"The countless lives that will be lost because of your selfish desire," he said. "That is why I cannot fight you."
I covered my face to hide the smile.
"Too bad for you. I cannot wait any longer." My grin widened. "I will do what has to be done to hear those words."
The ground began to tremble. "I'll give you ten seconds."
"What are you going to do?"
"One..."
"Two." I closed my eyes.
No.
I could not wait.
The ground erupted. A mountain ten thousand miles high rose from beneath my feet.
"You will fight me," I said, arms open. "Whether you want to or not."
I opened my eyes and cast the Rinne-Sharingan onto the moon, weaving the Infinite Tsukuyomi across the planet.
In less than a second every living thing caught in the light dropped, trapped in the same eternity I had just shown Isis.
I felt Ignia's presence behind me.
"What is the meaning of-" He stopped.
"Y-You-" His eyes widened.
I smiled. "Fight me."
He gritted his teeth, took a long breath-
This was it.
I had waited far too long.
"F-fin-"
I was already moving.
I appeared above him, arm drawn back. He matched the motion.
"DIEEEE!!!!"
Our fists met. The mountain shattered. A crater fifty thousand miles across and twenty thousand deep opened beneath us.
Ignia barely kept himself from slamming into the planet and taking the rest of it with him. He stumbled back as I landed in front of him.
"W-we can't keep going," he said.
"Stop being soft and fight me!"
"Many lives have already been lost. Quit being so selfish!"
"Selfish?" I laughed. "SELFISH?! I ALLOWED THESE MAGGOTS TO CRAWL AROUND FOR LONG ENOUGH. NOW IT IS TIME THE HEAVENS LEARN THE WRATH OF A TRUE GOD."
My aura expanded until it swallowed the entire world. Heat rose so high the oceans vanished and the surface turned molten in an instant.
Except Ignia had shifted us into a barren dimension-twelve empty universes, not a single spark of life left for me to erase.
"Fine." His eyes opened, Rinnegan gleaming. "LET'S FIGHT!"
His aura nearly matched mine as he tapped into Super Saiyan Rosé.
He launched. We traded blows. For a moment I could barely keep up. I had never expected this level of speed from him.
His fist connected with my jaw. The shockwave erased the twelve cosmos around us, leaving only void. My body tore through time and space and into our dimention until I finally crashed onto a planet the size of a star.
"AGH-"
The impact left me gasping, overwhelmed by pure sensation. Pain and something darker mixed until I could barely stand.
I forced myself upright, laughing under my breath.
"God... I need more."
I dug my claws into my own forehead and i drage them down my face
"MORE! MORE! MORE!" I shred my face over and over, chasing the rush, unable to stop.
Pov.
-Isis-
-a few minutes earlier
"C-Coeus..." i shake him awak after i manage to reconstrict his heart with my own blood
I dont think Kara knew that I had just enough in me to save him.
That devil, he missed my heart by a hair somi could watch him die in my arns.
I felt a sudden burst of energy before half of the population on Gaia instantly dies.
I scrambled for the door, pulling my robe on as I ran.
"CRONUS!" I shouted, hoping he would hear. "CRONUS!"
I banged on his door until he finally answered.
"What is it?!"
"C-Cronus-Ignia and your father-" I yanked off my Potara earrings. "Hurry before it's too late-"
"M-mom? Wait, what did you say?"
"Just hurry!"
Oceanus appeared behind me. "What's going on, mother? You're not making sense."
"You have to make sure everyone's ready."
"Wh-what?"
"Dad and Ignia-what?" Cronus asked.
Oceanus understood first. "Wait... you don't mean..."
I met his eyes.
"R-right," he said quietly.
Cronus took us to Othrys' head in an instant.
"Guess it's time then." He stretched.
"Kara isn't one to be taken lightly!" I snapped.
"This isn't the time, Cronus," Oceanus said.
"What? I've been waiting ages for this." Cronus cracked his knuckles.
"Cronus!" I pressed the Potara into his hand. "Just take these."
"W-wait-you want us to fuse?"
"We've already gone over this," Oceanus said. "Going all out is our best shot. Make sure Ignia doesn't die."
"Yeah, yeah." Cronus put one earring on.
"Hey-look at me." Oceanus's voice hardened. "If it comes down to it, Ignia better be the one who walks back through that door. You guard him with your life. You hear me?"
"YEAH, I KNOW!"
"You two!" I shouted.
"Go," Oceanus said.
I made Cronus crouch so I could rest my forehead against his. "Be careful... I can't lose another one. Okay?"
"R-right."
"Take care of yourself and your brother. Come back to me." I kissed his forehead.
He left before he could finish answering.
I dropped to my knees. "Oh God... please protect my babies..."
Everything was happening too fast. I had never truly believed this day would come.
Oceanus's hand settled on my back. "It's going to be fine. Even if Gaia and the cosmos are erased, as long as Ignia is still standing we can start over."
He was right.
Besides Kara, Ignia was the only one who could recreate life from absolute nothing. As long as he survived, we still had a future.
...
-to be continued