"I can feel it… My evolution is stabilizing. I am almost there."
Crusch Karsten murmured to herself. A profound wave of calm washed over her, unexplainable yet deeply welcome.
For the past several hours, ever since she had received the mysterious genetic serum, AMX-34, as Natsuki had called it, her body had been undergoing radical genetic and evolutionary reconfiguration.
The most striking transformation, however, was unfolding now.
She sat in a perfect lotus position, surrounded by an aura of radiant, otherworldly energy that leaked from her very being.
Her Gate, mutated by the mysterious nature of her soul, was ascending in a breathtaking awakening.
A soft sigh escaped her lips.
"To think something like this is possible… What are those shining particles? No… I already know."
Information flooded her mind the instant she desired it.
"Cosmic energy…"
The power surged from her Gate, enveloping her entire body in a luminous mantle. She rose gently into the air, floating as if in enlightened meditation, a living embodiment of majesty and strength.
Mana... Not the mana of this world, but something far vaster, poured into her from an unknown source, flooding through her Gate and radiating outward.
The sheer volume was staggering.
Even if all of humanity pooled their efforts and harnessed it as fuel for the remainder of their species existence among the stars, they would go extinct long before expending even a fraction of what now leaked from her.
More than that, the very principles of magic were awakening within her, elevating her potential to unimaginable heights.
Water… Fire… Earth… Wind… Yin… Yang…
Every elemental and conceptual affinity relating to magic of this world had reached absolute mastery within her.
Should she choose to train in the arcane arts, she could attain the zenith of every field in moments. Her affinity was so overwhelming that, like Pleiades and the other Witches Of Sin, she needed only witness a spell once to replicate it perfectly, without needing theory or incantation.
This was the first of two fundamental requirements to be recognized as a true Witch or Warlock in this era.
The second was a Witch Factor.
And that, too, she had received from Pleiades.
The Lioness, Crusch Karsten, had officially become a Witch of Sin.
The Birth of the 13th Witch Of Sin... Crusch Karsten of Altchare, Apprentice of The Forgotten Sage, the Witch of Pride has awaken.
The shift was subtle at first, but the strongest beings in the world felt the balance of power tilt once more.
Pleiades noticed it long before anyone else, of course.
But in most things, he always the exception.
Crusch was after all, his masterpiece in the making. If asked, he would say she might one day rival even Project Beatrice with her unique Od.
But that aside, a phenomenon of her birth was taking place in the world of man.
High above the atmosphere, reaching into space, far beyond the solar system, past the galaxy, and across trillions upon trillions of light-years, a vast, devouring void stretched endlessly. Within that cold emptiness floated twelve brilliant stellar bodies, each radiating a different color and embodying a different Sin.
At the center burned the Main Sin Star, Pleiades, its light a horrifying amalgamation of every color, shining far brighter than the rest. From this central star, a new celestial body was born, a vibrant green star that settled into orbit with the others after separating from the Corrupt Star.
The Lioness Star. The Star of Pride — Crusch.
These Sin Stars were the product of the Pleiades System, a revolutionary magical framework created long ago by Echidna and Pleiades to draw purer, cosmic mana.
Through the forbidden spell Ultima Stella, a fusion of worldly magic and the Authorities of Sin, they had forged a self-sustaining, eternal sources of power.
Now connected to her own Lioness Star, Crusch could draw upon its cosmic energy at will. Even ambient cosmic radiation from beyond her star further empowered her.
With her Witch Factor fully assimilated and enhanced by AMX-34, her new Authority settled within her even quicker than intended.
"Isn't this… rather dangerous?"
She whispered, a mix of awe and solemn realization in her voice.
Just then, a knock sounded at the mansion door. Crusch rose gracefully from her meditative stance and opened it.
There stood Pleiades, still in his shadowy, inhuman form, yet somehow more complete, less abstract. She could now faintly discern the outline of the human he once was beneath the living darkness once he come to this place.
"Oh my."
He said, a note of genuine admiration in his tone, and most of all curiosity.
"This is beyond even what I anticipated. What an unfairly potent Authority you have awakened, Ms. Karsten."
"Just call me Crusch would you Natsuki, sigh....when you call me Ms. Karsten it makes me feel lonely for some reason."
"Very well then Crusch."
Pleiades comply, clearly please at what he was now seeing.
"It still unsettles me how easily you perceive such things without explanation."
She replied, composed but with a hint of dry amusement.
"Hehehe… You will grow accustomed to it, Crusch. There is almost nothing I cannot grasp at a glance. Even without my Authorities, my accumulated knowledge of the world and the universe grants me a complex and instinctive understanding of things around me. Still, I value precision. With an Authority like yours… only another Authority user or the Sword Saint herself could hope to best you in combat now."
"I'm quite curious how it would interact with my own powers. Though I calculate your chances of actually harming me remain around two to five percent if I am to be generous."
"You don't say, haha, still even if you didn't confirm my chances I am more than certain you are still stronger."
Crusch said evenly.
"Though there is little honor in a power such as this."
Crusch admitted, her Authority of Pride was after all, an honorless power.
But honor for Pleiades was a joke, it is funny in the past he tried pathetically to preserve what little of his pride he had left in the eyes of others by abusing the shit out of Return By Death.
But now, he didn't have any, like Echidna he was certain if his disowning his honor can make him achieve his goal then he would disown without a second though.
For that reason his reply was rather cynical.
"Honor?"
Pleiades shrugged casually.
"Fuck honor. It only weakens you. What matters is victory. Success is the only absolute worth striving for. In this world, a power like yours will carry you through any situation. Stand Proud Crusch Karsten you are strong, as fake as that strength that is your Pride truly is."
He answered honestly.
"Sigh, if you say so, I will try to look past the honorless negatives of this power I guess."
Crusch replied, her voice steady yet proud.
"At the very least, I can take great pride in the fact that this is a warrior base power above all else. To think I would awaken the ability to impose overwhelming weakness upon any who oppose me… Anyone who challenges me, regardless of their magic, Divine Protections, or skill, will find their strengths diminished before my Authority. A superior swordsman becomes clumsier than I. A greater scholar grows duller than myself. The faster become slower than me, the talented become ordinary before me. As a warrior who proud herself on her swordsmanship and judgment, this renders every contest… meaningless."
"Well…
Pleiades began, his shadowy form shifting slightly.
"…Even if that is true, you can take some comfort in the fact that you are not the strongest."
"Why does that statement irritate me so much?"
Crusch muttered, a faint scowl crossing her features.
"Heheh. Either way, Crusch, it is about time we leave."
"Hmm? Already?"
"Yes. The master blacksmith crafting your armor is actually my oldest son, believe it or not."
Crusch closed her eyes for a moment, exhaling slowly.
"…I still cannot believe you have spread yourself across the stars like some cosmic whore."
"Kids are useful artillery I suppose."
Pleiades replied matter-of-factly.
"As replaceable as they may be, they are essential pieces to have. I keep this particular son of mine on planet Vasca for a reason. Or rather, he asked me to send him somewhere far away, a place his mother could not reach him. I even went so far as to change the shape of his soul using Ultima Magic, and eating his memory from the world with the Authority of Gluttony just to hide him properly."
"However Pandora is like me, she is immune to Gluttony influence, however without context she can't undo the events I meticulously set up."
"Haa… What manner of madness did you impregnate, Natsuki, for your own son to go to such lengths to hide from his own mother?"
"Well, it is someone you know all too well. In the past, she was the one who technically orchestrated your death."
"What? Don't tell me… Capella?"
"Ha, heavens no. How would I fuck her when she is dead? No, it's Pandora."
Crusch's eyes widened.
"…Wait, isn't that?"
"Yes. The leader of the Witch Cult of the past. Pandora The Witch Of Vainglory."
"NATSUKI, ARE YOU CRAZY!?"
She stared at him, genuinely shocked.
"Why in the world would you lie with that monster of all people?"
"I did say she was tight, did I not? It should have been a giveaway."
Pleiades said with a nonchalant shrug.
Crusch pinched the bridge of her nose.
"That is not the point. Still… how did you even end up impregnating that sociopathic monster?"
"Hah. It was probably the first time we did it. Back when my emotions were still… more present, I may say, it was to the point that I have opened up a bit too much with the other Witches. Of those, only two have ever borne me children."
"The first was Minerva, the Witch of Wrath. Our child chose to stay with her and hates me with every fiber of her being. Not that I particularly care. With her power, conquering the Great Waterfall would have been trivial, but it is what it is."
He continued.
"Then there is Pandora. She gave me a son. Unlike his mother, he took more to me than he did to her. He ran away from her in pursuit of me. In exchange for becoming my personal blacksmith and engineer, I gave him the freedom he desired. He inherited the Authority of Vanity from Pandora, and my Authority of Melancholy. Combined with his insane talent for fire and healing magic, he forged his path as a master weaponsmith."
"His mother wanted to restart the Witch Cult using him as her ultimate weapon. Pandora and I are… on relatively civil terms. It is just that she is obsessed with a certain wish we can never fulfill."
"No matter how hard she tries. At one point she asked me to break a certain door, one of the very few things in this world that none of my Authorities can bypass. I have no idea what lies behind that seal. Even Echidna doesn't know. As far as I'm aware, only Emilia could have opened it, thanks to the blood of the Witch."
"So unless Pandora can somehow master time travel and get Emilia again, that door will never open again. It's a lost cause. Still, she is convinced that a child of our union could one day surpass both of us and open it. Sadly, I have yet to meet any of my children who is truly better than me at something. Not a single one. Truly disappointing if I must say."
Crusch wanted to say many things in that moment, most of them sharp and unflattering. Instead, she let out a long, weary sigh and decided to let the matter rest.
"…And you said your son has already completed the armor?"
"Yes."
Pleiades replied.
"My son always knows when and what I need. It is his duty and privilege as a Sage Candidate, although he doesn't have the potential for it, a sage candidate with as much delirium as he has would make him too compatible with other factor that it might as well be incompatible in use."
Crusch paused, her brow furrowing slightly as she processed his words.
"Wait… so by commission you mean?"
"Yes."
Pleiades answered smoothly.
"My son knows what I want and when I want it, often before I even ask. Usually, the world cannot foresee the future I exist in… but Shadimoth is an exception to that rule."
He continued, almost casually, as if discussing the weather.
"Across countless planets, supernatural or otherwise, he is the only person I have ever met who can use true foresight on me with any reliability. Though there are ways to blind him. He calls them Blindspots."
Crusch tilted her head, listening intently.
"For example, his mother Pandora can manipulate phenomena in real time. She alters events as they unfold to suit her desires, making her a natural blindspot to his Authority."
"Then there is Echidna, the Witch of Greed. She is nearly omniscient if she chooses to read the memories of the world… but she rarely does. If she ever fully used that power, it would counter his 『Time Of Vanity』 quite effectively."
Pleiades shadowy form seemed to ripple with faint amusement.
"And then, of course, there is me. If I enter the Shadow Garden, he loses sight of me entirely, this place we are currently in exists outside normal time and space. The same happens when I use my Authority of Melancholy and step into my Imaginary Space. That layered third-dimensional realm runs on imaginary numbers and concepts so alien to him that even his foresight cannot properly interpret the time there."
He added, almost as an afterthought.
"Then there is also the interaction principle when I actively use Melancholy, but that's a whole other problem. Melancholy is often my greatest ace when fighting seriously overpowered monsters like Valerie or Pandora."
Crusch looked at him and let out a long sigh.
"Your family tree keeps getting stranger and stranger, Natsuki. Still… I'm glad I have you to rely on."
She straightened her posture, a spark of determination in her crimson eyes.
"Now then, you said earlier you would teach me how to fly. I believe I am ready."
"Heheh. Very well then. Let us go."
Pleiades snapped his fingers. A swirling portal of shadow opened beside them. He gestured toward it with a theatrical bow, adjusting his monocle.
"Lady First."
"My, how gentlemanly of you."
Crusch replied, imitating his tone with a small, teasing smile.
"But I faintly recall it is only proper manners for elders to go first."
Pleiades closed his eyes for a moment, feigning exasperation.
"Forget respecting your elders, then."
He stepped through the portal first.
"Since you were so kind, this old man shall lead the way with his apprentice behind."
Crusch followed right behind.
The Shadow Garden's familiar darkness faded behind them. What lay ahead was an even deeper, more rudimentary form of absolute darkness, vast, cold, and filled with distant, brilliant pinpricks of light.
"Wowww… is this...
No sound escaped her mouth. She could feel the shape of the words, but the vacuum swallowed them instantly.
She held her throat confused as to what was happening here.
Pleiades voice spoke directly into her mind, calm and familiar through Amaxtrixian telepathy.
"Yes. Interstellar space. Quite a beautiful sight, isn't it? Also, use your newly acquired telepathy. We are in a vacuum, there are no air molecules for sound waves to travel through so talking normally would be impossible unless your Echidna."
Crusch turned to look at him, floating gracefully beside her in the endless dark as she asked.
"What is a molecule?"
She asked, the question forming clearly in his mind.
Of course Pledieas was more than happy to satisfied her need for knowledge.
"A molecule is the smallest unit of a substance that still retains its chemical properties. In simple terms, they are tiny particles, combinations of even smaller atoms, that make up everything physical around us. Air, water, metal, even your own body."
"Back on the planet, these molecules are densely packed. When you speak, your voice creates vibrations that travel through those molecules as sound waves, allowing others to hear you."
He gestured outward with his cane toward the infinite expanse.
"Out here in interstellar space, there is almost nothing. A near-perfect vacuum. The molecules are so incredibly sparse, separated by vast distances, that sound waves have nothing to travel through. Your voice simply dissipates into nothing the moment it leaves your lips. That is why we use telepathy. It transmits thought directly, bypassing the need for any medium."
Crusch absorbed the explanation, her expression shifting from mild confusion to thoughtful understanding as the cosmic scale of their surroundings truly sank in.
The distant stars glittered like scattered diamonds against the black velvet of space.
Although she also wanted ask what a particle is, as her definition of it was the magical one and not the scientific one.
So she feign ignorance and simply said.
"…I see."
She replied mentally, testing the telepathic link.
"So, how are we going to fly?"
Crusch asked, a hint of frustration creeping into her telepathic voice.
"It is weird… I cannot move at all. It feels like I am stuck in this one position, while you look as if nothing has changed."
She struggled visibly, trying to twist her body or kick off, but achieved nothing. There was no surface, no resistance, only the silent, weightless void of interstellar space.
Zero gravity held her in place like an invisible prison.
Meanwhile, Pleiades strolled casually through the nothingness. His steps were smooth and measured, as though he were walking along an invisible road.
The tip of his cane tapped against empty space with quiet, rhythmic clicks that should not have existed. He circled her once, twice, completely at ease in the vacuum.
"The difference is control you see."
He explained, his voice calm and patient in her mind.
"Your body is still thinking like a creature of a planet. You expect ground, air resistance, or momentum. In space, those things do not exist. Without an anchor or proper force application, you simply drift as you can see with yourself as a example."
He stopped in front of her and tapped the side of his cane against the floor that wasn't there.
"Watch."
Pleiades took a slow step forward. As he did, a faint ripple of cosmic energy gathered beneath his foot, invisible to most, but clear to Crusch's newly awakened senses.
Using his cosmic energy empowerment, or C.E.E as he personally calls it, he created a momentary platform of concentrated force, then pushed off it with telekinesis to recreate the necessary momentum needed for movement.
It looked like ordinary walking, yet every step was a deliberate, artificial act of will.
Combining different abilities to create a artificial natural phenomenons that doesn't apply to the area of application usually speaking.
Space is not a planet, but more of a container.
"You have the same tools now."
He continued.
"Your Amaxtrixian traits give you cosmic energy empowerment. Think of it as an endless well of power you can shape. Combine that with telekinesis. You do not need to swim through space. You create your own surface beneath you."
"I see, I will try to see if I can do it then, using your words as reference."
Crusch said as she focused, her brow furrowed in concentration. A faint emerald glow began to flicker around her.
"Like this?"
She willed a small disc of cosmic energy beneath her right foot and pushed off with telekinesis. Her body lurched forward awkwardly, more of a hop than a step, but she moved.
Pleiades nodded approvingly, circling her again with effortless grace.
"Better. Do not fight the lack of ground. Replace it. With every step, manifest a platform of energy just long enough to push against, then release it."
"Telekinesis handles the fine control and direction. Cosmic energy provides the power source. Over time, it will feel as natural as walking on solid earth. You can even make the platforms visible if you wish, or leave them invisible for combat."
He demonstrated again, this time walking upside down relative to her orientation before smoothly flipping back.
"The trick is consistency and imagination. Space is not empty to you anymore. It is a canvas. Paint your own path across it to move however you wish Crusch."
"That's actually kind of creepy looking not gonna lie, but I think I get where your coming from now weirdly enough."
Crusch took a deep breath, unnecessary in the vacuum, but comforting, and tried again. This time her steps were steadier. A faint smile tugged at her lips as she began to circle him in return, slowly mastering the strange new way of movement.
"…I think I understand. It is not flying. It is walking on a road only I can see or feel basically."
Pleiades chuckled, clearly pleased.
"A simpler way is to imagine your cosmic energy as stairs, while you use your telekinesis to anchor and push you forward picture it like being push by the wind itself."
"Uhuh… I get where you are coming from now."
Crusch nodded, a spark of understanding in her eyes.
Suddenly, emerald-green energy flared beneath her feet. She took off running across empty space, each step creating a brief, glowing platform that vanished the moment she pushed off.
She practiced the simple movement for ten to fifteen minutes while continuing her conversation with Pleiades. To her surprise, her body adapted with remarkable speed. What felt unnatural at first soon became instinctive.
Pleiades watched with visible approval and began clapping slowly.
"That's enough. You've mastered basic movement well enough to navigate space freely. Now, let us take it a step further, true flight, or rather warping."
"Warping."
Crusch asked, hovering in place.
"Tell me how you do it then?"
"Simple. It is the combination of the telekinesis aspect of the cosmic energy empowerment using the natural Cosmic Energy webs around you instead of your sin star."
Pleiades gestured around them with his cane as he explained.
"Originally, Amaxtrixians can only rely on telekinesis because their brains are millions of times more complex than a human's. That complexity forces them to sleep most of their lives, but it also lets them perceive cosmic energy as an intricate web woven through reality itself. By moving and shaping those webs, they can manipulate objects, even planets or stars. You cannot yet perceive or manipulate the webs at their full complexity or power to straight up move stellar bodies, but you can still use the basic principle for flying at least."
Crusch narrowed her eyes, focusing.
"Is that what these weird transparent lines are? The ones I have been seeing around me this entire time?"
"Exactly."
Pleiades confirmed.
"The more you concentrate, the clearer they become. When you moved earlier, you were instinctively pushing or pulling against those webs to move, correct?"
"Yeah, basically!"
"Good. For flight, use the same logic, but instead of pushing against the webs to move, you encase yourself in them. Wrap them around your body like a cocoon or a barrier. The more webs you gather and compress, the more space itself begins to bend around you."
He demonstrated by floating higher, the faint outline of shimmering webs briefly visible around his form as he fly as superman would with both hands forward.
"When you push or move in any direction, the warped space greatly reduces the distance between points A and B. To increase your speed, simply gather and compress more webs. In theory, you can achieve virtually any speed short of true infinity. Your velocity becomes continuous, you accelerate as long as you maintain the compression."
Crusch listened intently, already experimenting by drawing faint green threads of energy around herself.
"Naturally, manipulating the webs at that level requires enormous energy."
Pleiades continued.
"But the Amaxtrixians draw from the ambient cosmic energy around them using a technique they call the recycle technique that allows them use the same energy the thread is made out of to move around as an effectively infinite source of power to compress them without worrying about singularity collapse. But you have something even better, your Sin Star. You awakened the Lioness Star, so I am sure you understand what I mean."
"Ok I think I got it now."
Crusch said as space suddenly began to warp around her, and in the next instance, she push herself forward arms ahead of her as she took off.
At this moment she was no longer in front of Pleiades.
"Wow, she really pulled it off on her first try, how curious indeed, although your going the wrong way assistant of mines, planet Vasca is in the opposite direction. Atleast 23,563,722 Arch years away from here."
Pleiades said as he take off into Crusch direction.
Their time of arrival at Planets Vasca, two days going and two days coming.