[Word Count: 1622]
...
Michael remembered the perilous times of the Great War with great sorrow.
Some of his brothers and sisters fell in combat against the other two of the Three Biblical Factions. Others fell into depravity, turning into Fallen Angels.
Their war had torn the lands asunder, plundered the lives of many innocent, and left the Three Factions in a state of false peace. The war had never truly ended; it had merely stopped after each faction lost many of its forces.
Conflicts still arose amongst them, and peace was never obtained.
But, worse of all, their Father, God, had fallen. He had exhausted much of his power sealing away the Apocalyptic Beast known as Trixhea, the Beast recounted in the Book of Revelation.
Many would not believe that such a powerful being could fall; perhaps it was heresy even to conjure up such thoughts, but Michael had to. The departure of his Father left him as the leader of the Angels.
His golden wings set him apart from his marble-white winged brethren. It was a symbol of his role as the leader of the Angels, now truly set in stone.
But Michael could not lead the Angels to their fullest strength, to what they had in their prime before the fall of his Father. He could not fully control God's System nor its sub-unit, the Sacred Gear System.
The faith of the monotheistic religions had powered the system alongside God's essence. Michael could only harness a part of its power to keep the core of the Seven Heavens afloat. Without a way to birth new angels and the possibility of Fallen Angels, they were at their lowest point in strength.
"Ah, Father, you've left me quite the mess…" Michael sighed, but didn't blame his Father. He had sacrificed himself for the greater good to seal away a great evil.
He left the Sixth Heaven, where the Seraphims resided, and entered the Seventh Heaven.
The Seventh Heaven was where God's System resided and where God resided before his death. His throne was left unattended, empty, and eternally gathering "dust" after its owner's death.
Michael didn't come to the Seventh Heaven to reminisce on times when God was alive, but because he felt weird surges from God's System. It was an anomalous occurrence that didn't happen often, with the few times being "bugs" like Longinus and Balance Breakers manifested.
When Michael arrived at the room where God's System was kept, he quickly stood before it. The God's System took the form of a giant illuminous golden orb that emitted the grand aura of the Biblical God before his death.
Michael had always marveled at its wonder, knowing that he could never truly enact what his Father could.
"Let's see what's causing this issue…" At most, Michael believed that another "bug" had manifested in the Sacred Gear System. Without God's proper maintenance and control of God's System, there were many mishaps and glitches popping up.
Michael pressed his hand against the orb and channeled his Holy Power into it, accessing its core functionalities. He had quickly identified the problem, but surprisingly, it wasn't the Sacred Gear System.
It was the system for prayers and miracles.
Images of three blurred figures suddenly appeared in Michael's mind, transmitted to him by God's System. It caused him to stumble back and stare at the orb, confused.
Voices began to echo throughout the room. One spoke with great enthusiasm, another with a wispy air of gloom, and the final one roared with burning anger.
"I am the blazing sun, destined to rise!"
"The time has come… To once again… start everything."
"And grant you a dawn where all stars burn to ash!"
The figures blurred in Michael's mind, but a subconscious thought told him what they represented.
A nameless hero bearing a grand ideal of deliverance, shouldering the world upon himself.
A nameless swordmaster drowned in the abyss of despair, endlessly repeating his mistakes in order to achieve a bright dawn.
A nameless flame, burning to keep the purpose of 33,550,336 cycles alive, flickering out against the will of an unstoppable god.
Michael did not know who these people were, but they didn't exist in his current world. They were people from beyond the stars and perhaps even the boundless void of the Dimensional Gap.
"What could have brought them to our world?" Michael contemplated, feeling unease creep into his mind. For God's System to notify him of these people, they had to be threats to the foundations of this world.
Beyond them, he could see a looming presence, a towering figure with golden blood.
Shaking his head, Michael quickly left the Seventh Heaven to commune with his fellow brothers and sisters. A meeting between the Seraphims would soon commence.
…
[Emotion Point from Archangel Michael: +999 EP (Shock!)]
What? I shocked the Archangel Michael? How is that even possible? I don't think I've even glimpsed him yet… Is this the doing of the Avatar System?
But what could it have done? I don't remember Michael having prophetic abilities, but maybe that doohickey in Heaven, made by God, has something to contribute to it. Anyways, thanks for the 999 EP then, Sir Michael.
I don't know what to do with it since it's only so much towards the requirement to unlock another Avatar, but with how strong Phainon is, I'm pretty sure I can do something outlandish to garner Emotion Points. Realistically, I just need a big crowd.
Speaking of Phainon!
To say that I was happy with my first Avatar would be an understatement.
I was fucking ecstatic!
Phainon, a character from Honkai Star Rail, was one of my favorite lore-wise. His suffering from 33,550,336 looped cycles of having to repeatedly kill his friends over and over again to stop the birth of Irontomb was heartbreaking.
Even in recent updates, Phainon didn't seem to get a good ending for what he had done for Amphoreus and the entire Star Rail universe.
But, moving past his lore, he was extremely strong. He had managed to scratch an Aeon, a god-like being thought to be only harmable by other Aeons.
Even if it was a minuscule scratch that Nanook healed up seconds later, it was still a grand feat in my opinion. The only problem was that the system didn't seem to give me Phainon at his fullest strength.
[Avatar: Phainon (First Cycle)]
[Emotion Points are needed to upgrade and unlock Flame Reaver Form (500,000,000 EP) and Khaslana Form (1,000,000,000)]
[Deployable Locations: Kuoh Town]
[Random Deployable Location is available for 1,000 EP]
[Specific Deployable Location is available for 10,000 EP]
Well, I still think that was fine. Phainon was still a Chyrsos Heir, a demigod with a titan-bestowed Coreflame, and a master swordsman. I don't know how he'll scale up to DxD powerhouses, but I should be relatively safe.
"Now, let's see how it feels to control an Avatar…" Standing in the endless space that contained the eldritch wheel, I summoned Phainon into the space before me.
Glimmering sparks of light converged, forming the outline of a blank human figure. In a matter of seconds, the figure composed of pure light began to mold itself into Phainon's image.
Phainon was a tall and well-built man with messy white hair and bright cyan eyes. He wore a brown leather choker, and a golden sun symbol was etched on the side of his neck. He was wearing his iconic white coat instead of the black robes of the Flame Reaver or the shirtlessness of Khaslana.
In an instant, my consciousness connected with Phainon, allowing me to see out of his eyes. In my mind, there were now two perspectives: the one coming out of my own body and my Avatar.
It was an odd feeling that I had to get used to.
I blinked, watching both bodies blink at the same time. I tried raising my arm, and both bodies complied. However, this time, I consciously tried to move only Phainon's body, and it worked.
My original body stood still as I began to do jumping jacks with Phainon's. Next, I tried to move both bodies simultaneously, performing different movements.
"Haargh!" Phainon quickly fell over and awkwardly hovered in the air while I sluggishly moved my original body. It was a complicated process, but I had never controlled two bodies at once before, so I believe it was understandable for me to fail.
I didn't know if time passed in this space, which I deemed simply as the Avatar Space, so I quickly exited. My perception was back at the bakery in the original spot where I stood before entering the Avatar Space.
I looked towards the clock on the wall and noticed that it hadn't moved an inch since I entered the Avatar Space, which meant that time truly didn't pass.
This gave me a lot of ideas for the future! My body couldn't train physically since it was my mind or soul entering the space, but I could still train the techniques gained from my Avatars.
Speaking of which, when I connected my consciousness with Phainon, I saw brief flashes of a wheat field and a certain pink-haired girl. It seemed like connecting with my Avatar once didn't fully provide me with their memories and such.
Thank God, because Phainon had 33,550,336 memories I didn't want. Look at how bitter the Flame Reaver and Khaslana are. Maybe that was why the system showed the prefix (First Cycle) next to the Avatar.
But did that mean I'll have to assimilate all of the cycles' worth of memories later? Well, that was a problem for future me!
Haha…
Fuck my life.