Sylvester felt his body twisting and straining through what seemed like space magic for an unknown amount of time. In his heart, he had accepted there was nothing he could do but let the natural force take him. In his mind, he could only pray that his worst imagination wouldn't become a reality.
"Meow!" Miraj made some noise as well, feeling the same things as Sylvester but even more confused.
However, there was no noise from behind; Saint Scepter was as calm as ever and moving not far from Sylvester. Sylvester realized there was a possibility that this wasn't the first time Saint Scepter was experiencing it.
After an unknown stretch of time, he finally began to feel the suction force decreasing, and his body slowly came towards a halt. The view before his eyes began to change as well, showing him the emptiness of space, full of stars and various colorful celestial clouds.
Yet, there was another thing that caught him off guard and terrified him in an instant. There, floating in space, was a massive object, larger than a planet. However, it wasn't a planet… it was…
"What is this?!"
Zap!
Just as the sight of the massive object appeared, the suction force vanished, and Sylvester found himself floating in the middle of space. He just stared at the thing, the creature, larger than many planets combined—Its form shrouded in mystery. Its strange, massive, long limbs spread around like tentacles, its upper body resembling a humanoid, but the head seemed like a deformed skull with a huge tongue—However, on its head, there was a bright, planet-sized blob glowing with purple light.
Right then, Saint Scepter also arrived and halted beside Sylvester. They were both so tiny before the gigantic creature that calling themselves an ant before an elephant wasn't enough. They were a speck of invisible particles before it.
"This is… Nehilius." Saint Scepter revealed.
As if the creature recognized its name, the huge planet-sized purple blob on its head flickered with additional light.
"What is this thing?" Sylvester questioned, trying to control his dread. "A Demon?"
Saint Scepter shook his head and sternly replied to Sylvester, "This is the carcass of an Elder God. The name is Nehilius—This entire realm was once his domain, but what brought his demise, I do not know."
Sylvester looked all around at the endless universe. He was filled with questions. "This entire space is his realm? Are there more of such creatures? How strong was he? If he's dead, why is he responsive?"
Saint Scepter looked like he wasn't sure himself when it came to the creature. "I don't know what this creature truly was or if there are others. His strength, you must have felt by now—It's enough that even after death, his immortal body remains a source of nigh infinite magic."
Silently glaring at the humongous creature, Sylvester had no clue what he was supposed to do. In a way, he felt arriving at Earth would have made more sense than this. "Are the 'they' you mentioned before similar to this being?"
"I don't know, Sylvester Maximilian—"
At that moment, Sylvester interrupted him, looking at him suspiciously, "I have the key. Before me, the Shadow Knight had it. Then how did you enter this realm before?"
"Across my life, I've seen things and ventured into great dangers. Where you faltered, I did not, and discovered this." Saint Scepter replied, implying that Sylvester indirectly knew the entrance. "Under the Wild Forge, the ruins lead to a natural entrance into this realm. I was young and almost died—but what didn't kill me also made me stronger… into what I am now."
Sylvester recalled the place he had visited while returning from the Sorrow Kingdom. He wanted to explore the Wild Forge, but the scent of absolute death deterred him greatly, to the point he believed that even a Supreme Wizard wouldn't be able to survive inside.
Feeling alarmed, Sylvester tried to maintain his senses, "Then why did you bring me here if you had a way in already? What do you want?"
Saint Scepter flew closer to the massive creature and looked back, "This creature shall be your stepping stone. For the next few years, you're to eat this Elder God, physically and magically, to grow stronger beyond your imagination—that's the only way you can fight 'them.'"
Sylvester stared at the creature and wondered how he could even eat the giant thing. But at the same time, he could understand how it would help him, as just by being in the creature's presence, he felt such a massive surge of solarium that training there would benefit him on a scale nothing else could.
But at the same time, that brought up a very important question. "If opposing 'them' was your target from the beginning, then why didn't you devour this thing and become strong? Why place the burden on me?"
"Because the thread of my life rests in 'their' hands. I can become an Elder God by consuming this, but the thread will still remain in 'their' hands. I came to this world, pulled from another, to be their servant. If I do it—I'd only become their strongest weapon to conquer other worlds." Saint Scepter explained with great pain in his voice.
Sylvester tried his best to understand whether Saint Scepter was telling him the truth. But he knew better than to always rely on his nose. "You seem to know a lot about 'them'."
Coming back closer to Sylvester, Saint Scepter looked around himself before speaking, "Within this realm, they cannot peek—One of the many reasons why I brought you here is to speak. You are the anomaly, Sylvester Maximilian. You are free from their control; hence, the only one who I can trust with this inheritance of unimaginable power."
"What makes you think that?" Sylvester asked back.
Saint Scepter raised his palm and used his strange ability to show realistic magical projections. The scenes immediately refreshed Sylvester's memory as they depicted him, but from the days when he was merely crawling. "I had my doubts since the day I saw you on Axel's lap in the Holy Court. Your eyes had a different light; they seemed too bright. Nothing like a newborn child; there was an intention behind your every smile. I saw you commit feats considered impossible, your rise becoming unstoppable. Your revolutionizing creations, and you toppling down nations."
Sylvester wasn't shocked by his words at all. It had become evident that Saint Scepter knew he was also a reincarnator. "If that was your plan, then why did you allow all the devastation to happen? Why did you let Pope Axel attack Miraj City? Sir Dolorem now rests as ashes—A loss that could have been avoided."
"Not everything is under our control, Sylvester Maximilian. In our limited abilities, I tried to act against 'them,' but I had to be careful, for even the slightest mistake could have brought doom to all. Deaths had to happen for me and Axel's actions to appear true." Saint Scepter said, trying to reason with Sylvester. "I placed my focus on ensuring 'they' do not notice your existence, shrouded you so you can grow. While ensuring you were always pushed to the path of power—So now is not the time to cower."
The argument was hard to buy. Sylvester didn't want to believe that Saint Scepter's motives were solely so he could someday grow and fight against 'them,' "Then why did you wait for so long?"
"Because I know the history." Saint Scepter immediately replied. "It is not a mystery, Sylvester Maximilian. There have been Popes and Saint Scepters in the past, drunk on power, who thought this door led back to their world. While some rejected it, for they were more learned. I couldn't risk creating a monster that would lead to the ruin of this realm."
Despite his reluctance to believe in anything the Saint Scepter said, Sylvester couldn't refute the words. If he was in the man's position, he would have also taken time to verify everything before making a decision. "What's in this for you? Why are you doing this?"
"The same reason as you—peace," Saint Scepter responded. "I've lived my life as a slave to a higher authority. Enough, I cannot lower any further my morality."
'Morality?' Sylvester caught on to that word and felt curious about him. As far as he knew, all the reincarnators had been great inventors or conquerors who were quite ruthless in their lifetime.
"What's your real name?" He finally questioned.
Saint Scepter intently looked at Sylvester as if contemplating telling him. "Once upon a time, I was an—"
"Stop!" Sylvester interrupted him with a shout. "Did you hear that?"
All three of them silently looked around. There was nothing of interest besides the huge carcass of the Elder God. There was no sound or any change in the solarium either.
"I hear nothing." Saint Scepter said.
But Sylvester's brows remained furrowed as he stayed alert and looked around himself. "I can hear it… It's an echoing, hoarse, and heavy voice—But I can't understand what it's saying."
Saint Scepter immediately glanced at the Elder God's body. "We're the only ones in this realm. The Elder God is dead."
But Sylvester kept hearing the voice and eventually felt it was getting clearer. "It's changing… adapting to our language… It's saying… My body is dead, but my m-mind remains—ever so fading in billions of years, I am your boon or your deepest fears."
"We have to go!" Sylvester was on high alert and stared at the enormous dead body. "Elder Gods are never kind… No!… It's speaking again! 'For what is mine you deeply yearn? Then you, yourself, will have to earn.' We need to get out, Saint Scepter!"
Saint Scepter looked as confused and alarmed as Sylvester. He started creating rune schemes from fire magic in the air. It was too complex and nothing Sylvester had seen before.
Woosh!
"The suction force!" Sylvester exclaimed the moment he sensed the change. "It's pulling us towards its head!"
Saint Scepter tried to finish the rune as fast as he could. "This rune is the only key to escape—I can't make it with nature going against us!"
The Elder God was the realm's overlord, so there was no way to fight against him in his own home. Saint Scepter tried his best, but the fire runes were destroyed by the suction force, time and time again.
The pull only kept increasing until they felt their bodies swaying and getting sucked towards the colossal creature. The direction of the attraction made it clear that they were being pulled into the skull.
"Maxy! What do we do?!" Miraj finally spoke since he tried to be a good little silent cat until then. "Should I eat this big thing? I can try!"
Sylvester didn't want to know if Miraj could. It was too much of a risk he wasn't willing to take. No matter how overpowered Miraj's belly was, he could not imagine it was enough to defeat an Elder God.
"What is this? How do we get away from this, Saint Scepter?" Sylvester shouted, questioning the man as he kept looking around for something, anything.
However, Saint Scepter's floating body was only silent for a long time.
"Say something! You brought me in here! What is going on?!" Sylvester furiously questioned. "How do we get out?"
"I've been here, but never in this state. If such is the case, let this be decided by fate."
"..."
Sylvester felt speechless. "Don't—Don't talk of fate in front of me… This is madness!"
And just like that, darkness and silence enveloped them. Swallowed into the gaping eye socket of the colossal creature, the solarium was so intense that their bodies refused to move in the floating dark space.
"Trial by will—begins!"
Sylvester and Saint Scepter both reacted to the voice this time. Confusion was apparent in their eyes, tinged with a hint of panic.
[A/N: See Nehilius.]
[A/N: Sorry, very late today. My niece was born, so I was at the hospital.]
