This universe was young, but it was incredibly powerful, especially in areas where Aether had gathered heavily over the eons. The Centipede knew that even with the help of Minerva, it would not survive in that place, but at the edges… it could feast at the edge of this power.
Yet even at the edge, the resistance was so great that it nearly regretted its actions… nearly.
The truth was that after years of barely surviving on mortal creatures, the chance to finally feast on godlike beings was an opportunity like none other. Also, instincts from deep within his broken bloodline inheritance were screaming at him to grow stronger.
The end was coming.
The centipede alongside its powerful body that could crush worlds and its poisonous pincers that could erode anything it entered, also the centipede had total dominion over the wind.
It summoned multiple streams of wind to surround its body, and its size appeared to expand, its appearance taking the form of a yellow storm thousands of miles wide.
With this storm, the centipede could move at speeds that were beyond its already ridiculous pace.
This storm descended on the powers arrayed before it, and calamitous explosions rang out from inside. The centipede was not just a hunter, it was also a brutal fighter. Its millions of legs were like spears, and any god caught in his grasp would suffer the fate of being torn to pieces.
Its winds blew with such power it could erode a planet to dust in seconds, blinding, trapping, and burning through the essence of any gods that came near it, and its one-shot kill weapon was its two pincers that moved with deceptive speed and could corrupt the bodies and Divine Kingdom of the gods.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})Divine blood poured like water, and all sorts of powerful abilities were revealed as this area filled with dense Aether was more reactive to the manipulations of great power, transforming a move that should have the power of a bonfire to an erupting volcano.
The centipede alone was powerful, but his opponents were nothing to scoff at. He suffered heavy injuries in their hands when he was nearly at the edge of death, Minerva's eyes would flash and the injuries it sustained would be healed.
Its healing factor was great, but when it was battered by enough forces to crush a galaxy, it did not matter how much healing it could do when its body was being destroyed faster than it could heal, but it had a guardian goddess by its side.
Again and again, it was brought to the edge of death, its body was cut in half, its head crushed, its entire body burnt to ashes, shattered, frozen, poisoned until he was nothing but a stinking puddle… but Minerva who was invisible always healed him, and the trait that she valued triggered as he began to evolve after eating hundreds of Minor gods, a dozen Major gods and three High Gods.
A massive blast of wind that shattered multiple planets in the distance pushed back the attackers from around it as considerable changes began to happen inside the body of the beast.
The centipede roared, its voice so loud it could be heard all around the galaxy, carried by Aether till it touched the cells of every living being in the galaxy. Its body, which was previously the size of a Mountain Range, exploded in size until it could now be compared to a small moon, thousands of kilometers in length.
The might of its Aura multiplied a hundred times over and the wind it summoned was no longer yellow but red and was filled with the stench of death.
It surged forward and the battle for the galaxy resumed, becoming more heated as god after god fell, great monsters and terrible spirits fell to its endless hunger, and after four months of battle roving along the edges of the super galaxies, it evolved again.
This evolution was different and even Minerva was shocked by this change. The Centipede cried out in anguish and confusion as its body changed in ways that it could not fathom.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})Its coloration which was previously yellow and red transformed into golden, and its size increased dramatically once more, no longer the size of a small moon but now it was similar to a planet, ten thousand kilometers long.
There was now a human face on its head that resembled that of a sleeping boy. The energy emanating from its body was incredible, not similar to a god, demon, or monster, but something more glorious… an Empyrean.
The centipede now resembled a shining beacon, like the first light from daybreak.
Inside her heart, Minerva was shaken, 'What is your origin?'
In the depths of the sea of destruction, inside the Vault of Hekaton, the left hand of Boreas twitched.
The evolution had pushed Minerva away from the beast, but she returned and her demeanor was unflappable as usual; she knew that displaying any sort of weakness in front of this beast was a recipe for disaster.
She did not fear the beast, she could easily kill it a thousand times over, but the little centipede did not know that, and drunk on this spike in power, if it tries to attack her to reclaim a sort of dominance in their relationship, she would be unable to hold back and she would most likely slaughter it and play with the corpse.
Minerva admitted that with the current power of this beast, her present form would not be able to match it, and unlocking her hidden powers was a risk she could not bear taking, not when she did not know the status of the entire player in the game.
The transformation of this beast however led her to a simple conclusion—Rowan.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})Her partner was hiding the full scale of his activities inside the Nexus from her but she had detected the cries of an Empyrean when she came to investigate the location of the Nexus.
Minerva had rushed down to the Nexus when her Anima had been extinguished in such a complete manner that it had terrified her. She knew of nothing that should be able to erase her Anima so easily inside Trion, but perhaps if it was an Empyrean, then it was possible.
"Little Centipede, we should leave," Minerva called out to the beast, whose body was still shaking from its intense evolution.
"Not before I have a name." The voice of the centipede rang out in the stars.
Minerva's eyes shone brightly, "That is a pleasant idea, I have many powerful names that would fit your stature. I will call you…"
"No!" The Centipede roared, seemingly surprised by the intense dread it had felt inside his bloodline when Minerva wanted to name it, "There is something inside me that rejects the notion of being given a name, I would rather earn it."
Minerva's eyes went cold, "so you think you are beyond my right to give you a name?"
The centipede seemed complicated, but it nodded, "I would rather earn my name. You have given me such great gifts Mother, gifts that I will certainly repay with interest, but my name… is important."
Minerva suddenly grinned, "Then prove it. Survive my single attack and be free to find your name. Lose and become my slave forever."
The Centipede shivered, "Must it come to this Mother?"
"You leave me no choice, little centipede." Minerva lifted her left palm and a single strand of web shot out into a galaxy in the distance, as it traveled towards it, the thread began to expand, creating multiple threads until it was an entire web.
A web that covered an entire galaxy.
Minerva pulled and the galaxy went dark as she drained the entire power from it, leaving the galaxy nothing but a dried husk. In the palm of her hand, the thread returned and it now took the shape of a needle.
Minerva shivered and grabbed the needle and as soon as her hand came in contact with the needle, a transformation began that spread from her hands down to her body and when it was done the goddess Minerva was no more.
What stood there made the Centipede retreat in confusion and shock.
"You are no goddess Mother,"
The voice that replied the centipede seemed to emerge from the depths of evil and darkness, and its words corrupted reality making it bleed as madness followed warped everything that heard that foul sound.
"Survive one move, little centipede."
