Chapter 153: Time Dilation.
"What indeed," Sol scratched the back of his head and walked over to the three of them, resting his hands on Dina and Arla's heads and staring down at Ikaris. "There's no going back from what you've done, you realise this, right?" He asked, and Ikaris smiled and nodded at him as she too now in his presence started feeling a certain reservation to surrender herself as the other two had boldly done.
"Ma-" She started, but Sol silenced her, reaching down and kissing her on the lips softly, slowly, and then standing straight again and sighing.
"Ikaris, Arla, Dina." He looked down at the three of them, and then looked behind at their observers. "Let's return to Arkadia."
"Return?" System appeared and looked up at him. "You can return before [path] is ready?" She asked shocked, and Sol grinned at her.
"Of course he can, he is the Godslayer, traversing the infinite domensions is as easy as walking from one room to another for him." Ikaris cleared her throat when their hug unravelled.
"You would be considered foreign gods, but most of you do not have the power to manage your lost homes, some of you have no home at all to return to, would you be okay with staying in the Arkadian universe as well?" He looked at everyone else, and after a bit of murmurs between them the gods they all agreed, some of them taking it a step further by blowing at the waist, while others Like Gabriell and Gadriel went on their knees in reverence.
"Good, allow me to make good on my final promise then, and we will leave afterwards." Sol walked out of arms range of everyone, staring up at the cosmos before him and spreading his hands as the crest on his chest, and in his eyes reappeared while his hair began glowing gold along with his body.
"What was once Origin is no more, and what remains of the demons has been reduced to just Sitri who will remain her in perpetual and increasing torture for the rest of eternity." Sol exerted himself with a look of focus as the stars began disappearing rapidly one after the other taking every planet and asteroid every object that had any perception of mass or light, matter itself was erased.
*Sometime Later*
"I kept my promise, Jun, Griffon, may your souls find comfort after all this time." Sol sucked in a hitched breath and then the last of the stars disappeared, leaving him, Ikaris, and several of the other gods as the only remaining sources of light in an endless emptiness.
It became so lonely there that they began physically hearing the new singularity.
"That reminds me, what happened to that demon girl... Sri?" Ikaris looked at Arla, and the Elf lowered her gaze sadly.
"She died..."
"She remained true to her nature as a demon to the end." Sol added as he approached.
"When Saleos descended, she attempted to kill Arla to gain his favour and possibly extend her life, I can't say I don't understand, it is survival, but after my warning Arla had remained alert, so she killed her first." He looked at Arla, now easily able to feel the waves of sadness coming from her heart, and his expression softened.
"I am sorry I ever doubted you, Master." She lowered her head, but once again Sol gave her a headpat and then pulled her into an individual hug, consoling her grief. "I will be more obedient henceforth." She slightly wept.
"Don't worry, what I value the most isn't obedience, it's genuinity, and the willingness to follow your heart." Sol smiled up at her and the others who watched. "Everyone, gather closer to me." He ordered, and upon doing so, Ikaris tackled him and Arla in another hug, while Dina approached from the side and pinched his shirt shily.
"Ah!" The system vanished, appearing within his soul as she had done before in fear of being left behind.
"Goodness!" Ikaris winced when Sol's powers flared and encompassed the entirety of the drifting moon they were on.
The nameless Moon shook and trembled under his influence, and then a moment later as though nothing had been there in the first place the celestial object vanished.
The next time it appeared it did so in a vastly different universe, vibrant, lively, and most importantly it was full of gods, and across their line of sight stretched from one end to the other a massive tear of shattered stars and rifts of all kinds caught their attention, and in that rift they all felt Ikaris's residual power earning her stares of disbelief.
"Who dares to-"
Dr'ul appeared first, with her flaming sword at the ready, but halted when she saw Sol basically aflame with an unreadable divinity about him, with Ikaris in his arms and Dina as well as Arla at his sides, and a multitude of divine beings behind them staring up at her.
"You... returned?" Dr'ul descended like a comet while the other gods of Arkadia started emerging.
[The system has detected another Omni consciousness inside of the Unknown Male God.]
A gold window appeared before Dr'ul, after she landed and practically ran toward them, shrinking and taking a deep breath before grabbing Ikaris's hands and smiling brightly. "You are alive!" She grinned, but as Sol's glow subsided she looked over Ikaris's head at him and retreated several steps.
"Sol Vestic, I am humbled by your presence." Dr'ul took a knee, and along with her, Renia also appeared at her side, and then the other five governing gods, paying their respects.
"How is this possible?"
"Godslayer." Ikaris answered briefly, stepping away from Sol and stretching her arms as she smiled at the cozy Arkadian cosmic mana flourishing around her. "Something feels different, how long has it been since we left?" She asked.
"Five years," Renia answered standing and staring at Dina and Arla who both had slightly glowing sigils as they stood at Sol's sides pressed against his side while his arms rested on their shoulders.
"Five years...?" Sol blinked several times. "Is it because I didn't use a portal?" He raised his hand and took a step forward resulting in everyone else arising. "Ah, we can talk about that later!" Sol snapped and slapped his fist in his palm, turning and gesturing to the hundred-plus freed gods they had taken with them.
"I kind of did it on a whim, but currently these gods have nowhere else to stay-"
"I will gladly accommodate them all!" Dr'ul volunteered with a raise of her hand. "I have a request in return and a question as well!" She held her hand even higher, causing Reina to scoff and shake her head with a helpless grin.
"Oh gods..." Arla chuckled while everyone else pressed their palms on their forehead.
"Dr'ul..."
"I want a fight before we leave this location, I am the goddess of war, I have been worried for the last five years that I would never see you again to ask, it has driven me crazy; the longest five years since I first opened my eyes, please fight me!" She huffed smoke through his nose. "I have been preparing every single day!"
"And your question?" Ikaris asked.
"Have your powers been fully realised, how strong are you now, do I stand a chance in hell at my best?"
"Hahaha-" Sol laughed out. "I forgot that she was this cute." He commented, causing a pout out of Ikaris as well as Dina while Arla pinched his hip, causing him to laugh out again.
"I mean it, she's like a kid when she talks about fighting," he shrugged, but then looked at her again shaking his head. "I'm sorry, but, I can't accept that fight just yet."
"Wh-"
"It hasn't been five years for us, your holiness," Dina continued where Sol left off, looking around and staring out into space. "We have only been gone for a little over a two weeks from our end... Everything that happened here," she lowered her head. "It basically happened yesterday."
"Oh..." Dr'ul calmed down, and the flames in her head slowly diminished.
"It is a serious case of time dilation, Origin is the largest and oldest universe in existence moving many times slower than the others are, being there we did not notice, but time was moving at a ridiculously slower pace, I never considered this between the chaos, but just imagine what a year or ten years there would have meant." Ikaris hummed.
"Then, let us return to D'ol first." Dr'ul raised her hands, and the moon which was now in her domain disappeared and reappeared in rotation around D'ol.
"Five years." Arla stared down at the moon bustling with people, and then at beyond it Arkadia which had already recovered from the fight against Sitri and the demon army. "Has anyone returned to Arkadia yet?"
"A spearman called Gordo Hurkson requested to return with his clansmen two years ago, aside from them, everyone else simply settled here on D'ol." Dr'ul floated off the surface and started flying downward while everyone had stopped upon a small moon appearing in the sky above them.
"Adonai, Renia, take care of our visitors, the heavens and our universe is going to be expanding again." Dr'ul looked at her brother while descending to D'ol with Sol and Ikaris accompanied by Arla and Dina. "... You two are able to traverse the cosmos freely now despite it being such a short period of time for you?" She asked.
"To some degree, their strength is in the infancy of extreme evolution, as is mine." Ikaris answered, and the goddess of war smiled at the absurdity of the idea of Ikaris getting any stronger than she already was.
Down on D'ol staring up at the sky from the balcony of a small palace, a certain woman wearing glasses stared as a familiar mana signature caught her attention from high above, cradling a small sleeping child in her grasp.
The winds rushed across her face, fanning the sleeves of her blouse and revealing a small crest in the shape of a stylish first-aid sign on her forearm, and that crest began resonating green mana.
"Dina... Ikaris?"
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