The World's most Overpowered Side-Character

"Two years; you speak as though two years isn't a long time," Umbra narrowed his eyes at the emissary and she chuckled and leaned her head, taking his cheeks into her palms and kissing his upside-down forehead.

"Indeed, it is not, I have existed timelessly; the power which circulates within you is the same that which dwells within me, your soul is as old in essence as my existence, time is of no concern to beings like us, my King, it is a construct created by weak mortals who try to make use of their worthless existences by doing as much as they can while they still breathe air they do not deserve," Giza sighed with a helpless shrug.

"You will correct the Grand Collective and make it whole again, when you kill Sol Vestic and destroy the root of all life, then death and chaos will rule once more, and I... I will be the humble servant to your eternal throne."

"Sol," Lumi appeared at his side, startling everyone since she had never shown her face anywhere aside from inside of his collective. "Her expression was that of worry, and even Talia seemed to become troubled as the emissary stood at Sols's side staring at him.

"Is there something wrong?" He asked her with a raised brow, standing and straightening his torso. "Lumi?"

"Indeed," Lumi responded, much to his shock.

The humour on his face dried up and then all of a sudden, the sounds that they produced became muted and their images distorted making it impossible for the others to see or hear what they were saying.

Seeing the entity take this measure, Sol slowly glanced around at the others and then looked at her once more, seriously.

"Okay, tell me what's going on, or do you intend to keep me guessing?"

"Earlier today, a few hours ago, an entire civilization disappeared without a trace, the council usually takes no part in the matters of mortals and of the flesh but based on how this advanced culture disappeared, I was requested to warn you as the one who intends to deal with the problem."

"Umbra," Sol's eyes narrowed at her and she nodded, seeing the glow of his irises as his expression became dark and even more bothered. "Where is he?"

"Outside of your grasps," Lumi answered promptly. "He is currently in another collective several units away from here, even with your power it would take weeks to get there, and it was confirmed that he is also not alone,"

"He already has allies?" Sol asked expecting that aside from the darkness his enemy shrouded himself with, there wouldn't be anyone for a while, given his personality. "Who is it?" He queried curiously.

"We do not know who she is, but we know what she is, and we know where she comes from," Lumi narrowed her eyes and gave him a glance as he scoured his mind until he happened upon their conversation of a similar topic in the past.

"Another Darkness, like Her Below All," Sol mused but furrowed his brows when she shook her head and folded her arms.

"If that were all then any emissary of fate would have been enough to handle her immediately; no, this is not another entity like the one which you sealed using the power of The Beginning, carelessly approaching that thing is suicide, she is too strong, leagues above any emissary, myself included," Lumi stared at Sol and sighed when he reacted as she had expected; with his eyes wide and his mouth slowly parting in shock.

"She is a sole entity, lone darkness beyond anything we have ever encountered, she is the embodiment of pure hatred and absolute evil... Primordial Darkness, Blackest of Black, timeless and eternal; she is malice incarnate.

I do not understand why we were unable to sense her before."

"The same reason I can't sense Umbra's presence," Sol responded with a heavy breath, scratching his head.

"Darkness comes before light, in order for light to exist there first has to be darkness, she only showed herself because she wants to, just as Umbra could have existed forever without myself or Ikaris ever being the wiser, she is your natural enemy a predator for your kind; you should stay away at all costs unless you crave death, or decide to join the fight with your lives on the line," He sat again while she lowered the veil around them.

"What will you do... what should we do?" Lumi asked, sitting next to Sol on the handle of his seat. "This concerns us all beyond just the Grand Collective, Sol, it is a matter of every existence, every lifeform, every living being." She used his name informally for the first time.

"I'll deal with Umbra first and focus on that afterwards, as long as her goals align with his, then there will be a way to deal with it," He replied, taking a snack from alpha while everyone stared at them, unable to make sense of the last thing they said in exchange.

"I hope so," She nodded and then stood, leaving after glancing at Talia and smiling at the maid who held her. "I will take my leave, please call me if you manage to make a decision."

"Master-"

"Not now, Arla," Sol answered sharply, accepting a beverage from Alpha and leaning forward as he ignored everything else and allowed himself to sink and drown in a pool of thoughts, thinking of what the presence of what Umbra's new ally meant and how drastically her emergence had overshadowed everything and how dramatically the scales had shifted.

"Hey, you good?" Keele asked Dina when she noticed that the mage's hand was tightly balled into a fist and her body was slightly shuddering while she looked at Sol's back, the sentiment was accentuated when her breath hitched and Arla held on to her hand sporting a similar expression with the biggest difference being her tall ears shaking in agitation, it eventually drew the attention of Cecelia, as well as Keele who were paying heed to Ikaris's fight.

"It's..." Dina tried answering, but her lips began quivering again and she sucked in a breath and shook her head.

She looked at Sol's back as she felt his mana rampaging within him. "I have seen him worry, he has even admitted to things scaring him," She continued staring, but never before has it ever felt like this... whatever they were talking about has left a scar that he hasn't processed yet, that's what's fucking with me; he's terrified."

He was so deep in thought he hadn't even noticed the effect that he was having on those who were connected directly to himself; Arla, Dina, Ikaris and even Talia and Sara; the five of them experienced dread coming from Sol's person, his expression, his aura, his mana, his emotions, everything had settled into a deep fear of the unknown as he found misery in the idea that something out there existed that not even an entity like Lumi dared to challenge let alone stand up to; she treated the conversation like the Grand Collective's the best guarded secret and then sought his advice at the end of it.

***

"...Was it all just a bluff?" Nine wondered, staring at Ikaris's expression after she had stopped smiling and broken into a cold sweat, even without his arms the man had continued fighting with his all, but seeing her like this gave him hope; merely losing his arms weren't enough to break him, he had steeled in himself to fight until his last breath as she had requested upon realising that he was nowhere near strong enough to make good on his declaration and exterminate her, but now the man had been given an opportunity and he took it without a moment's hesitation.

Nine clutched the handle of his sword with his mouth and bent himself gathering the forces of LAW at the soles of his feet and using it to propel himself after his suit had been exhausted trying to heal his many wounds, he clenched down on the weapon and attempted to strike her down while she wasn't guarding herself, but upon his blade making contact with her skin, what was supposed to be a cut that sliced through her bounced off her torso when Ikaris blinked several times and then looked at the General next to her again.

"I have to stop now, something more important has presented itself," Ikaris held on to the blade and took it from him whilst her knee broke his ribcage, and her other hand smashed his nose in from a palm-strike to his face.

"General Nine," Ikaris held him suspended by his hair and stared him in his eyes while his face registered shock and horror.

"For destroying the lives and livelihood of my people, you are guilty; you are guilty of killing my brothers and sisters, of murder and torture, harvesting a species for personal gain and greed, you are guilty of many war crimes-the list is almost endless, the lies you and the Empire have fabricated will all be made public, all the atrocities and the real reason you have been hunting my kind down will be made public," She stared at him while her eyes returned to azure and the shade of her hair thickened and became pure black once more.

There was no more fanfare, there was no more hatred in her eyes; as though whatever she had just experienced had rewritten her entire personality, she grabbed him by his face and let out a huff of pure mana and then took another deep breath.

"Remind the devils why you arrived late, and who sent you."

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