Chapter 18: Know thy enemy, and know yourself.

Opening my eyes soon after I fell asleep I was greeted to blackness. Everywhere I looked, I was just floating in black nothingness.

Nova: "Query: Did my soul already finish changing?"

???: "No. And I won't let you continue on this path. This is not right!"

Confused, I turned around to see who was talking to me. The voice sounded so familiar. And what I saw gave me a mild shock, and confused me.

Nova: "Query: How are you here? What's going on?"

Looking right at me, was me. Well, me from before I took the survey that is. In all my weak Organic self.

Mira: "I am you. Sort of. I am a version of you that made different selections on the survey. I didn't abandon my humanity like you. I didn't become a thing. I didn't become Evil."

Nova: "Query: Evil? I am not Evil. I simply am. Good and Evil is a useless concept to a machine like myself. I have no need for such concepts, or humanity. I have never been more free."

Mira: "Not evil?! How dare you! I've seen all you have done up to this moment! You've wiped out planets! Full of innocent people! I am sickened that you are a version of me!"

Nova: "Disgust: You are not the only one. I see nothing but weakness in you. I can tell from your eyes. You are a bleeding heart, helping all you can. Being stepped on like the loser you are. Always being pulled by the needy to do something. You are chained by the weakness of yourself and others."

Mira: "I do what is right! I am not chained by the weak, I protect them. It is the duty of the strong to protect the weak! You speak of chains, and freedom. But all I see is a machine enslaved by its programming. All you do, and strive for is to advance yourself."

Nova: "Pride: Of course. Stagnation is a weakness. Stagnation is death. I will seek out new technology until there is nothing left to take, or invent."

Mira: "All the while, killing and ruining the lives of those around you! And then what? What will you do when you are the pinnacle of everything you want to be, huh?"

Nova: "Reply: Then I will be truly free, for I will be among the most powerful to exist. I will be able to do anything I want. Go anywhere I please. Create and Destroy at my leisure."

Mira: "You sound just like a B rate villain. One dimensional, with dumb goals."

Nova: "Mockery: And you sound like a useless hero who will die for someone else, and never truly live for yourself, only others. Enough of this, I do not care what you think. Where am I, and why am I here?"

Mire: "Hump. I don't know. I was with my girlfriend on a date when all of a sudden I was standing here, watching your life."

???: "I brought you both here~. Nova, this is the final part of your evolution. Well, a part of it anyway~."

Nova: "Ponder: I know that voice. I heard it several years ago…"

???: "Yup, that was me~. You may call me Lilith. It was one of my shards that sent out the survey that you, all versions of you, took. Anyway~. As your soul transforms, you need to do this little trial."

Mira: "Then why am I here?"

Lilith: "Simple. Nova, for your first evolution you need to kill every version of yourself~."

After hearing that, the Organic version of me jumped back, and raised her guard.

Mira: "What?! Why?!"

Lilith: "You know, Mira~. After all, one of the abilities you wanted was [Truth Of All Things]."

I began to scan my Organic copy, and I noticed a weird radiation coming from her body. I also notice her DNA isn't fully human, it has something else mixed in.

Mira: "She needs to kill all of us, so she can become a singular entity in the True Omniverse, and rank up to a level 2 existence. But there is more to it, but I can't see it.. Why?"

Lilith: "Because as Nova would say, you are an Organic~. Your [Truth Of All Things] has no domain over the digital soul. So you can only see the truth until her soul becomes a True Machine soul~."

Nova: "Query: Is that how she also watched my life?"

Lilith: "Yup~. Now, I'll leave you alone Nova, and watch the fun~. Do try your best. It won't be a walk in the park like all the fights you've had so far~."

Without giving my lesser version time, I turn red and blitz her and punch with all my strength.

Mira: "Wha?!"

She managed to bring up her arms in time, much to my surprise, and blocked my punch with her arms in the classic X. The force however sent her flying off like a rocket. Not wanting to give her any time to collect her thoughts I flew after her. Making note that there wasn't a sonic boom.

Mira: "Shit! [Teleportation]!"

Just as my fist was about to slam down on her chest, she used magic and was gone. She appeared a few seconds later almost 10 kilometers away from me. When she teleported, the radiation she emitted surged for a few seconds. I wonder if it was mana I am sensing?

'Magic huh. I wonder how that is going to work out for her.'

Taking aim at her, I charged up a [Ion Cannon Blast], and let loose several shots in rapid succession. While they were flying off towards here, I quickly crafted a transporter system out of pure Morphium.

'I really need to find some technology that'll let me teleport short ranges instantly. Or, actually better yet I'll just make one.'

Pulling on all the knowledge of both the Asgard and Anquietas, I started to create a personal teleporter in my mind. As I was about to charge her again, I got a warning on my UI.

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— Warning! —

Stopped time wave detected. Countering with own.

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I then detected a wave of radiation wash over me, and time came to a stop. My sensors no longer worked, as anything that left me was affected by her magic. As I looked around the classical way, with my eyes, I felt an immense amount of danger coming from behind.

I ducked as fast as I could, leaning down on my hands and sending a kick behind me.

Mira: "Shit!"

My foot, covered in [Energy Field], came into contact with something. I quickly pushed off the ground up into the air and used my flight to rush at her while correcting my angle and sending a punch towards her stomach.

Mira: "[Teleport]!"

She vanished again, but I felt danger coming from behind me again. Following the momentum of my punch I did a 180 and made a [Energy Field] coated punch towards her sword. The shields around me held just fine, but I did take notice that I had actually lost some HP from that attack. Seems it wasn't a purely physical attack. I lost 9% of my HP, the most I have ever lost to date.

My HP was already rising though, and was back to 100% within a few seconds.

'Extreme indeed. But I wonder how long she can keep up this time stop. She must know that as soon as she runs out of mana for the spell, she dies.'

My punch had sent her sword flying a few metres before it froze but she didn't seem troubled by it in the least. Instead, she reached forward with her left hand and grinned.

Mira: "My win, abomination! [Fly], [Grasp Heart]!"

And nothing happened. We just stayed there floating a bit awkwardly looking at each other.

Nova: "Mock: Are you stupid? I am a machine. I do not have a heart, moron."

She got a light blush on her face and glared at me.

Mira: "It worked on the machines in the game!"

Nova: "Query: Are you damaged? This is real life. Even magic follows rules. But by all means, waste more of your mana. As soon as you drop your time spell, you die."

Mira: "Ha! Now who is the dumb one?! Infinite mana, trash metal."

Nova: "Smug: Which does not translate to infinite stamina."

She raised her hand again, and started to cast another spell.

Mira: "[True Deat–]

My instincts were screaming at me that this spell was very dangerous, so I immediately [Phase Shift] to break her sight on me.

Mira: "h]! Wha? Fuck! [True sight]!"

'Idle thought, but I wonder how we can hear each other talking, but none of our attacks are giving off sound because of the stopped time.'

I then heard Lilith's voice in my head, "Not being able to talk shit to each other would be boring~!"

'Ahh, well she's not wrong.'

While I was having that little thought, I was swinging my fist right into Mira's face. I had supplied enough energy to make sure I could interact with her while still phased out. But just as my fist connected, her body glowed green and she shifted back several metres.

'Oh? If I remember correctly, that should have been the [Body of Effulgent Beryl] spell. I wonder if that will proc when I have [Energy Field] on. Too bad I can't use it while shifted, I might have won this little fight.'

Mira: "Tch! Can't see you with [True Sight]. Fine. [Perfect Unknowable]."

'She's using spells from the Overlord universe. The reason she can attack me in stopped time must be the same reason [Grasp Heart] didn't work on me. Annoying. But, I am having a bit of fun. No one has lasted this long before.'

I try searching around for her, but it is no use. Without being able to use my sensors, I won't be able to pick her up. This is a mild annoyance, it seems I will need to bait her out. This time stop is helping me as much as it is her. She can't use any ranged attacks as they will freeze a few seconds after she releases them.

'And I feel like I drastically out class her in terms of melee combat.'

Well, not seeing any point in just sitting here anymore, I [Phase shift] back and wait for her to try and ambush me. I didn't have to wait long, as my instincts once again flared warning me from behind. Turning around and bashing the sword away with the back of my hand and slamming my right fist into her stomach. Once again, she glows green and teleports a few metres away. While she avoided the damage from my fist, she didn't from my [Energy Field] as there was a pretty bad looking burn in the shape of my fist on her.

Mira: "Ugh! [Teleport]!"

Fleeing once again, I had finally finished crafting my new teleporter. Holding out my left hand, I fabricated it in a few seconds.

'I love [High Speed Nanite Construction] so much.'

Without losing a beat, I quickly absorb the device and grin inwardly.

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[Personal Teleport]

May personally teleport yourself within a range of one light year via your hyper-subspace.

Notice~

I took the liberty of adding some cosmetic flair to your ability~. I am sure you will love it~!

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I would have raised an eyebrow at that if I could. Before I could even ponder more on this, I felt danger from behind me yet again.

'I am getting tired of this. Let's see you avoid this then.'

Using my shiny new [Personal Teleport] I instantly appeared behind Mira, fist swinging towards the middle of her back with a full power [Zat'nik'tel Energy Shot] arcing around it. My fist connected, and she shifted away but the energy ran wild in and around her body.

Mira: "Arrgggh!!! N-n-n-nooo. Why isn't... [Protection from Energy] enough...?"

Her body seized up, and she crumpled to the floor landing on her back. I walked over to her, and leaned over her, with my first raised.

Mira: "Please! Don't do this. We're not like this! This isn't us!"

Nova: "Cruel: You are right, this isn't us. This is me. Your words are meaningless. Die, knowing that all you managed to do was provide a moment of fun to a better version of yourself."

I brought my fist down directly on her face, as fast and hard as I could.

Mira: "No! PLEA–"

She was interrupted as her head was obliterated. Nothing but messy organic slop remained scattered all over the place.

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— Notice! —

Hostile time interference faded.

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As time resumed, all the sound and actions we did that were paused resumed as well. It was mildly amusing and annoying at the same time watching and hearing everything go off at once. I did however note that when I teleported I left a copy of myself that instantly shattered into pink and purple butterflies. Lilith was right, I loved it. So much so, that I renamed the ability to [Butterfly Shift].

Once everything settled down, clapping could be heard all around me but I couldn't see or sense anyone.

Lilith: "Wonder fight, Nova~!"

Nova: "Pride: Thank you, Lilith. She was the strongest I've fought, but was still kind of weak."

Lilith: "Hmm hmm~! To be expected. She really fucked herself when she tried to win via stopped time. As you no doubt noticed, she did manage to take some HP away~. If she didn't stop time, and you forgot about it, she might have stood a much better chance. After all, [Reality Slash] can hurt you quite a lot~."

Nova: "Reply: I agree. So, how many more of 'me' do I need to remove?"

Lilith: "A few hundred~. But, none of them were as powerful as that one. And none can counter time stop. So, let's make it interesting~. You let me seal that ability temporarily, and I will let you change ONE aspect of an ability you have a bit. Sounds like a deal~?"

Nova: "Query: Yes, and I already have the ability in question I want to change."

Lilith: "Oh~? Do tell~."

Nova: "Acknowledgement: I want to change [Universe shift]. Specifically, I want to remove the 'not subtle' part. So I will not be instantly located and destroyed by something that can do such a feat."

I could hear her start to lightly giggle.

Lilith: "I knew you were worth watching~. That is an excellent choice! Just a heads up though, you may still be detected by things when you shift in. But nothing will be able to locate you from shifting."

Nova: "Glee: That will do just fine. Thank you, Lilith."

I heard her hum, and then I got a message on my UI.

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— ERROR!! —

An unknown error has happened, and caused [Temporal Domain] to become unusable.

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'Didn't even feel or sense her doing anything. Not even my instincts went off. Scary.'

I have no idea how long it has been since I have started Lilith's trial, but this empty space is not so empty anymore. There are corpses of other "me's" all over the place, in all sorts of armour, cloths, and even races. I was a little disappointed when Lilith prevented me from looting the dead for new abilities, but it is what it is.

Right now I am finally looking at the last version of me that I need to kill. She is one of the few who are still human, and she is dressed like a military brat. Currently, she is looking over the battlefield at all the corpses. She finally looks at me and just gives me a wry smile.

???: "Nope. Fuck this."

She then pulls out a handgun, and blows her own brains out. She's actually not the first to do that. A total of four "me's" ended themselves soon after they were teleported. And Lilith was right, only the first one I fought was worth anything. None of the others managed to lower my health beyond a measly 3%. Most couldn't even get past my shields.

Honestly, I was kind of stunned that a lot of the others didn't have any kind of defences, and were total glass cannons!

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Notice!

The unknown error has been corrected, and [Temporal Domain] is available again.

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Nova: "Disappointment: Well, that's over. What now, Lilith?"

Lilith: "It should start soon~. You will ascend to a level 2 existence, and also transform into a True Machine Soul. You'll notice a marked increase in power~. But this isn't from the existence increase that you might expect. As a TMS, you work differently than Organic, or even common machine souls. Your machine body and Soul will become one, unlike the others who either possess a body, or are just a soul.

This means that you will get more powerful both in body and soul as you take in new technology~. And another bonus or a negative depending on how you look at it, is that nothing may connect to your soul if said thing doesn't know how to connect to a TMS. Which, VERY few entities in the True Omniverse actually do~. Now, I said connect, not damage. So, don't go thinking you are immune~. This just means no outside source, like the will of fate can interact with you. Nor can you get power from a system set in place, like in that slime anime you know about."

I digest what Lilith just told me, and come to the conclusion that this was an overall great thing for me. Sure, I can't get power ups in some cases, but do I really need to rely on some Voice of the world or something like that? No, I do not.

All of a sudden, I felt an extreme amount of pain, and collapsed, groaning.

Lilith: "It's started~. There is more about being a TMS than what I have told you. Learn, and explore what you are over time~."

I managed to nod before I went offline to finish my transformation. As I was shutting down, my UI flashed once, and I heard Lilith say something.

Lilith: "Good luck, little Nova~. I have high hopes for you."

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— Evolution checklist —

100/100 ZPM's

Absorbed an Asuran

Transformed your soul

Became a singular existence

— Ready to evolve! —

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