War Worlds I

[Richter's POV]

I proposed to fly away; as far as my senses could take me without losing the essence of Grayfia, Layla and the girls that were being emitted from their universe. But when I was about to fly away, that woman flickered with a spatial wave in front of me, stopping me.

I frowned and released a fog of gold from my mouth, I don't like my path is stopped.

She noticed my sudden hostility and folded her arms in a way that was not vulnerable, but also not hostile towards me. She didn't address me as if I was a higher being, she addressed me as an equal.

"I don't want to fight, just... why?" She asked me, swaying her silver hair aside and catching my attention.

"Why what?"

"Why would you help a devil like me?" She stated words that I don't understand, what does being a devil have to do with anything?

"... because you're beautiful and you have silver hair," I said dismissively, ready to fly by but once again she got in my path.

"W-Wait, that doesn't make sense. Moreover... I'm married".

"Why are you still blocking my way?" It is her who is not making any sense now, why are you looking at me as if outraged? I'm not chasing after you or anything.

"I have waited for a thousand years... prepared to spend a few million in this desolate world... seeing no one, that was not the problem, it is just... my daughter, I thought wouldn't see her again".

"If you're in such a hurry, then go and see her" I deadpanned and she seemed to be quite irritated at the way I was speaking to her, for one she glared at me for a few seconds without saying anything, irradiating some of her darkness aurae without directly locking it up on me.

"..."

After a brief stare lock, she flew back to where her entourage was and pushed them all inside the crack before giving me one last look and going inside.

I flew away for a few more minutes; leaving them to their own designs and not expecting to encounter her again. My speed was perhaps thrice the speed of light, I could feel worlds everywhere within the Z-AXIS, but none of them was the one I was looking for.

'How is it possible that I can't feel Helius getting any closer while flying this fast?'

I reached the dead limit. Any further and I'd lose my connection with Grayfia; I can't even tell the difference between left and right, up and down. There is just a dead void struggling to corrupt my gold, unable to do so in the end, but still endlessly trying.

I don't know how much farther I must go to reach Helius, even warping through doesn't seem like it is going to make much difference. Despite my humongous size, I felt like a small fish in the middle of the greatest ocean. Instead of risking it, I turned around... if I'm going to make that long journey back... then I'll do it with my mates and without looking back again.

...

Returning through the path I came roughly half an hour had gone by. I noticed the woman from before. Although we were separated for several hundreds of thousands of miles, she still noticed me; there she was again, in front of the portal.

She warped through space and arrived right in front of me, blocking my path again.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"Richter..."

"What are you still doing here, Jie Yuan?" I asked her offhandedly, wasn't she supposed to be looking for her daughter?

"I wanted to see you... everything has changed. From the moment I was thrown out... we weren't outside for a thousand years, we were outside for millions of years. Nothing is the same, there aren't even gods as strong as me remaining and the universe has gone so weak that it can't even take my existence"

Her gaze contained a wisp of concern and desolation... like a woman whose home had been plundered and destroyed.

"And what are you going to do now? what about your daughter?"

"I can't find my daughter... my husband is dead and a gigantic catastrophe assailed my world, killing most gods... frankly speaking, Richter... I don't know what to do. I can't even remain in that world for long without it crumbling".

If that universe can't take her existence, then it must be really fragile... although Grayfia's world is weaker compared to hers, it is not so fragile as to not be able to handle an existence like Jie Yuan. Mostly thanks to Ophis and Great Red.

"Your people?"

"They're causing a massacre in there, slaughtering and slaving the demigods left and right... I can't blame them; we were thrown out for so long that some of them went mad and even devoured each other. For harbouring evil hatred against the Primal Chaos, I can't blame them".

"I see, then that's pitiful... but I have to go back" I expressed the desire to leave, as pitiful as her story was, it was not my concern... we are from a completely different universe, multiverse in my case... this is the first time I have been outside of Helius.

"Wait, wouldn't you want to stay for a while?" She asked me as if hoping I'd accept.

Can I understand her circumstances? somehow... if everything she says is true, then... in that world, there is no one like her... not much different from me in Grayfia's world except that in there at least Ophis and Great Red can still somehow keep up. There is Grayfia too and my girls are getting stronger. Even if it is not my home, I also don't feel it is foreign to me thanks to them.

But in her case, I guess she no longer feels her home as 'hospitable'.

"In your world? no... the axis of time works differently here compared to every world. A second here could mean several hundred years depending on the world... I can't waste time, Jie Yuan".

"..."

She released a sigh in front of me, looking at me with hope still. Woman, don't look at me like that while swaying your silver hair.

"I see, then I hope we can meet again, Richter... thanks for everything. Words can't describe how much gratitude I have for this favour you have done for me... as the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor, I thank you"

She actually bowed down even if mildly, a proud deity like her.

I nodded and escorted her back to the portal that I created, intending to close it on my own. If I didn't do it, it would never close and it would be dangerous for her universe to have a gate open like this.

She entered it and turned towards me, from the other side I saw what resembled a white world with floating rocks.

"This is what we call the God Realm of Absolute Beginning... the most primaeval spot of my universe. You should feel its godly aura even now".

"I do... however, you're right... this world is crumbling with your mere presence".

I stuck my claw inside it and the moment it entered her world, countless spatial cracks began to form, astonishing her... that's because I'm not suppressing any of my power unlike Grayfia's world".

The moment I began suppressing it, the cracks all disappeared in an instant.

"You have such immense control over your powers... even me a Devil Emperor can't compress my power to that extent, how old are you, Richter? you must be as old as this universe itself" Jie Yuan inquired, releasing a slightly unexpected smirk. She was still inside the portal and I was outside. We were having an interdimensional conversation.

"I'm a hundred thousand years old," I said nonchalantly,y expecting her to be way older than me. Why? geniuses like me are the exception, not the rule. For someone as powerful as her to be in Helius, that person should have been as old as Ether.

!!!!

It was as I expected, she wasn't believing what I just said.

"W-What...?"

I released a slight sigh and entered her world, closing the portal behind me... perhaps I could hang out with her for a day.