A Choice
(A/N: Info dump chapter... kinda)
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"What do you mean I'm willing?" Ray asked.
"Becoming a Goddess," Artoria replied.
Ray knew where this was going. He did not want Artoria to be the soulless entity that had just been in front of them.
But he did not have anything to say. Ray is not Artoria's couple nor her significant other. He is only Artoria's student, nothing more, nothing less.
With a sad face, Ray said, "Ok..."
There was a pang felt in Artoria's chest seeing Ray being so sad.
Artoria and Goddess Rhongomyniad's past discussion was about the safety of humanity. The latter thought that placing all humans inside a timeless space in which organisms can still live is the best option. The former thought otherwise.
Artoria convinced Goddess Rhongomyniad that although it is a viable option, it removes one of the wishes that humanity wants, freedom.
It took all of Artoria's knowledge to convince the Goddess that defeating the enemy through Ray is the best choice. Even if they decide to freeze all humanity inside a timeless space, this unknown enemy will eventually found the space and kill everything inside it.
Using Ray's power, they can prevent this from happening. Somehow Artoria felt that Ray has the potential, far more than what she has.
Artoria felt that she was only using Ray for his power. But she promised herself and Goddess Rhongomyniad that she will do everything in her power to help Ray.
There was a pause in their discussion before Goddess Rhongomyniad complied. But, in exchange for her power, Artoria will let the goddess occupy her body whenever Ray wanted to train.
Artoria thought that it was not a bad idea. That was why she was willing to ascent.
"Do not worry, Ray. Young Artoria will still be herself. But there is an agreement between them." God asked.
"Agreement?"
"Yes. She will occupy my body when we are training." Artoria answered.
Ray shuddered by the thought that he will be trained by the goddess.
Sure, he did like her, when she was still a 2D character. But seeing her in person was more nerve-wracking than he originally thought.
'The training will be much more hellish...' Ray thought as he sighed.
God then looked towards Artoria and said, "Are you sure? Forcefully ascent your soul is not a good thing to experience."
"Yes, I'm sure." Artoria then looked towards Ray and continued, "I will do anything to help my student."
Hearing her words, Ray was happy yet sad at the same time. 'It seems that she still looked at me as a student,' Ray thought.
God then got up from his seat and walked towards Artoria.
"Be ready" -God put his hand on Artoria's forehead- "young Artoria. This will hurt quite a bit."
Artoria breathes in, readying her mind to the pain that will happen.
God nodded and started His procedure.
It was like a scene of Avatar The Last Airbender where Aang locked Ozai's fire bending. But instead of blue and red lights, it was golden came out from both God and Artoria.
There was no voice of suffering come from Artoria's mouth. Ray thought that Artoria was fine. It was nothing but fine.
Artoria felt like many snakes were slithering inside her while eating her every organ.
A painful sensation came from every nook and cranny of her body.
"Fight the pain!" God transmitted his words to Artoria. But she did not listen.
1 minute after the start, she blacked out while still standing.
"Ray, go here and summon your Avalon!" God transmitted another of his words, but this time to Ray.
Ray immediately went towards them and summoned Avalon, making sure that the three of them were inside of the dome.
The calming effect of Avalon helped to ease Artoria's mind and also Ray's.
Because Avalon essentially changed their location to Heaven, God did not feel anything.
It took more than 10 minutes for the procedure to finally done.
If not for God, Ray will be stuck inside the dome of Avalon for eternity.
After he unsummoned his Avalon, he looked at the new Artoria.
Artoria's body had gone a significant change. She became taller, breast and butt more... bountiful.
Artoria opened her eyes, revealing a lime green eyes with a bright golden hue to the pupil dissimilar from Goddess Rhongomyniad. Artoria's golden hue eyes were dim compared to her Goddess version.
Although she did not have that much difference in her attire, she now wore a white cape that spans until just above her legs with a white fur on top.
(A/N: I can't describe armor. So please search "Goddess Rhongomyniad" on Google.)
She looked like the lancer version of her if anything. The only difference was her eyes having a golden hue to them
For Ray, she now had that divine air like when the first time he looked at God. But it was also different than God.
"So, how's the new look?" God asked.
"Pretty." Ray unconsciously replied. When his answer finally reached his head, Ray said, "Ah..."
He cannot believe himself just blurted out that word. Although she did look prettier than in the past, Ray did not mean to say it out loud.
"Hahaha! What a brave youngster." God said as he laughed.
Ray did not notice, but Artoria had a small blush on her face after he said that she was pretty.
"Okay. Now, I have a gift for Artoria's ascension. But before that, please take a seat." God asked.
All of them took a seat. Artoria now actively eating snacks.
"I need to explain something to you about this multiverse that both of you will eventually need to traverse," God said.
God then explained many important things.
There are many universes with each having their own 'cocoon' called universe shell. There is a guardian inside every universe shell.
This universe shell exists to both prevent and contain danger.
Crossing this universe shell is not an easy task. Sure, they can forcefully enter a universe using their own strength. Imagine a being that is capable of destroying a single universe with a single punch... and multiply it by 10 times. That is how much power one needed to have to forcefully enter.
But, when a person forced his/her way in, a guardian of that universe shell will intercept and kill them.
On a side note, a guardian has the power of destroying the insides of a universe. When a universe is destroyed, everything inside it will no longer exist including dimensions, space, and also time.
There is one way to safely enter a universe, which is to have a Greater Authority.
Authority is like a divinity but controls everything. A being that has an Authority rule over everything. There are 2 types of Authority, Lesser and Greater.
With Lesser, they can only control things that are on their home universe. Every guardian has this Lesser Authority.
Greater Authority, however, can essentially control everything even outside of their home universe.
If a being with Greater Authority commands a universe shell to break itself, then break itself it will.
The only being that has Greater Authority is God himself since he did not originally come from Earth's universe or any universe at all, but that is for another story.
God then made a system, separate from Hana, to maintain every universe shell.
But, since there are a lot of universes, more than 10000 of them, he created branches for the system to better maintain it.
The job of the central system, which is located in Heaven, is not to only maintain the system branches but also take over it if there is a problem which the system branch cannot solve.
The other perks of having a central system are when if God wanted to create a new universe, the central system can start creating the universe shell before implementing laws and create a system branch inside it.
The only task God needed to do after the universe has been formed is to create a new guardian.
This new guardian, and guardians created before it, is tasked to keep away people or beings inside it from having in contact with the system branch.
Because if a person comes in contact with the system branch, they can not only have strength similar to a guardian but also controlled everything. Even traversing through different timelines are easy as snapping a finger through the system branch.
The only exception is the Earth's universe. While there is a guardian, it lacks the system branch. A reason which can only be told at another time.
Becoming a God does not mean that he/she will have Greater Authority immediately since, in many worlds, there are Gods and Goddesses of their own.
So, in Nasuverse, God that is having a conversation with Ray and Artoria now can be considered as an Outer God because he originally came from outside.
Authority can only be given by God. So no matter how many times strong a being is, even if they have come in contact with one of the branch system or the central system itself, they will not have even the Lesser Authority.
But, Lesser Authority can be given by a being that has Greater Authority. While Greater Authority can only be obtained by being gifted by God.
(A/N: Don't make sense, TL;DR in Author's note.)
With the explanation being given by God, Ray more or less understood what he was trying to say.
Ray cannot venture through universes if he does not have this Greater Authority.
"I will give both of you Greater Authority in due time. Before we part ways, for now, let me give you one of my most precious treasures."
God then lifted his hand and a sudden light follows. Ray had to close his eyes. But Artoria did not.
The light did not seem to die down, so Ray opened his eyes bit by bit. When he eventually opened his eyes enough, there is a lance that he recognized.
A lance that Artoria used to kill her son/daughter, Mordred. A lance that, in Nasuverse lore, fastens the outer layer of the World (reality) with the Reverse Side of the World (illusion).
"This is the lance that all of you knew. This is not the actual Rhongomyniad from young Artoria's universe. Rather, it is created by me with the template of the original and also has the same function. For all of the universe shell to not break by hitting at each other, I created this lance so they stay in place." God explained.
Like a jet fighter plane, the lance went towards Artoria with its tip facing her. Then the lance stabbed Artoria through the chest. But instead of the tip of the lance appearing behind Artoria, it disappeared.
Artoria closed her eyes, little tears drop down her face.
Although she was happy that she finally got her whole arsenal back, except Caliburn, remembering that fateful day of wielding the lance to stab Mordred brings emotion Artoria thought to be none existent within her.
Ray looked to Artoria, feeling hurtful in his chest. He did not like seeing Artoria saddened.
Unconsciously, Ray hugged Artoria from behind.
A scene where a beautiful Goddess being hugged from her behind by a bishounen was a masterpiece every painter wanted to record on their canvas.
Ray wiped her tears from her closed eyes and said, "It's okay, Artoria. Everything is all in the past. If you want, we can go to your past and fix everything together."
Artoria shooked her head. It was a tempting offer, but she rejected it.
She wanted to let go of the past. Being with Ray, little by little releases her from past burdens.
Now that she wanted to help Ray, Artoria did not feel like she wanted to repair her past anymore.
"Haha okay. But we will go to your universe all the same. I always wanted to visit." Ray said.
Artoria chuckled and said, "I will accompany you."
"*ehem* You know that I'm still here, right?" God said.
Ray and Artoria looked at God. Awkwardly, Ray started to separate himself from Artoria.
Artoria was a little bit irked. She wanted to continue feeling his warmth but decided that it was not the time nor place.
Ray sat down and sipped the tea to calm himself.
'That was pretty daring of me.' Ray thought.
"Well, this is where we part ways for now. I hope you can increase your strength as fast as you can, Ray." God said as the scene started to slowly change.
"Don't worry, God. I will be ready." Ray said with determination.
"Hahaha, I look forward to that day," God said right before the scene finally changed to their room.
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TL;DR (Kinda)
For every universe, there exists a universe shell to prevent and contain dangers. These universes are maintained by a guardian and system branch, but mostly the system.
The guardians' job is to kill or defeat enemies from the outside while guarding the system branch so no one from their universe or people without Authority can come in contact with system branches.
On a side note, Hana is not part of the system. But only she can bypass it. So Ray still need to have Greater Authority.
If a system branch encountered an error and cannot resolve by itself, then the central branch, located in Heaven, will take over.
Authority has 2 types, Lesser and Greater. Every guardian has Lesser Authority.
Lesser Authority is needed to maintain and repair the system branch. Also, Lesser Authority can command everything inside their home universe.
Greater Authority is needed to traverse every universe shell without being the target of a guardian. I probably forgot putting this, but Greater Authority can control guardians, both central and system branch.
A person with Greater Authority can also control everything inside every universe shell. Yeah, pretty OP.
A Lesser Authority can be granted by a person that has a Greater Authority.
Greater Authority, however, can only be granted by its creator.
I think I cover a good portion of the info dump here.
Thanks for reading :D