Chapter 508
In the middle of the battlefield, where only widening cracks in reality and fragments of mirror-glass slowly losing their shine remained, there was not a single trace of the Nothingness—as though it had never been there, as though the battle that had claimed eight lives before Lilith's eyes had been nothing more than a forgotten dream upon waking, as though all the rage, tears, and blood that had been spilled had never left a mark upon a reality already too exhausted to remember.
Seconds passed.
One, two, three—until finally, at the fiftieth second, from an emptiness invisible to the naked eye, from a place where the thinnest yet strongest invisible blanket enveloped fourteen existences at once, a sound emerged—not a whisper, not a murmur, but a sigh of relief that had been trapped for far too long at the bottom of lungs nearly deprived of air.
"Fuuuh..." Theo exhaled.
And within a heart still beating far too fast to be called calm, he muttered to himself, to everything he had done over the last fifty seconds that had felt like fifty centuries, to the insane decision he had nearly regretted when the Nothingness's Sa began consuming Lilith.
"I did it," he whispered inwardly.
The words felt foreign upon a tongue that had not moved.
They felt like a miracle he did not deserve, because he had never believed in miracles.
"I really managed to save them."
Fourteen bearers of Administrator Seeds.
Not one.
Not two.
Not three.
But fourteen.
Lilith HaRish'a, with her jet-black hair still wet with blood that no longer flowed.
Asherah, whose emerald-orange glow had dimmed like a sunset running out of light.
Mammon.
Ashmedai.
Baal-Zevul.
Chemosh.
Apollyon.
Rahab.
Apophis.
And within each of their consciousnesses, five souls that had never truly died—Bes, whose laughter could still be heard between heartbeats; Enlil, whose questions never ceased; Lamashtu, who still dreamed of flowers; Ahura Mazda, whose logic had shattered yet continued to turn; and Mictlantecuhtli, whose silence was the loudest silence that had ever existed.
Theo could not believe it.
His eyes—which had remained tightly shut while he focused all of his RWIA on wrapping fourteen existences at once amid the Nothingness's Sa that was tearing reality apart—slowly opened.
Before him, the invisible blanket he had created began peeling away like the skin of a snake that had gone too long without shedding, revealing what had remained hidden from the Nothingness's sight for fifty seconds, protected from the Sa that had nearly consumed Lilith, saved from a death that should have been unavoidable.
Beside him stood Aldraya, breathing heavily as well—not from physical exhaustion, for Aldraya never grew tired in the way ordinary living beings did, but because he had poured all of his abilities into expanding the reach of Theo's invisible blanket, ensuring that not a single one of those fourteen existences had been overlooked, that not a single one had been left beneath the Nothingness's fists, crushing force, or stomping feet.
"We did it," Aldraya whispered.
And for the first time, his usually flat voice carried a tone he could not conceal—a tone resembling relief, even though relief was an emotion he had never shown anyone because he had never been certain he deserved to feel it.
Lilith opened her eyes.
Not her remaining eye—for that eye had already been open, never closed, never blinked, never stopped seeing.
But her other eye.
The eye that had always remained shut.
The eye she had never used to see the outside world because the outside world had never been interesting enough to warrant using both eyes.
Now, both of her eyes were open.
And what she saw left her frozen—not from fear, but from confusion.
Around her was not the void she had expected to be her final destination before disappearing.
Not the darkness that would swallow her whole as the Nothingness's Sa had intended.
What surrounded her were faces.
Faces she recognized.
Faces she had believed had vanished forever before her eyes minutes ago—or perhaps centuries ago, for time felt different here.
"Asherah...?" Lilith whispered.
Her voice sounded like someone awakening from a nightmare that had lasted far too long, still half convinced she was dreaming, that the face before her was merely an illusion that would disappear if she blinked too hard.
Asherah turned at the sound of her name.
Her emerald-orange hair pulsed faintly.
And within eyes usually filled with conviction, certainty, and courage, there was now only confusion.
Genuine confusion.
The kind of confusion that made her resemble a child lost in an overcrowded marketplace.
"Lilith... what happened?" she asked.
Her voice trembled.
Not because she was afraid, but because she did not know what she was supposed to feel.
She did not know what she was supposed to think.
She did not know whether she should be grateful to still be alive or angry because she could not understand how she had remained alive after the Nothingness's fist had struck her face, after the explosion within her chest had reached its peak, after she had felt herself shatter into fragments that should never have been capable of being reassembled.
Beside Asherah, Mammon slowly shook his head.
It was not an answer.
It was the same question he could not bring himself to voice because words felt too heavy to leave his mouth.
"I don't know," Mammon replied.
His voice was hoarse, like someone who had just swallowed shards of glass.
"I should be dead. I felt myself die. But... I'm still here."
One by one, voices began to emerge—Ashmedai asking questions, Baal-Zevul cursing, Chemosh remaining silent though his eyes spoke louder than words, Apollyon staring at his own palms as if unable to believe they were still attached to his wrists, Rahab touching his chest repeatedly to make sure there was no hole, no wound, that he was whole in a way that made no sense.
And deep within their consciousnesses, the five residing souls stirred as well.
Bes laughed with a strange tone because he did not understand what was making him laugh.
Enlil's questions multiplied.
Lamashtu dreamed of flowers blooming in places she had never known.
Ahura Mazda's logic spun in circles like a wheel that had slipped from its axle.
And Mictlantecuhtli remained silent.
Yet this time, his silence was the silence of relief that dared not acknowledge itself.
Theo nudged Aldraya's arm.
It was a small movement, almost imperceptible, yet enough to make Aldraya turn.
And there, in Theo's eyes—still tired but beginning to shine once more—he saw four and a half blinks, a code that did not need to be spoken because they had already agreed upon it during the hours of silence they had once shared.
Aldraya did not nod.
He did not need to.
He had already begun moving before the final blink had even finished, walking toward Lilith and her eight sisters with steps that were neither hurried nor hesitant.
Steps that said he knew what he needed to say, even if he did not know how those words would be received.
To be continued…