CHAPTER 363: WHY WAIT?! II

After the half-month phenomenon where rivers of Authority had converged across the Sea of Thalassara and even rippled across the Adrastia Continent, no answers had come. No confirmations. No grand revelations.

Just that voice.

I! Have! Arrived!

Those words continued to linger in the bones of those who heard it. Yet no being, no matter how exalted, had managed to discover exactly what had been born in that moment. And now... calm had returned.

A stretched, eerie calm.

In this silence, as many came and went from the Primal Neon Tower seeking answers, they were gently but decisively turned away.

Because the one person they wanted answers from... Achilles Adrastia Maxwell, was no longer receiving anyone.

He had better things to do.

He had a Queen.

And now... a daughter.

Far away from the center of the world, beyond the known reaches of Humans and Ancients, there lay a place shrouded in whispered fear.

In the Cerulean Dead Sea- between the jagged, forgotten ranges of the Mountains of Moira and Niflurne, an island slept!

Aevareign.

The resting place of the Primordial Light of Darkness.

Here, floating above the rocky earth, where a simple mound of rich soil and a single dark shovel lay half-buried in stone, three figures were suspended in the still sea breeze. A man. A woman. And a child.

Achilles stood in silence, dressed simply for once. His tunic a flowing black-and-gold, his expression unreadable as his hand wrapped loosely around Rose’s.

Her green hair flowed behind her like embers dancing in wind. She stood close, expression softened as she looked between the grave below and the radiant child floating a few paces ahead.

Arya Adrastia Maxwell.

The girl had only been born days ago.

But now...

She looked like a two or three-year-old child, her cheeks still holding a slight roundness, though most of her infant softness had already been sculpted away by her rapid growth. Her hair shimmered in waves of silver-green starlight, braided loosely down her back, flickering like liquid constellations as she absorbed ambient energy from the very air itself.

Even now, tendrils of energy curled around her like they had always belonged to her- drawn by her very breath.

Her eyes gleamed, silver-green and bright, like living jewels. The green of her mother ran deep through them, vibrant and fiery. But it was the silver... that came from elsewhere. That came from the Adrastia Emperor King Lineage. That silver crown, small and delicate atop her head, was not a mere adornment. It pulsed with authority. With power.

With lineage.

A small silver moon spun behind her slowly, radiating a graceful yet terrifying brilliance.

Rose gave a small sigh as she crossed her arms, eyes drifting to her daughter’s crown.

"I told her just yesterday to slow down," she murmured. "I miss her tiny hands... her fat baby cheeks..."

Achilles only smiled.

Because he had already seen her status.

Already glimpsed what she had become.

Organic Crystal. Time. Destiny. Starlight. Primordial Energy Source.

All of them, Assimilated.

Even his assimilations, nearly all of them, bloomed within her.

She was a ridiculous being.

And yet... as she floated above the grave of the first Outsider her father had ever defeated in this plane, she turned with childish excitement. "Father! How fast did you beat this Crimson Eye?! Was it BAM BAM BOOM and done?"

Achilles smiled, kneeling slightly in the air beside her.

"I defeated it before it even realized I had arrived," he said with a smile that flickered with gentle menace. "Arya, in the future... if you face an enemy, do not rush. You have Time. You are Time. Use it. Watch everything about your enemy. Learn their habits. Fight them in your mind, in the future a hundred times over."

His voice turned low, serious, but never cruel. "Only when you are certain of victory... then you strike."

Arya’s eyes widened, her little mouth forming a perfect O of realization as she nodded solemnly. "Mhm! Got it. A hundred fights in my head, and then...darkness for the enemy!"

Rose shook her head again behind them, a hand dragging across her face as she muttered, "Alien. Both of you...."

Achilles turned to her, smiling over his shoulder.

He ruffled Arya’s her hair. "Now... ready to meet a few people?"

Arya’s eyes lit up like suns. "Yes, Father. I’ve seen some of them already in the future!"

...!

Achilles nodded lightly, and without further delay, raised his hand.

White Nirvanic flames ignited across the island.

One by one, figures flickered into existence.

The first to appear, arms crossed, tail twitching, expression exasperated- was the Monkey King.

Sun.

More flames danced, and more came.

Luna. Eloise. Major David. Nyxaria. Lancelot. Aliya. Others close enough to stand beside a legend and not flinch.

They landed softly, their eyes drawn instantly to the scene in front of them- the man, the Queen... and the little girl glowing like a supernova.

Achilles turned slightly, his voice calm and even.

"Many of you wondered what rose above the Sea of Thalassara a few days ago."

He pointed gently toward Arya. "I introduce to you all... my daughter. Arya Adrastia Maxwell."

The words fell like a booming storm.

Daughter.

They blinked.

They stared.

They turned between Rose, Achilles, and the starlit child floating in silence.

How?

The question was in all their eyes. None dared to speak it.

Except for one.

The Monkey King.

"What do you mean daughter?" he barked, incredulous. "Are you talking about that floating Little Monster who looks like she’s could beat everyone here?! Her aura is already brushing against Empyrean Star Nexus if not already there!"

...!

The words were heavy!

"Uncle Sun!" Arya pouted, cheeks puffed. "I was gonna help you reach Empyrean Star Nexus soon! But now, I won’t do it anymore if you start calling me Little Monster!"

Sun blinked.

Arya’s small fist rose in the air, trembling with adorable fury.

Her gaze the travelled to all those astonished as it landed on the Daughter of the Moon, Luna!

Arya’s cute expression became exasperated as if she had seen something that was just about to occur.

"Auntie Luna..." Arya turned swiftly, voice high-pitched and worried. "Please don’t fall to your knees right now. I’ll keep saying it- treat me normally, okay? Okay?!"

Luna’s eyes that were filled with reverence for Achilles became gilled with even more reverance for this little girl as she opened her mouth, and then closed it as she truly had no words!

Everyone simply...stared.

Just stared!

Achilles couldn’t stop his calm smile. "Don’t worry too much about the introductions. There’ll be time for that and more later..."

His tone shifted. Slightly colder. More deliberate.

"I brought you all here to meet her, and to show you something else."

He turned and pointed toward the dark mound on the hill. The half-buried shovel.

"The Primordial Light of Darkness. Buried there. Slain days ago."

...!

The silence that followed was absolute.

They hadn’t known.

Only Sun and Rose had seen it happen.

Achilles kept speaking, his voice calm. "With its death, this plane is free of Outsiders- for now. But the threats outside it still loom."

His eyes narrowed, the golden purple sun behind him beginning to glow faintly.

"I will not wait for them."

His voice was quiet, resolute.

"I will leave this plane of existence soon... and look for a solution to hunt them down before they arrive."

BOOM!

A shockwave of will pulsed through the island. The sun behind him gleamed. And the silver moon behind Arya pulsed in time with it.

The war hadn’t come yet.

But Achilles was already marching towards it to ensure the safety of his family!