Chapter 202: Invasion.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sol hid Dina and Ikaris further behind himself, exerting his energy to the point where the ground and surrounding building structures began disintegrating from his mere presence, but in the face of this which was supposed to be abominable power, Lumi stared passively, not even bothering to raise her guard as she instead relaxed her form emitting less light and causing her figure beneath it to become more pronounced.
She was tall; at the least twelve feet from head to toe and by the looks of it all the light came from her skin since he was sure he could make out what looked like fabric folds now that she wasn't a blinding figure anymore.
"I have already warned you twice of what a fight with me promises, Godslayer, I may be patient but I am far from merciful, if you continue to antagonize me into actibg against my better judgement I will erase you where you stand." Lumi narrowed her eyes at him, and just as it had happened before Sol's powers subsided and he took a calming breath, causing even Ikaris to stare at him in shock as she never thought she would see the day someone was able to subdue him without the need of force.
"A wise choice, Godslayer."
"Get to the point, what are you talking about, we already figured out how to prevent our child from causing more harm to anyone." He stared at her unapologetic of his bad manners, after all; he was Sol Vestic, whether they could kill him or not he never lowered his head before anyone.
"That was never a part of the reason she will bring calamity, as I said before the child herself is a greater part of the coking disaster, you were safe as long as you did nothing foolish, but now that you have fed her your power the others have been made aware of both hers and that being's existence." She gestured to Ikaris.
"Address her properly, she's the queen of the heavens and the first goddess." Sol stared up at Lumi defiantly.
"Goddess?" Lumi's eyes upturned in amusement and she smiled behind the light. "Ikaris might be many things, but to hear you call her a mere goddess, how crude." She chuckled, and then shook her head.
"I am not going to explain any further as I am not obligated to do so, but as the acting light for your collective in the absence of the unnamed one I am obligated to give you a note of urgent warning, invasion is upon you, the multiverse you have known is about to change forever, as Godslayer it is your duty and obligation to protect your domain, and as your benefactor it is mine to inform you of what comes to claim what is yours."
"What the hell ...invasion from whom?" Sol furrowed his brows. Hearing it from her mouth brought a weight he'd never felt before. "Are you saying there are other multiverses?"
"A finite number dictates your infinity, and the ones who seek you are only coming for one reason." Lumi raised her hand and pointed at Ikaris.
"The pure blood of the Vatui runs through that one; the blood of creation and true origin, she is rare and prized, and her enemies have long been searching for her, the one before you failed, and the one before him, now you are the only thing standing between her and absolute annihilation."
"You are talking nonsense!" Ikaris flashed her hands and stomped forward causing Sol to hold her back when she tried to approach Lumi. "I have never heard of any divine race called Vatui, I was always here, I was created here by Him Above All, nobody's blood but his pulses through me, you speak lies..."
"Of course you would deny your own existence; one who has dared to defy fate and destiny would always try to run away from it, you are no different, it is understandable that you too would have no recollection, just like the others." Lumi regarded her with narrowed eyes, and Ikaris's fight fled her seeing the being before her take a step forward and loom after she had just suppressed Sol's fighting instinct by merely being present.
"But I am not a liar, nor am I a schemer, your domain will be invaded, it is sure to happen with imminent prompt, you are indeed not of this place you call home, that is the truth, and the child within you is a curse to us all, be that your home or the collective, but we have determined that this is the will of fate, what happens to you cannot be interfered with or altered as we please, to do so is to defy fate even if the outcome breeds undesirable occurrences."
"Just as your journey had a beginning so too will it have an end, Ikaris, wife of the Godslayer, daughter of Vatui, false queen of a lesser domain."
"You may choose to heed my words or you may ignore them, but keep your eyes to the skies and pray your demise is a quick one, or gain the power to oppose the collective, either way, fate cannot be avoided, now that they have been made privy of your existence be sure they will come, and they will never stop coming."
"You're awfully informative for someone who isn't taking any sides, Lumi, are you sure this isn't too much of an advantage?" Sol raised his golden eyes to her crimson, slowly floating off the ground until he was looking at her at eye level. "It seems you're a bit biased yourself."
"Hm, you may be correct, my intrigue of this little corner of the collective may be influencing my decisions a small bit, telling you this much may indeed already be too much, but compared to what comes afterwards the information I have delivered by obligation is not even a grain of sand against a roaring tidal, I am simply acting on the will of fate." She replied, slowly regaining her luminescent aura and floating above him towards the skies.
"Do with it what you will, it is not my intention to interfere any further, but I do wish you the best of luck... Godslayer."
"What about the Vatui, and Ikaris, are you just going to leave that out to terrorise our minds?" Sol ground his teeth, and she smiled down at him and vanished.
"Information is all around you ripe for the picking Godslayer, those who seek the truth have always found ways to attain it and as I said, the birth of your child will reveal a lot, until then I bid you good luck in your endeavours." Sol heard her voice in his head while he descended and stopped before Ikaris and Dina just as time started freely moving again causing Arla and Sara who had both been moved from their original places when Lumi arrived to bump into each other from the continued momentum.
"Ow..." Arla held her forehead looking down her torso at Sara after their foreheads collided and the maid stopped and fell onto her. "Sara, are you okay...?" She asked, but didn't even bother seeking an answer after Dina fell next to her holding her arms and slightly shaking releasing a fit of mana per breath.
"Dina!" She grabbed her but her skin was cold she let her go from shock and then grabbed her again turning her around.
Her eyes were dilated and her mana continued escaping her body as if she was in the middle of a stressful fight, she had been terrified to the point where her body was experiencing death from simply being in Lumi's presence.
"Let me." Sol quickly took Dina from Arla's panicked grasp and hugged her while Ikaris stood behind them, concerned. "Come on, snap out of it, Dina." He held her tightly and pulled her into his lap, covering her in a veil of warm mana.
"She's gone, you're okay now, calm down." He embraced her while they watched her mana slowly fall back under her control, subsiding with a light hum while her sigils slowly stopped drumming. "There... There..."
"What happened?" Arla hesitated, since Sol was shaken, Ikaris looked like sha had seen a ghost, and Dina was literally scared to death, but in contrast all she had was a slightly reddish bruise on her forehead from bumping into Sara who had the same.
"Lumi was here." Ikaris answered, slowly sitting in the rubble of what was once Sol's study while they heard several neighbours and workers come rushing from all angles and calling to see if anyone was hurt or worse.
"L-Lumi?" Arla looked around frantically but rested her gaze on Ikaris who shook her head negatively.
"She is long gone, observing silently from somewhere we cannot find her." Ikaris looked at her. "And I mean this very seriously, Arla unless you want to experience what Dina has, do not seek that creature's presence, let her be."
Arla nodded and looked at Dina again, she had not seen the one rewarded with the title of Strongest Mage Alive this terrified since her first crusade outside of Argom, nay, she had never seen Dina this shaken before.
"What ...what did she want?" Sara asked, being the first to gather her bearings seeing that whatever threat that came had already lifted.
"She came with a warning." Ikaris answered watching Sol carefully let go of Dina and then hug her again when her rigid breath turned into sobs and she began crying. "An invasion is coming, from beyond our collective realities, a war the likes of none we've ever seen before, today, tomorrow, a week from now, she didn't specify, but the threat is imminent."
"They're coming... because of me."