★32
THIRD POV
Back at the Star Palace, fresh write-ups appeared across the papers. The ink was unfamiliar, the symbols twisted and archaic, formed of strange characters no one recognized at first glance.
-Kuru ad ωκεανός à l'est Antares, Elaine and Atlas-
"What's it saying, Asteri?"
Asteri's expression hardened the moment he finished reading.
The symbols on the paper were distorted, stitched together from multiple linguistic roots, yet the intent behind them was unmistakable.
"Atlas. Elaine."
Both materialised instantly, their presence sharp and alert. Asteri handed the paper to Atlas. As Atlas and Elaine read through it, their reactions mirrored each other, quiet surprise, followed by a knowing pause.
"Hmmm."
"I expected this. But not this soon."
Atlas said at last, his tone measured.
Elaine nodded.
"The timing is off. Too deliberate."
Asteri folded his arms.
"It means one of us is already here, Hina. And this—"
He tapped the paper lightly.
"—is an invitation."
Hinamatsuri looked up at him.
"Another Star?"
"Yeah."
The air shifted.
<
The Deity of Sun cares for me, yet wouldn't act without consulting Ela first. Could it be the intervention of other Omnis unknown to me? Or… is this the design of the Supreme Star?>>
The thought hung in the air, heavy and unresolved. Questions pressed from every angle, possibilities overlapping and conflicting. The situation was unlike anything he had encountered.
<
Without hesitation, Asteri activated the call.
"Shinn."
The clone appeared without delay, kneeling slightly as he manifested.
"Your Highness."
Asteri turned to him, already aware of the answer he would give, yet asking all the same.
"Your thoughts?"
"What do you think about this letter?"
"Feels more like a trap."
His voice resonated, calm but final, as if Shinn had just pull the threads of fate itself into focus.
Every ounce of thought, every fragment of perception, aligned in a single point. The decision was instant, precise, a response not just of instinct, but of calculation honed beyond mortal or even Star comprehension. That's Wú Jí's personality engraved in Shinn.
(Note, Wú Jí and variants like Wù Jì are not the same.)
"Elaborate."
Asteri's gaze settled on Shinn, genuine interest flickering beneath his composed exterior. He wanted to hear it, Shinn's perspective, unfiltered.
"If it's a fellow Star,"
Shinn began, measured and direct,
"then why avoid us? Why not meet us head‑on? They already know you're here."
He said, pointing at me. Not Asteri but Antares.
"Given your history in the Star Realm, being a Dwarf acknowledged across all hierarchies, they know exactly who not to provoke. This isn't speculation. We're talking about a Hypergod tier Star."
"H–Hypergod?"
Atlas and Elaine stiffened almost simultaneously. The word alone carried weight. That Tier wasn't just rare, it bordered on myth within the Star hierarchy.
<>
Asteri's thoughts sharpened.
<
His conclusion settled in silence.
"The probability may be low,"
Asteri said aloud, voice calm but heavy.
"but this situation..."
"Might be a Dark Star."
Shinn finished the thought without hesitation.
Asteri's eyes narrowed. Something dormant stirred, gears turning at full speed.
"Exactly."
Elaine frowned.
"But what would a Dark Star be doing here? They all reside in Nihil Space… don't they?"
"Just like us, they can abandon their domains by choice."
Asteri replied.
His expression returned to its former state, cold, focused, stripped of any softness. Hinamatsuri noticed the shift immediately and chose silence.
<>
The implications were equally grim.
<
<
Entares finally spoke, his presence calm, almost weary.
"We're moving regardless,"
Asteri said firmly.
"If it's a Dark Star, we confront it. If not, then we hear what was so important they couldn't approach us directly."
Atlas exhaled sharply.
"That's optimistic. Even the three of us together wouldn't stand a chance against a Nebula‑class Dark Star, a Hypergod‑tier entity."
"If push comes to shove, we deploy our True Bodies to fight back."
Asteri replied. The room went still.
"The minimum outcome,"
He continued.
"would be the complete annihilation of the battlefield."
He let out a slow breath, the gravity of his words settling over everyone present.
The encounter was inevitable now. It was only a matter of when and where.
Sooner or later, they would come. Let us pray the battle does not unfold in the Cardinal World.
"What about the Island, sir?"
Shinn asked, his tone measured, deliberately steering the conversation away from the rising pressure.
"If the three of you leave, there's no guarantee they're acting alone. An attack on the Island perhaps the Base World isn't impossible. The clones can handle most threats, but—"
"Eto and you will be more than enough."
Asteri cut in, decisive. Targeting all possible 'what ifs' scenarios is a solid trait only Wú Jí posses. And Asteri had no choice than to patch them up.
His gaze shifted to Eto.
"Eto, kill anyone who shows killing intent. No exceptions. I don't care who they are."
"Roger."
Eto answered instantly, snapping into a crisp salute.
Asteri turned back to Shinn, his voice lowering, carrying unmistakable authority.
"Whatever happens, deploy the time barrier. Protect everyone at all costs, Shinn."
"Understood."
"I'm taking my chance to protect the Island first. Guy and Demon Lords should be able to stall for time if they attack the Base World.
That Demon was right, I need soldiers. Each of us is stronger than an army, but we can't be everywhere at the same time."
"If I may ask, why the time barrier?"
Eto asked a crucial question, and his partner gave him the answer.
"Good question. A defensive barrier would've been simpler, but this time barrier, personally created by the Master, does more than block. It slows anything approaching it."
Shinn's eyes flicked with precision.
"As one nears it, time stretches toward infinity. Any intruder failing to traverse instantly becomes trapped in an unorthodox temporal freeze. Even instantaneous movements like teleportation are delayed."
"And to bypass it?"
"One would need to move beyond infinity in the minimum possible time perhaps even zero time. Anything less, and they'll be caught within time itself."
Shinn's expression hardened slightly.
"What if the enemy can manipulate time?"
"It's futile. Once activated, retrocausal effects such as going back in time, rewinding events, cannot undo the barrier. It exists independently of conventional time. Only those close to the Master or stronger than him can bypass it.
Outsiders? Impossible. Even moving faster than infinite speed, an ultimate step won't suffice."
He paused, letting the weight sink in.
"Inside the barrier, time itself can be reshaped freely. Those trapped may experience a second, an average duration, or an eternity. It's entirely controlled."
"As expected of the Great Master."
Elaine muttered in awe.
Shinn nodded, calm but firm.
"Anyone in the Cardinal World attempting this would fail. That's why it exists."
"Too busted."
Eto whispered.
"No one could beat this. Thanks for the explanation, Shinn."
"No worries."
"When are we departing, my Lord?"
"In human time, it'll be three weeks from today."
"Ok."
"Noted."
Finding it best to clear the air, Shinn dispatch the crowd on Asteri's behalf.
"Call us if you need anything."
They vanished one by one, leaving only Asteri and Hinamatsuri in the quiet room. His stern features softened, tension melting into calm exhaustion as he leaned back, resting his head gently on her lap.
His eyes traced the ceiling, lost in thought, unspoken and still.
Hinamatsuri froze, a faint blush creeping across her cheeks. She dared not move, not wanting to disturb the rare, fleeting serenity that had settled on his face.
<
I ignored Entares again.
"Stars were never meant to have counterparts. Some claim the Demons are ours, but that is wrong, it is the Angels who oppose them. As Lady Elara once said, the Seven Seraphim were separated long after the birth of the Supreme Star God. Both originated from the same source.
The Supreme Star created us for reasons even we do not fully understand, placing us in a realm far beyond the Creator's multiverse.
For ages, we, pure Star, blooming with immeasurable divinity lived in peace, until the first anomaly emerged.
Mega Arts were meant to be wielded by every Star. Yet this one could not. Instead, it commanded only the void through Dark Art. Thus, the first Dark Star was born. A being born form the Abyss itself.
It mastered the void with frightening speed, but it never truly belonged. Some saw it as extention of the Abyss due to it's peculiar nature such as zero divinity, apathy and absence of light."
He paused, letting the tension build.
"In time, it, alongside the Second Dark Star and the Crimson Lord, turned against our kind. Their rebellion annihilated countless Stars and split the Realm itself.
Since then, any Star born without our Arts, yet capable of shaping darkness or void, is branded a Dark Star. It remains only a theory, but one thing is undeniable, the Rebellion was real. And it changed everything."
"The Second?"
Hinamatsuri asked.
"Stars with numerical titles cannot be disclosed. This is something I mustn't say."
"Oh... I see. It's all right. I won't push further."
"This is knowledge even Hypergods lack. I was granted special treatment by my Lady."
Hinamatsuri was left speechless, and Asteri continued, his tone steady as he explained.
"Not all Stars who cannot use Mega Arts are Dark Stars. But all Stars who can wield Dark Arts are Dark Stars."
"I just hope everyone will be okay."
The thought of such cosmic beings looming over them refused to leave her mind, her heart unable to find rest.
"I promise it will. One thing for you, Hina."
"What is it?"
"Get Issei and the children and stay in the first floor that day."
"Heh? Why? What about the others?"
"Shinn will definitely lift that barrier, so you'll all be safe."
"So why stay on your floor for the time being?"
She asked, her voice calm, observing him closely.
Asteri's gaze flickered, lingering on a point in the distance as if weighing the truth against a lifetime of solitude and duty.
For the first time, he hesitated, his usual composure faltering. It wasn't indecision born of fear, but of revelation, an acknowledgment that someone had pierced the walls he'd built around himself.
His mind traced the battles, responsibilities, and the endless march of power he had and will pursue, and yet here was a reason to pause, a reason that had nothing to do with conquest or dominance.
At that moment, Antares's gaze drifted far beyond the present, fixating on a future still unshaped. Questions swirled in his mind, unrelenting and urgent.
-What will he become once this chapter ends?
-How will his choices reshape his connection to the Star Realm, to his Creator?
-How many bonds will he forge and how many will be broken or sacrificed along the way?
-Will this change affect his short time 'plan'?
-Will the strings of fate he tugs disrupt the fragile plans of others, or even his own carefully laid path within this Shell?
Every possibility unfolded before him like a web, each thread threatening to twist into chaos.
As a Star, he should have refrained from walking this route; the rules of his existence forbade it. Yet his stubbornness, his refusal to be confined by expectation, had transformed that very restriction into the fuel driving him forward.
The more he was told he shouldn't, the more fiercely he chose to act. That's his childish mentality he'll never discard.
"You changed me, Hinata."
He said quietly.
"I finally have something to live for, something beyond being a Demon Lord here."
Hinamatsuri blinked, caught off guard by the name he spoke, and even more by the weight of the words that followed, sensing the depth of his hesitation and the sincerity that had finally surfaced.
For a moment, her breath caught, unsure whether she'd heard him right. Her heart fluttered in quiet confusion as she gazed down at him, the weight of his voice lingering like an echo in her chest.
"Is it okay to call you Hinata?"
"Um."
She nodded, a warm smile forming on her lips.
"An exception just for you."
"Feel free to make any name for me."
"Hmm... Anta chan was cool, but that's Lady Elara's personal name for you."
"It's fine with me if you call me that."
"Ati chan? How's that?"
"Ati chan. That's perfect. No more san between us, ok?"
He smiled.
"Sure."
....
...
..
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To be continued...