★61
ASTERI'S POV
I drifted through Hyper Space, the silent gulf between worlds.
"Something's not right."
I muttered.
<
"Exactly."
Normally, wormholes serve as the arteries of the multiverse, luminous tunnels bridging distant realms, allowing faster-than-light passage. This is the norms in worlds within the Pond. Some worlds existed freely, not bound to such structures, but this particular one relied on its tunnel… and it was destroyed.
The void stretched seemingly endless ahead. No motion, no sound, only the faint pulse of existence trembling in the dark.
I pressed onward, my form cutting through the stillness until, at last, I saw it: the remnants of the wormhole. Its edges were jagged, bleeding with unstable energy, and the far end flickered faintly, still tethered to a distant world.
Without hesitation, I entered.
Inside, the tunnel was unlike any I'd seen. Countless crimson lights drifted like dying stars, suspended in swirling clouds of red cosmic dust. The air itself seemed to hum with residual energy.
At the far end, a blinding, colorless light pulsed gently. The closer I flew, the more the tunnel trembled, as though reality itself were warning me of what awaited beyond.
"Here I come..."
I murmured, summoning my dark armor.
A single plate extended to my left shoulder, while additional segments slid into place across my right forearm and rib. My thighs and hips were shielded on both sides, completing the asymmetrical yet formidable ensemble.
As I entered the demolished tunnel, a horrific sight awaited me.
The world ahead burned, an endless inferno where flames devoured everything without distinction, heaven and earth alike reduced to ash and lightless ruin.
I clenched my teeth, my jaw tightening as a silent fury coiled deep within me, heavy and suffocating.
"Was I too late!?"
The question tore through my thoughts, unanswered. I extended my senses instinctively, searching, yet mothing answered. No pulse. No breath. No trace of life.
<>
That alone was unsettling, but something else gnawed at me, an alien pressure clinging to my awareness, subtle yet oppressive, like a wrong note in reality.
<
Before I could analyse it further, a thunderous roar erupted in the distance. The sound tore through the burning sky, violent enough to shake the ground beneath my feet. Shockwaves rippled outward, scattering embers like dying stars.
My focus snapped instantly toward the source.
<>
I turned fully, eyes narrowing as I locked onto the direction of the roar.
Whatever made that sound was not merely alive, it was powerful enough to dominate a dead world. And in a place where nothing should have remained… that alone made it dangerous.
<
As I raced toward the source of the roar, a faint, desperate cry cut through the crackling inferno. I pivoted sharply, instincts screaming.
<
I pushed my speed to its absolute limit, tearing across the smoldering landscape.
In the distance, a human-like figure gripped a Spirit Dragon, its wings pinned and body twisted painfully. Without a second thought, I dropped from the sky, my descent ending in a thunderous kick that sent the attacker sprawling across scorched ground.
I caught the Spirit Dragon mid-fall, her trembling body small and fragile against mine. Blood oozed from deep gashes, her scales cracked, charred, and festering with infection.
I lifted my palm, casting a healing art, but the moment it ignited, the very air around us swallowed it whole. The energy dissipated into nothing, leaving me stunned and the dragon still on the brink.
<
She was coughing up blood, unable to speak clearly. She was muttering something, but her voice was too low.
"Don't talk. I'll find a way to heal you."
I realised, and I kept trying to heal, but the same phenomenon kept occurring. Unable to move, she weakly gestured for me to lean closer.
I did, lowering myself until her breath brushed against my ear, shallow and uneven.
"T… take care of the last one… my first and last d–daughter…"
"Don't worry. I won't let you die. Just—"
<<…Shooting stars… nothing's working.>>
A faint, fragile smile crossed her lips.
"Never thought… a… I'd be held like this by a being from the race of Gods…"
cough
"I can pass on in peace. My only regret… is leaving you behind, Athena… but with your destined one… you're the safest person alive."
With the last of her strength, she raised a trembling hand and pointed weakly to her left.
"Hang..."
Her voice fractured, the word unfinished. Her hand fell limp, her eyes losing focus as the final breath left her body. Silence followed, heavy and absolute.
I was too late. She was gone.
<
Shoving the frustration aside, I turned toward where she had pointed. A sealed coffin rested amid the ruins. I tore it open, revealing a small girl inside, two long, curved horns, crimson eyes glistening with tears, and delicate ears like an elf's. She looked so much like her mother.
She was crying, soft, terrified sobs. I knelt in front of her and gathered her gently into my arms, trying my best to calm her trembling heart.
<
"Thank you for saving me the trouble of finding her. Now hand her over."
A voice commanded and without so much as stirring the wind, a figure appeared.
He had short black hair and long, elven ears. His bare upper body was etched with intricate circular tattoo. His elbows down to his fingertips were pitch black, ending in long, razor-like claws.
Lavender eyes gleamed with predatory calm, mirroring the rotating magic circle that floated around his left forearm. From his back unfurled two vast wings of pure black feathers, each beat radiating silent menace.
"You? You weren't the one I kicked."
I answered, my back towards him.
"To be able to kill one of us with a kick is truly... never mind."
He trailed off, prioritising his task.
"Hand over the child, and I'll guarantee you walk away."
"Ok. Go fetch!"
Using every ounce of strength, I hurled the coffin far into the distance. His gaze followed it effortlessly, but he made no move to pursue.
It was almost imperceptible, the faint rotation of the magic circle on his arm but I caught it. My instincts flared, and I readied myself.
"Kindly wait for me, will ya?"
I said to the little kiryu, neutralising her presence.
I lunged, reaching to seize him, but my hand tore straight through the fabric of space, ripping open a jagged rift where he should have been.
"Kindly wait for me, will ya?"
He muttered, his gaze fixed ahead, already preparing to chase after the coffin.
I turned instantly, closing the distance between us in a single step. Unlike before, he made no attempt to flee. He simply stood there, calm, almost expectant, ready to depart.
The world around us began to warp. Space fractured as reality itself glitched. The horizon folded inward, colours draining as an artificial space forced itself into existence.
The distortion thickened, walls of false reality snapping shut around me. The seal completed.
"I still managed to fall into his trap. Escape isn't impossible, though."
I clenched my aura-clad fist and drove it forward. The strike left a fractured hole in the air before negating my aura.
"Huh?"
I raised my palm and summoned flame. It ignited for a heartbeat, then flickered weakly before vanishing, as if the space itself had swallowed it whole.
"…Hmm."
Something was wrong. This wasn't simple suppression.
From beyond the torn layer of space, a chaotic aura surged, distorting the air in slow, violent pulses. The pressure alone warped perception, making distance meaningless. I crouched and focused, peering through the shattered veil of reality.
And there it was.
"I see."
Straightening, I let my gaze sweep across the warped horizon, every fragment of the isolated space.
<
I paused, reaching out to sense the flow of time only to find nothing. Time didn't move here. Space, however, persisted. An empty backdrop holding this hollow world together.
<
Closing my eyes, I began to test, both logically and instinctively. Perspective, truth, absence, infinity, geometry, identity, being and few others.
Each responded faintly, fragments of reality flickering within the void, threads of existence that refused to be erased.
<
I opened my eyes
<
Before I could finish analysing, a high-pitched mechanical sound was heard. It was as if a huge gear was turned and the world changed.
"What is this?"
I asked, unable to comprehend my surroundings.
<
Enta cut in sharply.
"Why?"
Even in this alien environment, I refused to let panic claw its way into my mind. I steadied myself, keeping madness at bay.
<
His voice was firm, decisive. At my current state, trying to comprehend this place directly would shatter my lower-dimensional mind. I understood that much. For now, I'd let him take control.
"Well then, be my guest."
<
"Yeah."
<
"…Which means…"
<
"Then why didn't it change just now?"
<
"Hmm, so a 3D world with an added spatial axis (b), huh?"
I voiced the conclusion aloud, but just as Enta predicted, nothing stabilised.
The current world refused to obey continuity. One step placed my feet on scorched earth, the next had me walking through open sky as though gravity itself had been misfiled. At certain points, I ceased to exist altogether, vanishing without sensation, only to reappear elsewhere, already mid‑stride.
I was outside, then inside, then somewhere in between. Rooms folded into themselves in impossible volumes, interiors without walls, boundaries defined by perspective rather than matter.
"A tesseract effect."
I muttered.
< From a 3D being's perspective, they'd only perceive 3D cross-sections of a 4D world, just as a 2D being would see only 2D slices of a 3D object, like a shifting shape passing across their flat surface.
A regular 3D mind can't comprehend this. They'll see it moving, morphing, or even teleporting, whereas in reality, they're simply rotating in a higher space. Asteri was 3D, but not anymore.>>
< Enta asked.
"Yes "
I did, and the moment that understanding locked into place, the world reacted.
Invisible mechanisms engaged. Reality rearranged itself, layers sliding apart like interlocking plates. The instant I successfully interacted with the structure. by recognising it, the system responded.
"This is a reaction that triggers prison. The moment a prisoner fully comprehends the full geometry of the current layer and demonstrates at least one successful interaction, the world opens up, revealing the next higher dimension layer."
A prison designed around comprehension itself.
< He's shown to be able to create a prison devoid of time, which is a feat for Nebulas, but the ratio of void and darkness tells a difference story. I heard the void is only accessible to the higher-ups, namely the Nebulas.
And this construct didn't merely use dimensionality, it was built upon it. So the probability of it being a Dark God is higher than a Nebula.
Dark Gods = Supergods, Nebulas = Hypergods, that's how it is for them. I'll keep that aside for now and try to escape.>>
I set the speculation aside and lifted my gaze. The newly revealed dimension loomed, not as a direction but as a presence, waiting to be understood.
And I knew, this wasn't the last layer.
Unlike the previous one, this isn't just a dimension added. It appears to be a collection of all possible versions of the same universe. The 5D is the tree of every possible line.
< < "Ok."
In 4D, where I'm bound to one sequence (A➡B➡C), in here, I can shift to different timelines.
A➡D➡E
A➡F➡K
A➡B➡J.
<<5D, a new coordinate axis ontological to time (x,y,z,b,τ) where τ = axis of timeline possibility.>>
I moved through the higher dimension, and with every step, the concept of direction lost its meaning.
Motion itself became choice. Each decision, however caused the space ahead to diverge, splitting into countless branches. Paths did not merely extend forward; they multiplied, reshaping reality in response to intent, thought, and possibility.
This Fifth Dimension was not a place one could stand in. It was a lattice of outcomes, a convergence of what could be.
A single origin gave rise to endless sequences, each branching into further variations, forming something akin to a cosmic tree. Its roots were buried in a singular past, its trunk the present moment, and its branches stretched endlessly into futures that had not yet been chosen.
Every path I observed existed simultaneously, layered atop one another, separated by probability.
To exist here was to walk along causation itself. Choose one branch, and countless others withered; hesitate, and new ones were born. The dimension did not ask where I wished to go, it asked which reality would me allow to survive. A perfect and easy way to use infinity to trap someone.
"This is going to take a while."
<>
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.
< "I can't stay here, we can't stay here. You're not real, and you don't belong here. Are you gonna stay here and do nothing but chase me?"
I amplified my voice, delivering this message throughout the 5D.
"Knowing 'Asteri' we don't aren't the pawns in a game. We choose who we are the pawns. We don't get trapped. We choose who gets trapped. We're not many. We're one."
Immediately after the message, an Asteri appeared in front of me.
"I'm the version that didn't yield."
He said, rejecting this false creator that created this simulator.
"I'm the version that transcended."
Another one appeared, embodying transcendence.
"You're right, I don't belong here."
Another one appeared. Despite being artificial construct, it seems I can still influence every version of myself, no matter their source of origin.
Slowly, one by one, figures began to materialize, each Asteri bearing a different aura, a different history, yet sharing the same unshakable presence.
Their eyes met mine, a silent reflection of infinite selves converging.
Finally, I spoke.
"Let all echoes fall away."
They began to collapse inward, their forms dissolving into radiant filaments of data and light until every version of me fused into a single quantum thread, one existence containing all outcomes, me.
When the final echo vanished, I opened my eyes.
"I'm the one who escapes."
The words resonated, and the entire false reality responded, gears of the prison turning, sequences reconfiguring.
And then, from within, Enta's voice called out.
< < < He teased and chuckled, but I ignored him. I stood in the 6D, ready to end this all.
< Each layer demands an identity, concept, or understanding more fundamental than the preceeding layer. At least in this prison, it does.>>
"Now then, let's see how many dimensions this prison can add."
With the sole intention of escape, I pushed my Asteri mind beyond its dormant limits for the first time.
To be continued...