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599 Out of Time (Part 3)

“This isn’t possible. We have been monitoring the condition of the other universes!” A distressed old man clothed in military attire disclosed to his peers, who were currently seated by a long rectangular table. Some of them had their heads resting on their palms, while some others were slouched on their chairs, disheartened by the recent discovery.

At the head of this table was the Warlord, who appeared to be staring at the uncomfortable figure of Okka while deeply buried in his own thoughts.

A second admiral, a young-looking woman with short blond hair and bright red lips leaned over the table, “Is it possible that there was a mistake in your calculations?” She asked the individual that was sitting opposite her. Her tone was not accusatory, yet, from the latter’s response, it was.

“My scouts would have never made such a mistake!” the middle-aged woman blurted out in indignation. “It was as reported. Horror’s domain on average takes up to five months to swallow a universe.

Their path was always meant to lead them to us, but that was not going to happen for at least three more years! Even in our worst predictions, which accounted for them skipping half of the universes on their path.. They shouldn’t have been here for another twenty months.”

The woman’s words made sense. The time limit for the project was set for a year and a half in the future, the safest estimate for the arrival of Horror’s horde. By that time, even considering the ongoing war, the Scientific Command of the Immortal Armada would have been able to complete the formation, sealing the universe until they decided otherwise.

But, alas, reality did not follow their estimates. Something had changed, causing Horror’s domain to arrive much sooner.

“How.. how much time do we have?” A fourth admiral, a grizzled man with impeccable posture, asked right as he turned to look at Okka, who sat uncomfortably under the weight of what he believed to be the Warlord’s quiet scrutiny. His tone did not match his composure, as it betrayed an extremely worried state of mind.

As if unwilling to disturb the Warlord’s gaze by looking away, Okka began to explain, “As you all may or may not know, obtaining information about a universe once the invasion starts is nearly impossible. What we know, however, is that Horror’s horde is composed of four different contingencies. We call them the main army, the reinforcements, the gatekeepers, and the scouts.

This is how an invasion works. Initially a scouting team is sent to a new universe. Their task is to inspect the area that surrounds the interdimensional portal, and if possible, take control over it. What follows, is the arrival of the main army, tasked with fighting the forces within the universe, the gatekeepers, tasked with controlling the interdimensional portal during the invasion, and the reinforcements, a contingency that, once part of the main army, was previously left behind in one of the by the main army to finish the job before once again joining back with the main army.

Once the main army, the gatekeepers and the reinforcement arrive, the scouts move on to the next universe. The scout’s team calls it ‘Horror’s rotation.’”

Confused by the explanation, the short-haired admiral asked, “Then, the group that crossed our portal-“

“They were scouts, yes.” Okka confirmed. “The horde does not move blindly. As a universe’s conquest begins, the scouts are sent to find a new universe to consume.. Their arrival indicates that this universe is next.”

The situation was dire. The admirals were the most powerful entities within the Immortal Armada, yet their army was composed of nothing more than a group of cultivators. Independent and giftless cultivators who had decided to stay away from the conflict between aspects of existence, and who wanted to carve a place for themselves somewhere where they wouldn’t need to fear these deities’ hegemony.

Despite their gifts, what scared the admirals the most weren’t the monsters within the horde.. But Horror itself. A creature that could wipe them out of existence the moment his army would cross the portal, leaving them free reign to awaken this universe to the true meaning of his grim nature.

The idea of all the lives that depended on their decisions was enough of a burden to their scared minds. But, for some reason, it also steeled their resolve. Fear was just a feeling, one that as cultivators they had to fight against. A collective thought that allowed them to reach the same conclusion.. Complete Amber Stone, now, or evacuate.

—–

The emergency meeting was a long, yet necessary one. Not because they couldn’t come to a consensus, but because the weight of failure was so heavy that each of the Admirals would think through every thought they had a dozen times before expressing it. It was only after over ten hours that a clear plan was made, and each department of the Armada began to move.

The most noticeable change in the Armada’s behavior was the halting of military operations. A change that the elemental army had noticed immediately. The patches of space and systems that were once fought for had now been abandoned by the cultivators, who appeared to have retreated from them completely.

For days the elemental army fell into a state of confusion. Had the Armada surrendered? Had they left? They had no way of knowing, and for that reason, they dared not occupy territory. What they did instead, was to reinforce the front and wait.

Sure enough, they did not have to wait for too long. Ten days after the cultivators’ retreat, a large cargo ship, as big as a small country, had approached the front.

Alerted by the sudden appearance, the elementals did not dare approach. While their kind was a spacefaring one, their powers allowed them to move through space the same way they lived.. On a fast moving planet. Spaceships, on the other hand, were a symbol of humanity, hence why they did not dare approach the enormous ship willy nilly.

An old and powerful water elemental, a jellyfish made entirely out of water, slowly swam towards the spaceship. Far behind it, millions of his kind awaited to engage in a fight at the first sign of hostility. Yet, as the water elemental approached the spaceship, it suddenly came to a realization. Aside from the elements of fire and air produced by the ship’s propellers, he could not feel any element. No air being inhaled or exhaled, no flasks of water from which to drink from, no body heat.. The ship was empty.

As the water elemental approached the ship, it immediately noticed that not only the life support systems of the ship were deactivated, but that several airlocks had been left open, leaving the ship completely depressurized. Only the cargo bay appeared to have been left locked.

It did not take long for the water elemental to come to the conclusion that the ship must have been abandoned, left to drift in their direction by chance.. Yet, just as the large jellyfish was about to return, a small, nearly invisible motion scanner caught him in its sight.

Suddenly, the ship came to life. One after another the systems turned back on. First the power, then the engine, and finally, the computer that controlled the airlocks. The water elemental immediately backed away, and once he reached what he believed to be a safe distance, almost as if on cue, the hangar of the massive cargo ship began to open, releasing what appeared to be thousands of humanoid entities into space.

Immediately the entire elemental army made preparations to start a fight, but soon realized that these entities were not a threat, for they were dead. A realization the water elemental had come upon much earlier than his companions, alongside a much more dire one.

Closer than the rest, the water elemental immediately recognized these corpses. Not by their appearance, as their nature did not allow them to differentiate between living creatures like cultivators did, but from the stench these corpses carried. One different from the usual scent of death they had gotten so used to lately, but a stench that oppressed them, and sent the atoms of their bodies into a chaotic state. A smell that possessed the characteristic qualities of the gifts of Horror’s domain.

As he prepared to report his findings, however, the water elemental noticed that a piece of paper was nailed to the bodies that now floated all around him. With the swift motion of one of his tentacles, he grabbed one and brought it in front of his eyes. On it, a single word, “Parlay.”

—–

Just like Immortal Armada, the elementals had long become aware of the more threatening among the many domains within the multiverse. And the domain of Horror was, without a doubt, right at the top of that list. Despite sharing this fear with the cultivators, however, the nature of this fear differed between the two groups.

While the Immortal Armada was aware of their inferiority, the Elemental Army was almost blinded by their beliefs. To them, their almighty Lord was a savior, their only hope for creating a future for the elementals that didn’t include being exploited by power-hungry cultivators.

Contrary to what a few would say, this belief was not sheer delusion. They had seen first-hand the power of the lord. His ability to wield the power of nature under his control was what had kept them safe for thousands of years, and his powers had yet to stop growing. After all, they had yet to gain full control over a whole untouched universe. Who knew how powerful he would be once he could harness the power of this whole universe.

While this was the conviction of the vast majority of the Elementals that followed him, the ancient ones knew the real cause of the Lord’s powers.. Because that was a power they had granted him. At the same time, they also knew that the only way the lord had to increase his power wasn’t to expand his control over the universe, but increase his synchrony with the powers of Mana, like he had been attempting to with the essences of light and darkness.

If the Lord happened to succeed in this, they too believed that he would become powerful enough to rival, if not defeat the most powerful entities in the multiverse.. The aspects of existence.

But, alas, this hope was not shared by all the elemental ancestors. Uncountable failures in adding the powers of light and darkness to his body had left the ancestors of light, dark and spatial essence dubious about the Lord’s potential, and although they feared his powers, in their eyes, he remained an outsider and an anomaly.

They did not believe that he would ever achieve the level of power necessary to keep their kind safe, especially since, in theory, he would have required to merge with elemental treasures so rare that even they, three of the rarest kinds of elementals in the universe, had never even laid eyes upon. The treasure of sound essence, and rarest of them all, to a point where their existence was only a theory, the treasure of the essence of time.

These doubts, paired with their own naturally polarizing and abrasive personalities, had caused a divide between the elementals. Now, divided they were, discussing how to tackle the same problem in two different ways.

While most of the elementals discussed the arrival of Horror’s horde, and the possibility of a parlay with the cultivators alongside the Lord, the ancestors of space, light and darkness were having their own conversation about the matter.

In an empty and dark room the three ancestors stood, one bright and holy, one transparent, like a perfectly clear ice sculpture, and one similar to a standing shadow that could only be seen thanks to the light produced by the first entity.

“I do not care if this is a trap. In fact, I would prefer it if it was.. It would do good to show the Lord’s incompetence.” The ancestor of space muttered to himself. His tone was a faint one, as he had only voiced one of the many thoughts that occupied his mind. “But if it isn’t, we face loss regardless of which path we take.”

The ancestors of light immediately understood the words of his peer, after all, despite maintaining his holy and calmer demeanor, he too had realized what their position was. The only one who appeared confused was the ancestor of darkness, who turned to his left and asked, “What do you mean?”

To answer was not the ancestor of space he had asked the question to, but the holy figure, who said with a matter-of-fact tone, “If this is a trap, we take control of the army but lose the universe to the cultivators. If the horde’s threat is real, however, we either evacuate and fight our way out, or ally with the cultivators and, once the universe is sealed, solidify the Lord’s position.”

The arrival of Horror’s domain had truly put a halt on the plans of the three elementals, who were now left with very few inconvenient choices. However, even in all their arrogance, they too could see what the only viable option was.. And that was the last option.

While they did not care for the lives of common elementals, the Lord was neither a tyrant nor an enemy to them, and if they could agree that he maintained power temporarily before, they could do it again. At least until the threats of the cultivators and Horror’s horde were solved.

Before they could voice their agreement, a disembodied voice echoed reassuringly, “I have an alternative..”