Chapter 303 – Khroia

For several moments, Dream felt the entire power output of the planet surge through him. 

Light bloomed as his entire body was engulfed in lightning, and internally, dramatic changes took place. 

Dream could feel his core of gray mist expand uncontrollably, multiplying in size every second. If the core were the size of a basketball before, it had instantly jumped to the size of a mountain, and it didn’t show signs of stopping. 

From a mountain to a continent, and from a continent to the size of a small planet. The core of gray mist grew explosively for an entire hour before calming down. 

But the changes didn’t stop at size. After becoming the size of a planet, Dream could feel the core churn as a small point in its center opened up. 

At first it was just a small void. But that void expanded, pushing all the gray mist into the outer walls of the core and creating a hollow sphere. 

At the same time, the small core that Dream had used to create the Inventory merged into the main core. With that, space filled the void of the main core. 

But unlike the space in the normal universe, this space within Dream’s core was turbulent, a mess of wavy energy that didn’t follow rules nor laws. 

Dream quickly realized what the problem was. It wasn’t that the space wasn’t following the laws of physics, but that there were no laws of physics for it to follow. 

The space within the core wasn’t subject to the laws, nor concepts, of the universe.   

At the same time, Dream’s mind began to elevate, attuning to the concepts and revealing the invisible information of the universe. 

His memories also began to return. 

The trip to the Asura world. 

The awakening and development of Tersa Prime. 

Earth’s merging with Tersa Prime. 

Luna’s return to Dream from Heaven. 

And the takeover of the concepts that triggered the great war. 

Everything came flooding back, even up until the point where Dream had thrown away his power before recklessly infusing his being into the four greatest concepts. 

With these memories came knowledge and awareness of the concepts. And with awareness came the bridge that extended itself to him in the form of energy. 

“Stop.”

Suddenly, he spoke. In that instant, all the power that had been rushing into him was shut down. 

The entire robotic world had their focus trained on Dream as he stood at the highest summit. 

He was still for a long while as his core continued to roil and thrum. 

And then, space shattered. 

“Retreat!”

“Retreat!”

All the nearby robots instantly ran away as even the chaotic void around Dream was torn apart. It was a cataclysmic bomb that expanded for hundreds and thousands of miles. 

It engulfed the entire planet, all the robots destroyed with it. 

Ad for a while, nothingness existed in the space around Dream. 

Until, a light bloomed in the darkness. From Dream’s chest came an explosion of energy. 

And then, the planet reappeared, as if it had never been destroyed. 

All the robots, thinking they were dead, were stunned when they regained themselves. 

The leader before Dream, who had never left even in the face of death, spoke with wonder. Its robotic eyes flickered with something other than digital code. 

From its being, one could feel a soul. They could feel life. 

The leader was the first to realize, all the others not far behind. 

“The Sovereign has blessed us.”

“Hail the Sovereign!”

“Hail!”

“Hail!”

“Hail!”

Chants rose around the entire planet. 

But the man who was the center of it all wasn’t exactly in the right mind to be paying attention. 

Dream’s eyes opened to take in the universe. What he saw was no logner the darkness of space or the gray of metal. When he looked down at the machine world…

Information. 

The lives of his robots. 

The roots of their souls, the bridges of energy that bound their existence to the universe. 

The Dust and Ash inherent to every being, one that made them a part of the concepts.

It was all centered onto him. 

And within him, within his core of gray mist, was an identical image of every single robot and every single atom of the machine world. 

This world now existed both within him and beyond him. 

As if he was the universe they were rooted to. 

And there was one energy within him that allowed all of this to happen. 

Dream looked at his core, which was no longer simply gray mist. 

“Khroia.”

That mystical, unknown energy that Dream was unable to find or create before he died, or that he died to create. It was on the same order as Dust and Ash, but unlike them, it was unbound and unaligned with Order and Chaos. 

It was something that could become both, or remain neither. And without those binds to restrict it, Khroia was capable of so much more. 

“Perhaps with this, I’ll be able to do what I couldn’t.”

Dream observed the world under him. Then, he smiled at the leader. 

“I totally did that on purpose. I truly am a genius.”

“The Sovereign is all powerful.”

“Mm. Oh, but there’s someone I want you all to meet. Let me see if I can grab him real quick.”

Saying that, Dream suddenly stuck out his hand, his arm disappearing into the fabric of reality. Like that, he dug around as if searching for something in a bag. 

………

Meanwhile, on Tersa Prime.

Melody was sitting around a table, in the presence of 6 others. They were the other gods of the Asura clans. 

They were naturally preparing for the horrible war that had already kicked off. 

They were discussing tactics solemnly, feeling the pressure of the war weighing down on them. Not even they would be able to escape this calamity. 

But then, a hand suddenly appeared. 

The Asura gods all froze as they stared at Melody. She looked at them weirdly. 

“What?”

“Hand.”

They pointed, and Melody turned. 

There was a hand poking out of space. It was a starry hand, looking like space filled with colorful stars. But most unsettlingly, it was waving around as if trying to grab Melody. 

“Ah! Get away!”

Melody jumped and flew away, but the hand actually followed her, clawing around like it wanted ot pull off her clothes. 

It was fast as she was unable to escape it, so with an annoyed grunt, she grabbed her sword. 

“Cut it!”

She slashed down, and space along her blade was cleanly severed in two. Considering that space on Tersa Prime was reinforced by tens of thousands of times, this was an impressive display that showed power capable of surpassing the entire planet. 

But the hand didn’t try to dodge. Instead, it flipped around and brought back its finger. 

And it flicked out.

*Ting!*

The blade was thrown back by the finger, not leaving the slightest blemish on the finger. Everyone gawked. 

Melody cursed at the horrific power in that hand. 

“What the fu- Hey!”

Before she could react, the hand suddenly lunged, grabbed at Melody. 

But it didn’t grab her clothes. Instead, it grabbed something more intangible. 

“Aegis!”

Melody was shocked as the liquid comprising Aegis’ body was pulled off. Shockingly though, Aegis didn’t resist. 

Instead, he reformed into his classic butler appearance.

“My Lord! I respond to your call!”

“Wha..? Aegis?!”

Melody was baffled as Aegis took the hand and let himself be pulled beyond the fabric of reality. 

Like that, he disappeared, and Melody was left gritting her teeth. 

“Dammit Dream!”

………

Back on the machine world. 

Aegis appeared when Dream pulled. He instantly fell on one knee. 

“My Lord! Words cannot describe how thrilled I am to be before you once again.”

“Huhu, it’s good to see you too, Aegis. But flattery doesn’t work on me. I’ll still upgrade you though. It’ll be my treat.”

“I am honored by your blessings.”

“Hm, your words make me feel tingly.”

Dream smiled weirdly. Then, he turned to the leader of the machine world. 

“This is Aegis. He is my butler, and from this day forth, shall be the leader of this machine world.”

“The Sovereign’s Word is our command!”

The entire world called out. Then, Dream turned back to Aegis. 

“Take my hand.”

Aegis did as he asked, and suddenly, he was engulfed in the same cataclysmic fractures that overtook the machine world. 

Dream saw Aegis appear within his core, and then, he reappeared in the universe. 

“Good. I have something in mind for your upgrade, but it’ll have to wait until I get the materials for it. Instead, there’s a project that we all need to begin carrying out. Machine World, heed my words.”

Dream turned his head to the space beyond. Now more than ever, he could feel the turbulence of the world. It was worse than before. He could practically taste the calamity befalling the Asuras, and his wives. 

He smiled though. 

“From now on, we prepare for total war.”

His words sent a shockwave through the world. 

The robots roared. 

“War!”

“War!”

“War!”

“War!”

“War!”

Dream heard the chants and smiled even wider. 

“Go and harvest!”

With a wave of the hand, the surface surged. The nanties that had long engulfed the planet piled on each other and began constructing continent sized ships. 

Robots were created and given life, their souls bursting with energy rooted in the mechanical nature of computational power. 

Ships rose from the planet, all of them aimed toward the stars. 

Dream led them like an orchestra. 

“Conquer the stars! Bring their spoils to me!”

The ships lit up with explosive beams that launched them through the void. 

They appeared before stars, and using the power that Dream gave them, wrapped them in spatial waves and pushed them back. 

Dream watched as the beacons of the universe were snuffed out. He watched as stars appeared before him. 

He watched as their material was sucked out and processed. Such unfathomable energy from not tens, not hundreds, not thousands, but millions of stars were being funneled through Dream and turned into material. 

Dream, now the center of something brighter than any star, cast his gaze across the rest of the universe. 

“It’s about time I got serious. Those gods better watch out. A few of them are going to be material for Aegis. And I like having a strong butler.”

Dream’s vision centered down on a few beings as he said that, 

He could see five gods, the mixture of their concepts being what Dream wanted to forge Aegis with. 

“Good. They’ll work. But first, I’ll need a weapon.”

Saying that, he focused on all the energy fowing through him. 

He grinned as he began creating the perfect weapon.

………

……

The gods had been gathered. 

At the call of the highest, Order, they all prepared to engage in this universal war. 

Not many of them knew why, and those that did merely said that the enemies were invaders from another universe. 

It wasn’t a good explanation, but nobody could go against Order, who had personally appeared. 

He even deployed two angels, who were the gods of Life and Creation, in order to spearhead the fight against the enemy leaders. 

But they served a second purpose. 

To kill those who dared to refrain from battle or side with the enemy. 

And Order wasn’t the only one. Chaos similarly emerged with two of his minions, Death and Annihilation. 

The highest powers of the universe were going to war. Nobody could avoid it. 

And so, the greatest assembly of power was held in Heaven with every god in attendance. 

There, they all had to listen to an eyeball give every single one of them orders. 

It wasn’t a pleasant experience. 

Thankfully they were allowed to disperse and go back to their reclusive abodes while the war blazed with the fuel of trillions of soldiers. 

One such god was the Void god. 

As the one of the closest concepts to Death itself, the Void was a special god. 

Those who wielded the concepts needed to conjure creative ways to utilize their concept to either attack or survive. The Void used, well, the Void in order to banish its enemies to eternal nothingness or tear at their existences. In this way, it could basically eat its enemies, which was another way of describing the process of consuming and eradicating their beings. 

Naturally, this also made it a chaotic god. Being stared at by Order also made it nervous. 

The void god returned to its little place in the universe. 

Of course, this little place was actually a black hole. 

That black hole spun with impossibly high momentum, releasing endless gravitational waves that could tear stars apart. The void god found that black holes resembled it the most, and so its home was one such black hole.

When it arrived though, it was shocked to see another being already there. 

That being turned when he sensed its arrival.

“Oh, you’re finally here! I’ve been waiting for…”

He sifted through a pocket, retrieving and looking at a pocket watch. 

“...41 seconds! But then again, what is time in a place so distorted as this?”

“Not as relative as you might think.”

The Void responded before coagulating into distinguishable form, a black being that resembled the black hole not far away. 

It settled its gaze on the visitor.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Dream! I don’t believe this is our first time meeting. I happen to be the husband of one of the girls you gave a blessing to.”

“Blessing… Ah!”

The void quickly remembered.

Iris. During her and Luna’s class 4 advancement, she had been blessed by the void god. It was one of the things that made it so difficult for Dream, and forced him to create gray mist for the first time. They all almost died. 

Back then, Dream had vowed to dish out some hurt to those gods who made it difficult for him. 

“I’m here to make true on a promise. But, there are now two ways we can do this.”

Dream put up two fingers. 

“One, I dish out some metaphorical hurt since pain is nonexistent to gods, which basically involves me commandeering that god core. Two, I run a little experiment on you, which may end with your continued existence and claim to said god core. Which shall you choose?”

“...Do you ask these questions expecting something contrary to the highly probable?”

The Void asked with cynicism. Dream responded with a sigh. 

“Yea, I know. I always ask these things, but really, who ever gives them any thought? Even your situation at this moment is obvious, but because of your doubt, or perhaps your pride… Your ego gets in your way and forces you to be at odds with me. You can’t accept that merely my existence in this universe at this location and moment has determined that you are powerless against me. After all, it implies that I’m able to go beyond the gaze of Order, his power likewise.”

“...You’re right.”

Surprisingly, the void didn’t doubt him. After all, it knew who Dream was. 

He was the target of the previous war 80 thousand years ago. It only ended with his death, and the death of Luna and Iris who had been wreaking havoc across Heaven and Hell. 

Everything Dream said was correct. 

“However, I still desire to know if your power is capable of ripping away my god core. Do you know why I choose to face you when all seems to be fated?”

The void asked as its body began to churn, not unlike the black hole it used as its home. 

Dream smiled at it. 

“Of course I know. Because in your dull and complacent existence, you desire something fun, something different. Fighting in the face of absolute power is more chaotic than choosing the less probable answer to my proposition. Regardless, you choose to fight.”

“And you knew that before even coming here. So why ask in the first place?”

“What can I say? I enjoy engaging others in discussion. Now…”

With a flick, a pistol appeared within Dream’s hand. 

In his other hand appeared a bullet. Except, unlike a normal bullet, a neutron star was compressed into the cartridge. 

He loaded that bullet into one of the chambers of his revolver, pointing it at the void god. 

Dream himself felt a bit thrilled. 

“I suppose its time to see if my weapons are capable of killing gods.”