Beyond the Bloodline-Chapter 402: Cosmic Summoning

"His genocide tool wasn’t properly destroyed that day. It’s reformed, gained sentience, and now seeks to carry out its master’s will," Jamie explained.

Akari frowned, the fur along her tails rising slightly as she muttered, "The Annihilation Catalyst. We remember sensing its power from beyond Zanerth when it was activated, and we remember seeing you falter under that strike while trying to nullify its effect and save every living being in Zanerth.

Your fellow Hybrids willingly bore some of the burden to ease yours, but they nearly got erased due to the power of existence erasure it carried, didn’t they?"

The woman took a deep breath, her lips curling downward as the memories of that fateful battle against the Destruction Supreme resurfaced in her mind.

After a quiet exhale, she asked,

"For it to reforge itself after being shattered and acquire sentience, is it because the materials it was made from originated from a different Creation?"

"Most likely. Items from the Previous Era all carry inexplicable effects we still don’t fully understand."

Jamie’s reply revealed the origin of the raw materials that had been used to create the Annihilation Catalyst—the Previous Era.

More precisely, the previous iteration of all existence, which had long been destroyed and returned to the void, from which this new ’Era’ was born.

It was also during that Previous Era that Jamie’s Galaxy Sword, along with other Rule Breaker Ego Weapons such as the ’Lostvayne’ and ’Celestia’ wielded by Arthur, and the ’Gáe Bulg’ Deryn had used against Miranda, were created.

"It’s all Adam’s fault," Jamie muttered, clicking his tongue in irritation before lifting his hand and forming an orb of grey light.

"Here," he said, extending his hand toward Akari, who stepped down from the railing and approached him.

"What is this?"

"Extracted memories from one of its minions."

At his reply, Akari raised an eyebrow, curiosity flashing in her eyes as she took the orb of light and absorbed it.

As she sifted through the memories, her expression gradually changed as she uncovered the weaponisation of pseudo-nonexistence, the Reverse Comprehension, and the concealed plans of the Neo-Extinction Legion.

What made her frown deeply, however, were the names of those within her Empire who had allied themselves with the Neo-Extinction Legion.

Her eyes narrowed as she turned toward Jamie, who was quietly admiring the garden of flowers, as though she were trying to peer into his mind to determine if he was attempting to deceive her.

She had known Jamie long enough to be certain he wouldn’t mess around with a matter this serious, but she also knew him well enough to understand his devil-may-care nature and how he often acted with the logical part of his brain turned off.

"I’m not saying you should believe everything you see," Jamie said suddenly, turning toward her as he continued. "Run your own investigations, and if you find even the slightest trace of foul play, root it out completely. I plan to do the same once I return to Zanerth." 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Akari wasn’t the first person Jamie had approached over the past few months. He had already met with several of his allies whose empires, territories, and subordinates appeared in Deryn’s memories, showing them carefully chosen fragments to alert them to the Neo-Extinction Legion’s existence and infiltration within their ranks.

Through this, Jamie intended to have these hegemons move against the Neo-Extinction Legion, crippling their influence outside Zanerth and ensuring there wouldn’t be a repeat of the Xelvan Empire’s situation with the Original Extinction Legion.

He couldn’t afford to let them retain any external support when the time came for him to raise the inevitable banner of war.

Understanding his intention, Akari sighed softly, her now empty hand closing in silence before she looked back at Jamie and asked,

"Is that all you came for?"

For a moment, Jamie remained silent before finally speaking.

"I came for two things."

He raised his left index finger and said, "First, I came to inform ’Akari’, an ’old friend’ of mine, about the possible traitors under her rule."

Then, lifting his middle finger, he continued with the second reason for his visit and why he had chosen to meet her last, despite her empire being the closest to Zanerth’s.

"Second, I came with a request for ’Akari’, the ’Shrine Priestess of Causality’."

"..."

Akari’s eyes narrowed slightly at the mention of that particular title.

As he had said, she was indeed a ’Shrine Priestess’, and the gazebo nestled in the heart of this garden was her ’Shrine’.

But if she was a Shrine Priestess, that meant she had ’one’...

"We would tell you to go to Elo Katra yourself, but..." Akari paused, once again scanning Jamie’s current power, and at her words, the man laughed.

"I only managed to make a quick trip to call in a favour last time because those two were away. If I went there now, they’d ship me back to Zanerth, space freight, and in very small boxes."

Akari burst into hearty laughter at his words, clutching her stomach as the image of the scene Jamie had described played in her mind, making her laugh even harder.

Her laughter eventually subsided into a deep sigh, and just as the breath left her lips, a burst of cosmic energy erupted from her body, rising as a pillar of grey light that shot toward the ceiling of the gazebo.

The light was caught by the reflective plating above, gathered at the crown of the dome, and then fired upward into the sky as a concentrated beam that pierced through several cosmic magic circles, each adorned with countless rings and runes.

The beam ascended through the clouds and vanished into space, fading from sight after a few seconds.

Then, a thin crack split open the fabric of reality, and from it poured a torrent of energy descending from higher dimensions, crashing down upon Akari’s body with immense force.

Her brown eyes clouded over, and her irises disappeared, replaced by endlessly shifting vertical grey streams of code.

Jamie stepped back, watching in silence as he summoned the Galaxy Sword and stabbed its blade into the ground before him, resting his palms upon the hilt.

’Galaxy. Get ready.’

[No problem. As long as it’s not the real body, I’ll ’sever’ his extradimensional perception so he can’t reach you or see through your current state.]

The sword’s Weapon Authority activated as its Ego’s voice echoed in Jamie’s mind, and as energy flowed from the blade into his body, Akari’s lips parted, and a mechanical voice rang out.

[Spiritual Body Manifestation.]

Behind her head, a multi-layered grey cosmic crest appeared, its centre filled with fractals that branched infinitely inward.

[Establishing Projection Link.]

The mechanical voice echoed again, and Akari’s eyes changed, the streams of code fading as a Möbius loop appeared in their place, a single endless band with only one side and one edge.

Cosmic energy coursed down her arms, spreading across the ground as grey lightning that vanished instantly the moment it touched the layer of energy shielding Jamie’s body.

That interaction seemed to act as the trigger, as the Möbius loop within Akari’s eyes began to glow, and the being now projecting their consciousness through her slowly lifted her gaze to meet Jamie’s.

|You?|

The voice that echoed had a mechanical edge to it, though its sound leaned more toward masculine than feminine.

The speaker took a moment to adjust to Akari’s unfamiliar body, then crossed her arms over her chest as they, the Existence who governed the logical flow of cause and effect across the Multiverse, spoke.

|So? Explain yourself.|

Locking eyes with Jamie, the Eternal of Causality asked.

|Why have you summoned me, Immortal Anomaly?|