Chapter 1238: ‘First Born of Creation’

Walking through the portal, the party was assaulted by the winter winds that caused them to shiver. Even Lyrica could feel the cold while Shiro shrugged it off.

Looking around her, Shiro realised that they were on top of a tall mountain covered with a blanket of snow. A surge of mana could be seen converging around the peak.

Making their way to the top, they could see countless tubes and wires connected to a large throne that was overlooking the world. The view from the mountain top was gorgeous if one ignored the horrors that lay below. The soothing blanket of clouds moved softly in the horizon.

From this spot, one could see a distant thunderstorm surging around the god beast.

“Seems like she has died.” A voice rang out as Shiro nodded her head.

Her expression was serious as she felt uneasy around the woman’s presence. Like something deep within was calling her to either step away or eliminate the source.

‘She is the First Born of Creation, it’s only natural that I have an adverse reaction.’ Shiro thought to herself. Even with her balanced state, it was hard to withstand the natural repulsion due to their natures.

“I suppose I should take her to paradise.” The woman muttered. Waving her hand, mana surged and Shiro widened her eyes.

She had interactions with souls so naturally she understood what was happening.

Flickering forward, Shiro grabbed the woman by the arm with a glare.

“A soul should be left well alone. Especially if she had already done her part.” Shiro warned.

Finally seeing the woman in full, Shiro was shocked as she looked exactly like Aria in facial structure with the difference being that she had long black hair instead.

She could see that the tubes connected to the throne were then connected into her back as she turned her head towards Shiro lethargically.

“My my~ It’s been a while hasn’t it sister? Have you come to visit me?” ‘Aria’ tilted her head with a sickening smile. Her eyes seemed unfocused as Shiro felt repulsed by her smile and let go of her arm.

“Oh? You’re not visiting me? Then you’re here for business then. What would you like to talk about with a fake like me?” She laughed.

“Fake?”

“Oh? Are you a fake as well? You should know shouldn’t you? Or are you like the one that just died. A fake with no use.” ‘Aria’ asked as her smile slowly faded.

“No no, that shouldn’t be the case. I can smell destruction on you after all.” Her voice whispered behind Shiro’s ear as she had suddenly appeared behind Shiro. Her arms wrapped around Shiro and reached down to her abdominal area.

“Right~… here…” She muttered as her smile suddenly stopped.

“Wait… that’s not right.”

Feeling her warnings trigger immediately, Shiro twisted her body and tried to grab the woman but she had disappeared once more and reappeared on her chair.

The interaction lasted less than a second as Lyrica was about to summon her sword but Shiro shook her head.

“Why do you have creation inside you as well?” ‘Aria’ asked with narrowed eyes.

“Guess I’m just special.” Shiro replied as ‘Aria’ nodded her head.

“That’s right, sister has always been special. Even in the eyes of mother Chaos. I guess you are real after all, and not like those fakes.” ‘Aria’ smiled happily.

“So what brings you here sister? You can ask me anything you know?”

“Anything? Then can you tell me about the gateway to the watchman’s locker?” Shiro asked as she had a bad feeling in her heart.

Shiro. C had warned that discussion was difficult with this ‘Aria’ but it didn’t seem like the case so far. Was it because she was focused on the status of real and fake? She was unsure but the unease in her heart refused to fade.

“Of course! Anything for you sister~ But before that, even as a fake, I have feelings too… Why did you leave me in this state?” ‘Aria’ asked as red tears started to well around her eyes.

“Here I am, unable to reawaken since I’m a fake. The real soul has been shredded to oblivion. Mother barely made a counterweight to offset your strength. And yet you are here once more…” ‘Aria’ cried as her emotional state started to become unstable. The creation energy around them flared up once more.

Glaring at ‘Aria’ Shiro stomped her foot down and surged her own mana, cancelling out ‘Aria’s’ display of power.

“You know the outcome if we fight. I don’t want to doom this world if I can help it.” Shiro warned as for the first time in a long while, her killing intent surged out without stopping.

Feeling as though the world had turned dark, ‘Aria’ froze up and could feel sweat dripping from her back. She felt as though the moment she made a single movement, a sword would claim her head.

Countless needle like pains stabbed at her body from all angles as her gaze focused on Shiro.

Meanwhile, Lyrica and the party could faintly feel Shiro’s killing intent even though they weren’t the target. While Lyrica has gotten used to it, the same couldn’t be said for the others.

Air was wrangled from their lungs in an instant as their knees buckled from the fear.

Not daring to make eye contact with Shiro, ‘Aria’ stared down at the floor.

Suddenly, Shiro grabbed her chin and forced her to look.

“So tell me what I want to know and I won’t have to resort to killing you.”

Sensing her death drawing near, panic filled her heart.

She couldn’t die, she didn’t want to die. If she died everything she worked for would end. Even if she’s a fake, she still wanted to fulfil her role as the First Born of Creation. She had to survive this.

Nodding her head while swallowing her saliva, ‘Aria’ felt the killing intent disappear as though it was a hallucination.

Catching her breath, she bit her lip before opening her mouth with reluctance.

“The God Beast. It’s placed at the crossroads of realms to siphon the destruction energy. You’ll find the gateway there. It will siphon anything and everything with destruction energy so you should be careful about it.” ‘Aria’ warned as she regained her calm.

“I will open the gate once you arrive but you’ll have to fend off the God Beast so it doesn’t invade the other realm or else it’ll siphon the energy.”

Nodding her head, Shiro was about to leave but stopped her steps. Since she was here, she might as well get all the answers that she wanted.

“Sorry if this is a little forceful. I can’t bring myself to listen to your words due to your appearance.” Shiro narrowed her eyes.

Appearing in front of ‘Aria’ Shiro grabbed her by the head and activated Error. Circuits exploded out of her arms and dug into ‘Aria’s’ body, scanning all of the codes within.

In her mind, a sequence of memories began to play as Shiro filtered the code for the information she wanted.

Countless sceneries flickered past her gaze, the peace, the happiness and the moments when the original First Born of Creation created life in the universe.

Then scenes of war appeared. The corpses of gods and higher beings alike. The destruction brought forth by the army of fallen commanded by the First Born of Destruction.

The unrelenting corruption she commanded with madness. Her eyes bloodshot while howling with laughter. She had fallen because of her own powers. Driven mad.

Then the scene of death. Aria chained against her will, the source of her creation energy roaring out in defiance but torn out from her body little by little. Words could not describe the pain of having one’s source of being shredded to oblivion while the First Born of Destruction laughed with insanity.

[None of this matters!] She declared with maddening glee. Her insanity sending shivers down Shiro’s back.

[It’s all a play! Nothing matters! Life is but a brilliant lie and we are the actors for her enjoyment! Let my final curtain call be the destruction of this chessboard!]

Shredding the last pieces of Aria’s power as the true First Born of Creation, she sent out a fusion of both energies and sent the world descending into a spiral of oblivion.

Then there was silence, the memories stopped as rebirth occurred. The calming presence of Chaos giving life to another First Born of Creation. But her powers were lacking. She could only make a fake counterweight for all the destruction that was caused. It was not a true solution.

As the final scene appeared, Shiro widened her eyes in shock. She couldn’t make out the details but it seemed as though the memories were being erased before she could view them.

Understanding that it must be the third party that Shiro. C mentioned, Shiro couldn’t help but click her tongue in annoyance before removing her hand from ‘Aria’s’ head.

With the truth now laid bare, Shiro frowned.

There was no First Born of Creation anymore. The original First Born of Destruction had stolen her source of power to end this world after finding out the truth. The ‘First Born of Creation’ in front of her was indeed a fake.

The only True First Born left was Destruction.