"Rakna, don't move. Don't look away," Arimane calmly instructed. "If there's one creature in this world you need to treat like a T-Rex, it's this thing."
Rakna didn't even bother to reply and fixed his eyes on the Gray One.
"The fact that it took your form and left you with 'color' means you're its target," Arimane added and bit into his lollipop. His hand was relaxed at his side but crackling with lightning. "It will not try anything drastic as long as I am here, so don't provoke it."
"W-why is it here? I don't understand…" Eva shivered in fear. She hadn't been made to deal with these kinds of situations. Her potential for battle was insignificant.
"The Gray One has a simpler title," Breksta whispered softly in response.
"The Grim Reaper," Arimane stated. "He… well, whatever pronoun can apply to a creature whose sentience is of a type yet understood; is one of the oldest Outer Gods. And considering he has his roots in the Death Realm; he's one of the strongest as well."
"I know that…!" Eva retorted, shouting but restraining her voice at the same time. "But why is it here?! Why target Rakna? Isn't it supposed to only chase those near death?!"
Arimane narrowed his eyes at the unmoving Gray One. "…you misunderstand," he said. "Well, it's natural, information is hard to scavenge. Shortly said, the Gray One doesn't target those who are about to die or escape death, as per popular knowledge. Not exactly, at least."
Rakna listened quietly as he stared at his copy. The latter was as still as a statue, not even paying attention to the words of the one man acknowledged as the strongest. The Gray One was aware of him, but its focus ultimately remained on its target; the colorful light in its gray field.
"He exists to expedite death," Arimane subsequently stated. "He doesn't collect souls; that's a job belonging to the Realm itself. All he does is kill. Nobody knows the conditions for being targeted, but once they are, the Gray One manifests to execute them. It doesn't matter if they are as lively as an ox, a child, or even a divine being; they are all potential targets."
"But that's not all," he sighed. "The Gray One can sometimes target more than a 'person'. If it so decides; entire cities, countries, planets, galaxies, and universes can be reaped."
"…why is it taking big brother's appearance then?" Eva asked feebly, trying to piece the situation together to stay calm.
"Young miss, imagine you were the first human being ever born. When the day of your demise comes by, oblivious to anything, what kind of image would you give the harbinger?"
Eva opened her mouth and then promptly closed it. "…I don't know."
Arimane chuckled. "The Gray One had to ask himself the same question, believe it or not. And the answer he arrived at was formless. He would imitate. Whether that be his prey itself, an illness, a monster, a natural disaster, a cosmic catastrophe… He can be anything."
"But most of the time," he waved his hand at the gray clone. "This is what you get. A stalker that makes you see yourself one last time before life exits your body. This is the original version of an out-of-body experience; the ultimate menace is to see yourself dead."
Eva tightened her throat and gripped her dress nervously.
"And honestly… I was kind of hoping rambling away would bore him enough to leave," Arimane laughed to himself. "But we're at an impasse. The Gray One won't let you two flee somewhere he can't reach, but he also won't risk facing me," he grumbled. "At this rate, I'll have to--"
"Old man, stop," Rakna abruptly raised his voice and the Gray One's face shifted eerily. He finally took one step forward and brought a grimace to everyone. It was as if his prey's voice had been a signal.
"Kid," Arimane frowned. "What are you doing?"
The therian smiled slightly and also took a step forward. The Gray One, who was about to take a second step, paused. Strangely, it reverted to a motionless status.
"To confirm, is there really no way to reason with it?" Rakna asked, and his copy advanced again after hearing him, which he immediately imitated, putting them back to square one.
Arimane's eyes narrowed. "…no," he answered. "He's the wrong type. To keep it short, there are three categories of Outer Gods; Eldritch, Idyllic, and Scion. This one belongs to the first. Eldritch Gods possess nonstandard intellect and logic, and this one is not weak enough to be intimidated. You got lucky with Azathoth as his Dream half makes him more docile and whimsical."
Rakna smiled. "I see," he said, and this time, he stepped forward first. As expected, the Gray One advanced as well. 'Compared to Azathoth who had the wisdom to communicate, this Outer seems… unforgivingly inhuman,' he thought to himself. 'He stops when I mimic him… it's uncannily robotic. Is it that he doesn't chase those who don't run away?'
"What's your plan?" Arimane crossed his arms.
"Shouldn't you stop him…?" Breksta asked worriedly.
The god calmly gazed at his nephew. "If he wants to do something, I won't stop him. I didn't raise him to blindly follow the decisions of others."
Rakna snorted and glanced at him. "Yeah, tell yourself that. The only thing you ever taught me was how to be rebellious."
"Isn't that the same thing?" Arimane shrugged. "I say that's a job well done."
Without bothering to retort, Rakna stepped forward again in sync with the Gray One. He smiled stiffly as the distorted face got closer. ArchMadness was preventing fear, but there was a purely rational part of his brain that was trying to hold him back.
This time, he stopped and stared at his doppelganger. 'What's your rule?' He asked himself whilst staring at the Outer God. 'Since I wasn't targeted on Earth, the blood serum wasn't the problem. If that's the case, something else happened in the System that fulfilled a condition.'
'Is it just that it got worse? Or that I should have died due to Roias?' He narrowed his eyes. 'That I awakened the Sins? Or the idea of the Philosopher's Stone itself? The Sage within me? All of it?'
"Well… it doesn't matter," he mumbled and the Gray One progressed. But this time, Rakna didn't match his pace. "Second question," he raised his voice. "This thing must be capable of sensing, or predicting death somehow, right?"
Arimane raised an eyebrow. "That's a dumb question. Of course, he can. He's not death itself, but he isn't far from it either. The Gray One can negate immortality and passively knows the date of anyone's passing. It's an authority that transcends destiny and time."
Rakna grinned as his copy closed in at a steady pace. "Well then, this is easy. You say that he is not as easily threatened. But, if you are not enough, let's just add more. So much so that he can't ignore self-preservation anymore. Would that work?"
At that, Arimane scowled. He looked up in thought for a moment and then exclaimed, "Ah."
At the same time, the Gray One stopped less than a meter away from its target. Then, sluggishly, it raised its arm and reached for its prey's head. Watching this, one would think that it was about to rip the therian's face off.
Rakna's expression was cold even as it approached. He knew deep to his bones that just a single contact with those fingers could and would kill him. But resisting… was never his intention.
Who he was counting on was none other than the Gray One itself.
Abruptly, the faceless clone froze; its hand a few centimeters away from Rakna. The mist inside its empty eyes wafted out like smoke and darkened significantly.
Rakna smirked. "I suppose you aren't used to it; to face your own doom."
The Outer God remained impossible to read. But even after hearing the taunt, it slowly lowered its arm and turned around. It walked away at a monotonous pace and once returning to the spot it had appeared in, the world regained its color.
And with that, the Gray One vanished. There wasn't the slightest display of frustration for giving up on its goal or even a delay in its departure. Emotions such as hesitation and anger were alien to this Eldritch God. It had come across a choice, made it, and retreated.
"…I have to say," Arimane muttered as he fished out another snack. "You learned that you have a yandere on your back and then took advantage of it on the very same day. Nice."
Rakna, who was sighing in relief, rolled his eyes at him.
"What… just happened?" Eva croaked out after a moment of silence.
"We are puzzled as well," Breksta tilted her head, though visibly more nonchalant.
Arimane huffed. "The kid threatened him, that's all," he said. "Honestly, alone, I am not enough to make the Gray One fear for his life. It's not that I can't kill him, but he's haughty enough not to be scared," he scoffed.
"And…" He continued. "I have a deal with the Death Realm's Will. The Gray One can flee from me, and if he also decides to hide behind my ally, I'd be in an annoying spot. And of course, killing the guy would bring about an unbalance in the Realms that I am personally unwilling to cause."
"But a certain 'daughter' of yours doesn't care about any of it," Rakna snickered. "Not only would she be mad that I was killed, but her motive includes all Realms. So… to the Gray One, there were only two outcomes. I die; he dies. Or I live, and I stop her. Heh, in a way, he might have predicted the future for us just now."
"…" At that, Arimane became uncharacteristically silent before he waved his hand at Eva. The girl yelped when a notification sound reached her ears.
"Uh?" She looked at her terminals. "The buffering is back to normal…"
"I lifted the Gray One's lingering suppression." Arimane looked at Rakna. "Return as soon as you can. It's for the best. Who knows if you are a dangling bait for more Outer Gods."
Rakna scoffed. "I sure hope not," he retorted sarcastically. "Also… didn't you say I had met three of them? Who's the third?"
"What? You didn't realize?" His uncle huffed. "The Heavens."
The therian's eyes widened.
"That's a term used since the Lost Era to call the entity responsible for creating Qi, which is also called the 'Breath of Life', and which those in the know therefore call… the 'Breath of Gaia'. That is the identity of The Heavens; the Idyllic God known as Gaia, Great Mother of Nature."
"That's…" Rakna gaped. The answer was both unexpected and agreeable. Gaia's name is usually either attributed to specifically the planet 'Earth'… or a primordial goddess of absolutely all flora and fauna.
No wonder Cetus was so strong despite his inferior prominence inside Egregore.
"Wait," he exclaimed as he realized something. "Then, of which Realm is she the Outer? Life?"
Arimane smiled wryly at that. "No. There is no doubt Gaia was the wisest, kindest, and strongest Outer God, but she isn't related to the Life Realm. Think about it. There used to be a Realm; much grander than any other."
"You mean…"
"What used to be the structure of the Lost Era; the perfect Realm that housed Realities without a single hint of chaos," Arimane looked up. "I personally call it the Exalted Realm. You know it; the very thing the Realm Synchronization is meant to restore."
"…"
"And, as I've already told you, the life of Outer Gods is tied to their Realm. But the Exalted Realm was not destroyed. It collapsed, turning into fragments which the Almighty scavenged with the Spiritual Tree."
"Gaia suffered the same fate; she is still alive today but fragmented across Existence. Her 'Breath' is the sign of her survival, while The Heavens are merely manifestations of her body and will. It used to be much more magnificent during the Lost Era, I hear. Her full power was half the reason the Exalted Realm was such a stable and thriving era."
"…is this a roundabout way of telling me to do something about it?"
Arimane smiled. "You're the key. You should know that. There's no point hiding it; you, and only you are capable of operating 'Eden' the correct way. Even I can't do anything worthwhile with it that wouldn't involve brute force."
"You're speaking as if it was made just for me."
To that, Arimane's smile widened into a grin. "Now… why would you ever think that?"
"…what about Ouranos then?" The therian asked back. "According to the shared myth, isn't he the actual embodiment of Sky and The Heavens? Why is it Gaia here instead?"
"Rakna, I know a lot, but not that much," his uncle retorted. "Even Krynox doesn't have extensive knowledge of the Lost Era, much less information on Outers. You have friends, plural, who know more than I do. If you're that curious, ask them when you go back."
Rakna scowled and turned his head toward Breksta, who smiled in embarrassment.
"We apologize… we do not know much either," she replied meekly.
Arimane snorted. "Unluckily for you, the lady over is a daydreaming shut-in," he joked and she pouted. "Also, much like Egregore, the Dream Realm has been wiped clean in the past."
"…" Rakna simply fell silent at that. His curiosity had reached a dead-end.
"Big brother," Eva interjected, interrupting them. "The 'path' is open; we can leave."
"It's time, it seems," Arimane stepped back. "Go, kid. We wouldn't want your girls to worry."
Rakna was visibly unimpressed by his teasing. "One last thing," he uttered as a mix of equations and magic formations surrounded him and Eva. "Since you seem to have it all figured out, do you know how the Empress intends to use Eden?"
"What? You want to know if you can woo her into a bargain?" Arimane chuckled.
"Just answer."
"Give up on the idea," he simply answered. "She wants to fuse with that hyper-concentrated crux of life force and trigger a whole new 'Big Bang'. I've done something similar before. The kicker here though is that she will use it as a weapon. She will toss Realms and Realities into emptiness itself in hopes to fill her existence even just a little."
"…I see. And do you think that would work?"
"Never," Arimane instantly denied. "She can't sate Meuro with just that. The only thing capable of filling up that place is something truly infinite. But I have yet to find anything matching that kind of description. Infinity is a ceiling that does not exist. The best you can do is turn it into a science, much like your pet does with his magic."
"Mathematics orbit around two concepts; zero and infinity. One is a valueless constant; the other is forever a theory," Arimane pointed at Rakna. "Even you… cannot make the latter. But as a good parental figure; I'll give you proper guidance to help," he smirked. "You cannot create something infinite, kid. But you can always do something infinitely."
With that, Rakna and Eva began to be engulfed in the System's light. Uncle and nephew stared at each other until the last second before one of them finally disappeared.
When they were gone, Breksta turned toward her friend. "Was that truly satisfactory? You could have spent more time with him, no?"
Arimane snorted. "It's fine. Best let him finish his own 'journey' first and then we can catch up all we want," he said and without saying anything, he unfurled a pair of wings wider than his height. At the same time, each of his irises split into two.
"For now… I must make my own preparations," he stated. "As much as I trust the kid, he won't be able to deal with that so-called daughter of mine. Even with M̸y̶e̴r̸'s 'Miracle', King Gulon and the Wailful Nightmare won't get far."
"That bad?" Breksta tilted her head, not troubled by the name spoken in the Original Language.
"Oh yes," the Eternal Night God chortled. "The Téra are genetically programmed to only be able to grow as strong as their progenitor, which is me. Achieving the limit of her evolution would have been dangerous enough. But she also tamed Meuro into herself… if it wasn't because she is unsure of how to extract Eden, she would have already ransacked Systema."
"Hm… we understand that part," she nodded. "But will you intervene personally?"
"Not yet. For now," Arimane's peculiar eyes narrowed. "I have a few places to pay a visit to. First, let's see what I can do for Tiamat. And secondly… while I already knew it existed somewhere; it's time I unveil it for good; that elusive Fairy Realm."