Point out any mistakes please
____
It was a clear and sunny day, flowers and blooming, birds are singing, kids were playing. On calm days like these, something bad was definitely going to happen. And something did happen.
The world went dark, as if a dark cloud had engulfed the entire city. Instead of a cloud it was a enormous several kilometer wide burning meteor. The air in the city heated rapidly as the meteor approached, from a nice spring 72 degrees to a harrowing 150 degrees. And it was still climbing.
However, no one ran, they didn't have time to. And they knew there was no point, this isn't the first time, and it likely wouldn't be the last time something like this will happened.
It was either they were saved, our they all died. After all, this was an attack from an arbiter, challenges sent by the Gods to test humanities qualifications to climb the tower of heaven. If they chose to run it'll simply follow until each and every person who was deemed as "challenged" was dead.
What's the tower of heaven one may ask?
.
.
.
What you been living under a rock?
The Tower of Heaven is a massive pillar like tower that reaches beyond the clouds. When it first descended in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, many governments tried to see the top using planes and drones but no matter how high they flew they couldn't see an end.
Then satellites were used and stil nothing, then the space stations, still nothing. The tower stretched across the entire solar system with no end, but somehow it never collided with any planets or the sun. It was as if it wasn't even there.
It left scientists baffled, many called to chalk it up to planetary mass hallucination. But obviously that wasn't the case.
It didn't take long for truth to be revealed.
A few hours after the Towers mysteries appearance a light brighter than even the Sun shone in the sky and a voice echoed within the minds of all humans.
"From this day forth humanity will be faced with challenges each month over the next 5 years to test your qualifications to climb the tower of heaven. What is left of the world will be allowed to participate in the grand climb, and if you reach the top, you may make any one wish. Good luck, you'll need it."
Even the most skeptical person couldn't find a way to say any of it was fake. The insane on the other hand, found a way to blame a shadow government that didn't exist.
At first the challenges were pretty "easy", hordes of monster like creatures you can find in mythology, corrupted animals, zombies, super infectious viruses.
As the years went by, it got harder and harder. From regular beasts to giant magical creatures like dragons and hydras. But even those were still manageable due to them being susceptible to higher caliber weaponry.
Then the forth year came and the Arbiters appeared. While they remained monsters, they could use what many simply call magic although it isn't quite the same.
They were far stronger, far faster, and far more durable than anything humanity had to face before. Any bullet below anti tank did nothing and even those barely left a scratch. Innovation had to speed up, or they'd all end up dead. And just like the beasts multiple spawn and attack each country simultaneously, so there's hardly ever any support from foreign countries.
This means that many countries that had weak militaries fell quickly.
However, as things were starting to look grim beings known as the blessed appeared.
The blessed are humans who have been blessed with power from the Gods of the tower. These blessing didn't come for free, the gods more often than not will demand something in return.
These blessed individuals allowed for the fight to continue on while scientists and engineers develop new weapons.
Now we have reached the 5th and final year of these challenges, and another Arbiter has appeared. This one has come without a sound, not even a warning. It simply dropped a 10 kilometer wide meteor directly on top of Kansas Missouri.
Now we move to our protagonist Ella Flinn
"Well, it's Ben Grimm." She said uninterestedly, simply continuing to play her game. It's not like she could really do anything to help.
She wasn't a blessed and while she was trained in how to use a gun like everyone else, against a 5th year Arbiter outside of things like a Railgun they were essentially useless. Nukes worked of course, but that's if you manage to hit one with it, even then it's not a guaranteed kill.
Lucky though, a blessed is stationed in Kansas.
A golden eyed man stood on a floating golden platform, and raised his hand towards the sky.
Golden light flickered and began to converge in the city, it shined brightly, it illuminated everything and granted hope to the citizens. To those who have already accepted death, to those who want to be saved. However, they all knew hope was the gate way to despair.
From the golden light two massive hands formed and reached out for the meteor. Attempting to catch it before it landed on the city. But two weren't enough, it barely slowed the meteors descent and began to be pushed back.
Golden light converged once more, this time an army of giant hands began to fly towards the meteor, bombarding it with opposing pressure. The golden eyed man gritted his teeth and poured everything he could into generating more projections of light.
His power granted to him by Aether the Greek God of Light, allowed him to absorb, become, and manipulate light. However the meteor which has blotted out the sky has left him only being able to use the light he'd already stored.
Eventually the meteor slowed to a halt. It's form now riddled with golden projections while being held up by massive hands.
The golden eyes of the man now dimmed, its once shining glow which was as radiant as the sun where now an empty yellow. He reached up to ear and tapped a small earpiece
"I've got the meteor, but I'm basically empty. Do we have eyes on the Arbiter yet?" He asked calmly
"No, we still have no idea where it is. We can't find any energy readings in the city at all." The response came quickly but it didn't bring him much hope
"Have you guys scanned the meteor itself yet? It could be hiding inside."
"Hold on, let us check." Hundreds of drones flew through the air towards the meteor hanging in the sky and began to scan.
"We aren't really picking any energy signatures it seems like a perfectly nor- Wait I'm getting a reading…. ITS ABOVE! I having a reading! Somethings coming from above the meteor and it's coming in fast!"
"Shit!" The man shouted "I don't have the energy to stop another extinction event!"
Although he could absorb the light given off from the buildings around him, it simply wasn't enough for anything meaningful.
"Is back up almost here at least?!" He asked quickly
"N-"
BOOM!
A second meteor shaped object crashed into the giant one that was previously stopped. The secondary object was only around half the size of the original meteor, however it traveled far faster and much further.
If Ella were witnessing the scene she'd have seen how it played out comically close to the shinobi alliance stopping Madara's first meteor then getting hit with the second.
The citizens had all breathed sighs of relief when they witnessed the meteor being stopped. Who'd think the Arbiter had something else prepared too?
They prepared to celebrate, then it was lights out. Everything within a 100 kilometer radius was blown apart. And the shockwaves could be felt from even further.
On this day, humanity took the biggest hit they've ever taken in a single day.
The only life left was in the sky, the Golden eyed man.
"Shit." With his ability to turn into light he was the fastest and hardest to put down blessed in the entire world, he'd never die to something as simple as a meteor. The normal people on the other hand weren't so lucky.
"Is it still alive?" He asked into his earpiece
"We're not sure, but be on the ready. It wouldn't do something like that if it wasn't sure it could survive."
"This got out of hand quickly, if this is what we're facing out here. What the hell is in the Tower." He asked gruffly, frustration lacing his voice.
_______
{Do you wish to live?}
'Huh?' Ella intoned 'What is this? What do you mean?" She tried looking around but could see nothing but darkness. The only light emanating from the blue interface informs of her.
{Ella Finn, as of May 2nd, 2035. You have died In the meteor impact caused by the Arbiter designated as Terra Gravinitia. And as if this moment you are nothing but a lost soul.}
'Seriously?' She asked the Blue screen in front of her. 'Didn't Golden Spark stop it?'
{The individual known as Golden Spark successfully stopped the initial meteor impact, however failed in stopping the second, caused by Terra Gravinitia using its body to slam into the meteor at high speeds.}
'Damn, I'd popped open my last sprite in celebration too.' She said in dejection
{Answer, Do you wish to Live? To grow stronger?}
'To live and get stronger huh… depends, how much stronger we talking.'
{Enough to reach your goal, revenge against the Gods that took everything from you. The Gods that caused your families death.}
'… So you know about that huh. You're definitely not one of them then. Granting power to someone out to kill you is idiotic at best.' That's one of the reasons she's never become a blessed after all.
After aptitude tests were developed many people went to see if they had the aptitude to become a blessed, and Ella was one of them. She had one of the highest aptitudes ever tested but no God ever took her, as if they were avoiding her on purpose. There's no way they couldn't see her potential after all.
{That is unimportant, answer, Yes or No.}
'Since you're offering, it would be foolish of me to refuse. I accept.' She replied with resolution. Why turn down free power? Even if it was one of those Gods she wants to take revenge upon, It's better than disappearing and never getting the chance to have her revenge at all.
{Good choice, this may sting a bit.}
'Wha-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!' And like that she out.
_______
"Where the hell am I now? I just remember- wait I'm talking, I have a body!?" In the midst of talking she realized she actually had a voice. In the space of darkness she wasn't truly talking in the conversational sense, it felt more like she was projecting her thoughts outwards.
Looking down at herself she saw, not much really. She was wearing a long black cloak like cloth, she however could tell that she had long black hair that reached around her knees. Alongside this though, she was pretty small.
"It's like I've returned to when I was 12. Fun times." Ella said in fondness.
She quickly stopped reminiscing when she realized the environment she was in. An ever changing kaleidoscope of colors and energies. It crackled against her skin and invoked a profound sense of calmness within her. As if she was home, getting tucked into a warm bed a cold winter night.
"This environment…where have I seen it before?" She questioned, a haze forming over her mind at the comfort "System thing where am I?"
.
.
.
No response came "… whatever, I'll just sleep for a bit." The haze over her mind engulfed her as she closed her eyes. In an instant she drifted off into a dreamless sleep.
She drifted in this kaleidoscopic realm, sleeping unbothered by everything. Of course, as there's nothing to be bothered by.
In the outside world life was just being born, Earth only recently was struck at the perfect angle and speed to gain its signature tilt.
Time passed quickly, the Earth cooled and gained water and the first organisms started to form.
Alongside these Organisms, other things began to form. Beings born from the worlds concepts and ideas, Gods.
The first to take true shape was the God that will later be known as Yahweh, born from the concepts of Hope, Light, life, and Creation. His form shone brightly on the still desolate Earth like a second Sun, and simply watched. It was not yet time to disturb the growth of the world with creations.
For hundreds of millions of years he watched the world take shape and saw other Gods like himself take form. All being distinctly different from each other, none took the same shape or representation of authority.
None chose to interact with each other, they could sense it, the divine law, they are not yet allowed to disturb the world. You may watch, but you may not touch.
Yahweh, however got curious. Although it could never get bored of watching the world grow it could feel something larger, something just outside the world. It exists as if overlapping with the world but also outside of it at the same time.
On a day that nothing in particular was happening it chose to take a peek into this world it could sense. He opened a dimensional portal in front of himself and looked through.
And there he saw it, that thing floating in a realm of chaotic energy. It slept as soundly as baby, completely undisturbed by the erratic and powerful energy surrounding it.
Yahweh couldn't tell what the thing was but he could tell that it was far beyond itself, beyond even anything it's ever felt before. Even that God of Destruction that formed recently probably couldn't even tickle this thing. Even tickling it would likely be an achievement beyond exception.
It quickly closed the portal to that realm it had conjured, knowing nothing good could come of disturbing that beast.
_______
Time passed once more and finally it was time. The divine law had finally been revoked, they can now interact with the world.
Yahweh as the central God of creation was tasked with creating Humanity, the other Gods of creation were then task with creating and enhancing life that already exists, creating beasts and other creatures.
Gods of destruction were tasked with destroying old life that was no longer needed by the world.
Gods of death were tasked with creating ways to guide dying souls into the cycle of reincarnation.
And it continued like this, humanity grew larger and larger forming collective human history. The Age where Gods ruled humans and guided them. The Age of Heroes where the Gods receded and allowed humanity to rule themselves. Then the Age where the Gods were regarded as myths left behind by the old world, only small evidence of their existence remained.
And finally the modern age, where the majority of humanity don't even believe in the existence of magic, believing it to be nothing but fairytales.
Gods are treated as simply things to worship in times of need and ignored in times of comfort.
But although it is called the modern age, it's much better to call it the age of secrecy. It's not as though the Gods disappeared, it's simply that humanity forgot about them, generation after generation of no interaction, no divine miracles. Humanity lost faith and began to exist for themselves.
However, in small recesses of the world, The truth was known. This secretive world that the general populace knew nothing about Was called the supernatural world. Wars were fought, magic was known, factions were formed. It was all kept secret, no one knew why, but everyone accepted it.
Away from the world, in a place of nothing but chaotic energy, a being was finally awakening.
"Huah!"
With a yawn she stretched her limbs.
"How long did I sleep for? Can't really tell in this place. Is there a way to leave?" She ask out loud.
{You've slept for approximately 4.5 billion years. Since the creation of the Earth to modern day, you slept through everything.}
Even though she wasn't expecting an answer as the system didn't answer her last question she read the blue display carefully.
"What!?" Her brain short circuited at the insane information "what the hell? What the hell do you mean I've slept for 4 billion years! What the hell even am I!?" She asked erratically
"And why didn't you answer my question from before I went to sleep if you are still here!?"
{Apologies, before you went to sleep I was in the process of recovering after placing you in your new body. It took quite a lot of power to combine you with Ophis without her essence completely ripping you apart.}
The now black haired girl took a calming breath while reading the systems apology then realized what it had said.
"Wait… did you just say Ophis?" Looking around she started to realize. This world of chaotic energy, her long black hair and petite figure "I'm Ophis the Infinite Dragon God!? One of the strongest characters is DxD?!"
This shook her to her core, although she was more susceptible to believing that anime worlds were real after the Tower had appeared in her world, but to become the evidence itself took her by surprise.
"But why her? Wouldn't it have been better to become someone like Great Red? Although she's supposed to be born from the concept of infinity all she really has is infinite energy and her snakes." She asked erratically out loud
Ophis has never shown anything truly worth being called the embodiment of infinity, chaos, and nothingness. While it stated she had "infinite" power all it really was is that she had infinite amounts of energy, but still had a limited output of said energy.
{Out of the two, Ophis was simply the easier option. The energy it would require to fuse you with Great Red while retaining your individual self is far higher than to do the same to Ophis. Great Red is far more mature than Ophis and has much more practice with his power, his resistance would be an annoyance.
To begin with, Ophis has far more potential for strength than him anyway.}
"Seriously? How come? From what I remember she could never come close to beating him in the series." She ask curiously
{Why do you think that was? Think about it. What did Ophis spend most of her time doing?}
"… sleeping in the dimensional gap." The
realization hit her like a brick "She never once truly practiced with her authority."
{Exactly, she spent most of her time sleeping. And since she was in a rush to regain her "silence" she rushed to find solutions to beat Great red, eventually forming the Khaos brigade and being manipulated by its members.}
"While we're on this topic, how far away is the start of canon right now?"
{We are around 100 years before the start of the main continuities timeline.}
"Hehe" She laughed "So I have plenty of time to practice then."
She couldn't wait to start training. 'Those so called Gods, I'll kill them, just like they killed my family.' But she can't go back too quickly, from what she remembered based on the scaling she saw online, as of right now she was only planetary to star system level. Nowhere close enough to exact revenge upon all the Gods in her original world.
"Hey, system. How strong are the Gods in my home world? And how much time has passed over there?"
{The strength of the Gods in that world vary much like every other universe, however the weakest of them are planetary class beings that can destroy the Earth in a single attack.}
'Arg! I knew this wasn't going to be easy but to think they'd be so strong.' Entities who viewed beings that that can wipe out entire cities in seconds as simple challenges of course couldn't be weak.
{In regards to how much time has passed, it has been around 5 months since you died. Only 2 months remain until the tower is open to humanity.}
"Wow, this time dilation is insane. 4.5 billion years for just 5 months?" She exclaimed in surprise
{Not exactly, the time flow ratio is actually 1:100. 1 year there is 100 here, however I used some energy to speed up this words time flow while you were asleep, didn't want you to miss out on your opportunity for revenge after all.}
"Ah, okay… thanks." She replied awkwardly, not really sure what to say.
'I guess I'll just start practicing. I've rested enough, it's time to get serious.'
She closed her eyes and began to focus inside her self, at first she couldn't really feel anything, she didn't really even know what she was supposed to be looking for.
She shifted her body into a meditative lotus pose, and pushed her senses even deeper within. But still nothing, confusion filled her mind, she definitely knows that Ophis has power so why can't she feel anything.
So she tried a different method, rather than looking deeper she decided to simply look around at the surface. And it was then that she felt it, the immense energy that encompasses her entire being. She couldn't sense anything by looking further in because her entire existence holds this power equally.
It was vast, far too vast. She couldn't an feel end to it, it was Infinite.
{Yes, you possess an infinite amount of energy and can release it infinitely. However, feel it, grasp it, feel how thin it is. Thats why she could never beat Great Red, not only because she didn't truly know how to manipulate her concept, but because her energy itself wasn't refined to level the being of her caliber should be. For entity like her, she is bar far one of the weakest.}
"How ironic, a being so powerful, is something that can actually be considered as weak." She said sarcastically, clenching and unclenching her fist.
True determination flashed in her eyes, this will not hold her back, this will not block her path. This is simply a hurdle on the race track of power.
_____
She completely ignored the world outside of the dimensional gap and threw herself into training. Firstly she decided to get the biggest issue out of the way, her lack of understanding on how to use her authority.
From what the system told her, the only way to improve this is to increase her understanding of the concept of infinity, nothingness, and chaos.
Pondering is something she does quite well, planning the downfall of gods does that to a person.
What is Infinity.
It is endlessness, a variable that cannot, and will not end.
It is limitlessness, it will continue to increase and decrease without limit.
It is boundlessness, unrestricted by all, unlimited and immense.
It is the Cardinal that leads progress, and the harbinger that desecrates hope.
It is the anchor of space
And the master of time
It is the never ending, ever changing, Ouroboros.
{Ding!}
"Hm?" Ella hummed, opening her eyes "What is it?"
{It seems we've been invited to a chat group.}
"Oh? Those multiverse Chat groups are real too?" She asked curiously, it seems basically everything was real at this point.
{Yes they are, almost everything you've read about online is true. Even the ones about fighting outer Gods to help world wills are true, Although not to the same extent. Outer and Eldritch Gods aren't bored enough to put that much effort into insignificant worlds.}
"Huh, good to know."
{Do you wish to accept? From the details I've been given, this is one of those Eldritch God defense ones.}
"Will it help me get stronger faster? Not really interested in wasting time on others when I have my own goals to accomplish." She questioned coldly, although she feels sympathy for those who will be affected by those Eldritch Gods, she has her own Gods she wants to take care of.
{Through this group chat you'll gain access to other worlds that may be able to enhance your power quickly. However, this fully depends on what worlds this one is connected to, so it will be a gamble. However, I believe you should take the gamble. If nothing else, completing quests will no doubt give you benefits.}
"Hm, fine. Accept the invitation, it'll be fun interacting with others anyway." She said with a sigh
[Ding! You've accepted the Invitation to the Eldritch defense Chat group. Thank you for your participation!]
{There, it's done. I'll generate a separate interface for interacting with it. Check it out.}
In front of her a second blue interface appeared.
[Please choose a nickname before officially joining the rest of the group.]
'A nickname huh… thinking about it now what is my name in general? Ella Flinn, or Ophis?' Ella Flinn is the name she was given, and the name she's lived with for the last 28 years. However, she could also feel the name Ophis resonate with her entire being. It's a name native to her current existence, she can't simply abandon it.
'So how about a compromise? From this day forth I shall be named Ophis Flinn.' To keep her family close, while keeping true to her current existence.
For the chat group however she chose the most obvious nickname "Ouroboros"
[Welcome Ouroboros! We thank you for your future help.]
After the nickname was chosen the interface changed and the now named Ophis was thrown directly into the chat section.
[Blank: A new member already? This is pretty quick no?]
[Ugly Squid: Yeah, it's only been a week since you joined. The interval before was at least 6 months before another person was invited]
[Last Master: Maybe it's a sign we'll be getting more missions soon? We've only gotten two missions so far and they were both minor ones.]
[Not a bad slime: You could be right, this is a pretty strange situation. @Ouroboros are you there? Did the chat group tell you anything?]
At first Ophis simply planned to lurk and find out who was all the people in the group chat, but since she was addressed directly it would be a bit rude to ignore it.
[Ouroboros: Unfortunately not, I wasn't told anything when I was invited.]
[Ugly Squid: It usually gives a notification before inviting new people too.]
[Lolimancer: I'm having a really bad feeling about this…]
'What in the hell is that name…'
[Ouroboros: @Lolimancer, what is up with that name…?]
[Lolimancer: Don't get the wrong idea! I didn't choose this name! It was forced upon me by the group chat!]
[Ouroboros: Doesn't the group chat choose names based on things you've been called or done? What Loli have you controlled mister Lolimancer?]
She was mostly talking out of her ass, she had no clue how this specific chat group chose names but that's how they chose names in other ones.
[Lolimancer: Not you too!! your all the same! Your all the saaaame!!!]
"Hehe, this is definitely Subaru. His response matches what I'd have expected from him too. Not a bad slime is definitely Rimuru. Last master is probably Gudako or Ritsuka. And Blank is likely Sora or Shiro, probably Sora by the way they type." Ophis deduced
'But I'm not too sure about Ugly squid, my first guess is Kim Dokja but Ugly squid is a pretty common insult in Korean Manwha.'
[Ouroboros: I'm just kidding, don't take it too personal. Though I just noticed, isn't there one person who didn't reply?]
[Last Master: Oh, that would be Stelle, or Galactic Baseballer as she likes to go by. She is busy with something that came up in her world]
[Lolimancer: @Ouroboros, I will remember this day! I'll definitely pay back all of you for this shame ( ;´ - `;)]
[Ouroboros: Good luck with that~]
"I wonder what he'll try, can't wait to see." A small smile slowly spread across the new Ouroboros's lips.
'Honkai star rail, out of all those worlds really only Rimuru's could help me. But Star rail would give me access to the imaginary tree and the paths..'
"What do you think system?"
{It is an immensely beneficial world for you indeed. In terms of conceptual existence you are already above the Aeons due to you being an entity born for nothingness and the concept itself.
However, you lack scale. Either through the creation of a path or the consumption of one you can gain a vast increase in power.}
"Exactly what I was thinking! We are making excellent partners already!" She exclaimed in joy
However, her mind was always focused on a single goal. So the momentary joy faded quickly.
'This is enough for now, I'm gonna get back to training'
[Ouroboros: Well, it was nice meeting you all. However, I'll be busy for a while so I won't be active for at least a few days]
[Ugly squid: Okay, make sure to look out for missions. You should get a notification, but there's a chance you could miss it. If our theory that your invitation means harder missions, then we could definitely use your help.]
[Blank: Yeah, only three of us can fight properly. How strong are you anyway? The name Ouroboros seems important, but doesn't really give much to go off of.]
[Ouroboros: I've haven't tested my complete power output yet, but if I were to make a rough estimate. If I were to release my energy at maximum output into an attack I would likely obliterate an entire star system]
[Last Master: !!! What?!]
[Blank: What the hell!!?]
[Not a Bad Slime: What is with this overpowered unfairness!!]
[Ugly Squid: ! You're the strongest among us it seems.]
[Lolimancer: I think I'll have to hold out on that revenge…]
"Haha" she laughed "Oh I love a good Ego boost. My powers aren't even about pure output either, once I start practicing manipulating my concepts, I'll be able to do far more than blow away a Star system. I've gained an understanding of infinity already, so I'll start there"
[Ouroboros: Think about what the Ouroboros is. That could clue you into my power. Anyways, have a good day everyone.]
[System: Ouroboros has gone offline]
______
Yes, yes. Another story. But like the destruction one it wouldn't leave my head and I couldn't focus on writing the other stories.
If an idea plagues my thoughts I literally can not focus when writing so it's either I get eh idea out or I struggle writing the other stories, don't worry. Neither of my other two stories are being dropped or put on Hiatus, I'm going to be updating each one one after the other.
I'll upload I am existence then I update destruction then I'll update this.
Also tell me, how do you guys like the original setting of the story? If you couldn't tell, it's the end goal of the story once she gets strong enough, she's going to go back to that world to exact her revenge and that'll basically be the end of the story. I'm going to try building it up properly and in a atleast decently well written way.