Chapter 251:
–Carol Danvers–
It was no secret that Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers, preferred women over men. As all of her friends in space would tell her, she tended to give off lesbian vibes… whatever that meant. What wasn't well known across the cosmos, was that Carol had never actually been in a relationship before. In fact, she hadn't ever even been on a single date that she could recall. She was always busy with the next mission.
That's why Carol was slightly out of her depth when Layla of the Fallen started to flirt with her while they waited for Ego to arrive…
"I heard stories of you smashing apart an entire Kree Fleet to protect the Earth. I have to say that I'm quite a big fan!" Layla said with a sincere smile that had Carol almost swooning. "I didn't expect you to be so beautiful on top of being so amazing!"
Carol did NOT swoon. She has never swooned. If anyone told her that she did, she would forever deny it! 'Damn, Layla was incredibly beautiful though…' Carol thought to herself. Carol had spent literal decades protecting the Galaxy from numerous threats, she had been to thousands of worlds. Not a single one has any woman as close to as beautiful as Layla was. Had Carol known her home planet was now home to such beautiful women, she probably would have visited more than once a decade. As it was, she was already planning on taking a long sabbatical on Earth for a while after this. What was the point of protecting the Galaxy if she never got to enjoy any of it after all?
"Thank you, Layla." Carol replied with a small blush. "I'm a fan of yours as well. Particularly, I enjoyed the video of you defeating Thanos that spread across the Galaxy. Did you really revive the dead afterwards? How is that possible?" Carol asked, she was incredibly curious about that part. Reviving the dead wasn't supposed to be possible.
"Yes, I can revive the dead, but only a certain amount every day. I did bring everyone back after that battle, but that was a gift from Lady Death for eliminating a version of Thanos. In every Universe, he is a pain in her ass." Layla explained to Carol.
Carol's eyes widened in surprise. "Lady Death is real!?" She had heard the legends, but had never believed them to be true.
Layla giggled. "She is very real, believe me. I know Lady Death… intimately." Layla said with a small teasing pause. "We have a certain relationship that both of us enjoy."
Carol didn't know why, but she felt very annoyed hearing that. "Does that mean you're taken?" Carol found herself blurting out. She hoped that wasn't the case…
Layla grinned at her knowingly and Carol blushed again. "I am currently in a relationship with a small handful of women, but that doesn't mean I'm not open to further possibilities…" Layla trailed off and Carol's mind started to wander.
"Is t-that so?" Carol asked. She made a mental note to learn more about Fallen Angels when she could. Who would have thought not paying attention in her Sunday school classes would actually come back to bite her later?
"Do you want to see my family?" Layla asked and Carol found herself nodding. Carol was once again impressed at how far Earth had come when Layla pulled out a very advanced device that was filled with numerous pictures of the Angel-Goddess's family.
…
–Layla–
A few hours later…
Talking with Carol had been a very enjoyable way to pass the time. I could definitely tell that she was interested in getting to know me more. The feeling was mutual. We both had quite a bit in common. Both of us had incredible power thrust upon us and were doing our best with it to protect the people we cared for. I was mostly focused on Earth and Asgard, while she frequently traveled back and forth across the Galaxy.
Unfortunately, all good things have to come to an end. Our foe had finally arrived from across the stars.
"Woah…He is big." I muttered when I laid eyes on him. Ego was a chunky boy, that's for sure.
What does it mean to go to war with an entire planet? I didn't quite understand the answer to that question until I saw him for myself. Hours after my sit down with Captain Marvel, Ego the Celestial had arrived in our section of space. Seeing an entire planet speed towards us was intimidating and exhilarating.
At least he wasn't even close to as big as the Phoenix Force was when I first saw her. Compared to her glorious form, Ego the Celestial was basically an ant.
[If he's an ant, what does that make you then?]
'I'm a very sexy amoeba!' I replied in my head.
"Are you ready to do this, Jean?" I asked my younger redheaded companion. She was once again looking very nervous. I saw her crack a wry smile though.
"No…but we have to do this. I'd rather this thing not swallow up all life in the galaxy just to fulfill his own…Ego." Jean said with a slight pause and blush. "I'm sorry, that pun sounded better in my head."
"I liked it." I said while smiling at her. We were about to take on a Celestial, a little humor was appreciated.
"Are you sure you wish to fight this monster with just the two of you?" Captain Marvel asked while walking over to us. She had offered us her aid, but I turned her down. Likewise, I decided to turn down help from the Guardians as well after some proper thought.
"Yes, we're sure." Jean and I needed to make a statement here. There were tens of thousands of ships currently in this sector, all of them here to observe us. We needed to make a statement here on the Galactic Stage. A statement that it would only take two beings from Earth to take down a Celestial.
The Shi'ar and Kree empires literally spanned millions of worlds. Even Thanos avoided fighting with them in canon. If these behemoth empires wanted to attack Earth, then we would eventually be overwhelmed by the sheer numbers they could field in war. Unless they were too afraid of us to ever try. Unless we showed the Galaxy what we were truly capable of right here and now!
"Good luck, Layla. I shall remain here and await your return." Nebula said to me. I could tell that she had absolute confidence in me.
"Thanks, Nebula. This shouldn't take long."
14 wings appeared behind me as I flew out of my warship and started flying towards Ego. He had stopped a few million kilometers away from us. It only took me a few minutes of flying to enter his upper atmosphere. Jean was right next to me as we gazed upon the gigantic being.
"I only sense one sentient being on the entire planet." Jean told me. I suspected that it was Mantis. There was a small palace hundreds of Kilometers below us that resembled Ego's home from the movie. She was most likely being kept there.
{-20,000MP}
I created a single shadow clone, who immediately teleported down to hide on the planet's surface. My clone would rescue Mantis once Ego was distracted and bring her back to my Warship where the other Guardians were watching from.
…
The air around me suddenly vibrated. A mighty voice echoed across the entire planet's surface.
"You have a lot of nerve to openly challenge me! I am Ego! I am a Celestial! A true God!"
Ego's attention was now solely on us. I'm sure my clone was taking the opportunity to grab Mantis. It was just in time too. The planet below us started to physically shift. Mountains, lakes and oceans crumbled away and disappeared. Two volcanic gaping holes appeared. Ego's eyes were the size of continents as he glared hatefully at us. An even larger hole appeared underneath them and formed a mouth the size of a continent.
He really was a living planet…
{The Living Planet, Ego: Level 109}
His level was a lot lower than I thought it would have been…I expected a Celestial to be a lot more powerful.
"Where is MY SON! Tell me and your deaths will be quick! If you've harmed him, then you will wish I killed you quickly!"
I channeled some magic power into my voice when I replied. "Your son is fine, Ego. It's you we came here for! You will not be escaping. Today you die!" I declared as loudly as possible. I wasn't even as close to as loud as he was, but I know he heard me.
"We're not going to let you go through with your plans!" Jean added her own declaration. Cosmic Energy allowed her to project her own voice across the entire planet. I was a bit jealous. I couldn't wait to complete this Quest and gain access to Cosmic Energy as well!
"Ha! Ha! Ha! You two tiny peons will not stop me! What could you even do to harm me!?" He openly challenged us.
I reached into my inventory and pulled out the most valuable object in my possession. Ego's massive eyes widened in surprise. No doubt, he was able to sense what I was holding.
The Power Stone.
Power surged through me as I held it in my bare hand. It wasn't my turn to use it yet though.
"Light him up, Jean." I told her. Jean took the Stone from me with only a slight grimace from the strain of holding it barehanded. The power started to surge through her next. Her green eyes turned purple, and the fiery red aura around her became much darker.
"Noooo! How do you have that Stone!? Get it away from me!" Ego roared. His confidence didn't last nearly as long as I thought it would have.
"Burn." Jean muttered only a single word while aiming her other hand at the planet's surface.
The next thing I saw was FIRE...
An endless sea of purple flames surged downwards and vegan to wash across the living planet's surface. The flames of the Phoenix began to devour the entire planet!
"AAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaarrrrrgggghhhh!!!" The planet screamed.
…
–The Spectators–
A few minutes prior…
Peter Quill wanted nothing more than to be out there fighting against Ego, but he was eventually outvoted by his newest friends. They didn't want to tangle with such a powerful being. The Guardians of the Galaxy along with Nebula and Captain Marvel were spectating from the bridge of Layla's warship.
"Holy shit! That's your dad, Peter? How the hell did he even have sex with your mom?" Rocket asked rudely.
"I am Groot!"
"Damn right, Groot! His penis must be massive!" Rocket exclaimed with a laugh.
"Quill's mother had very odd tastes. I do not find myself sexually attracted to planets." Drax commented. "Is that a human trait?"
"Yeah, she sure did have some weird tastes." Rocket laughed even more.
"Hey! What the hell guys!? Quit talking shit about my mom! I don't know how my parents hooked up and I don't want to know!" Peter exclaimed. He didn't even want to think about it. He'd met a real Angel and knew his dad was nothing more than a lying monster…
"I'm sure your father created an Avatar of some kind so he could sleep with your mother. Or maybe they just used artificial insemination?" Gamora said questioningly.
"Terran women are strange." Drax said.
Nebula took offense to that! "Terran women aren't strange! Do not insult the Goddess Layla because this one's mother had sex with a planet." Nebula said while pointing at Peter. She wouldn't tolerate anyone insulting her savior, even if it was indirectly!
"Can we PLEASE stop talking about my parents having sex?" Peter begged.
"Hell no! It's too funny!" Rocket replied to Peter's misfortune.
"You guys are weird…" Captain Marvel said while not taking her eyes away from the window. "Aren't you worried that Layla and Jean could lose?" She asked worriedly. Even she had never taken on a Celestial, although she wasn't quite sure if Ego really was one now that she saw his true form. Celestials were known to be giant humanoids as far as she knew.
"Worried about that scary woman? Hell no! She took down the Collector in less than a minute. That guy was like millions of years old!" Rocket stated assuredly.
"I am Groot!"
"That too!" Rocket added. "Just give it a few minutes and I'm sure you'll see that your mate is fine."
Captain Marvel frowned. "Layla and I are not mates."
Rocket scoffed. "Not yet, you're not. Unlike you however, I have a very strong nose. I could literally smell the attraction you both had towards each other. Even now, I can still smell it on you…"
"Damn, that's hot–ow!" Peter commented and got slapped upside the head by Gamora.
Carol blushed and decided to not comment on the talking raccoon's words.
"Oh my god! The entire planet is on fire!" Peter exclaimed, drawing everyone's attention back. There was no sound in space, but Ego's face was massive and surprisingly expressive for such a large being. It was obvious to make out that Ego was in incredible pain. That made Peter feel much better even if he wasn't the one causing that pain to the man/being that killed his mom.
"Damn, I need to step up my game! I've never built a weapon capable of incinerating a whole planet before!" Rocket said with a wide grin. "Not yet at least…"
"Please don't go designing any planet-killing weapons while I'm around. I will be obligated to arrest you." Captain Marvel said with a sigh.
"Heh! Go ahead, Sparkly Lady! We shall bust out of any prison you put us in anyway!" Drax said boisterously.
"I am Groot!"
WOOSH!
"Oh, hi everyone!" Layla said as she suddenly appeared on the ship's bridge next to them. A portal that was giving off incredible heat was closing right behind her. "That was a close one, I almost didn't get her out in time!" Layla was accompanied by a cute alien girl with antennae on her head along with a pair of pitch black eyes.
"Hello, everyone. I do not know what is going on, but I am Mantis." The cute alien introduced herself.
"What are you doing here, Layla? I thought you were fighting Ego?" Carol asked.
"My main body is fighting him. I'm just a shadow clone. This girl was with Ego and I wanted to rescue her before we destroyed him." Layla told Carol before turning to the Guardians. "This is Mantis. She'll be joining you guys from now on. Take care of her." Layla's clone said before she popped in a puff of smoke.
The Guardians and Mantis awkwardly stared at each other for a moment before one of them decided to break the ice and stepped forward. "I am Groot." He held up his large hand for her to shake and grinned at her.
She smiled at the large tree man while shaking his hand. "I am Mantis. Nice to meet you. Why did that lady with wings say that Master Ego was going to die?" She had absolutely no idea what was going on…
…
Jean let out a tired huff. She had given it everything she had just now to roast Ego. She had never expanded her powers on such a massive scale. "Layla, you'll have to take over from here. I don't have any energy left."
Jean returned the Power Stone to me after bathing Ego in flames for five minutes straight. The damage done by her flames was massive. The living planet's entire surface was now nothing more than molten lava. I could barely even make out his face anymore. His screaming hadn't stopped the entire time.
Now it was my turn to finish him off. Honestly, I thought it would have been harder…He wasn't even putting up a fight.
[Yeah, it's kind of embarrassing actually. Celestials are supposed to be a lot tougher. Then again, Rocket did manage to kill him with a jury rigged bomb. We both thought this Ego was going to be stronger than that one was, I guess we were wrong.]
With the Power Stone clutched in my hand, I felt almost invincible as all of my stats soared. Even as injured as he was, there were only a handful of techniques I had that could actually damage Ego due to his sheer size. I didn't know where his core was, but I didn't think it particularly mattered. I was ending this in one shot!
"Tengai Shinsei!"
{-100,000MP}
My MP temporarily plummeted as I summoned the largest possible meteor that I could. Hundreds of kilometers above Ego's surface, a purple coated meteor, almost half the size of Earth's moon, suddenly appeared!
It was an apocalyptic level attack! Unfortunately for Ego, he was so busy focusing on putting out his fires, that he didn't even notice the meteor until it struck him full force!
BOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!
A literal world ended explosion occurred at the impact point. The amount of energy released was more powerful than anything I'd ever seen! Ego didn't even get to utter any other words before the force of the explosion ended up reaching his core. He went out with a literal bang, but it was honestly more of a sad whimper from my perspective…
{Quest Completed! You have leveled up x3! You have gained access to Cosmic Energy!}
[Layla of the Fallen]
[Title: Fourteen Winged Angel, Goddess of Angels, Death's Favored.]
[Level: 87]
[Sacred Gears: Purger of Darkness, Orb of Infinity]
[HP: 114,000]
[MP: 25,000/120,000]
[Faith Energy: 144,555,675]
[Vigor: 10,000]
[Strength: 5,200]
[Intelligence: 12,200]
[Luck: 2300]
[Available Free Stat Points: 300]
[Perks and Skills:]
-Goddess of Angels (10x Increase in all Stat Points. Access to all Angelic Abilities. Can turn other races into white or black winged Angels depending on the person's Karma.)
-Death's Favored (Resurrect on Death after 24 hours. Can resurrect up to three people a day.)
-Daughter of Heaven's Will (Passive Skill: Ask and you shall receive! The universe bends to your whims and circumstances that you wish for are far more likely to occur!)
-Observe (Max: No one's level is hidden from your gaze. No one can detect you using Observe on them.)
-Light Manipulation (Max: All Light Abilities Cost 10x less MP to Cast.)
-Senjutsu (Max: Passively regenerate 1000 MP/Min.)
-Rinnegan (Max: All Rinnegan abilities cost 5x less MP.)
-Faith Pool (Can draw upon Faith Energy when MP runs out.)
-Cosmic Energy (Instead of air, you know breathe Cosmic Energy. All abilities are drastically improved along with access to Cosmic powers.)
Jean and I flew back into space to escape the resulting planetary explosion. It was actually beautiful…in a macabre sort of way. I pulled out my phone and started filming it. I was sure my family and friends would get a kick out of seeing a Star Wars level explosion in real life.
"…Was that it?" Jean asked in almost disappointment. "I expected that to be a lot harder. Everyone hyped up Celestials to be almost unbeatable. We killed Ego in less than 6 minutes. He didn't even get to fight back."
"Yeah, I'm almost as surprised as you are. Maybe Celestials were just overhyped?" I said questioningly as we started flying back to my warship. I was actually able to hold a conversation with her in space now! "Either way, let's head back home now. I miss my family." I said and Jean agreed. I hadn't been home in days and was looking forward to seeing my family. I would have immediately portaled home, except my warship was too big to fit through my portals as well. Although, now that I had access to Cosmic Energy, I think I could make a portal big enough.
"Huh, why are all the ships around us suddenly leaving?" Jean commented curiously.
I looked around and saw thousands of the ships that had been spectating our battle with Ego, warping away as fast as possible! That was very unexpected. Were they all terrified of Jean and I suddenly? What we did was impressive, certainly, but we weren't going to target them next or anything. Why was everyone running away?
More and more ships continued to warp away until every single one had vanished from our sector of space! Not a single one stayed behind. Every single one vanished!
"That was weird…" The only remaining spaceship in the entire sector was my own.
"Uh…Layla. We might have a problem." Jean said while pointing behind us suddenly. "I think I know why everyone bolted away so fast…" Jean said. She was back to looking incredibly nervous again. I thought her confidence would have improved after we took down Ego.
I turned around to see what had made her so worked up. In the place of Ego's planet, a massive Cosmic red portal had manifested. It was the biggest portal I had ever seen. Easily big enough to have swallowed Ego entirely if he hadn't just exploded.
I was not expecting what floated out of that portal next. Six gigantic red eyes locked onto Jean and I as we floated in the void.
{The Judge, Arishem of the Celestials: Level 234}
Well, shit… I was starting to have the feeling that Ego wasn't the gold standard for Celestials, if he even was one in the first place. What the hell was with that absurd level difference here!? Arishem was Level 234!? Ego was only Level 109!
XXX
Chapter 252:
Jean gulped next to me. She had already exhausted herself roasting Ego and now a drastically more powerful being had popped up in front of us. "Are we going to have to fight again, Layla?" She whispered to me. "This thing looks like the Iron Giant had a baby with the Death Star!" She exclaimed.
"That's…not an inaccurate way to describe him." I replied while gripping the Power Stone tightly in my palm. If I had to fight Arishem here, I could handle using the stone for 2 or 3 minutes at most. I grimaced, that wasn't going to be near long enough to bring down a being over 100 levels above me.
"Someone's coming." Jean said.
I felt something rapidly approaching the two of us from behind. I turned my head to see what it was. Captain Marvel was rapidly speeding over from my ship. I cracked a small smile at the fact that she didn't choose to run away like everyone else.
She came to a stop near where Jean and I were floating in space. Carol glanced off into the distance nervously.
Arishem had been staring at us, with his six red eyes, in silence since he arrived in this sector of space. He hadn't done anything else. His giant body didn't move even an inch.
It was a bit unnerving… I'd never dealt with a being that acted so inhuman. Even Mephisto, the Marvel Devil, has acted more normal than this Celestial so far.
"This is exactly what I warned you about!" Carol whispered aggressively at me. "Killing a Celestial ended up pissing the others off! Now this freak has shown up too! I didn't even believe he was real until now!" Carol complained. "Arishem was supposed to be a myth, one of the boogeymen of the Cosmos!"
"Don't put this situation on, Layla. You were offering to help us get rid of Ego not even a half hour ago." Jean stuck up for me and pointed out.
Carol shook her head. "I wasn't blaming Layla. I was just trying to remind her that actions have consequences." Carol said back to Jean before turning back to me. "It didn't help that you both killed Ego so quickly, and in the flashiest manner possible! You made the Celestials look really weak to the wider Galaxy. They're supposed to be incredibly prideful beings, they won't let that go easily…" She trailed off. Her eyes drifted over my shoulder towards Arishem. Carol was under the impression he was here as a show of strength. I supposed that was possible, myself. Despite that, his massive form still hadn't moved since he had arrived. He must have been deep in thought about something.
"Ego wasn't even a real Celestial. That's obvious now. He died way too easily." I said. "Arishem shouldn't even care." I had no idea why Arishem turned up here. He never gave a shit when the Guardians killed Ego in the movie! I made my thoughts known to the two of them.
"Didn't the Phoenix tell us that Ego was a Celestial?" Jean asked me nervously. "Although, she could have been wrong I guess."
I shrugged at her. "Maybe he was a Celestial's inbred cousin or something." I joked to try and lighten the mood. I shook my head when I noticed neither girl smiled. "It doesn't really matter anyway, since he's dead now."
[Ego went out with a great bang too! I rate his death explosion a solid 9/10.]
Carol let out a sigh. "Regardless of whether he was one or not, his death brought Arishem here." Carol said before pointing at me. "You announced to the whole Galaxy that Ego WAS a Celestial. They all think you killed one now, and you did it easily." She explained.
"Oh, I see your point." I said. In hindsight, there were probably more subtle ways I could have liked Ego over. I was just too lazy to try them. I wanted to finish his Quest and return home as soon as possible.
"I doubt the Judge will let us escape now without an explanation." Carol said. "From the stories I've heard about him, that I thought were not even real until now, Arishem has his own weird sense of judgment. Entire planets and Empires have been wiped out by him for the pettiest of reasons." She explained.
Jean frowned at Carol's words. "We have an explanation, Ego was trying to absorb the whole Galaxy!"
"We're about to find out whether that's a good enough explanation or not." Carol replied to Jean.
I frowned and took her words as a challenge. "I'd like to see Arishem even try to stop us from leaving." I called on my Orb of Infinity. I summoned a small portal towards my Warship's bridge.
If Arishem was just going to passively float there and stare at us, then we might as well leave. I floated forwards to go through my portal.
BONK!
{-5HP}
"Ow!" My head ended up smacking something solid! I looked up to see what I had just collided with. "That's new…" Directly in front of my portal was a red energy barrier. In fact, the barrier completely surrounded my portal on all sides, completely blocking my access to it. It was pretty obvious who the barrier blocking me came from.
I called on my Orb of Infinity again and tried to open another portal. Immediately, another red energy barrier sprang up around it.
I glared at it in annoyance! "Amaterasu!"
{-5000MP!}
Black flames impacted the barrier and started burning away at it. This barrier was proving even stronger than the Collector's Infinity Stone prison barrier had been. My flames failed to eat away at it after almost a full minute. I willed them away and turned back to Carol. "Ok, we might be trapped here…" I relented. Arishem couldn't stop me from creating portals, but he could stop me from going through them. I didn't expect him to be that clever…
[He's literally millions of years old…]
"If we die here, I'm going to haunt you…" Carol's eye was twitching.
"If we die here, I'll just revive myself and then you guys a few days later." I replied.
I'd stash the Power Stone in my inventory as well, so Arishem wouldn't be able to take it. I would be a petty bitch like that…
[What if he can reach into your inventory like the Ancient One was able to do over a year ago?]
'Fuck…'
"Oh right, I forgot you could do that." Jean said, some of the tension had lightened after my statement. You can be a lot braver when you know death isn't permanent.
"I'm not worried about us, I'm worried about what Arishem could do to Earth in retaliation!" Carol hissed out worriedly. I decided not to tell her that Arishem was already planning on destroying the Earth. There was a baby Celestial growing in the center of the planet that I was going to have to kill at some point. The more humans in the world, the faster it would develop. When the Earth Marvel and DxD fuse back together, the baby Celestial will grow much faster than in MCU Canon as well. I was going to have to kill it sooner rather than later.
"..."
"I have come to pass judgment!" Arishem's voice boomed from all around us. He had finally spoken.
…
–Arishem–
Arishem gazed across the void of space. His vision was locked on the three very tiny beings. All of them were decently powerful, but he felt like they were no threat to him. He wasn't even wary of the one holding the Infinity Stone.
Arishem had spent the past few minutes reading the minds of the mortals onboard the only remaining spaceship in the small section of space. From them, he understood the situation…for the most part.
The being known as Ego was not a Celestial, but he was still a unique existence. Arishem might even go as far as to say that Ego was interesting. Arishem pondered if, maybe one day, Ego could have evolved himself into becoming a true Celestial? And if that process involved Ego devouring countless mortal planets, well…Arishem didn't actually mind. He would consider those mortal lives as having served a more noble purpose.
It was incredibly difficult for the Celestial race to spawn new members. Therefore, Arishem saw Ego's death to be a waste. What were the lives of a few trillion mortals, compared to that of a new Celestial? Unfortunately, it was not to be.
Ego, the living planet, was dead. His soul forever lost to Lady Death's realm. Arishem would not be able to bring it back. Arishem found himself…feeling irritated. It had been a long time since he had felt such a mortal emotion.
"I have come to pass judgment!" Arishem declared. "I judge Ego's death to have been a waste to the Cosmos! A detriment to the prosperity of the greater Universe! You must prove to me that your existence was more valuable than his or you will be punished!" Arishem declared. He did not believe that any of the three women would be able to prove their worth, but he had to at least give them a chance to defend themselves.
He was a fair Judge after all…
"How the Hell do we do that!?" The one with the 14 Black Wings asked Arishem. He noted that her voice projected across space with a rudimentary use of Cosmic Energy.
"You will allow me access to your minds. I will judge for myself from all of your memories." Arishem declared, as was his right. He had been trying to read all three of their minds since he arrived, unfortunately all of their minds were all protected by higher powers. Those powers felt familiar to Arishem, but he couldn't recall from where or when he was familiar with them. Even for him, some memories become hard to properly recall after tens of millions of years.
"Absolutely not!" The same woman declared again. He could see that she was channeling more and more power from the Power Stone into herself.
"I'm never letting anyone I don't know in my head ever again!" The girl who was glowing with cosmic fire declared to him.
The third woman powered up as well. A bright Golden Aura surrounded her next.
Arishem wondered if they were going to attempt to actually fight him? 'How long has it been since any beings have challenged me?' He was almost amused…almost. "You will follow my judgment or be destroyed!" Arishem declared with finality.
He wasn't planning on indulging them in pointless battle. They would submit to his judgment like any other sane sentient would. He didn't believe they would truly attempt to fight him.
Arishem was wrong.
"COSMIC SUSANOO!" The woman with 14 Black Wings screamed loudly. An enormous well of Divine and Cosmic Power combined and surged around her being!
'Where did that come from!?' Arishem had not sensed any of that hidden power!
The next thing he knew, he was getting punched in the face by an ethereal purple fist the size of a small moon…
…
–Layla–
This asshole thought he could root around in my mind! That wasn't happening! I was the Gamer here!
{-100,000,000 Faith Energy!}
I loved being a Goddess, but the truth was, I wasn't really a fan of Faith Energy. It could only be acquired from people's faith, and it was slow to accumulate. Despite that, I was very thankful that I currently had so much of it saved up. It was exactly for a situation like this. I channeled an absurd amount of Faith Energy and combined it with Cosmic Energy and the Power Stone. The amount of power I felt flowing through me was staggering!
I grabbed Jean and Carol and pulled them both close to myself. I appreciated their eagerness to fight, but they would only be a liability outside of my protection.
"COSMIC SUSANOO!" An ethereal skeleton rapidly formed around me. It was quickly followed by muscle, and then skin, and then armor.
"Oh my God, Layla!" Jean's eyes were bulging wide.
"How is this possible!?" Carol exclaimed in disbelief.
[Holy shit…]
Holy shit was right. 100,000,000 Faith Energy created the largest SUSANOO that's ever existed. My construct was as big as Arishem himself!
My Susanoo was the size of an entire planet and I was controlling all of it seamlessly. I raised my hand and clenched my fist. My construct perfectly mirrored my action. I felt that this fist had the power to shatter an entire planet if I felt like it.
{Emergency Quest Initiated: Kick Arishem's Ass!}
{Reward: Level Up x 10!! Eternal Bragging Rights! ???}
A smirk formed on my face. I was going to kick Arishem's arrogant ass anyway, but I wouldn't turn down some rewards for it.
[Keep in mind, you're on a time limit. The Power Stone is already starting to damage you internally!]
'I won't hold back.' I told the System. I was losing about 200 HP a second from the strain of holding the Stone.
Wings the size of continents emerged from my Susanoo's back. With them, I surged forward towards Arishem, faster than I thought possible! In the span of only a few seconds, I had crossed hundreds of thousands of Kilometers!
I reeled back my fist and punched the massive Celestial directly in the face!
BOOM!
His head whipped backwards. I think I actually managed to leave a dent in his face, but it quickly regenerated. All true Celestials were supposed to be incredibly durable and resilient.
I reeled back my other fist and punched him again! This time I landed a devastating body blow that would have knocked the air out of him–if he even needed to breathe.
[Hell yeah! Kick his ass, Host!]
Arishem was caught off guard by the sudden violence, and possibly even the fact that I was actually hurting him. His face wasn't readable, but I imagined it would be showing shock if it was.
{-1,000,000 Faith Energy!}
"You want to judge me!?" A massive Lightspear formed in my Susanoo's right hand. "You're not qualified!" I stabbed forwards with the spear. Before it made contact, he was enveloped by a red aura. It was almost impossible how quickly the planet sized being vanished from my sight!
An instant later, I sensed that space had shifted behind me. A powerful blow splashed across my Susanoo's back, just underneath her massive wings. I felt an echo of pain from the blow and let out a grunt.
[Another rapid teleporter! How annoying!]
{-2,000,000 Faith Energy!}
I had a solution for that now. I felt my Orb of Infinity emit a feeling of -Glee- as I fed it all that power. Once again, on a much larger scale, space became impossible to teleport through. Even for a being like Arishem.
I recovered from his sneak attack and quickly spun around. I lashed forwards with my giant spear a second time.
Arishem seemed to have caught on quicker, at what I had done, than the Collector had. Instead of trying to teleport again, Arishem swung his arms forward towards my incoming spear.
CLAAAAAANG!
A massive greatsword appeared in the pathway of my spear. The two world destroying weapons clashed momentarily before we both pulled back.
"It has been a long time since I was last injured. Millions of years…" Arishem declared.
"Well, it's about to happen again in a few seconds." I replied smugly.
"Yeah! You're not so tough!" Jean cheered next to me from inside my construct.
Carol looked like she wanted to speak as well, but was too tongue tied to say anything. I could understand that, two planet sized giants were currently battling it out and she was literally inside one of them.
"You have proven you have more worth than I initially believed. It is not often I admit I was mistaken. I offer you one last chance. Submit to my judgment, and I will pardon you for attacking me!" Arishem declared once again.
Where did this guy get off!? Of course, there was no way I was going to submit to him!
[Layla of the Fallen]
[Title: Fourteen Winged Angel, Goddess of Angels, Death's Favored.]
[Level: 87]
[Sacred Gears: Purger of Darkness, Orb of Infinity]
[HP: 54,000→57,000 / 114,000→117,000]
[MP: 5500 / 120,000]
[Faith Energy: 39,555,675]
[Vigor: 10,000→10,300]
[Strength: 5,200]
[Intelligence: 12,200]
[Luck: 2300]
[Available Free Stat Points: 300→0]
I quickly put my remaining free stat points into Vigor to give myself a few extra seconds to hold the Power Stone. Every second counted right now!
"You have no right to judge any of us! I refuse!" I yelled at him. My Susanoo flapped her wings and rushed towards him again. Once again, my spear met his sword. We both quickly started to trade blows back and forth.
The greatsword he had created was even bigger than my Lightspear, and he wielded it with some skill, but it was evident that he was severely out of practice. After all, why should he bother training when no one has challenged him in longer than eons.
CLANG! CLANG! CLASH!
I batted his greatsword to the side when he overextended himself. My Lightspear lashed out towards his left shoulder. I poured even more Faith Energy into the massive weapon the moment it made contact with his shoulder. My Lightspear burned right through!
{-1,000,000 Faith Energy!}
"Raaaaaaaggghhh!" Arishem let out a wail of pain. He had been dealt heavy damage. A colossal arm was separated from his body and rapidly started flying off into the void. Arishem dropped his greatsword and clutched at the wound. My Light along with energy from the Power Stone was infecting his wound and preventing it from healing. Otherwise he would have immediately been able to grow another arm. His six eyes glowed burning red in fury. The rage he was emitting was so intense that it was palpable. "No more! I judge you guilty!"
He raised his remaining arm towards me and all of my instincts warned me about what was coming. He wasn't playing around anymore!
I threw both of my arms forwards and my Susanoo mimicked my actions.
"Disappear!" A beam of pure cosmic power blasted forth from Arishem's remaining arm. I knew if it hit me, we would be goners, regardless of my massive Susanoo or not.
{38,555,675 Faith Energy!}
{-40,000HP!}
I channeled absolutely all of my remaining power and combined it with everything left I could squeeze out of the Power Stone! "Fuck off, Arishem! Almighty Push!"
[What the fuck!?]
When I released all of that power in one targeted attack, something strange happened. The Space in front of me trembled…and then cracked. The wave of gravity surged forwards and crashed into Arishem with an incompressible amount of force! For a moment, the Laws of Physics shattered.
Arishem was hit with so much force, that one instant he was in front of us, and the second…he vanished. That was the only way I could describe it. He was simply gone…
"Damn, Layla! Did you just knock him into the next Galaxy!?" Jean exclaimed with a shocked laugh. "Where did he go?"
"What the fuck…" Carol finally spoke after Arishem vanished in front of us.
[Wait, did you knock him into the next Galaxy!?]
Wherever I just sent him, I hoped he wouldn't be coming back for a while at least. I lowered my arms and let out a tired sigh. My planet-sized Susanoo faded away around us. I was completely spent. My MP was close to zero, my Faith Energy was drained and I only had a few thousand remaining HP. Despite that, I realized there was a massive grin on my face!
"Ha! Get fucked Arishem! I hit him so hard he ended up recoiling away faster than the speed of light!" I bellowed out with a laugh. "Haha! I literally broke Physics with pure force!"
"Is that what happened!?" Jean asked me in shock.
"He's not dead is he?" Carol asked next. Somehow, she looked even more nervous at that prospect.
I shook my head. I would have gotten a notification if he was. "I honestly have no idea what happened to him. Why don't we get out of here before he comes back?" I suggested as I started flying back to my Warship. I was kind of hoping Rocket had recorded my fight just now because it would be awesome to show to people!
{Quest Completed! You have Leveled up x 10! You have acquired a #####!}
[Layla of the Fallen]
[Title: Fourteen Winged Angel, Goddess of Angels, Death's Favored.]
[Level: 97]
[Sacred Gears: Purger of Darkness, Orb of Infinity]
[HP: 5,000 / 117,000]
[MP: 4,000 / 120,000]
[Faith Energy: 0]
[Vigor: 10,300]
[Strength: 5,200]
[Intelligence: 12,200]
[Luck: 2300]
[Available Free Stat Points: 1000]
[Perks and Skills:]
-Goddess of Angels (10x Increase in all Stat Points. Access to all Angelic Abilities. Can turn other races into white or black winged Angels depending on the person's Karma.)
-Death's Favored (Resurrect on Death after 24 hours. Can resurrect up to three people a day.)
-Daughter of Heaven's Will (Passive Skill: Ask and you shall receive! The universe bends to your whims and circumstances that you wish for are far more likely to occur!)
-Observe (Max: No one's level is hidden from your gaze. No one can detect you using Observe on them.)
-Light Manipulation (Max: All Light Abilities Cost 10x less MP to Cast.)
-Senjutsu (Max: Passively regenerate 1000 MP/Min.)
-Rinnegan (Max: All Rinnegan abilities cost 5x less MP.)
-Faith Pool (Can draw upon Faith Energy when MP runs out.)
-Cosmic Energy (Instead of air, you know breathe Cosmic Energy. All abilities are drastically improved along with access to Cosmic powers.)
XXX
–(Canon?) Omake, A Celestial Lost in Time–
It took Arishem a surprising amount of time to bleed off the momentum. He had never been hit with that much force in his entire existence! He didn't think he had ever been so injured. All of his limbs were broken and bent out of place. There was a massive indent in the center of his torso, where the full power of the blow had struck him.
As the mortals say…he needed a minute.
Arishem would recover from the damage shortly, but that wasn't the most pressing issue!
Somehow, the 14 winged woman had managed to hit him so hard that she sent him through time itself! He could sense the faint traces of Temporal Energies around him. He was not where he was supposed to be…or WHEN he was supposed to be would be the more accurate statement. He didn't know whether or not he had even been sent to the past or the future. He had absolutely no control when he was forcibly launched through time itself.
Arishem took a few moments to recover from his injuries and grow back another arm. Once he was healed, he opened a portal towards Terra. The winged woman was from that small blue world. Maybe he could find her there and exact judgment on her properly. This time, he wouldn't underestimate her.
A massive portal swallowed him whole and transported him to his destination. Arishem arrived near the moon of Terra an instant later. His arrival did not go unnoticed. Numerous spaceships nearby all stopped traffic as their pilots stared at him in wonder. A few seconds later, all nearby spaceships spun around and immediately started to flee from him.
"I am in the future then." Arishem commented to himself. He had read the memories of the Half-Terran known as Peter Quill. Terra was not even close to space travel as far as the mortal knew. And there definitely was not a colony of people openly living on the moon…
Arishem's eyes drifted towards Terra. He had a feeling the woman he was after would be there. "Woman with 14 wings! Come out and meet your judgment!" Arishem declared. His voice echoed across the entire planet!
"Jeez. Did you have to yell so loudly!? Also, who the hell are you, and why are you so needlessly big?" A woman's voice spoke from nearby.
Very nearby!
Arishem's eyes almost became crossed as he glanced down. Hovering directly in front of his face was the woman with 14 Black Wings! No–it wasn't her. This woman looked almost identical, but her aura felt different.
"Who are you, mortal? Where is the woman I seek? Where is Layla of the Fallen!?" He demanded to know.
"Mom? She's out right now, probably touring another weird universe with my sisters. She's left me in charge of the planet while she is out. Nice to meet you giant dude. I'm Hilga…" She introduced herself confidently.
She wasn't gazing at him with reverence or fear, but looking at him as if they were equals. Arishem was once again annoyed at the audacity of lesser beings. "Your mother hit me so hard that she sent me through time itself! That is but a single one of the crimes she must face my judgment for! Bring her to me!"
Hilga had a pondering look on her face before she snapped her fingers in realization. "Oh, I know who you are! You're Arishem! They talked about you in history class! You ended up disappearing for a few years after my mom first fought you decades ago. No one knew where you went during that period. So, she ended up hitting you so hard that she sent you through time? I didn't know that was even possible!" Hilga said excitedly.
"It is." Arishem confirmed. "I must now find a way back. It will be tedious, even for a Celestial."
Hilga tilted her head. "Is that so? Why don't I help you out then?" She suggested. "Want me to try sending you back myself? It shouldn't be too hard for me."
"How would you do that?" Arishem asked.
Hilga Heladottir raised her palm towards Arishem's face nonchalantly.
Suddenly, all of his senses screamed at him in warning! It was only now that he truly sensed the power lurking inside the girl in front of him! She was even more powerful than himself somehow! Far mar powerful! 'How is that possible!?'
Hilga smiled. "See you later giant dude, Almighty Push!"
Arishem once again found himself being blasted through time…
XXX
A/N: A fun little addition at the end there XD