Established Pinnacle: The Enigma



Pity, the World's Will had hoped too soon. Or rather, the very concept of Hope was long erased years back, remember?

「Ochestrator, what do you think you're doing?! Cease your actions, right this instance!!!」

The World Will hastily reacted as she shouted for Athena to keep quiet, for them to halt their progress, as she felt the pressure of omnipotent authority around her increase far greater than her control.

She was shocked and confused.

She was frightened.

She was flabbergasted.

For this made no sense.

She was now bathed in fright, as she saw each Mystery exceed itself in power, genuinely surpassing what was considered a Mystery. This increased the concentration of Mysteries within the Core Region, forcefully pushing them to exceed themselves too.

But that was not the problem.

Eras come and go, they are born, and they come to end. That was a given. Everything followed a cycle of sorts, that repeats itself continously. She knew that.

So far, tens of Eras have flashed by, and she oversaw most of them. She knew the requirements needed to start up an Era, and what happens when a new Era was born.

The authority would begin as True Laws of the lowest category, and then increasing in concentration as the First Age progresses forward. Then the other Ages come, and the concentration increases.

Likewise, to end an Age, the concentration of the highest attainable level of a Mystery would be achieved. After all, an Era was a powerful period of time, transcending even Supremes, hence, the power that was omnipotent in nature, was required to put an end to it.

Yet...

Yet why was the concentration of an authority far surpassing a Mystery, required as a build up to the words that were about to be uttered by these two irregular abnormalities?

She even used her authority over all Mysteries here, to attempt to strip them of their power to speak. Yet to her horror, her grasp over the countless Mysteries, was disrupted by the occurring resonance of Providence.

Not even omnipotence could stop what was about to truly unfold at this very moment. But she still instinctively tried to stop them.

「You... YOU FIENDS!! OCHESTRATOR, DON'T–」

She hastily roared out in horror. Unfortunately, Athena was mute to her cries once more, as she continued with her declaration. "This place is nothing but a chessboard ready for the chess players to set out the pieces before they can begin the game."

BOOM~

"And the only way to determine who are the players, and who are the tools... is to see which two beings are smart enough to properly set out the game... and use the entire world as their playthings." She ended her short speech, curling her lips up in excitement.

"...."

Teach remained silent to that, and only chuckled to himself as she finished her words, while ignoring the World's Will. Throughout the years, he found what it was that he believed Enigma wanted out of him.

It wasn't to build a force in the mortal worlds, as there already was one, Nia's Domain. And it wasn't to guide people as well, that was just a side Quest he wouldn't mind achieving right now.

The true reason he was allowed to gain independence, and escape from the Heavenly Divine Realm, was to meet up with Athena. Who, will then lead him to his purpose.

"My purpose here, is to create a platform that will perfectly accept the initiation of the New Era, right? No, this isn't just an Era, but the genesis of a new beginning... The rise of the Second Aeon, that will usher in the New Era of Genesis... Isn't it so, Great Lady?" He inquired.

WAM~

Yet another soft inquiry, but unlike before, this time around, this inquiry halted everything. Time, Existence, Progress, the various authorities beyond Mysteries, even the Will of Terra was forcefully halted.

Everything came to a stasis.

"It indeed is so, Great Enigmatic Concept." And Athena agreed, her gaze still set at her soroundings with a playful smile. At the chessboard that she was about to build, after waiting for almost a century in boredom.

"Indeed so, my ass!!" But at the same time as she said those words, a rather languid voice, capable of calming down even the Ancients, rang out in slight annoyance.

The vast concentration of omnipotence around them rippled, and then tore apart, as a doorway was opened. A doorway that revealed the perfect physique of a young man with a roughed up appearance.

His clothes were torn and raggered, despite his body having no wounds. His hair was a mess, and there were black circles around his eyes, which were barely kept open as he reprimanded Athena.

"What the hell, Athena?! Why didn't you wait for my signal?!" He angrily inquired, as his entire visage was revealed. He was Allen... well, a more mature version of Allen, seemingly around his late twenties.

"Ah, Allen, you're here. And I presume this is the version of you two weeks from now, via Abyss time?" Athena ignored his reprimands, and instead acted cute, like a curious kitten, as she asked an unnecessary question.

Teach was surprised by her sudden change of behavior, and could only stare at her flabbergasted.

But to his surprise, the Allen before him actually softened up at her. He sighed, and ruffled up his hair some more. "...I bet this has to do with Enigma. It's gotta be him. There's nobody else." He added.

His tone carried annoyance within, but at the same time, affection. Familial affection that was more than just clear within his eyes. But nonetheless, Teach felt guilty for being the root cause of everything.

'But what did I do? What plans did I disrupt?' He thought to himself. He was also curious why Athena played along with him, despite that fact.

"Well, fuck it. We can get through this." Allen gave up stressing, giving off a subtle vibe of reliance. "So, why did you rush things, Athy? The plan is destroyed, and now, that freak will be able to find out all of our plans." He complained.

"About that, actually, I just thought it would be appropriate to rush things, just to add a bit of EOS into our plans." And Athena responded, a cheeky smile on her face.

"EOS???"

"Element of Surprise. Well, to be honest, I believe that guy predicted our plans already. After all, he's Enigma, but with a conscious view of his overall potential." She said, "In simple terms, he could outsmart the two of us even if we schemed for an infinite number of years."

She concluded her words, with a statement that had Allen frowning in displeasure. Yet despite that, he did not argue with her. In fact, he agreed. "Hard to admit, but true. The reason things were swift, might be because he let us be." He agreed with her thoughts.

"True. Thus, adding an EOS would be fun, wouldn't it?" Athena affirmed, still keeping her smile as she spoke.

"But adding any element would not change anything, would it? It's that guy we're up against, you know. He's Enigma." Allen expressed his concerns, but Athena was still one step ahead.

"I know, that's true. But... we are not adding just any element, but an aspect of his, as the element. I mean, if anything, only he could surprise himself." She joked, but her tone was dead serious.

"...."

Allen also understood what she planned to do, and glanced at Teach besides her. And things finally clicked to him. He lightly exclaimed in shock, "Ohh~ So this is how things are? You plan to use an Enigma to fight against Enigma? But... we tried that, and failed horribly, didn't we?"

"Not necessarily so, because I plan to use Enigma, to surprise Enigma. I mean, sure, fighting him now is a suicidal move. But if we use aspects of his, we would be able to make slight come backs bit by bit." She further explained, and Allen nodded.

"I see. Well, I guess I understand your thoughts. But is this enough? Is one aspect enough?" Yet he still felt unnerved, as he cautiously thought.

"Of course not. That's why, we will use the one within the Heavenly Divine Realm as well. The one within the Abyss as well. And the one considered as the main body. We will strike at once, and fulfill all conditions to end this Era." She declared, shocking the two young man.

"Crazy. You're definitely crazy... but I like it." Allen said, as his frown was replaced by excitement. Athena's thought were wild, but feasible. Hell, there were the only way they could make a proper come back.

No, perhaps not just a come back.

"Yes, we will strike back as well." Athena finished his thoughts, as she turned her gaze back at the Core Region, and the World's Will. "We will strike back, and show him that we are not going to give up just because the Palaces back home have abandoned us."

"We will struggle, and struggle some more. Then make sure that we are the ones that make it out on top at the end of the game." She once more declared, but as everything was frozen in place, no grand symphony of power played out.

There was nothing, but deafening silence.