"If everything goes to plan, there should be no reason for us to linger longer than needed. I doubt Aria will be staying until the realm is destroyed so the moment I see her, I'll be able to leave and track her down at a later time." Shiro reassured.
In order to track someone down, she needs to see the codes of the area and where they've exerted their influence. If Aria does indeed run away, finding her through the myriad of worlds would be a difficult task if not for the fact that she could use the Beyond as a gateway. She'll be able to scan every world to find where Aria is.
'As long as I see her once, there'll be nowhere for her to hide.' Shiro thought to herself with narrowed eyes.
"If you're that confident then okay. Should I open the path now? The sooner we do this the better since there are more locations where I can place the portal. The longer we take the more limited the options become." Juri asked as she waved her hand and a tier 9 magic array slowly revealed itself.
Similar to a puzzle, the array started to rearrange itself into the shape of a door.
"Probably put us near the centre of the God realm." Nyx suggested as Shiro nodded her head.
"Alright. Once again, I'll warn you. Try not to be close to the edge of the realm since you could be swept along and disappear. Even someone of your power, I doubt you'll be unscathed." Juri warned while glancing back at Shiro.
Flicking her finger, mana surged from the Beyond and converged towards the door she had just created. With a swirl of energy, a portal emerged.
"Take this orb, it'll keep you updated on where the exit portal is relative to your location. Since the realm is collapsing, I might need to shift the position." explained Juri
"Thanks, do I owe you anything?" Shiro asked before she stepped through the gate.
"Just take this as a gift. It's only a small matter anyways."
It wasn't as though she was helping them fight. Her job was to just open a portal and keep it open for their return. Juri didn't see a reason for Shiro to owe her.
"Alright, see you soon then."
Giving Juri a small wave, Shiro jumped through the portal with Nyx following behind her.
Similar to the portal to the world of creation, Shiro could feel a moment of rejection before being eased into the current.
"So what do you plan on asking Aria when you meet her?" Nyx asked curiously. She knew that Shiro had a grudge against Aria and it could very well turn into a fight if they met.
"Well just how much she knows in general. Hopefully I'll be able to learn more about the third party." Shiro replied as several thoughts crossed her mind.
Shaking her head, she focused her gaze forward. No matter what Aria tells her, she will find out the truth eventually.
'When that day comes… I'll most likely face the third party.'
As they reached the end of the portal, Shiro activated the power of the Bifrost to help them land safely. After all, she doesn't want a repeat of what happened when she was turned into a missile upon arrival.
"I suppose a welcome is in order. I present to you, the God Realm." Nyx smiled.
Surrounding them was a myriad of floating islands that pulsed with mana. Above them was the sky. A kaleidoscope of colours reflecting the domains of each god. From the ephemeral blues to the burning embers of red and the radiance of gold. The sky was unlike anything Shiro had seen before.
Stretching from each island, the strands of mana twisted and threaded together to form bridges. Architecture from each mythology could be seen, each with their own defining trails.
"Honestly this place looked a lot better before but it is pretty much an empty realm now with the exception of a few stragglers who had their anchors destroyed." Nyx shrugged as she released her aura, threatening the gods who were spying on them.
Usually Gods would leave this realm, Shiro and Nyx were the first ones to arrive ever since the realm started to collapse.
"Can't they just take the portal back?" Shiro asked curiously but Nyx shook her head.
"Nope, they don't have anything to anchor down their existence in the mortal realm. If they left this place for the mortal realm without an anchor, it'll only be a matter of time before they die anyways. They're just enjoying the last of their time in this world." Nyx replied.
"Though… There is a way for them to live a tad longer I suppose." She whispered while creating a barrier around them that blocked the sound from escaping.
"Oh?" Shiro raised an eyebrow as her interest was piqued. While she was also a God, she didn't know much about the rules.
"Yep. All they have to do is consume enough mana to sustain their divinity. Think of it as a cup of water with a hole in the bottom. When the cup is empty, they die. But if they manage to keep refilling that cup, they'll survive. Naturally, using mana in a fight will speed up this process so they'll need to pick their battles carefully. But if they somehow manage to kill a god and consume the mana, their existence will be stabilized for a short time." Nyx explained.
"Not many know of this though as the Gods who know of this have made preparations to protect their anchor to avoid this kind of situation while keeping others in the dark. After all, it's a temporary method. If they somehow manage to devour all of the mana in the mortal realm, they'll still die eventually. They're essentially zombies I suppose. Any God who still has their anchor wouldn't want zombie Gods running around the mortal realm threatening to fight to their last breath." Nyx shrugged as Shiro nodded her head in understanding.
She could see why the Gods who know chose to keep silent on this matter.
They already had their hands full with trying to find the right person to ally themselves with without knowing who the lifeline was. If they had zombie Gods running around it'll only make matters worse.
"I suppose if a God did leak the information, it would be hell in the mortal realm."
"Bingo. It doesn't help that it has indeed happened before, though it was still kept in the dark thanks to the System's censorship. But let's not dally, how do you want to look for Aria?" Nyx asked curiously.
"It's pretty simple. I just need to trace Aekari's code back to his domain in this realm. Once I get there, I should be able to find traces of Aria."
Closing one of her eyes, circuits appeared on her iris as the world blurred into code. Bringing up Aekari's code from memory, Shiro waved her hand and started to search through the code of the God Realm for a clue.
"That is pretty damn handy. Since the system is so ingrained with our universe, having Error being able to tap into that vault of knowledge makes life so much easier." Nyx muttered while marveling at Shiro's abilities.
"Error certainly makes tracking people down easier. I can also use the system but only to a small degree. Most of the features are still unavailable for me. The main one being my own stats. I assume it's due to the fact that having both Creation and Destruction is an anomaly to begin with and needed Admin's help to quantify my strength in numbers even before I got my new core. But with my strength now… it caused another malfunction when I tried." Shiro shrugged as she flicked her finger.
A system interface appeared in front of Nyx as she blinked her eyes at the stats.
[Name: Shiro
Race: !"£^%&^$?
Title: "!*^$(*£&?$£*£$&Y*
Level: ??????????
Class: "*&^$&*^)£&$&^&*^£]
The rest of the stats were in a similar situation as Nyx couldn't understand anything written on her status board.
"Without proper maintenance, I've surpassed what the system has been designed to record I suppose." Shiro said nonchalantly as Nyx was stunned into silence. When even the oldest of primal gods, the First Borns, could be quantified, how strong was Shiro now for the system to malfunction by trying to calculate her strength?
Thinking about a potential answer, Nyx felt shivers down her back.
"If you want, I can turn the system back on for you." Shiro offered but Nyx shook her head.
"I will pass, it's not like I relied on it before anyways." For Nyx, it was a rather good feeling to not be restrained by the system anymore. This new freedom was welcomed.
Nodding her head in understanding, Shiro focused her mind on tracking down Aekari's domain. She had already sent out small bots to travel across the realm so that she could see the codes of the entire God Realm.
And soon, her lips curved up into a smile.
"Found it."
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