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Late Afternoon - Mid Summer : The Scar, Southwestern Holy Kingdom (The mountain)

"Hmm.. so a tether is just a tube of divinity you siphon mana through, but the tube also acts as an artificial reserve?

" I looked up toward her dime-sized tether as countless small fibers spread along it before fusing together.

"If that's the case, how did you manage to take control of your main body's reserve?

" I glanced over at Hera's cloudy figure as I spoke.

"~Hm, I'm not too sure how to explain it...~"

"Just give it your best shot, I can fill in the gaps." -Maybe...-

She paused for a moment before finally speaking.

"~Alright.. well, in short, I tapped into the mana vein leading from the base of my brain to my reserve and simply used 'mana signaling' to control it.

The exact signals took forever to figure out, but I eventually got there after what felt like an eternity. ..~"

-Mana signaling?- While I knew what the mana veins were, essentially just being meridians or pathways for mana to flow through the body, mana signaling was a term I had never even heard of.

"Is mana signaling just using the mana vein to send mana with certain, specified patterns that result in specific actions? "

"~Kind of, but everything is considered a signal, and depending on what patterns are used or combined, you can get extremely specific and complex results.

It's very similar to the way the brain itself interprets signals from that web of nodes.

One string of nodes may result in one thing, while the same string with one altered node could result in something completely different and independent. ~"

-Damn...- I was immediately taken aback by her shockingly deep knowledge regarding the brain.

-But I guess after living for so long, you start investigating whatever you can.

..- Looking back toward the tether, I watched as it ever-so-gently made the hole in the core larger and allowed more mana to flow through it.

"Could you abuse mana signaling to make your reserve do certain actions like increase the rotation speed of the mana inside it? "

I thought my question was solid, but she immediately shot it down with a laugh. "~Haha, I'm sure it is possible, but figuring out the signal for something you couldn't do already would likely be more effort than it is worth. Plus, it incites some risks you can't exactly ignore.~"

-Ah, that's a fair point, actually...- While there were certainly countless upsides to being able to control every aspect of my reserve, the downsides of doing something that destabilizes, or even ruptures your reserve by forcing it to do something outside its capabilities were not only high risk but also high probability, especially with a trial and error approach.

-Even just the trial and error to find a pattern in the signals would be sketchy. ..-

"~Regardless, you need 'free-flowing' divinity to simulate the signals, so you don't have to worry about it.~"

-Free-flowing divinity sounds really convenient.

..- In short, free-flowing divinity was simply divinity that had no static form like the divinity within my body.

According to Hera, it was something only 'bodyless souls', like the human gods, could possess.

-But I could definitely still mimic a mana signal even without that, so.

..- My mind immediately started to wander as I questioned what else I could let my insane mana control compensate for.

"What if I made a tether of mana instead of divinity? "

"~Mana is too porous for a tether. The moment uncontrolled mana flows into it, it would snag and clog.

..~" She paused as she floated toward the dungeon core and adjusted the length of the tether back and forth.

"~Although I haven't actually thought about it until now, I can't seem to control the mana until it is about a quarter of the way through the tether.

.. So at the very least, that part of the tether would need to be made with divinity. ~"

-Hm... So I would need to make the tether out of something small enough to not snag uncontrolled mana?- While at first the only thing that came to mind was indeed divinity, with a bit more thought, I stumbled across an idea. "Do you think space mana could work?"

"~Huh?~" She sounded shockingly surprised. "~That's not that bad of an idea, actually... But do you really have that much control over it? The tether needs to start small enough to split the gap between the mana particles that make up the shell of a reserve without letting anything leak out.~"

"Right, but I don't think control is the issue, in all honesty." -Making a tube that small is one thing, not interfering with the fabric of space is another...-

"~If control isn't an issue, what is holding you back?~" I felt as if she tilted her head.

"To create a gate into the void, you essentially spread an array of space mana away from one singular point evenly, and give it a little extra space mana to form a hollow shape, but I'm a bit worried the tube I create may cause some sort of singularity, since no matter how small I make it, it would warp that array.

.." -Every hollow shape I tested resulted in 'non-existence', where all types of matter would just teleport through or across it as if it were traversing the space normally, and hollow shapes with one side missing essentially created a black hole.

. but if the shape has two opposing sides missing.

..- I was honestly at a loss for what would even happen.

But the blank I drew only made me more intrigued.

However, after several minutes of deep thought and small-scale experimentation, Ilios suddenly got up.

-Hm?- Pulling away from my thoughts for a moment, I looked back at him and saw him looking at the edge of the mountain with his ears perked up.

He was clearly curious about something off in that direction, and while I couldn't really explain it, I felt something as well, even if it was unbelievably faint. -I wonder what it is...- "Do you want to go check it out?"

He immediately nodded before hopping off my back. *tap-tap-tap*

"Alright, then. Just be safe! If it gets dangerous, make sure you come back." I leaned down and rubbed my head against him for a moment before he gave me a few licks and darted over the edge of the false caldera's rim. [1] -I'm sure he'll be fine...-

As I turned back to focus on my experiments once again, Hera chimed in. "~He truly is scarily intelligent...~"

-Huh?- "What makes his intelligence scary?"

"~Well.. I just feel like.. he knows more than he lets on...~"

"Haha, that's to be expected, isn't it? Everyone has their secrets."

She paused for a moment before speaking with some hesitation. "~Are you not.. worried he may be tricking you? What if he is planning to betray you?~"

I gave her an odd look before looking back at my experiment.

"It may sound a bit odd, but there are times I feel as if we share thoughts or feelings.

. far beyond what could be considered the effect of being like-minded.

.. I'm honestly not sure what even causes it, but regardless, it makes me confident our relationship will never waver.

" I momentarily glanced in the direction Ilios ran off in before feeling as if he were suddenly very far away.

But while it was sudden and incredibly unusual, my heart and mind were as calm as could be.

"Whenever something disturbs our relationship, we both just..

unconsciously make adjustments to balance it out again. .."

There was a long silence that filled the air between Hera and me before she eventually spoke in a hushed tone. "~That.. must be nice...~"

- Myles Kalfas ~

*fwip-fwip-fwip-fwip* Narrowly dodging Hel's flurry of swings, I watched her hands looking for an opening, but it felt like it would never come.

*FW-W-W-WOOSH-C-C-C-CRACK* Each of her swings was unfathomable, creating colossal shockwaves, strong enough to dig into the ground and progressively destroy and bury even more of the town behind me.

But saving the town was the least of my priorities. *fwip* *FWOOOOOSH* Ducking under another devastating swing, I looked away from her hands and into her eyes.

They were indescribably cold, but the moment she noticed my calm expression, a fire was lit behind them.

But it was a good sign for me. -She's tunnel-visioning...-

She immediately raised her blade with both hands, ready to slash down at my head, but even though I could see the path of the swing, I didn't move.

The moment her sword started to fall toward me, a huge set of mana-coated claws came slamming into her side. *CRRRRRRACK-VWOOOOOOM* Although she managed to harden the divinity on that side of her body the moment the claws hit, it sent her flying.

*CRUNCH* The ground cracked as Amphitrite landed. "You alright?"

"Of course." Finally standing up, I looked toward the wake of destruction left by Amphitrite's swing to see Hel standing in front of a statue of Bahamut with her sword embedded in the ground.

"~I guess I should have expected you slimy lizards to have some underhanded tricks.~" Her voice was cold and seemingly emotionless; enough-so to strike fear into the hearts of many.

But Amphitrite and I were calm. "To think someone in Asgard would be upset about 'underhanded tricks'..."

"~You say that as if everyone in Asgard is the same.

~" *crackle-BAAAANG* The 100-meter-tall statue of Bahamut behind her instantly exploded into a cloud of dust as she stood up.

"~Just because those other bastards are cowards afraid of their limits, doesn't mean I am.

~" The moment her greyish-blue eyes met mine, she disappeared.

-She's coming for me...- Opening my mouth, I aimed at the air just to the side of me and let a huge yellow and red beam loose. *cra-BBAAAAANNNGGG* The beam, so aggressively strengthened by mana, was something even a god couldn't tank head-on.

But that was when she finally appeared, with her body wrapped slightly around it. "~You dragons have truly become weak.~" *fwip* Her blade effortlessly split my beam in half as it came crashing down into my jaw.

But this was an opportunity. Turning my head slightly, the blade sliced into one of my teeth before being stopped by several strands of divinity.

*WHAAAAAMMMM* The impact slammed my head and body into the ground instantaneously as if gravity had been increased by a hundred thousand times, but the moment before I felt it, I managed to close my mouth and pinch her blade with the divinity in another tooth.

Feeling the blade still in my mouth as I went to jump out of the ground, I felt an immediate boost in confidence. I managed to disarm her and deal a considerable amount of damage since the blade was technically part of her body.

*Crunch-FWOOSH* But the moment I flapped my wings and threw myself out of the ground, I was met with Hel staring straight into my eye, still gripping the blade.

"~To think my son was killed by someone so weak!

~" Instantly ripping the blade out of my teeth, she swung the back of her hand around and slammed the hilt into the side of my face. *CRUNCH-CRRR-WHAAAAAAAM*

Feeling my scales shatter like dry clay, I spread my wings and braced my legs before being essentially teleported to the ground. *BAAAAAAANG* The rubble-covered ground exploded as a huge amount of debris was launched into the air around me.

The scales all along my face were pulverized, and the bones in my snout were shattered, but I didn't have time to let it phase me.

Looking back up at her, her cold stare burned holes into me, once again. -She is even cockier than Tyr!- *CLANK-FWOOSH* Taking advantage of the opening again, Amphitrite appeared behind her and slammed her claws down onto Hel's head.

*WHAAAAM* As she zipped toward the ground, I darted through the wall of debris I just kicked up and immediately found myself right next to her falling body with my mouth agape.

But as the red and yellow glow of the breath started coming from my mouth, I finally noticed her blade hanging over my head. *crackle* My body screamed at me to dodge, but there was nothing I could do.

It was too late.

*vwoop* The moment the blade slammed into the top of my head, my vision went dark, and an indescribable pain ripped through my body.

The seemingly indestructible web of divinity that I had slowly accumulated and created over the last thousand years, was beginning to break. It was beginning to rip everything it touched out of my body. -So this.. is the end...-

As my consciousness faded, the pain ever-so-slowly subsided, and a vision, a dream of what could have been, came to mind.

What I saw was a tree.. a tree with a nearly infinite number of branches, each representing decisions I made or could have made, with the ends of the branches having leaves that showed the countless ways I could have ended up.

Dying alone from an injury when I was young, finding a woman to have children with when I was a young elder, even conquering the world. .. Everything was there.

But somehow, I felt content with the way things were. I felt content with the path I took and the missteps and mistakes that made me who I was.

There was only one thing I wished was different. -If only.. I could have seen his return...-