Chapter 457: Aboard A Rock.
A week earlier, at the same time that Sol created the Cosmogonic Event while fighting against Rasha Silva.
"Posture, Umbra," Giza leaned over him with her arms folded and a pair of glasses retsed on the tip of her nose like a teacher to their student. "Maintain your posture, you may have the same constitution as he does and an even faster rate of growth with the methods you chose, but Zan’el is a monster beyond you both, he is always..." She paused . "He is always..." Giza sucked in a breath and looked in Sol’s direction.
"What is it this time?" Umra peered an eye open but found an expression of fear etched actoss the Dark Emissary’s face, something he had no recollection of ever seeing before. "Giza?"
"The Third General will not even halt Sol Vestic at this rate." Giza admitted gazing through dimensions to see what was happening after she felt a portion of her darkness get erased and replaced by a foreign void made of pure mana mimicking the void it had stolen.
"What?" He stood at the ready but huffed when she rested her hand on his shoulder and forced him to sit once more without even glancing at him. "...You said earlier that there was a high chance that he would die by the hands of the Third General considering how powerful she is in contrast to him, to us." He pressed her for information about what was happening.
"Sol will win, even more -he will win with ease." She took back her words before him and then glanced down and tapped his forehead with her fingers. "You must become stronger faster, Umbra, otherwise he will destroy you with no resistance at all."
"Are you at least going to tell me what happened?" He asked her, closing his eyes again whilst a shiver crawled across his body as he thought of her words. "What did he do?"
"Sol vestic is reaching levels that concern me." She answered without hesitation. "He is using powers never utilized by mortals and seldomly used by the first immortals, the path he is treading is beyond godhood straight into the realm of abstract forces and fundamental power only left feared and imagined." She huffed and clasped her shaking fists.
"What does that even mean?" Umbra asked taking another deep breath while the core of power within his body began rapidly heating and rotating, causing his body to steam while and catch ablaze with black mana.
"He is on the path of becoming a being like myself."
"Maning?"
"Some day, Sol Vestic will seize total control of one of the great forces that govern reality, unless he is dealt with before then I fear he will be too much for either of us or anyone else to handle-"
"Then why the fuck are we still running from him?" Umbra stood again, snapping at her without raising his voice. "Why?!" He grabbed her arm when she remained silent after his outburst.
"Because neither of us are his opponent right now!" Giza snapped back at him, causing him to go silent with scepticism marking his face with wrinkles. "You cannot overpower Sol Vestic I thought you at least stood a chance but he has surpassed everyone’s expectations.
I can, but it is far too dangerous to even be near him..." She rested her hand over her chest, taking a shaking breath and then looking towards Sol again. "He is my natural enemy, he can undo me."
"I thought that was Ikaris... if Sol is the one who can kill you then why do you hate the one at his side as much as you do?"
"I do not experience hate, however I was jealous of her for a little while, even though she is such an immensely weaker and inferior being to me, she succeeded where I failed, she got to him before I did and I do not understand why, but that no longer matters to me, I simply wish to see her die miserably for my own satisfaction." Giza chuckled and then turned to Umbra. "My Lord, we are short on time, unless it is something of utmost urgency I will keep all the current happenings to myself while we travel."
He was disturbed, clearly he was, first she had told him that the Jun he ignored and left was the real one, Buche, the one whom even she was wary of was killed by Sol and now his sworn enemy was on his way to transcending godhood entirely.
"How infuriating." He grumbled. "...fucking infruriating!" He began grinding his teeth while the black flame hugging his form continued to fan across the small body they were occupying while Giza willed it to move through her dark dimension towards the nexus. "Every time it feels like I’m making progress; what was the other day for, what was I so proud of, what kind of enlightenment can surpass that monster?"
"The kind that allows you to do this, I suppose," Giza called his attention to the present where his hair like hers had become one with the darkness brushing over his shoulders and vanishing into the void.
"What the hell?"
"This is good, My Lord, the closer you are to me the more of my power you will be able to use when the time comes, you being compatible with Sol means you can also counter and corrupt his light with your darkness, unlike myself." She smiled at him, a genuine smile that revealed a bit of rose in her cheeks as she stared intently at his hair while he huffed and went back to meditating.
"Yes, Umbra, just like this, keep using my power, once I take your body as my own the endless potential you possess will be mine to utilise, even if I find this new emotion of affection compells me to spare your life, I will see my goal to the end and become one with my other self again."
"You’re still staring... It’s creepy," Umbra peered an eye open glaring at her, totally oblivious to the plans she had set in motion for him but still wary of her whenever she wore that exited expression, something about it made his skin crawl.
"...Apologies, My Lord, I will focus on our journey."