Chapter 458: Infinite Worlds

Sylvia stepped out of the passage beside the Hollow King and saw Earth below them. Smoke rose from a city near the coast while a red tear in the sky poured demons onto its streets.

She could see people fleeing toward a line of barriers as winged creatures circled overhead. The defenders had kept most of the demons outside the city center, but cracks were already spreading through their shields.

BOOM!

A huge demon drove its fist into one of the barriers and sent the players behind it stumbling. Another climbed over an overturned bus and reached for a woman carrying an injured man.

Sylvia kept her power contained as she descended toward them and the Hollow King followed at an easier pace. She heard a defender calling to his companions from the roof of a damaged building.

"Get the wounded out of here! We can’t hold them much longer!"

Then he noticed her approaching and waved both arms above his head.

"Don’t come down this way! The evacuation point is behind us!"

The demon beside the bus also saw her and spread its wings. Its grin widened as it crouched to leap into the air.

Sylvia glanced across the invading army and released her powers.

The demon’s grin remained on its face as its body collapsed beside the bus. Across the streets the others fell at the same instant and the creatures above the rooftops dropped out of the sky.

The huge demon at the barrier landed on its knees and fell backward. Its raised fist struck the empty road with a heavy BANG that made the nearest defenders flinch.

One of them kept his shield raised as he stared at the bodies. Then he looked toward the woman floating above the street.

"Did she just kill all of them?"

His companion lowered the sword he had been about to swing. The demon in front of him hadn’t even managed to block it before dying.

"I didn’t even see her attack."

Sylvia let her gaze pass over the red opening and the demons gathering at its edge went still. Their bodies fell back through the tear as the Hollow King reached her side.

[Mystic Code Activated: Space.]

He closed his hand and pulled the opening shut. The red light vanished from the streets and left the defenders staring at an empty sky.

"Who are you, and did the Space League send you?" The man on the roof called.

"It’s over now, so please help the injured first." Sylvia pointed toward the people still sheltering behind the barriers.

He quickly called his companions over and they began carrying the injured out. The woman beside the bus kept thanking Sylvia even as another player took the wounded man from her arms.

A young defender approached the fallen demon and kicked its hand away from his broken shield. Once it failed to move he sank onto the road and covered his face with both hands.

Sylvia smiled at the woman and rose above the rooftops. She could still hear people asking who had saved them as she joined the Hollow King.

"Did those demons come from another world too?"

"There are many kinds of demons. Some come from other worlds and others belong to our own realm."

She looked at the place where the opening had disappeared. They had already crossed into another universe and still kept finding places she knew nothing about.

"Does that mean a place like Hell could exist somewhere?"

"It’s possible. There are infinite planes of existence in the multiverse."

Sylvia’s eyes widened as she looked beyond Earth’s sky. She had thought the God Domain was vast, yet even the universe holding it was only a small part of what lay outside.

"And where do Primordials stand among all that? Are they all at the same level?"

"There are distinctions between them too, but I don’t know the specifics. Becoming one doesn’t mean you’ve reached the limit of everything."

Sylvia nodded as they left the city behind. For now she would be happy to reach a level where she could help Caelus face the Heavenly Lord.

The Hollow King stopped above an empty stretch of land and looked beneath it. Sylvia followed his gaze until she sensed something deep inside the planet.

At first it seemed faint beneath the layers of stone. However the farther she reached toward it the harder it became to judge its size.

"I can sense it below us, so come with me." The Hollow King opened a passage beneath them.

They passed through and emerged in a narrow space surrounded by glowing rock. Heat filled Sylvia’s vision as another opening carried them deeper into the planet.

The Hollow King kept the molten stone away while she watched a golden glow spread through the darkness ahead. Soon it filled everything she could see.

An enormous core hung beyond the space protecting them. Golden light moved across its surface and Sylvia felt a pressure that made the gods they had rescued seem small.

She had expected bones or some other part of a body. Instead the remains they had come for filled the center of Earth.

"The planet’s core is what remains of the Supreme One."

Sylvia remembered Caelus stopping during their last visit to Earth because something beneath the planet had troubled him. They had been right above these remains without knowing what they were.

"But won’t taking this destroy the planet? There are people living right above us."

"I have the Authority of Creation. While you take the remains, I’ll make a replacement core and keep the planet stable."

"You’d better, or we’ll have issues, Hollow King." Sylvia glanced at her and spoke.

She wasn’t about to save a city from demons and then destroy it herself. The Hollow King held out his hand as she moved toward the core.

[Authority Activated: Creation.]

A small sphere appeared above his palm and began to grow. At the same time Sylvia reached toward the golden surface and felt its power flowing into her fingers.