Chapter 309: A Universal Mountain, A Universal Tree

"So," Akasha said as he stood atop the peak of his Mountain.

After his mother’s warning, he hadn’t offered much in response—simply because it wasn’t something he had ever intended to change.

Caution was ingrained in his nature, and no amount of power would make him arrogant or reckless.

If anything, he saw strength merely as a tool to ensure greater safety.

When he became an Unbound God, he realized he had gained... well, nothing tangible.

At that stage, all beings unlocked the last of their decrees, something he had essentially achieved long ago.

So, aside from ascending into a fifteenth-dimensional being, not much about him had truly changed.

Yet, that very dimensional status was perhaps the most unsettling aspect of the entire power system.

With everything Akasha had accomplished thus far, he still could not perceive those who vastly exceeded his power.

Even those within the Land of Elsewhere now, though captivated by his appearance, didn’t notice the faint blur he carried—and that was just one major rank above.

This only made him more cautious when considering the Fatality Lock he possessed, which would inevitably draw attention toward him.

All of this was to say, nothing about Akasha’s mentality would change; yes, he had grown stronger, but he had also just left his mother’s custom playhouse.

And inside Pantheos, her situation was far trickier than he cared to delve into at this point.

Akasha let his thoughts swirl, then turned fully to his mother.

"How do we go about entering Pantheos?"

She caught his gaze and chuckled, her hand still loosely hooked at his sleeve.

"If you had not torn my universe apart, you could have gone up the ordinary way," she said, shaking her head.

"Much like a few others.. But now, you might as well dream a door to where you want. Though I would advise starting at the Universal layer, just before the Multiverse."

At those words, Akasha didn’t feel the need to question her reasons.

With a quick peek into her mind, he understood instantly.

In the next moment, he nodded and glanced first at Yume, then at Luna.

The small smile he offered them was already enough to convey his thoughts. Sage shifted in his arms, nestling her nose against his wrist.

HUM!

"Well," he said, and with a single thought, a purple portal shimmered into existence before them, steady and unwavering, its edges perfectly crisp against the backdrop of the white sun and the four distant stars.

"Shall we?"

-----

When they emerged, the other side was a void unlike anything Akasha had ever imagined.

Just as his mother had predicted, the portal transported them straight into a barren space between universes.

Yet, contrary to its name, the void was far from empty. In the distance, the darkness was filled with presence.

Universes hung there in shapes that did not pretend to be whatever a usual universe would look like...

In the distance stood a crown vast enough to hold entire civilizations, a grand throne with a sun nestled against its back, a tower stretching beyond sight from this angle, a sword plunged point-down into emptiness with cities lining its fuller, and several other strange structures.

"Well, as you can see... these are universes," Akashi said, smiling at Akasha. "And each one is governed by a Pantheon, led by Universal Kings or Queens."

Between the hanging universes, other things belonged to the void without being so strange.

There were pale pathways laid like bridges with no land at either end, small doors standing in a row on nothing, island paradises with beaches that should not have had a horizon and still did, and plenty more that met the eye.

"I must say," Akasha said as he laughed under his breath, looking from a throne-universe to the empty stretch around his feet.

"This is just right for the mountain."

Ever since he moved Dream Land, now transformed into the Land of Elsewhere within himself, it became evident that he was no longer a Supreme God or the ruler of a Star System Pantheon.

This was simply because he had dissolved the worlds into doors scattered around the Land of Elsewhere.

And now... he intended to dream a brand-new Mountain into existence within the waking world.

A Universal Mountain.

"I didn’t imagine a void would look like this," Yume said, slowly turning in place, her blue-gray hair lifting in a wind that seemed to come from nowhere, eyes wide without any attempt to hide her awe.

"It’s... loud. But in a beautiful way."

Luna stepped close enough that her floor-length hair grazed his boot, pressing a warm kiss to his cheek before lingering with her lips near his ear.

"Let me handle it... my love~.."

She had known he was about to dream of the Mountain, but ever since she had truly unlocked her full power, she had changed in ways she never anticipated.

She was no longer Luna, the Original Desire—she had become Luna, the Unseen Need.

Once, she existed entirely in the realm of Desire, the embodiment of lust in every form, able to manifest her wants at will.

But now, she had stepped onto the path of Needing.

Desire might be everywhere, yet in Fantasy it wasn’t unusual to encounter someone untouched by it.

Needs, however, were different.

Nearly every being had something they required, and Luna, while still able to conjure desires, could now influence the needs of anything around her.

And with her connection to Akasha, her surroundings were as boundless as his own.

Luna pulled back from his cheek with her fingers, leaving the necklace on his chest last, pink hearts turning in her eyes, and she lifted one hand toward the open dark between the hanging universes.

HUMMMMM!!!!!!!

In an instant, a burst of white-and-pink divinity radiated from her, sweeping over the entire void and blotting it from sight for the span of a single breath.

As the brilliance faded, the emptiness revealed a towering mountain now standing in the gap, a presence that had not existed there moments before.

It was nothing like the lovely oasis nestled in the Land of Elsewhere.

It was the literal size of a universe: a mountain of black stone from base to peak, with purple veins streaking through it.

There were no grassy plains, no canopies, nothing to even hint at beauty.

"Fufufu~ Come on," Luna chuckled softly, stepping forward from the emptiness beneath them.

"The inside is the part I really enjoy."

Akasha glanced at Yume, then at Akashi.

Both gave the same subtle shake of their heads, and moments later, the four of them were airborne, Sage’s ears pressed flat against her skull in his arms.

But instead of landing on the Mountain... like Luna said, they went inside of it.

---

On the other side lay another void, devoid of hanging crowns, pathways, or islands.

It was pitch black and empty in the honest sense: no stars, no galaxies, or anything one would typically expect to be inside of a Universe.

In its place stood a tree so immense the universe itself seemed a mere jest: its trunk pure white, its branches stretching across all the void, and its pink leaves suspended in the darkness, with roots anchored in nothingness.

Beneath that Tree floated a flat patch of land, no larger than a courtyard, with a pond at its center.

Though the place seemed simple, the Tree itself... gave it a magnificence that was difficult to explain.

"Oh my, Luna," Akashi said with a laugh, covering her mouth. "Did you really think he needed a Universal Tree at this stage?"

Luna laughed softly, glancing at Akashi with a casual shrug.

"Well, Mother," she replied with a playful smile. "Nothing is ever too much for my love~ If he wants another, all he has to do is ask."

Yume sidled up next to Luna, giving her shoulder a playful bump and smiling at the pink-and-white Tree.

"If not for the tree," Yume remarked, "I’d have thought your taste was terrible."

As the women bantered, Akasha raised an eyebrow and, glancing at the Tree, quickly scanned it.

[Universal Tree of Want (Monarch) - A unique tree that influences an entire Universe of beings.

Being within the Universe of this Tree, all beings experience:

+4 Billion Divinity Per Day

+Accelerated Comprehension of Skills, Divine Authorities, and Auras (It takes 14 days to reach 99% comprehension of Authorities and fully complete Skills and Auras.)

Beings within this Universe can adjust their specific "wants" and gain double comprehension.

For example, if someone specifically wants to learn an Aura, they will experience twice the effects. ]