Chapter 325: The Hold of Hearts (2)

’Hmm,’ Akasha mused as they strolled down the pathway. ’These roads are pretty neat...’

With a single glance, he realized that these roads were constructs born from Supreme Divinity, designed to ease Universal traffic so there wouldn’t be countless starships drifting through the void.

While not entirely necessary, they made journeys that might have taken months or even years possible in hours.

Akasha, Melvin, and Calyx walked in a loose line behind the two Apostles.

"So," Nova finally broke the silence after two hours, glancing over her shoulder.

"What’s the name of your Pantheon?" she asked. "And are all of you members, or..."

Akasha smiled at her question as his gaze lingered on the looming structure ahead.

The Hold of Hearts rested in the void—an enormous heart-shaped fortress, its outer walls shimmering pink-gold, with pathways stretching toward it from every sector within sight.

"The Pantheon of Infinite Dreams," Akasha said with ease. "I’m the King, this young man is my disciple, and the lady here is simply a visitor."

"Tsk," Pallas scoffed, not even bothering to glance at them. "So that you know, visitors aren’t allowed."

He paused for a moment, letting his words linger in the air before continuing.

"If you want guests, you stick to protocol... or you’ll deal with the consequences.

And that barrier you’ve thrown up around your little mountain? It’s coming down once you’ve been officially cataloged."

’I absolutely love getting opportunities to try things out,’ Akasha thought to himself, already weary of the Apostle before him.

He had countless new abilities he was eager to test, and since this guy refused to let him enjoy his peace, why not just get rid of him?

[Mark of Absolute Extinction (Divine)]

In that moment, Akasha used his skill to mark Pallas for, well... death quietly.

As always, this ability wouldn’t make revival completely impossible, unless one possessed the right Authorities to counter it.

But Akasha... he had already examined the statuses of both Nova and Pallas. And while they bore the rank of Unbound Gods, to him, they didn’t amount to much.

The only Authorities they held were charm and lust, and even those hadn’t reached 25%—the very first level of completion.

As the mark settled into place, Akasha quickened his pace until he was walking alongside Nova and Pallas, positioned between them both.

"Where exactly are we headed?" he asked, glancing toward Nova, while at the same moment reaching out to gently touch Pallas’s shoulder as though they were longtime friends.

Yet it wasn’t just a casual gesture—within that instant, one of his newly acquired racial traits quietly activated.

[Touch of Elsewhere]

"Hmmm..." Pallas flinched slightly at the touch. "You... get your hands off this Apostle! Before I have your head!"

Akasha paid no attention to his words, his gaze fixed on Nova.

She gave him a sideways glance, sensing the almost dreamy aura that clung to him, and blushed softly.

’He... smells even better than Lady Vivian!’ she thought to herself, unable to stop the stirrings of desire from rising within her.

[Nova Elum’s Favorability — 65/100]

Seeing this, Akasha smiled faintly and gradually fell back into step with Melvin and Calyx.

"The stronghold of the New Skies Pantheon," Vivan said, struggling to keep her composure. "This is where all Vows are kept... and all protocols."

"Nova!" Pallas exclaimed as he stopped in his tracks. "Why are you talking... as if he’s not a subordinate!"

Despite his shouting, his words seemed to vanish into the void.

Nova kept moving forward without so much as a glance over her shoulder. Melvin’s gaze remained fixed on the Hold of Hearts, unwavering and distant.

Calyx focused on the road ahead and the endless stretch of far-off universes, never once looking back.

It wasn’t rudeness, nor was it that they’d suddenly gone deaf to the shouting from behind them.

No, it was nothing like that.

The instant Akasha’s hand brushed against Pallas, reality itself had shifted, rewriting the world into one where Pallas had never been there at all.

And Akasha hadn’t touched him just for the sake of it—far from it.

That single touch had erased Pallas from the very surface of existence, and now, in this strange and impossible moment, he was somewhere else entirely—somewhere that could only be called "Elsewhere."

Seeing them pass by without sparing him a glance, Pallas eyes widened as he fixed his mouth to shout again.

However, before he could even utter a word, Akasha took a look over his shoulder and activated one of his Divine Cosmic Powers.

[Blink]

In an instant, Pallas froze in place, his pupils wide and unseeing, while the other four continued their steady march toward the heart-shaped stronghold.

Akasha turned to Nova, speaking as though the incubus had never even been on the road alongside them.

"The New Skies?" he asked casually, but behind him... well, those were the last words Pallas heard.

-----

Akasha didn’t technically use any power when he blinked, and truthfully, he didn’t even need to blink at all.

He was, without question, the Lord of Dreams, and by extension, the Lord of Nightmares.

All he did was effortlessly pull Pallas into a unique Dream—though, more precisely, it was a Nightmare crafted specifically for him.

Pallas now stood in a dark world of flame, heat pressing in from every side, and the only structure in it was a pitch-black throne built of fire and skulls.

The figure on that seat wore a long black coat that hung to bare feet, a black shirt and black pants under it, and a black mask that left nothing of a face to bargain with.

Pallas turned a full circle in the dark and found no door, no pathway, no Nova... and nothing he’d ever seen a day before.

"W.... who are you?!" He roared as panic began to creep in. "I am an Apostle of the New Skies Pantheon!"

Seeing him beginning to panic, behind his mask, Akasha smiled and only offered him a single phrase.

"The Lord of.... Nightmares."

HUMMMMMMM!!!!!!

SHKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!

In that moment, a scythe of black flame came into being in that same breath, long enough to own the space between the throne and the incubus, and it went through Pallas in one visceral cut that took the life out of him before the next words could leave his mouth.

The Mark of Absolute Extinction already sitting on him did the rest.

The dark world of flame kept burning around an empty stretch of floor, and on the real road, Nova was still answering a question about New Skies... carrying on as usual.