Myriad Heavens: Rise of the Rune God

Chapter 227: Chapter 228: The Week Before

The exchange was one week away.

Across two universes, everyone was dealing with it differently.

The Academy

The academy had not been this loud since Willith’s announcement.

Every common area was full. Training grounds were running at maximum capacity from before dawn to well past midnight. The library had a queue outside it for the first time in recorded history, which the head librarian noted in her log with visible satisfaction.

In the outer courtyard, a group of Foundation realm students had gathered around a senior disciple who had actually read Rene’s published framework — the comparative analysis that had been circulating through Gaia’s network for the past month.

”So their galaxy-level beings,” one student said, ”are stronger than our Universal beings.”

”Approximately, yes,” the senior disciple said.

Silence.

”So what are we doing there exactly?” another student asked.

”Learning,” the senior disciple said.

”Getting beaten up,” a third student said.

”Also that,” the senior disciple agreed.

Someone in the back raised a hand. ”Is it too late to not go?”

”Willith announced it universally. You can’t opt out of a universal announcement.”

”Has anyone tried?”

Nobody had tried.

In the inner hall, two senior teachers were having a disagreement that had been running for three days.

”We should send our strongest first,” the first teacher said. ”Show them our ceiling immediately.”

”Our ceiling is their floor,” the second teacher said. ”We should send our most unique. Novel techniques. Surprise value.”

”Surprise value,” the first teacher repeated. ”We are going to walk into a universe where galaxy-level beings operate above our Universal realm and your strategy is surprise value.”

”It’s a valid strategy.”

”It’s the only strategy, which is different from it being valid.”

They had been going back and forth like this for three days. Neither of them had changed position. Neither of them intended to.

Outside the academy walls, in the city below, street vendors had already begun selling exchange merchandise. Small flags with both universes’ energy signatures printed on them. Food stalls advertising special exchange menus that had no clear connection to anything inter-universal but were doing well regardless. A man near the east gate was selling what he claimed were genuine beast cores from William’s universe, which was impossible since no one had crossed yet, but his stall had a line anyway.

Gaia had put out a public advisory three days ago clarifying that no materials from William’s universe were currently available in this universe.

The man’s stall continued to have a line.

Celestia, Cassia, and Nyla

Celestia found Nyla in the inner training hall at fifth hour in the morning, which was earlier than either of them usually started.

”You couldn’t sleep either,” Nyla said. It wasn’t a question.

”I slept fine,” Celestia said. ”I just woke up at fourth hour and couldn’t find a reason to stay in bed.”

”That’s not sleeping fine.”

”It’s fine adjacent.”

Nyla smiled and moved to make space at the training formation. They worked through their individual routines in comfortable parallel for a while — different techniques, different focuses, the easy coexistence of two people who had been sharing training space for three months and had stopped being formal about it.

Cassia arrived at sixth hour with three drinks and sat down.

”I’ve been running scenarios,” she said, handing out the drinks.

”Good or bad?” Nyla asked.

”Interesting. The beings from William’s universe have raw power we can’t match. But they’ve been training in a closed system. They haven’t fought anything genuinely novel in a long time.” She paused. ”We might actually surprise them.”

”Or we might just lose,” Nyla said pleasantly.

”We might lose interestingly,” Cassia said. ”Which is better than losing boringly.”

Celestia was quiet for a moment. ”I keep thinking about what Runar said before he went in. He said be ready.” She looked at the door that led toward the deeper training levels. ”I don’t think he meant ready in the general sense.”

They all looked at the door.

”He’s been in there for three months,” Nyla said.

”Almost to the day,” Cassia confirmed.

”Do you think he’s —” Nyla started.

”Yes,” Celestia said simply.

Nyla and Cassia both looked at her.

”I can feel it through the soul link,” Celestia said. ”I can’t tell you what’s happening in there exactly. But whatever it is, it’s almost done.”

Another silence.

”I genuinely cannot tell,” Cassia said, ”whether that’s reassuring or alarming.”

”Both,” Celestia and Nyla said at the same time.

They finished their drinks and went back to training.

Later that afternoon, Nyla pinned Celestia in a sparring match for the first time in three months. Celestia lay on the ground looking at the ceiling for a moment.

”You’ve been working on that specifically,” she said.

”For six weeks,” Nyla confirmed, extending a hand to help her up.

Celestia took it. ”Don’t tell Runar. He’ll redesign my entire approach and I’ll have to relearn everything.”

”He’s going to notice anyway.”

”I know. I just want a few days of peace first.”

Nyla laughed. Cassia, who had been watching from the side, wrote something down in the small notebook she had started keeping three months ago. Neither of them asked what she was writing. They had learned not to ask what Cassia was writing.

William’s Universe

William observed his universe’s final week of preparation with quiet satisfaction.

The combat majority had reached a state he could only describe as barely contained. Training intensity had been climbing steadily for three months and was now causing minor geological events in several systems where particularly powerful beings were pushing their limits without adequate spatial buffers. He had noted seventeen instances of uninhabited galaxies being accidentally destroyed in the past two weeks alone.

He considered issuing a formal advisory.

He decided against it. They knew. They were just very focused.

As a precaution he created twenty empty galaxies specifically for training. No inhabitants, no resources worth preserving. Just space for beings to go all out and destroy things without creating problems. The combat majority found them within hours and immediately put them to use.

In one of the larger sect cities, a group of disciples had started a betting pool on which beings from the other universe would last longest in a fight against their seniors. The pool had grown to a size that was, by any reasonable standard, excessive. William looked at it once and decided it was fine.

In the academic district of the same city, a junior scholar had published a paper arguing that the other universe’s diversity of cultivation paths might produce techniques their system had no natural counter for, and that this represented a genuine strategic consideration.

The paper had been downloaded four million times in two days.

The senior scholars were divided on whether it was correct. The combat practitioners had downloaded it and were using it to decide who they wanted to fight first, which was not the intended use but was an honest response.

William looked at all of this and felt genuinely entertained for the first time in a very long time.

One more week, he thought.

He intended to enjoy every part of it.

The Mind Space

The mind space was running at its usual intensity, with one difference.

Everyone knew it was the last week.

The fights had taken on a different quality — less exploratory, more deliberate. People pushing specific things toward completion, trying to land one more insight before the real exchanges began. The academic corner was quieter than usual because Thoth had declared the research phase complete and moved into consolidation, which mostly meant he was sitting in the corner reviewing everything he had written and occasionally crossing things out.

Ares had fought nine people before noon.

”Ten,” he said, looking around for a next opponent.

”You need to rest,” Freya said, walking past him.

”I’m fine.”

”You’ve fought nine people today.”

”Ten,” he corrected. ”I’m counting the warm-up.”

”The warm-up was Thor.”

”Thor counts.”

Thor, nearby, said nothing. He was eating something and had clearly decided not to engage with this conversation.

Loki materialized beside Ares from a direction that made no spatial sense. ”I’ll fight you,” he said.

Ares looked at him. ”You’re going to do something.”

”I’m going to fight you. That’s the thing I’m going to do.”

”Something else.”

”Ares. I am offering to spar with you in good faith.”

”When have you ever done anything in good faith.”

Loki put a hand on his chest. ”I’m hurt.”

”You’re not hurt.”

”I’m a little hurt.”

Heimdall, from across the space: ”Don’t fight Loki, Ares.”

”See?” Ares said.

”Heimdall is biased,” Loki said.

”Heimdall is correct,” several voices said simultaneously from different parts of the mind space.

Loki looked around at the various people who had responded without looking up from their own activities. ”I have been nothing but cooperative for three months and this is the atmosphere I receive.”

”You replaced Nezha’s Wind Fire Wheels with decorative ones for two days,” someone said.

”That was funny.”

”Nezha didn’t think so.”

”Nezha eventually thought so.”

”After two days.”

”Comedy has a long arc,” Loki said serenely.

Nezha, from across the space, called out without looking up from his current fight: ”I still think about it.”

”Fondly,” Loki said.

”I didn’t say fondly.”

Odin had been watching from his usual position slightly apart from everyone else.

The oldest dragon drifted up beside him. They stood in silence for a moment.

”One week,” the dragon said.

”One week,” Odin agreed.

”Are you ready?”

Odin considered the question. ”More ready than I was three months ago. Less ready than I would like.” He paused. ”The same as everyone else.”

The dragon made a low sound. ”Honest.”

”It costs nothing.”

They watched Loki eventually convince Ares to fight him, and then watched what happened when Ares discovered that Loki’s definition of a straightforward fight was more creative than advertised. Ares’s expression went through several stages and landed on grudging respect with frustration layered over it.

”He’s actually good,” the dragon observed.

”He’s always been good,” Odin said. ”He just prefers not to show it directly.”

The fight ended with both of them looking slightly worse for wear, which in the mind space meant something, and both of them looking more satisfied than when they started, which meant something else.

Wukong watched from the edge of the zone, eating a peach, then went back to his own training without comment.

His pseudo rule was still incomplete. But the shape of the completion was clearer than it had been yesterday. That was enough for today.

The Wormhole — Willith and William

They met in the middle of the tunnel.

Not physically — Universal Wills didn’t need to travel to meet somewhere. They chose the wormhole as the point of contact and were both there simultaneously, their presences filling the silver-gold passage from both ends and meeting in the center.

Willith arrived first. William arrived immediately after, which he had timed deliberately.

”You called this meeting,” he said.

”I did,” she said.

”The exchange details.”

”The exchange details,” she confirmed.

They had been communicating through the wormhole connection on practical matters for two months. This was the first time they sat down to finalize the full structure of the events. One week out was the right time.

”Format,” William said.

”Combat tournament. Structured brackets, open registration. Participants from both universes.”

”Agreed. Hosted where?”

”Your universe,” Willith said. ”The battles and tournaments happen on your side. You have the infrastructure for it. Your universe upper ceiling is better suited for beings at the higher levels.”

William had no objection to this. ”Agreed. How many rounds?”

”Eight initially. Expand if the pool warrants it.”

”Fine. Rules?”

”No lethal intent. Beyond that, open.”

”My beings won’t like the lethal intent restriction.”

”My beings won’t survive without it.”

A pause.

”Fair,” William said. ”No lethal intent.”

They moved through the rest. Dao talks — open forum format, hosted in Willith’s universe, topics submitted in advance but not restricted. Academic exchange in Willith’s universe as well, building on Rene and Gaia’s publications which had already circulated on both sides. Open sparring zones separate from the tournament brackets for beings who wanted contact without formal structure.

”Cultural events,” Willith added. ”Also in my universe. Food, art, music.”

William paused. ”My combat majority will not attend cultural events.”

”Your academic minority will. And some of the combat ones will wander in out of curiosity.”

William was quiet for a moment. ”Probably accurate.”

”Definitely accurate.”

”Fine. Cultural events.”

They finalized the schedule. Opening ceremony in the testing dimension, neutral ground. All battles and tournament rounds in William’s universe. Dao talks, academic exchange, and cultural events in Willith’s universe.

”How are your people preparing?” William asked.

”Hard,” Willith said. ”Everyone knows the gap. They’re working on what they can control.” She paused. ”Yours?”

”They destroyed seventeen uninhabited galaxies in training accidents last week,” William said. ”I created twenty empty ones for them to use. They found them within hours.”

Willith was briefly quiet. ”That’s your version of preparation.”

”That’s my version of restrained preparation,” William said. ”Without the empty galaxies it would have been worse.”

Willith considered this and decided not to pursue it further.

”One week,” William said.

”One week,” she agreed.

They withdrew from the wormhole simultaneously, the tunnel returning to its steady silver-gold glow.

In her origin core, Willith sat with the finalized schedule. The battles in his universe. The rest in hers. It was a fair division. Clean.

She did not think about the training dimension. She had decided not to think about the training dimension.

She thought about it anyway.

One week, she told herself. Whatever comes out of there, comes out in one week.

That was not as reassuring as she had hoped.

End of Chapter 228

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