The Martial Unity

The air hung with a chilling silence as the Divine Mother peered into the depths of Ria’s amber eyes. The fur on her body was a distinct golden, with streaks of gray. Her body was surprisingly leaner and smaller than those of the ascendant homoarachnoids that they had fought. Smaller than even the infected warriors that served as the bulk of the infantry of the homoarachnoids.

The air reeked of an intoxicatingly sweet odor emanating from the Divine Mother. Yet, her presence was anything other than it.

The world around them had grown deathly silent.

As if the planet itself were terrified of making a single peep and drawing the attention of the Divine Mother.

As Ria continued to stare into the eyes of the Divine Mother, she felt a surge of hopeless despair rise up in the depths of her heart.

Not just because the Divine Mother was at a whole other level of power, unlike almost anything she had ever felt in her entire life.

Not just because the Divine Mother possessed an authority in the fabric of reality itself that was so great that she may as well have been a god.

Not just because Ria sensed that she could wipe out each and every single pathwalker on the planet rather effortlessly.

But also because she could feel the Divine Mother’s presence within her own mind.

It was hard to describe.

But her thoughts, her memories, her entire mind.

None of it could be hidden from the extraordinary being. Her six black eyes saw right through Ria like she was transparent. She was being read like a book by a creature whose power vastly exceeded anything she had ever sensed.

She didn’t even understand how.

She could read minds, to an extent, with her extreme sensitivity to brain waves and other causality. But that wasn’t too crazy; there were other technologies and pathwalkers who could do the same.

But this was different.

This was more akin to an administrator opening a database they were authorized to and freely scouring its contents.

It was as if the very existence of Ria was within the purview of the power of the Divine Mother.

Any plan, idea, or thought she had was entirely surrendered to the powerful creature who freely inspected her mind.

And her memories.

And the universe she sensed within Ria.

Through Ria.

The Divine Mother’s six eyes widened even as her gaze grew more intent.

The gesture, however mild, sent chills across Ria’s skin. A pure, raw, unadulterated terror erupted in the pits of the adolescent’s stomach, climbing across her entire body, paralyzing her where she sat.

”Y̶o̵u̷.̷.̸.̷”̷ The Divine Mother spoke in Kandrian, the language that Ria was most familiar with, much to the shock of the girl. ”Y̷o̵u̴ ̵a̶r̵e̸ ̸t̴h̶e̸ ̴k̵e̵y̵.”

Her tone of voice was maternal and powerful.

It contained wisdom that was eerily human.

As if she had just assimilated the information present within Ria’s mind.

”Y̷o̸u̵ ̶a̶r̴e̷ ̶t̴h̵e̷ ̷k̴e̴y̵ ̸t̵o̷ ̸t̸h̶e̴ ̵u̶n̶i̵v̵e̸r̷s̸e̵.”

In her shocked state of mind, Ria couldn’t even comprehend what that meant.

How could she?

The visions that the Divine Mother espoused were visions that involved the vast infinity of the universe.

Ria could scarcely fathom what that meant.

”Y̷o̸u̵.̸.̸.̶ ̸y̷o̴u̶r̴ ̸p̸o̶w̶e̶r̸.̶.̷.̶ ̷y̵o̸u̵r̶ ̷c̸o̴m̷m̶a̵n̷d̶ ̴o̴v̷e̵r̶ ̷c̸a̷u̶s̵a̶l̷i̵t̵y̷.̴.̵.” The Divine Mother spoke with an even more profound tone. ”Y̸o̷u̶ ̵a̷r̸e̶ ̸e̴v̸e̸r̷y̵t̶h̶i̶n̴g̸ ̸t̷h̴a̶t̷ ̸w̵e̷ ̴h̵a̴v̴e̸ ̸e̸v̶e̷r̷ ̸d̸r̷e̶a̶m̸e̷d̶ ̸o̷f̴.”

Her six eyes were filled with profound certainty.

Her hand stretched out towards Ria slowly, reaching for her cheek as if to caress her gently. A gesture of what should have been affection was a gesture that inspired raw horror in the depths of Ria’s heart.

Yet, what could she do?

She could feel the strands of the webs of reality around her converging upon the Divine Mother. The universe was merely a web, and the extraordinary being before her was a nexus of webs, connected to the very fabric of reality.

How could she possibly defy such a godly being?

Yet, just as the hand of the Divine Mother was about to touch her, Kane charged with an expression of determination, swinging his dagger into one of the six eyes that bore deep into the depths of Ria’s mind.

And yet, the effort was in vain.

WHOOSH

Kane’s green eyes widened with shock as he was simply frozen midair, his dagger an inch away from the Divine Mother’s eyes.

And yet, he was so far.

He couldn’t so much as even move his body against the Divine Mother.

He felt as if he was bound by... webs.

But not of esoteric matter like the kind that the lesser homoarachnoids used.

No, he felt bound by the webs of causality.

By the webs of his own mind.

The fears, the anxieties, the burdens, and even the insecurities that he had, that everybody had, became shackles that held him back. As if his own subconscious mind became a web that restricted his movements.

He couldn’t help but think back to his father.

Would the man be proud of who he was today?

What would he say if he looked at who Kane had chosen to become?

What would he think if he looked at Runark?

What would he think about Kane’s irreverence of Transcendence?

His choice to start a family after moving on from his pursuit of Rui?

”Stop it.” Kane gritted his teeth. ”If you think these tricks are going to work on me, then you’re deeply mistaken. I have Enlightenment of Self, I know who I am.”

And yet, his green eyes widened as the webs grew tighter. As if the very assertion of his Sagehood was rejected by the webs that bound his movements even tighter. The Divine Mother simply shifted her six eyes towards him for just the briefest of moments.

”’̸E̴n̶l̷i̴g̸h̸t̴e̵n̵m̵e̴n̴t̶ ̵o̵f̶ ̴s̶e̸l̵f̵.̸.̴.̸’̵” she whispered.

A sneer emerged on her face.

”S̸o̷ ̸w̵h̵a̴t̸?̴”

Pure horror emerged in his green eyes as a finger moved towards him.

”E̴n̴l̵i̴g̶h̸t̷e̶n̶m̵e̶n̷t̸ ̶o̷f̸ ̴S̷e̶l̴f̸.̵.̸.̴” she whispered. ”.̸.̷.̴i̸s̸ ̷a̶ ̴d̸e̷l̷i̵c̵a̸t̷e̷ ̶w̷e̵b̸.”