"Without genocide, there would have been no humanity in the first place."
Ice Queen said with a smile.
"So I fail to understand your dislike for genocide."
Miria lowered her katana.
Over sixty million ago, Earth faced a calamity that wiped out three-quarters of life, the chief among them being the species known as dinosaurs.
If not for that mass extinction event, the species that now dominate Earth wouldn't have been born, much less thrive.
One could say, the extinction of one race provided the ground for the birth of another. The success of one race was built on the failure of another.
"That wasn't genocide but natural extinction!" Crimson Wolf interjected. "An asteroid hit Earth, and the lives became casualties!"
Hearing this, Ice Queen's smile blossomed further.
"Natural extinction? What exactly is 'natural' in the universe? Is it life, death, or the process in between?"
She turned towards the Black Fog.
"…." The fog churned and stared at her, feeling her words holding the answer to her actions so far.
"Everything is staged, orchestrated by the one holding the strings, using everyone else as chess pieces."
She brought her gaze back to Crimson Wolf and continued.
"Meteorites hit Earth just a little over a century ago, and the era of evolution began. Was that also natural?"
"!!!"
Crimson Wolf's face fell for it wasn't!
The evolution was a part of Lord Xeced's plan to transform Earth's atmosphere so that the Celestial Elysian Plane's lives could get another chance. Humans and other Earth species couldn't be called lucky just because they benefitted from the evolution. After all, they were also a part of the plan, serving the role of chess pieces.
"I'm tired of being a chess piece in someone's plan."
She spread her arms, and ice energy exploded out of her.
"Be it humanity, Celestial Elysian Plane, Eternal Darkness, or Fate. I would serve none!"
Crimson Wolf and others let out painful cries. The energy blasted them miles away, coldness almost freezing them to death.
In the distance, Kiba let out a sigh. Miria and others were alive, so he didn't need to intervene.
Shaking his head, he turned towards Ice Queen as she once again sat down on a broken tomb.
"Strings… she wants to cut them and become free! And someone like her wouldn't mind dying to achieve that!"
Kiba thought with a smile.
"She might be cold, but she's interesting!"
She had disrupted Lord Xeced's plan and proved she was more than a chess piece.
Similarly, she took away hundreds of years that humanity had to prepare against alien races.
"Only this part is a bit difficult to understand."
Perhaps she considered having the same roots as humanity and following the same direction as a sort of control?
Or maybe humanity has broken her trust, and she didn't care what happened to her race?
It was hard to say.
"Who knows… she might have done it just because she could! She's wild for sure!"
Kiba's smile turned into a grin.
"Her reasons don't matter, and neither does her backstory. All that matters is to see if she would carry this wilderness to bed!"
He couldn't wait to find that out.
"But that would take time," Kiba turned around. "And time here is reducing."
Once again, transforming into a bolt of lightning, he shot forward at light speed. The mausoleum was almost neverending, and with the continuous explosions, it was hard to find the tomb he wanted.
Kiba expanded his senses. But with the battles between Alphas and the remaining corpses raging strong, it was hard to observe far away.
With every second, the corpses were turning strong as their temporary consciousness synced with their muscle memories. They pushed the Alphas on the path of retreat.
"This is hardly surprising."
If these corpses were really alive, the Alphas and even him would have been killed by their aura alone. Fighting would have been an impossible task. But that was to be expected as these corpses belonged to great warriors of Celestial Elysian Plane.
"Death sure is a great leveler!"
Kiba remarked.
"It brings even the greatest to their knees and makes them face bugs."
Suddenly, his eyes brightened.
Just two kilometers ahead, there was a tomb that seemed to stretch to infinity, its end nowhere in sight.
It flashed with an inscription of three interconnected "leaves," making an eternal form that can't be untied.
"This must be it!"
Kiba observed the tomb. It has no scratches, nor any traces of dust or any remnant energy in its vicinity. It was like the destruction created by Ice Queen using the maze's power was incapable of harming it.
"Princess Scarlet Leila De Rose… I hope now I'm able to settle at least half my debt."
Kiba smiled and landed some distance away from the tomb. He eyed the three interconnected leaves symbol, and whispered, "Mother Trinity!"1
The name brought memories from the time that made Zed into Kiba.
"Now isn't the time for nostalgia."
Clearing his thoughts, he appeared before the tomb and stretched his hand.
Just then, a powerful column of light erupted from behind his back.
"What?" Kiba was stunned.
He felt this wasn't caused by the tomb but rather by himself. Almost like him arriving here was expected, and it triggered some mechanism.
Swoosh~!
He turned around just as the column of light compressed, rippling out a fluctuation through the entire mausoleum. It resulted in a soul-crushing sensation that sent a chill down everyone's spine.
The Alphas stopped, with sweat dripping down their foreheads. The sensation was too powerful; it made them feel less significant than ants.
Even the corpses paused, their temporary consciousness trembling.
"W-what is this sensation?!" Flame King barely managed to ask himself.
Not even the combined might of the formation beams and battle between Kiba and Ice Queen had made him feel this helpless.
The Black Fog violently jerked back and turned towards the source of the crushing sensation. It saw the column of light almost disappearing, leaving behind an object the size of a baby's fist.
Far away, Ice Queen's complexion dramatically changed.
"This sensation is something only Eternal Darkness could produce!"
She was shocked for the first time.
Swiftly, she turned towards the object that was producing this effect—a glowing dark orb.
"Legacy Orb."
Ice Queen's eyes narrowed.
"How can it be made of Eternal Darkness?!" The Black Fog was similarly astonished but for a different reason. "No… the real question is – what is it doing here?!"
The mausoleum wasn't for Legacy Orbs. Nor could anyone sneak it here without the fog detecting.
Unless it was done by someone who could also control the mechanism of the mausoleum!
That could only mean…
"Enchantia!!"
The Black Fog roared.
"What have you done?!"
[[Something I had to.]]
Enchantia appeared beside the fog.
[[For I had no other choice.]]
"!!!!"
The fog was frightened by the helplessness in her voice.
In this universe, there was nothing truly eternal besides Eternal Darkness and Fate.
But there was one existence that was close to it, and that was Enchantia.
She couldn't be destroyed, killed, or even sealed as long as the Hall of Legacies remained.
Yet she was helpless?! How was that possible!?
[[You have no idea on what's possible.]] Enchantia said with a complicated expression. [[But you are also lucky for ignorance is bliss.]] Mother Trinity was first mentioned by Hyperion – the titan- during the Extermination arc.
