Ascension of Chaos

Ashley

Before I can say anything else to Blake, he just blinks once, then twice, and finally says, "Hello." Then blinks again. "We should head to your Spire. Now."

I blink at that myself before it clicks in my mind.

Right. We just cleared the Unique Domain, and the longer we stay in here, the more people will be waiting outside of the Gate for us to arrive.

Not to mention that anything we say here will be broadcast to everyone in the universe.

I nod my head, after which I focus on the icon in my interface to leave this place. Then I find a blinding light shining in my eyes before I appear falling in the air downwards from the Gate. Which closes mere seconds later with Blake appearing in its place.

And a quick glance at the ground below us – and more importantly, the people down there – tells me to not go to the ground. Albeit with that glance being a very careful one and through squinted eyes so as to not hurt people.

So I carefully catch Blake in my arms like a princess before flapping my wings and flying straight towards my Spire.

Not bothering with the people down below.

Both for their safety, considering my eyes, and my sanity.

But as I'm flying, I notice some people flying through the air towards us from different directions. Some of whom are coming from the ground, others from the city around the park.

Of the people though, my eyes immediately lock onto two of them in particular. Making glowing crimson cracks begin to spread across their body at a slow pace when I do so.

After a couple seconds of looking at my biological parents on purpose, causing them to stumble mid-flight, I continue flying towards the Spire. And once I land, I simply carry Blake inside of the Spire before placing him down when I reach my living quarters within it.

Then I close my eyes. Because I've been trailing along crimson cracks across everything I've looked at while in my Spire. And I'd rather not destroy my own Spire.

"Is it… can you turn it off?" Blake asks from the chair I placed him down on.

"Not yet," I answer while using my enhanced perception skill to move through my living quarters to one of the sofas. "With my current plan, I'll need six thousand more Skill Points to purchase the skill I need to stop destroying everything I look at."

He doesn't say anything for a moment, and a small part of me tells me that he probably just nodded without thinking. Well, that and my enhanced perception.

I open up that skill's description and smile a little at it.

{Enhanced Perception – Your senses expand, allowing you to gain a vague sense of awareness of everything in your immediate surroundings.}

Yeah, this skill will come in very handy until I can get the other skill to control Gaze of Destruction.

"That's… going to be difficult," Blake says, making me nod my head in agreement. "Until then, do you want to take a break and rest here, or do you want to ascend to Class D now?"

Oh. Right.

I forgot about that.

"Let's rest for a little bit before going to the Spire Core," I tell him as I lie back on the sofa.

"Roger that," Blake answers right away. Following which I sense him relaxing as well. Experience new stories on empire

And I have no doubt he's doing the same thing I am about to do now.

Chaos? You still there?

"Of course, sweetie," he responds, still just as affectionate as ever by the sounds of it. "Thank you for surviving."

I almost blink my eyes open and closed in surprise at that, but I barely manage to stop myself. Since that would cause damage to whatever I'm looking at.

Why are you thanking me? I should be thanking you for the weapons you made me.

Probably wouldn't have survived without them.

"Thank you for surviving," Chaos repeats himself, confusing me even more in the process. "I would have lost my sanity if you'd died."

Wait… what? Why?

Didn't we only meet a few months or so ago? I can't be that important to-

"But you are," Chaos states, interrupting my thoughts. "It's as simple as that."

I just sit here in silence for several seconds, trying and failing to understand him.

"You are my daughter, Ashley," Chaos declares with a rather stubborn note in his voice. "My only daughter. My precious child."

I continue sitting here for a while, not really knowing what to say in response to that.

"You don't have to say anything," Chaos says in response to my thoughts again. "Oh, and I cursed those genetic material donors of yours."

That gives me pause before I let out a giggle, only to cover my mouth before looking around despite my eyes being closed. Feeling more than a little awkward and embarrassed by that.

Then the whole 'cursed' part registers in my mind.

Wait a second, you cursed them? With what?

"You don't need to worry about that," he says, a rather… dark… tone replacing his previous tone as he says it. "What you need to worry about are the Successors of Erebos, the Primordial of Sin. Because we're now at war."

Wait, what?

"The war will only exist in the Official System Events, so don't worry about it outside of those," he continues without much worry. "For now just worry about growing stronger. And about the Class D trial you'll have to take soon."

Oh. Right. I forgot about there being trials to ascend in Class.

What are even in these trials anyways?

"Speaking of the trials is forbidden for those who have already passed them," Chaos answers, disappointing me for a moment. Since I was kind of hoping for tips. "But I'm a Primordial, and I've never passed them. So I'll go ahead and tell you."

That almost makes me giggle again, but I stop myself this time.

Damn. That's been happening more and more since I got some of my memories back.

Maybe it's because the majority of the memories I got back were better ones of Blake and not a lot of the bad ones? Probably?

"You got some of your memories back?" Chaos asks, sounding rather surprised and reminding me that he was MIA when that happened. "Right, is that why you started using more advanced spells during your fight with the King of Destruction?"

Trial first, okay?

"Okay," he answers immediately. "The trials are all Official System Events that each allow ten participants, all of whom are trial goers trying to ascend to the next Class. But only half of the trial goers can actually pass, and it is the only Official System Event that is not broadcast to the entire universe."

A slight frown touches my face.

Another System Event?

I let out a sigh.

Well, at least it's not broadcast.

"It is broadcast," Chaos says, correcting and confusing me at the same time. "I said it wasn't broadcast to the entire universe. It is still broadcast to every user above a certain Class. To every user who has taken the trial before."

Oh.

Damn.

I was kind of hoping I wouldn't have to deal with that annoying livestream anymore.

"With your strength, the trial will be easy," Chaos states rather bluntly. "It should be over in less than half an hour."

Good to know. But what is it exactly?

"All trials are solo combat focused, and all of the Class D trials center around a maze where the trial goers must kill half of their number for the trial to end and the survivors to pass," Chaos explains, making me frown a little more. "But all trials allow resurrection afterwards, so death is not permanent, and users may try again in half a year if they fail. Although the exact penalty period where trial goers can't try again is longer the higher the Class the user is in."

Huh.

Not as brutal as I was expecting.

"So what's this about your memories returning?" Chaos asks immediately after what I'm guessing was him finishing his explanation. "Yeah, that was all. So. Your memories?"

I feel the corners of my lips quirking upwards at that as I stare at the ceiling with my eyes closed.

He sure seems more talkative now than before…

Anyways, I go ahead and begin describing what happened while he was gone.