Chapter 37: Unreliable

Zack looked at the brighter transcendental, who was silent.

“She attacked you and you had to fight off that lizard?” Zack asked, trying to bring order to the story of the woman in front of him.

He was still in this highly guarded prison and had heard of how the brightest transcendental came to this world.

Encountering a giant walking fish was not uncommon, as he had encountered an intelligent octopus every time he went shopping.

It was also no surprise that giant lizards, also known as ‘dragons’, existed, as those species were long-lived and some of them were powerful.

However, the main point of the story was....

“Yes. I don’t know why. But after the man who spoke to me left. Her body was changing, her very essence was warping, and I realized that if I let her talk it was going to be dangerous for the world,” said the brighter transcendental and looking at him, she explained. “And the battle we had was... She was powerful, extremely powerful, and I had to face her with everything I had, preventing her from distorting the reality of this world. Of this universe.”

Zack raised his eyebrows with some curiosity.

The brightest Transcendental might be a young woman, but it didn’t take away from the fact that she was a natural Transcendental with overwhelming power.

Perhaps weaker than him, obviously, but, still, a Transcendental.

“My memory of the battle is fuzzy. I don’t remember too much of the moment. I only remember that after I defeated her and spent my energy, a divine being came and imprisoned me,” said the woman and breathing slowly, trying to calm down. She couldn’t and exclaimed. “I was called a murderer! I was put in jail and imprisoned! But if it wasn’t for me, reality would have been warped and this pathetic world would have been in danger.”

She drew in a gasping breath from the overflowing anger and her presence surged with all her might, releasing ripples that crashed against the boundaries of this prison.

“I am the savior of this wretched plane. I saved them! And for what? Why should they take me prisoner in my moment of weakness?! I should have let them die. I should have let them die!” the woman screamed and without holding back her fury, she roared. “I hate them all! I will kill them! I will destroy this world!”

She roared, screamed, and struck the prison barrier with all her fury and rage.

Anger at those who imprisoned her unjustly and releasing her burning fury, not at mortal, but at a barrier she could not break through.

Though she had managed to connect to the girl, she did not use her or try to possess her, nor did she lead her down a path of death and destruction, but sought to be guided by her while avoiding causing harm or at least not so much harm.

The brighter transcendental simply wanted to release her anger and was speaking in a frenzy of rage.

Zack watched her without doing too much.

It wasn’t as if he didn’t have those outbursts when he first came into this world and although he wouldn’t accept it out loud, he would admit that the brighter transcendental had a better temper than he did and greater resilience.

After all, it had been several years since she was caught and he, from the beginning, wanted to destroy everything.

The transcendental after her tantrum floated back and sat across from him, lowering her head with her shoulders slumped.

“You said you got here because of an accident and when you connected to the Astral Realm, you felt space waves, right?” Zack asked, changing the subject.

His way of changing the subject was relaxed and simple, leading to the brighter transcendental nodding with some comfort and thanks to him ignoring the tantrum.

The Astral Realm with space waves to Zack was illogical.

It was a realm where the mind was everything and in such a realm neither space nor time existed, leading to beings like them being unaffected by the realities of the universes.

They were separated from time and the different realities.

While the Astral Realm was not a disordered realm and had rules and pillars that shaped it and maintained stability, space could not affect them.

So how did the brightest transcendental feel ripples and how was he swallowed by a spatial rift?

Such doubt led him to an important question... Did something happen in the Astral Realm?

“They’re in trouble without me,” Zack muttered helplessly.

There were multiple powerful transcendentals, but he, as the strongest transcendental of all, stood above all others.

“Very few entities can affect the Astral Realm,” Zack muttered, pondering the cause.

The cracks that swallowed him were not simple, and it was extremely natural, leading to him not realizing it and if someone caused that, it meant they had overwhelming power.

Primordial beings of origin? The first beings to be born into reality, the shapers of universes and those from whom they shaped existence.

They had the power to cause such a disaster.

Zack stopped his train of thought.

He could no longer ponder the cause of his arrival or the reasons when he was still locked in this body of flesh that confined him.

As much as he didn’t like it, he couldn’t do too much and the first thing he needed to do was to free himself before reflecting on his arrival and the reasons and whether it was necessary to seek reparations for all the damage he had suffered.

So, instead of pondering the issue, he focused on the brighter transcendental and his eyes met her light blue eyes.

“You were wrongfully imprisoned. They trapped you in a prison and tortured you by stealing your essence,” Zack said and looking at the woman, he announced. “This Saturday I will get you out of prison and what you do next is up to you.”

Whether she wanted to return to the Astral Realm or whether she wanted to destroy the world... It would all depend on her decision.

The Brightest Transcendental of all.

The woman stared at him, catching the will in his voice, and before she could smile, Zack stopped her as he remembered something.

“Make it Sunday. Saturday the barbarian will be home and torturing me all day,” Zack said in a worried tone.

The barbaric jailer would be in all day Saturday, but she mentioned she would be leaving on Sunday for another city because of an invasion that was happening somewhere and the good thing was that the jailer would be busy too.

Zack would use that day to move around... He literally had all day and night if necessary.

“You’re... So unreliable,” the brighter transcendental muttered and smiling subtly at him, she added. “But I will trust you.”

The woman gave a subtle and pleasant and slightly bright smile... Zack simply smiled.

Whether or not he was trustworthy, they would see on Sunday when he attacked the Tower.

******

At the top of the hero building, Alix turned her attention to her master, who was silent.

“They didn’t find my master’s body, and it was Jara who finally defeated the transcendental, but even she was badly wounded. Last I heard, they took that transcendental to the Tower,” Nathaniel said and looking at her, he stated. “I was knocked unconscious for a few minutes and the destruction was enormous.”

A few minutes since he woke up and everything around him was destroyed and his master died... Minutes were all it took.

How powerful was the brightest transcendental? The First Dragoness was known for her spatial level might and some put her on equal footing with the Last Defender.

Beings that surpassed notions and concepts themselves... Mortal beings that were comparable to gods or even surpassed it.

Dragons were known to have overwhelming power the older they got, and the one known as the First Dragoness was at the top among the powerful of the planet.

At least according to what historians were told, and she died within minutes.

“It doesn’t make sense,” Alix muttered, unable to accept it.

Dying in minutes? It didn’t make any sense at all, and even less so if the historians and books that spoke of this woman were true.

Maybe the First Dragoness wasn’t a superhero of her generation, but it was like telling her that the Last Defender could be defeated in minutes... It was a sick joke.

“And yet, that’s the reality,” Nathaniel replied and looking at her, he revealed. “The most brilliant transcendental had shattered the mind of a Code Black without any battle. Even though she seemed friendly, she was strong. Extremely strong.”

If the creature his master spoke of was a Code Black, it meant that before they arrived, the transcendental had defeated it without wreaking havoc.

How powerful was that? Winning overwhelmingly was not something that happened often among Code Blacks, at least not something Alix had heard of.

Of course, the world was big, and she was just a novice, however, her master was not and his claim was clear.

“If this transcendental is the same as the celestial transcendental... We must defeat him and eliminate him before it’s too late,” said her master, and putting on a serious expression, he explained. “The previous end of the world was related to a transcendental and this time it is the same.”

There were no coincidences in this world and if her master was right, then the transcendental that ruled the city was going to cause the end of the world.

They were talking about a being that could manipulate reality and if it was as strong as the one her master encountered, it could defeat black codes with some ease.

Alix took a deep breath and put on a worried expression.

She was overwhelmed by the story and by what was happening. The weight on her back was high and, like a Code Red, she would have to step up to defend the city and fight just like her master had given before.

“I’ll go with you, master,” Alix said, clenching her fist in earnest.

She would accompany her master to the end and she would do so because if the end of the world was coming, she would have to stop it.

She might be a novice superheroine, but as a Code Red and as an apprentice to the City Sun she was supposed to help... No, Alix didn’t just want to help because of the title, but the responsibility of what it meant to be a superhero.

Her master looked at her carefully and, perhaps because of the willingness and bravery she was showing, he smiled subtly without rejecting her.

That he did not reject her made the difficulty clear.

“Let us return to the others. We must warn them of danger...” said his master, hiding the fact that warning the others was telling the story again.

A story that hurt him and of which he had remorse.

However, it was necessary to speak openly and tell everyone about the danger in order to decide correctly about the actions.

Alix got up with her master and as they walked out into the hallway, a guard quickly approached with a complex expression.

“Prophet Melissa has had another prophecy,” said the guard and, swallowing hard, he revealed. “She has found where the end of the world will begin... It is the Tower. Someone is going for the Tower.”

The light blue transcendental that her master had encountered long ago was locked in the Tower and now the end of the world was to begin there.

The new ruler of the Blue City, known as the Transcendental, was aiming for the tower.