Chapter 2: Understanding Destruction
"I was too hasty." After withdrawing back into the tenth dimension of the physical world, Nanook chastised himself for his carelessness.
For a brief but disorienting moment, he had been caught in a mix of a Dream and an Illusion. Under normal circumstances, the symbolism of an Aeon — which should have countered such interference as 'Dreaming is a limitation of lower-dimensional consciousness' — was overridden and rendered ineffective
If not for the Ruin Author's symbolism—"Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong"—twisting the dream into a version of himself closer to the original Aeon of Destruction, giving him the jolt needed to break free.
Facing almost any other opponent, that single second of vulnerability would have been perilous. However, when dealing with this particular being…
Nanook stared blankly at the figure of the Outer Deity.
She resembled a woman whose body was composed of soft, glowing clouds, constantly forming and dissolving. A thousand indistinct faces surfaced and vanished across Her ethereal frame, some smiling with profound bliss as if they had just realized their dearest dream, while others contorted in silent terror as though trapped in the depths of their most agonizing nightmare.
Despite what happened moments ago, She remained curled upon Herself, making no movement and showing no intention of attacking, even after having briefly immobilized him without effort.
His golden eyes once more swept across the space and time of the hundreds of millions of solar systems influenced by Her presence, and yet everything appeared entirely ordinary—
The Ruin Author's eyes suddenly widened, "The space is no different from the other parts of the galaxy that are not affected…"
Such a situation was impossible. Wherever an Outer Deity—or True God—appeared, Their symbolisms, concepts, and authorities permeated and reshaped the surrounding region. Yet, that wasn't the case with this Outer God of Dreams.
Nanook frowned as he thought of a possibility, "'Whatever is imagined will become reality?' No, She isn't a Visionary. It should be something similar…Blurring the lines of Dream and Reality until neither can be distinguished?"
Overwriting the Logic of the Physical World with Her Universal Domain? This seemed like the most probable cause, the immediate area might not even be the real world, what he had seen—the destroyed planets and stars—might not even be real. It seemed similar yet distinct from God Almighty's Envisioned, and Lord of Mysteries' Fooling.
His gaze fell back on the faces on Her body, "Some of it might be real… hm?"
The Aeon of Destruction narrowed his focus on the movements of the mouths. He had initially assumed the opening and closing of their lips were mere expressions of joy or agony. But when he looked more carefully, it became clear they were not moving their lips purposelessly.
He followed the movement of their lips—
"Hypnos;
The Dreamer;
Weaver of Illusions;
Eternal Reverie;
Monarch of Slumber."
The instant he finished reading Her Honorific Name, Nanook made use of the SupremeDestroyer symbol without hesitation, erasing the mystical connection that had begun forming the moment he recited it.
As expected, Her Symbolism encompassed Dreams, Illusions, and Sleep. The only unexpected aspect was Reverie.
"So I was affected by something similar to the Fool's Blind Idiot… losing myself in a 'daydream'?" It seems like he might have not been cautious enough, and going with his true body was not a smart move.
Without hesitation, Nanook activated his Aeon symbolism to move his true body to the Imaginary Space, a dimension outside the conventional space and time, while a projection appeared where his true body once was.
It was similar to how Aeon's appeared in Star Rail, whenever They glance, what is seen is not their true body, but merely a projection, Their real body is in fact in the Imaginary Space.
"Except for Aha, probably." Nanook mused, staring speechlessly at the massive ethereal tree in the centre of what resembled the Path Space.
Why was there an Erdtree in his Imaginary Space? He hadn't played Honkai Impact, but he had seen images. So why wasn't there red sand? Or the tree more…solid?
Question marks floated over the Ruin Author's head after realising that it was all cosmetic and the tree was not in fact the Imaginary Tree. And with no one to help clear his confusion, he shifted his complete attention back to the real world.
It was unfortunate this ability had the rule of 'only being able to be used if the true body was in the Imaginary Space', unable to be used like Lord of Mysteries Avatars.
"I'm not built for crowd control," Nanook reappeared back within the sphere of influence of Hypnos. This time around, the Reverie failed to take hold, as an unseen tide erupted.
….
Avatar of Entropy!
Throughout the hundreds of millions of solar systems colours dulled toward uniformity. Entropy took hold, accelerating trillions of celestial bodies to dust, and The Dreamer's domain could no longer maintain its seamless blending of reality and dream.
This is the most obvious aspect of Entropy. All physical matter—structures, objects, even living creatures—inevitably decayed over time. Dreams, too, were subject to the same law, for no matter how immersive, even Dreams reached their end.
At that moment, Hypnos reacted for the first time. She didn't awaken, yet the use of symbolism was unmistakable.
A soft pulse spread from Her fetal form, gentle at first, like the exhalation of a sleeper drifting through a deeper stage of slumber. Yet the effect on the surrounding space was immediate. Entropy began losing traction, its decaying and weakening effect slipping as the Monarch of Slumber reached out instinctively.
Entire solar systems halted in suspended quiet. Particles froze mid-vibration; light hung motionless in its travel; sound folded into itself, muffled and distorted. Everything that Entropy had begun to unravel stilled, settling into a dreamlike suspension, where stasis replaced decay.
Monarch of Slumber!
Dream reasserted itself over reality, pressing back against the encroaching entropy.
Without panicking, the Ruin Author once again used Avatar of Entropy, and the frozen regions restarted with visible hesitation, like machinery forced to operate while clogged with sand.
Slumber and Entropy clashed in silence.
Neither produced any noise, yet the metaphysical pressure was enough to make the region's time-flow sway between sluggish drift and abrupt acceleration.
Suddenly, a crimson Moon rose from behind Hypnos, and inhabiting it was a figure composed of countless birthing organs haphazardly piled together, with swirling smoke and crimson moonlight intertwining to form an accretion-disk-like extension that served as clothing. Yet, this massive figure had a head resembling that of a human woman. "Her" features - facial structure, long brown hair, and crimson eyes - were flawless, embodying the very concept of "beauty". "She" was the symbol of beauty in the universe, radiating an unmistakable maternal brilliance.
Mother Goddess of Depravity! The Sovereign of the Physical World. One of the Three Pillars of the Universe.
The Dreamer!
Weaver of Illusions!
Two core symbolisms of Hypnos activated at once, making what was imagined become tangible, and generating an illusion that seemed no different from the Great Mother.
At Her appearance, nervousness shot through Nanook, at seeing the being that could do the impossible, making men pregnant.
Nightmare!
Latent fears and anxiety were amplified, and yet, rather than this benefiting the Monarch of Slumber, the exact opposite occurred!
Ruin Author!
Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.
Nanook who had been holding back in hopes of communication with this Outer Deity, abandoned all pretense under the influence of Hypnos' Nightmare symbolism.
A clenched fist casually shot forward toward the Dreamer. Space and time fractured across billions of solar systems as half the galaxy collapsed under the raw, unrestrained might of the SupremeDestroyer symbolism, spontaneously generating black holes, supernovas, white holes, gamma-ray bursts, and countless other cosmic phenomena.
Quadrillions —perhaps even quintillions—of lives were extinguished in an instant.
The immutable truth of the universe made itself known:
When immortals fight, mortals suffer.
….
Nanook stared blankly at his fist, and then at the remaining expanse of the galaxy. Everything in the path of his punch had been obliterated without discrimination, whether it was the illusion of the Mother Goddess of Depravity, Hypnos Herself, the stars, or the mortal life outside Hypnos' dream domain.
He had caused more death than even The Dreamer Herself had.
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A/N: This chapter was a struggle. I don't feel particularly happy with it, and felt like it could have been better. Mostly because writing about conceptual level fights like using symbolism and authority is not easy. Like, you need to be careful not to make it too outrageous yet not too 'weak'.