Stepping into the barrier, they're greeted by, or rather, not greeted at all as the entire city lacks any sort of presence. "Spiritual power lies in everything. Only once have I seen something like this before," Elena said. "You mean in Canada?", Phantom asked. "Yeah. Back then... A lot of shit happened that could have been avoided if the state itself had decided to do something. They knew of the risks but proceeded to keep going just to open a rift into the unknown. Luckily, I, my four friends, and the Key of Strength were around to aid us in this battle. Without the key and their deaths, far greater threats may have ravaged the lands." With sorrow and utmost hatred, she also expressed feelings of guilt and regret. "However," she said. "However?" "This wasn't the first time this happened. Several times, throughout history, there have been recordings of cosmic horrors peaking into our universe showing no signs of empathy or contempt. Demons have their own motives. One might have been abused and proceed to abuse others as a vicious cycle while others had their ideals twisted. If we take Hyperion with his need to save everything he can, even the Demon he thinks he's been hiding from me, wanting to be vegan and more, his ideals could be twisted into saving everyone by killing them all granting them death like a cultish figure. King's love for Hyperion would turn into a deep obsession where he may defile his friend, keep his corpse and hold his soul hostage. Sugar would create a world where kids live with no expectations as they never grow up and constantly play. Wonderful at first, but you may never know what happens in situations like these. Then there's-", she told him. "Why are we talking about that? I was asking about Abottsford..." With disinterest, he simply, without thinking about how she will react to his boredom, stated his question. "Gee... It was an anomaly like the one we're facing right now, but instead, it adapted to star signs with Leo being the strongest while Ophiuchus was the most difficult to deal with. It created some kind of weird barrier that was way too detailed like it came straight out of space. Fused, they started to tear rifts into space. Then, Flora and Drayke appeared easily erasing what was left of the anomaly." "Those two are in the Top 5 if I'm not mistaken. On par with the "Holy Lance" and the 2nd ranked." Walking down the road, they kept thinking about what may be the cause of this disaster. Phantom asked, "Then where are the pe-" "They're dead. There's no way they would survive something as tragic as this, right?" He could only agree to her claim considering that both of them have dealt with disasters like this before. After long awkward silence as they walked down this path, they finally discovered something worth looking into. "Do you feel it?", Elena asked as she created a large and heavy lance. Coating it in spiritual power, it turned light blue. "Light blue hardening? You've been able to do that?", Phantom asked. "So you've seen it before? I've only seen deeper colors of hardening within Flora and Drayke." "It's a rare skill only available to those with grand knowledge. I would expect this from monks, those into martial arts and, Dream Catchers that have been around for a decade. You've only been doing this for five years, right?" She hesitated for a second but nodded. "Anyway, we should focus on this presence. What kind of spirit is it? A Demon? An enraged person? A vengeful spirit?" "None of the above. It doesn't seem alive but it does contain the powers of the X. Maybe it's an Authority?" He touched the ground to sense what it may be but couldn't feel anything. "Can you explain again what Authorities are to our dear readers?" Confused as to what she's talking about, he just answered her question. "Authorities are treasures left behind by the crafters of Ultima Keys. These crafters are the Ultimata, bringers of life and death. Their willpower is ridiculously high with their souls being nearly indestructible. They wielded these keys and had the special Ultimatum they inflicted on the universe. The Ultimatum of Dreams was one that deeply cared about his savior. Born out of love for one person and the hatred for everyone else, he left behind the Key of Dreams and the Authority of Dreams." "It's definitely interesting how you seem to know the answer to each of my questions," Elena remarked. "I wonder what you're hiding?", she smugly wondered ass she forced him out of his shell. "That's none of your business is it?! We should focus on the goal that lies ahead!" Like a child, he pranced off speeding up a little. With a few threads, she pulled him back and just smirked as she kept walking with him. Not far, they spot a strange mark engraved or more like torn, into the street creating a circle that likely encapsulates a huge part of the city. It was like a tear in space that let someone peak into the endless universe. Reaching into the rift with her lance, she could feel the emptiness of space. "This mark... I think it's the mark of Sentience!" "Mark of Sentience?", she asked. "Authorities do have a somewhat physical form. Sentience has the form of a double helix that forms a circle. We should stay together and try to not use too much spiritual power and stay aware of our surroundings. She may play a trick on our minds." "Interesting. Never expected something like this but I think you'll struggle a lot more with this than I will." Jumping over the rift, or rather the Mark of Sentience, they step into another part of town. The empty city that contained no life, was another barrier that didn't allow anyone to peak into the center of Munich.

Stepping past the barrier, they're met with even stranger objects within the barrier. Several greatswords the length of fifty meters were lodged into the ground. Chains buried into the ground were holding them, the massive black greatswords, steady not allowing any of them to tumble over. Buildings also were affected as some of the swords were lodged into them. All of them had an aura surrounding them that distorted space. Not only did space bend, but also did it break around the swords. These cracks reached into the ground that was filled with darkness. Deciding that it is necessary to examine these objects even with their unknown properties that might pose a danger to both of them, Elena stretches her arm towards the sword to take a sample. It was relatively hard to break apart which is why Elena had to enlarge her lance and flung it at her target by spinning it around and accelerating it to the point that it broke the sound barrier. While they were unable to fully cut through the strange metal, they were able to chip away fragments with her lance drilling into the sword. Extending her arm towards one of the fragments, she removed it tearing it off like a weak piece of cloth not bleeding out or suffering in any shape or form. With her other arm, she recovered her lance while her detached arm got a grasp of the fragment. Within seconds she regenerated or rather reknit her arm. "How do you even get that precise, to begin with?", Phantom asked. "Intense training, near-death experiences, a bunch of trauma, intuition, and a general understanding of your element." By controlling the air around them, she pulled in the fragment of the strange metal they couldn't identify. "Do you have a gadget for scanning strange anomalous metals as well?" "Of course I do!", he exclaimed. A circular shield with the diameter of his head materialized on his left arm. With the side facing his arm turning purple, he reached into it and pulled out a black ball with a purple snake that was devouring itself embedded into it. Grabbing it with both hands and squeezing it, it split into two and the two halves focus on the shard. The shard itself is starting to lose color and is turning into a gray crystal. The farther away it gets from the sword, the weaker it becomes. The closer it gets, the stronger it becomes. To accurately examine the shard, Phantom casually throws the halves. Caught in between the halves, the halves formed back into the ball it once was before almost as if it had been pulled into another dimension. "So... What are the results?" With his shield glowing in purple, a beam aimed at the gadget he had released pulled in what he was trying to reclaim. After his shield had returned to normal, he pulled the gadget back out to finally reveal what this rock maybe. As it split apart, a sheet of paper presented itself providing info on the shard. The paper was inscribed with signs Elena hadn't seen before and was undecipherable for her. Without stuttering, he translated whatever was on this paper. "It's made out of X, spiritual power, and dark magic. Not only should direct contact result in you hallucinating while whatever planted these swords is approaching you but also would you be absorbed by the swords." "Then the people who have lived here are...?", she wondered but could guess what the answer may be. "Dead. This thing contains them all. The dark magic was released by the negative emotions caused by the hallucinations. The Authority of Sentience is a scary one after all." "And what happens if you stop time? Will, you still be affected by the hallucinations?", she wondered. "Let's try it out then. Within stopped time you'll touch the sword and look into these hallucinations. Maybe there might be a few clues that will allow us to track down the target." Fully trusting Phantom she extended her arm towards the sword and came into contact with it. Intense headaches were trying to tear away at her until she succumbed to them.

As soon as she woke up, she was plunged into a world of shadows and darkness with cosmic lights that let her see shadowy people. "Who do you think you are! Killing all these people that had done no wrong and use them as sustenance is just pointless!", she yelled. "I'm only following orders, which is taking care of those with strong minds by stalling them and giving her enough time to unleash the great Calamities," a woman said with a lack of emotions. "Look!", she whispered. "I can show you what may lie in your way before you perish." A dark mist rose and covered her sight. The winds coming onto her nearly blew her off her feet. After what felt like a minute of strong gusts of winds, the mist clears and the winds calm. Within the sky, she looked down on burning land that was ravaged by the wrath of a god. "This planet was once great and united that sought no conflicts but protection. Instead of being protected by their god, they were destroyed because they tapped into a power this kind wasn't allowed to possess. With her might, she squashed them like you would insects." "Why would they do that? The god was supposed to help them, wasn't it?!", she asked enraged knowing how injustices like these may be a lot more common for life in general, even for extraterrestrial species and divine beings that call themself gods. "We're the same, aren't we? You killed those that stood in your way because you wanted justice." Before she could utter another word, the mist and the strong winds tried to obstruct her view once again to show her more horrendous sights. "No matter what kind of intelligent species you are, you'll always commit horrendous acts just because it satisfies you. No matter how much you tell yourself you're not like that, you'll always resort to violence. Only few could break that curse only to be killed and succumb to it." The next time the mist cleared, they were looking down on a similar landscape to the one in Munich but instead of being covered in greatswords, it was covered in spacial rifts that were tearing away at the buildings. Nature started to reclaim the structures the civilization had created through its very own power. "The center of this calamity was a green flower that affected anything it came into contact with. This plant has its roots all over the planet and killed anything that inconvenienced it. If humanity had been more kind and forgiving, this never would have happened. Humanity may be unaware of it but plants are sentient. They don't understand you at all but love helping others. Their kindness is far greater than all but your countless arrogations depleted its patience resulting in earthquakes, climate change, floods, tsunamis, and much more. If only you hadn't been smart, right?", the voice said. Its tone remained neutral and emotionless. Again, they switched scenes and showed them something even worse with a bunch of corpses piling up in ruined cities after being skewered, crushed, burned, and torn apart with limbs lying all over the place. "This may be the future of your home planet. Because you can't stop solving violence through more violence, you may have to suffer such a fate. You too decided to kill instead of using diplomacy." Elena couldn't take the remark that was supposed to discourage her from going down the same path. "I can't just sit by and watch people be tortured!", she shouted at the voice. "Then what about your friend Hyperion? Your actions will affect him as well. His kind soul that resembles the angels your kind believes to exist, will turn into a Demon that is driven by despair. What will you do when his goal of ultimate salvation becomes the goal of ultimate damnation?" Deciding to remain quiet as she had no answer to that question, they decided to change the scenery again. This time it was a large, burning crater the size of a city. "This may be him in the future. If you fail to convey how you truly feel towards others and whether or not you want to help them, they'll leave you too like your previous friends." She could only frown at these words and lament what had happened in the past. Above them was Hyperion with a gem embedded into his head, several golden, long, and seethrough arms that were keeping him in the air, and a halo above his head that followed him no matter where he went. His eyes were dead and he was drooling. Like a husk of himself, he kept wandering through the lands to look for more things he could destroy. "Back then you failed to kill your friend when she was about to turn into a Demon condemning her to a fate worse than fate just because you couldn't put her down. Would you do the same with him?" Before they could change the scene, Hyperion looked down on her and shed a tear as he asked for her to kill him. She was trembling as the scene came to an end. The next one bore a horrifying sight of dark clouds covering the skies and few people running away on foot to escape Demons. A woman, begging for help, was running away from a relatively slow Demon only to run into an alley with another Demon awaiting her. The Demon she had been running away from caught up to her and blocked her way out. She could only cry and wail as the Demon came closer with its long arms, its massive torso, its short legs, and its humanoid figure. Its limbs were thin and frail and it lacked a skull. It only had a huge opening where its head should be. Slowly they got a hold of the woman and raised her into the air by its legs. At last, she was dropped into the opening for it to close up after its meal. "If you don't stop the Coordinator, he may rule over the world with humanity turning into Demons. The few that don't are killed by themself, the people around them or Demons." "I'll definitely stop him. I have to and I will. Just because you're showing me a dystopic future, doesn't mean it's going to come true!", she declared. "I don't want to hear that from someone who can't kill their own friend out of mercy and spared the Demon tagging along with another one of your friends." Again, they changed the location. This time a woman with long black hair, scarlet eyes, and its minions, was sitting on a throne celebrating the death of many. Besides her was a shadowy creature resembling a dragon and another one that resembled a humanoid entity with a longsword. Both of them were significantly bigger than their master but did as she commanded. "She calls herself the supreme ruler of all beings. Not only is she extremely arrogant but also envious of many species. As the Ultimatum of Envy, she had brought ruin to many galaxies with her godlike powers. The only reason why she does so is because of the loved ones she lost. Testing each species, again and again, she started to see herself as the strongest and morally best person out there that shall reset everything and build a utopia. You're just like her... Killing to acquire an unrealistic goal that won't reach the light of day. If the final calamity won't change your ways, you're just another hopeless case like Hyperion." Changing to the final location, they were engulfed by strong blizzards that raged across the lands. The only signs of a somewhat civilized and intelligent species were the few structures resembling manmade ones. "Here, the Ultimatum of Revenge made her verdict and decided to unleash her greatest weapon against primitive beings, Walpurgis. Paranoia, distrust, and greed led to the defeat of this Type 2 civilization. It's a shame that they had come so far only to be struck down by another godlike being just because it decided to take away its star." Slowly, everything started to fade away as Elena was starting to regain her senses thanks to the help of Phantom. "One day you'll realize just how much you've done wrong and how much of a failure you are." The next time she closes her eyes, she awakens in Munich. She persisted with a strong will and couldn't have her mind be corrupted by the Authority of Sentience.

After taking a short break to recollect her thoughts, she decided to share what she had seen while under these delusions. "A god that had destroyed several civilizations because of arrogations, a flower that had killed an entire race because they were mishandling the planet, corpses in all types of disfigurement, a crater created from Hyperion turning into a Demon, people running in fear because the Coordinator wasn't defeated, a self-proclaimed god who hated everything that stood in her way and an endless blizzard that raged across the land after some kind of disaster... I can't tell what she's trying to tell me with that but they seem like a whacky prophecy with enough vagueness that no one can tell whether or not this may happen. We should focus on finding her and getting this over with. Then we'll aid the others in fighting the Coordinator," she claimed. "I don't think we can aid them at all..." Suddenly, Phantom started walking on his spot but at such a pace that it seemed like someone had sped him up. After a few seconds of running, he stopped and returned to normal. "This is what happens when I stop time. Instead of stopping it, time only slows down meaning that there's some kind of time dilation. We don't know whether we'll get out in a few seconds or a few years. We should just hurry and hope nothing goes wrong while we're absent, but that means we need to figure out the second Authority that is governing over this city and how we should approach it. With Sentience, we just need to make sure that at least one of us is aware of what is going on around us." Taken aback, she took in a deep breath to calm her nerves. "Okay... Then let's speed this up even if it's riskier." Picking up her lance she decided to get going. "We shouldn't rush and think-", Phantom said before being cut off. "We should rush. We don't know how much time will pass by the time we get this over with and maybe there still are people in hiding that we could save." Phantom could only agree with her as she ran after her. Jumping on top of buildings, they were trying to spot more clues as they kept talking about the second Authority. "How much do you know about Authorities, or rather, how much are you willing to tell me about them?" "A lot. Just don't rush to your death!" Elena sped up but decided to create a few threads that attached themself to Phantom. "Stay back. I have a feeling there's another layer and you're a lot more crucial to the plot than me!", she said as she flew away. "Huh?! Don't just-", but it was futile as he was blown off the roof he stood on. Not far she could spot another abnormality within this city. Just like on the outside world, there was a seemingly normal world with no apparent damage to the buildings and roads. Landing in front of the next layer, she braced herself for whatever is next and dove into the chaotic world that may be within.