After Dream left the realm of Chaos, he exited the event horizon of the black hole.

Perhaps Aegis hadn’t been allowed within that conceptual world, or maybe he simply didn’t have the ability to enter it. Regardless, Dream only saw him again several thousand light years away.

“Alright, change of plans. Time to get the second most massive black hole.”

“Of course, my lord.”

Patting Aegis on the shoulder, Dream moved him through the layers of reality. They momentarily appeared outside of a black hole that seemed no less massive than the other.

“This one is only 495 solar masses, because of course Chaos had to have the best one. Well, I’ll change that soon.”

Saying that, Dream reached out his hand. Not long after, he pulled and brought forth another huge black hole.

He tossed it toward the other, and through his intervention, the two collided and merged.

730 trillion solar masses…

Without much thought, he grabbed another.

880 trillion solar masses…

And another.

990 solar masses…

At this point, the black hole had grown to become far larger than the one Chaos resided in. And all around it, Dream could see ruptures in the dimension, exposing conceptual space and rending the power of concepts.

A physical object so extreme it was breaking through its own boundaries. It exerted influence on an unfathomable portion of the universe.

Through its influence, Dream could see and feel all the myriad reached of the cosmos. It was simply one large beacon of power that radiated and pulled on everything in existence.

But it wasn’t quite yet done. Dream could feel it approaching the threshold he spoke of.

So he pulled and added another black hole, increasing its mass yet again.

The new addition was torn apart before it could even reach the event horizon. Its dark matter was strewn across the gravitational waves, warped and shredded across light years before it all fell into the center of oblivion.

And this seemed to trigger the change.

The black hole undulated, causing Dream to smile.

“Now, clocking in at 1 quadrillion solar masses, we have a behemoth unknowable to any denizen of the third dimension. Normally it would continue to throw out flares of gravitational waves that destroyed the fabric of reality itself, tearing through dimensions and obliterating anything within its range. But now…”

Dream voice faded as he watched.

And the black hole began to shrink.

Previously the size of entire galaxies, this black hole seemed to collapse in on itself. Such a thing should be impossible considering a black hole was made by a gravitational collapse already.

But ti was doing it once more, and in the process of shrinking, Dream could see the black hole absorb and shred the third dimension entirely.

Like breaking beyond a cage, it began to expose itself to both higher and lower dimensions. It breached infinity, and although it would only be for a limited time, this physical phenomenon would be allowed to wreak havoc on the concepts themselves.

The Totality would be thrown into momentary chaos that only the gods would feel. And it would fade just as fast as it came.

That was, if nobody had a hand in it.

Dream watched as it shrunk from the size of a galaxy to the size of a solar system. Then, it shrurnk to the size of a star.

By that point, the black hole couldn’t even be observed through the third dimension. Dream could only see the conceptual turbulence it was creating.

At this moment, the black hole was no less powerful than a god. Even the void god, the supposed master of all things dark, including black holes, would be sucked in and annihilated within this behemoth.

Dream approached it though, and suddenly, he exposed his core of Khroia.

He exposed his very being, his body fading away, and the core being sucked toward the black hole.

That core flew along with the conceptual waves, even as the black hole continued to shrink down to the size of a planet.

By the time the core reached it, the black hole had been reduced to merely the size of a marble.

The two collided, and then merged.

This merging prevented the black hole from shrinking any further. It also stopped the black hole from sucking anything else in.

Instead, the core exerted influence on the what was no longer a black hole. It couldn’t be called that now as it had transformed under the pressure of reality and the merging of Khroia.

First, it was black. Then, grey wisps overtook the surface, blooming and taking over.

Before long, that black hole looked no different from the core of Khroia.

And then, Dream’s body began to reform.

“Hmm… That was kind of fun.”

He smiled and looked down.

Now, atop his chest was a necklace, on which hung a pendant.

The pendant was formed of a whirlwind of nothingness. At its center, all light and any kind of concept was warped into incomprehensible oblivion, the contents unable to be understood or grasped by anybody other than gods.

The next stage of an ultramassive black hole’s evolution.

Conceptual Oblivion.

Within that small pendant was the universe’s single most extreme celestial object. And since Dream had merged with it, it’s power was no longer diminished by the infinity of the concepts that rejected such an atrocious existence. Instead, it was given and supported by infinite power, and the two compounded off each other.

Dream now harnessed what could be considered one of the highest infinities in the universe. A power only gods could hope to defend against.

Add to it the power of Khroia…

“...Aegis.”

“My lord.”

Aegis stood behind Dream, awaiting his master’s orders.

“The big day is here. Prepare the armies. It’s time for a reunion.”

“Your will be done.”

The butler bowed before stepping through the void, disappearing from view. Dream stood there alone in dark space, not a star for lightyears that could be seen.

He remained there as the universe began to move.

………

……

Tersa Prime.

Formerly a secondary world, this planet was now home to the asura god clans and the remaining denizens of Luna’s galaxy.

After each primary world of the clans was besieged and was threatened to be annihilated, Luna enacted one of her drastic plans and had those planets absorbed into Tersa Prime, the Terra Cores along with them.

This plan was adopted due to the megastructure around Tersa Prime that allowed it to shrink and shuttle through space, making an incredibly mobile celestial body.

And the homes of Luna’s people were no different. All those planets had been at the forefront of the war, but one by one, they became battlefields before turning to mere tombs.

The survivors and the refugees were all gathered into Tersa Prime, turning it into the single most inhhabited celestial body in the universe, housing over 5 quadrillion souls.

It was now a primary world with power rivaling gods. And its megastructure, especially after undergoing upgrades through the efforts of several gods and the guidance of Luna, was able to keep it alive for a much longer period of time.

The asura clans now lived and died with this planet. But, even with all that power, the planet still found itself cornered.

It was on that fateful day that Luna felt the action of nearly 200 gods, all of varying levels. This unprecedented gathering was able to pool their power and lock down the planet.

Compared to the mere two dozen gods that were drawn to Luna’s side or raised by her, it was overwhelming.

And that wasn’t everybody.

With their planet locked down, the angels and demons found their way, as if Tersa Prime were a beacon in the night.

Luna wasn’t the only one who had created massive structures and starfaring vehicles. The angels and demons rode amongst their own transports, some massive beasts like dragons and pheonixes, others starships and sleek metal shuttles.

Regardless, these transports arrived by the trillion, carrying many more occupants.

Their crowds engulfed the exoplanet.

The war had reached its climax.

Every soldier was here.

The battlefield had been determined.

There was nowhere to run.

Both Luna and Iris sat atop their thrones on opposite sides of the world, watching as they were surrounded.

Luna wasn’t particularly happy.

“Where is he…”

“Who the hell knows? Anyway, when are we going to do it?”

Iris appeared, her figure floating through the air as she twirled her hair in seeming boredom.

Luna frowned.

“It’s a path of no return.”

“Well, all other avenues have been completely exhausted. You’re at the end of your rope, backed into a corner. You could interfere personally, but then you’d really get yourself killed, especially now. I don’t believe Order has ever been stronger, and that’s all thanks to you.”

“You don’t need to speak the obvious.”

Luna sighed.

The only reason she was worrying was because it was in her nature to do so. She wasn’t like Iris who would leave things to uncertainty. As the new successor of Order, she did things in a strict manner, using predictions and rules.

But now, she realized there was no way out. She was truly in a corner, no other options available to her. The situation was unsalvageable.

Or, there was another option…

But it was one that had just as high of a chance as ending in their demise as directly facing Order would. Perhaps maybe even more dangerous.

To complete the succession of the Archons. To accept what they couldn’t. To inherit what would kill them.

The absolute infinity of Order, the Source of all Things, the highest energy of Saboth.

Origin Energy.

And its counterpart, the abyssal oblivion of Chaos, that beyond both Death and Annihilation.

Null Energy.

These two things were the highest sources of energy in the Totality. From these, every concept garnered their power. Its energy was an infinity of infinity, something which could not be surpassed nor matched.

These two things comprised Everything. And should Luna and Iris receive these from the Archons, they would become the highest, and they would be able to take back the universe that the false Order and Chaos had taken.

But there was only one problem.

The bond between Luna and Iris, a bond between their conceptual existences that was formed of Khroia, a supposedly impossible energy.

That bond would spell their doom should they receive these energies and not remove it. They would merely kill each other, and the war would end in their enemy’s victory.

The only way to remedy it was to hope for a miracle. Hope that somehow, the person who put that bond there would be able to strengthen it and withstand the clash of the highest concepts in the universe.

It was an impossible situation, and Luna didn’t want to resign herself to it.

Iris, on the other hand…

“Luna, make the decision, or I will.”

As Luna deliberated, Iris spoke with an irritated voice. It caused Luna to narrow her eyes.

“You don’t give a damn about things going right or wrong, so you have no right to make the decision.”

“And yet I can do it anyway. Which I think I’ll do now, since you’re being such a bitch about everything.”

“Don’t!”

“Too late!”

Iris cackled while drawing her finger across space. It created a portal to the fractured universe, the grave of the Archons.

When that happened though…

Both the girls turned, facing the eyeball that had appeared within their throneroom.

They could sense its amusement.

“Order…”

“Go on, bring me exactly what I want. Two cornered rats retrieving a weapon they can’t even use.”

Its voice echoed in their minds. It was a meaningless taunt, but Luna wasn’t amused.

Instead, she looked back toward Iris, who seemed completely uninterested. She only wanted to go grab the power she hadn’t been allowed to long ago.

That’s when Luna realized it. Or, it was more like she remembered an important lesson, one she used many times during the war.

Chaos had its place in the universe. And it could lead to favorable results. So long as she balanced her Order and Iris’ Chaos, things would go well.

It was why she refrained from using nothing but robots during her war. They were too orderly, without chaos, and could lead to a conceptual imbalance that ended in her loss. People, on the other hand, had certain levels of uncertainty within them that, while occasionally resulted in losses, also resulted in victory.

The concepts worked in mysterious ways that couldn’t be detected by merely watching the denizens of the universe in action. Every mind, every thought, every action, was altered by the concepts to balance the whole of the universe. Nobody was spared.

In that case…

It was about time Luna allowed Chaos to take the reigns. That was a strategy in and of itself.

So, she stood tall, turning away from the eyeball and walking toward the portal Iris created.

“Await our return, eyeball.”

“Yea! What she said!”

Iris spat at Order before walking in behind Luna.

The portal closed.

And the eyeball waited.