Looking inward, he tried assessing what'd happened to him. He was, frankly, surprised to be alive; having the Big Bang Theory confirmed in your own ribcage tends to leave someone very dead, so that was the first thing he looked into.

He found that the stars had never actually touched his flesh. When he put the point of chaos into Starved Bastion, it took on the properties of that "Existence" within which it was placed- essentially being born on the same wavelength as a spell. That's why the birth of a universe only affected the Physical Plane, because whichever reality chaos was born into acted as a lens to narrow its reach.

Instead of the Big Bang, he had a Big Bang spell go off inside his soul, and it wasn't a tangible thing. The damage it caused was, instead, from the powerful concepts of heat and destruction going on inside him.

So it existed only as a spell within Starved Bastion, but was far too much for it to handle. Luckily, Starved Bastion did not stand alone, linked to the entire network of anchors within him. Most of his spells were not up for the job of containing universal damage, but Harmonic Sanctuary was almost tailor-made to do just that, making Dei think this was likely how Leviathans might've actually had their worlds started.

'I can't imagine baby's-first-universe is started with the destruction and rebirth of another, so Leviathans must have some way of creating the dense points of chaos I did, without all the extra hassle.'

All the runoff contained, Starved Bastion now focused on breaking down everything it was able to catch, which appeared to be an absolutely miniscule amount compared to the full amount, barely even a thousandth of a star. True, stars were incredibly powerful, but Dei was now realizing that he might've overestimated his spell just a tad.

Starved Bastion wasn't a storage spell, it didn't hold incredible amounts, it was good at digesting things. The small piece of star it held now would be gone in hours, but he didn't see that as a problem.

A transfer now took place between Starved Bastion and Harmonic Palace, his Bastion spell consuming all the extra energy produced by Palace, giving it entropic energy in return.

He halted this transfer. While he didn't think Palace would run out any time soon, not even in the next billion years or anything, he just didn't like the idea of accelerating the death of his universe. It's not like he needed entropy right now anyway.

Next he checked up on his elves, seeing the entire civilization sitting around in wonder, staring at the sky.

His own metaphorical eyes turned up towards it, seeing a flaming heaven of stars swirling at impossible speeds. Silent explosions dotted the night, flashing vibrantly.

If there were not an impossibly sturdy barrier protecting the elven planet, he was sure they would've been vaporized.

He watched alongside them while thinking about the last issue: Faker Dei. Faker's Void affinity was instead replaced by Time, and he sat within the Conceptual Plane of Time.

Even if Dei now had the force of a universe within himself, he was sure other Dei would gain something equally amazing. He lived in a mirror world of Dei's life, consuming bits and pieces. Dei wasn't sure if the mirror world still looked the same now that the link holding it together was severed, but he couldn't imagine a Time Beast dying in its homeland.

He wondered if it was still able to absorb pieces of him without Dei impressing himself on the Conceptual Plane of Time.

He wouldn't let it sit there forever though. He was sure that if he went back to System-dictated space, it wouldn't be able to reach him but what then? Just let it run around? He wasn't sure if it would leave his family alone, so he'd rather tie up the loose end.

To that end, he'd need to pay The Champion a visit soon. For now though, he was worried about Jacob and Thadria.

"Is there air here?" he asked mentally to both of them, though he knew the answer was no. They both just seemed so unbothered.

"Yes," Jacob surprisingly responded audibly at the same time that Thadria said "No."

They both looked at Jacob, and he shrugged, "I can breathe and talk just fine."

Thadria tried talking, but the vacuum didn't carry any sound. Her and Dei were both bewildered, but they couldn't even cast any identifying magic on Jacob to check how he was doing it.

Dei sighed mentally, just another thing to ask his favorite Dragon.

* * *

Dei's return felt strange. Outside, a little over half a day had passed, despite having been in there for two months.

When he went to the Church, he expected them to clear out the cathedral again for him to talk to The Champion, but he was instead led into a smaller side room- it seemed they decided to create an area for him to talk with their God because he came to visit so often, and they couldn't just keep shutting people out. There were supposedly a lot of smaller get togethers that went on every day, rather than the typical once-a-week mass that most churches had.

The room wasn't bad. It felt like the VIP room to a restaurant or something, because there was a small banquet table with food and drink set out on it. On the far end of the room was the typical statue of The Champion, though it was much smaller than the one in the main room.

Dei requested Jacob and Thadria stay with him as well during the meeting, so they sat down off to the side and started enjoying the meal set out. Jacob piled his plate high and ate merrily, while Thadria nibbled on the cuisine here and there, trying the new flavors without eating much. She hadn't eaten much of anything since the death of her people because there was simply no way to create food on Minerali. Jacob, for whatever reason, didn't even need food anymore, but he was happy to eat after not doing so for such a long time

"Mr Champion!" Dei greeted the statue, "I'm here to report both success and ask what to do next."

"Hm? You are back so soon… I assumed you would utilize any extra time as training."

Dei raised his eyebrow, "Well yes, I was going to, but then an evil duplicate of myself created from twisting Time mana attacked me, and likely would've killed me if I let it fully breach into the physical realm. I wasn't really sure how I was supposed to handle that and focus on collapsing the realm, so I decided to shut it down before the Time mana caused them to fester even further. I imagine the first would've been the weakest, so I did not want to see what a six-month old Time Beast would look like. What was that about by the way? I would've appreciated a warning!"

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"..."

"What?"

"... I didn't know that would happen."

"What?!"

"I apologize. I have no recollection of the Time affinity from the supreme version of The Champion, as it did not exist at the point I broke from, so I would have no way of knowing anything about it. Typically, the safeguards placed within the sun are updated automatically to account for any varying laws, but I stepped out of these, leaving an opening for the unknown. I assumed the only drawback would be the power source, as that was true last I remember, but not anymore."

"Okay… that leaves me a lot less hopeful for my next question about how to handle the situation. If you're completely unaware of the Time affinity, can you advise me on how to do with this thing?"

"While I am unable to account for every possible interaction, I am able to make educated guesses with my existing information. While there are always variables, there are patterns to supernatural forces. I wonder, though, what your goal would be for the Time Beast. Is it not to just kill it? You ask for my advice on what to do with it, but it is rather clear, yes?"

Dei sighed, "I guess so yea, but how? I feel like this thing's gonna be dangerous. Does it have a weakness? Any easy way to kill it?"

"It is you. I suppose a detailed analysis would be more helpful though, rather than a simple three-word simplification. Typically, when two perfect duplicates are created from the same originator source, the older one will be considered the independent one. You are the older one, so you are real, whereas it is not. Similar to how you have powerful Rights, this creature has absolutely none. It does not carry your Rights. It does not even carry the Rights of a naturally-born infant. Because of this, an inverse phenomena takes place. If something has more Rights, the multiverse listens closely. When something has none? They are… ignored. Should the Time Beast step out of the Conceptual Plane of Time which sustains it, it will slowly be erased as it has no place in the universe."

"Oh!" Dei exclaimed happily, "Doesn't that mean it's going to be a lot weaker than me? Since it has no Rights?"

"If it were any average being, yes. It's base body is composed of your own though, so while it has no Rights, it still benefits from the effects of all Rights you had at the moment of its conception."

"Darn… Still, I imagine I'm stronger than it, because it wasn't able to consume any timelines from after I entered the dilated universe, and I'm positive I've earned several more Achievements since then. Although… can it still copy those? I'd say no because I'm not impressing on Time anymore, but I want to be sure."

"You're correct, it cannot consume fragments of your past any longer. Further, if you step into a place of weakened time again, the points will be too removed for it to consume, so it will be forced to face you directly rather than build power again."

"Okay good. Will it just naturally take damage the longer we fight? Since it'll slowly be erased."

"Theoretically, yes. Functionally, no. You are an impressive figure, and one that fights carefully yet risks enough to earn Achievements. Even in the Plane of Time, I imagine your duplicate will soon build up enough Rights to sustain itself, perhaps even faster than you."

"Wait, then what's the issue!? Why would it kill me if it can just be its own person?"

"It was born to consume you. That is its purpose, and it knows this as surely as you know you know it is fake. To give you a better idea, know that its Rules of Wrath will be different from your own, one of which will likely be dedicated to becoming the most real version of itself. It cannot become its own person, only a parasitic existence of your own until you are gone."

"Okay, so the best time to kill it was immediately, but I was in no place to do that. Outside that option, I now have to find a way to kill it before it can build enough power to surpass and kill me. Darn."

"Indeed, though I have absolute faith you will succeed."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, I'm feelin pretty good about it myself too, no matter what I say. Now for the potentially larger problem, what's up with Jacob?" he said, pointing at the guy sitting at the table.

"What about him?" The Champion asked.

"Why is he so… resistant?"

"Elaborate."

'I'll have to start from the beginning.'

"Okay, so a while back there was this Karma user…"

* * *

The Champion was silent after the story, and Dei let him do his thing, grabbing a bite while waiting.

"You say he escaped through the white beam?" The Champion asked.

"Yea."

"And that he had countless close-calls from the solar flares?"

"Yea."

"And that no magic works on him?"

"Nothing does. Damage doesn't stick, universal laws can't touch him, and he kinda just produces air to breathe."

"I believe this is the best outcome for the worst possible situation. There were uncountable points in that story where he should have perished, but the end result is that his defining trait in the eyes of reality are enunciated horrifically. His defining trait, being someone from Earth, is the ability to reject mana, as this is a trait of Earth humans alone. I… I don't know what this does exactly. I believe it exclusively ensures that he remains in a mundane, unaffected state. No matter what happens."

"His power is to be unbothered?"

"Correct."

"What are the limits to this? Can he die?"

"I… don't think so. It's likely nothing that exists could kill him. I do not even know why he was allowed back into the Physical Realm, though I suppose the reason is because it no longer has the power to remove him. He has surpassed everything. He is so far outside the domain of existence I cannot picture anything ending him. To give you perspective on the simplest boost to his power, every flare avoided in the sun is an immensely powerful Achievement though… better. No affinity has the right to give their blessing for such a thing, but it is a similar process. I will not elaborate on its source."

Dei couldn't think of a response to that, so he said none, pondering The Champion's words.

Jacob had dodged countless flares, perhaps hundreds of thousands. He had just as many Achievements from a source stronger even than affinities.

'Ascenders, perhaps?'

"If this is possible… Why hasn't this happened before? Why don't Karma users make this happen more often?"

"Impossible. One such way that this has never occurred is because being empowered even twice this way will often cause an entity to die as their power becomes too imbalanced. Jacob had nothing to empower. He just is, so he was able to survive. And his state of being 'Is' has now become permanent beyond anything I can imagine. Maybe."

"Maybe?" Dei asked skeptically. 'When else would this have happened?'

"I do not think I am correct. I cannot even say I am hypothesizing his state. I am making a guess, and it is not educated. I am, however, sure of one blessed thing. We may be looking at the only entity in all of creation that technically surpasses Celestial Parasites."

"HE DOES?" Dei yelled audibly, scaring both Thadria and Jacob. "How?!" he asked, ignoring them.

"They both exist outside the bounds of regular affinities. The concept of Jacob is immoveable in the same way that it is to Phantom Plague, though far greater. If I may recommend a course of action? Take Jacob with you into the quarantine, and set him upon the demon. The demon will be incapable of slaying him, and Jacob will serve as an immortal annoyance. He will be unable to deal any damage, but the presence of a rock will disrupt the demon's plans, no matter Jacob's place."

Dei vibrated in joy. Even if Jacob did nothing, The Champion was right. He'd be annoying.

Dei would have to come up with a way to ensure he didn't get trapped, but that could come later. Nothing could survive a blast of Phantom Plague as it tore everything down on a basic level.

Nothing but Jacob.

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