Chapter 1252: Tracking Down Aria
Upon discovering Aria's domain, Shiro saw that it was rather close to the edge where the realm was being erased from existence so decided to not delay things any further. Using the drone that tracked down Aria's location as a teleport node, Shiro created a portal and gestured for Nyx to follow them.
Diving through the portal, the beautiful scenery of the God Realm disappeared as destruction graced their view.
An infinite spiralling darkness pulling large chunks of land towards the void as the skies dyed dark purple from its influence. The sound of debris crumbling as though it was the thundering roar of a beast wailing out in the distance.
Aria's domain was surprisingly simple compared to Aekari's domain where she usually resided with Aekari and his daughter. Shiro had caught a glimpse during their fight along with what the drone saw when she sent them out to scout for Aria's domain.
While Aekari's domain was a grand castle created in Aria's name with large golden gates and pear white architecture, Aria's domain was less fancy and visually stunning. In the deepest recesses of her domain, a lonely cottage stood against the backdrop of destruction, inching ever closer with each passing moment.
Furrowing her brows, Shiro scanned the house for any traps in case she had prepared something for her.
However, despite her suspicions, there was nothing. The house has been completely emptied out with the exception of a few minor items that was still scattered around the cottage.
"Judging from your expression she's not here."
"No she isn't. There's no traps or anything like that either." Shiro shook her head.
Opening the door, Shiro could see that this house hasn't been deserted for long as there are still signs of Aria being here.
"The next step would be to track her code through the items lying around here… But I think I can dig a little deeper."
Kneeling down, Shiro placed her palms against the floor and closed her eyes.
Similar to how she tracked down Aria, she could filter out certain lines of code that cross with certain terms. Example being if Aria mentioned Shiro or anyone Shiro was familiar with, she'll be able to find the moments where Aria mentioned them and see what happened.
Naturally, it'll take a while to scan through all of the codes to filter out what she's filtering but Shiro wanted to see what she could find. A brief scan was all she's going to do since she'll find out more when she meets Aria.
Thinking to herself for a moment, Shiro decided to filter for the instances where Aria talked about Anima.
'If she was to talk about the original First Born of Destruction, it might lead me to finding out the 'Truth' that caused Anima to get rid of the First Born of Creation.'
For Nyx's sake, Shiro made sure it would create a holographic projection if it was to find any instance of Aria mentioning Anima.
To Shiro's surprise, her filter results were over 50 instances of when Aria mentions Anima. Whether
Furrowing her brows, she decided to filter out the meaningless conversations such as just randomly mentioning Aria.
Once she cleaned up the results, there was only 5 instances left.
Flicking her finger, a holographic image of Aria appeared in front of them.
[No that can't be… How is she back again? Her essence should be sealed! I had Aekari kill Nytri so that Anima's essence would fall dormant again in the soul crystal. I watched it happen so why is she back again? And on the verge of awakening no less… Did the system hide her from me?] Aria walked back and forth while biting her nails in frustration.
As the hologram faded away, another appeared.
[Aekari is faltering already. At the rate things are going I doubt he'll help me if I told him about Anima… Even if there's the risk that Shiro awakens and inherits Anima's conscience, he'll still beg her to save our daughter without caring about the consequences Anima could bring about.]
[Anima destroyed the world once already, even reduced me to my current state. If Anima wakes up again, I won't be able to stop her like I did before… No, I need to make some preparations now. The administrators are taking her side and protecting her without regard for what chaos she could bring… they can't be allowed to keep helping her get stronger. I need to delay things.]
[It's over… it's only a matter of time before Anima wakes up again. I only have one chance left to stop her.]
As the fourth projection was ending, Shiro expected to see what the method was but the hologram started to glitch and morph.
Aria appeared once more but she was on the floor while an unknown figure loomed over her. The figure's body was constantly changing with no set form as though the codes didn't know how to describe her.
[I see it now…] Aria squeezed out as her eyes started to lose their focus.
[I see why Anima tried to end things…hahaha. How long have you been watching? How long have you turned this universe into your chess board?] Aria asked as foreign energy started to pulse through her body.
[But fine, I'll play your game. I'll do what I'm created to do.] Aria gritted her teeth as the hologram ended, leaving Shiro and Nyx staring in silence.
"I suppose that glitchy figure is probably the third party?" Nyx asked as Shiro nodded.
Despite checking the code, she couldn't find what caused the anomaly. Yet the fact that she was shown in the hologram means that she was indeed here and the codes picked up on her presence.
'If the code 'discovered' her, how come I can't find it? Is there something I'm missing?... No, I'm checking through everything that I can read. Then it's probably hidden for me… perhaps there's another layer. If there are four layers, the first layer is what everyone sees, then there's the layer that admins see, then the third layer is the code. That's what I see, perhaps there's a fourth layer that the third party can see.'
"There's nothing else to see here. And yes, that is indeed the third party. They have much better mastery over the system and the workings of this world than I do." Shiro shrugged.
"Though we did get a major hint I suppose. Aria seems to be created by the third party. I'm not sure if that means her identity as the First Born of Creation or her identity as Aria. But regardless, just seeing the third party caused Aria to understand why she went crazy and tried to end the world. Which means by the time I see the third party, things should become clear for me."
Hearing this, Nyx thought to herself for a moment.
"The first part doesn't make sense. Since Chaos was the one to create you and Aria when you were First Borns, she couldn't have created Aria back then. Unless she's talking about the current her, the Aria after the First Born of Creation has been killed for good and only shards remain." Nyx frowned as Shiro contemplated what she said for a moment before nodding her head.
"True. We already know she's comparable if not probably higher in terms of access level to the system than Chaos. She knows me quite well apparently and she also created Aria. Urg, who the hell is she." Shiro complained as she flicked her finger and created a drone.
"Let's track her latest location, I doubt she's gone far but even if she did, I should be able to track her on Earth."
However, seeing that the drone wasn't moving, Shiro tilted her head in confusion. It should be tracking Aria's location for now but the fact that it wasn't moving means that something had gone wrong.
"Is she here?" Nyx asked as she entered a combat stance.
"No she's not, don't worry. It's strange because my drone cannot find her code." Shiro furrowed her brows. Quickly activating Error, Shiro scanned through the events that led up to the moment she came into contact with the third party.
Upon seeing the codes, Shiro understood what had happened.
"Aria gained a power similar to my balance."
"What?"
"She gained the use of both Creation and Destruction thanks to the third party. Though its more primal, similar to how Chaos is I suppose." Shiro explained while scratching her hair.
Due to the sudden transplant, Aria's code was mutating. It was neither Aria or Chaos, but rather a strange hybrid. It was no wonder her drone couldn't scan it out considering 'Aria' no longer existed.
With the new code imputed into the drone, Shiro found Aria immediately. She was standing near the edge of the God Realm, almost touching upon the unknown void.
"Lets hurry." Shiro frowned, not knowing what Aria was planning.
Opening a portal, Shiro created a path towards Aria.
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"Things are progressing rather smoothly. After she kills Aria, she'll be able to find out more of the truth. How does it look Chaos? Your daughters fighting to the death once more. Cycle after cycle, I continue searching. Cycle after cycle, you watch them fight."
"Though I suppose this is the last cycle. Well, I hope it's the last cycle, I haven't seen this much hope in so long ahaha." ***** Laughed all on her own in the dark unknown, watching everything unfold with a smile on her face.