Chapter 289: The Grandson of Creation ?

"Well, my son~," Akashi said with a smile she could no longer conceal.

She wanted to proceed gently, giving Akasha time to acclimate to her presence. More than that, she had no desire to pressure him in any way.

Yet the emotions Akasha felt mirrored her own; unlike him, she understood their precise origin.

’He is truly... my other half~,’ she reflected inwardly, maintaining her composed smile as she continued speaking.

"It depends on how you look at things..."

Akasha’s gaze lingered on her, the words hanging in the air as he let out a slow breath through his nose.

He leaned back into the couch, purple-and-white hair spilling across the cushions, those abyssal-black eyes narrowing in focus.

"Stop beating around the bush, would you?" he said, his voice low but edged with irritation that was impossible to miss.

Akashi’s smile didn’t waver; if anything, it softened, as though his impatience was something she’d long since learned to navigate.

"Very well," she said, but she had no intention of explaining everything in words.

That would take far too long—so instead, she would show him everything from the very beginning.

Snap!

She snapped her fingers, and the live projection in the sky changed in an instant.

In its place appeared a scene from a time long before Luna had even come into existence.

Akasha tilted his head back, eyes fixed on the skies, and beheld a world—an entire realm—so breathtakingly beautiful that words seemed too small to capture its essence.

----

Mountains rose in planes of pale stone, their peaks so high they seemed to punch through the idea of height itself.

Forests stood like assembled cathedrals—trees older than time, trunks veined with light, canopies that moved as if they were breathing.

Beaches stretched out in unreal colors: sand sparkling like shards of starlight, water so clear it could be mistaken for the sky, and waves rolling in without a sound.

On an overlook with soft golden light, three figures could be seen.

A younger Akashi, sixteen, with light-brown skin and long black-and-white hair flowing in a wind that seemed to come from nowhere.

Beneath her left eye rested a black-and-white infinity mark.

Her irises didn’t stay still; they kept turning, slow and deliberate.

Symbols drifted through them in a graceful parade—runes, constellations, strange equations of law and un-law—each one lingering for a moment before moving on, like ideas she hadn’t quite decided to hold onto.

Before her stood a woman who seemed like Akashi, yet transformed by the passage of countless ages—bearing the same skin, the same flowing cascade of black-and-white hair, and the same dark infinity beneath her left eye, but aged into something more graceful, almost otherworldly.

A phoenix perched calmly on her shoulder, its presence as timeless but even more captivating than the woman herself.

Its feathers were black, white, and gold—woven together rather than layered, each one carrying the essence of night, light, and fire all at once.

"As you see..." the phoenix spoke, its voice a chorus of countless beings, each distinct yet blending into perfect harmony, the sound strangely soothing.

"Long ago, I made a wager with a certain author to see who could craft the greatest character and tale."

Young Akashi’s eyes shifted, first sparkling with curiosity, then glinting with a deep, hungry interest.

She leaned forward, so intent that it seemed the very ledge beneath her tilted toward the words.

"Really?" she asked, the word light and almost playful. "Daddy, tell me everything."

The older woman smiled, her hand drifting up to gently stroke the phoenix’s golden neck, slow and affectionate.

The phoenix tilted its head in an almost human gesture.

"I was once the main character," it said, "of my own story. That was how I began. In time, I met the Author.... Who turned out to be... surprisingly friendly."

A pause, feathers shifting, black-white-gold catching the overlook’s soft gold and throwing it back in fragments.

"I am not certain of the complete reasoning, nor do I really care that much." It said casually.

"Though he wanted to compete—to see who could make the strongest character."

The phoenix’s mythic gaze settled on the girl.

"And my main character," it said, voice gentling into something that was almost pride, "will be your son. My grandson."

At those words, the golden overlook instantly faded from around the three figures.

In that moment, Akasha watched in complete silence as he witnessed his own conception.

He had not been born through the union of man and woman, but by three figures he came to know as his Grandmother, Grandfather, and, of course, his Mother.

With a simple wave of her hand, his Grandmother created a mythical egg that seemed to hold every color in existence... and yet none at all.

It was as if the shell itself couldn’t decide what it would one day contain.

From that moment, Akasha came into being through the combination of Akashi and her Father’s essence—not to be mistaken for the life force of humans, but rather direct portions of their very existence.

This meant Akasha was not connected to his family by blood, but instead embodied both of their existences merged into one.

Yet even then, things were far from simple.

Before his grandparents departed, he learned something more: although he had been conceived from their combined existences, only small portions were used.

One reason was to ensure he possessed limitless, unmeasurable potential.

The other was to allow him the chance to grow and become his own person by the time he was truly born.

And then there was the void into which they had been transferred—a place akin to the dawn of time itself.

For this was where Akashi had created her first Minor Existence, which, by her Father’s suggestion, should have been a Multiverse.

But, growing bored, she chose instead to create only a single universe.

Akasha, Akashi, and Aethea sat in complete silence, their eyes fixed on the skies above.

Fifty eras had passed since the empty void had transformed into the Universe, only for Akasha to bring about its destruction ultimately.

In that void stood Akashi, appearing exactly as she did in the present.

Before her rested Akasha’s egg, yet the two of them were not alone.