Chapter 4: Discord

“The Celestial Witch Sera?” Arth asked Kim as she was just silent

She breathes and finally speaks..

“She's one of the most powerful magic user in existence, some considered her a goddess of magic”

“So can you go toe to toe with her?” Arth said “If you two ever fought because she sounds so dangerous”

“Her power is in a different level, her magic is more potent than mine” she said as she gripped her mug “I'm an Occult Investigator, i use hidden or esoteric magic...i have expertise on mystical objects just like that cube on your hand”

"I don't think i could put a fight with her but it would be interesting, The Most Powerful Magic User in Existence versus The Most Creative Magic User in Existence"

Arth looked at her eyes and she was serious about her statement..

“Oh, Arth isn't your playtime over yet~” a feminine voice said as it echoed throughout the room “You know I'm so happy sleeping all day but why do you have to seek me out?”

Kim stood up and prepared herself for the upcoming confrontation.

“Show yourself, Celestial Witch!” Kim shouted

“She's here?!” Arth said worriedly as he looked at Kim.

“Well, beings like her have some cosmic awareness that if you seek them out by just stating their name…” Kim stated their current situation because both her and Arth seeked The Celestial Witch out.

“So we made her aware of our existence?!” Arth shouted at her.

“My bad I didn't know she was sleeping alright!” Kim replied to him “One thing that you don't wanna do is disturb someone or something in their sleep, especially if they're the Celestial Witch Sera!”

“You two have no fun at all” She said as she appears besides Arth “How about we play a game~”

Kim tried to punch her using her first but The Celestial Witch just used her index finger and proceeded to explode her into a bunch of butterflies.

“That's much better” She said as she smiled “So Arth”

Arth looked at the features of the woman in front of him, she have a petite figure accompanied by a pink outfit that looks like a pajama but when he looked at her he was stunned by her angelic face that would make any mortal man infatuated in a mere seconds but her angelic charm doesn't seem to quite work with him as he stares at her two different kinds of sparkling orbs with different color just like the description he gave to Kim Ji-yoo.

“Where's Kim?” Arth asked Sera as she deviously smiled

“Well she's not dead that's the only thing I can be sure of” she said

“Bring her back right now!” Arth roared at her as his eyes glowed

“Is this how you greet someone?” She asked as Arth tried to lay his fist into her face “Especially on someone who gave you your name?”

“What?” Is the only word Arth can utter in his mouth.

“Are you still willing to fight me?” She said “Or are you willing to talk this one out, like the good guys”

Arth produced a ray of light as he tried to attack the woman in front of him.

She dodged the attack as she smiled at him “Fine by me~” she then clapped her hands as both of them were transported to an empty dimension.

“Where are we?” He asked as everything in his surroundings is just a plain color of white.

“This is my personal playground, Arth~” she stated “How about you play a game with me?”

Arth looked at her as she raised both her hands in the air.

“I'll give you 10 seconds to attack me with everything you've got and then when the time runs out….” Sera explained to him the rules of their games as she giggles for her next statement as she deviously smiled at him “I'm gonna attack you with everything I've got and if you managed to survive 10 seconds of my attacks, I might give you a reward…how about I buy you some chili fries?” She winked at him but he remained unfazed.

“Random Game” “Random Game” “Game Start!”

First, he tried to hit her again with the same ray of light he used to attack her earlier as she was just standing in front of him menacingly.

“Is that all you've got, Arth?” She said with a monotone voice making her bored “I've expected a lot more”

“9 more seconds” She stated

Arth then tried using the ray of light but this time he charged it for a long time consuming about 3 seconds in the count. This charge of light is enough to illuminate an entire galaxy for many millennia, he basically formed a star within his hands as he put his shot on the test as the entire room is covered by the light he formed but after his shot on the Celestial Witch, she's still standing unfazed with no damage to her.

“You know if you keep doing that, you're just wasting all your precious time” Sera stated as Arth throws a spherical construct on her as she slightly moves in her position pushing her for about an inch. “Was that supposed to repel me?”

“6 more seconds” She stated as Arth put another spherical construct on her as now she was pulled closer to him.

“Why can't I hit her?!” Arth said in his mind “Those two orbs can distort space to either make someone or something closer and drive them away”

“You think I'm cheating right~?” Sera said to him with a lot of pride behind her tone.

Arth just glares at her as he tries to see if she has any barriers active as his eyes glowed with the color of blue as he saw that she doesn't have anything active.

“You know those techniques you used against me…” she speaks as she put her hands in her back “I did teach those techniques to you, so basically you're just using my own spells against me”

Arth just spammed every single move he currently knows courtesy of some recovered memories.

Even after all of that attacks she was still unfazed as she's starting to lose interest in their fight until Arth has realized something.

“If she taught all of my techniques, maybe I can combine everything I've learned and create a new one…I can call my own!” He said in his mind as he constructed two orbs again as he combined them to create a black hole.

He shot the black hole in his hands towards Sera as she looked at the black hole approaching her.

“This is new~” she said as she took the black hole approaching her as she put it in the palm of her hands “I think going down here would be this fun”

She then crushed the black hole that Arth formed with her bare hands as he looked in horror as his time had already ran out.

“Times Out~” Sera said as her physical body shattered like glass as the whole place change into a labyrinth full of repeating motifs and symmetrical patterns that are enough to shatter someone's psyche if they don't have the capacity to bear witness the power of The Celestial Witch Sera.

“You're still a novice Arth, way different than the Arth, I taught some of my magics” Sera said as her voice echoed around.

Arth is looking around his surroundings on where she could have been hiding as he suddenly felt heavy or it's just his instinct.

“Why am I feeling heavy all of a sudden?!” He said in his mind.

Sera manifested herself in front of Arth as she jumped on to him and grabbed his head slamming him on the floor.

His face is now kissing the ground as that powerful slam from The Celestial Witch created a crater.

“Oopsie, did I hit too hard~?” She asked “I wasn't even using 1% of my power”

“Argggghhhhhh” Arth shouted as his eyes glowed again as a burst of energy repelled Sera as she was flown in the air.

She managed to get herself back together on air as she took out her black wings, 2 pairs of it on both sides as she was flying using it.

“I do say, you need some training” Sera stated as she summoned a spear and threw it to Arth.

He used his hands to grab it but it pierced through his palm as he began to bleed.

“5 more seconds” he whispered as he smiled back at her bloodied and damaged.

The Celestial Witch’s eyes widened when she heard what he said as he was counting all the time during her attack but instead of being fazed by any of his statements she just smiled.

“Take this then!”  Sera shouted as she snapped her fingers as multiple portals opened as multiple kinds of weapons started raining below Arth. “Let's see how you could survive this?”

Arth slowed down time as The Celestial Witch saw this and smiled as he was dodging everything that came in his way. Sera snapped her fingers again as she made the gravitational pull below much heavier as the weapons coming through the portal quickly pierced through his body as he had no escape from the attack.

His clothes are dirty and have so much blood on them, his blood but he wasn't giving up yet. He needs to know everything that the Celestial Witch have to offer but his body can't keep up anymore.

“I should only have 2 seconds now but since you slowed time for a bit I think I have 3 seconds” Sera wondered as she landed in front of Arth as she was admiring her work.

“As much as I am disappointed on you, Arth”  she breathes “I'm still proud on how you turn out, maybe this is the end of your journey”

Arth is breathing heavily as he stands up “Hey! We're not done here!” He shouted as Sera looked at him.

He took a step as he fell to the ground.

“You didn't even survive nearly 10 seconds in our fight, maybe your next incarnation will be much better” She said looking at his dead body.

“Nature's Blessing” a voice said and a glowing green orb went through Arth's dead body.

The Celestial Witch raised her eyebrows out of curiosity as that spell didn't do anything spectacular and she noticed that Arth was carrying a Cosmic Hexahedron that slipped in his pocket.

“What's this trash doing here?” She said as she took the cube on him as she was curious why he had it. “Why do you have something like this?”

She was observing the cube as she's pressing each side of it on the possibility that maybe there's something inside of it as she felt and index finger taps her shoulder.

“Hey! I'm busy here!” She shouted

“Sera!” Arth shouted as she looked behind her.

“You're alive?! But I saw your dead body!” She said in shock as she looked back at the corpse and it turned into a wood as it withers in the air. “How?!”

“After all those weapons pierced me, I passively casted Nature's Blessing, a spell that the cube casted is a failsafe function that if I died in the wrong time, I'll get revived but some might say it’s cheating death but for me it's cheating uncertain death as I can still die anytime but not now, and after you took the cube in my pocket I casted a mirage to make you believe that my dead body is still me as I hid myself out of time and space and go back after 10 seconds have passed”

“This would not the first time I saw my own dead body” he said as he smiled “By the way, 13 seconds have already passed”

“I win” he proudly declared his victory over the Celestial Witch as she just smiled.

“I guessed I owe you chili fries then” she said as she snapped her fingers.

They're transported to a diner as they looked for a seat. Though Arth doesn't have any clothes aside from his black pants he snapped his fingers restoring his clothes to normal.

“They serve food here, I owe you some chili fries right…I know you like those” she said as she took a seat. "Before you gleefully celebrate your victory over me, i set a lot of rules during our fight....I'm just holding back but next time, make sure you can put up a fight against me"

Arth nods as he then takes a seat…

“Can I get some Coffee and Strawberry Cheesecake” she said to the waitress “And some chili fries for my friend over here”

The waitress left as she wrote The Celestial Witch's order in her notepad.

“So how do I get started?” She asked “There's a lot of things, so many questions to ask”

“How do you know me? I haven't met you before” Arth stated "But i have memories of you, on my past lives"

“Sure, you haven't met me before but those before you did”  she said referring to the other Arth

“And the Arth before him, and him, and him, and him” she said “This is not first my time dealing with you, my guinea pig~”

“My guinea pig? Am I a subject to one of your experiments?”

“You're my only assistant, so it's just natural” she said smiling “And as much as I like experimenting with anyone, being my assistant do have some perks like learning magic from me”

“So all those who came before me, also become your assistant at some point of their lives?”

She just giggles at his statement “At some point of their lives? That's funny…because I don't even know if they have a life before they met me~”

Arth's eyes widened at her revelation as he gulped.

“Even you don't know about my past, huh?” He said with a sudden change of tone in his voice

“Well yeah, I may be someone who's regarded as a ‘goddess’ but I don't like to brag I just want to live my life and develop more magics” as the waitress then arrived with their order “Thanks”

“Not many people know but I've been trying to find an answer about my past but I decided to hide it living a normal life but sometimes I do wonder who am I before any of this?”

“You wished you didn't know a lot, huh?” She said as she smiled “Want me to erase your memories for the nth time?”

“You've done that before?” He asked her as she just smiled back at him

“I've done it on every version of you, I came in contact with” she said “Well, they asked for it”

“Nah, it would be a waste of time” he replies disregarding the idea of erasing his memories.

“You know out of the version of you, I encountered” she said as she looked at him smiling “You're my favorite one, so don't disappoint me~”

“Did they also search about their past? Those who came before me?”

“Cut the drama, Arth” she said as she took a bite out the cheesecake she ordered “Of course they did but it's so strange that I haven't really heard of them”

“They're dead” Arth gripped his hands looking at the chili fries “I saw a version of me, dead”

“I guess Arth just got replaced by another Arth” he said

“An Infinite Repetition!”  Sera shouted in excitement as he was caught off-guard by her peculiar behavior.

“It's like changing a battery but it's still the same battery but younger and more capable than the last one!”

“You're telling me that I might be in a loop?” he asked

“Silly, you are and the rest of existence is in a loop” she said “First, it was really interesting because I get to meet a lot of version of you but it became repetitive, it kinda bores me now”

“Each time a me died, The stability of space-time crumbled” Arth whispered “Then this universe will die”

“Well, you better move quick because the cracks are not gonna stop” Arth looked at her as she was staring at the window “It wasn't as bad as before”

“What do you mean?”

“You see each time you died, the universe resets and the cycle continues” she said “It looks like the universe hasn't been restarted for quite a while now, that's why worlds such as this one kept getting formed out of every sentient beings thoughts and choices”

“That means I haven't died yet but I saw my own dead body!” Arth stood up on his seat “Doesn't that mean that someone is preventing the reset and also formed this Multiverse?”

“Maybe? Or maybe someone didn't reset yet and the universe is rejecting its existence but instead of destroying itself the universe expanded on a way it shouldn't be” she said as she pondered “Maybe the universe is rejecting your existence”

Arth's eyes widened by her words as he sat down again..

“Come to think about it, you should've died by at least a hundred times now” She said

“I have an answer to that, Arth” the cube on Arth's pocket glowed as it projects the other Arth the one who died in front of him.

“You copied my style?” The A.I said noticing the clothes that Arth is wearing. “Well, it wasn't always about Versace”

“What's Versace? Sounds so expensive but I just bought this in a thrift store” Arth replied.

Sera then coughed up as she clears her throat gaining the attention of the two Arths.

“Hello, Sera” the A.I greeted "It's been a while since i saw you out of your higher dimensional abode"

“Hi, Arth!” She said and waved "I just woke up since you came looking for me for answers" she added looking at the Arth occupying the other seat that was facing her.

“So what's your proposal then, me?” Arth said

“Actually it wasn't a proposal now come to think about it, but the truth” the A.I responded

“Just like the rest of us, Arths…Sera discovered me too” he stated and Sera is enjoying her Strawberry Cheesecake while the two Arths are talking. “Took me as her assistant and after some time I decided to left her to search about my past by becoming a scientist because science might've the answer to my questions”

“Silly~ Science and Magic are the same” Sera said “You mortals can't just differentiate the two”

“I discovered about my abilities as the Space-Time Voyager and traveled the knowable universe but I discovered something”

“A something?” Arth said as this something that his other self mentioned piqued his interest.

“A Space-Time Warlord is killing us for unknown reasons and me and my comrades are unlucky to be ambushed by this warlord"

“That's when I found you…a version of myself” he said finishing his story “In this Multiverse, I thought i wasn't the only one because my comrades are other version of myself too"

“A Space-Time Warlord?” Arth said “So he's the one causing this but if killing an Arth will reset the universe…doesn't mean that the universe should've reset as it should”

“Somethings wrong and I can feel it” Sera said

“The Prime Universe is where we first started our cycle, and it was lost in this Multiverse, Find this Warlord and restore the universe, I'm counting on you” the A.I said as he disappeared

Arth stood up on his seat and took the chili fries bag “Thank you for this”

“Where are you going?” she asked him

“I have to stop that guy” he said “and besides I have folks back in my universe”

“If you continue this path, you might sacrifice something” Sera stated as she looked at  her coffee as she can she her own reflection on the mug  “Are you willing to sacrifice something to save everything?”

“I don't trade lives, Miss Sera” he said with determination

She just smiled and said “That’s why you're my favorite, Arth something about you is special”

Arth reached for the door as he looked to the person who gave him his name for one last time.

“You're not coming? I could use a helping hand” he asked her before leaving.

“I have my own agenda, Arth” she said “Besides, I can be a good or bad girl if I wanted too~”

“Can you please turn back Kim Ji-yoo into a human again” he requested

“Sure thing” she smiled and snapped her fingers.

“Oh, Arth before you go” Sera said as Arth looked at her.

“What?” He asked as he was holding the door knob of the diner indicating he's now leaving.

“You don't have to call me Miss Sera, just call me Sera” she stated

“Alright, one last question” he asked as Sera looked at him while she was seating in her place.

“If you and Kim Ji-yoo are going to fight, who will be the winner?”

“Her creativity on using basic magic is a forced to be reckoned with but she might cause me a little trouble”

“But is there a chance you'd lose?"

“I’d definitely come out on top~.” She proudly declared to Arth.

“Alright then, I'll go now” he said and he twist the knob of the door and leaves.

“Gambatte, Arth” she said in her breath as Arth leaves the building.

She giggles as she smiles deviously…

“You've grown so much ever since that day i found you”

Then after Arth left a light manifested in the empty seat that he used to occupy. Sera was enjoying her coffee and strawberry cheesecake as she looked at the glowing individual that appeared in front of her.

“After so many cycles in the loop, so many rewrites and furnishings” Sera said as she was stirring her coffee “You've finally found the perfect candidate that will lead your multiverse?”

“Indeed, it is you have guessed,” the glowing individual replied.

Chapter 4: Discord End