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Through the many years since Maria’s victory over Gabriel, she began hearing whispers and voices in her dreams.
Countless eyes glared at her from beyond the void.
"It’s ti."
"It’s ti, Maria."
"It is ti for you to repay."
"To repay our favor."
"Repay our favor, Maria."
"Feed us."
"We hunger, Maria."
"Feed us the worlds."
"The worlds blossoming with life and rich essence."
"The most delightful and delicious."
"We gave you all that power for a reason."
"Now, it is ti for you to officially join us and feed us the worlds."
"The worlds!"
"Feed us the worlds!"
"We hunger!"
"We cannot contain this hunger!"
"FEED US!"
"FEED US!"
"FEED US!"
"What?!"
Maria’s eyes snapped open as she scread, gasping desperately for air. Sweat drenched her entire body. She had deliberately returned her form to that of a human, for these raw, mortal reactions to fear were what kept her feeling alive. They anchored her sanity against the cold eternity of an undying cosmic god.
But those voices...
They were not re dreams or nightmares. They were the very fate she feared most—the fate of one who had risen to such godlike power across the multiverse. The beings she had once called allies.
"Why...? I thought you did this to free them... not to eat them."
Maria clenched her teeth, frustration boiling inside her. One part of her had already suspected this possibility. The other part refused to believe it.
She sighed and sat up on her bed, lost in thought.
"Before I do anything, I need answers... What are the Outer Gods? What are Cosmic Monarchs? Who was the Heavenly Father? And... what am I exactly?"
Maria left her bedroom and teleported outside the Great Beyond. The realm had continued expanding over the past months, now stretching as vast as a galaxy.
"It’s expanding nicely," she murmured.
As she gazed into the endless cosmos, she began to grow.
And grow.
And grow.
She swelled to the size of a planet, then a star, then a nebula, then an entire firmant. Soon she reached the scale of a galaxy and realized she had been inside the Milky Way the entire ti. The Androda Galaxy shimred nearby, along with countless others.
With a re flicker of her hand, she could unleash her Cosmic Attraction Force and annihilate an entire galaxy. She could compress it in her fist, hurl it into another to trigger a cataclysmic collision, or simply... devour it.
"Hoo..."
Only now did she truly grasp the terrifying scale of her power.
Before now, she had never really checked how far she could go. But now Maria was beginning to realize just how massive her powers had beco.
"Did I absorb Gabriel’s strength when I killed him?" she wondered. "I didn’t notice before, but I’ve beco far stronger than I was when I slew him."
As she exhaled, two angels materialized beside her—Michael and Camael. Having returned from their own cosmic journey, they swiftly flew to her shoulders and rested there.
"Master, it seems you’ve finally decided to explore the vast sea of stars?" Michael asked with a warm smile.
"I-I... well, I’m worried about sothing," Maria sighed. "I need answers. I know you both know a great deal, but not everything, right?"
"Indeed," Camael replied. "We only know what we learned after our creation. Gabriel must have known far more..."
"I need to find that ’Will of the Multiverse,’ or whatever it was called," Maria said. "The almighty voice that gave my true Cosmic Monarch na."
"Ah... I see," Michael nodded.
Maria settled upon a nearby dwarf galaxy, admiring the breathtaking grandeur of the cosmos with her two Cosmic Heralds as they spoke. For soone born mortal not once but twice, such majestic sights still felt overwhelming and life-changing.
"I think I know how to contact them," Michael said. "Aside from wandering aimlessly, you can connect to parallel universes, correct?"
"Yes," Maria nodded. "I believe I can grow larger, but I’m afraid I might destroy the galaxies..."
"Larger? How big?" Camael asked. "How strong do you think you are now?"
"Hm... If we asure by Cosmic Levels, I was probably Low Universal before. Gabriel was around the sa, perhaps slightly stronger. But now?" Maria opened and closed her cosmic hands. "I am definitely High Universal Level."
"Incredible," Camael said. "Then it shouldn’t be impossible, right, Michael?"
"Indeed. First, expand your body to its absolute limits," Michael instructed.
"But the galaxies!" Maria protested.
"Calm yourself," Michael replied. "Simply will yourself not to touch them. Your body is made of stardust and pure cosmic energy. You can make it tangible or intangible at will."
"Is that so?" Maria rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Alright then."
She closed her seven eyes and concentrated, willing herself to grow as large as possible while remaining intangible to all matter and harming nothing.
In re seconds—
"Ah!"
Her eyes flew open. The sight before her was far more staggering than she had imagined.
A gigantic bubble floated before her, composed of billions of galaxies.
"F-Fuck..."
She turned and saw her own bubble drifting gently above a vast, black sea.
"Liquid Void..."
Maria gasped and looked elsewhere. There, she saw her own bubble gently floating above a vast, black sea.
"Liquid Void?"
It was the sa substance her tears were made of. She had expanded beyond her universe entirely. Countless other bubbles—each a universe—floated across the endless sea of Liquid Void.
Then, from the depths—
RUMBLE!
Sothing massive began to rise.
A colossal mass of tentacles spread outward in every direction, far larger and more monstrous than Maria herself.
"W-What?!"
An overwhelming pressure crushed down on her as the entity erged. Its tentacles, each larger than universes, turned toward her.
"You have stepped out of the universe."
The entity spoke.
At the sa ti, countless more beings rose across the black sea. So gnawed at universes, spreading tiny cracks across their glass-like shells. Others shattered them completely, devouring the life and essence within.
"Welco to the Vast Black Void Sea," the entity bood, "where we Outer Gods reign."
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