A second ago, Noriko Null and Quantum were inside a mental projection of Eden’s original planet: a lush garden with no technology whatsoever, not even clothing.
Now the representation of the first Eden host of the Nexus has changed the scenery as well as her appearance: they are now on top of an enormous building that oversees the most massive city they have ever seen, and the Eden female is wearing what appears to be a metallic catsuit.
<Your attempt to discover a weakness within our mind is futile. We are perfection.> she explains to Null, making a grand gesture towards the city.
<You are not the first one trying to destroy us. Many have attacked us. But Eden persists.>
As she speaks, a fleet of alien ships drops out of orbit to nuke the city. In the blink of an eye, the Eden has been replaced by a male, and the city has been completely rebuilt.
Just in time for another fleet to attack. The Eden changes again, the city is rebuilt again, then it is destroyed again: the cycle repeats continuously, more and more rapidly.
<All these races… where they all created by the Sumerian gods?> Noriko asks, trying to concentrate on the Eden despite its continuously changing appearance.
<Some were. Others evolved spontaneously. Others were descendants of experiments carried out by any of the 724 Nexus hosts that preceded us.>
<724? I was led to believe that the Nexus has had millions of hosts!>
<That is correct. Nature was too slow; we had to accelerate it, if we were to survive.> the Eden explains, as the world around them crumbles once again: this time it’s not due to a simple invasion.
The gods themselves have descended from the sky, with Inanna and Marduk leading the charge to slaughter the Eden while Ereshkigal stands aside, smiling smugly at the sight of billions of golden corpses. This doesn’t seem to bother the Eden much as the simulation changes to a laboratory eerily similar to the one where the Eden were created.
<The gods felt threatened by our perfection and hunted us down, pushing for our extinction. We had reached the limit of what the Nexus could provide us. In our infancy, absorbing the information generated by lesser races had greatly increased our power, but we already subjugated all interstellar empires within our own galaxy. And so we expanded our search.> the Eden explains, walking towards an extremely large holographic panel, big enough to fill half the room.
It shows endless rows of live images from a wide variety of planets, with the most diverse assembly of alien life Noriko has ever seen: all forms of living creatures, from humanoids to incomprehensible organic horrors. It’s too much even for her to truly comprehend.
<Behold our garden.> the Eden says with pride.
<So many civilizations… did you create all this!?>
<Life evolved too slowly on its own, so we cultivated it.> the Eden explains, and the simulation zooms out. Way out, until the galaxy is small enough to fit within the palm of her hand, until Null and Quantum are surrounded by a large number of galaxies in different shapes.
<We scouted each of the 33 galaxies that had survived the Second Primordial War, selecting every species that could reach sapience. Unworthy civilizations were eliminated. Those who showed sufficient potential were temporarily given the Nexus, uplifting them to the height of knowledge. And once they had grown to our satisfaction, we carried out our harvest.>
Quantum sees that Noriko is horrified, barely holding herself together as she watches something that he can’t see.
<What’s happening!?> he asks her, unable to understand.
<They’re being slaughtered, planet by planet… I can see all of them… trillions of lives lost… oh God, Max, I can see all of them…> Noriko says, with tears pouring out of her silver eyes; Quantum has seen her at her lowest, but now she looks just broken.
The Eden has absolutely no reaction to this, continuing to pontificate.
<By the time we completed our search, over 78 million hosts had been absorbed into the Nexus. We were finally able to reach the absolute peak of perfection.>
Outer space is replaced by an aseptic golden room, devoid of any amenity. Quantum doesn’t pay much attention to it, trying to snap Noriko out of this: she seems almost catatonic.
<We found it.> a different voice intervenes: a male Eden is walking towards the female, holding in his hand the hologram of a device that Quantum would recognize anywhere.
<The Heart Of The Universe. The Drylon considered it one of their masterpieces, the third most powerful weapon they ever devised.> she explains.
<We found pieces of its blueprint in one of the Core units we recovered. We should have sufficient knowledge to recreate it.> the male suggests.
<Indeed we will. Indeed we have.> the female agrees, taking the hologram in her hands.
Only it’s not a hologram anymore, but a solid sphere of gold. The simulation changes accordingly: when Quantum looks around, they are standing in a white void where more and more Eden keep appearing out of nowhere, surrounding them.
<The Heart Of The Universe was able to control energy and matter at a subatomic level. Once we created the Heart of Eden we surpassed biological evolution: we are now able to absorb any lifeform within ourselves and transmute it into Eden. The Sumerians were only able to slow us down, creating species resistant to our power: first the Lar, then the Demons. They managed to drive us into exile for a billion years… but Eden persists.> the Eden explains, walking towards Noriko; Quantum steps between the two.
<They’re not the only ones. You can’t assimilate me either.>
<Indeed. Undoubtedly a byproduct of your link to the Heart Of The Universe. But with that link, and with the power of the Nexus now in our hands again, we will…>
<Enough.> Null says.
It’s enough to make the Eden stop pontificating, and to cause all the Eden around them to take a step back. Even Quantum feels a chill down his spine when he gets a glimpse at Noriko’s eyes.
He has seen her angry. He has seen her furious. He has seen plenty of scary and terrible things before, but now he knows what being in the presence of terror feels like.
Because this is the stare that kills gods.
<You have survived witnessing the harvest. We are impressed: as an inferior host, we did not expect your mind to remain intact.>
<You thought your self-aggrandizing murder history would break me?> Noriko asks.
A few cracks appear in the simulation, as if the endless white void was trying to hold back an immense pressure.
<No, I’m not broken, Eden. I’m just completely, utterly and absolutely mad.> she continues, her silver eyes shining. And they are not alone: an aura of electricity surrounds her body, and the cracks become more and more severe.
<You had the Nexus for three fu##ing billion years and you couldn’t come up with anything that didn’t involve genocide!?>
<You are resisting assimilation. You know how futile it is: nobody ever escapes Eden.>
<And you thought I didn’t know that when I let you assimilate me?>
For the first time since they’ve met the Eden, the smug superiority in their faces fades away.
<You are lying. You did not anticipate our actions. You really have gone mad.>
Noriko’s mouth changes to a half smile.
<Insanity is an old friend. Max, I’m going to need your help on this one.> she says, extending her hand towards him.
<Nothing you do will prevent us from accessing the full power of the Nexus. Our mind is infinitely superior to yours. You will bend to the will of Eden!>
<Oh I don’t have a problem admitting that I don’t have enough brains to beat you, Eden. Unfortunately for you, if there’s one thing I learned about you… is that you have no soul.> Noriko replies, looking at Quantum as she stresses the last word.
<Please don’t tell me you planned this from the start.> he says, taking her hand.
<It was more like a spur of the moment thing. On the count of three?>
<Just don’t tell this to Torn, okay? I’d hate to give him credit for this.>
<Hey I’m the one doing all the work here! Ready? One… two… three…>
<What is the meaning of this senseless ritual?> Eden asks.
<SOUL RESONANCE!> both Null and Quantum yell at the same time.
Eden has to look away as both humans become incredibly bright. As the simulation crashes and the Nexus rejects her attempt to override its host, she gets a glimpse of what she’s about to face.
And Eden learns what fear is.
On the surface
Vesta and Anubis are fighting an army of golden copies of Noriko, so numerous that it stretches past the horizon. The two gods are overwhelmed by the sheer numbers: they are both incredibly powerful, but every time they try to attack the Eden can simply turn intangible. And even the few ones they manage to injure can completely reconstruct themselves in the blink of an eye.
And it’s not even the worst part: the planet is slowly growing. The golden desert which is continuously spawning new Eden soldiers has already submerged Vesta to her neck, and even the much larger Anubis is sinking into the sand.
<The Great Lord Anubis will NOT fall to a swarm of paltry mortals!!!> the god yells, generating a tidal wave that reverberates across the planet shifting its axis… while doing exactly zero damage.
<Not… the way… I wanted to go… either.> Vesta comments, pausing to spit the golden sand that’s trying to get inside her lungs.
Anubis manages one last offensive, breaking free from the growing quicksand by dramatically increasing his own size: in response, the untold millions of gold particles that make up the Null copies reassemble into a giant version of the male Eden, matching his new giant form.
<You will die before the Lord Of The Dead!!!> he yells, ready to put everything he has into a single attack. Vesta anticipates this will both obliterate this solar system and do nothing to Eden.
She won’t know for certain, because the giant Eden isn’t stopped by Anubis but by an enormous stream of glowing red weapons that emerge from a golden halo in the sky.
Millions of Demons land on the planet, ready for battle and armed to the teeth with every possible variation of a bladed weapon. Vesta breaks free from the sand by holding onto a red-skinned hand.
<Apologies for the delay. It took me a while to find this galaxy.> Torn tells her: he’s leaning against his red energy scythe, and there is a very noticeable wound on his chest.
<Where did you guys come from!?> she asks.
<Hell.>
<Yes, I get that, but how…?>
<The Silver Key of Heaven. I convinced Vice to authorize the invasion of Eden.>
<Aren’t Demons sworn to neutrality?>
<We are not the ones who broke neutrality. He is.> he answers, looking at Anubis in anger.
<You may want to wait before you attack him. I don’t like it, but we are fighting Eden and he is the most powerful being in this galaxy.>
<Not anymore. Didn’t you feel the Soul Fusion?>
Much to the surprise of Anubis, the Eden aren’t attacking the Demons. They aren’t attacking him either: they are getting away from the chasm in the ground that just opened.
It’s a giant hole that stretches down to the planet’s core, and it’s bleeding black and gold electricity.
Someone emerges from it, supported by the Gravity Gauntlets on her hands. A young woman with an aura of power around her body, her golden eyes glowing within a black iris.
<Noriko?> Vesta says.
<She absorbed Quantum’s soul. She must’ve used it to power the Nexus.> Torn reasons.
<NEXUS ONLINE AND FULLY CHARGED. LOWER LIFEFORMS DETECTED.> Null says, her words a combination of Noriko and Quantum’s voices.
<“Lower”!? We are Eden! We are infinity!> the planet itself replies through billions of mouths.
<LOADING NEW INSTRUCTIONS.> Null simply says, without showing any reaction to the new mountains that are growing from the ground and turn into an army of giants ready to crush her.
<PROGRAM ACCEPTED. RUNNING EXTERMINATION ROUTINE.>
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