Monarch of Darkness, Arsene

“I think I’m missing something here,” Lilith said after a few moments, her eyes bleeding a deep suspicion. “Ariel told you something, didn’t she? What was it? It feels like the conversation jumped.”

Beads of sweat gathered over Ariel’s forehead as she looked the other way. ” No, it didn’t… You’re just hearing things.” She stammered to say.

Fuck! She can’t even lie, right?

“Ariel… Are you lying to me?” My wife rasped, narrowing her pearly eyes till all that was left was a shivering Angel covered in sweat.

“Stop bullying the child!” I joined, nudging Lilith.

“Are you trying to bang my doula!”

“EHHHHHHH~ I would never! Arsene isn’t even my type!” Ariel innocently shouted. “First off, the clothes are just off! He needs to dress like an olympian god! You know those sexy ass white robes that show off the chest. Yeah-yeah! And he needs to be a sword master. I don’t like spears. And they need to be stronger than Mepho! And—”

“There’s more!”

“They need to be kind like Zad, funny like Gab, stoic like Michael, powerful like Metatron, and—”

“Ok… We get it—”

Blushing away, I didn’t even think my words seemed to have entered Ariel’s ears as she continued on like a schoolgirl. “Smart like Pop-Pop. He also must be kind and humble and must not be a psychopath like a certain someone.”

“… Why are you staring at me?”

“You eat people. You are super arrogant. And I’m pretty sure you don’t even understand what being humble means.”

… Well, she is right about that last part. If I have the skill, why would I be humble? The world isn’t fair to those who are humble. Being humble is only for the weak. The simple fact is. If I didn’t have the power I do now, no one would even bat me an eye. No one would even care whether I live or die. I would be nothing more but an ‘extra.’

Why must I be humble when I am powerful? Why must I lower my importance when it’s all that everyone cares about? What a foolish concept. Fuck that bullshit.

I’m fucking Arsene Snow, not some little bitch who cares about making other insects feel better about their insecurities. I’ll do whatever I want. And take all that’s offered to me with a smile.

If anything, I find it weird that those that push the nature of being humble on others are arrogant.

Hmmm. I’ve got a lot to teach my kiddos.

( A/N: I never understood the concept of being humble. It doesn’t make sense to me.)

“What’s up with you?” Ariel pointed out. ” You look like you are brooding.”

“He is probably dissecting what it means to be humble. Give up, Arsene. Sociopaths like you and I can’t empathize with such a meaningless concept.” Lilith carelessly spouted, poking at my cheek suspiciously.

“It’s not meaningless!” Ariel shouted. “It’s about compassion.”

“The thing I wipe my ass with?”

“Screw you, Arsene!’

Snickering evilly, knowing I hadn’t lost my touch to annoy someone, the dizziness spinning within my head calmed as I smiled.

Snorting, Ariel glanced from out of the small window. “Where almost there. I can feel the Boundaries Entrance.”

Peeping out for myself, I saw a few commoners draped in robes staring as we made our way downwards. From children to adults to the elderly, I saw hundreds of thousands staring, and yet their presence was masked, hidden from my senses.

“I can’t sense them,” I said aloud.

“Neither can I,” Ariel said with a half smile. ” Scary, isn’t it? That’s the power of Heaven’s End. I have lived for multiple eternities… but I’ve yet to comprehend the Source Wall of the Myriad Heavens. Within boundaries such as these, your senses are meaningless.”

“What?” Lilith yelped. “How?”

Ariel paused for a moment. “I honestly don’t have a solid answer. They just are: Can you explain how higher dimensions like Heaven’s fifth and sixth dimensions can exist yet be perceived as four dimensions as we sit here clearly in a higher dimension?”

Lilith froze. “I can’t… not in words, at least.”

The Seraphim nodded. “That’s because it’s impossible. Or perhaps we don’t have a baseline understanding to explain it. Either way, it’s a mystery that we can manipulate but never understand. Funny, isn’t it?” she narrowed her eyes as a devious glow filled my sight. “Just like the Dao, whose laws keep growing with each Heaven we ascend, yet we use that power without even the basic fundamentals of it. Arsene, you’re a master of the darkness. Can you tell me what darkness is?”

The darkness, huh? 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝐞𝐥.

Recalling Tenebrae, I could only smile and shake my head. “Not really. All elements were birth from the darkness, but I can’t really explain to you what the darkness is. I can only explain its usage and how it behaves.”

“That’s why all the Primordials are so important and why they are so respected.” Ariel continued. “No matter what we do. No matter how smart we are. They will forever have a higher grasp of the elements than us. They are the Ultimate Masters. Despite being weaker than us, we bow towards them in recognition of their knowledge rather than their underwhelming power.”

“When Azazel mated with Mithra, he gained her knowledge. But he was forced to destroy it, fearing that his mind would collapse. You are the same, are you not? You have Tenebrae’s infinite knowledge.”

There wasn’t a need to even nod, as I knew Ariel understood. I did have her knowledge, but it was so much and so complex that I was still sifting through it. Were it not for the many souls within my hive mind, I was sure I, too, would have been forced to destroy that knowledge. However, I’m sure that time will come one day.

“Infinite knowledge brings ruin, as does infinite power. We are creatures of balance. That’s why primordials require avatars to communicate with us. They hold no balance as we do.”

“Balance…” I muttered as a light bulb flickered through my head. ” I think I’ve got an idea for a new Cultivation Process for the kids!. Heavens End, eh? I’m going to turn it into a Cultivation manual for my kids. Instead of drawing power from Heaven and Earth, they’ll draw power from the Source wall that separates all of reality. Oh, this is good.”