All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 342: Stardust

Chapter 342: Stardust

Despite the exhaustion, Bee did her best to keep her shoulders back and her pace even as she and the two Nighty Knights trudged back down the tunnel. The continued sounds of fighting were still audible outside, but none of them had the energy left to run and rejoin the battle. Sure, she had leveled up a lot, but the last fight had taken a lot out of her.

Bradley and Jason were also both exhausted, though satisfied. They, too, had come out of that encounter with a significant boost in power. But even with all that, they still would have hurried if there was any real threat. With the last of the Lieutenants gone, she trusted the rest of the blockade to hold for a few minutes while they made their way there.

As they neared their destination, though, something shifted. What exactly was hard to identify. It was as though the very world around her quivered slightly, trembling with a power unlike any she'd felt before. But though she'd never felt anything like it, she had a pretty good guess who was at its center.

She could feel her master's influence all around her, more so than ever before. Everything seemed just a little bit more… straightforward. As though things were more clearly organized, even if they weren't in any discernible way.

That was enough to kick her into gear. Sprinting along the final stretch of the tunnel, Bee dimly felt the others follow suit. She wasn't the only one who felt the change, apparently. The three of them stumbled into a jog and then sprinted towards the entrance to the tunnel, where they could catch a glimpse of what was going on.

By the time they reached the tunnel entrance, the fighting had stopped entirely. The demons had pulled back and were quaking in fear. Meanwhile, the defending Nighty Knights stood gaping up at the sky.

"What? What's happening up…" Bee exclaimed, trailing off as she, too, sent her gaze upwards.

Up in the sky hovered a small, black dot: the familiar form of her god. But that wasn't all. It was surrounded by an absolutely massive nimbus of perfect darkness, a disk of nothingness that stretched out like a hole in reality itself.

She screeched to a halt, unable to tear her eyes away. This was her master's true form. The real, earthshaking extent of its power. Never before had she seen Void unleash its full abilities in such a way.

This was her god.

She wasn't sure how long they stood staring. But at some point, the last sliver of the midday sun disappeared behind the towering god. As the light winked out of existence, she could feel its omniscient gaze upon them.

The demons shrieked, and she tensed. In a moment, her broom was in her hand, and she was ready to defend herself. But rather than attacking, the demons were trembling. They were cowering in terror, shielding their eyes as though blinded. But there was no light anymore. The sky dimmed to twilight as the sun fully moved behind Lord Void.

All around her, the shrieking demons began to dissolve. The shrieking intensified, only to fall eerily silent as they turned to dust. But instead of falling to the ground, the particles of dust flew upwards toward the Void above. As far as she could see, clouds of thick dust choked the air as they hurtled upward at speeds that she could barely track before falling into the darkness.

For the first time in a while, Bee Scanned her master. As she read over the first few entries, she couldn't help but smile. Evidently, it had decided to reveal its true form to her skill, as well. However, it never gave up on its little jokes.

Name: Spot, Level: 100, Type: Mechanical Pet, Class: God.

"Praise the Lord!" Bee shouted as she and all the Nighty Knights fell to their knees in sheer awe.

---

Archibald watched as the last Lieutenant disappeared down Tony's gullet. The event coincided with a surge of energy flowing through his veins, and he smiled as he leveled up yet again. They had managed to save the army, and now they were left with a choice. Did they stay here and help clean up? Or did they make sure that things back at the enemy's fortress were going smoothly?

He trusted Arthur to have things in hand here without Lieutenants on the table. But at the same time, he trusted that Void and Bee could take care of themselves. Of the two situations, though, the latter was the more important fight. It meant they were in for another long trip.

Archibald hoped that Daedalus wouldn't mind going back and forth for the third time. But thankfully, he didn't seem to care much.

Tony landed on his back and settled in behind the Dragon Companion. But just as they started to turn, Archibald felt the world change. He instantly stiffened.

"Did you feel that?" he asked.

Daedalus rumbled his agreement. "Yes. I don't know what it was, though. I've never felt anything like that in all my years. But it's along the same veins as when I remembered the last god dying."

Archibald raised his eyebrows at that. Turning around, he arched an eyebrow at Tony, who seemed at a loss for words. He stayed like that for several moments until Archibald poked his shoulder a few times.

"Hey, Tony. Did you feel it, too?"

"The world has been cleansed," Tony intoned.

Archibald blinked in confusion, then looked down. Judging by the dirt that still coated the ground below, he wasn't entirely correct. "Um, Tony, you're not making any sense here."

Tony shook his head. "What do you mean? It's obvious. The world has been cleansed."

"And… what did you mean by that?"

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"Woah," Tony said, confused. He shook his head and blinked the glassy look out of his eyes. "Sorry. Something just… came over me, there. What's up?"

"Did you not feel everything shift just strangely?"

"I did. Everything feels… clearer and less cluttered somehow. My connection to Void is stronger but distant. As if I can talk to him just fine, but it's like shouting across a field instead of having a conversation."

"Hmm," Daedalus rumbled. "I think I know what happened," he said as he began beating his wings even faster. The dragon seemed even more urgent than before.

---

I read through the notifications as I started to descend. The corner of my display now boasted a new addition: a one-hour timer. I wasn't completely sure about what it was for, but I had a prediction with a 99.999% probability. It appeared that I was going to be off to my next adventure.

Gaining divinity was a bit of a surreal experience. I felt my power increase manyfold, my processors and sensors gaining abilities that I'd never even thought possible. But at the same time, I felt my actual abilities diminish. It was as if I had the ability to do anything, but additional limiters and boundaries were imposed on the acceptable actions I could take. It wasn't some forcible restraint, though. More of a heightened sense of responsibility. It was as if I existed in a delicate balance with the world around me.

Speaking of the world, I glanced around me to find it already changing. The wind had leveled off to a consistent 5.00 miles-per-hour breeze, ruffling the distant plant life in perfectly synchronized waves. I felt the various small insects all around begin to fly and crawl in slightly more optimal routes, as though they'd gained their own pathing algorithms. Everywhere I looked, I saw things become more orderly and organized.

But that balance was shifting quickly. Based on my projections, even the timer was overselling things. I wouldn't be able to stay long. Not without my existence, turning the world into something far too orderly, if that were possible. I wouldn't allow myself to start affecting reality the same way reality had affected the demon Lord. But that was okay.

My work here was done. The world seemed clean. I had already taken care of the demons and most of their fortress. As I approached the ground, even that partially -destroyed building began to fix itself. Bricks whizzed from piles from where they were embedded in the ground and stacked themselves up.

The dust that was the mortar unwound and slathered itself back in, hardening and gluing the stones back together once more. The roads formed by the traveling demons grew paving stones perfectly shaped and shining clean. It was like my Domain had become supercharged to an almost concerning degree.

I descended to where the Nighty Knights knelt in perfectly organized rows with Beatrice at their head. I let out a single sonorous beep of greeting. The low tone echoed, yet Beatrice seemed to understand perfectly. She looked up, not quite meeting my gaze, but her eyes falling upon my wheels. "Master… do you really have to go?"

From behind, I sensed a speck of red approaching from a long way off. It moved quickly, but not quickly enough. I reached out and pulled it closer, warping space so that in just a few wing beats, Daedalus touched down beside us. My timer dropped by another three minutes in the space of a second.

The dragon hurriedly braked, skidding to a halt along the ground. "Oh. Well. That certainly works as well..." The dragon rumbled in surprise, clearing his throat. "Spot... did you...?"

I gave a long, low tone. That single note reverberated through the clearing, not just serving to answer Daedalus's question but also communicating far more in a single note.

"I see. Then... I suppose this is goodbye, my friend," Daedalus rumbled. "I look forward to seeing you soon."

Archibald slid down the side and gave me a bow. "Congratulations, Lord Void."

Tony floated down as well before joining the rest of the Nighty Knights in his approximation of kneeling, though he was still floating off the ground. I lifted his head with my claw so that he would look at me, and he nodded. "I'll do my best."

I let out another long tone. I watched as tears began to stream down her cheeks. "I… I understand. Thank you for... for everything. You've… you've been the best master I ever could've hoped for. If… if I pray to you, you'll still hear it, right?"

I reached out and pressed my grabby arm to one of her shoulders, squeezing gently, and let out a third and final tone. She nodded, wiping at her eyes with her sleeve. "Okay. Yes. I… I will do my best. Of course. I… I will see you soon, master."

As I let go, the Nighty Knights bowed their heads deeper. I saw more than a few wet eyes among the crowd, though many tried to hide it. I hadn't just been speaking to Beatrice with my message. I had spoken to each of them individually as well.

I'm glad everyone understood me so well now.

I looked back at Beatrice one last time before I rose up into the sky. This wasn't goodbye. Not truly. We would see each other again soon. I just hoped she didn't rush herself too much. Maybe in a hundred years or so. She only had a few more levels to go, after all.

Rather than send yet another tone reverberating through the world, I decided to project one last message to my friends here. I was so grateful for all the times we'd spent together. I would have loved to stay longer, to spend more time with them, but it simply wasn't meant to be. The most I could promise was to cheer them on from afar. "I will be watching over you. Take care."

As I rose up, the air became thinner and thinner. As the pale blue of our planet began to recede in the distance, my sensors picked up an entirely new expanse all around me. A room on a scale that I'd never even attempted to clean. Glittering stars sparkled all throughout its empty space. There were balls of gas and fire and rock everywhere I looked. And dust. So much dust.

Now, that just wouldn't do. I guess I had a lot more cleaning left to take care of.

---

Bee watched as the sun set and the stars began to come out. They all sat in a combination of exhaustion and awe when they heard the three tones that echoed through the world. The first was a goodbye from their god and master. The second was a request to take care of the world it so loved. And the third was a call to adventure, a challenge to continue growing in power and wisdom.

When she was ready, Lord Void would call for her. Then, she would join him in the heavens. Yet, as she watched the sky dim tonight, the stars were different than before. Rather than a splotchy assortment of constellations, they formed a perfect grid spanning across the sky, all evenly spaced and perfectly patterned in their brightness. The glittering specks of light twinkled in fanciful patterns as though putting on a show for them all.

She smiled at the new night sky. In a way, it was comforting. It was a constant reminder that her master was there, watching over her.

/// Well, that's all (almost) folks! We just have some epilogues left, and then Spot's Adventure will have a little bow on top!

More concrete plans for the Patreon will come next week, but I might as well share my initial thoughts.

I have about 6 weeks of lead time before Roomba finishes on RR, and I want to launch other stuff on there before that. So, I'm going to spend that time building up my Patreon backlog for those stories. First is Escaping Valhalla. I got some really good feedback from sharing that here and reworked the start a bit. I'm going to start posting that after the epilogues. I think you can expect at least 4 chapters a week. Probably a lot more at the start.

Next is Isekai'd Legion. This is going to be a lot slower as I'm working with someone on it. We plan together, and then I knock out a quick draft of what is in my head, and she polishes it up. However, because of scheduling conflicts, we will be lucky to finish a chapter a week.

Depending on how much of these two stories I can get done, I might start a third idea that I haven't shared with anyone yet. It is sort of hopping on the system apocalypse trend. But I think that there is enough of my style twist that it shouldn't feel too familiar.

Last but not least. To my Nonhuman MC fans. I've got lots more story ideas in my head, including some with unorthodox perspectives like this one (perhaps a cultivating penguin might make an appearance someday soon...). But I don't have a hard timeline yet.

Thanks all