The World's most Overpowered Side-Character

"That level of scaling is absurd, you are cheating the system mana has placed, even as my allies I find it hard to accept that such a thing is fair," Cecelia admitted, staring at Sol with a wide and stupefied expression.

"Of course it is," Sol scoffed. "Do you think that Umbra will be playing by the rules? Granted, I did this before I even knew he existed, I have every intention to make use of the advantage that I have grself whiotten, and to say it is cheating the system is also unfair given that it was the system hech offered this loophole willingly."

"But, Alpha serves you does she not?" Keele questioned the direction of the conversation and Sol chuckled seeing a plausible explanation to get them off his case.

"Indeed, she does, which means I am above the system and qualified to do whatever I want, I am master of the system which you all need to abide by, I am on a different level, get off my back about it; we are not the same." Sol looked over his shoulder at them and witnessed the two pout when they realised they had been trying to make sense of something he had done; it was a pointless endeavour.

He then looked to Ikaris again, having a small collective within her made her the next most powerful being presently there outside of apparent High Born Celestials and Emissaries, he wanted to see what she could do withiut shedding her flesh and exposing her direct soul, but also thinking about that gave him a muddied realisation; If Ikaris was Vatui, and the Vatui were flesh and blood, then what happened to her original body?

As far as she was concerned she had always been Divinity, she had always been a soul without a physical form until she sacrificed that advantage to be with him and limited herself in an immortal body. Did that mean she had a body somewhere out there fully intact, or was it destroyed in the process of her evolution?

Or perhaps it was a case where she simply evolved with her body the same as he and Dina did.

***

[CLOCKWORK; DOMINION]

A visible sphere expanded faster then Lars could dodge or escape it, stoppiing just short of the outpost planet where Sol and everyone else was, at the core of this massive time field that defied the laws of reason, Ikaris continued to stack her mana onto itself watching the field slowly fhrink towards her while Lars who was supposed to be immobile started to move towards her from the planet he stood on, it was absurd; it seemed to her that after Sol's fight with Saat, every opponent beyond that point had been able to traverse through his time-halting technique, with some of them being able to do so freely.

It raised the question; was [Clockwork] becoming obsolete, or was it a case of some beings being so powerful that the laws that guided reality simply did not apply to them?

Whatever the case was, seeing her enemy freely traverse through halted time towards her forced Ikaris in a precarious situation; her mana had not finished adjusting and her cast was still incomplete; the whole reason she used [CLOCKWORK] in the first place was to buy herself a little time in order to gain another boost of mana by performing a perfect cast intentionally, but when Lars came charging at her and appeared in her normal field of view she abandomed that thought and rushed towards him with the small flame-like phantasm hovering above her palm.

"As if I would ever allow you to do something else, I have seen your strength increase dramatically since he beginning of this fight, I will not be allowing you to do it again!" Lars clenched his teeth, unaware that he was moving through tampered time and striking at Ikaris when he was within distance. "Never again!" He roared, when his amnd Ikaris's fists collided.

The man's eyes went wide when he saw the expression she wore though, as if he had played right into her hands again Ikaris was smiling while she allowed the weight of his strike to spin her along his outstretched arm, stopping at his side and resting her palm against his ribcage in the same moment he did the same to her.

[Forced Sun]

"Ouu, she really likes using my skills, doesn't she?" Sol asked, coverimg his eyes just a moment before the night sky saw what looked like a great expanding spherical star.

"No way..." Jenifer hugged herself and began shuddering whsn she started feeling the waves of mana that Ikaris emitted while in an awakened state, with her was also Keele wearing a dreadful expression, they looked at Sol who smiled calmly in the face of this abominable amount of energy and wondered, but before either of them could ask he shook his head, and began frowning.

"The answer is no," He spoke.

"This level of power is nowhere near what Umbra was capable of two months ago, it doesn't even come close, Ikaris back then was unable to even face him, her current self still wouldn't be able to harm a hair on his head, given how powerful she is presently, I hope that paints a proper picture of the kind of being he is for you; Umbra is absolute power in its rawest and most hateful form, incomparable to anything else that I can think of or know of as of this moment,"

"The emporium has yet to produce something I consider a real threat, in my eyes, this fight which continues to scare the lot of you..."

"It's child's play."

"Well..." Ikaris looked at her shaking hand and her damaged palm after condensing the attack to fit inside of the orbit of a single planet, and then looked forward at Lars who had lost his shirt and had a large scar in his side that had already healed but still remained.

"That was unexpected, I clearly saw your intestines, lungs and an entire half of your ribcage get turned to dust," She narrowed her eyes at him and the man smirked, though he did so with a pained expression choosing not to speak since it would reveal more of what he had just endured.

"Aren't you gonna say something?" She tried clenching her fist but failed when a static ran through her nerves, causing her hand to start shaking again.

She would have been fine if she had been the only one attacking, but that same attack which had blown her out of orbit was the one she had endured at point blank without retreating more than a hundred feet, she had also overexerted her healing in an attempto to remain conscious after the General's counter in her side which was also in the same state as his.

"It was a little too much..." Sol narrowed his eyes. "She generated enough power to completely wipe this entire sector off the face of the Collective and he tanked it anyways, and even healed instantaneously, that eighth General is tough; I wonder what race he hails from."

"Are you saying she is in touble?" Dina asked worried and Sol nodded.

"She might be, it was a gamble casting an incomplete techniwue and it backfired and ended up hurting her as well, even after casting [divine heal] on her right arm she has been struggling to get her nerves under control, that's not to say Lars is any better off, since healing he has not made a single move other than smiling, which means he is terribly hurt, they're both playing a game of endurance-"

"Would you see your wife suffer like that and not-" Cecelia was about to berate the Godslayer before her once more, but she felt apprehension bloom in her stomach when she even dared to speak on Ikaris's behalf in that situation; her chest tightened, she broke out into shivers, and her eyes slowly turned until they made four with Sol's.

"Don't say another word, Cecelia, not even a peep, do not make me regret saving you from Flint." Sol's eyes shimmered in a brilliant gold, and there was half of a ring slowly manifesting on his back as well; to say he was perplexed was an understatement; in that moment Sol Vestic was immersed in a dark pit of rage at both her and the general fighting his wife, of course he was concerned; the fight had taken a turn for the worse and he could feel every bit of pain she felt, which was why his hand was also shaking.

[Should I-]

"No," Ikaris answered Sol's outreach and forced her fist shut, grinding her teeth and staring at Lars.

"Just as I am hurt, he is also hurt, Alpha is making them watch; all the Vatui who have followed me for the last two months, they want to see the resolve of their leader, if you step in at such a crucial moment I will lose their trust and respect, Master, no matter what happens, do not intervene this time, I will win this fight, I will prove myself to both you and them right here and now!" She balled her other fist and glared at the General before her.

"Are you certain?" Sol asked causing Dina and Arla who was not privy to their conversation to look at him when he hefted Talia up and stood with his side turned, looking up at them.

"I will win," Ikaris answered again out loud making Lars wary of the fact that she was conversing with an entity his senses had not detected.

"I will win against the eighth General, Sol." She answered and he nodded and closed his eyes while Lars's went wide and he started looking around for the mentioned Godslayer that had been branded an extremely dangerous target with a flee on sight order ranging up to the top five Generals.

"Then I will take my leave," Sol smiled, placing full confidence in her and vanishing where he stood, taking Talia and Sara with him.

"Do not worry about him, dog, the Godslayer you fear has no intention of intervening in my fight, I am your only opponent," Ikaris used her left hand and cast [Recover] around them resulting in the moon she had crashed in materialising under their feet.

"Come."